Next race the 2010 Bill Muncey Memorial!

This weekend marks the 2nd race of the year for RC Unlimiteds which will be held in Ellensburg Washington, the Bill Muncey Memorial. Last year's champion, Dave Brandt, will be back to defend his title. He will be back with his 1999 Pico along with his new and strong running 1993 Tide. Dustin Hicks transfered a strong end to his last season to be 2nd in points after the first race. John Olsen came out with a strong running boat, which poses to be a mighty threat this year for his first career victory. Kirk Maupin will be back with his his ever fast Esquire Products. Along with these drivers, there are at least several handfuls of drivers that are ready to step up to the winner spot this weekend. Coming off a 32 boat field for the season opener, the Bill Muncey Memorial is shaping up to be big race with a lot of fun and possibilities.

Albert Lee's new boat and Sponsorship

Here is a new photo of Greg's new boat purchased from the old U-21 team. It is ready for the season and will be heading over to the Tri-Cities for a test session in the near future. Albert Lee in addition to sponsoring the team will be the title sponsor for the 2010 Seafair race, in GM's absence!

2010 Griffith Cup Article

Many thanks to our New Zealand connection Merv for pointing out a very interesting article on the 2010 Griffith Cup. Some interesting notes worth mentioning is American hydroplane driver J Michael Kelly (which is actually misspelled as J Michael Price) and the GP hydro Annihilator that was built, based off the design of a remote control hydroplane. Merv Sowden confirms that this was a model from the late Troy McIntyre of the 1991 Winston Eagle Lobster boat. The article goes into depth on the events of the 2010 race, and the history of the 2nd longest running trophy in all of motorsports, the Griffith Cup.

Trivia Question #1

Before we give out the first trivia question for Newton Marine the Blog, lets lay down a few ground rules:

1) All answers need to be submitted via the comment portion of the trivia question, no emails, phone calls or letters will be excepted.

2) All answers must include your full name.

3) The first person to answer correctly wins the prize that is mentioned with the trivia question.

4) There will be a minimum of 1 trivia contest per month with some months having more than 1.

Trivia Question #1:

Scott Pierce had a lot of success racing hydroplanes and made a name for himself racing in the Unlimited class racing for many professional teams and owners. That being said, here is the first trivia question. What was Scott's first career win in the Unlimited class? Please name the event location, race title, year and the boat that he drove to win. The first person to answer this correctly by commenting to this post will win a Newton Marine "Hydro Classics" coloring book drawn by Roger J. Newton.

Good luck!

Duke's Restaurant saves Seafair

Looks like Duke's Chowderhouse stepped up and will give $40,000 to Seafair to keep the hydros as part of the event through fundraising. This should be enough to save the event for the hydros, but just reminds us on how small of a scale the events are being run today, compared to years ago. On another note, you can enter a raffle and win free dinner for life, might be worth the try. Here is a link to the Seattle PI article.

Seafair in Trouble

The Seattle Times came out with an article in yesterday's paper on the hydroplanes jeopardy with Seafair as GM pulled its 6 figure sponsorship. This appears to be a growing trend with all race sites. San Diego fell out of the racing schedule last year, Evansville is out this year with also possible Detroit. Now Seattle is in trouble, leaving only 2 confirmed sites in America: Tri-Cities and Madison. The hydroplanes are in much need of some leadership to not let it fall completely through the floor, which I do not think Sam Cole (Chairman of H1) is doing anything about. It seems each year the hydros get into deeper financial trouble and makes its way out, but how much longer can this go on and we still call it a sport? Link to Seattle Times Seafair article.

Uploaded videos of Atomic Cup Final, 1st and 2nd Connie

Final Heat

First Connie

Second Connie

Photos of 2010 Atomic Cup

I have uploaded all of my pictures for the event on my Newton Marine Photo website.

Chris Denslow has also uploaded his, there are many many pages of great photos of the race. Chet and Brian Lepinski put on a great race to open the racing season. Next race is in two weeks in Ellensburg, Washington, the Bill Muncey Memorial.

Add another mark for the Czar!

Just got home from RCU's season opener. We had a great day of racing with 31 boats total, making it a long and fun day full of racing. Looking towards results John Gatjens won the 2nd connie driving his new 1974 U-95. The 2nd connie was run just for fun, but the 1st connie was run for the last position in the final. Kirk Maupin won with his Esquire Products, thus giving him the trailer position. As most of the field trolled to the line at 20 MPH I went for the old fashioned flying start, found a hole in lane 2 and ran away with it never looking back. This gives me 5 victories since my dads passing, all of which have been in his memory. It took me a year to add the fifth mark on the tool box for him, but today I was able to defend the Atomic Cup. The official final heat results are:

1. David Newton/1993 Miss Budweiser

2. Steve Schmitz/1985 Squire Shop

3. Dave Brandt/1994 The Tide

4. Dave Blackstein/1998 Llumar Window Films

5. Dustin Hicks/1993 Oh Boy! Oberto

6.Kirk Maupin/1977 Esquire Products

7. John Olsen/1991 Miss Madison

I have uploaded footage of the final heat to my youtube account. I will upload more pictures and videos tomorrow.

Saturday at Tri-Cities

Almost 20 more boats came out today adding to the 7 we had on Friday, making the field count 25 in the pits. A few more stragglers will come out tomorrow, hopefully we will push it up to 30 A few more "new" boats came out today including Marc Connelly's 1982 Atlas Van Lines. I put in 5 good test runs today, moved the pipe in a little, and switched from an Octura 2 460 blade to an ABC 60x76. Boat runs pretty well, will give it my best tomorrow to defend the title. Rachael put in another good 40 laps in on the Miss Houston. I took some more shots of today's action, just visit Newton Marine's photo page to see them. I also got an interview in with driver of the Joe Ricci Spirit of America, Harry Gatjens. Here is a link to the video on youtube: Harry's interview. I hope to get some more footage and will post it as soon as I get home.

Friday Testing of the 2010 Atomic Cup

Today at Two Rivers Park in Kennewick Washington we had a Friday test session before Sunday's race. A total of 7 boats came out including: my 1993 Miss Budweiser and 1983 Miss Houston, Dave Brandt's new 1993 Tide, Dave Blackstein's 1986 Miss 711 and 2000 Miss Llumar, John Olsen's 1991 Miss Madison and Brian Lepinski's 1993 Circus Circus. Some good runs were made today. My fiance Rachael Goldman got about 50 laps in the Miss Houston. She did very good getting used to the controls and accustomed to driving a hydroplane around a course with other boats on the water. She hopes to get the hang of it to qualify as a driver for RCU in the 2010 racing season. My Bud made a few strong runs. I only did not make it back to the pits once, on account of there was no more fuel left in the fuel tanks! With not driving a boat for 5 months, I guess I was just having too much fun! I had some problems with my camera today, but I will be sure to take more over the weekend, and hopefully upload a video or two with it. Here are just a few pictures of the days events (I will upload all of my photos to my photo site 2010 Atomic Cup Pix):

This final picture come from proffesional hydroplane photograhper Chris Denslow. If you have not seen any of his photos before, come out of your cave and check out his work, it is first class. He always takes plenty of pictures and will have them uploaded by the end of the weekend under the R/C hydroplane section, and then 2010 Atomic Cup. You can view his photographs of unlimited hydroplanes, inboard hydroplanes, outboard hydroplanes and radio controlled hydroplanes at:

http://cdenslow.smugmug.com/

The new season is upon us!

We are now hours away from the first race of the R/C Unlimiteds season, the Atomic Cup. Race 1 of 3 for the Triple Crown, the Atomic Cup has been held in Tri-Cities Washington as the season opener since 2000. I was lucky enough to win the race last year with the Czar's final 1/8th scale, the 2008 Spirit of Detroit. (Here is a link for video footage of last years race.
http://www.youtube.com/user/kcpasco#p/u/12/M-anP34LFZ0) It is my intention to defend my title and win it again for the Czar but I know that it will be a great weekend racing with friends whether or not we come back with the big prize (and it sure is a big trophy, could not fit it in my car last year with all my gear, lol).

As the first race of the year approaches many thoughts come to mind of the people that are involved with the club. We all consider ourselves good friends as we spend most weekends of the summer together. Over the winter we have lost another good friend to RCU, Curt Anderson. Curt was a great guy who always showed up with a smile on his face and an ambition to race hard and enjoy the commodory at the lakeside. I know Curt will be on all of our minds this weekend. He is just one more added to the boat club up in heaven along with Roger and Marti Newton, Terry Olding, Ron Erikson, Troy McIntire, Glenn Ono and many many more.

In reflections of racing past, I ran accross this picture of myself with my dad, the Czar, over the winter. It was taken in the summer of 1994 in Longview Washington, two years before I actually started racing. The expression shown on my face (I know, priceless) comes to us all the first time we picked up a remote control, whether we show it or not. Well needless to say, my father coached me through it and got me through the bumps and mistakes a rookie makes. This picture embodies the need to be supportive and welcome to not only new members but to anyone that needs our help, or is simply having a bad day. It is the community at large that makes or breaks the sport, which I am happy to say keeps us all doing exactly what we are doing today, going out to the lake and having fun. Starting out the new season, we always see a new face. Make sure you reach out to that new person and make them feel welcome to the club, as if they have belonged all along.

I might not get a chance to update until my return Sunday night from the Eastside of the state, but I will be sure to bring back some good war stories. Here is to the start of another great season!

Welcome!

Welcome one and all to the launch of the latest edition to Newton Marine, Newton Marine the Blog. I plan to add new posts frequently so make sure to check back and see what is new with Newton Marine. Giving the most back to the radio controlled hobby and community that I love is my goal. This blog is just one more step towards my goal. I encourage people with questions or comments regarding Newton Marine or anything boat related to share here or to my email, newtonmarine@gmail.com.

As I will be updating frequently, some things to look for in the upcoming month are:
-racing updates, the new racing season is among us!
-picture uploads and updates on newtonmarine.smugmug.com (some rather unique and rare shots I must say)
-announcement of new plans
-trivia contests (be the first to answer correctly and you could wins prizes including plans, pictures, gift certificates and more!)
-set up tips on your model hydro
-and fun talk just about how great our hobby is!