Shane van Gisbergen

NASCAR fans are now discovering that New Zealanders are very good race car drivers. Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen has now won three races on road or street courses, now all he has to do is learn to drive on sealed oval tracks. Obviously, that's easier said than done, but SVG is capable of it, he has mastered just about everything else.

Shane van Gisbergen Wins Chicago

Finally, some exciting car racing. I watched New Zealand's Shane van Gisbergen give another one of his master classes in street racing as he took out the NASCAR Chicago street race. He has now won four times in Chicago, and made it a sweep over the weekend, winning both the Xfinity and Cup races. The only thing he has to do now is work on his performances on sealed oval tracks. NZ doesn't have any of those, so it will take a bit of time, but he's talented and so long as he keeps performing, victories on Amerca's high speed ovals will follow.

With Scott Dixon doing well in IndyCars, along with fellow Kiwis Scott McLaughlin and Marcus Armstrong competing in that series as well, the NZ flag is well represented. 

New Zealand produces excellent race car drivers and the country as a whole becomes obsessed with racing over the summer. The country has dirt track ovals throughout the country, and sealed road courses, one of the best being at the Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell in the South Island. When I say best, many drivers from overseas who have raced there say it is the best place they've raced at and that it is their favorite track. It really is superb.