The pace Jonnie Lindberg keeps falls in line with what you might expect from someone who gets their thrills driving a 325-plus mph Funny Car.

But that torrid pace also matches up with how quickly success has come his way over the past three seasons.

After leaping onto the NHRA stage with back-to-back Top Alcohol Funny Car championships, the Swedish-born Lindberg has been nearly as impressive in his rookie season in NHRA Funny Car driving the Jim Head-owned fuel coupe. He advanced to back-to-back final rounds earlier this season and sits 11th in points, all while only racing at five of the first nine races.

“I felt pretty confident because I had so much experience in the alcohol car,” Lindberg said. “But I’ve always been that way: ‘Why can’t I do it?’ My first goal was to be in the top 10 and it still is. Our chances are a little better now after two final rounds, but we’ve missed four races. The goal right now is to win a race and finish in the top 10. I just have to keep working harder and harder.”

Lindberg, who is 23 points behind 10th-place Del Worsham, said the plan is to race Head’s car from here on out over the final 15 races, starting with this weekend’s NHRA Summernationals at Englishtown.

After not driving at Topeka and Epping, Lindberg returns for a stretch of three straight race weekends.

But that’s just the start of a summer that will be conducted at a breakneck pace.

Following these three races, Lindberg, who tuned Jay Payne’s Top Alcohol Funny Car at a points race to officially kick off this stretch, will fly back to Sweden, take a boat to Finland and tune two Pro Mod cars there.

He’ll fly back for the NHRA race in Chicago, head out on the Western Swing, fly back to Sweden for a wedding, back to the NHRA tour for the race in Brainerd, Minnesota and then make another trip to Sweden to tune for a Pro Mod team before competing in the U.S. Nationals.

Driving a Funny Car may be Jonnie Lindberg’s first love, but a steady diet of airports and airlines has become a required love for that type of schedule.

“I’m used to working all the time,” Lindberg said. “It’s a busy schedule, but I’m used to it. When I first started racing I flew back and forth all the time. I feel lucky I can work with the things I love. People think I’m crazy for going back and forth so much, but I’m used to it. You learn to forget what jet lag is and you don’t feel it because you’re busy all the time.”

But it’s that busy schedule that seems to bring out the best in the 27-year-old Lindberg, who won six national event races in Top Alcohol Funny Car the past two seasons, also become the first driver in the class to reach the 5.3-second zone and eclipse 270 mph.

After getting licensed in Tim Wilkerson’s Funny Car late last year, he jumped at the opportunity to drive for Head.

“He does this for the right reasons,” Lindberg said. “He loves it and he tries to run fast all the time. He’s not out there to be content with being the No. 16 qualifier. He’s out there to win. Some guys are there to just qualify, but he wants to improve and go as fast as he can. It’s a really good, safe car and he takes great care of me. Every run I make in the car I feel more comfortable.”

The goal is to now build on what they’ve already accomplished in a short span. Lindberg has runner-up finishes in Gainesville and Las Vegas, already posting eight round wins.

But there’s a focus on improving E.T. and getting Lindberg into the 3.80s for the first time in his career. Head and the team have been working on new improvements for Englishtown, much of it centered on the clutch. Excited for the stretch of three straight races, Lindberg is eager to get back into the racing swing, no matter how busy the schedule is.

“We’re always hungry and I feel like we can do pretty well (this weekend),” Lindberg said. “We’re going to fight until the end to be top 10. There are a lot of good drivers trying to take that 10th spot and I’m one of them. I’m going to try my best and we’ve got a lot of great guys on the team. We’re all going to work hard for it.”