Sjödin Motorsport / ÅBM Racing

 

If the Chevelle will leave the ÅBM shop during 2024 it will only be to visit my home track again in Vansbro / Dala Järna Raceway if it works out for us in the team and if my motor club SHRA Vansbro – Äppelbo will continue to be a part and arrange the race Dala Street Open again!

I decided a while ago that we won’t do any events in the Top Doorslammer Series in 2024.

Reason is that the 2022 wasn’t fun like it used to be except for the Tierp race and the one at Kauhava in Finland, they were both fun of course because we won them BUT the main reason they were fun was the amount of teams in the Top Doorslammer class at those 2 events!

When there is something to race for, when you need to work for real to get on the podium on Sunday you are attending a fun event, if you know you are in the top 3 already when you leave the shop and heading for the track it feels more like a waste of time!…

 

We were 14 cars at Tierp and 10 cars at Kauhava, I think it was 3 cars in Piteå and we did not go to that race due to the long distance to travel the week directly after Kauhava and also because of track conditions in earlier years that I haven’t been satisfied with, we were 3 cars in Sundsvall and 4 cars at the finals at Gardermoen.

I said in the end of 2021 that we will do 4 events and win the Top Doorslammer series for the first time in 2022, that was the game plan and so we did! And that’s also the reason why I did continue even that I saw the low numbers of cars in the coming events…. I went to Sundsvall and it turned out to be a really disappointing weekend, tricky track prep just like it have been for many years, its possible to go down slow but I’m not interested in making 4.30-4.50 passes on a race in the series, it must be way better conditions than that!…. Then we went to Gardermoen to secure the 2022 championship win that turned out to be a pretty ok weekend when it comes to the track! But it was way too cold to be able to use the power I wanted, but just like always the weather is the only thing we can’t control during a race weekend, but there is a lot of other things that can be and should be done better many times!

And then in the beginning of 2023 when the EDRS Top Doorslammer series came out I wasn’t so satisfied with it because it did not fit us at all, we can’t be away from work for more than 3 weeks to make Piteå, Kauhava and Sundsvall that were 3 weeks in a row that also include a lot if traveling that means it’s not possible to make time for work more than maybe 1 day per week, next thing is if we hurt something we will miss the next race! July is a typical vacation month for most people in Sweden and my team can’t spend 3 whole weeks on the road just for racing…

Drag racing in Sweden is still not a work that you get payed for, it’s just spending money! And the price money is not enough to pay for what it really cost, of course more partners would make it possible but still it’s too much time away from everything back home!

Then before the season started they added one more event in Piteå the weekend after that also is the same weekend as the TD race at Kauhava and that is a really strange thing to do if you ask me… And remember that today like it is it won’t be more than 2-3 cars at the race in Piteå so is it really a good thing to have two events two weekends in a row there? NO is what I say about that!…

Today there are too many teams that have ended their racing circus, cars have been sold or cars are stuck in the garages at home and haven’t seen the daylight for many years.

I felt that it will NOT be a good thing to bring more teams, but let’s see what happens during the season. Top Doorslammer was once a really fun and great class many years ago but for the last 5 years or so I really don’t know what is going on, for every year there is less cars competing in the class and I have said for many years that this will change, or I really hope because I live for the class and my car is a Top Doorslammer car and nothing else! But I’m starting to wonder if it ever will change to the better again…

 

Then what really happened during the 2023 Top Doorslammer season? First race at Tierp Arena it was only 8 cars in the class and if I remember correct 1 or 2 of them went into TD because they could not be a part of the class they should have due to some problems during the scrutineering, so in 2023 Tierp is enough to bring cars anymore… This is the track that everyone have been complaining and arguing about that TD is not welcome there for many times / years in the past and now it’s not good enough for the teams to go, I think it was 6 cars on the entry list and that must be a record in low numbers of cars at a TD race at Tierp….

 

Next was the first event at Piteå, 2 cars were there… The weekend after and the second event at Piteå, 1 car!…. Come on, a total of 3 cars on two events? And what’s even worse is that you are getting points in the series to be alone at the event, I think that is really wrong because Speedgroup have a minimum number of cars to attend an event for them to pay out money to the winners, I would like to see a minimum of cars to attend the event rule to give points in the series!

Same weekend as the second Piteå event it was a race in the series in Finland at Kauhava, they did have 9 cars and that’s pretty normal in the Finnish TD series and it was only Finnish teams like it usually are because there are no Swedish teams that are traveling to Finland to be a part over there.

Next should have been Sundsvall, but they decided in June to not have TD on the race, kind of sad because they did resurface parts of the track with new asphalt in the end of 2022, and one of the things that TD teams have been complaining about is the track surface and track preparations, after and during the race I heard that people wasn’t happy about the track and preparations but I was not there myself to say anything about that.

Anyway something positive did happen instead and they added one more race at Tierp Arena to cover up for the missing Sundsvall race and it was 9 TD cars at the event which is way better than the one in June, then for the finals at Gardermoen Raceway it was back down to 3 cars again in the class, and I think one switched over from Pro Mod to TD so it should have been just 2 cars… I don’t know if it is just me but this is not good and I think it’s killing the class, it must be better to have less events with more cars instead of 3 events with 2 cars, 1 car, 3 cars..? And it must be a minimum number of cars at an event to be able to get points in the series!

 

I don’t know for sure, but I have heard / seen some stuff about the 2024 TD series and it looks like it will be pretty much the same thing as it was in 2023, the real dates it not set but there is a plan. And with that said it’s not interesting for me and I’m afraid that it won’t be to many other teams either that will follow the series except for the Tierp race / races eventually as it looks…

Something that also is strange is that I’m always complaining about stuff, asking about stuff, wondering why things are like they are, I’m writing about it on social medias and want to have some kind of change. Everyone else are doing the same but are quiet about it…. If you are quiet no one will ever know and make a change!

I understand that its hard and a pain in the ass to arrange a series and work with all the classes, teams, people, organizers and tracks! It’s not easy to be EDRS / Speedgroup and the people behind it, but it would be a good thing if they checked with and worked together with the drivers, teams and the monkeys that makes the circus be a circus instead of adding events that no one will attend..?! Or am I wrong? This hurts the class, that’s how I see it. I really don’t understand how it can end up with so many events in the series when so few are going to the events, and it’s been like this now for many years.

This is my thoughts about the situation and hopefully this can start a discussion to make the class better and more interesting in the future for other teams.

#thatsjustthewayitis #notd #notopdoorslammernextyear #dragracing #topdoorslammer #abmracing #sjodinmotorsport