Ida Zetterstrom came to America to race Top Fuel, not to play it safe.
The former European Top Fuel champion has built her name the hard way. She did it by leaving home, chasing opportunity, and betting on herself in the toughest class in drag racing. That kind of driver usually isn’t wired to sit still, and Zetterstrom admits she isn’t built for the sidelines.
So when a chance surfaced recently to slide into a Pro Modified car in Bradenton, Florida, she took it. No committee meeting. No long debate. Just a racer seeing an open lane and stepping on it.
She made a handful of laps in Jim Whiteley’s blown Pro Mod during the World Series of Pro Mod. It didn’t take a full pass for her to know she wanted another shot.
“So I loved it,” Zetterstrom said. “I will say that I never made any full passes in that car. I made the three shakedown runs, but we needed to adjust a little bit for my weight compared to the previous driver when we made the first passes, so we shook a little bit. So no full passes yet.”
That mattered to her because Zetterstrom is not one for fake reviews. She wasn’t going to claim she had the class figured out after a few launches and some tire shake.
“So I would obviously have to make more passes to be able to talk about the full driving experience when it comes to downtrack,” she said. “But other than that, I’d never been in a door car like that before. And I haven’t raced with the engine in front of me sticking up to it. This was obviously a blown car. So all that was different.”
There was another adjustment, one racers understand immediately. Old habits have to be dug back up.
“I haven’t left on a button like that, a trans brake button since I was 16 years old and licensed in the supercontractor,” she said. “So there was definitely a lot of aspects to it that was different.”
For Zetterstrom, the attraction to Pro Mod didn’t start in Bradenton. It started years ago, walking through pits where the category had its own sound, its own smell, and its own kind of swagger.
“But I loved the experience,” she said. “I had been wanting to get in a Pro Mod for a long time, kind of grew up around them. My dad built engines for Pro Mod cars and worked with a lot of Pro Mod teams.”
That kind of upbringing leaves marks. Some kids remember grandstands. Others remember valve covers and warm engines cooling under awnings.
“So a lot of the time when it came to the Pro Mod pit, that was where I was based with my union dragster when I was a kid,” she said. “So I feel like I’ve been around them for my whole life. I just never had the chance to get in one.”
She also understands why fans flock to the class. Pro Mod has never needed polishing. It sells itself every time the bodies shake and the tires claw.
“But it’s a class that I have huge respect for,” Zetterstrom said. “And I also think it’s one of the best classes when it comes to the fan experience and watching them. They’re wild and rowdy.”
That line means more coming from someone who races Top Fuel. She knows what violence looks like at speed.
“It’s kind of like when I raced the Super Street Bike and everybody said that was a crazy class with a lot of wheelies and tight racing and action,” she said. “And that’s kind of how I see Pro Mod too.”
The people around Whiteley’s car didn’t try to turn the moment into a lecture. They gave her the best advice racers ever get — trust what brought you there.
“It was Jim Whiteley’s Pro Mod car, blown car, and Jim gave me a great experience in that car,” Zetterstrom said. “I had him, Tricky Ricky and Brandon Snider with me to kind of guide me getting into that car.”
Then came the message before she climbed in.
“Honestly, the main thing they told me before was, ‘Don’t overthink it. You’re a race car driver, so just get in and get the feel for it. Do what feels natural to you and what you think the car wants, and then we’ll analyze it from there and see what we need to work on.’”
That sounds simple until the visor comes down.
“And it just felt right,” she said. “It felt good right away. I got in, had to make some good burnouts and launched really well. The car actually ran best ever 60 that car has run. So we were onto a good pass.”
Racers respect many things. Fast short-times are near the top of the list.
“And yeah, no, just overall, obviously I only had a few passes under my belt, so it’s not like I’ve done a whole lot,” she said. “But just to feel being in the car, I honestly felt right at home. It was very cool.”
Now comes the part every racer knows too well. Dreams usually ride in the trailer behind money.
“That’s what I want to do,” Zetterstrom said when asked about returning for a license. “When it comes to racing, it all comes down to opportunity and money.”
She made clear this is not about abandoning Top Fuel. That remains the main target.
“Right now, all my sponsors and all the kind of money that I have is going towards this Top Fuel thing that I’m trying to do,” she said. “It’s not that I want to try and change class and do Pro Mod instead of Top Fuel. I still very much want to run Top Fuel full-time and chase championships over there.”
Still, she doesn’t hide the part of her personality that keeps opening doors.
“I am horrible at just being on the sideline,” she said. “I absolutely hate it. I want to get in a car.”
That sentence probably explains her better than any résumé line ever could.
“And when I’m thinking about what I would like to get in other than Top Fuel, Pro Mod seems like the right challenge for me,” Zetterstrom said. “It’s right up my alley. It’s something that I’ve had my eyes on for a long time. So I feel like it would be the perfect addition to what I’m doing now.”
