PCA Club Racing Drivers Wiggins and Heptig Embrace Trucking to Fulfill Racing Bucket List

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It started off innocently enough. Jeff Wiggins got into Porsche Club of America (PCA) Club Racing in 2007, where he met fellow Club Racer Pat Heptig. Fast forward 10 years later, their passion for racing led them to buy a massive semitractor-trailer that has helped them cross off several “bucket list” items.
 
Wiggins and Heptig are now using the semitractor-trailer to haul their cars around to different races across the United States and Canada.
 
“For some crazy reason we thought to ourselves, ‘Hey, we’re not getting any younger, we need to go run some of our bucket list tracks,'” Wiggins said.
 
“We talked about it for a while and we figured out what it would take to really do this, and did a ton of research before we took the plunge,” Heptig said.
 
The duo bought a 2014 International semi-tractor in an auction sight unseen in Florida. Following that purchase, they bought a six-car stacker trailer in Georgia to complete the rig.
 
After dozens of hours studying YouTube videos and physically learning how to shift a 10-speed semi (with no synchros) over a span of a couple of weeks, the racing duo drove several hours from their hometowns in Texas to take the official driving test for their Commercial Driver’s License (CDL).
The racing duo’s set up in Canada

 

“We thought to ourselves, ‘How hard can be it? We both have years of heavy equipment and trailering experience,'” Wiggins said. “Well, we had to get a learner’s permit and practice driving all over again at age 55.”
 
“We literally learned how to drive this thing on the Internet,” Heptig laughed.
 
They both passed the CDL test – despite Heptig’s first botched attempt at parallel parking the 72-foot rig. He got it right on the second attempt, and they were literally off to the races after that.
 
To these Dallas, Texas natives, it’s a huge responsibility and commitment, but also an exciting way to check items off their bucket lists.
 
Their inaugural trip with their new semitractor-trailer to Watkins Glen International was one of those items. Wiggins and Heptig traveled there in early June for the 17th annual Clash at The Glen Porsche Club of America (PCA) event where they competed against more than 270 other PCA drivers.
 
The beautiful Le Circuit Mont Tremblant track and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, both located north of the border, were checked off the bucket list next. The pair ended their 2017 four-track bucket list tour with Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin over Labor Day weekend.
 
“Each of the races were about a month apart, and we did four tracks on this specific route and had to find places to park in between,” Heptig said.
The duo’s truck on a ferry en route to a race.
A couple of those parking spots were on a Christmas tree farm outside of Toronto and a dairy farm in New York.
 
Next year, the pair is hoping to complete six courses, including tracks like Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, VIRginia International Raceway and Barber Motorsports Park. However, this time, they will not be doing it alone.
 
“We already have racers interested in our journey for next season’s route,” said Wiggins.
 
“They see that this is real now,” Heptig said. “We talked about it and they didn’t believe it, but we actually finally did it, and now a new chapter in race adventures begins!”

 

Adam Sinclair
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