Pucker factor 10

Heat 3a Vilwock gets loose. Nice save Dave

U-37 Crew Member Caught Sleeping On The Job

I'm a Hydro Geek......

....and very proud to be one! Still am one today....maybe bigger now than when I was a kid. I admit it, I was a little hydro geek growing up in Owensboro, Ky in the 70s. Not hard to be one, "back in the day." All those piston powered unlimited hydroplanes making that wonderful noise a few miles from my house in June. My life long buddy, Jimmy (most of you know his wonderful hydro photographs under the name James Crisp), and I lived and breathed hydros year round. Our rooms at home were "hydro rooms". Nothing but regatta pictures, posters, programs and buttons. Buttons. We had lots. We lived for securing those collectibles. Back then each team would hand them out. It was so much fun getting all we could. Getting one was great. Extras were trade material for the collectors on the west coast. Some were hard to get, some weren't. Bud buttons were everywhere. Everybody had them, lots of them. I saw on Ebay that someone was asking $32 for one of those large Bud buttons. I thought he was crazy! Good luck on making that sale.

We had so much fun getting those buttons. Jimmy was much better at getting those hard to get ones than I was. I got a few, but he got lots more. After our regatta, and later going to Madison, we spent the summer and winter months making trades with guys in the Seattle area. Bob Senior comes to mind. With only pen and paper, "Back in the day", we wrote to Bob or whoever and offered buttons of east coast teams. They in return would offer west coast buttons. Needless to say, writing back and forth took some time--counter offers and the like. But, it's what we had and it was a blast!

Once in college, and when the teams stopped handing out buttons, my collecting days ended as well. Until this past year. I still had my collection in drawer. With ebay and the "Button Man", my desire to start collecting again was reborn. I try to get deals on ebay, buying "lots" of buttons, all those years I stopped collecting. I'd get an occasional button, but nothing like I was as a kid. It's fun again and I have a lot of catching up to do.

I mentioned the "Button Man"----Kerry Sauley. If you have ever been to Madison the last 8 years or so, you know him well. He was raised in Madison, nows lives in Baton Rouge, but comes home every year to the regatta. He makes, at his own expense, buttons and passes them out to anybody and everybody. For FREE!! They aren't cheapies either. High quality buttons. Mostly of the Oberto, U-3 and Formula. Lots of them. This year I asked. 10,000 buttons. Yes, 10,000 he made and passed out! There were 70 different varieties. Boat buttons, driver buttons, Madison Regatta buttons. You name it, he made it and gave them ALL away for free. Why? His passion for the sport and it's his way to help promote the sport. You must come to Madison next year. Guarantee your button collection will grow. I know mine did!!

I could write alll night long about this disease I have---being a Hydro Geek. Trust me, I could. More in later editions of the HydroNation.

Shameless plug time. The week of the Gold Cup this year, my buddy Mike (fellow Hydro Geek, business partner and friend) started the website for Ed Cooper. It's Go3racing.com. Please visit. It's for all hydroplane fans, not just those of Jimmy King and the Go3 team (that's the new name they want to get going, so we are pushing it here and on the site). We are fans of the sport. The website has come a long way in a few weeks, but has a long way to go. Hopefully the content we put there is stuff you want to see. We think it is, because it's what we want to see on hydro websites. Our goal and promise is to keep adding content all the time. Especially during the season. We'll be adding whatever we can---and video is our main goal. So far we have lots and lots more is on the way. Keep checking back.

This website is for you. We will not abandon it after San Diego and pick it back up next June. We'll be making monthly visits to Ed's boat shop in Posey County. We'll have something---pictures, videos, new information, but it will be alive during the winter. That's a promise.

Enough of my hydro geekness! Let's go racing!!

Lots of Live coverage for Tri-Cities hydro racing!

You can watch on TV, Online, or on the radio. There's someone covering every second of hydro racing Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Tri-Cities!!

TV: If you're in Yakima or Tri-Cities, you can watch the LIVE TV COVERAGE on KNDO-TV or KNDU-TV.
ON-LINE: HydroINSIDER.com will be streaming the 2008 Lamb Weston Columbia Cup races LIVE online. On the times we're not on, you can catch audio streaming on KONA Radio.

Friday, July 25th, 2008

LIVE on KNDO-TV (Yakima) and KNDU-TV (Tri-Cities)
LIVE VIDEO STREAMING ON HydroINSIDER.com

5:00pm - Catch the Dale Thomas HVAC Unlimited Dash For Cash
6:00pm - Unlimited Lights Racing
6:30pm - Columbia Cup Hydroplane Boat Races Preview Show

FRI-SAT 9AM-5PM Live Audio Streaming (KONA Radio)

Sunday, July 27th, 2008

LIVE on KNDO-TV (Yakima) and KNDU-TV(Tri-Cities)
LIVE VIDEO STREAMING ON HydroINSIDER.com

10:00am to 5:00pm - 7 HOURS of Hydro racing coverage LIVE ONLINE and on KNDO and KNDU TV. Stories about the drivers, the boats, about Water Follies, and of course, all the Unlimited Hydroplane Heats will be covered.

Our coverage won't end until one racing team takes home the Columbia Cup trophy!

Applause for the ABRA

I applaud the ABRA's decision to count the points from Detroit.

It's pretty simple. The Gold Cup is an APBA event. APBA went by its rulebook and the tradition of the Gold Cup in declaring it a no contest.

By APBA rules, the race didn't meet the minimum requirements
necessary to be declared a completed race. The APBA rules is that all four sets
of elimination heats must be completed for the race to be ruled
official.

ABRA, on the other hand, isn't bound by those same rules. ABRA went by its rulebook which let them count the points.

SOURCE: ABRAHydroplanes.com
High Points shall be awarded at all sanctioned regattas where a minimum field of three boats
crosses the starting line in heat one. The total points scored by each boat in
each sanctioned event shall be credited toward the National Boat
Championship.

Regardless of what team you root for, you have to respect the effort and dedication of the teams that went to Detroit and the conditions they raced under. If you could survive that and rack up some points, I think you ought to keep them... especially since the rules say you can!

I don't get what all the debate is about.... but then, isn't that half the fun of sports?

Paul Dughi
HydroInsider.com

Do You Remember These Hydros? Seattle 1988

Friday Gold Cup Pictures

U3 Chrysler Jeep in Detroit - thank you Eric Sellers

Eric Sellers has spotted the U25 Jarvis Construction in Mt. Clemens

Thank you Eric

Miss Chrysler Jeep

T-Plus

Racer Bob

Exide - Detroit

U-88 - Detroit

Miss Circus Circus - Dave Villwock

Winston Eagle "Lobster"

Miss U.S.

American Spirit

Miss Budweiser

Mr. Pringles Damage

Atlas Van Lines and Miss Madison

Bernie Little - Detroit

Bernie assessing the situation

Congratulations Jeff Bernard!

The HydroNation would like to congratulate Jeff Bernard and the Formula Boats team on a big win in Madison!

Roger

Sunday at Madison

U-10 Crew goes to work after Heat 1B to get
ready for Heat 2A.


Ed Cooper and Ted Porter having an
conversation about the water conditions.


The Ohio River rose 4 feet overnight, forcing
the crews to work in the water. Here the U-3
crew working on the prop.


U-50 Spirit of the Navy's Brian Perkins sports
a Navy hat while talking with U-37 crew chief
Scott "Pyro" Raney.



The Madison rescue squads worked their tails
off sweeping the river for debris. This team
hauls in a huge piece of driftwood.

Re-evaluating Madison

SPECIAL REPORT from HydroInsider.com

UPDATE: I've had a fair amount of response to this article. That's good. The whole idea is to spark debate. Isn't that what makes sports (and life) interesting? But let me clarify. I'm not suggesting we scrap racing at Madison. Rather, we need to embrace the heritage there and protect the race site for the next generation of fans. The question is how.

Is it crazy to think that with all the engineering brainpower in the sport, someone can't come up with a technology solution to the debris... or that someone should be working the political wheels to help manage river flow on race weekend? In the Tri-Cities, they work with the governmental authorities to open or close the dams necessary to have the right water levels for races... even for testing. And they do this multiple times each year for various events on the Columbia River. That's often a function of coordinating efforts with two state, three agencies, and multiple dams.

Can we really not put barge traffic on hold for a day? One day? Not only do the barges kick up debris, they took out buoys in Evansville.

There's nothing more poignant than racing at Madison, the whole town cheering for the hometown and community owned boat. Seeing those boats make the turn at the bridge and race for the home stretch is a thing of beauty and unique in all of sports. It it to be celebrated. To be preserved. And to be strengthen for years to come.

To re-evaluate Madison isn't to scrap it. It's to protect the safety of the drivers and the teams. And make it a place they can celebrate as well.

I'd like to hear your thoughts. Please add them in the comments section below.

-----------

It's time to re-evaluate hydroplane racing at Madison. Seriously.

Maybe a different time of year? Maybe a technology solution to capture debris? Maybe a different location on the river?

Madison 2008

For the third straight year, we've had dangerous conditions on the river due to high river levels. ABRA's Sam Cole estimates they chewed up $150,000 worth of equipment this past weekend because of the logs. With the sport in serious money trouble, how can they afford that? The appearance fee paid by Madison would barely cover the damage to the equipment. That means, on average, the teams all lost significant money by showing up and racing.

The U-10 Ahern Rentals team won a heat, had substantial damage, fixed it... and then declined to run again after that. "We are hearing about solid wood from one end to another on the river," Kim Gregory, owner of the U-10 said. "We have already lost a rudder." He pulled the boat after only one heat rather than take the risk, instead saving the boat for the Gold Cup next weekend.

"It is the equivalent of throwing marbles on the Indy 500 track," U-6 Oh Boy! Oberto/Miss Madison drive Steve David said earlier in the day. "this was rough day for everyone."

"Broken boats make a bad show," said U-37 Beacon Plumbing driver Jean Theoret after more than half the fleet was damaged at Madison in 2006.

2008 VIDEO: Logs floating by >>
2008 STORY: River levels rise dramatically, causes delays due to debris >>

Madison 2007

Same thing last year. High water up river forced the dam to be opened and the water's flowed. The boats never got on the water on Saturday. Sunday, more than a few got chewed up. "When you have a boat going the speeds we are going and you see a four foot log in front of you, it is impossible to maneuver around the debris," said U-16's Dave Villwock at Madison in 2007. "This race course has always had debris, but this is not safe."

2007 STORY: Boats try to maneuver around pop-up logs >>

"What you see from a boat is only the debris that's floating," said Villwock. "Then you see some of those 'periscope' logs (small branches on top of the water) and you have no idea how big the log is below the water. You can see much of that from the air."

"It's kind of like a blind date," U-6 driver Steve David said about river conditions at Madison; "until you have it, you don't know what you've got."

2007 STORY: Saturday racing at Madison canceled >>

Madison 2006

And that was a big improvement on 2006. The damage that year was severe, crippling literally 60% of the fleet. Again, high water meant a dam release and pop-up logs.

Steve David hit something in the water and barely missed crashing into a patrol boat on the inside of the course. The U-6 hit something in the water at the turn pin. "Sheared off the rudder," said David. "No control whatsoever."

2006 Photo & Story: David barely misses patrol boat >>

"It was totally in God's hands," said Steve David after doing a 360 and nearly hitting a patrol boat.

"The water looked reasonably well, " said Jimmy King, U-3 driver, describing the Madison course. "The problem is - we call them prop getters. It's the stuff that gets you, it's below the surface."

"We have to put a show on, but the concern is safety," said U-37's Jean Theoret. More than once officials shut down the course to check for and clear out debris, including logs that popped up.

2006 STORY: Lots of debris at Madison >>

Crews work hard to catch debris

It's not for a lack of concern or lack of work. Plenty of crews were out on the river pulling out debris and dragging it to shore. It's just that the job may be too big to get done in a timely manner. And then there's barge traffic.

Barge traffic isn't completely stopped down for hydroplane racing. When barges would come through, it would often pull up stuff behind it.

Can barge traffic be shut down for the entire time boats are on the water?

"I wish we had more people up river to catch debris... maybe nets to catch it," said Theoret. He's not the only to suggest giant nets strung across the river to catch the debris. They'd have to be big; they've have to be strong; and they'd be expensive. Maybe too expensive to make sense.

Each year, high water levels were caused by a sudden release by dams upstream. There was some discussion that there wasn't any consultation with the race officials, or local governmental authorities, before the release was made. The river level in 2008 went up four feet overnight, increasing debris and putting some of the pit area underwater. It wasn't the first time that happened either.

2008 PHOTOS: High water creeps up on pits >>

"You're fighting the fastest boats in the world, the best drivers, and the river," said David. Sometimes the river wins.

Can anything be done about the water release during race weekend.

Maybe.

2008 STORY: Indiana Governor weighs in >>

"Sam (Cole) gave us an assignment for next year," said Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, who was on hand to present the Governor's Cup trophy to the U-5 FormulaBoats.com team. "We'll talk to whoever runs that damn dam."

Saturday Pictures from Madison

The U-3 pulling the bullet from the holster
and ready to put load it into the gun!


Dr. Ken Muscatel sits in the cockpit his U-25
Jarvis Fire and Water repair before his
qualifying attempt.


The "orange" team missed? Check out the
button on this U-50 Spirit of the Navy crewman!


Jimmy King and his oldest son sit atop the U-3
Miss Chrysler Jeep.


U-50 Spirit of the Navy driver Brian Perkins
checks his rearview mirror before heading out
on the Bill Cantrell Memorial course.

Friday Madison Pics

Spider Jackson helps U-10 Ahern Rentals
driver David Bryant with his Hans device
while crew chief Matt Gregory watches.


U-37 Miss Beacon Plumbing Jean Theoret.


U-5 Formulaboats driver Jeff Bernard waits
for his ride to be prepared for testing.


U-10 guys wait their turn to take spin on the
Ohio river.


U-37 Miss Beacon Plumbing makes fast lap
over 153 MPH!

Thursday Pics in Madison