Ida Zetterström Adds Indy Round Win to NHRA Top Fuel Rookie Resumé
The 70th annual NHRA U.S. Nationals can push even the most experienced drivers to the limit, but Rookie of the Year contender Ida Zetterström proved she has what it takes to compete in the sport’s most prestigious race when she scored a first-round win on Monday morning. She set new career-best numbers in her JCM Racing/VP Racing Fuels/Edelbrock/COMP Cams/Dodge Top Fuel dragster before bowing out in the second round at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. Though she was looking for a second consecutive semifinal appearance in just her second career NHRA event, the 2023 FIA European Top Fuel champion is happy with her first ‘Big Go’ experience.
Zetterström, who moved from her home in Finland’s Åland Islands to the Indianapolis area earlier this year, started the weeklong celebration of speed that is the U.S. Nationals by throwing out the first pitch at the Indianapolis Indians game on Tuesday night. It was her first-ever baseball game, and she learned of the significance of the ‘first pitch’ just a few weeks before taking the mound. She continued the week with pre-race activities like local media appearances and an autograph session at the Cruz Pedregon Racing open house on Thursday evening.
On-track activity kicked off with the first qualifying session on Friday, which saw Zetterström record a 3.801-second pass at 326.00 mph to end the day fifth. Her semifinal finish in her debut at Brainerd two weeks prior landed Zetterström in her first Mission #2Fast2Tasty Top Fuel Challenge on Saturday. She used a 3.776 E.T. to defeat world champion Shawn Langdon in the first round, which also counted as the second qualifying session. She went up in smoke early in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge final round and the third qualifying session to end Saturday in the No. 14 position. Zetterström struggled with traction issues again in the fourth session on Sunday, but crew chief Jon Schaffer guided her to a 3.79 E.T. in the fifth and final session to get ready for Monday eliminations.
Racing out of the No. 14 spot, Zetterström picked up her third career round win in the opening round of eliminations when she charged to a 3.749-second pass at 328.62 mph. The performance set new career-best E.T. and speed records for Zetterström while also beating T.J. Zizzo’s tire-smoking effort. The second round saw a rematch of Zetterström’s Brainerd first-round matchup with four-time world champion Steve Torrence. She was victorious at Brainerd thanks to a holeshot advantage, and while she left first again at Indy, her 3.797 E.T. wasn’t quick enough to hold off Torrence and his 3.742-second pass.
“Coming into today in different conditions, I felt really confident with what we have,” Zetterström said. “I know that we are a good team. We put together something really good and we know what we’re doing. We pulled off the first-round win, which felt really good. Going into second round against Steve Torrence again, we tuned the car up a little bit, but we had a hole out really early and that slowed us down, ultimately. It was a really close race as it was, but it would’ve been even closer. I’m still happy. I was able to get the reaction time advantage on that run again, even though it didn’t help us all the way to that win.”
Zetterström and her newly-formed team held their own on the sport’s biggest stage, out-qualifying world champions and making it through a challenging first round to join JCM Racing teammate and 10-time U.S. Nationals winner Tony Schumacher in the quarterfinals. The performance continued to build Zetterström’s confidence and gave her even more experience as she continues to pursue the NHRA Road to the Future award.
“I’m very proud of the team and what we are showing here,” Zetterström said. “Going into Indy is hard for everyone. We saw some really heavy hitters on the outside (in qualifying). Usually when you go into a race, you have the mindset that qualifying is where you try things out, you set the field, and you go into race day, but Indy is different. It feels like every day is race day because it’s so hard to just get into the show. That’s been new to me, to have that feeling of being under pressure constantly for four days in a row. Being able to qualify was a great feeling in itself.”
This story was originally published on September 3, 2024.
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