NASCAR, Team Herat.

Sometimes, when we don't have a lot flying to do...we look for things to pass the time. It turns out the Afghans are big NASCAR fans, who knew?! I think it's kinda redneck stupid, but anyway...it's a good way to earn money to buy more chickens for our chicken coup. We race the Spanish and the Italians, though they are more into Formula 1 than NASCAR. The Italian Chinook is pretty easy to beat, it's just too big and doesn't corner that well, but the Mangusta gets us every time! Sucks losing to guys in speedos! The Spanish Cougars and Pumas are too polite, so they're pretty easy to beat. It's not just the Europeans either, we race the Tajiks...they're tough and they're sneaky. That one is Mi-17 vs Mi-17...

The only rules are just No Flying! So we race 'em up and down the runway and around the helipad. It can be pretty tough on the equipment. This a main landing gear tire, my Afghan pilot was a little hard on the brakes...

So it was into the pits for a tire change! The pit crew is part of any successful NASCAR effort and it's the same in helicopter ground taxi racing too.

And really, it's the teamwork that makes for a winning effort in the Pebsi Cup title. These guys are great...they work well together and communicate in several jibber jabber languages. 

And now a word from our sponser....Pebsi. They've won every Taliban taste test, 3 out of 5 Afghans prefer Pebsi to Super Cola, when the question was asked without an AK-47...

And here is just another example of teamwork...these guys are 'optically harmonised'...it says so on the side of the helicopter. Only, maintenance guys can't actually read, so we just tell them to work together...or we'll make them drink Super Cola.

This is an action shot...the spinny thing on the tail was a little wobbly so this guy is tightening it up, with a crescent wrench and putting a fresh quart of oil in the gearbox. You might be wondering why he's performing maintenance in his underwear...I thought it because he lost a bet, but it turns out he feels like those funny fire proof suits slow him in down, so do shoes.

After a tough day of racing, it's nice to relax in the pool. But there are rules for the pool:

                               1. no speedos

2. you have to have showered in the last week

So that pretty much keeps the Italians and the Afghans out, and the Spanish government doesn't allow their airmen to go near water. One of my Afghan interpreters told me that "a pool with out birds is like a $50 with the 5"...please refer to the previous post for the definition of 'bird'. He is the wisest interpreter I've ever met.

And if you just by any chance doubt the dedication of the Afghan NASCAR fans...did you know they marry their first cousins? It's completely normal here! But only from the mom's side...you know, genetics they say....and yes, that's actually true.