Ida Zetterström Battles Weather, Track Conditions in First Bristol Appearance
Bristol, TN – Coming off a major first-round win at the NHRA New England Nationals, Ida Zetterström went into the Super Grip NHRA 
Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway looking to continue building momentum in her JCM Racing Top Fuel dragster. In her Bristol Dragway debut, the 2023 FIA European Top Fuel champion qualified No. 8 before falling to two-time world champion Brittany Force in the opening round of eliminations on Sunday.
Inclement weather made track conditions tricky to navigate and the Top Fuel category only got one qualifying session in the books on Friday. Returning to qualifying action on Saturday, Zetterström made a strong statement when she clocked a sharp run of 3.904 seconds at 322.88 mph to put her in the No. 8 spot on the final qualifying order. That netted Zetterström a first-round match against Force in an international battle between women who’ve won Top Fuel titles on two different continents.
Zetterström and Force rolled under the iconic Bristol Dragway tower as the first pair of Top Fuel dragsters on Sunday race day. They were the two most evenly matched drivers based on qualifying, and NHRA deemed it the Marquee Matchup for Top Fuel. Zetterström left the starting line just a tick behind Force, and while she attempted to pedal the car when it went into early tire smoke, she backed off when she saw Force power past her for the win.
“It’s been a tricky weekend,” Zetterstrom said. “Big change from what we had in Epping – the track conditions were completely different. We went into Sunday No. 8, which should be lane choice since we’re top half of the field, but it was only 14 cars here, which means that it’s not. We had to race No. 7 and we were on the losing end of that. We were the first pair out and we did not get lane choice, which proved to be crucial in the first round of eliminations here. Obviously it’s anybody’s game, but nobody really made it down in the right lane and we struggled with the same thing as most of the others.”
Bristol was the second consecutive race for Zetterström, who added the recent NHRA New England Nationals to her limited schedule at the last minute and capitalized on the opportunity with a first-round win. Now, she’ll wait until late July to race again as she continues to find the funding to run more races with JCM Racing.
“I feel like we have built up great momentum,” Zetterström said. “It’s really sad because Bristol is a home race for our team with JCM being based in Tennessee, so we really wanted to do well for all the JCM employees in the house and all the families here. It’s just one of those weekends where it doesn’t feel great. I wish we would’ve had a better performance. The tough part is we won’t be out again until Sonoma, so we have about two months off, which is a long time out of the seat.”
The next planned race for Zetterstrom and the JCM Racing Top Fuel team is the NHRA Sonoma Nationals, July 25-27, at Sonoma Raceway in the heart of California wine country.
Qualified: No. 8 (3.904 E.T. at 322.88 MPH)
Elimination Round Results:
E1: 6.840 E.T. at 88.90 MPH defeated by Brittany Force 3.811 E.T. at 330.39 MPH
