April, 2001 "Wild Fire" Unlimited Light hydro kits
change hands Blew By You Boatwork (www.bbyracing.com) and RC-Hydros.com (www.rc-hydros.com) are pleased to announce that as of May 30, BBY will be taking over production and sales of the ABS RC-Hydros.com "Wild Fire" Unlimited Light hydro kits. RC-Hydros.com will continue to manufacture and sell their championship and record-holding line of electronic speed controls and related electronics, and plans for wood racing boats. Randy Naylor of BBY said, "I will try to do the UL-1 justice." Andy Kunz, owner of RC-Hydros.com, replied, "I'm really glad that Randy is the one who will be doing the boats, as he's the guy who encouraged me to get into the business. He also understands my need to spend more time with my kids (I have six at home, one in college)." The "Wild Fire" design won the 2000 NAMBA Electric
Nationals 1/12th Sport Scale Hydro class at the hands of Doug Twaits Jr.
The design also won the Concours at both the 1999 and 2000 NAMBA Electric
Nationals. The transfer will add another championship hull to the esteemed
BBY line. Financial details were not disclosed. Canada1 team updates us on Kelowna "Interest in having an Unlimited Light in Kelowna continues to mount. Yesterday [4/19/00] our guy Mike was interviewed for CHBC TV in Kelowna. The interview can be seen on our web site. (its in Mpeg format and were learning as we go) www.unlimitedlights.com click on multimedia. Tomorrow night if all goes well we will post the stories that appeared in the Kelowna Daily Courier and The Capital News. The Daily Courier has a hilarious account of the 1999 "Seagull Incident". All three segments are riddled with um......inaccuracies but keep in mind we are re-educating an entire media block as to exactly what we are up to. The next round of interviews (mid May) they (the media types) will be able to look see & touch the actual boat so it should go much better. - Canada1Ministry Of Propaganda" Both the Daily Courier and The Capital News stories Mike mentions are on
the site! UL-5 aka Canada1 is actually UL-14... Greg Grenier talks about the UL-141's
plans for 2001 "Hi Chuck. Just thought I would drop you a note about our plans. As it stands now, we are not planning on doing much racing this year, buth that could change if we land a big new sponsor or if I hit the lotto. Wish me luck! Thanks, Greg" We wish Greg luck with the sponsor and the lotto! Detroit Sponsors announced for the UL-15! We here at the ULHRA would like to welcome back Bill and Happy Rands.
They are welcome friends of the Hopp Racing team and the series! Unlimited Lights: 2000 in Review To take a look at his latest work, visit our
history section and click on the 2000 Year in Review. Catch
a ride with the "Real Thunder Boats"! For a limited time only, we are offering businesses the opportunity to include your ad in the new publication. All ads will be full color and ad space will be sold as it's available so call soon and reserve a choice sport! Thunder and Lights will be made available at over a dozen Unlimited Light, Vintage and Unlimited events across the country.
For additional information on placing an ad and rates, download the full rate sheet. If you have any problems opening the file, just visit the Acrobat Reader download page for the latest version of the free reader. Also, be sure to visit the Hydroplane
and Raceboat Museum, www.thunderboats.org,
where Executive Director David Williams shares a few comments on the new
publication. Just click on their news page for the latest. The Return Of The
Royal Canadian Airforce! It has been confirmed that McLellan will soon sign with Seattle team owner Doug McIntosh. McIntosh was the mastermind behind McLellan piloting the UL15 Professor Bee at Budweiser Thunderfest in 1999 after regular driver Jerry Hopp was injured in an accident in an Unlimited Hydroplane at Seattle the previous weekend. Ironically, McIntosh has come to own that very boat McLellan drove in Kelowna in 1999. "A number of things came together to make this happen," said McIntosh, "Jerry Hopp has acquired the Alamo which made the UL15 available. I jumped on it. I didn't think for a second about a driver. Mike did such an awesome job for Jerry in '99. I feel fortunate to have somebody available that understands the responsibility of driver both in and out of the race boat that is so important these days.
Both men were very candid about sponsorship. "Its going to take some sponsorship to make this work. Still, we are ready to go and we have a great program that is very inexpensive. It's all laid out on our web site, www.unlimitedlights.com , with all of our races televised on Speedvision, there is a great opportunity for someone to cash in. With the problems that hydroplanes have had in Kelowna in the past we are making a point of trying to keep this local and very inexpensive for sponsors. Already we are getting some support from companies like Campion Marine. Now that we have the deal done, the next thing will be working on is getting the necessary permits that we will need to test on Okanagan lake later this Spring. "Maybe a couple of test dates will be the beginning of bringing hydroplanes back to Okanagan Lake in the future. That would be my ultimate goal with this project, is to race at home again" McLellan was quick to point out , "with the lights being their own series now, there is a lot more flexibility in how and where they can run. Where it took a million plus to run the Unlimiteds at Thunderfest in the past, the lights could have a two day event for less than $100,000 (cdn) all in with a full one hour show on Speedvision.
For all the latest on details on the
new team, be sure to visit and bookmark www.unlimitedlights.com. UL-15 Hopp Racing team purchases the Alamo! Discussing yesterday's announcement, ULHRA President Joe Frauenheim had the following to say regarding the purchase... "Jerry Hopp sent a truck east last week and the ex-Alamo hull is currently headed west to be campaigned by the Hopp Racing team on the UL circuit. The Hopps have done an excellent job racing a 27 Year old boat using reliability, grit, and determination to get to the races and achieve third place in national points. Phil, Randy and Dave need to look out for that 'CANARY' boat." Thanks to an e-mail last night from Doug McIntosh, we can also share the official team press release on the purchase... ************************************ Remember the ALAMO ?? Jerry and Greg Hopp, owners and drivers of the UL-15 Unlimited Light hydroplane are proud to announce the acquisition of the former 3 time National Champion UL-16 Alamo from the Haas Racing team. The UL-16 won 12 races in its 3 year racing career under the ownership of Ned and Suzie Allen and is the all-time winningest Unlimited Light hydroplane. Built by Jamie Auld in 1996 this state-of-the-art hull will return to the circuit in 2001 powered by a 506 c.i. Chevrolet engine and will make its debut at Tastin' n Racin' at Lake Sammamish June 2-3. Driving duties will be shared by this father and son combination. Greg Hopp will also be driving Fred Leland's U-100 and will drive the Light when the boats don't have conflicting schedules. This will be a giant step up for the Hopp's who last year campaigned a 27 year old hull and captured the Region 10 High Points Championship and finished in 3rd place in the Unlimited Light High Points race. Jerry Hopp, 54, will be entering his 34th year of hydroplane racing and is a past National Champion and has won many Regional Championships. He is a qualified Unlimited driver also, having owned and driven many Unlimiteds in the past. Greg Hopp has been racing since he was 9 years old and replaced Chip Hanauer when he retired and has been driving the U-100 ever since. Greg was the 1999 UHRA "Rookie of the Year". ************************************ For all the latest on the UL-15 Hopp Racing Team, be sure to
visit their official website at home1.gte.net/hoppster/.
You can find additional information on the team within the McIntosh Marketing
Services website located at www.seanet.com/~mms/news.htm. UL site
launches new For Sale/Wanted section! "Just wanted
to get the news out that we are re-vamping the site slightly. As a service
to racers, potential racers, fans and window shoppers, we have added a "For
Sale" section and a "Wanted" section -- and of course there is no
charge to advertise in either section. It is for ALL classes and
categories of racing equipment; not just GNH or UL stuff. We're also
working on getting info on the other pages, so expect to see some stuff
soon...." News and Rumors... You can find Doug's website at www.seanet.com/~mms/
and all the latest news at www.seanet.com/~mms/news.htm. Region 10 Go Kart Challenge held 4/12/01 at Grand Prix Raceway in Fife, Washington Thirty two drivers, with a line of standbys, raced four heats of eight drivers each with the two top drivers from each heat advancing to the final. The winners were determined by the driver completing the most laps in the allowed time (about seven or eight minutes a race). The race was set up and organized by Kip Brown as an opportunity to keep driver skills sharp. These were 5hp karts on a track inside a warehouse. Here are the results of the final heat! 1. Phil Bononcini - completed 33 laps Fastest lap (from preliminary heat) Submitted by Joe Frauenheim Region 4 - David Coes' Demon Chaser
website shares recent capsule training photos Region 10 - 2001 Capsule Training
Schedule April 22nd Directions to Madigan Pool? July 6th or 12th You will need to bring your helmet, air system, flotation,
towel and wear a pair of old tennis shoes, NO BARE FEET PLEASE. You
will also need to schedule an appointment. To schedule, just e-mail ndehli@earthlink.net
or check their website.
The fee for training is $15 per driver. The fee covers pool costs and a
few dollars to the divers for gas. LaBrie UL for
sale... "We want to sell everything as a package deal, so here is a list that highlights what we have: 4 454 blocks 3 Manifolds This of course, includes the boat and
trailer. We have lots more bits and pieces, so for the right person this
could really be a great mix. We are asking $40,000 for the full package
(with some room for negotiation). This is a great base to get someone started in
racing. If you have any one interested they can call us at 253-584-2591,
or e-mail us at dlabrie@sprynet.com.
Thanks again for your help." New photos of
Vince Xaudaro`s UL-929 Thunder
and Lights! We couldn't be more excited about the new publication and expect a high quality product as evidenced by the previous publications produced by the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum. Team members will hear from the series in the next few days regarding information needed for the program. Click here for updates from March, 2001.
Questions, comments? E-mail the
site's webmaster. |
Kelowna Hydroplane driver
Mike McLellan confirmed that he has been approached to get back on the Unlimited
Hydroplane circuit in 2001. McLellan became the first Canadian ever to
race the 150+MPH Unlimited Light Hydroplanes when he drove the Miss Vnode.com to
a third place finish at Thunderfest in Kelowna in 1998 for Seattle owner John
Hogan.
"There
are a bunch of things we need to work out yet, but I think we are really close
to having a done deal." said McLellan in an interview early this
week. "This boat is fun to drive, it’s the infamous Seagull slayer
from ‘99. I am really excited about this opportunity, even though we are
only looking at a limited schedule of four to six races in 2001 due to budgets
and work schedules. Doug is a great guy. He’s been around hydros for a
long time, he really knows what it takes to make a team both viable and
successful. It's gonna be great get back in a race boat.
