World-class drag racers Team Aruba speed to the top spot

By Tristan Ralston on 14th April, 2017

Team Aruba

World-class drag racers Team Aruba showed they mean business this season at the recent PDRA East Coast Nationals, the team’s first race of the season. The Aruba Airport Authority backed team qualified at the top of the Extreme Pro Stock pack, their 4.04 effort flying past the other 13 cars present. The Aruba.com Mustang had the top MPH, too, at 178.24.

The team moved into eliminations with lane choice, which proved to be helpful with the uncertain weather conditions of the weekend. Eman used an incredible .009 reaction time and driving prowess to get down the track ahead of his opponent, Rocky Watford, in round one. In round two, Eman had the bye thanks to his top qualifying spot. He had another amazing reaction time, .005, and was set to meet multi-time world champion Cary Goforth in the semi-finals. Although Eman put together a strong run with a 4.046 elapsed time, Goforth would get to the finish line first. Although Eman and the team had hoped for a win, beginning the year with a number one qualifying award and a semi-final finish provided a strong base for the season.

“It would have been nice to get past Cary and make it to the finals at GALOT,” told Eman, “but it was certainly a nice first outing and will give us a good place to work from moving on to the next event. The weather was tricky, which made conditions difficult. The team did a wonderful job changing our Kaase-powered Mustang to get down the track and win rounds.

“Another great take-away from the weekend was that we got to meet many new fans and introduce more people to the ease and accessibility of an Aruban vacation,” Eman continued. “It’s always special for us to talk about our island home to people who have never considered visiting there before. We are passionate about ‘The One Happy Island’ and love to share that with people everywhere.”

While the Aruba.com Mustang will return to its stables in Union, S.C, Eman returned home to his wife, Nicole and their new baby daughter, Elana. The team will be back in action for the PDRA Spring Nationals, May 18-20 at Darlington Dragway.

“We’re excited to race at such a historic place as Darlington. We hope to continue our momentum there and get our first win of the season.”

Follow Team Aruba on Facebook and Twitter to hear about race results, team updates, videos and photos.