Swedish-born Ida Zetterström has called Finland home for many years, but her residence in Indianapolis makes it very clear that she’s quite serious about racing long term on U.S. soil. Zetterström, the 2023 European FIA Top Fuel champion, has partnered with Joe Maynard and his JCM Racing team to make her debut alongside teammate Tony Schumacher at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Brainerd this season.
[Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in DI #189, the Women of Power Issue, in July/August of 2024.]
“I’ve been working toward the goal of racing NHRA Top Fuel for many years,” says Zetterström, who started racing a Jr. Dragster at the age of eight and went on to race Super Comp, then transitioned into a two-motorcycle Super Street Bike team with boyfriend Kim Hilander. Zetterström won the Scandinavian Super Street Bike championship in 2019.
By the end of 2020, the ambitious young racer knew she needed to shift her main focus back to her biggest goal and licensed in Top Fuel, and through a fortunate opportunity to race with Rune Fjeld Motorsport, Zetterström’s dreams began to really take shape. With the RF Motorsport team, she set multiple FIA records and won races in impressive fashion on the way to the series title. The next step for Zetterström was racing NHRA Top Fuel, and a chance meeting with Maynard set the ball rolling.
“I was in the USA at an NHRA race last year to meet with some sponsors and [make] some potential connections for the future, and I was introduced to Joe Maynard through our mutual friend, Mike Salinas,” explains Zetterström. “Me and Joe got to talking and quickly realized we had a very similar vision on the business side of racing with sponsors, partnerships, marketing, and great teams.”
The two agreed to follow up on their conversation after the event. One conversation turned into a stack of others and, eventually, the expansion of JCM Racing to include Zetterström as a second Top Fuel driver alongside Schumacher, an eight-time world champion and the most winning Top Fuel driver in history.
“JCM Racing was not looking for a second driver at the time, so for Joe to make the decision to bring a second team out with me in the driver seat was a huge deal,” says Zetterström. “I have worked so hard to reach this point, and I have had some offers from other teams, but I hadn’t yet felt like I’d found the 100% right fit. It was a little surprising the way it came about and that the team created this opportunity around me, but it just felt completely right. I knew very early when talking to Joe that this was a team and a program I wanted to be part of. I feel like we have so much to offer the sport and our partners.”
Zetterström’s move to Indianapolis has allowed her to get comfortable with her team and follow the full NHRA tour, getting a feel for the flow of a top-tier NHRA team, representing her team’s partners, and making new connections along the way.
“When I moved over to Indianapolis in February, my team was already hard at work with everything from my car to trailers and parts,” continues Zetterström. “Building a whole new team takes time, and we’re still receiving shipments of parts, tools, and more, but it’s very exciting to see it all coming together, week by week. My crew chief, Jon Schaffer, has been pulling double-duty on Tony’s car and building my program at the same time, but now he has stepped over to focus 100% on finalizing everything on my team before we hit the track in Brainerd.
“I expect challenges, and there will be hurdles to overcome, but I try not to predict them too much before they happen. Honestly, I will have some cobwebs to blow off when I get out there, and we won’t have [12] events worth of data that everyone else has. But I know I’m hungrier than ever to go out there and show what I can do. I have so much trust in my team and my crew chief that I’m not too worried about it, and I think we have every chance to come out here and shake things up. I’m here to chase championships, simple as that. This is not an easy task and something that will take time, but I want to see myself in this sport for many years. I feel like with a great team and great partners, we’ll be able to accomplish that. I can’t wait to get started.”
This story was originally published on August 23, 2024. 
