Most Americans never stop to think about being Americans. Lex and Gerda Joon think about it almost every day.
It’s not because they have to, but because they spent years trying to become something millions of people inherited the day they were born. That’s why America’s 250th birthday wasn’t simply another Fourth of July for the husband-and-wife owners of Joon Racing. It became a reminder of a journey that stretched far beyond drag racing.
The Joons became United States citizens officially on Nov. 23, 2025. Their oath only took a few minutes, but the journey leading there took years of patience, even more paperwork and faith that one day they could finally become Americans.
What neither expected was how much their first Independence Day as citizens would affect them. To hear them talk about it; it was about as overwhelming of an experience as one could face.
The fireworks, parades and backyard celebrations were nothing new. They had experienced the Fourth of July before as visitors, race fans and competitors traveling the NHRA circuit.
This year was different because, for the first time, they weren’t celebrating someone else’s country. They were celebrating their own.
Lex didn’t hesitate when asked what that realization meant.
“Basically, everything.
“We were just talking about it. It’s such an honor to live in this country and that our fellow Americans choose us to be here and to be part of this great country. It’s an honor. We are really blessed.
For once in their life, they took a day off to take in the experience.
“I did not expect it would have such an impact this day on what we are doing, because normally you’re always working really hard. I always tried to realize we are living here. And so, now we say to each other like … We try to pinch each other like we did it and we’re living here and it’s so awesome.”
There wasn’t much more to say after that.
It was twenty-five years ago, the Joons watched Americans celebrate Independence Day from the Netherlands. They never imagined they would someday own American passports, build a Top Fuel team in the United States and celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday as fellow citizens.
If there was a true “don’t pinch-me, I must be dreaming” moment, it was today for Lex.
“But a day like this, it’s like we were just talking about it 25 years ago when they were celebrating, 50 years ago when they were celebrating here. We had no clue we would be a part of America and we would live here when we celebrate 250 years. It’s still a little bit unreal, but at the same time it’s so cool.”
Spend enough time around the Joons and one thing becomes obvious. They didn’t come to America looking for a better vacation. They came looking for a place to build a life.
Drag racing introduced them to America, but it wasn’t nitromethane that kept pulling them back across the Atlantic. It was the opportunity they saw beyond the race track, where hard work still opened doors and the future wasn’t limited by where someone happened to be born.
That perspective shapes almost every conversation Lex has about America. He doesn’t speak in slogans, but in comparisons because he has lived both lives.
When something happens that reminds him why he wanted to become an American, he’ll often point it out to the people around him. Most smile politely because they don’t immediately understand what he sees. Many have taken for granted what the Joons see because it’s always been there for them as American citizens.
“Almost every day something happens, and then I think or say to the other person in the room, ‘This is what I like about America.’ Then they look at me like, ‘Well, what do you mean?’ I said, ‘This is about freedom.’
“Then they’ll look at me and then they say, ‘Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. I don’t see it like that because I’m used to it.’ I said, ‘Yeah, we are not used to it and I will never get used to it,’ because freedom is something that you basically see every day, especially when you live in America. But most people here just don’t realize it.”
No matter how many times the average America takes it for granted. Lex will never be able to think of it as just something he has.
“I will never get used to it.”
For Lex, freedom isn’t an idea reserved for holidays or speeches. It’s something he notices in ordinary moments that most Americans pass without a second thought.
The Netherlands gave him a baseline many native-born Americans never experience. America didn’t replace his appreciation for where he came from, but it changed the way he measures everyday life.
“Even people in Europe say like when you were living in the Netherlands, when you were living in Europe, you were free? Absolutely. But the freedom you have here in the USA is different. It’s totally different. You can pick and choose where you want to live. Every state has its own things. You can find your freedom. You can find your way of living. And those things are not normal.
“I mean I explained like you Americans, a lot of us have no passports because there is no reason to go outside the USA. Well, what do you mean? You got everything. If you want to go skiing, you can go skiing. If you want to go to the sun, you can go to the sun. You have everything here. It’s all here. You can pay with the same currency. You can talk the same language. You can drive any car you want.”
Even the most simple things in life, like owning a Cadillac became one of them.
“If you live in the Netherlands, you have to pay $8, $9 a gallon gas because they don’t like the big cars,” Lex said. “We are driving a Cadillac because we think it’s the better car out there to have as a private car. If you have something like that in the Netherlands, you have to pay $400 or $500 road tax a month. You don’t have a parking spot in front of your house because it’s only made for small cars. Again, you have to pay $9 a gallon of gas. And your neighbors don’t like you because of the car you’re driving.
“It’s all those things. I can keep talking about it.”
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It’s not all about taxes, gasoline and automobiles, those are just a few example towards a bigger picture.
“Gerda and I always say, some people feel they’re born in the wrong body,” Lex said. “We were born in the wrong country. We belong here.”
Gerda reached that conclusion differently. Lex spends most of his time in interviews explaining why America matters. Gerda prefers the emotion of it.
Years before she became an American citizen, she found herself drawn to traditions that many race fans barely notice anymore. The national anthem before eliminations, the American flag waving over the starting line and the patriotic songs played over the public-address system became part of the soundtrack that convinced her she had found where she belonged.
“Pride,” she said. “Totally proud that we are living here. Like Lex said, we are still pinching ourselves.
“I always thought of America as the baddest country out here. To actually be here and live here and be an American citizen and having an American passport, being at the drag racings and seeing the national anthem and the American flag, I still get goosebumps and I still get tears in my eyes.”
If there is one place where the Joons differ, it isn’t in how much they love America. It is in how they express it.
Lex appreciates the country with quiet reflection. Gerda wears her patriotism on her sleeve.
For years, Proud to be an American by Lee Greenwood has followed the NHRA Safety Safari as they made their pre-race parade. It’s also a spong that played in their office abroad many times.
Long before she ever became an American citizen, Gerda found herself trying to figure out why everyone around her seemed to know every word.
But another song stole her heart for different reasons. She’s partial to Toby Keith’s Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue.
“I never heard of Toby Keith in Europe,” she said. “So at a certain point I just went to Google and I Googled song with, ‘We’ll put a boot in your ass. It’s the American way,’ and that’s how I came to Toby Keith.”
That phrase has become Gerda’s favorite part of the song.
“One hundred percent,” Lex said.
“That is America,” Gerda added.
Lex has discovered that the easiest way to explain why America feels different isn’t to debate it. It’s to encourage people to leave it for a while.
He believes travel changes perspective, but living somewhere else changes it even more.
“Get a passport,” he said. “Don’t go there for a holiday. Holidays are always nice. Go there, try to live there, try to make a living, try to find a house. Then you understand what you got here and what you have here is unbelievably cool and it’s badass.”
That realization became even more personal the day he and Gerda received their American passports.
“The bottom line in all of this is when we got our American passports, we looked at each other and we said, ‘This is it,'” Lex said. “Why is it? If we are ever in another country and something bad will happen to us, Americans will come and get us, and you can forget about it in other countries. It’s part of the deal. We take care of each other.”
Then there’s the one opportunity Lex would love to have but never get.
If he could spend a few minutes with the men who founded the nation he now proudly calls home, what would he tell them 250 years after they declared America’s independence?
“What I would say, I think those guys did an amazing job, because what they put together for us, our Founding Fathers, is still totally relevant. We need to live by that, because those people knew what it was about. You can see in everything they wrote down and put together that it makes sense. Everything is like a guide still for us today. And that’s America.
“The thing is this, and it sounds a little bit harsh, but if you don’t like it here, there’s nobody here that’s going to say you need to stay here. You are free to go. It’s like our Founding Fathers put this together. This is it. And if you come here and you don’t like it, go. Or if you want to come here, then read about it and then say, ‘Well, I don’t know,’ and maybe you won’t come. This is America and we as Americans, we will defend it, and that’s what we do.”
Gerda has one final thought for lifetime Americans to ponder. It is brief, but after everything the couple have shared about becoming Americans, it also feel like a statement every American should remember on July 5, 2026, and beyond.
“It is we the people, by the people, for the people,” she said. “That’s the people. That’s not the government.”
