AMERICA 2009

Greetings everyone,

Oh Boy where do I start... There is just so much to tell you. At the end of the day it was only me (Liza) and hubby (Adriaan), Pierre de Ridder and Robbie Herbst and his wife (Ogies Herbst) that went to America. Due to work obligations the rest of our group could not go. Never the less we had a ball in America. We must have driven over 3000 miles and flew in total including the flights there and back about 25 000 miles. I can honnestly recommend that every racefan whether you are a loyal supporter or a driver yourself should treat themselves once in their lifetime and take a trip to see the racing in America. Guys these people are so spoiled they don't have a clue how spoiled they are. The availability of spare parts is unbelievable, not like us that have to import most of our parts.The racing was awesome I will try my best to explain it and put you into the picture of what American Racing is all about!

Our first event we went to was the race in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania State. It was the local boys from Pennsylvania and "The Outlaws"  28 Sprint Cars took to the track and the sound that came out of that was amazing, goosebumps has a new meaning to me.  Twenty Eight high reving, 900 Horsepower, mean machine Sprint Cars with very qaulified drivers behind the wheel. They rev up to 9500 rpm and don,t let of the accelarator. The track is called Williams Grove and it is a dirt track. Five cars can ride next to each other summiltaniously the tracks is very wide and banked. The qaulity of the clay is unbelievable these cars get more traction on this dirt track then on a tar track. Most of the time they have both front wheels in the air when they come out of the corner! It is a half mile track and they get speeds up to 120 miles per hour and do times of 14.87 seconds around the track.  These dirt Sprints have only one brake calipper on and that is on the left front wheel, they bearly touch the brake just to get the car's rear end to slide out into the corner. That's how they do it sideways! The winner of the event was a local guy called Greg Hodnett nr 22 car.And amazingly there where only two cars that rolled this is not an uncomon thing for these cars to roll. Because of the high speed and qauntity of cars this happens very easily. One car runs the high lane and the other car next to him the low lane at some stage they cross paths on the corners and that is when the touching and rubbing takes place. The really look like they are flying past you at those speeds.

Whilst preparing their cars for the race we got to meet some of the drivers and after the races aswell. Jac Haudenchild or "Wild Child" one of the "Outlaws" as he is known is a very nice guy. I was lucky enough to purchase one of his previous seats that he had in his car. It fits me like a glove! I cannot wait for the container to arrive in 6-8 weeks so we can fit it into my car.  Also spoke to Kraig Kinser a "Outlaws" driver he is the son of Steve Kinser "Outlaws" driver that has been champion for twenty times.  Spoke to Donny Chatz nr15 "Outlaws" driver, last years championship winner too.  Also met a few of the drivers wives when we bought the race t-shirts from them. 

Our next stop was in Bristol in the state of Tennesee, we drove about  600 miles.  Bristol is a beautifull town, set in between the valleys we saw the most exhilirating drags I have ever seen. NHRA Drags is the most spectacular drags one can witness. As we came into the pit area we met "The Sarge" Tony Schumaker. He drives the US Army Top Fuel Dragster car. Nine thousand horsepower people, I don't have to explain to you what that sounds like when two of these cars take off next to each other. It is deafaning but beautiful. You cannot try and keep your ears open we sat with ear plugs and watched in amazement... The same goes for the funny cars the same horsepower and almost as fast as the Top Fuel dragsters. The Top Fuel cars ei. Tony Schumaker did 3.89 seconds that day on the straight quarter mile. That is fast man! Well actually not quarter mile they made it a little bit shortet due to high accidents on the last stretch. The track is now only 380 meters long. When these cars take off, not just the Grandstands shake but your insides in your body shake. A feeling you cannot explain comes over you when you experience the effect that 18000 Horsepower has on you!  What an awesome awesome experience!

After the drags we drove to the State of Indiana about 700 miles or so. To a place called Anderson. Anderson Speedway is a tar or pavement track as the Americans call it. It is a quartermile long track like ours and is banked in the corners. The first race we saw there was a wing race of 60 laps.  Sometimes they run the Sprints without wings because of the embanked corner this is possible. The winner of this event was a guy called Hank Lower he is 71 years of age. He was in South Africa to race in the year 2003. I couldn't believe the stamina of this man 60 laps !!! He says he has been driving Sprint Cars for over 40 years. There was plus minus 18 Sprint Cars at this race including a lady driver and she didn't do to bad ended about 7th. 

Next up was Indiana. Indianappolis at a track calle "Terre Haut action track" This is another Dirt track and the USAC Sprints raced at that particular event. Levi Jones won. This car inspired one of our drivers (Kallie van't Hull) so much when he saw the pictures Pierre took, that he made his car exactly like Levi Jone's car. It looks stunning Kallie !!! There where about 24 cars at this race. After the race we chatted to some of the drivers including Levi Jones who signed a t-shirt for Pierre and we spoke to my cars old owner Billy Rose, he was of course disgusted that the car is now Pink. ha ha ha but when he saw the pictures of my car he agreed that it looks good!

The next day we went to the Indianappolis state grounds where they have a mile long dirt track. There we saw the Silver Crown Cars. They look exactly like Sprint cars only they are about half a meter longer and run with 428 engines. It was a 100 lap race and there was about 30 cars that took part. They also had a double cab car where spectators could pay and they take you around the track for three laps. The mile long track is just a bit too long, it is not as exiting as the short track racing! After the trace we headed back to Anderson Speedway where the Little 500 took place on Saturday the 23rd of May. They call it the Little 500 because they run 500 laps and this happens the day before the Indy 500. Yes I said 500 laps this is hard on man and machine believe me. 33 Cars started and 12 finished! Jimmy Mc Cune nr 88 had bad luck as he got taken out on the first lap at the first corner. For those of you that don't know Jimmy, he won the test between our team and the USA team November last year in Pretoria.He had to sit and watch as the other cars finished the race. dave Steele had a very desirving win and it was a nail biting last few laps. The Sprints on that particular track did between 12.5 and 15 seconds around the track, the banking helps of coarse to make them half a second to a second faster than what our best drivers are able to do here on the same lenght track. 

We did not go to the Indy 500 the next day, we rather went to Eldora Speedway in Ohio State where some of the All Star Sprints race. This is after all what we love the most! Sprint Car Racing... Eldora Speedway belongs to the very famous Tony Stewart Nascar Champion driver. nr 14. A very nice track also a Dirt track but over there the Sprints are much faster on the Dirt tracks than the pavement or Tar tracks. again there was about 24 cars on the track we also got to see the Late Models, damn they are also fast! just about two seconds slower that the Sprints. The track is also a half mile long and they did times of just under 15 seconds and up. There was also a bad accident where the one Sprint ended up on the fence and nearly fell on top of another Sprint. The driver got out of his car without a scratch. Amazing!  

The last Race we attended in America was a Nascar Race. Nearly 140 000 people at this event! It was the "Dover Monster Mile" track in the State of Delaware. There where over 40 Nascar's in this race. One thing I can honestly say about the Americans are that they LOVE MOTORSPORT and they are very patriotic. Before every race whether it is Sprint Cars, Drags or Nascars they pray, and sing the national anthem and God Bless America song with there hands on their hearts and boy do they sing out load! Gives one goosebumps to see and hear. Fireworks at all the races and Jet Fighter planes flying over the stadiums, Army teams jumping with parashutes out if the planes and landing on the tracks etc. They go big!!! Jimmie johnson won the race with Tony Stewart in second place was an awesome experience. Three hundred laps in the scorching son all worth it.  We also went through to see New York, Graceland- Elvis's house and Museums in Memphis, Los Angeles and Las Vegas aswell as The Grand Canyon. We had lot's of fun... 

Well enjoy the pics in the image Galleries...