Tigges Talk - Road Trip Day 1 & 2 - September 2023

Team Tigges is closing our season with an extended road trip, my first with the team. I woke up Tuesday morning at 3 AM & drove down from Maine to the plant in Holbrook. Mike had driven over from Albany, NY on Monday & Rick arrived from Rhode Island. Mark reported that traffic was heavy when he drove up from Freetown in southern Massachusetts.

The car had been fully torn down & gone over after our last race at New England Dragway, including fresh rings, valvesprings & bearings. It was fully loaded into the trailer, ready to go. The service vehicles had seen maintenance as well, fresh rubber, packed wheel bearings & all the other little things that add up, taking way more time than expected, not to mention the extra preparation for two weeks on the road.

Our plan is to compete in the NHRA National event in Charlotte, North Carolina followed by hitting the last Northeast Regional the following weekend in Richmond, Virginia. Being a national event, we had the pleasure (spoken loosely) of filling out waivers online in advance of the event. I really have a distain for electrons & attempting to get a vague resemblance of my signature using my finger on a smartphone screen was a challenge.

Our entourage left the plant at 9:30 & at 10:30 found ourselves bound up in stopped traffic on the Mass Pike. Stopped traffic as in people out of their cars talking in the lanes. A bad accident nine miles ahead had closed the interstate in both directions. Our expectations of making a full pull to the track were dimming. As they say in the rally world… ‘press on regardless’, which is what we did.

Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland & West Virginia all passed under the tires interrupted by fuel stops, kamikaze dumptrucks, opportunities for man & dog to water the land & the ever-present mocking of the electrons. I had destroyed my smartphone screen at New England Dragway & just received the replacement the day before we left, so an incomplete software update was preventing me from accessing cellular data. The Duramax was being rebellious as well, with a number of quick stops required to reset the ECM using key on-off cycles. Our long day slowly turned into night.

We pulled into a packed truck stop on I81 in Virginia, found a spot to wedge the hauler & RV into then called it a day. It was just around midnight. You can tell you are tired when four guys can actually be somewhat successful sleeping in a crew cab dually. Between the four of us we likely got a solid six hours of interrupted dozing. Truck stop life is crazy, one 18-wheeler clipped the front bumper off another with a huge crash then fled the scene bring the state cops. Of course, there was the familiar drone of diesel throughout the evening.

Morning started around 5AM with Ollie the wonder dog defending the RV as I moved it to allow another 18-wheeler swing axis to leave. We fueled up the entourage & hit the highway feeling like we never left the vehicles. Passing through Virginia & the rolling Appalachian Blue Hills, we entered North Carolina for our last leg to Charlotte arriving at the sportsman staging area around noon. We were directed to a parking area beside the NASCAR track, where we were told we would be called to the dragstrip pits later.

Brain fog had set in. There was no shade and little sleep over the past days. Dave showed up from South Carolina & we all settled into ‘hurry up and wait’ mode. Wishing we could get pitted, get the awning up and settle in, we had little to do. We gassed up the generators then decoupled the trailer from the Duramax & Mark & Rick headed out to refuel. On the way out Mark swung by the pro pits & realized that there were several alcohol cars already in the pits. Alas, it was now too late to get assigned a pit space, so we were on the outside looking in.

Regular readers may have noticed I have said nothing about food. This was part of our foggy decision making. Dave had brought some killer ribs that had Rick’s potatoes/onion/green peppers & baked beans with onion/ground beef as spectacular side acts. Mark, Fred & Claire mastered the cooking process while Dave served up some hotel credits to supply sleeping quarters for us crew guys at a local hotel. We drove out to the hotel fairly early, around 10PM, with plans to be back Thursday morning to finally get settled in.

Next up, getting ready to race.

Chris Saulnier – Team Tigges
Mechanic Falls, Maine

 

how is FRTED OUR PRAYERS IS FOR HIM-mIKE&jANET

 

Thx for the updates Chris!!! Be safe heading home and give my best to Fred and the rest of the team/family!!!

 

Fred is doing well, better today, no cough and good strength.
Just posted day 3 & 4.
Thanks for the prayers Mike & Janet, we appreciate them.
Chris

 

Thx for the update Chris!!! Safe travels and remember that as one sport we love is ending, another is just beginning!!!
Let’s Go Pens!!! ️