While Aruba is a dream destination for IHRA SuperSeries World Champions, Memphis International Raceway was a dream destination for one Aruba drag racing team. Memphis is the home of the International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) Summit SuperSeries World Finals, the largest and most prestigious national championship in bracket racing. It features an eight-day/seven-night trip from Around Aruba Tours as part of the Top and Mod World Champion prize packages. For Ruzischka Tromp, Aruba is home. A second-generation drag racer, she qualified for the World Finals through the IHRA Summit SuperSeries program at Pala Margo International Raceway Park in Aruba. After initially thinking about transporting the car she races, along with gear and equipment needed to the United States. However, after seeing the costs involved her dad called on an old family friend, Carlos Diaz, in Florida about renting his dragster. Diaz immediately agreed to lend the car to the family for the IHRA Summit SuperSeries World Finals. She flew to Florida to test and tune the dragster to her style. Another family friend, Ken Wells, helped further by providing his RV and trailer, and accompanying them for the whole weekend. Tromp drives for Brazilian Flash Racing, a team formed 30 years ago with her father, Tito, and her uncle, Luis, serving as team drivers. As a kid, she looked at the trips to the race tracks as family outings. Now, she’s the one behind the wheel of an Undercover Dragster with a 565 BBC Scott Shafiroff engine. For the Summit SuperSeries World Finals, she raced a Miller Dragster with a 565 BBC Hartbeat engine Before Memphis, she had never raced outside of Aruba. You would have never known it by her performance at Memphis. With many in her tiny island country tuning it to the live stream she won her first-round race. She was eliminated in the second round, but found the trip to Memphis more than she had imagined. She loved both the competitive and social aspect of the biggest race of the season. “The experience and knowledge I gained during the event was amazing,” she said. “I met a lot of people and felt welcomed by IHRA and other racers. Being the social islanders that we are, we made friends from North Carolina, Indiana, Texas, South Dakota and even Canada. All I can say is: I’m definitely coming back to the IHRA Summit SuperSeries World Finals!” ARUBA RACER GETS TO IHRA WORLD FINALS WITH HELP FROM FRIENDS RACER PROFILE 26