Wytopitlock’s Cushman to compete in ‘GearWrench Racing Speed Challenge’

    PRESQUE ISLE — Four Northern Maine Community College automotive technology senior students and their instructor have been selected to compete in the first-ever “GearWrench Racing Speed Challenge” on Friday, Sept. 23, at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon.
    The race is set as a warm up of sorts leading up to both the Camping World Series Truck race on Saturday, featuring the no. 17 GearWrench/Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra driven by Timothy Peters, and the Sylvania 300 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series which takes center track on Sunday – but there’s a catch. Unlike the racers who will round the oval over the weekend, the NMCC students, and their counterparts from four other New England colleges, will be competing on three wheels instead of four, and top speed will be determined by a very different kind of pedal power and pit crew effort.
Contributed photo
TRIKE RACE — Northern Maine Community College “Trike Team” members are preparing to race at the famed New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire this coming weekend. Participating on “Team NMCC” are Hal Cushman (seated on tricycle) of Wytopitlock, (standing, left to right) John Gardner of Millinocket, Joshua Bragdon of Ashland, and NMCC Automotive Technology Instructor Dan Boyd.  Missing from the photo is team member Derek Finnemore of Mapleton.
    That’s because the students will race using an adult size Schwinn Tricycle provided by GearWrench and the tool company’s Maine product distributor, Bangor-headquartered N.H. Bragg. Before requiring fast footwork on the part of the students, the challenge will first put to use some of the technical skills they are learning in that they will have to assemble the tricycle that will be broken down in various parts and components.
    Partaking in the NMCC pit crew and vying for the trike driver title are Hal Cushman of Wytopitlock, Joshua Bragdon of Ashland, Derek Finnemore of Mapleton and John Gardner of Millinocket. The foursome, under the guidance of NMCC automotive instructor Dan Boyd, will go head to head with similar size teams from two sister Maine Community College System campuses – Washington County Community College and Eastern Maine Community College – and one school each from New Hampshire and Vermont in the challenge that will be televised on the SPEED Channel.
    “This is a great opportunity for the students, the college, and our program to gain some exposure. This event will give these students a chance to display their skills, have a good time, and win some tools, as each of the five schools invited to participate will win GearWrench tools in varying amounts based on how you place,” said Boyd. “Like the NASCAR racers, we are preparing for our big race at Loudon with practice runs here at the college.”
    Those practices involve both disassembling and reassembling the trike, using $1,000 worth of tools provided by GearWrench, and practice spins to see which of the four student team members will be pegged to actually race around a track created by the GearWrench Racing Team at Loudon.
    In addition to bragging rights, the winning team earns $1,000 in GearWrench tools and five pit passes to join the GearWrench 17 Race Team for the Saturday Truck Series Race at the Speedway. All other four finishing teams receive GearWrench tool sets in various amounts and five tickets to the Saturday Truck Series race.