They were celebrating in the Team Aruba pit Friday night. By Saturday, the party was still going strong despite the rains that washed out the ADRL Universal Technical Institute Dragpalooza at Houston Raceway Park.

Friday's celebration was in recognition of the March 18, 1986 independence of the island country from the Netherlands. Saturday's was in recognition
of Trevor Eman's best ever qualifying effort in his Extreme Pro Stock '06 Ford Escort. He concluded qualifying as the fifth quickest with a 4.09 elapsed time at 177.30 miles per hour.

"We were making better and faster runs every time we made it to the starting line," said Eman, who is in his sophomore year of driving Extreme Pro Stock.

When you have a car performing in this manner, it only adds to the natural celebrations such as Aruban Flag Day.

They were celebrating in the Team Aruba pit Friday night. By Saturday, the party was still going strong despite the rains that washed out the ADRL Universal Technical Institute Dragpalooza at Houston Raceway Park.

Friday's celebration was in recognition of the March 18, 1986 independence of the island country from the Netherlands. Saturday's was in recognition
of Trevor Eman's best ever qualifying effort in his Extreme Pro Stock '06 Ford Escort. He concluded qualifying as the fifth quickest with a 4.09 elapsed time at 177.30 miles per hour.

"We were making better and faster runs every time we made it to the starting line," said Eman, who is in his sophomore year of driving Extreme Pro Stock.

When you have a car performing in this manner, it only adds to the natural celebrations such as Aruban Flag Day.

“It's like the U.S. Independence. March 18th is the same for us,” said Eman. “We decided to have a little cook-out and invited everyone to come celebrate with us.”

Eman is a native of Aruba studying mechanical engineering at the University of Central Florida. Once he graduates, Eman has his sights set on a career in drag racing.

Running the ADRL fits Eman's plans perfectly. The family has located the race team in Union, South Carolina. When it comes close to race time, Eman's father flies up from Aruba, joining his son and together they head off to the next ADRL event, of which there are nine scheduled in 2010. The family is serious about their drag racing. Eman's father has a long history in local drag racing and the current crew chief is Carl Baker, a former mountain motor frontrunner in the IHRA.

Not many think of drag racing when the conversation turns to Aruba. Palm trees, sandy beaches and relaxation is the typical image conjured up at the mention of the Caribbean island which sits off the northern coast of South America.

Aruba is all those things says Eman.

“Aruba relies on tourism, it's the main economy,” explained Eman, but he added, “Drag racing is one if the biggest sports in Aruba. We have 200-300 race cars in Aruba from street cars to bracket cars with good drivers.”

Aruba could be the perfect vacation spot for a drag racing. A spot to get away from it all and be able to get a little shot of racing in between the rising and setting of the island sun.