Tow-Mater Blasts off

If you felt tremors last weekend, the good news is that it wasn't an earthquake. The bad news is that if you missed the cause of the noise, you missed Fire 4 Hire's show at the Hi-Line Drag Strip.

Drivers Jaren Mott and Steve Cooke impressed with precision and control of two of the most powerful racing vehicles to grace the dragstrip.

"It's a good time," Mott told the PCN. "The kids just absolutely love it. So that's what makes it fun to do."

For those who have seen the Pixar movie Cars, they may think that Tow-Mater is incapable of such speeds.

Last weekend "Mater" proved all watching wrong.

Mater and his racing buddy Secret Weapon are capable of going over 200 miles per hour.

"Both Mater and the tank will run around about 210 miles per hour in the quarter mile," Mott said.

Mott was a part of the building process for the vehicles in his home-state of Utah.

"The chassis and the back half of Mater was built at Utah Chassis and Machine in Salt Lake City," Mott said. "Fire 4 Hire built the cab portion up in Canada."

Knowing that Mater is rectangular in shape, posed questions of the vehicles aerodynamics.

"He's about aerodynamic as a refrigerator," Mott said jokingly, "Not very aerodynamic at all."

So what keeps Mater from leaving the grounded during his runs across the country?

"A lot of it has to do with the motor angle," Mott said. "It's thrust drive, so it's powered by a jet engine. As long as that's tipped down, it will keep the car on the ground."

There are a few words of wisdom children and people of all ages can learn from Mater, who looks as though no one would ever pick him in a race.

"Just dream," Mater told the PCN. "Just dream big and always follow through with what you start and make stuff happen."

Later that day, Mater fell a little behind in his race against Secret Weapon, but he found another gear as he passed the finish line before his opponent.