May 2002 It’s appetizers on the shore….. and the main course on the water!
6th Annual Tastin’ n Racin’ Not only will there be new boats to buy, but displays of classic boats from the Antique & Classic Boat Society and Hydroplane Museum, a climbing wall, two Beer Gardens, a Custom Car and Rod show presented by Diamond Lil’s and lots of activities to keep you busy for hours!! The main course will be served up by the Freddie’s Club of Renton Cup, which will showcase the Texaco Unlimited Light Hydroplane Racing Series (the real Thunder Boats) along with 10 other classes of APBA Inboard Boat Racing. That means you will have 6 hours of non-stop racing action full of tight duels and deck to deck competition! Get up close and personal with the racing by buying a pit pass, which also gives you admittance into the Previewed Viewing and lake side beer garden area where you are directly across from the start finish line and right there seeing the behind the scene action!!! What? THE FREDDIE’S CLUB OF RENTON CUP at the
6th Annual Tastin’n Racin Festival. Admission: $2.00 per person. Children under 10 free. Organizer: H.I.D.R.O.S. INC. Proceeds Benefit: Eastlake Little League, Issaquah DARE, and HIDROS Inc. Attractions include... 15 Food Booths in the Pepsi food court to tempt your taste buds including Dominos pizza, New Orleans Cookery, Ziegler’s Bratwurst House, Country Boy’s Southern Bar B Q Pit, and the Singwah Cafe. A Beer garden serving your favorite brews. The Main Stage features top entertainment including classic rock bands Magic Bus and El Loco’s tribute to ZZ Top, Pop rockers Version 2.0, 3 Shades of Gray and Bijou. Don’t you dare miss the high-energy funk of The Sub Dwellers. Family favorites Sunshine Generation and the award winning sounds of a cappella group Kickshaw top off a talent-laden lineup. Arts & Crafts will feature works by artists from throughout the Northwest. Children's Area including face painters, clowns, inflatable rides, and Muriel’s Petting Zoo. Hydroplane Races on Saturday and Sunday will show off deck to deck racing from 10 classes of boats vying for the coveted Freddie’s Club of Renton Cup. From flat bottom runabouts to 10 Unlimited Light hydroplanes reaching speeds of 150 mph! Whoa!! Friday will feature exhibitions and a celebrity race. (The Unlimited Lights are piston driven and sound just like the old Unlimiteds!) Racing will go for 6 hours straight of non-stop action! Pit passes will be for sale so you can get up-close and personal with the boats and drivers. Boat displays featuring Antique Unlimiteds from the Hydroplane Museum, old vintage boats from the Antique & Classic Boat Society, and the latest Water-ski Tournament boats from Seattle Boat. DIAMOND LIL’S Classic Car Show on Sunday with hot rods, sports cars, and restored cars. Climbing Wall Test your balance and nerves and climb the 25’ wall. Carnival with lots of rides, cotton candy and all the things you love about carnivals!! If you are an interested vendor, please call Craig Cooke at (425) 489-7900. If you are interested in being a volunteer, contact Jon Courtright at (425) 254-9252. Leave messages on the Tastin’ n Racin’ Hotline (425) 427-9828 Shuttle Buses provided by Laidlaw Transportation will run continuously between the park and the Park & Ride lot in Issaquah on Saturday and Sunday. Visit the race on the web at www.tastinracin.com! A Welcome, a Wait, and a
Farewell Meanwhile, long time 7 liter competitor and occasional entrant Gordy Gillmer has checked in with the unfortunate news that his new Unlimited Light team won't be able to compete until 2003. But, when he's ready with his new hull, crafted from Ron Jones jr. components that he and others are assembling, he expects to run with the best of the Unlimited Lights. We look forward to seeing Gordy at NW events this year, as work continues to progress for his return to racing in 2003. On a bit of a sad note, we've been notified by Richard "Dick" Sanders that it appears his 45 years in hydroplane racing is coming to an end. After sustaining severe damage to the UL136 last year at the APBA Western Divisionals, and not being able to compete on the UL circuit in 2001, Sanders tells us this is probably the end of the line. He's been making repairs to the UL136 and is offering it up for sale. If true and Sanders "retires to the beach", he'll take with him the memory of his driver, Wayne Howard jr. winning the Unlimited Lights event at Bayfair at San Diego in 2000. It's a great memory for many to reflect on Sanders' reaction to the news that his team was victorious as an Unlimited Light. We expect to see Dick at select UL events this year. 45 years is a long time of devotion to the sport, and we salute his dedication. But it would sure be nice if the Sanders team chose to come back for a 46th season. We'll see you at the races, Dick; and from all of us, our best wishes. John Lynch Interested
in seeing an Unlimited Light race televised in your area? Currently, the season will be broadcast by KIRO in Seattle, Washington and KNDU/KNDO in Tri Cities/Yakima, Washington. For the full broadcast schedule in these areas, visit our schedule page. Our broadcast schedule is posted just below our race schedule. Are you affiliated with a station that
would be interested in carrying the series? Please contact the ULHRA at
(206) 315-1716 and we will help you join us in 2002! Photos
featuring the UL-15 at Entiat!
Think this is fun? Over on the Hopp Racing Team's website, www.seanet.com/~hoppracing/, they have video to share! Just visit the site and click on their team news page for four movies and five more photos! It's one thing to see the new motor and another thing entirely to hear it! Well worth a visit. While pointing you to the site, we
would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Hopp Racing Team on
adding Ferrea Racing components as a product sponsor for the team! For the past 40 years, Ferrea has been manufacturing hard core racing components for various types of engines in a wide range of categories worldwide.
Visit them on the web at www.ferrea.com. The Shockwave Racing Team and Miss Ted's Red Apple Markets
will soon make a lot of noise When the hull work is completed, the Bridgeman's will install their new supercharged 468 c.i. powerplant. With the previous UL17, the Shockwave team ran a normally aspirated powerplant in both UL and GNH competition. But the ex GP101 is built for a supercharged motor and is a couple of feet longer, as well as heavier than the previous UL17. More good news: The previous UL17 lives on, as the Union Dooz UL58, now owned by Detroiter Pingree Conflitti. We expect "Ping" and his UL58, which will honor "the spirit of brotherhood for the skilled building tradesmen and their families" will compete in Detroit's UL event, and some select GNH races. John Lynch
New "off the shelf"
project may offer racers affordable motor alternative! The UL concept for an approved Unlimited Light supercharged powerplant is to offer an alternative to the 509 cubic inch "naturally aspirated" UL engine. Just as is found in Pro Stock drag racing, successfully building a race worthy and successful 509 can be somewhat costly. Those who possess the talent to build such a race engine really enjoy the challenge. The goal of the Unlimited Lights supercharged motor concept is to offer something for other teams that could be more affordable to build and race, while maintaining a competitive balance between supercharged and naturally aspirated race motors. The aim is to exercise "controls" so that the competitive balance is maintained, which would lead to a continuation of the growth in teams that the UL series has experienced since being formed in the fall of 2000. Whether supercharged or non supercharged, new teams and existing participants have to be confident that their choice of powerplant will give them an opportunity to be competitive, rather than be disadvantaged. John Lynch The series
readies for Tastin' n Racin' in Issaquah, Washington Expected entries for the 2002 race include:
Thunder Valley Racing Team readies for double the fun in
2002! At Valleyfield last year, Thunder Valley doubled the size of their team with the acquisition of George Kennedy's GP25 Shameless, the first GP boat to be converted to legal Unlimited Light status, as the UL40. In the off-season, their first in the last 3 winters, Thunder Valley hasn't been thrashing all winter on the UL21. They completed hull updates in preparation for a season long effort. Now, they have some final matters to complete on the UL40 so both boats can be ready in time for the season opener....an event the Thunder Valley organization produces. The UL40 will be driven by Kelly Stocklin, long time Superstock runabout racer, and crew member both for Thunder Valley and the Miss Budweiser Unlimited Hydroplane team. Stocklin was to debut at San Diego last year, and got the UL40 on the water, but mechanical woes kept him from his first heat start as an Unlimited Light driver. However, the UL40 did show some excellent chute speed earlier in the season in Seattle, in a heat race with Randy Haas in the Miss CompAir (UL110). If the UL40's turning capabilities and exit pin acceleration can be improved, this could be an interesting season for Thunder Valley. John Lynch
Entiat, Washington, the UL-15
Freddie's Club and the UL-3 Bounty Hunter! The Hopp Racing team spent the winter converting their multi race winning UL15 hull from naturally aspirated to supercharged power, with the assistance of noted Pacific NW engine builder, Ed Trihey. The winter efforts paid off, and the fans enjoyed the "sound of power" provided by the supercharged powerplant. The former 3 time UL series championship hull (formerly Alamo Rent a Car, then owned by Ned Allen and driven by Bo Schide) won it's debut event for the Hopp team in 2001 (Tastin & Racin) and finished second in owner points. The race for the top spot should be very exciting in 2002. The UL 15 will race throughout the northwest as Freddie's Club, and in Detroit as "Happy Go Lucky" That Detroit sponsorship dates back to the days when Jerry Hopp and Al Thoreson campaigned the U-7 turborcharged Allison Unlimited Hydroplane and they befriended Bill & Happy Rands of the Detroit area. The Rands annually assist the Hopps for the Detroit race. Hogan's Bounty Hunter driven by veteran Doug Brow, showed that both supercharged and non supercharged powerplants can be competitive in the UL series, which is the desired result. In fact, Hogan's team ran a GNH legal 468 motor rather than the UL approved 509 powerplant, running very quickly. Plus, both teams reported no broken parts!. The Unlimited Lights began as a non supercharged series. Adding "blowers" in a "budget design" is designed to offer an alternative to race teams, but with strict controls to maintain competitive balance between the powerplants. There are specific rules limiting the supercharged motors in cubic inch displacement and in supercharger operation. Hogan's team has been working hard this winter to quash the "mechanical gremlins" that limited their performance last year. The UL3 has demonstrated very competitive speeds, but lack of reliability has been their downfall, particularly in 2001 when they were able to start & finish just a handful of heats. This team has the speed to compete. If their reliability improves, watch out for the Bounty Hunter in 2002. John Lynch An updated look at
Paul Droullard's UL-9!
John Lynch, "Voice of the Unlimited Lights", offers us an even more detailed update on the team.... Paul Droullard and friends continue to work on his new UL9, with hopes of debuting this summer at the Unlimited Lights event in Tri Cities WA at the end of July. Testing is planned for early July on Black Lake near Olympia in July, during an APBA Region 10 event. It's the same Black Lake, but a different location on that lake, where an Unlimited Lights event is planned for two weeks after the Tri Cities event, and one week following Seafair in Seattle. Components for the UL9 came from Ron Jones Jr. in Sumner WA. Helping make the UL9 a reality are
former Unlimited hydroplane participant, and 5 Liter Hydroplane owner-driver Rick Campbell, and top NW 2.5 stock hydroplane owner-driver Jon Zimmerman,
along with Jim Mowrey. If their schedule holds, the UL9 will hit the "paint booth" in June.
An Unlimited Lights race on Lake Okanagan at Kelowna will take place this summer as part of the ROAR Hydrofest on August 30 - September 1. Tom Danyk, executive director of the Royal Okanagan Aquatic Recreation (ROAR) and the Hydroplane Festival Association, hopes to add and air show, a street painting festival, three-on-three basketball tournament, beach volleyball, and a farmers and crafters market to the Hydroplane event. The 2002 event, premiers this Unlimited power Classes Showcase event, with the Unlimited Light Hydroplane Series of the APBA. This event is designed as two distinct parts - the race or sport event and the aquatic festival event. The first event is planned to include multiple live entertainment, various classes of racing, pageantry, displays, and exhibitions. The Unlimited Lights are excited about being part of this event and returning to Kelowna! Preseason
reorganization ... Day 1! (5/18/02) What's new? You can start by checking out the new look and streamlined design on our history page. If you are looking for the records page, you may notice the button has disappeared from the front of the site. Have no fear! It's now part of the updated history page just bellow Fred's gallery of stories. We merged the two sections to make room for the new "for sale" page! The "for sale" section is a new element for the site. Our hope is to help get more people who are interested in our series, actually into our series. It is strictly for series legal Unlimited Light Hydroplanes and related equipment. We expect this area will grow in popularity as we match people and product to get even more participation in our fast growing series. If you have UL equipment to offer for sale just send the site's webmaster an e-mail. With an 8 race season running from June through September, there's plenty of time to get additional teams on the water in 2002; allowing them to get series acclaim and begin building their program(s) for 2003. Returning to the site updates, we've also run through the rules and contact page posting minor updates to the content. Links have been added to the 2002 schedule page and over on the teams page, we've updated the look and added to the list of potential teams. We've also run through the links page updating all the pointers. Formerly found on the results page,
we've given the season point
standings it's own section within the site for 2002. It's a new button
on the front page that will link you to a quick summary of where your favorite
driver/team stands in the upcoming season points race. As for the results
page itself, we've trimmed and smoothed it out as well. Been
"Extreme UL Racing" lately? 2002
television coverage continues to grow! The 30-minute Unlimited Light race broadcasts will be televised at 3 p.m. on Sundays in the Tri-Cities and Yakima as follows:
The ULHRA would like to thank Emily Janikowski of the Tri-City Water Follies who was instrumental in negotiating this agreement. If you are in the
Seattle area, be sure to catch the Lights on KIRO 7!
Tastin' n Racin'
2002! This years race will also feature Great food, Music, Children’s activities including shows by the Wenatchee youth circus, Custom car and Hot Rod show, arts and crafts, and much more. To find out more about this years events visit
www.tastinracin.com. An update on the
UL-15 blower motor conversion - Rick Thompson Click here for updates from March and April, 2002.
Questions, comments? E-mail the
site's webmaster. |
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