Raceday 2025 is Coming! WRCT 88.3 FM Preview Broadcast Tonight at 6 PM

WRCT BROADCAST

Tune in tonight at 6 PM EDT for a preview of Sweepstakes 2025. Moderated by our long-time play-by-play commentator Will Weiner, current students, and our Rolls Reporter will discuss all things buggy to get you hyped for Raceday.

Introducing our on-air talent:

  • Elena Harllee – She first witnessed buggy as a high school student, when she visited CMU during Raceday 2019 and fell in love with the spot. She joined Apex Buggy as a freshman and was build lead in 2022-2023, where she built Apex’s first forward trike. This year, she leads Sweepstakes as Sweepstakes Chairman. In her words, “The core principle of my role is to make buggy happen, which means I do everything except what the safety chair does. By far my favorite aspect has been getting to know all the the teams and their various characters and struggles. You can find me banging my head against a wall over chores logistics, shaking my fist at Pittsburgh rainclouds, or chatting with teams about what they need to make this year a great one.”
  • Elliot Escalante – He is a current MechE student with a Minor in Military Studies & International Affairs. As Assistant Chair, he tracks rolls, takes meeting notes, and keeps chores in check. Previously SDC.
  • Caity Santiago – She is studying Materials Science and Engineering, with an Additional Major in Biomedical Engineering. She is the Design Competition chair. In her words, “I have the great honor of planning and coordinating our carnival showcase! In addition to that I coordinate and plan design competition. I am most excited to plan the showcase activities. (yay coloring pages!)” Previously Apex.
  • Dan Becerra (2012) – He keeps the wider buggy community informed about the latest happenings in our sport and contributes to building a great Pittsburgh-area buggy alumni community! Previously CIA.

Moderator:

  • Will Weiner (DC’13) – He got into buggy through doing sports broadcasting with WRCT as a freshman at CMU. Somehow, he’s stayed in the play-by-play role for the races ever since. He now lives in nearby Braddock, PA, and runs a company called Xpogo, which manages the top athletes in the sport of extreme pogo sticking, which was a clear next step after buggy.

You can find the broadcast on air locally in Pittsburgh at 88.3 FM or stream it online from wrct.org! Join in the conversation via the BAA’s CMUBuggy Discord (cmubuggy.org/chat). Have any questions for the broadcasters? Ask them in the #wrctracedaypreview channel under Raceday-Specific Channels. You can also send any questions via comments to this post.

After what will be a great conversation, there will only be 17 hours left until Buggy Showcase (Thursday, April 3, 2025, at noon EDT) in Highmark Center – Auxiliary Gym (2nd Floor, Room 265A) . And, don’t forget our Prelims Lead Truck Auction, ending tomorrow night at 9 PM, so get your bids in while you can!

And, if you aren’t a member already, join now to receive this year’s Raceday Preview, featuring MechaJockey! Learn more at cmubuggy.org/membership.

See you on the course!

Merch & Podcast & Volunteers, Oh My!

Raceday is almost upon us, and you can show your love for buggy by ordering your very own BAA raceday shirt today! Orders are available this week only, so don’t wait around. 🤩

The funds raised by these shirts will help pay for things such as the Raceday alumni events and contributions, support Sweepstakes with things like payment for the Jumbotron, and give us funding for future Buggy Enhancement Grants to assist student buggy organizations across campus.

While you’re waiting for your shirt to arrive, why not tune into the new season of Chute the Sh*t? The first episode is out now on all your favorite streaming platforms… and I hear there’s a rotisserie chicken spinner involved… 🐔

Finally, just like how other premier classes of motorsport rely on volunteer marshals, our premier (and only) class of motorless Buggy racing is made possible through the assistance of our wonderful volunteers. You can become a volunteer for Raceday 2025 today by visiting https://cmubuggy.org/volunteer, or https://cmubuggy.org/broadcast-volunteer if you’re interested in helping out with this year’s broadcast/becoming a broadcaster! 📢

That’s right, YOU can be a Raceday 2025 broadcaster. You can give everyone the play-by-play during the races, tell us your favorite Buggy stories on our pre-race broadcast, and/or work behind the scenes to help us create or edit Raceday-related videos! Remember that there are also time slot options on those forms if you can only commit to certain times—we’ll be thrilled to get all the help we can.

A huge thank-you in advance to all of you who will be contributing your time and energy to Raceday 2025, as volunteers or as broadcast volunteers. We are immensely grateful for your continued support and look forward to seeing you on Raceday with your BAA raceday shirt on and the new Chute the Sh*t season playing!