During the first two races of the 2014 NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle, one name has been missing – LE Tonglet.
For good reason.
Tonglet has a new job as a firefighter with the Jefferson Parish Fire Department in Metairie, La.
“My Pro Stock Motorcycle schedule is still all up in the air,” said Tonglet, the 2010 Pro Stock Motorcycle world champion. I don’t know when I can get off right now. I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss racing, but being a firefighter is my career now and racing is not forever.”
Tonglet said his father/crew chief, Gary, did lease out his Suzuki to be raced at the Four-Wide Nationals (April 11-13) in Charlotte, N.C., but the driver he leased the motorcycle to crashed it in testing at Atlanta the Wednesday before Charlotte. LE said his Suzuki is in the process of being repaired.
Tonglet, 24, passed the test to become a firefighter in 2012 and found out last October while he was competing at Reading, Pa., that he was being offered a job with the Jefferson Parish Fire Department. His first day on the job was Nov. 18 and then he had to go through five months of training, which he completed April 21.
“That’s what really messed up our Pro Stock Motorcycle schedule because I couldn’t miss one day of training,” Tonglet said. “I fought my first fire on April 26. It was a house fire and we were the second engine and when we got there the fire was already out. There was just a lot of smoke on the inside. We had to do a search for a lady who was apparently in the house, but then they came over the radio and said she was outside talking to the police. No one got injured.”
Tonglet also admitted fighting a fire and driving a Pro Stock Motorcycle are two different types of adrenaline rushes.
“It is an adrenaline rush, but it is a totally different adrenaline rush than when you are driving a Pro Stock Motorcycle,” Tonglet said. “When you are going in to fight a fire you can’t see your hand in front of you. You have to crawl in there and it is pretty dark. It is a rush.”
Tonglet made his NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle debut in 2009 and has nine career national event wins.
The act of cutting and pasting articles from this publication to a message board is a clear copyright violation as is pulling photos to post on social media sites. All articles and photography published in CompetitionPlus.com are protected by United States of America and International copyright laws unless mentioned otherwise. The content on this website is intended for the private use of the reader and may not be published or reposted in any form without the prior written consent of CompetitionPlus.com.
