Susanne Källin wins second straight European Top Fuel Drag Racing Championship

Swedish driver Susanne Källin has won the European Top Fuel Drag Racing Championship for the second year in a row. The title was won last month. Top Fuel is often described as the fastest sport on the planet, with races run side by side and speeds regularly reaching 300 miles per hour.

The class is the only elite category of motorsport where women frequently beat men to major titles. Men and women compete directly against each other, and women have been winning and breaking records in drag racing for decades. Campaigners say the sport is one of the most gender equal in the world. They argue that its family-orientated culture helps, because girls often grow up around the track and start competing at a young age.

Källin said the sensation of driving a Top Fuel car is unlike anything else. She compared it to being in a rocket ship and said it cannot be explained to anyone who has not done it. She also said she has never felt underestimated or badly treated as a woman in a male dominated sport.

One female driver explained that she is nicknamed a 'man-eater' because her competition is mainly men. In her country, she said, the competition is all male, and she described the nickname as a dig. She said the atmosphere in the pits is normal to those inside the sport, and that women are not treated badly or as a big deal, and that the idea that a girl cannot do it does not exist.

The report also looked at drag racing outside Europe. In India, the sport is less established, but women are emerging and winning. Driver Yuvashree said there are events with no women at all in four-wheeler racing, and that she will be the only one. She said reactions to female drivers can be mixed. She asked why people have to be shocked, added that anyone can drive, and said she sometimes feels proud to be breaking the barrier of a male dominated sport.

The wider point is that female success in Top Fuel is not a one-off. Källin's second consecutive European crown is the latest example in a sport where women are regular contenders and champions at the top level.