Briggs Speeds to Recovery in Time for Waterford’s Blastoff
Brockton, MA — When Christian Briggs was 9 years old, he and his (late) father, Charlie, drove down to the Coca Cola 600 together. It was one of “the best memories” with his father. Upon returning to the car, to start the fourteen hour ride home, however, Briggs did not feel well. Something was not right. He was “ill” for the entire ride home.
Soon after, Briggs went back to school. His grades fell off. He couldn’t hit a baseball anymore. Something was wrong, and both he & his family knew it… That summer he admitted to Childrens Hospital and was diagnosed with two aracnoid cysts on his brain and spinal chord. While waiting for surgery he had a stroke and seizure and was rushed into the operating room. The surgery was successful and the cysts were removed. He could not drive anything for a year and made a full recovery. His only limitation was no football… ever. So he chose racing, and that’s where it began.
Fast-forward 20 years to the NEMA banquet. While celebrating a great season, Briggs was once again not feeling like “himself”, he blacked out and hit his head. This along with a crash at Beech Ridge, Briggs swears “may have saved his life”. The crash at Beech Ridge triggered what was about to happen. His helmet had bent the seat 2 inches. He was “out of it” on the way home but thought he was concussed and would be fine. The night of the banquet, upon being rushed to the Hospital, he had a catscan and the ER doctors found a massive cyst where the old ones were. His worst fear had come true.
After some difficult weeks, Briggs went back to work and planned to “get through this” and get back to normal. After going to Brigham and Womens he found out I needed surgery again. “Everyone around me was so scared so I faked it and focused on the race team,” said Briggs. “All negative energy I had went to the car. My crew and family was worried about me, I told them worry about being at Waterford for the Blastoff. After a long talk with my Nuero Surgeon he said if we operated I would be ready to race in five weeks,” said Briggs. Waterford was five weeks away.
The surgery was a great success. “The difference now is the support I received not only from my family and crew, but my newly acquired fans from the NEMA tour. I am good to go. No worries,” he says.
Without racing, Briggs speaks of a life that would be “incomplete.” He started racing at Sugar Hill Speedway with his Dad at 12 years old. He moved on to kart nationals and at 17 he was in a 350 super modified at Star speedway. After a year in the Super, he and his family decided that Late Models were the way to go and they sold the car and got a famous frame from Wayne Helliwell. “I was not able to run the car very much because my Dad got sick. He had Cancer and fought for a few years. During those years he got George Rego to drive the car while I set it up and learned all I could from George. I did not know it at the time but my Dad was training me to be a Team Owner,” says Briggs.
After his Dad passed away he moved and stopped racing all together. At the time, he had a newly clipped Late Model and new crate engine sitting in the garage. It just sat there. He never went in the garage or to a race track. Racing was something he shared with his Dad.
One day, however, good friends of the Family Ricky and Robbie Gifford approached Briggs, and said that Ricky’s son Chris was ready to move up to late models. “We made a tire deal and the ride was his. They only got this ride because my Dad was their hockey coach and they were determined to get me to the track. I always ran the #18. After six years – and as just a team owner I decided to race again. It was time,” Briggs says.
Soon after, Briggs started to build a Limited Sportsman for Thompson. “I went to the Racers Expo to buy a suit, that is where I met Bobby Seymour. He asked me what I was racing, and why I wanted such a fancy suit. I told him and he said come see me at my shop. When I got there to get my suit we got to talking and I told him my story, he then showed me the NEMA Lite cars,” said Briggs. Enter the next Chapter of Briggs’ racing career.
“I sold my Late model team and the Limited and bought a Lite Car out of Long Island. The number would be 44, the year my Dad was born. The rest is history.”
Since returning to the wheel, Briggs’ Mother has stepped into the place of his Dad and has been a major support system for the team. “She makes sure I have the best safety equipment possible…Also tires and fuel when I can’t make it happen. She has been great and I love her very much,” he says. Briggs also credits his girlfriend, Melissa, with his valiant return to the race track in 2013, and for the support she has showed him.
Briggs says 2013 will be a big year for his team, now called Charles Thomas Motorsports – after his Dad. Briggs plans a full NEMA schedule with the exception of Friday nights, when he works at his major sponsor – the Gateway Tavern. “They have made countless sacrifices and donations that allow me to race. I could not do this without them,” he says. Briggs also counts Canton Power & Electric, Facchetti & Facchetti, TMF Logistics, Labonte Insurance, Northgate Advisors and Duck Inn Pub as banner sponsors of his.
One thing there is no doubt about. Christian Briggs is ready for 2013, and when the pit gates open at Waterford Speedbowl this year, my bet is that he’ll be one of the first in line.
Sources: Tim Bertrand/NEMA PR