Over the next month, Brent Vosbergen will get a taste of the American dream, and it all starts Thursday on the opening night of Dream XXIX at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. One of Australia’s best short-track racers has partnered with car owner Roger Sellers to hit the national Dirt Late Model circuit charged by a quintuplet of high-profile events.

After this week's Dream — the Perth native's first-ever race in the states — it’s off to Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway’s $100,000-to-win XR Super Series race June 12. Vosbergen’s American tour rounds out with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series at Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tenn., on June 16-17; Lernerville Speedway’s Firecracker 100 in Sarver, Pa., on June 22-24; and Muskingum County Speedway in Zanesville, Ohio, on June 30-July 1.

“We couldn’t say no to it,” Vosbergen said of the opportunity to work with Sellers. “He offered for us to come over and run one of his cars and motors. He’s been kind enough to lend us an RV and a trailer and everything. Yeah, without him, none of this would have happened. It’s an opportunity of a lifetime. You couldn’t really say no to be honest. I get to bring the family with me, too, which is awesome.”

Vosbergen is a proven winner Down Under, having won 16 of his last 30 races the last two seasons, namely the Australia’s Super Bowl of Late Model races — the Australian Late Model Championship at Premier Speedway’s Sungold Stadium in Warrnambool, Victoria.

As far as expectations for his short time in the states, Vosbergen isn’t demanding much of himself, even if he’s in race-winning equipment. Actually, the car he’ll use at this week’s Dream was Hudson O’Neal’s primary Rocket Chassis last year. 

“To be honest, I’d be over the moon if I could make a couple A-mains,” Vosbergen said. “The Lucas deal is the best there is in the whole world. If I can make the top-20 and get to the A-main, get some laps under my belt, that’d be the main aim, I think. Obviously Eldora, the atmosphere is unreal.

“At Eldora, hopefully we’ll stay out of trouble and hopefully get into a B-main and give us a shot to make the race. I’ve been there plenty of times to watch. I’ve seen it and it can happen. Hopefully we’ll put us in a spot where we can capitalize … and have some fun with friends and Roger, and hangout and have a good time.”

The back story of Vosbergen’s connection to Sellers is one of either divine intervention or the strangest kind of coincidence. Vosbergen’s father, Craig, previously made similar trips to race in the United States annually in a Shanon Buckingham-owned car.

In 2017, the Vosbergens’ racing trailer leased from the Morristown, Tenn., driver broke down between travels, and they needed to a place that’d diagnose and remedy the issues. The place they sought for repairs was Tennessee RV Supercenter, an RV dealership formerly owned by Sellers that he sold to Lazydays Holdings in 2018.

Sellers and his staff got the Vosbergens back on the road in no time, and not just that, but Sellers didn’t charge the Vosbergens a dime for what turned out to be an issue with the generator. 

“His guys went to fix it up, and we went to pay the bill, and there was no bill,” Vosbergen said. “Ever since then, we’ve connected real well. They’re some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. It led to this.”

The deal that has Vosbergen in a quality ride formulated two years ago, on the back end of Australia’s stringent but gradually dissolving Covid-19 travel restrictions. It was over the winter when the pieces fell into place as the Sellers-owned Double Down Motorsports team transitioned from O’Neal to new driver Devin Moran. Sellers allowed Moran to station his race team out of Moran’s shop in Ohio while converting from Rocket Chassis to Longhorns.

While Sellers sold most of last year’s equipment to make room for the new fleet of Longhorns, the team owner kept two Rocket Chassis for Vosbergen’s American stint. Vosbergen will also be working out of the Maryville, Tenn., shop of Sellers, which Jason Papich Racing is leasing for Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series regular Earl Pearson Jr.'s efforts.

Sellers and the Papich Racing team, as well as Big River Steel of Osceola, Ark., are the major players behind the scenes that have made Vosbergen’s longtime goal of racing stateside a reality.

“You have to rely on a lot of people to help you out, and you’re a long way from home,” Vosbergen said. “It’s hard, as I said. Like, J.C. Crockett who works for Earl, he’s on the phone with me asking if I need this or need that. It takes a lot of people to have what we have now.”

Vosbergen’s even leaned on the best assets Dirt Late Model racing has to offer to get to this point. When his father Craig raced in the states raced annually for a month or two at a time through 2018, the younger Vosbergen spent time crewing with Jonathan Davenport and Kevin Rumley during the summer of 2016 amid their 22-win season.

“Honestly, that’s probably half the reason I’ve been successful back home … me learning so much from them,” said Vosbergen, whose connection with Rumley started when Steve Shaver raced one of Vosbergen’s cars in Australia in the early 2010s.

Rumley, fielding race cars for Shaver in the states at that time, joined Shaver in that trip to Australia. When comparing the racing cultures, Vosbergen said the prototypical Australian dirt track are considerably flatter than U.S. ovals. Eldora’s banked corners and great speed, for instance, is entirely new territory for Vosbergen, who also detailed the difference in cultures.

“The culture, obviously here (in the United States) they live it and breathe it,” Vosbergen said. “Back home, it’s more of a hobby, so we race once every four nights maybe. The competition is pretty good; it’s getting a lot better. There’s a lot of new equipment, like Longhorns and Rockets and Barry Wrights, all that good stuff. The last five years, the competition has probably tripled. It’s nothing like here.

“It’s their day job here and they take it pretty serious. When you race three or four times a week — I think some guys do 100 nights a year? — it’s just a different world over here. You can dominate in Australia, then come here and struggle to make the race. We understand that. We’ve been around the sport long enough to know to not take anyone for granted, and hopefully have some fun, and hopefully the results will come.”

Depending on the experience, Vosbergen could make an annual trip to race in the United States just like his father Craig once did. Craig even captured a Schaffer’s Summer Nationals event at Crossville (Tenn.) Speedway in 2016. But Vosbergen is aware that performance won’t dictate whether he could return again. It’s the logistics — the ride, shop space, housing, funds and more — that must come together.

“I don’t know what’s in the future here,” Vosbergen said. “We’ll take it this month and see what happens after that. It’s hard. … We’re lucky enough that we’re surrounded by pretty nice people. It doesn’t happen without these kinds of guys offering their time. Hopefully one day we’ll be back again.”