When the twentieth edition of the Orsa Drag Fest takes place, most things are right. From the weather with bright sunshine and a relatively modest temperature of 20 degrees Celsius to a bunch of enthusiastic participants who are happy to test the strip in a calm and safe environment. The weather, the helpfulness and the feeling that everyone can join in and drive 201 metres if they want to, has been the backbone of the event for a long time.
Let’s start with the conditions. Since its inception in 2004, Orsa Drag Fest (ODF) has been divided into two parts and days. Mopars at the Strip, with only muscle cars from the Chrysler Group, and then Muscle Car Day, where cars made by AMC, GM and Ford have also been welcome.
This arrangement has given ODF an identity of being a fairly pure Mopar® event, even if it is not quite true.
In any case, every year there are lots of muscle cars from the Chrysler Group: Plymouth ‘Cuda and Road Runner, Dodge Coronet, Challenger and Charger. New and old powertrains. Modern HEMI® engines and classic 440s. Everyone is on hand to entertain themselves and others.
The smoke is always thick around and above Tallhed Airport outside Orsa in Sweden, where ODF takes place.
Ulf Witasp is the one who started ODF 20 years ago. For the first three years, it was a quiet event, but
it grew quickly.
“Me and my friends like Mopar. We travelled around to a car meeting in Rättvik in Dalarna called Classic Car Week, this was in the late 1990s. We noticed that there were a lot of white-haired guys with Oldsmobile cabs from 1958 driving around who were barely audible. We wanted more, something more fun,” Witasp says.
Said and done. Witasp started inviting Mopar people, who in turn were tasked with inviting even more Mopar people. Everyone gathered on the lawn outside Rättviks Gammelgård. Good coffee was one advantage Gammelgården had.
“The third year, there were probably 300 Mopar cars. It was completely full. I soon realised that parked cars on a lawn are all well and good, but I wanted to hear these cars too. See them in action.”
Witasp soon realised that Orsa and Tallhed airport were not far away. Classic drag racing was happening in the Nordic countries. When Ulf was a kid, he went there and got to see crazy Fuel Altereds and Front Engine Dragsters, as well as classic muscle cars, home-built motorcycles with V8s and Morris Minor and Ford Anglia with the same type of roaring engines.
“My idea with the meeting is that it should be stylish in the pit. Clean and tidy. Like it was in 1975, but
with today’s safety on the strip. Preferably good food and not frozen hamburgers and dry bread. The nicest meeting with the nicest staff. Of course, we have sometimes failed at something, but the aim has always been to try our best to achieve these goals.”
He then adds with a smile that the ODF meeting is actually also organised so that he himself could have an event to drive his own Mopar cars at. There have been a few of these for Witasp over the years. Several 1969 Road Runners, one with a HEMI engine and another with a manual transmission and 440. Witasp has also owned and driven a 1971 Road Runner, as well as a 1971 Plymouth Duster with a small block and a 1970 GTX with a Six Pack.
“However, ODF is not a drag racing event. We certainly run some Bracket races, but above all it is an
opportunity to test your car and yourself on the strip. It is perfectly ok to come with a completely original
Plymouth Super Bee with a 383 cui. The car is built to be driven on the strip. ‘But I don’t have slicks,’ people say. It doesn’t matter. Neither did people have that when they drove between the street lights in the 1970s.”
“Yes, it’s about daring to try.” Witasp says that when people finally actually drive, they will then run to him
and say, “But it’s a whole year until the next time!” The days go by very quickly once you start driving…
For those who haven’t tried it yet, what is it like to drive on the strip? I mean, you’ve done a couple of
runs down the strip…
“The heart beats very fast, and vibrations down the thighs! As soon as I’ve finished, I usually think ‘Damn, that didn’t go well, I have to do it again!’ And so it goes on. People think it’s very easy until they try it. And yes, if it had just been to step on the gas pedal, it would have been easy. But if you want to improve your reaction time, sixty foot time and time down the strip, then it’s trickier. Finding the perfect run. Well, if the perfect drag strip drive even exists.”
He has a lot of funny memories from the two decades he has organised ODF. For example, the fact that a man named Anders Gjerstad drove at ODF and then competed in Street Week Sweden, a Swedish version of the American Hot Rod Drag Week competition.
“Otherwise, I like Olov and his yellow Dodge Challenger cab. He goes up with new drag slicks every year. Around 15:00 on the first day, he runs out of tyres and rolls home. Same story every year. He takes time off from work with the approval of his supervisor, and burns €1,000 worth of drag slicks. The fact that people travel from Germany or Skåne in southern Sweden every year is also incredibly cool. It’s a long journey, and these are not always without problems. But they always manage it, admirable in every way.”
Witasp then adds that one of the more outspoken Mopar fans is Øyvind Mostad from Norway. Last year he drove a Plymouth ‘Cuda at ODF, a giant green car with the Hulk painted on one of the doors. The car has a manual gearbox, and after a bunch of eager strip runs, it didn’t end any better than Øyvind pulling off the gear lever.
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