It’s certainly not everyday that work is as interesting as it was when I spent the weekend a couple of years ago at Elkhart Lake Wisconsin. You see my job on the operations and production side of the business usually means staying at the plant. Don’t’ misunderstand me! I really enjoy building trailers (cargo trailers, specialty trailers, and race trailers) of all types and sizes. My job is very challenging and most of the time quite rewarding. However, there is a very detached and remote aspect of building something but then never seeing it actually being used.
The process of designing, engineering, and building specialized and very personal race trailers for customers really hit home when I actually saw them in use. The event was an SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) weekend of races. It ran from Friday to Sunday with nine distinct race divisions. There were race cars of every shape, size, age, and class. They ranged from open wheeled race cars (formerly used on the professional circuit) to cars with only factory installed equipment. Of course the only way to get those cars to the track was with a race trailer.
That’s where I come in. Did I mention that I build trailers for a living, in this case race trailers! There will well over 300 trailers at the event from at least 30 different manufacturers. Well of course everyone there is watching the race, but I’m going around looking at all the race trailers. They were as different and as varied as the race cars themselves. Some were simple (a box on wheels), while others were incredibly detailed and complex. They all served a purpose and from talking to the owners they were as proud of their trailers as they were of their cars.
Yes. I did eventually get around to watching a few of the races and that was fun, but certainly not as much fun if I could have been driving in the race. If you are interested in some really cool race trailers check out www.aluminumtailer.com
By the way that’s where I work, and as I said one of these days I really need to get away from the plant. Maybe I could build a trailer for you, then you could let me wreck ‘er I mean race your car.
Tags: ATC, Car Haulers, motiv, Race Trailers
