In a last-minute appearance at the NHRA Midwest Nationals, 2023 FIA European Top Fuel champion Ida Zetterström raced to her first career final round in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Sunday afternoon at World Wide Technology Raceway. Competing in the shadows of St. Louis’s Gateway Arch, Zetterström posted a runner-up finish in her JCM Racing Top Fuel dragster after leaving the starting line first ahead of 2023 NHRA Top Fuel champion Doug Kalitta. It was a feel-good weekend for Zetterström, who will continue her second partial season in NHRA competition at the upcoming Texas NHRA FallNationals.
Zetterström’s best performance in qualifying came in the second session on Friday evening when she fired off a 3.788-second pass at 328.78 mph to go into Saturday qualified No. 13. She followed that up with a consistent 3.820 E.T. at 325.30 mph in the third session, then went into tire smoke on the final qualifying attempt.
Racing out of the No. 14 slot, Zetterström started Sunday eliminations with a monster matchup against regular season champion Tony Stewart. Zetterström showed just how bad she wanted the round win as she cut a perfect .000-second reaction time to lead Stewart out of the gate. Though her nitro-burning engine pushed out a head gasket before the finish line, she was quick enough to get the win with a 3.801 E.T. at 323.66 mph. She led wire to wire again in the second round, where her consistent 3.802 E.T. at 326.87 mph defeated Kyle Wurtzel and his 3.889. In Zetterström’s second semifinal appearance since her debut race in 2024, she was first off the starting line yet again, this time against four-time and reigning world champion Antron Brown. She started to spin the tires as she approached the finish line, but she held on for the win with a 3.925-second pass at 292.08 mph.
The final round saw a battle between drivers who won Top Fuel championships on two different continents in 2023 – Zetterström in Europe and Kalitta in North America. For the fourth time all day, it was Zetterström who moved first. She started to haze the tires, though, and crossed the finish line behind Kalitta. Considering the Midwest Nationals wasn’t even on Zetterström’s part-time schedule until just a few days before the event, she was more than happy with the team’s final-round appearance one year after JCM Racing won in St. Louis.
“We gave it our all and put up a good fight,” said Zetterström, who’s pursuing funding for a 2026 campaign. “Obviously, we were trying to go a little faster so we could try to beat Doug. It’s very frustrating when you’re in the car and you see your opponent pulling away. I’m such a bad loser so I was sad when I got to the top end, but overall, really proud of all that this team has accomplished this weekend. We’ve been talking about how we’ve had issues and we’re trying to figure this program out, and I feel like we’ve shown this weekend that when our car is running the way it should, we can be a contender out here and run with anyone. That’s a big, fat exclamation point to anyone that doubts us.
“I’m so thankful to Joe and PJ Maynard for deciding to add this race to our schedule at the last minute,” Zetterström continued. “Joe saw the progress we were making the last time we tested, and he wanted us out here to prove that in competition, and I’m really happy he did.”
Zetterström and the JCM Racing Top Fuel team, which represents brands like VP Racing Fuels and Dodge, will continue to prove themselves in two weeks at the Texas NHRA FallNationals, Oct. 10-12, at the Texas Motorplex outside Dallas.
This story was originally published on September 29, 2025. 
