Willis Family Commodore Sports Sedan

[Rod Grimwood]

After 3 years of racing the Commodore in both Islands and as mention about breakages etc the Rotorua crew Brett, Ralph, Ross and a couple others headed off on the big bird to take a bit of Kiwi to Trans Am. Well there was a couple of Kiwis already over there racing Trans Am and they lived a slightly different lifestyle to this crew.

First impact was a van with a open trailer with tent etc tied to it and guys getting out in shorts, jandels sometimes a t-shirt and just unloading and getting sorted. No team of 6 in same shirts and trousers and caps unloading a big transporter, Na this was a whole new thing to them fancy boys.

The van was home-transport-workshop and also any other shed the boys could borrow to use to work on car. Quite a few Americans actually became to like the guys and helped out after a couple of meeting when the first impressions changed a bit. (that's the Yanks and the Kiwis who were there already)
The guys actually made a lot of friends with the American teams all over the country who helped out with accommodation and workshops for the guys to rebuild the car between meetings.

The transporter was how the others lived (at the track) and if the boys went near they had to be very quite and slow as not to be noticed. The jandels and shorts gave them away.

I will give bits on the trip shortly once I get a couple things clarified by Ralph. Ralph was the team manager (yea right) mechanic (now that he is good at) and social director (also another thing he is very good at) Ralph did have to become a diplomat, guidance councillor and legal advisor on the odd occasion.

This year when we were at La Guna Seca for the Rolex Classic with the F5000, Brett and Ralph meet up with some of the other guys they raced with in the Trans Ams and spent time with, and it was a great reunion. One bloke stood there looking at the guys and slowly walked over and looked at Brett and Ralph and cracked up laughing, saying " I thought I will never see those crazy Kiwis again when you left back then.' They made a little impact on some people, and a fairly large impact on others.