Caribbean Quarter-Mile

Now this is fun in the sun! 

- Bill Stephens

MOST PEOPLE COME TO ARUBA TO RELAX; NOW SOME ARE COMING TO RACE. IT’S LATE AUGUST AND I’M SITTING IN A SMALL, CASUAL, LOCAL RESTAURANT NAMED THE GRILLE HOUSE ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF DOWNTOWN ORANJESTAD, THE CAPITAL CITY OF ARUBA. Seated across from me is the father-and son team of Ven and Trevor Eman. Besides competing in the relentlessly challenging Mountain Motor Pro Stock category of the IHRA with their Team Aruba Ford Mustang, they are working to give Aruba a world-class drag racing facility, one which has gone through a litany of ups and downs through a passing parade of management changes for nearly four decades.

Team Aruba’s racing successes have been solidly supported by the Aruba Airport Authority, Aruba Tourism Authority and Arubathings.com due in large part to the valuable exposure their Pro Stock team provides the island. An even greater influx of promotion is now on their agenda based on the future of Palo Marga Raceway.

Aruba is an equatorial island paradise 18 miles north of Venezuela with immaculate, powdery beaches, soothing breezes hustled along by trade winds, and a true cosmopolitan vibe spiked by the designer shops, gourmet restaurants and massive ship terminal in the center of Oranjestad. Not widely known about the island is its active and enthusiastic community of devoted drag racers (and drifters) who have built sizzling rivalries on their own turf and with racers from nearby Curaçao, Bonaire, Puerto Rico and Venezuela.

Palo Marga Raceway is about a 40-minute drive southeast of Oranjestad. The quarter-mile dragstrip is surrounded by little in the way of development, stretching by itself across the dry, desert-like topography, watched over by a string of immense wind generators spinning in the face of the trade winds as the government of Aruba works toward achieving total energy independence in the near future.