January 9, 2007

January: Kalle Lindgren,
dirt ridin' rock DJ

After rocking Stockholm's club scene for more than a decade, Kalle Lindgren is back on the dirt track. He's older and more wise, but as hungry as ever.
In the coming season he will compete for no less than three different teams: Griparna of Nyköping, NMK Oslo in Norway and the Polish club Rawicz. It will obviously mean a lot of travelling and a very hectic schedule. But riding professionally, especially in the speedway crazy country of Poland, is a childhood dream come true and an opportunity that he can’t afford to miss.

Becoming Recipe for men's man of the month is not an easy task these days. Many god men fail to qualify. Then from nowhere, Kalle Lindgren came along and stunned us all by being the first man ever to double-qualify.

He's a DJ and a speedway rider - that combination would have been good enough on its own. But there's even more to it. Together with his wingman Micke Pietilä he’s also the founder of one of Stockholm's most legendary rock bars, ‘Hårdrocksbaren’ at Sturekompagniet. It was a tiny little place, but during the late nineties it brought serious mayhem to the night club dessert of Stureplan. It was definitely the loudest bar in Stockholm for a couple of years, and to be quite honest, I know some aspiring skin care entrepreneurs that wouldn't have gotten laid half as much without it. So there you got it: reason number two.

After leaving Sturekompaniet, Kalle an Micke (maybe better known as Cal’n’Mike) continued DJ-ing and hosting great rock clubs in Stockholm, among others Elverket and Obaren.

But since a couple of months ago Kalle has cut down on the DJ-ing in order to focus more on speedway. Riding dirt tracks is something that he has done on and off for most of his life.

It started in 1982, when his father took him to see the team Getingarna at their home track Gubbängen outside Stockholm. He saw the American pro riders shredding up the track and for eleven year old Kalle it was by far the most astonishing thing he had ever seen.

- They looked like cartoon heroes with their colourful outfits … and then the speed and the smell of metanol ... it was the coolest thing I’ve ever experienced.

The next year he bought his first bike and started competing for youth team Fräsarna. He progressed quickly as a junior rider and in 1988 he started riding 500cc with Rospiggarna of Hallstavik.

He did well and was regarded as a promising young rider. But in 1989 something happened that would turn his life upside down. When driving back from a race in Denmark the car went off the road and his father was tragically killed. For an 18 year old boy that was off course the worst thing that could ever happen. Kalle didn’t race for two years after the accident and when he tried to make a come back things just didn't work out. He’s financial situation wasn’t the best and he missed the moral support of his father. In 1992 some engine problems early in the season put a definite halt to he’s career - or at least he thought so at the moment.

- I had started playing in a band and music took up more and more of my time, so I decided to quit.

In 1994 Kalle and long time companion Micke Pietilä was asked to start Hårdrocksbaren and from then on it was just DJ:ing and music for many years.

- It was a great time, but still something felt unfinished. Somehow I felt I wasn’t completely through with speedway, not yet.

In 2002, ten years after he stopped riding, Kalle went back to Gubbängen to catch one last glimpse of the sport that he grew up with.

- I bought a new bike the very same day. When I sat down on it my whole body started shivering, he remembers.

One year later he was back where it all started. He was riding for Eldarna in Speedway-Allsvenskan - the very back bone of Swedish folk sport.

- It was great. I got to ride again and I got to meet all my old friends. Now I just want to take this as far as I possibly can. Speedway is the most beautiful sport. It’s so estitical and clean cut. The frame of the bike is not much heavier than that of an ordinary bicycle. And underneath, it’s just this beast of en engine. Everything serves a purpose on a speedway bike.

And he loves the racing part as well.

- I love the battle, it’s so intense. The races last no more than a minute and you throw your self into the turns in 120 km/h without breaks. You have to give it a 100 percent all the time, but still you need to keep your cool. I think my age is an advantage on that point. I’m more patient than before. Nowadays I’m better at biding my time and awaiting the right moment to attack.

Another big difference is that he enjoys working on his gear much more now than when he was younger.

- I love being in the garage taking care of my gear and making sure that everything is in perfect shape. It’s a meditative experience. My father, who was a jazz musician, always told me that I should listen to the sound of the engine. Now I finally understand what he meant. I know what it sounds like when the engine really sings.

And if Kalle gets his way, his engine will sing on for a couple of years to come. Because the red riding rock’n’roll DJ is back on track, with a professional contract in Poland and a brand new Giuseppe Marzotti betweens his legs. (That’s an engine that sings, if you didn’t know.)

Recipe for men’s man of the month in January

Name: Kalle Lindgren.

Age: 35.

Occupation: Semi pro speedway rider, DJ.

Family: Girlfriend Lina.

Gear: Frame from Jawa, Engine from Giuseppe Marzotti.

Teams: Griparna, Nyköping, Sweden. Rawicz, Poland. NMK Oslo, Norway.

Sponsors: Ekesiöö, Northern Hemisphere, Bromma Järnaffär, Heymann Willhelm Maskinservice, Brolin Products.

Vanity level: 4,3 - Let's face it, speedway people are normally not hipsters, but at nigth time Kalle sometimes tranforms into one of Stockholm's sexiest rockers, and we suspect he's aware of that.

Enjoys on his spare time: Skiing, climbing and playing the guitar.

Favourite place on earth: The monastary Guglielmina at the Italian ski resort Alagna, and Los Glaciares, a national park in Argentina.

Looks up to: His father.

The world’s most beautiful man: Probably Johnny Depp (but that's a bit of a cliché he admits and decides to go for the early seventies version of Mick Jagger instead).

All pictures are copyright of www.speedway-grasstrack.nl.