ABBOTTSTOWN, Pa. — With so many tracks in close proximity, it’s obvious central Pennsylvania is a hotbed for racing and that peaks the interest of a young Australian team.
The team took a year to plan a trip to come race nearly halfway around the world. It takes just one trip to the states for Queensland, Australia driver Ryan Newton to want to get time in the seat in America.
“There’s a lot of good cars over here. Good drivers. It’s where you need to base yourself to become half decent or decent," Newton told FOX43.
It’s currently winter in the southern hemisphere and just three weeks after the young driver finished his second season in a sprint car with his family team, the entire team traveled over 9,700 miles from Queensland, Australia to Central Pa.
“We’ve been talking to Danny [Dietrich] a lot and he’s been helping us with the car setup and getting it all ready for us, with the trailer and the car. We just thought, come here and it’s pretty good racing and they race a lot and I figured, why not," said Newton.
The Dietrichs, Dan, Danny and Billy, helped get the team squared away. Getting the car assembled a week before they made their debut.
Newton has 16 races on the schedule at five different tracks in our little slice of dirt track heaven. He's racing at Lincoln, BAPS, Selinsgrove and Port Royal, while kicking it all off at Williams Grove with a top-10 finish. He charges from 20th to 10th in his first feature.
“It was pretty exciting because we didn’t know how it would go because of how much time and effort you have to put in to get set up, over here," Newton recalled. "It’s a big thing. It’s a lot to haul a whole Australian team coming over here. It’s pretty hard.”
It's a much larger track than what he’s used to, racing at tracks like Perth, Eastern Creek, Toowoomba and Archerfield. Like every driver, Newton knows he just needs more time in the seat.
“It was pretty scary. I know, I just have to get laps in. It’s much different than home because it’s so much bigger and faster and dirty air is massive over here and you don’t really get that at home because they’re a lot smaller tracks," said Newton.
With less than a month left on their Central Pa. voyage, Newton already looks forward to next year, with the hopes of racing in the states a month on and a month off in 2024. Gaining any experience he can.