NITRO FUNNY CAR

The British Nitro Funny Car season in 2004 has been a hit and mainly miss affair, but the three teams at the Euro Finals breathed a little life back into the breed with a 7/10 for effort.

Gordon Smith had overcome some body-popping blower sneezes and took the event win with a bouncing, pedaling and shaking 5.49 to take the points series and relegate the Showtime team of John Spuffard and Bob Jarrett to second place for the first time in years.
Bob Jarrett and Terry Haddock struck a pose before the final round, Jarrett is assistant crew chief on Haddocks's NHRA entry and Haddock was over repaying the task for the Finals. The big stick tune-up didn't hold together, as a flash of flame ended driver John Spuffard's run at the title.
Providing back-up was the veteran Viking, Leif Helander, in only his second season with the Starkotter Nitro Funny Car, backed by Swedish big hair band Europe. Transmission woes prevented further progress at the finals after a promising opening run.

UEM NITRO BIKES

The European tour adds in two-wheeled Nitro action in two categories, the multicylindered Top Fuel Bike and the Super Twin Bikes, the latter featuring more than just big inch injected Harleys and encompassing blower Harleys, parallel twins and the occasional home grown V-Twin based on a 426 Hemi. The nitro bikes scene in Europe has the depth seen nowhere else in the world—over 30 competitors have taken part in 2004 in TFB (admittedly the class does include a smattering of what would be termed Funny Bikes under ProStar sanction) and 28 in STB which leads to crowded staging lanes and a higher percentage of nitro appeal.

The likes of Svein Olav Rolfstad take their racing very seriously... especially when his 6-second blown Fastcat is behaving like a bucking bronco.	The Dutch maestro would have been tough to beat even if number one qualifier Anders "Charley" Karling hadn't swiped the shutdown area barrier and broken his ankle after his storming 6.547/201 effort.