| The Jeep in question was campaigned by a slightly mad
Swede name of Svante Erikssonn. Absolutely outrageous machine, as I recall.
My enduring memory of it, and also ties in with the swede Vs Britain rivallry,was
the world finals 1980 ish. Back in those days, the class was Super Comp,
and the cars ran to weight breaks and indexes. Erikkson came over and was
running something ridiculous like two seconds under his index. Of course,
he waded through the field, to reach the Semi Finals, where he met Pete Goddard
in the Liquidator. Erikkson was getting a little cocky by this stage, and
sat on the line for over a second. Unfortunatly for him, Pete cut the light
of his life, and the Jeep only just squeeked past in the lights, less than
a car length, I later heard. On to the final, where Erikksonn met Steve Johnson,
in one of the early cosworth powered slingshots he had then. Both cars burnt
out, but then, Silence from the British car. Steve, having lost fire, leapt
out of the car, picked up the front end wheelbarrow style, and wheeled the
car out of the way so that the Liquidator could come back as first alternate.
The crowd went wild!!! Pete had a very brief burnout, then staged. If only
Hollywood had written the script, Pete wouldent have leant on the tree quite
so hard and redlighted!!!!! Moments like that kept me coming to the drags
for over twenty years now!!! ( Oh, and Prudhomme lost)
Jon Crawford, UK |
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The Ericksson Brothers Swedish Jeep