You may have noticed that my name (Tony Weber) has been absent from RPM for some time now. Without getting all deep on our readers, for the past several months I’ve struggled with many different aspects of my life from family to work and beyond into my racing world. Years ago I entered the world of drag racing as an escape from my “everyday life” and promised myself if it ever became a “job” or lost the “fun” aspect, then I would find something else to occupy that time. Little did I know how dangerously close I came to allowing that to happen.
The details are not important, but what snapped me out of it was actually an event that reminded me that things should never get so bad that you forget your passion and your love for something, which for me is the world of fast cars and all the friends I have made in shooting and writing about them. That event just happened to take place in a little slice of paradise over the course of eight days in May.
It did come as a surprise when I was invited back for the Aruba 3rd Extreme Import International, especially since my comfort zone is primarily the powerful madness Stateside that is Pro Modified racing. It’s a minor adjustment to go from eight cylinder monsters of mayhem to 4 cylinder screaming powerplants that are just short of terrifying. Watching these micro machines run the quarter-mile in low 7-second form at speeds reaching the neighborhood of 190 miles per hour will have you standing on your toes in anticipation. And that’s not even bringing the rotary engine cars into the fray. The pilots of those pint size powerhouses are one step above insanity. So of course I accepted the invitation to return to one of the world’s premiere vacation destinations for some much needed R&R…you know, Racing and Recreation.
Once my plane touched down and it was evident my luggage was still headed north towards JFK International (yeah, don’t even ask) I was met with a smile and big hug from my friend Theo de Jongh.
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