Sunday, September 30, 2007
2008 looks to be interesting
San Diego’s a 2 week old memory – it’s the last day of September (which means the “nice days” are just about over) – the Detroit Lions managed to find a way to not lose to the Chicago Bears, the Detroit Tigers played their last game of the year and sadly won’t make the post-season (but at least the Tigers’ Magglio Ordonez did win the battling title). YEP … time for some reflection on the 2007 ABRA season and what might be happening next year.
To say that I’m ecstatic that O BOY! OBERTO won the last two races of the year and has poised itself as a definitive threat to win the national championship next season would be putting it mildly. I have loved the town of Madison, IN, ever since attending my first race there in 1971 and watched it go absolutely bonkers when Jim McCormick pushed MISS MADISON to victory before 110,000 screaming fans and a nationwide audience on “ABC’s Wide World of Sports”. I was a few months shy of 15 when that happened, and the town was so cool – I loved everything about it. The Ohio River cutting through a valley, a bridge over the course connecting the communities of Madison and Milton, KY, watching the race from atop the hillside main street, taking a walk down the hill and going through the pits, eating corn dogs (which I never had tried before and Madison still has the best), and of course, being around “Cousin” Ed Cooper. What wasn’t there to like?
It became pretty natural for me to be a huge supporter of Madison, for both the boat and the town – and most fans of this sport would likely say the same thing. When you throw in Steve David – THEE most fan-friendly driver this sport has EVER seen – and such long time supporters of unlimited hydroplane racing in Art and Larry Oberto, well … how can you NOT be happy for the kind of season they had? They decided late to build a new boat for this year and just finished it in time to christen it and tow it to Evansville for the season opener. All they did was get consistently faster each race. David has tasted the drivers’ championship twice driving the OBERTO / MADISON – all that’s left is for the boat to win the coveted U-1 designation, and wouldn’t the town REALLY go nuts if that scenario came true? Personally, I’d sure like to see Steve win the Gold Cup too. It’s the one feather missing from his cap, and no one’s more deserving – especially after such a fine career of racing in all kinds of classes.
The BEACON PLUMBING and FORMULABOATS racing teams certainly had a disappointing season. Flips at Evansville for the 37 and the 5, then a disastrous flip at the Gold Cup in Detroit for the defending national champion 1 – the latter sending driver Mike Allen to the sidelines for two races while the team’s display boat was rushed into backup service with substitute driver Jimmy Shane. Jean Theoret had problems making mistakes like a senseless gun jumping in Detroit and going so slow that he ended up not being able to see as he washed down Dave Villwock in the ELAM at the start and got disqualified in Seattle. I still think Villwock put himself in trouble anyway by going too slow, but I admit the video pretty well showed he was washed down by Theoret. A season of bad circumstances kept the modern day “Checkerboard Comet” from the winner’s circle, sad to say for Billy the Schu and his hard workin’ crew. San Diego proved to be a nice rebound for earlier frustrations in the FORMULA camp, as Mike Allen returned with a repaired U-1 and captured an elimination heat win and a spot in the final. Mission Bay’s salt water did them in, however, in the final, but Jeff Bernard and the U-5 treated fans at San Diego and all over the Internet to a spectacular, breathtaking, high-speed 5 lap battle with Steve David and the OBERTO, losing out in the season finale by only a length or two. Bernard gave notice that he’ll be tough to reckon with, as will Allen in the U-1 (which now will go back to U-7). Stories have been circulating that BEACON is headed for a new boat next year, but lately some rumors have surfaced that – maybe NOT. Hmmm, wonder why not (if that’s the case)? Apparently everyone with both teams will be back, with the exception of FORMULABOATS Team Manager Mike Weber, who announced he’s retiring from the sport to have more time with his family. Good for him, I like Mike a lot – I met Mike and his brother Mark back when they were teenagers racing in Region 6. To know both of them now as adults is an honor.
I really don’t think there was a whole lot of doubt after the first race that ELAM would be hard to beat this year. It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of Dave Villwock, but let’s face it – until he came aboard, that team was a major under-achiever, BUDWEISER or no BUDWEISER. Fred Leland’s teams never ran as good until he joined them. Even though it seemed the BUD boys were unstoppable, he signed on and made many changes, to the point that winning became a foregone conclusion. Love him or hate him, he knows his stuff for props and boat setup, and is probably the reason that ELAM never seems to suffer from N2 violations. Gee, neither did BUD. For the record, I still think he’s a dirty driver and he really doesn’t need to be because his equipment is usually superior. I’m not just a fan complaining, either – plenty of drivers will say that privately, too. He’s also the sport’s biggest whiner, bearing a remarkable resemblance to another you could have loved or hated – Bill Muncey. OK, now that I’ve got that off my chest … I don’t see any reason why the ELAM wouldn’t be the team everyone else needs to look to knock off in 2008. They’re number 1 for many reasons, and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I’ve heard it mentioned that they might go for a new boat, but either way, it won’t matter. They’ll be there one way or the other.
There’s nothing – and I mean NOTHING – better than watching Jimmy King running Ed Cooper’s U-3 flat-out, especially listening to that turbocharged Allison screaming out every last horsepower it has. Two things will keep the Evansville team back, number 1 being a disadvantage at starts. Several of the other teams can go from slow to fast in a blink of an eye and that forces King to pick lanes in the middle or on the outside. When he can run from the inside, he can be as competitive as anybody but the starting will continue to be a trouble spot. Secondly, they break quite a bit and while Cooper is a great engine builder, they still are on limited funds. Personally – if I ever won the lottery – I’d call Ed and ask him how much he’d need to take care of all his engines and needed spare parts and “let’s go racing!”. All right, I’m allowed to dream …
Speaking of Cooper, he recently sold his backup hull to limited racer Mike Webster, who plans on lightening it up and refitting it with a turbine for next year. He has a few associate sponsors, and seems pretty anxious to get started for next season. It’s nice to see another new team getting involved. We haven’t seen Ray Forsman directly involved with unlimiteds for several years now, but he and partner Mike Hogan acquired the former MISS FREEI hull from Ken Muscatel during the year and has been busy fitting it for an Allison engine. I don’t believe that they plan on using a turbocharger with it but I could be wrong (there’s always a first time).
Sorry – had to duck that lightning bolt …
There seems to be two different stories surrounding Jim Harvey’s U-2 that Ken Muscatel leased and eventually bought. One that I wrote of before was that Mike Eacrett wanted to acquire it. Eacrett has been working with Ron Brown on his limited hydro, and Brown had originally designed it for Steve Woomer in (I think) 1998 but never got it started until Harvey came along, so this possibility made sense. However, it’s recently been suggested that Dave Bartush is interested in purchasing the hull. J. Michael Kelly drove for Harvey in 2005 and nobody’s made that boat go as fast, before or after, so I can see why Bartush would be interested. I’m not sure that without sponsorship dollars that team will be able to make it go faster than the boat they already have.
As far as Muscatel is concerned, he’s formed a company that will have a lot of involvement with the race sites and the promotion of the sport in general. The doctor got VERY involved with helping San Diego to pull their event off, making lots of phone calls and just doing what he’s always been good at – helping to make this sport look good. From a racing standpoint, he’ll bring the same hull out in ’08 that he ran this year, and he was pretty solid. Probably some of his best driving in years, and his strategy to finish consistent and be there to pick it up when some of the top guns failed proved to work out well for him. I wish he had a different color combination, though – I like that “Breathless” blue he used but not with that color of red. Yuck. Maybe with white or yellow but not that lipstick red, please.
Fred Leland dropped some hints at Tri-Cities that he may not stay around much longer but if he does, he’d like to try and make automotive power work in the unlimiteds before he leaves. I don’t know how serious he is about that but it would be interesting to see it done. No word on when he’ll do that, though. He’s been busy selling his boats, that’s for sure. He sold one to the LAKERIDGE PAVING team at the beginning of the year, and now he’s sold them another one. Their plans are to run the full circuit next year with this latest acquisition to be a back up, and they’ll probably run it for sure at the West Coast races. As for Fred, it looks like he’ll be back again with the same hull and Greg Hopp driving. It was nice to see him land MIRAGE BOATS as a sponsor – hopefully they’ll return as well.
I haven’t seen or heard anything about Mike Jones’ U-9. It ran only at Tri-Cities and Seattle and had troubles at both. Jones also indicated he might want to sell the team, and turn his efforts toward restoring the MILLER AMERICAN hull he owns to the vintage fleet. We’ll see.
Not a whole lot can be said about two new boats for 2007, that being FREEDOM RACING and MISS RED DOT. Jeffrey Johnson and Kevin Aylesworth had troubles at all three races they entered this year, so Brian Perkins didn’t get much of a chance to show what he’s capable of. That will be worked on over the winter. Nate Brown said he’d drive “just a few races” and then retire to let nephew Kip Brown take over the cockpit in the MISS RED DOT. Unfortunately, the U-17 only ran at Seattle so who knows if that driving deal is still in place. My guess is at the very least – if they can get some pre-season testing in (a lost art in today’s world for most teams), Nate will probably handle most of it to help dial the boat in, and maybe drive at Evansville (should they go there).
And then there’s the team that was wowing everyone on the West Coast – the U-10 MISS AHERN RENTALS. David Bryant showed ‘em that he can drive with anybody, and the Gregory family has provided him with a terrific raceboat to drive. The former T-3 BUDWEISER has shown tremendous speed from the outside and an uncanny ability to come from behind, as it did racing against the OBERTO a couple of times. Here’s another boat that if some sponsorship dollars could be found for the entire season, there’s no telling how competitive 2008 could be for them.
There’s also talk of Washington, D.C., and Nashville returning as race sites, along with Phoenix. I have to agree with Sam Cole that the prerequisite should be for future race sites proving they’re in it for the long haul, that’s the best way to go after them. I happened to read a post by a member in the “Unlimitedsondown” news group that I tend to agree with about Phoenix, though. While I’d be happy to see 3 more races return to the schedule, I remember Phoenix in 1995, and I didn’t care for the format. To me, it lacked excitement – it wasn’t racing as much as just two boats out running some fast laps. I didn’t attend Valleyfield but I think they did the same thing, and Dayton tried that years ago without a lot of success either. But … it’s still one more race so let’s keep our fingers crossed.
I’ll be tackling some other subjects - items to reflect on, that sort of thing – in weeks to come so I hope you’ll join me then. I’ve got to say, though, that despite the races being somewhat anti-climatic in the beginning of the year (sorry … I know my anti-Darth Vader is creeping through), the racing overall at Seattle and San Diego has given me a lot of hope for 2008 to be what 2007 should have been – anybody’s race.
It gives us something to talk about and look forward to, doesn't it?
Comments:
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I don't respond to many blogs but just wanted to let you know I read and enjoy your posts. Couldn't agree more with you about Madison. Great race, better place. Your comments on the sport are right on.
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: Monday, October 15, 2007
: Monday, October 15, 2007 << Home
