MICK Saller could be a month from realising his dream of racing sprintcars for a living.
Saller has recently started negotiating with American sprintcar teams to find a race seat in either California or Iowa.
The Windsor Downs resident wants to be a full-time sprintcar driver, spending six months of the year in Australia and the other six in America.
Saller said nothing was confirmed yet, but he was hopeful of closing a deal at some stage in the not too distant future.
‘‘We’ve been talking with teams through someone I know in America,’’ he said.
‘‘It is actually feeling more and more surreal as I keep thinking about it [racing in America].
‘‘You sort of think can I make it, you are living in hope but the thought of that as a career is a pretty cool thought.’’
Saller said he had two very good racing options in America: California or Iowa.
He said he was torn between the two options, with California closer to home, but the quality of racing was not quite as high as Iowa.
‘‘We’re trying to decide whether we want to race east coast or west coast and trying to sort out some deals,’’ he said.
‘‘Hopefully it should be sorted out within the month. California and Iowa are so far away from each other so we have to pick one or the other.’’
Saller said it was crazy to think at some stage he could be a professional race driver.
‘‘It isn’t the lifestyle of a Formula 1 driver but you’re still living the dream,’’ he said.
‘‘If I don’t make it I will keep racing for dad and it will be fun, it just won’t be your job.
‘‘Once we decided to take racing seriously, it was never to have it be a job but I suppose that has become an option through our success.’’
For the time being, Saller will have to bide his time and wait until the negotiations conclude.
His time will not be spent idly, however. He returned to the track two weeks ago after a five-month lay off.
He is racing in the Ultimate Sprintcar Championship, and completed the first two races of the series in Queensland.
Saller said he qualified for both feature races in the series, however, only raced in one.
He said a puncture took him out of the first race, while at the weekend, he started in 18th place, and made it to 11th, before a crash prematurely ended the race.
This week, he returns to Valvoline Raceway, Granville, which is effectively his home track, and he said he was looking forward to the familiar confines.
‘‘Parramatta [Valvoline Raceway] is probably the best track to watch from in the country,’’ he said.
‘‘It is one of the best tracks in the country and I definitely like racing there. It is so open. It is easy to pass and race wheel-to-wheel with someone.
‘‘There is no wall, so if you’re racing side by side and you have to jump off the track , you can just come back on.’’
Saller, who races for his family team, Saller Motorsport, said the car was in good nick at this stage of the season.
‘‘The car is all really good, it is running really well,’’ he said.
‘‘We are starting to figure out where we need to be. This weekend will be a lot easier because we are more familiar with the track.’’
His goal this weekend is to crack the top 10.
‘‘It is great, we feel like we are getting better each week,’’ Saller said.
‘‘I feel like we can crack into the top 10 and possibly even a podium this year. Eleventh has been my best result so far but I was moving up the field quickly before the race got called off.’’
Saller’s next three races will be at the Valvoline Raceway.
Saller Motorsport is made up of Saller, his parents Monika and Mark, along with crew chief Andrew Johnson.