Jeff Ayler (WORX 96.7 FM) and Bob Larimore (UL-23 Team Pegasus)
speaking on the evening of 4/13/00.

JA:  After a word of two on the current temperature at WORX, Jeff segued into his interview with Bob...  That sounds like some good boat racing weather to me.  What do you think Bob Larimore?

BL:  Hey, it sounds good.  I think it's about time to get out there!  It's been a long winter.

JA:  Of course Bob Larimore joining us on the telephone line.  Bob is a kind of father-figure so to say of this Unlimited Lights Racing Series.  Bob is out of Springfield, OH.  Bob you knew you had a tough task ahead of you following Haas.

BL:  Whenever you are following Randy Haas and he's talking, you're in trouble.  That's why we don't plan to follow him on the race course a whole lot this year.

JA:  An early message sent from the central part of Ohio up to the northern part of Ohio.  Bob as we mentioned you've been referred to as the father-figure of this series.  How does that make you feel?

BL:  I don't know if I like that.  I have been around a while though.  I was there when we started this.  Of course Randy was too.  Bononcini came along not too long afterwards.  We've got a lot of guys who have been there since the beginning.  A good bunch of guys and that's what makes it fun.

JA:  Bob I think it is a neat series and it keeps growing year after year.  That's important because who knows where the future lies in the Unlimited Lights or the Unlimiteds.  A lot say that the Lights could be the ones on down the road.

BL:  Yeah, you hear more of that.  We're not really in the same league right now.  We've got the people.  If we get the sponsors to back us we might have enough boats to do it.  We could put on a hell of a show.  We always like to have more competitors out there.

JA:  Bob you mentioned earlier that you were one of the first originators of this series when you transformed from the 7 Liters to the Grand Nationals to now the Unlimited Lights where you've specifically built an Unlimited Light class boat.  It was my impression that when this series started the light team might team up with an unlimited team and you could sell a package for a national sponsor.  Would you like to maybe see the light team team up with an unlimited team to go sell a package with two boats?

BL:  We tried to work a deal like that ourselves.  It happened a little bit a couple years ago with Freddie's Club and last year with Freddie's Club on the west coast.  It's kind of a natural, really if you can tie the two together to promote the package.  You've got something for the motorheads and something for the unlimited fans at the same time.

JA:  Of course Bob you campaign a hull right now, the UL-23 Team Pegasus.  You were involved in an accident a couple years ago.  It was a pretty serious accident.  What's it mean to own a boat now and bring along drivers like Cal Phipps and JW Myers?

BL:  Oh it's a lot of fun.  I still do a little testing and stuff.  I don't drive all that much anymore.  I've just stepped into the [owner] role.  I've always been kind of an owner/driver in everything I've raced.  It's new to me, but I'm getting to like it.  There's a lot of technology in this sport.  You never run out of things to figure out.  I like working with JW and Cal, those guys are really amazing.

JA:  Bob, you run the Pontiac engine in the light series.  That's kind of unusual in this series.  What do you see with that Pontiac?

BL:  Well, there's a lot of potential there.  You watch NHRA, the Pro Stocks... Oldsmobiles and Pontiacs are where it's at.  There's good reason for that.  It's all in the head design and the technology that has been done in that area that make the engines work.  The Alamo boat was an Oldsmobile design which is real similar.  They are both done by Dart Engineering in Detroit.  We just keep working with that and refining it to make them work.

JA:  Bob what are some of the things done with the motors in the Unlimited Lights class?  How much can you soup them up to be out on the water?

BL:  There's quite a bit to it.  To simplify it I guess you can say you take an NHRA Pro Stock motor and then put one four-barrel on it and you're pretty close.  We do a lot of different things with cam shafts to get the torque curve where it needs to be.  It's every bit as refined.  You have to do a lot of dyno work.  You've really got to do your homework to be able to compete in this series.  These guys are tough.  There isn't anyone out there that isn't tough to run with and it gets tougher all the time.

JA:  Who are the main competitors you see going into the 2000 season?

BL:  Just about all of them.  Haas is really tough.  They've come up a long way.  They've got really, really good equipment now.  The Wiggins family out of Alabama are just as tough as they can be.  Benders from Southern California.  Gene Bender and his son Dave.  Phil Bononcini and Joe Frauenheim from Seattle.  Rick Bridgeman will run mostly local out west.  He has a really strong engine program.  It would be hard to pick someone who can dominate.  That's what makes it a good series.  You really can't tell who's going to win.  Any one of seven or eight boats could win a race.

JA:  Bob you run a Balcer designed hull.  A lot of the guys out of the northwest go with the Jones sponsons then fill in the center section the way they like it.  You do have a different looking hull out on the water.

BL:  Well we use a Jones cockpit; the Ron Jones safety capsule.  The Balcer design originated with John Staudacher in the Grand Prix boats.  Our hull is really evolved from a Grand Prix boat that was built four or five years ago.  It worked really well.  It set a record of 125 or 126 miles an hour on the mile and a quarter course.  It's a real loose design.  It's just a different way of running them.  The boats from back here, the ones that are designed like that, you fly them.  They are not on the water.  They don't really care a whole lot about sponsons.  Once the boat is on plane, it's not touching the water much anyway.  

JA:  Bob you mentioned earlier that you drove the craft.  When was the first time you sat in the seat of a hydroplane?

BL:  I didn't get into this until about 10 years ago.  I used to race funny cars and drag cars.  I was out of racing for a while.  I went to a local race down here in Dayton, Ohio.  I happened to go down there and got a look at it.  I thought I would give it a try.  I bought an old boat.  In '91 that was my first season.

JA:  So you had hydro fever when you went to the hydro globe in Dayton.  It can attract you and you got the itch quick.

BL:  Oh yeah.  I recommend it highly.  If anybody gets to race and they've got any racing in their blood or any motorhead stuff going on in their mind, they'll get hooked on it.

JA:  Well Bob it's approaching 7:40 here at WORX 96.7 and I appreciate the call here tonight from Springfield Ohio.  I appreciate whoever labeled you the father-figure for the series.  That gives us radio announcers another adjective to add to your name.

BL:  Well I'd like to find out who that was.  I might have a couple adjectives for him too.  <laughter>  It was good talking to you.  We look forward to being at Madison.  That's our second race.

JA:  Bob Larimore's been with us on the telephone line and we appreciate the phone call.