By Arianne Hegeman

Robin McTighe is not an average woman or an average mother. The average woman enjoys breaking the speed limit on the highway in an effort to get to work on time. The average mother gets to see her children grow up, build their own lives, and make their dreams come true.  Robin McTighe enjoys speeding down the frontstretch at New Egypt Speedway on Saturday nights in a dirt modified that bears her son’s name.  Her racing career is a tribute to the son she lost at the age of 21.  

Richard McTighe started racing after he befriended a kid on his soccer team who raced quarter midgets.  Robin recalls the first time Richard caught the racing bug. “He went with his friend to watch him race quarter midgets one night and the very next week he went back and tried out someone else’s quarter midget and was instantly hooked.”  It was love at first sight, and the McTighe family has never looked back.  Richard made many friends along the way, creating an extended family at every track he visited.  In addition to his weekend racing, Richard excelled in soccer and also wrestled in high school.  He was a popular guy whose heart was as big as his smile.

Richard was admired by many and was fortunate to have found the love of his life at an early age.  By the time he was 21, he was engaged to be married to his high school sweetheart, Cynthia Dunn.  The couple set a date and picked out the rings.  But fate would have other plans for the young couple.  They were tragically killed in an automobile accident just months before their wedding. Robin lost not only her son, but the girl she already considered a daughter. “She came to live with us for what was supposed to be a brief time, but I completely fell in love with her. The hardest part now, is realizing just how close I was to her, too.  She was the daughter that I never had.  We had a great relationship and I miss her dearly.”

The community lost two people who cared not only for each other and their families, but for complete strangers as well. Robin remembers just how much her son and future daughter in law had made a difference to the people in their lives.  “Richard would pick Cynthia up from the day care where she worked but would hang out with the kids for a half an hour while she was getting ready.  He loved kids and so did she. He mentored a child who was struggling with his grades and within months of Richard helping him out, his grades came up an entire grade level.  They couldn’t wait to be parents themselves. We had just finished working on a home that would be big enough for them to have a child of their own once they got married."

As anyone involved in local racing knows, the motorsports community is like a second family.  Whether it’s an essential spare part or a family who needs support, the racing industry puts aside competition for compassion.  “That’s the best part of racing.  Other sports do not have that kind of feeling.”  Robin is grateful for her New Egypt Speedway family.  “The track has been tremendous.  They sponsored Richard way back when he raced quarter midgets.  Then they sponsored him when he moved on to slingshots.  They watched him grow up.  The track still has his number, #27 on the flag stand.  Even after the track changed owners, we are all more like family than anything else.”

In the wake that followed Richard and Cynthia’s deaths, Robin McTighe searched for a way to feel close to her son and his fiancée.  She found the answer in the sport that Richard loved.  With support from her father, Robin started racing at New Egypt in honor of her son and his girlfriend.  “I think they would be very proud of me.  They would think I was doing the right thing. Being at the track and racing every Saturday night is the best thing for me.  Whether I’m good, bad or indifferent, I feel like I’m with them every time I get out on the track.”  Robin continues to appreciate the support she gets on a daily basis. “The hugs and pats on the back that I get are exactly what I need to get through the day. The pain of losing my son and his fiancée will never get better, but I have my friends and family at the track who get me through; places like the bagel shop next to where I work sponsor the car.  They do it because they believe in what I am doing.  That just feels good!”

Racing in memory of Richard and Cynthia is now an all-family affair.  Since their deaths, Robin’s sisters are now involved and wish they had done so a long time ago.  Robyn’s dad continues to financially support the family tradition that he himself started many years ago.

Much like research foundations and non-profit organizations that some families build in order to memorialize a lost loved one, the McTighe’s have created another meaningful tribute that is the perfect compliment to Richard and Cynthia.  Through the efforts of the family and those of the track’s staff, New Egypt Speedway has given new meaning to the words “racing family”. 

For more information on Robin McTighe, please contact Arianne : CLICK HERE