Latest News - July, 2001

July, 2001

Xaudaro Racing adds a new sponsor for Seafair
UL-929 Xaudaro Racing Team has announced that Contour Aerospace has signed as the team's primary sponsor for the upcoming Seafair race!

Seafair Information!
Joining the Unlimited Lights in Seattle and looking for the latest on next weekend's race? Check www.seafair.com for ticket information, event updates and more. Also, according to the site, you should bring your radio...

"Whether you're on the water at the General Motors Cup at SEAFAIR or at a barbeque with friends, get official race results and live play-by-play as legendary Pat O'Day calls the action live on KOMO AM 1000. On the FM dial, you can listen to live race coverage in the fun style of STAR 101.5. Afternoon personality, Tom Hutyler will call the action on STAR with Leonard Barokas, producer of the Kent & Alan Morning Show. For more information on the General Motors Cup at SEAFAIR, call (206) 728-0123."

See everyone at Seafair next weekend!

Happy Birthday to the ULHRA
The ULHRA recently received its first annual corporate renewal form. The corporation is one year old today, July 27th, 2001. As such, we would like to take this opportunity to wish the organization a very happy birthday on it's first anniversary. It seems like yesterday that young Joe Frauenheim ventured over to meet with John O'Brien and signed the Articles of Incorporation. Quoting O'Brien regarding the event, "Our little baby is growing up. I'm getting all choked up."

Sponsors for Seafair
Our series sponsor at Seattle is Texaco and M&M Markets. Both Matt and Marie Randish will be at the races representing the sponsor. We would like to take this opportunity to welcome them and thank them for their continued support of Unlimited Light racing. We would also like to thank Rob Graham from Graham Trucking who will once again sponsor the race!

We welcome Peter Thomson to the series!
Our inspector at Seafair will be Peter Thomson who is filling in for our usual inspector, Bill Thompson. Peter and his able assistant Glen Davis plan on inspecting most or all of the boats on Friday and we ask teams attending the event to help and make the process easy for everybody.

Vince Xaudaro, Detroit and Valleyfield
The MMS website has posted an update discussing Vince Xaudaro's trip to the Valleyfield and Detroit races. Check it out by visiting www.seanet.com/~mms/vince.htm. Just look for the July 24th, 2001 update under "Hull/Team Update" for the latest.

A new name for the UL-14!
The UL-14 Canada1 is now UL-14 McIntosh Motor Sports. Dennis Macy will be driving for the team in Seattle. You can visit McIntosh Motor Sports on the web at www.seanet.com/~mms/.

A Louisville, KY race update...
We received a letter from Al Pepper , the executive chairman of the Louisville race saying that, due to financial concerns that they cannot overcome, the entire Louisville Regatta scheduled for September 29-30, 2001 has been cancelled. They are fully committed to to staging a race in 2002 and we will keep you updated.

UL-15 Freddie's Club Lite Unlimited Hydroplane display!
Scheduled for Sunday July 22nd, the UL-15 Freddie's Club Lite Unlimited Light Hydroplane will be at the Freddie's Club Casino from 11 AM to 2 PM. Jerry Hopp and crew will be present handing out give away souvenirs such as T-Shirts, Buttons, and Autograph Cards. In the casino at noon on multiple television sets will be the broadcast of the 2001 Tastin' n Racin' race which the UL-15 Freddie's Club Lite won this past June. Freddies Club Casino is located at 111 South 3rd Street in Renton, Washington 98055. Phone number for the Casino is 425-228-3700.

Media Luncheon Announced
This media event will take place at 11:30 AM on Tuesday, July 31 at F.X. McCrory's Restaurant (near the old Kingdome) in Seattle. We are hoping to see several ULHRA drivers and owners in attendance at the event!

ULHRA President Joe Frauenheim looks back on Detroit
Unusually nice weather at Detroit with some of the best racing water I have seen there. Twelve boats in the two pit areas. Four by the Roostertail and eight at Belle Isle. Jack Bell worked Friday and Saturday past midnight but was not able to get the 444 running.

We ran five laps of a one mile course due to the low water. We had great reliability even with the extra Auto Cup race with all the boats running well and only some minor breakdowns. We started the Auto Cup and the Final with two boats in the water with drivers strapped in ready to take one of the coveted positions.

It was very competitive racing in the heats and we had to go to qualifying times to break ties. We put on great racing for our fans and the Detroit promoter. We did have some communication problems with the boats at two locations and access to the overloaded shuttle boat system restricted.

The restaurant program seemed to work good overall. It looks like those boats will have sponsorship connections in the future in Detroit and we understand that more restaurants want to get involved next year. Thanks to Jim Garza for his efforts setting that up. Also thanks to Scott McGregor and his McGregor Manufacturing for arranging and paying for delivery of the manlifts for the TV and Crew to watch the race at Belle Isle. Scott also spent some hours Saturday night straightening the structural tube that supports the canard on the UL-72 and we thank him for that. - Joe

A special note of thanks!
We would like to take a moment this evening and thank Scott McGregor and McGregor Manufacturing for providing the two manlift baskets used by the Unlimited Light teams and TV crew to view and film the races at Detroit. The manlifts were located on Belle Isle and provided the riders with a full view of the course.

Detroit coverage
Looking for the Detroit coverage? Click here for all the details from the race.

Tastin' n Racin' on Speedvision!
The Speedvision broadcast from Tastin' n Racin' is scheduled to be shown at the following times:

	Sunday, 7/15 at 10 am
	Wednesday, 7/18 at 10 am
	Sunday, 7/22 at 12 noon

All times listed are Pacific

Valleyfield coverage!
Looking for the Valleyfield coverage? Click here for all the details from this weekend's race.

Taking a look at the Valleyfield race site!
Curious what the pits/stands/course in Valleyfield looks like? Thanks to the official race website, www.regates.ca, we can offer you a look. Just visit the photo album section of the site for a look at the race site and several of the classes that have competed over the last few years. Some great on-line photography!

We welcome a new voice to the web team...
Our full coverage of this weekend's Valleyfield race will get underway on Friday. In the spirit of that kickoff, we would like to take this opportunity to welcome Ed Nelson to the Unlimited Light web team. Ed has had a long association with both the Unlimiteds and the Lights and he will be the point person for the weekend's updates. Look for Ed's posts throughout the weekend!

Teamwork is at the heart of the Lights!
Over the weekend, Vince Xadauro needed quite a bit of work on his new boat, so Phil Bononcini jumped in and offered his shop and aid. Phil, Joe and Vince were soon joined by George Greer and John Flaherty, then Ed Nelson and Bo Darling came along. It was just great to see everyone working together to get Vince on the road. Not the least of help was the fine barbeque prepared for the crew by Jan Bononcini. This is what our Lights' group is all about!!!!! Let's help each other and get our boats out there.

-- Patricia Darling, ULHRA Commissioner

Detroit Sponsor for UL-14 Canada1
The UL-14 Canada1 Racing Team is proud to announce that “Tom`s Oyster Bars” will be their sponsor for the upcoming ULHRA race in Detroit, MI on July 13-15. Tom's Oyster Bars are owned by Tom Blondel of Detroit and have 3 locations in Royal Oak, Grosse Point Shores and in Detroit.

The UL-14 is scheduled to arrive in Detroit Tuesday, July 10 and will be taken to the XL Color shop for extensive decaling. After decaling the team is scheduled for displays at the restaurants. They will be entered in the “Race for Taste” heat, which will pit them against other teams that will be sponsored by Detroit area restaurants.

Many thanks to Jim Garza who is responsible for putting this new program together. Many teams would not be making their way east if it wouldn't have been made possible by Jim and the restaurant owners in Detroit.

Let's all hope that this really works out great and can be used for future race site promotion!

Non parley voo French eh! But I`m trying! Two languages in the last 2 months is hard!

-- Doug McIntosh

Click here for updates from June, 2001.