Episode 378
October 17, 2021
Making of a racer from The County
When a very young Jesse Taggett, Woodland, would tag along with his dad, Rick Taggett, crewman on the Jason Witt Racing Fast Four and Late Model stock car team something seemed to click inside him that triggered a love for loud racers and speed.
When Jason Witts, formerly of Caribou now living in Carmel, went racing Rick Taggett was by his side. Taggett welded the cage and produced multiple chassis tweaks in Witts’ Fast Four. Taggett even changed a left front shock on the front stretch at the Spud 150 at the halfway mark to help cure a too tight race car. Witts had wins at Speedway 95, Unity, and Wiscasset. No win at Spud Speedway. He and his two oldest children will begin racing karts at St. Albans Speedway, Speedway Karting, and Richmond in 2022. (Dave Allen Graphics)
At age four, Jesse began riding a Honda 50 motorcycle with training wheels. He has been on bikes and sleds since. In addition to sleds, he has experience working on farm vehicles and his own personal modes of transportation.
He has been a member of Team OCD organized by Caribou’s John Holmquist. The loosely knit group includes Woodland’s Ethan Rossignol and others over the years. The team tuner was Kurt Dumond who moved out of the area and now is Service Manager at Rossmeyer Harley-Davidson Daytona Beach. You may recall Dumond’s latest adventure in Episode 368 on July 11, 2021.
At the Epping New Hampshire Grass Drags and Watercross 2021
When Jesse Taggett took a job at Moir Farms this fall running a windrower for the Woodland-based family farm, he told the Moir family that he needed to get time off around the Columbus Day holiday. He and his family would be headed to what would be Taggett Racing’s third grass drags at the Epping venue.
Rick has mentioned several times that this event is one of the premier grass drags in the country. In addition to grass drags, watercross (snowmobiles racing on water). lawnmower racing, swap meet, motorcycle and snowmobile trick shows, and manufacturers displays took over a dairy farm in Epping, New Hampshire for a weekend. Typically the show draws over 40,000. I have yet to see the numbers for 2021, but suspect from the photos I have seen it must be near record setting attendance.
Other snowmobile racers from the County were Scott Gagnon, St Agatha in the Pro Stock 1000 and Ryan Kelly, Allagash, in the Pro Stock 700 and 1000 classes. Neither recorded a podium finish.
Some racing trivia, Jason White, Northwood, New Hampshire current record holder with his Corvette at Loring Timing Association (269.673 mph set August 2019) was an Eastern Watercross Association racer from 2002 to 2011. White displays his prowess on the water at the Epping event in this photo (RecMech Motorsports photo)
With OCD tuner Kurt Dumond now in Florida, Jesse and team did most of the race day preparation like spark plug changes. Long time Arctic Cat racers Andy Pellerin and chief mechanic Jim Hamel from New Hampshire took the team under their wing for the race weekend. Andy’s 24-year-old daughter, Madison, was asked to run Taggett Racing’s sled in the pro classes Saturday and Sunday. (Taggett Racing photo)
In Friday evening amateur racing, Taggett won 500 Stock and 500 Improved classes and second in the 600 Stock class. (Taggett Racing photo)
Madison Pellerin agreed to race Taggett Racing sled in the Pro Classes on Saturday and Sunday. The Pembroke, New Hampshire woman is the only female racer to make it to the finals in Outlaw Class in grass drag racing when she went up against Steve Brown, Harpoon Racing, at Hermon in 2018. In the Pro Races at Epping, she rode the Taggett sled to a 2nd in Stock 500 and 3rd in Stock 600. She was a busy woman, racing the Pellerin Family Arctic Cats to 1st place in SS Twin 1000, 2nd place in SS Twin 700, Stock 1000, Stock 800, and Stock 700. Rick Taggett commented,” We asked Maddy if she would drive our sled on Pro days, Saturday and Sunday. Maddy is 90 pounds lighter than Jesse and cuts phenomenal lights.” (Taggett Racing photo)
Taggett is not limited to grass drag racing, He has experience at lake speed runs like this at Rangeley in 2021. He has also raced in multiple 500- and 600-foot snow drag races with team OCD. In addition to sled racing, he plays baseball for Caribou High School. In 2021 he played on JV and Varsity squads lettering for both and earning Most Valuable Player with the JV team. He also excels in welding, earning American Welding Society (AWS) national certification at age 12, 13, and 15. At one time he was the youngest AWS certified welder in the United States. Currently Taggett is enrolled in Welding at Caribou Tech Center taught by Keith Dumond and Agriculture taught by Scott Moir. (Taggett Racing photo)
Throwback photo from 2010 on the trails. Rick Taggett on left is shown with son Wyatt center and Jesse. Tara, mom/photographer is an OR nurse at Cary Medical Center and Rick was the welding instructor at Saint John Valley Tech Center in Frenchville for 10 years and is currently the Welding instructor at Northern Maine Community College for the past 11 years. (Taggett family photo)
Two Corvette Sting Rays in one week
I can count on one hand the number of times I have ridden in a Corvette Sting Ray in the last 40 years. This week I got to ride in TWO! Monday in North Whitefield a visit with my UMO fraternity brother Barry Tibbetts resulted in a ride in his 1971 Vette which he bought second-hand in 1972 for $3500. The car was recently removed from long-term storage and driven once again. Quite a hoot. (HTF Motorsports photo)
My neighbor growing up on Grimes Road in Caribou was Tom Kelly pictured with his 2021 Corvette Sting Ray. Kelly now living in Vermont, was back in Caribou to visit on Tuesday and offered me a ride in the car with less than 7,000 miles. Tibbetts 1971 Sting Ray pictured above had its nostalgic traits and nothing I have ridden in matches the form-fitting 2021 Vette. I truly am “Blessed Beyond Measure” (HTF Motorsports photo)
Let’s go racing.
Tom Hale
Soli Deo Gloria (Matthew 5:16)