Road Trip Wrap Up

After an exciting weekend of racing in Talladega, the Torchmate Road Trip Team headed north on Monday to provide technical support to a customer in Trenton, Georgia, which happens to be right next to the next stop on the tour, Chattanooga, TN. This location proved to be very beneficial because, like most of the stops on the tour, potential customers form the area were able to come down and see the machines in operation.

Birmingham, Alabama was the place to be on Wednesday and again, customers drove as many as two and a half hours to learn about the Torchmate cutting system. Customers stopping in to have tanks filled or exchanged were treated to the ark and spark show.

The final Stop on the tour was the Jefferson Store in New Orleans. Keith Wentworth, the General Manager of the store pulled out all the stops, recruiting some local friends to assist with a New Orleans staple for lunch, a crawfish boil. This store has a pretty fair amount of daily foot traffic, and add to that 100 lbs. of crawfish laid out on a table and we had a show going all day.

This weekend finds a few of us staying here in New Orleans for a rainy Jazz Festival while John and the truck head to the next event in Primm, Nevada this week, also en route to a trade show in Boise, ID next week. Stay tuned to this blog for further adventures as we continue to inform you of Torchmate adventures on the road!

A weekend in Talladega was definitely an experience for us… despite three days of generator problems, a broken air compressor, and the odd tornado warning, we were up and running Sunday making fantastic cuts for the three people who actually bothered to show up at the museum before the race on Sunday. Because Saturday’s activities were cancelled, Sunday offered a double header at the track, and apparently all involved were focused there. So, at noon when the race started, we packed up and went to the race to experience the thrill of Nascar live and in person and the race didn’t disappoint. Thrilling to the last lap, the Aaron’s 499 ended up 500+ due to the desire to finish the race under a green flag. It took three tries, but eventually ended in dramatic fashion.

The town of Talladega was a bit different. Having no prior experience or knowledge of the area, we were surprised to find it quite sleepy despite the fame of the nearby Speedway. The highlights of our time in the town were our daily breakfast at Tina’s home cooking, which seems to be the center of the morning scene, as we met the Sheriff, the Mayor, and old crazy Joe, the local homeless guy who shouted random things about eggs, coffee, and Nascar. Tina proved to be the one manning the grill, whipping up a fantastic Southern breakfast complete with grits and whatever else we wanted. Cassie, the waitress had a terrific handle on the place, with her pleasant smile, and very Alabama drawl, to making sure that Crazy Joe minded his P’s and Q’s.

Saturday’s stormy weather put a wrench in the day’s plans leaving us with little to do, so we went to a local tourist attraction called the DeSoto Caverns which was pretty cool, and the evening’s entertainment was a comedy show at the local theater. Henry Cho was the headliner and played graciously to the crowd of about 200 people. Most of us have seen him on TV, talking about his life as the only Korean family growing up in a town in Tennessee.

Torchmate and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame

On Thursday, we set up at the Internation Motorsports Hall of Fame Museum at the Talladega Superspeedway in anticipation of a weekend of race fans touring the facility prior to catching the action on the Track this weekend. After calls to most of the equipment rental companies and a three hour round trip to Birmingham, we were up and running, only to find that our air compressor couldn't quite keep up with the air demands. A quick call to our local Praxair Territory Manager Melvin Gillison promises air the following morning.

Friday Offered a promising day of demonstrations to the public and Melvin was on site first thing with a truck on the way. Hooked up with air, we began cutting with both our Torchmate 2 Small Shop Machine as well as with the new 2x2 machine that I have affectionately named "Junior". After a short time cutting, our power generator began to fail and we were once again stalled to demonstrate our stuff, but our customers, some of whom had traveled from Houston, Texas after hearing that we would be here, were able to see the machines and have their questions answered. Once racign started, the place became eerily quiet, so we packed up our display and went off to join the fun at the track.

Friday's race was the ARCA 250, which, as we understand it, is the training ground for full blown NASCAR drivers. Training ground or not, the racing as we saw it was action packed from the start! This crash happened just a few minutes after we settled into the grandstand.

The last two laps were some of the most exciting I've ever seen, and as you can see from the photo above, the "drafting" was intense! The winner this day was an 18 year old kid who seems to have a promising future as a driver in the big show. More from "Dega" to come!!!

Off to the Races!!!

Thursday morning early finds the Torchmate Team on the road to the Talladega Superspeedway for a weekend at the races. We ARE working this weekend, so it's not all play, and we hit the road this morning after a very busy week touring the Carolinas, ending in the Atlanta area.

North Carolina found the team in a very quaint little town called Sanford. We were able to do some training for one customer who happened to be in the area visiting family, but timed his visit from his home in Northern Virginia. We were also able to meet some of the local business owner in the metal trades, who were pleasantly surprised to find us and our machines there.
After a few hours on the road Monday night, we find ourselves setting up here in Columbia, South Carolina. Despite the grey day, the turnout was fairly decent and as usual we were very well received by the staff here.
Wednesday morning at the Corporate headquarters in Norcross Georgia provided the greatest Praxair staff training opportunity yet, with many of the area Territory Managers present and a few new sales staff from a recent acquisition. A few of the guys even went out to accounts and brought their customers back to show the new line of ProStar machines. Of course, more Torchmate customers found their way over and will soon be new Praxair customers as well.
Stay tuned for our adventures in Talladega as teh weekend progresses. I gotta go now before my battery dies!!

Weekend Update

The weekend finds the Torchmate team enjoying a little R&R at a little town called Folly Beach, on the coast next to Charlston, South Carolina. We happened upon this little paradise during the annual Sea and Sand Festival. It was a giant party in the streets of the town with craft and food booths, live music, and a general fun time, not to mention a beach full of people enjoying the early season.

No surf? I guess we will have to hang with the locals at the local Brew Pub! (L-R) John, our driver, takes care of the truck and makes sure we have what we need to do everything right! Andy, Sales and Marketing Guy, and Sky, our technical expert for this leg of the trip, making sure the machines run top notch! We look froward to meeting as many of you as possible on our way to Talladega this week!

Jacksonville Demonstration

The turnout was relatively small in Jacksonville but the people who did show up were serious about learning about the machines. Here Sky shows the store manager, Greg Wolfe the cut quality of the Small Shop Machine with Thermal Dynamics A120 Automated Plasma Cutter.
Jacksonville brought a mix of people for the demonstration. Here you have a gentleman who recently purchased a machine from the local Praxair Dealership who waited three hours for us to arrive so he could learn a little more about the software from Sky.

We're off for a couple of days to play on the beach and travel to our next demonstration in Sanford, North Carolina on Monday. Have a great weekend!

Pompano Beach

Sunrise in Pompano Beach brought a full day of demonstrations for the local Praxair store's Open House.

The Praxair team provided a fantastic bbq lunch and showed us the true meaning of southern hospitality.

Representatives from Thermal Dynamics were on hand to demonstrate their line of hand plasma cutting torches, Lincoln and Miller representatives were also there, allowing people to practice their welding and flame cutting skills.

Praxair customers and Sales Staff drove as many as 5 hours from all corners of Florida to learn more about the Torchmate line of CNC machines. Here is Sky demonstrating our software to a new customer.

Jacksonville later today! Look for an update tomorrow!