Team Summit Germany Blog: Greg Anderson

Slide Show

For the second consecutive year, a contingent of four Team Summit drivers, including 2011 NHRA Pro Stock champion Jason Line, his teammate and 2010 champion Greg Anderson, Pro Mod racer Rickie Jones and Dan Runte, driver of the legendary Summit Racing/BIGFOOT monster truck, has headed to Germany this week to visit the troops at the Ramstein Air Force base. Throughout the visit, each driver will offer their thoughts on the event, including an update on the day’s activities.

In today’s edition, Greg Anderson weighs in on traveling overseas as well as Team Summit’s first day in Germany.

Our trip got started on Saturday morning when Jason and I flew from Charlotte to Washington-Dulles airport, where we met up with Jim Greenleaf from Summit Racing as well as our guides for the week, Wayne Reed and Dieter Protsch. We boarded a United 777 for the nearly eight-hour flight to Frankfurt, where we would meet up with Dan Runte and Rickie Jones, who were coming in on a separate flight from Chicago.

I was actually surprised at how full the plane was, but fortunately it proved to be an uneventful flight. Knowing we had a full week ahead of us, we tried our best to get some sleep, with varying degrees of success. Once we arrived in Frankfurt we cleared customs, caught up with Dan and Rickie and met up with Silvio, our Armed Forces Entertainment-appointed driver for the week.

I have to say none of us expected the vehicle that awaited us.  It was a full sized bus with an interior suited for a band or other group, including a rear lounge and bunk beds--quite the setup.  Although we were told that we would be swapping this vehicle out for another later in the day, it still gave us quite a laugh. Several of our weary travelers took advantage of the sleeping quarters during the one-hour drive to Ramstein on the Autobahn as well as on subsequent drives throughout the day.

Once we arrived at the base we checked in at our hotel for the stay, the Ramstein Inn, which is located right across from the airfield. We took a little time to clean up and have a quick bite before heading out to our first activity. With no official meet and greets on our schedule for Sunday, we went to very unique transportation museum in the town of Sinsheim, which was about an hour’s drive from the base.

To be honest, I have never seen such a diverse collection in one place (see the Slide Show above for photos). The first thing you see as you pull in the parking lot are planes mounted on the roofs of the various buildings, including Concorde and TU-144 supersonic jet liners which people can climb up into. The museum has several huge buildings packed with everything from an extensive collection of military equipment, including tanks and other armored vehicles, to massive locomotives, high-end collector cars and race cars from every form of motorsports, including drag racing. It was extremely interesting and a pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

Our final stop was dinner at a little restaurant near the base called Maxi’s, where we enjoyed wienerschnitzel and potatoes served with three sauces--delicious! Everyone had a great time before heading back to our hotel to bunk in for the night.

Our trip begins in earnest tomorrow as we will spend the first of three full days visiting with the troops. We meet for breakfast at 7:00 am before heading to our first stop, the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center to spend some time with some truly deserving people, sign autographs,  hand out goody bags and spread some cheer wherever we can. It promises to be a fun day, and one of my fellow drivers will be back here tomorrow to tell you all about it!