Imagine having to steal your own truck away from the shop, even though you are the owner of said vehicle. That sounds like a crazy story, doesn’t it? Well, Jasper Drengler of Drengler Racing has lived it, and he recently sat down with Ed Bolian’s VINwiki to discuss this incredible incident.
Drengler used to run a race car rental company, and he also tows people’s cars across the country as and when they need it. Drengler was recounting a story where he was towing someone’s race car from the Sebring circuit in Florida to the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
It was during this journey that the towing truck developed a fault. The clutch fan decided it didn’t want to work anymore, but they did manage to get the car to the racetrack. They did so by putting the heat on full and rolling down the windows, so it was sweaty, but they made it.
After the event, Drengler took the car to a dealership to get it fixed, so it would be ready for the next event. However, thanks to some snow and ice, it wasn’t ready. This left Drengler with just one option.
Cold Weather Stopped Work on the Truck
“The dealership called to say, ‘ You need this part, this part, yes, fix it all. We need this truck to be reliable,” Drengler said. On the face of it, all was going well. But Texas and Louisiana were hit by an ice storm, and Drengler couldn’t get through to the dealership. Eventually he did, and they told him they couldn’t get to the dealership to finish the truck’s repairs.
So, Drengler took matters into his own hands. He went to the airport, rented a car, and drove all the way to the dealership. Drengler knew he had tools in the trailer that he had left with the truck. So, he drove to the trailer, grabbed the tools, went back to the truck, and disassembled the fence to get into the dealership. He then used a jack to move another vehicle out of the way of his truck.
With that done, he got into his truck and went to get the trailer. It had sunk into the mud, but he got it out, and he was able to get to where he needed to be, albeit 24 hours late. The dealership soon rang, confused and shocked at what Drengler had done. He paid his bill, had them ship over the key, and just kept on going.
Drengler Has Been Through Other Crazy Scenarios
“Breaking my truck out of a dealership is not the craziest thing I’ve had to do,” said Drengler. He said he has even had to break his truck and trailer out of the Green Bay Airport. The issue is, the entry gate to that car park would allow a full-size semi and transporter into the lot. The gate to get out of the parking lot would not. So here was another crazy situation for Drengler to have to deal with.
Even though there was supposed to be 24/7 assistance, as Drengler said, “Nobody’s answering the phone. There’s no security at the airport, nobody at the car rental lot, nobody.” So what did he do? He disassembled the fence, drove the truck out, put it all back together, and went on his way. And not a single person called him back about his truck or the fence he had taken down and reassembled. These are just a couple of the wild stories that Drenger has, which show that towing a race car isn’t the easiest job in the world.