Take a stroll down the Memory Lane
The proof that I could've been a hard
biker as well!
I also had a couple of years as a
custom painter - when not in school! Lelle Järvenby was a happy customer
and one of my
best friends in the early 70's. He had this Willys Overland EPA-tractor (has
nothing to do with environmental things). When
16 years old in Sweden you're allowed to drive these slow farming machines.
The Law says they must not go faster than
30 kmh - 19 mph. (BWAHAAAAAA!)
As you can see we used oil on street to be able to do some serious burnouts.
Jeez...
Raise your hand if you know who the
man to the left is! I guess it was in 1979
when Don Garlits visited Sweden to promote Kendall Oil for Bruno Donati of
Ital American Motor. A friend and I made the long travel to Stockholm to
shake the hand of the legend which he already was at that time. I remember
he said he liked my jacket and my 1897 silver dollar around my neck...
...hey, where is it now? Hm...?
I've
met him several times later in
my profession as an automotive journalist.
For you that didn't raise your hand - search the name "Garlits"
on Google...
Summer night in Umeå in the
early 80's. My Camaro wasn't ready...so...my Opel Kadett '62 takes the start
vs. "Loppan's"
nice Dodge Dart. Better be racing whatever, than watching.
My first streetrace. Ersboda in Umeå
1979. A typical 16-car ladder to decide who will win the much desired
t-shirt with the
message: "Stop talking - I'm the fastest in town". In second round
Thomas "Fredde" Frediksson takes the start with a two
foot margin and holds it over the finish line 1/8 mile away. "Freddes"
1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass 442 with the W30 455 ci
engine had more torque than anybody else, and still 4-speed!
Truly a beautiful car that also won the t-shirt this year.
My '67 Camaro's first V8 was a mostly stock all iron 350, with a 4-speed Saginaw.
A couple of them, actually...and then
a couple of Muncies as well...and also a street 5-speed Doug Nash. But then
the race version of the 5-speed Doug Nash
was the gearbox that finally could take the abuse in Whiplash.
The first four winners. Streetracers in Umeå
still race for the t-shirt today!
Ha, there's that silver dollar again!
We had a great summer in 1982 with a lot of
racing everywhere. Here going back from Pite Dragway. It
was especially fun when Hazze Lindholm, Benke and Lasse from Stockholm joined.
And our friend
Linkan from hometown Umeå of course (I guess I had borrowed his Mickey
Mouse heads for this race?)
And Kiosk-Ella, a friend of Mia, my girlfriend at the time. Note Bagarn and
Birgitta who already
back then were running the Autoshop business and now some 23 years later are
named "The King and
Queen of Orlando" by Popular Hot Rodding after their clean sweep at the
2005 Engine Masters
competition! Click picture to get a much bigger one!
Going home from Seinäjoki, Finland in 1983. (Through the small village
of Koskenkorva!)
No trailer queen then either.
Eero Pirtinen is a strong memory from those days when we raced the Finns,
well it was only him! He
drove this 440 Challenger 15800 miles (1000 mil) a year and at the strip he
managed an 11.43 @ 122
mph as the best in the early 80's! He also came over to Umeå from Vaasa
to race us, and to Santa
Pod to race all of us! We also remember that all of these finnish drag racers
had the cutest young
ladies in the world, that always fixed the best food and everything for us
all the time! We couldn't
believe it! Thanks again! Nowadays Eero lives in the capital of Helsinki and
has just bought a
Chrysler 300 with Hemi and 4WD.
Dale Vaznaian (middle) from NOS came all the way from Cypress, California
to Umeå in
the north of Sweden to say Hello to Lennart "Bagar'n" and Birgitta
at Autoshop Racing
Engines which was the northernmost NOS dealer speedshop in the world. We showed
him our "elephant leg warmer" - the 12 V heat blanket which we used
in my Whiplash
Camaro to
heat up our nitrous bottles with. Dale loved the idea and took it back to
NOS.
Today it is a standard in
the industry.
Hit it!
Just an unbeatable Camaro!
