Welcome to NZ 2 USA
About Us
Welcome to the NZ 2 USA Website - Here is a brief profile:
My name is Graeme Percasky. I've been a hot rod enthusiast and actively involved in a few Christchurch clubs for many years. Some of the hot rods I've owned over the years include: 1948 Chev pick-up, 1955 Ford Popular, 1923 T Bucket, 1972 Cadillac, 1955 Chev, 1973 Buick Riviera and 1984 Corvette.
I'm a keen amateur photographer and took drag racing photos at Ruapuna Raceway for the NZ Hot Rod magazine for several years during the 80s and 90s.
My wife Shirley and I got the USA travel bug after a fantastic family holiday in 1996, we loved everything about the USA, especially the hot rod scene and driving on the freeways. The idea for taking NZ'ers on hot rod tours to the USA developed after our second family holiday in 2002.
We've been drag racing fans for years and watch it on ESPN, but we were hooked after we went to our first NHRA Drag meeting in 2002 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma California.
We knew there were lots of other hot rodders in NZ who would love to go to NHRA drag meetings, go on hot rod cruises and to swap meets; who would love to visit some of the hot rod shops they've seen on the Discovery channel, go to hot rod events and visit some popular tourist attractions like Disneyland, Hoover Dam, Hollywood Blvd, Universal Studios etc.
After a lot of research, planning and enlisting the help of a great travel agent I took the first group on an NHRA Drag Racing tour in 2004. This was followed by a second tour in 2005 where we went to the two end-of-year NHRA meetings in Las Vegas and Pomona. In 2007 and 2008 the tour went to Bonneville Salt Flats for Speedweek.
With several NZ teams competing in the 60th anniversary event in 2008 there was a huge amount of interest from supporters from throughout NZ.
Future tours will include: more NHRA Drag Racing, Bonneville Speedweek, California Hot Rod Reunion, NASCAR, Goodguys Hot Rod Events, Santa Maria, Viva Las Vegas and the Ventura Nationals.