IRWIN crowns new winner in Tradesman Challenge (cont'd)

Last year, IRWIN's UTC matched competitors from the U.S. only. This year, they opened it up to Australia, New Zealand and other parts of the South Pacific. Vander Wielen is from Eaton, in Western Australia.

In all, more than 10,000 tradesmen competed in 200 local events in 37 U.S. stages, four Canadian provinces, Australia and New Zealand.

Eric Howard drills his way to victory.

"The participation and passion among this year's Ultimate Tradesman Challenge contestants has been truly impressive," said Eric Rich, director of marketing for IRWIN Industrial Tools.

For Vander Wielen, it was a whirlwind.

"They flew me to Phoenix for this and gave me a couple nights in Las Vegas and some spending money," he said from Las Vegas after the contest. "It's been very good. The final was pretty amazing."

He also found the NASCAR race weekend a bit daunting.

"The actual size ... it's a completely different atmosphere," he said. "You look at all the RVs and stuff ... we have nothing like that. Our sort of crowd may come, may go, but they don't get in and sit in their seats for four or five hours. The size of the crowd blows you away."

Being the first UTC champion from Australia was a good deal for Vander Wielen.

"It was pretty good," he said. "To go to NASCAR is pretty much a dream for anyone from Australia. We lost, but the whole trip was winning for us."

Ambrose, the Aussie V-8 SuperCar champion who has made it into NASCAR, lent his support to Vander Wielen, who appreciated the effort.

"He's pretty laid-back," Vander Wielen said. "That was good of him to come and do that. It was good for the crowd. I used to follow him back home. To come over here and meet him was great."

In all, Vander Wielen said that he was eager to make another try.

"I'll give it a crack, that's for sure," he said. "We were joking before we left, and I told them, 'I'll see you next year.' It was pretty tough to get through Australia, but with a bit of luck I'll be back."