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Wil & Joe’s Excellent Adventure, Part III
Debi & Wil Muncey have added two more hydroplanes to the Muncey Racing fleet. After a visit to Mexico businessman Carlos Buitron last month, the purchase was just recently finalized. The team’s two UL drivers, Wil Muncey and ‘Smokin’ Joe Souza flew to Laredo, Texas to pick up the UL-23 and UL-21 hulls and bring them home to Washington State. Here is: Wil & Joe’s Excellent Adventure, Part III (as reported by Debi Muncey) The thing about hydroplanes is that they aren’t really boats at all. We put them on the water. We CALL them boats. But they’re not boats. They like to fly. And sometimes, hydroplanes become aero-planes. It is not one of their most endearing features in my opinion, but I understand it’s how they work. A good friend of ours, Unlimited Driver Mark Evans, was once hauling a hydroplane across country in high winds and his boat took flight. As I remember the story, it completely left the trailer, or maybe it took the trailer with it, but anyway, the boat planted itself in the middle of the intersection. Not good. I never heard how that saga ended. But back, to our story. So, when ULHRA Public Relations Director, John Lynch, asked me to write this made-for-website mini-series, I thought I would run out of usable material long before the boats got home. You know, they’ll have the predictable flat tire that no self-respecting road trip would be complete without, which they did – of course. A somewhat exciting blow-out in some place called Coalinga. Yes, I checked the spelling. Fortunately not too far from a tire center, and a mere $150 and an hour later, they’re back on the road. But my concerns of the adventure well running dry before the boats reached Seattle were totally unfounded. Obviously, I had under-estimated the ability of the Muncey-Souza combination to find challenging experiences wherever they go. I keep thinking back to Joe, shortly before their departure saying, “Relax. What could go wrong?” I don’t really worry when Muncey or Souza are driving a hydroplane on the race course. They’re good. They will be fine. But they have entered the California highway system now. It’s just not their medium. When I checked the weather forecast for the Los Angeles area where they would be heading soon, I read “High Wind Warning, Sustained and Damaging Winds of 40MPH with Gusts to 70 MPH. Remembering the Evans Episode of years ago, I picked up the phone. “Where are you?” I asked, thinking they will be so grateful I have checked the weather and can forewarn them. Good thing I stayed behind so I can help like this. Wil says, “We are driving on the shoulder of the road, somewhere in the middle of a desert. Going, 15, no make that 12, yeah 12 miles per hour, with four-way flashers going”. This can’t be good, but in my calmest voice, I ask, “So, how’s your day going, dear?” Well, the story goes something like this: It seems our tandem hellions are cruising into California, no doubt just ripping right along in their rental trucks; Souza in front, Muncey on his tail. They have 2-way radios so they can communicate with each other. They’re jazzed about the new boats. They’re planning and scheming and re-telling old racing heats, and you know, just being guys-on-the-road. Muncey has his chocolates and Joe has his Diet Coke. They’re pretty happy travelers. Wil has been staring at the nose of the UL-23 for about oh 1500 miles or so now. (Remember it sits on the trailer backwards). He’s had lots of time to study her. They had heard something on the radio about a storm coming in, and they see a sign that says “Indio - 20 miles”. They decide with the storm blowing in, they won’t push it. Next town, they will stop for the night. So Wil is cruising on down the road fixated on our latest “investment” while listening to Joe’s comic routine on the two-way. You probably didn’t know Souza has always wanted to do stand-up. Then all of a sudden, a gust of wind comes out of nowhere. We have no way of knowing if this was one of the 70 mph babies that the National Weather Service was talking about, but it was enough. Enough to get right under the nose of that big old red boat and let it do what hydroplanes really want to do. Suddenly, Wil is no longer looking at the nose of the UL-23. He is studying the bottom of it, as it does a 90 degree turn and stands on end on the trailer. As a mental image of Dorothy’s house in the Wizard of Oz flashes in front of his eyes, he screams into the radio, “Abort! BRAKES! BRAKES NOW!” It was an unsettling feeling when Joe realized something had shifted in the way the trailer was handling. Then he realized Wil was interrupting his story with an important announcement, and he heard the tone of the voice over the radio more than he comprehended the words. “What? Oh, sh---! I do believe Smokin Joe’s got pretty good reflexes. He told me later that when he skidded to a stop and jumped out of the truck, initially all the force of the gale was being blocked by the boat-wannabe-plane. However, once he stepped out of the path of the UL-23 windbreak, he was nearly thrown into the highway by the sheer force of the wind. If this was a Disney movie, the boat would have come back down squarely on the trailer; they would have wiped the sweat from their brow, had a good chuckle, and drove on down the highway to the nearest hamburger stand. But then if it was a Disney movie, this probably wouldn’t be a hydroplane, and they’d have way better writers. The good news was the hydroplane was still on the trailer – well, more or less. Make that less than more. It’s pitch dark…smack dab in the middle of honest-to-God nowhere. The cold gale force wind is whisking across the desert. They’re tired and hungry and cold and still 1300 miles from home. This is the glamour and the glory of hydroplane racing at its finest. The guys have gotten themselves into quite a pickle this time. (Do I need to mention again how very glad I am that I am not on this trip?) This might have stumbled even McGuyver. But never fear, remember our boys are outfitted with the Handy Dandy Paul Becker Miracle Hydroplane Roadside Emergency Kit. (Really, Paul, you need to patent that and sell it on the Shopping channel.) So, they reach into the Miracle Bag and sure enough, a bottle jack. By the time I called them, to warn them it could get windy, they had bottle jacked the boat/airplane back into position; lashed it down with ratcheting straps, and were on their way…. Slowly, oh so slowly to the Best Western in Indio. By the way, Wil says the bottom of the boat looks pretty good. That’s nice to know. To be continued…. Wil & Joe’s Excellent Adventure, Part II. Debi & Wil Muncey have added two more hydroplanes to the Muncey Racing fleet. After a visit to Mexico businessman Carlos Buitron last month, the purchase was just recently finalized. The team’s two UL drivers, Wil Muncey and ‘Smokin’ Joe Souza flew to Laredo, Texas to pick up the UL-23 and UL-21 hulls and bring them home to Washington State. Here is Wil & Joe’s Excellent Adventure, Part II. The Travels Continue: (as reported by Debi Muncey) Our caped crusaders pushed it hard yesterday. Ok, they're not really wearing capes – that would be weird even for them but they did log about 800 miles. I'm not sure they meant to, but they were driving through Texas and just kept driving through Texas waiting for the scenery to change. The only thing that changed was that the sun came up and then the sun went down, and Texas went on. To break up the monotony a little, the boys did make a slight detour through Odessa. It was only a couple of hundred miles out of the way, which in Texas is just around the corner, and it gave Joe Souza a chance to visit his old race boat. Friends Bob and Kevin Scribner have been hydro-sitting the old girl for a few years now. Joe said it was nice to see his old boat. He petted her and they talked a while before he told her he had to push on, but he promised to be back again some day. (It’s been a long trip.) The entire Scribner family took turns getting their pictures taken sitting in the cockpits of the UL21 and UL23. Apparently they don't see a lot of hydroplanes in Odessa, Texas. After a nice steak dinner and some boat racing stories, the Scribner family all stood on the big porch and waved goodbye as Wil and Joe drove off into the sunset in true Texan style. Everybody knows Texas is big, but you probably don’t really grasp the enormity of it until you drive it from one end to the other. Souza relayed that he had been driving through Texas for hours on end, only to see a road sign saying “El Paso - 400 miles”. At some point in the night they must have decided enough is enough and found a motel to get a few hours of sleep. Wil sent me an email late last night after he checked into the room. “Very windy day today. Everything is flat.” It reminds me a little of reading the chronicles of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. (May 27, 1805: “We have now got into a country which presents little to our view, but scenes of barreness and desolation; and see no encouraging prospects that it will terminate.” – Meriwether Lewis) Maybe we should call this Wil & Joe’s Excellent Expedition. Because of the two-hour time difference, I got up this morning and found Wil had sent me a quick note from his laptop before they hit the road again. “Just got up. Joe’s internal alarm clock worked again. Believe it or not it is raining cats & dogs this morning. Joe looks shocked. He has never seen rain before.” What they seem to look forward to today is the opportunity to pull over and buy gasoline. Luckily, with two trucks towing two boats, they get to do this fairly often. At one of these stops, a nice man approaches and asks, “What kind of boats are these?” After explaining they are hydroplanes, the man tells them that he used to go to the hydro races in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho - back in the day. Now though he lives in Sequim, and there’s nothing like that around. Needless to say, he was pleasantly surprised to learn that we do race in Port Angeles. And I think that’s what Joe Frauenheim, ULHRA President and owner of UL-72, was talking about when he said you build the fan base one fan at a time. Speaking of Joe Frauenheim… So, Phil Bononcini, former UL72 driver, recently decided to escape the Northwest winter weather and play Snowbird. Phil headed south looking for Arizona sunshine. (Stay with me here. It will all make sense in a minute.) So, Phil is driving along on Highway 10 between Tucson and El Paso this morning about 11:00AM. All of a sudden, a freak snowstorm comes up. Phil turns on his wipers and can make out coming towards him in the snow something really odd. No, not a giraffe, but close. Phil grabs his cell phone and calls Frauenheim. “So Joe”, Phil says trying not to sound too excited, “I’m driving through a snow storm on Highway 10 in Arizona and through the snow, what should appear, but a bright red hydroplane. I think I have seen it before somewhere, maybe in a dream. But it’s going down the road sitting backwards on its trailer! I kid you not!” I personally think Phil was looking for validation that he was not hallucinating either the snowstorm or the backward hydroplane. Joe, in his calm quiet voice just says, “Yes, Phil. That would be Joe Souza.” Well, of course, it is. To be continued…. KNDU TV reports on new Kennewick WA UL team. I saw on the ULHRA website that the Waldens from Kennewick bought the UL-14. We went out and did an interview with the new owners that I thought you might want to share. Story & Video at: http://www.kndu.com/Global/story.asp?S=5860615&nav=menu484_4_7 Paul Dughi KNDU-TV Wil & Joe’s Excellent Adventure, Part I Debi & Wil Muncey have added two more hydroplanes to the Muncey Racing fleet. After a visit to Mexico businessman Carlos Buitron last month, the purchase was just recently finalized. The team’s two UL drivers, Wil Muncey and “Smokin” Joe Souza flew to Laredo, Texas yesterday to pick up the UL-23 and UL-21 hulls and bring them home to Washington State. Here is Wil & Joe’s Excellent Adventure, Part I.
DAY ONE: (as reported by Debi Muncey)
The day starts much, much too early with Wil Muncey
and Joe Souza meeting up at SeaTac airport at 5:00AM the morning
after Christmas. I have noticed that for some reason all good
Adventures must begin at ridiculous hours of the morning.
I chose to sit this trip out. Joe asked me, “What
could go wrong?”
Hmmm. Let us ponder that question a minute. Muncey &
Souza in rented trucks painted with wide red stripes, speeding
through Texas, pulling a pair of hydroplanes on trailers with
Mexican plates, 2800 miles in the dead of winter. Maybe no one will
notice them. Fortunately, I have very important things to do at
home.
After a short layover in Houston, the Dynamic Duo
land at the Laredo airport. Laredo is a small town. This is good.
Less chance to get lost. (To be honest, we have gotten lost going to
Port Angeles. Maybe I should have bought Wil that Magellan after
all. It would come in handy in TriCities last year.) Luckily, our
friend the Mexico-hydroplane-buyer pioneer, Paul Becker, has armed
Wil with a suitcase full of essentials, including maps and Laredo
yellow pages. I am comforted by the knowledge that Becker has blazed
the path.
As the airplane was coming into Laredo, Smokin Joe
looked out the window and saw a river which he speculated must be
the US/Mexico border. It was indeed and they would soon hear the
Aventuras Excellente su Carlos Buitron crossing this border on
Christmas Day with two hydroplanes.
No sooner had our boys claimed their luggage than
they spotted Carlos waiting their arrival. They said he looked
tired. Carlos had actually started his own leg of the adventure many
hours earlier on Christmas Day. His part was to transport the UL21
hydroplane and the UL23 hydroplane from his home in Tula, Mexico
nearly 800 miles to Laredo. Carlos drove one truck and an employee
towed the second boat. Unfortunately, said employee did not possess
a passport and had to remain on the Mexican side. Carlos proceeded
with Boat #1.
It seems that with the terrorist alert elevated to
Orange, race boats are on some watch list. Somebody must have passed
the word to the “Federales”, as Carlos calls them, that hydroplanes
are very dangerous. They are even more suspicious than a 4-1/2 ounce
bottle of hair gel. Federal Customs Officers were troubled about
allowing this “object” into the United States of America. Certainly,
no good could come of it. After two hours of vehicle searches and
interrogation, Carlos was finally granted entry into the US. The
UL-21 was dropped in the parking lot at the Laredo Best Western (of
course), and Carlos quickly returned to the Mexican side to grab the
other boat.
It is tough to drive past anyone unnoticed when you
are towing a bright red hydroplane, let alone U.S. border crossing
guards trained to look for anything unusual. When the very same
guards who had interrogated Carlos just an hour ago saw him
attempting to cross again with a second hydroplane, they said,
“Alright, that’s it. This is NOT funny. Something is up!”
After another four hours of intense questioning,
vehicle searches, and packs of bomb-sniffing/drug-seeking dogs, the
guards reluctantly waved Carlos on. Now, this particular
boat/trailer combination has traveled thousands of miles, apparently
without incident. It hauled the boat to many races in the US, and
from Seattle to Mexico City when Carlos bought it a few years ago.
It hauled the boat back across Mexico (which does not have the best
roads in the world) again on Christmas. But apparently Murphy’s is
an International Law. This was indeed a poor time for a bolt in the
trailer to let go, causing a shackle to break at this moment with
the border in sight. The guards started shouting at Carlos to speed
it up and get moving. He was now holding up traffic in the
commercial lane at the most important and busiest U.S./Mexico land
port on one of the busiest crossing days. That sort of thing can
make folks grouchy. Carlos tried yelling back to explain that he had
a problem and could not go faster. Then the trailer twisted and
grabbed one of the tires. Now with guards shouting and arms waving,
dogs barking, the trailer buckling and groaning, and the rapidly
deflating tire leaving a trail of shredded black rubber in his wake,
Carlos re-entered the United States with the Muncey’s new
purchase.
Now back at the airport (after some repairs) Carlos meets up with Wil and Joe and delivers them to the next phase of their quest – the U-Haul Truck lot. Don Quixote would be proud. Two reserved vehicles awaiting their arrival to lead the charge to Seattle. So far everything is as planned and right on schedule in Day One of Wil and Joe’s Excellent Adventure.
A lot of planning has gone into this trip since Wil
and I traveled to Tula, Mexico last month shopping for hydroplanes
on Thanksgiving Day – like every other typical American couple. We
had actually only intended to buy one boat, but hey, it’s the
holidays, and we couldn’t decide. The Buitrons were excellent hosts.
When they realized we were spending the US holiday in Mexico, they
surprised us with a lovely, nearly-traditional Thanksgiving Dinner,
complete with turkey and salsa. Keep in mind the Mexicans really
couldn’t give a rip about when the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock
so this was a very thoughtful gesture on their part. Even Carlos was
surprised that his wife was able to find a fresh turkey in quaint
little Tula on short notice. Paul Becker helped us tremendously with
the planning. Becker, who just recently purchased the former UL110
from Carlos, had already made the trip from Laredo to Seattle and
was a wealth of information in the planning details. Paul, ever the
prepared pilot, thoughtfully packed Wil a carry-on suitcase with
every essential you could think of for the trip.
At the truck lot, Souza realized one of the trucks
they were renting was a nice shiny new truck with low miles; the
other a little beat up. Being the competitive sort of fellow that he
is, Souza seized the opportunity as Wil was finishing up the rental
paperwork to run and claim the driver’s seat of the nicest truck.
“Ha Ha! This is mine!”
“That’s OK”, said Wil. “You get to tow the UL-23.”
Silence.
Now, the UL23 is a beautiful boat. No question about
it. J. W. Meyers did some nice work on it and I will be proud to
own it. But it does have one little quirk that we may need to
address once it’s home. The boat is on a trailer that, well, doesn’t
do the boat justice. And not only is it not so pretty, I think it
may be dyslexic. The boat goes down the road backwards on this
trailer. I guess in theory there’s nothing horribly wrong with that,
but it just seems wrong. So wrong in fact that when Souza backed up
the truck to hitch up the boat, sure enough he backed up to the
wrong end of the boat.
After picking up a few odds and ends in town, Wil and
Joe spent a restful night in the Laredo Best Western. Wil emailed me
early this morning that “Joe has the innate ability to wake up
automatically without an alarm.” There was something about his use
of the word, “innate” that made me wonder if Wil thought this was a
good thing. Regardless, by 5AM Wil and Joe had hit the road to
begin Day 2 of Wil & Joe’s Excellent Adventure because all good
Adventures must begin at ridiculous hours of the morning.
To be continued….
An existing ULHRA racing team has purchased
two hulls and one engine from Carlos Buitron of Mexico and those craft
are on the road to their new home to be prepped for racing. I'm not at
liberty to identify the purchaser but that information will be released
later this week.
 The
purchase included the UL-23 hull, campaigned by Springfield Ohio's Bob
Larimore before being sold to Sr. Buitron in 2003. It was last raced by
J.W. Myers in 2002 and was part of a thrilling 4 boat duel for the
Graham Trucking Cup at Seafair in 2002. Myers wound up in 4th but was
one of 4 teams with a shot at the Final Heat win going into the last
lap. Myers also qualified at better than 113 mph in San Diego that same
year in that boat's last appearance on the Unlimited Lights circuit. It
was third fastest in 2002, and would've been third fastest in 2005 &
2006.  Also
part of the purchase is the UL-21, formerly campaigned by Thunder Valley
Racing and driven by Nick Badolato. This was the first race craft to
employ supercharged power in Unlimited Lights racing. It's final race
was Tastin n Racin 2002 where Badolato scored an impressive third place
finish.
Rounding out the purchase is the 468 cu.in
naturally aspirated engine that was acquired with the UL-929 hydroplane
Buitron purchased from Vince "X-Man" Xaudaro. This latest purchase
leaves the Tula, Mexico businessman with two hulls and one incomplete
engine. Details for those interested in purchasing are in the For Sale
section of this website.
Two trucks with two hydroplanes in tow are
departing Laredo TX for their new race team home. Where? Can't tell
you that........it'd spoil the surprise. So, just log on tomorrow and
read the first installment of what is destined to be an Excellent
Adventure.
John Lynch
P.R. Director, ULHRA Inc.
Rick and Shawn start their Christmas early
Take care and Happy Holidays, Shawn Bridgeman Tri Cities gets a "home team" Greg
and Lora Walden of Kennewick WA, where the annual HAPO Community Thunder Cup
is held at the end of July, have acquired the "grand old lady" of ULHRA
racing. They have purchased from Paul Becker the venerable UL-14 hull,
originally built by Ron Jones Sr. in 1974. That hull and Becker combined
for a career best third place in the 2006 Unlimited Light Hydroplane
National Championship. Becker recently acquired the former UL-110 hull that
was previously raced by Carl & Randy Haas of Toledo OH. The UL-98 Miss Atomic Screen Printing will debut in 2007. The Walden's plan their first year to be a learning experience and to compete on the west coast. Eventually they hope to move up to ULHRA's new Thunderboats Series. The Walden's own the screen printing business and have a background in motorsports......mostly in short track stock cars. Greg Walden says one of the incentives for them to enter the world of ULHRA racing as team owners was "we feel there needs to be team recognition in Tri Cities WA where boat racing is so popular". While Greg Walden says "I would like to run the boat during Spring Training to see what it is like out there" he doesn't plan to be the race driver. In fact, whom the race driver will be hasn't been decided, nor has the position of crew chief. Interested Driver and Crew Chief candidates should contact the Walden's at walden2u@aol.com Atomic Screen Printing is one of the Pacific Northwest's leading providers of screen-printed and embroidered wearables. They feature three on-staff artists and do all work in-house at their production facility in Kennewick WA. John Lynch P.R. Director, ULHRA Inc. ULHRA to post fan's videos
To end 2006, ULHRA Inc. is inviting anyone with
video shots of the 2006 season to submit their coverage to the ULHRA for
consideration as an addition to our Fan Videos webpage. This will give
hydroplane fans around the world a chance to see "other views" of the 2006
ULHRA season. There is no charge to post, and no compensation to the
videographer. This is strictly a voluntary program and the videos will be
available on this site from December 15 to January 5.
To submit video product of the 2006 season, the
video must be a ".WMV" file. Either attach the video to an email and send it
to
enelson501@comcast.net, or mail a CD (no DVDs) to:
Ed Nelson
19104 17th Ave. NW Shoreline, WA 98177
Include your name and a brief description of the
video
This will strictly be for entertainment
purposes. Videos posted here will not be offered for sale. All video
product submitted is at the voluntary choosing of the videographer and
cannot be returned.
Click here for updates from November, 2006
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