California cops pull over Idaho race car driver for ‘haulin’ spud’
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Shaun Goodwin, Idaho Statesman
BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — Weighing in at 44,320 pounds and 72 feet long, any Idahoan who witnesses the Big Idaho Potato Truck trundling down the road with its 8,000-pound giant potato loaded on the back will most likely smile at the level of ridiculousness of Idaho’s association with taters.
Unfortunately for the Big Idaho Potato Truck tour team, the California Highway Patrol isn’t as endeared by the 13-foot high tuber.
On a recent trip to the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey in California, the truck was pulled over by CHP, and its driver, Indy Lights motorsport driver Sting Ray Robb, was given a citation.
What was the citation for?
For having straps holding down the giant potato, being about 12,000 pounds overweight, and for “haulin’ spud” at 63 mph in a 55 mph zone through the racing event’s fan village.
The video, posted on Twitter on Sept. 13, shows the CHP officer issuing a bemused-looking Robb the citation through the passenger-side door. The end of the video shows Robb holding up the citation, dated Sept. 10, with the vehicle license plate BIG TATER.
Idahoan Indy Light Driver, Sting Ray Robb , gets pulled over by California Highway Patrol on the Big Idaho® Potato Tour Truck! ????♂️???#bigidahopotato #idahopotato #imapotato #potato #indylight #stingrayrobb #californiahighwaypatrol #chp pic.twitter.com/vzjGOCfOJd
— Big Idaho® Potato (@BigIdahoPotato) September 14, 2022
Robb, 21, is a Boise resident and attended Payette High School while racing go-karts and motorcars throughout his youth. He joined Andretti Autosport for the 2022 Indy Lights season — a step below the IndyCar Series — and finished 2nd place in the overall standings.
Robb took the incident in good spirits, writing in a social media post:
“It was an epic weekend at #montereygrandprix with the Big Idaho Potato Tour truck there to support & cheer for this #GrownInIdaho race car driver! Might have had a bit too much fun speeding through the fan village. Thanks to CHP for not throwing the cuffs on me.”
The Idaho-born driver certainly didn’t have an issue with speed on the track, taking first place in the first race of the weekend and second in the second race.
As for the truck itself, it’s back home in Boise for now. And if you were curious, the giant potato on the back is unfortunately not real.
But if it was real, the Idaho Potato Commission claims that the 4-ton spud would:
- Take 7,000 years to grow
- Produce 20,217 servings of mashed potatoes
- Weigh as much as 21,562 regular-sized potatoes
- Create 1 million average-sized french fries
