Last weekend, Kevin Rogers hosted the Winning Technologies Workshops at the Holiday Inn Kansas City Northeast, in Missouri. As he slept through the night, thieves broke into his trailer. The incident occurred at 3 a.m. on Sunday, January 30, in the hotel parking lot. Among the items they stole included a case containing 50 Westhold transponders and a charger.
“The thieves were not racing people,” Rogers, of Rockwall, Texas, said. “They were hoping for something of high street value when they broke in. They took a Craftsman toolbox, with $500 worth of tools, and the case holding the transponders. But, they left behind some valuable racing parts.”
Rogers theorized that the logos on his trailer, which included KR Promotions and KR Live Music, attracted attention. The trailer did not contain any music equipment at the time.
“The transponders probably were tossed out the window once the thieves opened the case — they probably had no idea what they are used for,” Rogers said. “The thieves were probably expecting musical instruments.”
Two weeks ago, Rogers hauled the trailer from his native Lone Star state to Des Moines, Iowa, for the Great American Racing Show. From there, he went to Battle at the Barn, an indoor racing event at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines. He brought transponders for the Battle at the Barn because his friend and promoter of the racers, Toby Kruse, needed them. After that, Rogers ventured to Kansas City to put on his Winning Technologies Workshops.
Security cameras captured the break-in, and Rogers reported the theft to the local authorities. On Facebook, he also posted a $1,000 cash reward for the return of transponders (to contact Rogers, call 972-971-7391).
“Everything [in the case of transponders are] labeled ‘RPM,’ because I bought them for the track I used to promote, RPM Speedway,” Rogers said. “My hope is that they end up in a pawn shop and get found by someone who recognizes them as racing transponders.”
Kevin Rogers, along with Kevin Sustaire, will being promoting Rocket Raceway Park, in Petty, Texas, this year. They looked to use the transponders, valued at $16,000, for their track.
“We did not have an alarm [on the trailer], but we will going forward,” Rogers said. “Losing the transponders was an expensive lesson to learn.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
