Toward NASCAR

Auckland speedway driver and Midget racer Michael Pickens, 25, is on the way to his dream of a NASCAR future getting stock car experience on paved tracks this summer in the ASA Late Model Series North Division races at Wisconsin International Speedway. Pickens is the latest in what is becoming a flood of talent emerging from New Zealand’s domestic speedway scene. Racing in the US, he won USAC, Powri and Badger-sanctioned (dirt midget) feature races in 2007. Pickens arrived in Illinois in early April this year and will leave in October, arriving home just in time for the Midget season in New Zealand. “I miss my family the most,” he said. “But when you are racing, it keeps your mind off it.”