The world’s fastest, most powerful and by far the loudest racing cars, Top Fuel Dragsters are faster than the world’s fastest cars – way faster. And now, word is that the three of the quickest and the fastest drivers ever to blast through a racetrack in these 10,000 hp behemoths in Europe are all women. Maja Udtian is the quickest of them all, at 3.816 seconds over the measured 1,000-foot racing distance. The young Norwegian set the new European record two weekends ago at Tierp, Sweden, clocking a cool 506.48 km/h at the finish.
Switzerland’s Jndia Erbacher is faster still, at 510.33 km/h, and lags just a thousandth of a second behind Udtian on the timers, at 3.817 seconds. Veteran Finnish racer Anita Mäkelä may trail her two young rivals in the performance stakes by mere fractions, at 3.828 seconds, 507.92 km/h, yet it is she who is favoured to secure her fourth FIA European Top Fuel crown when the trio meet for the last time this year at Santa Pod’s FIA European Finals.
They will not be alone: a fourth woman driver, Sweden’s Susanne Callin – the world’s first 480 km/h teenager before motherhood and family life took her out of the cockpit for 14 years – will join an otherwise all-male field of high-speed combatants battling for the prestige of victory in the race, even though the season’s championship now lies beyond their grasp.
The matter rests solely between Mäkelä and Udtian. Mäkelä dominated the first half of the six-race season, winning three of the first four races. Then Udtian beat her by inches in the Tierp final last month to close within sight of Mäkelä’s points lead.
Women not strong or aggressive enough to race in Formula 1, says Helmut Marco
It will take a severe collapse of form for Mäkelä to forfeit that lead, but it would not be for the first time this year. Mäkelä qualified on pole for her home race at Kauhava in Finland but was then defeated in the opening round of eliminations.
In drag racing, there is no next lap on which to recover from one’s errors. A similar slip could put Udtian in touching distance of the crown, a remarkable achievement in the Norwegian neophyte’s first full FIA championship season.
Women are rising in all forms of motorsport events – from motorcycle racing to drag racing to a whole new batch preparing for the epitome of racing – Formula 1. Great news came our way very recently when an Indian won a world title in motorsports. That one Indian is a woman. 23-year-old Aishwarya Pissay lifted the FIM World Cup in the women’s category after the final round of the championship of Hungary Baja.
