If you don’t like to read, then just check out the photos.
Some of you may or may not know that I manage a motorsports marketing team for the #26 IRWIN Tools NASCAR team. Some of you may not care.
Either way, what happened from 2pm on Tuesday through 3am on Wednesday of this week was just unbelievably bad. I have a team of 4 people who report directly to me and 4 others that report to a counterpart of mine on the Sharpie side. We were all traveling from Charlotte to Talladega, AL with our 4 brand new RXT trucks and custom trailers when the one in front of me got loose and crashed. Two of my guys lost control, jack knifed to the right, hit a guard rail, then bounced back across traffic and stopped in the median. During this the trailer flipped onto its side, broke completely away from the truck, and was severly damaged. The truck was stopped by the steel cables in the median which kept them from going head on into traffic, but fucked up the truck.
This all happened right in front of me and it seemed like slow motion. As the truck sat in the median and the smoke cleared, I seriously though it was a dream. It wasn’t.
Luckily no one was hurt and no one else was involved. We spent 3 hours on I-85 as they cleaned up the wreckage. They had 3 wreckers, cops, the whole interstate shut down, and some news folks there. Ended up costing me $6,000 just for the wrecker service…
After that we get back on the road with the other 3 trucks and one more identical trailer. Got about 20 minutes down the road and engine warning lights came on in two of the trucks. That forced us to spend the night in SC. In the morning, we get back on the road head through Atlanta, get to the other side of the city and BOOM, there goes a trailer tire. We pull off and get to a gas station. Service comes to look at it, and it ends being more than a flat tire. Bent wheel, stripped every stud in the hub, and broken brake line. Because the studs and lugs were stripped, the wheel would not come off. Had to get a low deck 18 wheeler to come from NC to get the trailer. We got to the gas station at 1pm and left the gas station after loading the trailer at 3am. Not much to do at a gas station for 14 hours. Wow that sucked.
Finally pulled in to Talladega almost 2 days later, with no trailers, and have to cancel our marketing display. Lets total it all up…
RXT truck: $105,000
Custom trailer : $115,000
Accident Wrecker fees: $6,000
Blown tire wrecker fees: $2,000
empty track display fees $30,000
Total: $258,000 (of course, I have insurance)
Corporate is coming down on me pretty hard.
Definitely the SUCK…
Cliff notes: Had a truck/trailer crash, and then another trailer get fucked up.
