For a racing champion like Jason Meyers, it's hard to truly take your foot off the gas.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The two-time World of Outlaws sprintcar champion may have retired from full-time racing 18 months ago, but it has done little to keep him from the track.
A California native, Meyers is in Australia this week to partner the Albion Park-based Steve Caunt Racing team.
The pair linked up three years ago and, after a 12-month hiatus, are planning an assault on Australia's prestigious Week of Money.
"We have a lot of fun and for me these are the very cars that I built in our shop and motors and all that, so they have continued to maintain them once they have got here.
"It is like home away from home for me."
Meyers competed at last weekend's round of the World Series Sprintcars Championship in Lismore.
A flat tyre restricted the 34-year-old to eighth place, but with the help of Caunt, Meyers will contest races in Avalon and Mount Gambier this week before his whirlwind trip peaks in Warrnambool on Sunday for the 42nd Annual Grand Sprintcar Classic.
It's one of the few crowns to have eluded Meyers.
"I want to win it finally. I have run the Classic about six times now and have been really close," Meyers said.
"We have got all the right pieces and we have got everything we need, we just have to put it all together."
With more than 70 career feature-race wins, Meyers knows better than most what it takes to "put it all together".
But his journey to becoming one of the most well-known faces in sprintcars didn't happen in the blink of an eye.
"I grew up in a family where nobody raced in my family but we were race fans and we went to a lot of motorcycle races when I was younger. One thing led to another, we got into karting and then what we call micro sprint [formulas] and then you get to that point where you are winning.
"You have this dream as a kid, and then you think 'Is it practical? Can it be a reality?' My parents are the ones who really gave me the opportunity.
"They spent a lot of their hard-earned money to give me some opportunities to get me started and we had some success . . . here we are 13 years later."
While racing has now taken a back seat to a budding commercial framing construction career, Meyers doesn't intend stepping away from the game completely.
"The one thing that I have taken from racing, with all of the wins and stuff like that, the thing you miss the most is the friendships and relationships that you have all over the world," Meyers said.
"To have this opportunity to come over here and see the Caunt family is probably the most enjoyable part of it.
"Hopefully we can continue for several years."