Top Kiwis can foot it in US, says NASCAR winner
American race car star Kyle Larson is impressed with the talent of New Zealand speedway drivers in the International Midget Series.
The NASCAR race winner is in New Zealand for the five-round series and stormed to victory in the 30-lap feature at Vodafone Speedway Western Springs on Saturday night against the best midget drivers from Australia, the United States and New Zealand.
“Your normal New Zealanders are really good and then a couple of the Australians were competitive as well,” Larson said. “Obviously the Americans are always good when they come here.”
Speedway racing in the US is much bigger, which means there are more race meetings and the drivers spend more time honing their craft.
Larson feels the overall standard is better back home but says the best drivers here compare favourably with full-time racers in the US.
“I guess it is somewhat similar,” he said. “The States is probably a little tougher because you have more competitors to race against and they have a lot more experience than the people that race here because they’re racing 50 times a year.
“There are still some competitive guys here. [Michael] Pickens always runs really, really good. When he comes to the States, he is one of the best, so if you can run with Michael here, you can compete with anyone in the States.”
The 25-year-old Larson will race twice more in Auckland this week — tonight’s King of the Springs meeting that honours American racer Bryan Clauson, who died in 2016 and was a regular to these shores, and Friday night’s world 50-lapper.
He then returns to the US for the famous Chili Bowl speedway meeting at Oklahoma in mid-January before preparing for another NASCAR season with the Chip Ganassi team.