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"I wanted to be part of the celebration and participate to the 50th Anniversary Nationals at Pomona. That's something that you can do only once in a lifetime." -- Jarmo Markkanen

NHRA no longer presents a Long Distance Award to racers traveling the furthest to attend a national event, but if one were to be handed out at the Pep Boys 50th Anniversary Nationals presented by American Racing Wheels there's little doubt it would go to Jarmo Markkanen,who is traveling from Finland to participate in the event, a distance of 8,000 miles.

NHRA.com readers might remember Markkanen as one of four Finnish Stock racers who organized "Millennium Tour 1999-2000" and shipped their race cars from Finland to the United States to compete at the final Federal-Mogul Series event of 1999, as well as at the NHRA Finals and 2000 NHRA AutoZone Winternationals. But something extraordinary happened when it was time to ship the cars back home: only three of them went into the container.

Markkanen enjoyed racing in the NHRA series so much that he decided to leave his V8-Magazine Nova behind to race again.

Finnish Stock racer Jarmo Markkanen's best result during his tour has been semifinals at 2000 NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals at Las Vegas.

"It's been a dream come true," said Markkanen, "and who wants to give up a dream? To race in world's toughest drag racing series has been very, very challenging. The level of competition is extremely hard and you get nothing for free; you really have to fight for every round win. The eliminator fields are so big that we will never see those in Europe. The competition is also rewarding: when you go rounds, you really know that you have achieved something - it tastes good!

Markkanen has run four races already this season and has still five to run, including the NHRA 50th Anniversary event.

"One major reason to keep the car here was the 50th Anniversary season," he said. "I wanted to be part of the celebration and participate to the 50th Anniversary Nationals at Pomona. That's something that you can do only once in a lifetime."

Markkanen, left, and team: wife Pia, Timo Jarvinen, and Pasi Mikkonen.

Markkanen is one of those lucky guys whose life has been effected totally by NHRA drag racing. He is the editor-in-chief of Finland's leading hot rod and drag racing publication V8-Magazine. He has been covering drag racing in Europe for 23 years and NHRA events 15 years.

His racing career began in 1993 when he bought a former NHRA record-holding 1969 Nova from Canadian Rick McKinney. With the car, Markkanen has won two Finnish Championships (1995, 1998) and two Nordic Championships (1998, 2000). His best results in the NHRA series are a semifinal finish at 2000 NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals and five rounds at 2001 season opener Phoenix Division 7 race. But he says it's not only racing that counts.

"I have made a lot of new friends during these two years," he said. "Everybody has been very helpful -- fellow racers and NHRA. It was actually easier to come and race here than I ever thought before. NHRA organizes the races so professionally. We have been travelling many new places, have seen beautiful countryside and mountains. It's been hell of a experience and I even got married at Las Vegas the week after 1999 NHRA Winston Finals with Elvis singing there!

"I just want to thank everyone envolved with this project. And especially I would like to congratulate Wally Parks for his lifelong work to get sport of drag racing to the point where it is today."