Roostertail Talk

Episode 114: Doug Brow

• David Newton • Season 6 • Episode 2

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As we race through the waves of nostalgia, lets visit the legacy of Doug Brow. Hear the echoes of roaring engines and feel the spray of the Seattle waters as Doug shares stories of his father's influence, the racing community that was as close as family and the racing specifics that make hydroplane racing a spectacle unlike any other. His narrative weaves through the history of the sport, from the early days of the unlimited lights series, to racing the unlimiteds, to the story of a son stepping into his father's cockpit chasing the horizon and a legacy built on speed and sportsmanship. The episode steers through the personal tales of triumph. Amidst the challenges and the cheers, we end our episode with the restoration of the Miss Vitamilk, a symbol of the passion for hydroplane racing that Doug Brow personified. Join us on this tribute episode, where every wave tells a story, and every story is a tribute to a family legacy.

Photo by Digital Roostertail

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Speaker 1:

Roussatel Talk, the podcast dedicated to everything about the sport that we all love. Hi, Jermaine Reese, I am your host, david Newton, and it's time once again to sit back, relax and welcome to Roussatel Talk. Hello, reese Vans, welcome back to the podcast. We're up to episode 114 and it's early March and we're going to listen to my my conversation with the late Doug Brow, and I talked with Doug shortly before he passed away. He passed away on December 13th, 2023.

Speaker 1:

I was gearing up to edit this and go through the productions when I heard of his passing and I put this on hold. It didn't didn't feel right for me to to put it out right away with his passing. I don't know if it was the right thing to do to wait, but I think just for my own mental space, I just put it into the archives and just I was thinking about him lately with getting back into season six of the podcast and I wanted to share my conversation with Doug. He was such a great friend and person in the sport. I know many of you out there in podcast land knew him but unfortunately, after a battle with cancer, he passed away December 13th, a few months ago and I've known him for a long time back in the 90s when he was crewing for Ken Muscatel, when I was hanging out and helping on the team with my father.

Speaker 1:

For many years he raced remote controlled scale hydroplanes as well. He had a beautiful model of his, his dad's Miss Budweiser Great man, and he had a great legacy with him and his father in racing Hydroplanes of all sizes around the country and being a part of hydroplane racing. I talked with him about his racing legacy and what it meant to him, and I want to share that story with you Now. Unfortunately, some of the audio quality isn't quite the best as I was not able to meet with him in person and this took place via phone call on zoom, but I was able to preserve the audio. So let's listen in and celebrate the life of Doug Brow as we hear my last conversation with him Joining me today on the phone. I'm talking with legendary hydroplane racer Doug Brow. Doug, thanks for joining the podcast today.

Speaker 1:

Thanks, david Brow, for having me, yeah, looking forward to talking to you about your racing experience and, in your family's legacy, I've been around the Seattle area for a long time and I know you and your father were kind of deep into hydroplane racing. So, thinking about growing up in the area around Seattle, what did that mean to you to have you know, the father so dedicated to hydroplane racing?

Speaker 2:

Well, as a kid, you know well, when he was killed, that was only like 12 years old, but growing up as a kid, I mean I remember it like it was yesterday. We grew up in Burien and of course he drove the Miss Burien and so it was as a kid going to school and everything. You know everybody thought it was pretty cool, you know, having hydroplane drivers my dad and so you know. Needless to say, you know it was a lot of fun as a kid, especially in the summertime. You know everybody wanted to hang out at the house. You know, because we had the Miss, he had the Miss Vitamel there, our family race boat. And then when he you know, when he wasn't, when he wasn't racing the big boats, the Miss Burien, miss Exide, whatever, you know, he would take the Miss Vitamel racing, and so it was busy in the summertime, spring and summer, that's for sure.

Speaker 1:

I can imagine probably a lot of nights in the shop with the and your dad and I thought my wife's there right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, like, yeah, like I said, you know, my job, you know, was when a tool was dropped and it rolled down into the sponsor and my job was to crawl down into the boat and get the tools out, you know, or when they drop screws or bolts or whatever it may be, yeah, that was my job to crawl down in there and get them.

Speaker 1:

I don't think I was as little as you were as a kid, but I remember my dad telling me a gopher in the shop, because he'd always tell me to go for that you know. Go for this ranch, go get this.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, that was automatic. I mean, I was, I was born, I was born a gopher, you know? Yeah, absolutely yep.

Speaker 1:

Well, do you have a favorite memory? I mean looking back growing up around hide and run racing with your father. I know he passed away when you were quite young, but looking back, what's your favorite memory?

Speaker 2:

There's a lot of them, david. You know I you think back. There's so many, so many things that people you know a lot, a lot of the hydro fans you know, probably couldn't comprehend. You know, every year at seafar in the middle of the week, mom and dad would have a cocktail party at the house. I mean, it was nothing, I didn't think anything of it having. Bill Cantrell, rex Manchester, red Lumis, ron Musson, buddy Byers, you know all these drivers at my house, you know, and they were, they were all, they were all there. You know, and those are the little things is what I remember. You know it's. Yeah, you know those those little things, you know it's. And then, of course, you know when he drove the X-Eye, that was, that was exciting, you know. You know he broke the Mavericks. You know Bill Stedge record and you know 120.356 miles an hour. You know that's back in 1965, that's hauling ass oh yeah, oh yeah that.

Speaker 2:

That that was. That was fast, you know, and. But you know. But then come race time. You know you can be as fast as you want to be, but come race time, you know stuff happens and it did. Yeah, you know, but I'm sure everybody remembers. You know, a fuel line broke and the boat burned up. You know and you know. And what could, what could anybody do about it?

Speaker 2:

absolutely nothing right you know, other than you know. I don't know if a lot of people have seen that picture of dad standing on the back of the boat waving the helicopter off because he's fanning the blaze of the fire onto the boat. You know, he wasn't waving at the helicopter pilot, he was get the hell out of here. You know, but anyway, you know things like that. You know things like that, you know. And then you know, and then, of course, when Bernie bought the X-Eye and the crew and the driver and everything to go with it, you know. Then then Budweiser took over and you know, he won. He won Bernie's first four races. He won Budweiser's first four races yeah you know that, right, that, right there.

Speaker 2:

You know there's a lot of people that don't know that you know.

Speaker 1:

But yeah, and he also won the first race in Tri-Cities ever held there as well that, absolutely yeah, he won the very first race, the Atomic Cup 1966 in Tri-Cities.

Speaker 2:

You know it, yeah, neat stuff that you know it's, and as a kid remember and that stuff and being there you know and that's, that's cool, that's, that's, that's neat stuff that you know.

Speaker 1:

Now that you asked me and now that I'm remembering this stuff, it you know, wow, yeah, neat, neat stuff yep, well, going back to 1965 in Seattle, that Seafar, like you mentioned, he hit the 120 in qualifying, broke the record there, and I remember seeing pictures that came back. Come back to the dock and there's oil all down the side of the boat and whatnot.

Speaker 2:

But were you there? Did you see it happen in person? Oh yeah, oh, absolutely, I was there. You know it was. You know that boat, for some reason, if it wasn't throwing oil down the non-trip, if it wasn't breathing oil out the side of it, she wasn't running. I remember every time that boat would come in and it was fast there was oil down the side of the boat. But that's how, though. That's how those motors were.

Speaker 2:

You know, if that motor wasn't breathing, if it wasn't breathing, it wasn't going fast yeah you know, and then of course, and then of course you know the nitrous and you know stuff like that. You know there's, there's stories about the nitrous that I could argue the point with a few different people, but we don't want to go there we don't want to we don't want to go there, okay all right. I mean I'd love to.

Speaker 1:

I'd love to, but I'd probably get a phone call well, you're always welcome to share whatever you want here so yeah, just how much trouble you want to be in well yeah, yeah, exactly, you know.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you know as far as the first boat to ever use it. And there's a lot, there's a lot of stories out there, you know. But you know, and the guy that brought it into the sport, bernie Van Cleave, you know, you know he was, he worked for Boeing and he, from what I understand, you know, he found documents relating to the German Messerschmitt and how it could climb altitude so fast and everything was because of nitrous injection and so they put it in the boat, they put it in the Vitamilk and then they put it in the Exide. And I'm sure Dixon would love to argue the point on who used it first.

Speaker 2:

And there's some guys, there's some drag racers over in Spokane that know their stuff. I mean, there's no doubt about it and they used it Doc Johnson and Kenny Leiden in the Redskins. But yeah, again, stuff like that when I was a kid. It's amazing how he remember this stuff. But anyway, yeah, so yeah, I was there that day and the boat come back covered in oil and dad was covered in oil and had a big grin on his face. He knew he did something and it was a pretty cool deal.

Speaker 1:

Yeah Well, that's impressive because he didn't have any radio contact back then to know right away the speed.

Speaker 2:

Oh, no, no, no, no, no. It was enough to hold yourself in the boat, let alone talk on the phone, you know.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, well, I'm guessing that worked out pretty well in the Vitamilk as well, the nitrous injection.

Speaker 2:

Oh, yeah, well, nobody touched the Vitamilk, for whenever it was in the boat, they didn't run it all the time, you know, but when it was, when they did want to do a test run or, you know, test a system, so to speak, you know. Yeah, oh, the boat was just a rocket, I mean, nobody could touch it. I would have been kind of fun. I would like to put it in it and try it, but the boat would have probably vibrated apart.

Speaker 1:

Okay, Well, your father had a unique nickname, and I'm just thinking about when I talk about Hydrofin Racing with my friends and people I meet. They don't always get it, but one of the jobs I had, I met a person that he was. He grew up in the area, was a big fan, and the first thing out of his mouth was when I talked about Hydrofin Racing was Miss Bairian and the world's fastest milkman. So he was. He was a big fan of your father. So where did that nickname come from?

Speaker 2:

Again, you know, back in the late fifties, you know he was with Carnation Dairy and then he really got the name after he's with Vitamilk. He was, you know, a distributor, a milk distributor for Vitamilk Dairy, and it was, you know, he was a milkman and it was just to be honest with you. I'm not absolutely sure who it came from, but I'd be willing to bet that there was a guy on the crew. His name was George Parminner and he also worked for Vitamilk, and I'm not sure if he was a milkman or not, but anyway, I believe I'd be willing to bet that he came up with it because he was quite the character. Him and dad were pretty good friends and so you know to come up with something like that, I wouldn't put it past George to do that. Yeah, fun stuff.

Speaker 1:

Did you get to ever travel very much with him when he went to the races, like when he went to the big boats and back to East and went on.

Speaker 2:

No, I mean on the West Coast. No, us kids, you know, we had to stay home, we didn't get to go back East. But there was one year we did get to go to Detroit. I remember that. But oh, mom, she was the worry ward, she didn't want to see you know, oh, detroit, kids can't go to Detroit. But you know, coeur d'Alene, but all the West Coast, coeur d'Alene, you know we were in all those and back to back wins in Coeur d'Alene. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it would have been fun to go back East, but I was pretty young, you know. So to appreciate it the way, you know, I would have wanted to, wouldn't have been able to happen, oh for sure.

Speaker 2:

But, anyway, yeah, a lot of good memories.

Speaker 1:

Well, in your dad's career he had a lot of great wins and big moments and you said he got the first four victories for Bernie, biggest owner in the sport we ever had. Unfortunately, a year after racing had a terrible crash in Tampa Bay, the end of his life, dark day in history. It was a dark time in high to plain sport of racing lost a lot of great legends but you continued with high to clean racing. How were you able to continue that torch?

Speaker 2:

In secret. Yeah, mom didn't like it at all. Yeah, you know, there was a lot of years where you know we would go visit at Seafarer and then as I got older, as I got older, I would sneak over to Tri-Cities. But you know, I crude on, I crude on a lot of the unlimiteds and mom didn't like, mom didn't like it. But you know I did and she knew she, you know was she'd play hard, trying to stop me. You know, and you grow up, you grow up from birth doing something. You know you just don't let it go.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 2:

And so you know it, yes, I got older and got harder for her and and then, you know, come drive and I mean when we were growing up we had outboards. You know, dad would buy these outboards and stick motors on the back and we go to Angle Lake and over at SeaTac Airport and crash them and destroy them and he'd rebuild them. He'd rebuild them for us and we go do it again up at Lake Taps. We had a, we had property up at Lake Taps, up, you know, above Auburn. Oh, there's a lot of boats on the bottom of that lake. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But anyway, yeah, that's some good memories there.

Speaker 1:

Well, I can only imagine you know, continuing the legacy with that, I mean, I lost my father. It's completely different, but still just being around the boats, still just different meaning.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, I don't know if I say that, david, your father was great and yeah, he had a lot to do with hydroplane racing.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, he had a lot of influence on it.

Speaker 2:

He had a lot of influence on it. Yeah, roger was a great guy, yeah.

Speaker 1:

He was a great guy, thank you.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Thank you. Well, thinking back at your father's legacy, all the wins he's had, all the impressions he made, what does it mean to you?

Speaker 2:

I guess I think about it different than a fan would. I guess that's how to answer it. The legacy to me? I suppose it's a legacy, but I grew up watching it. It's nothing. I don't think about it that way. I don't know if that answered your question. It was second nature to me. It's what we did. It's what we did every weekend. Most thing I wanted in life was a paper route and I couldn't have one because of hydroplane racing. I'm the weekends. We were gone every weekend, boat racing, and there's a lot of things I didn't get to do that most kids did do, and it was because of boat racing. But that's okay. That's okay. I like that, but still it's funny in a way if you think about it.

Speaker 2:

I wanted a paper route.

Speaker 1:

Sounds like it was just a way of life. You don't look back and look at the way it was. The points, that's life.

Speaker 2:

That's exactly what it was. It was life. It was. What points? How many points did he get for what? We were there to race? He never did get a championship. He came close. He came real close to a few gold cups but never got it. He was the hardest driver out there. I know that he was, and there are a lot of people, a lot of people, don't agree with me on that.

Speaker 1:

Everyone has their favorite right. Everyone has the one they want to see.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, of course, from what I've heard rumors of, he was a lot of people's favorite. He was a go-getter, that's for sure.

Speaker 1:

Oh, definitely, definitely. Well, you talked about him getting outwards for you. When did you start racing in boards and stepping up with your racing career?

Speaker 2:

Well, I guess it was in 1980, I guess I was crewing on the Joy Ami, armand and Neil Yappuccino's boat. We were at Sweet Home down in Oregon and Neil got killed driving someone else's boat at two and a quarter After that it was hard. Armand asked me if I wanted to drive the Joy Ami and I well, yeah, I mean here, it is probably one of the fastest 280s in the nation. And yeah, absolutely so. Armand set me up to the disagreement of quite a few people, but there's a lot of people that thought they should have got the ride. But I did, but anyway, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So my first ride, my first competitive ride, was with Armand in the Joy Amia and had a lot of fun, had a gas, yeah, yeah, yeah. I won a few races but that was the start, right there, that's what got me going competitively. I should say yeah, yep, yep. And then I had a two and a half. After Armand I had a two and a half liter and I did really well with that boat for a long time. And then you know on to bigger and better, seven liters and unlimited lights in the 90s, and yeah that was a lot of fun back then.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, hop, scotching between boats, yeah, Well, you mentioned unlimited lights and I mean, look back on that. That was such a fun series, that was really a great partnership. I thought was unlimited. I know you raced that series for a while. Tell me about talks to that journey that you had with unlimited lights back then. So I don't think a lot of people nowadays really can kind of like appreciate what that brought to the sport.

Speaker 2:

You know I drove for John Hogan. I drove for a few people, you know, and in and out of different boats, but John Hogan, I finally got into with John and drove, you know, his boat it was a Nate Brown boat and boy it was fast. And then Ron Jones Sr got ahold of it and made some changes on it and we finally got the thing wound up and it was a gore. It was so much fun to drive. It was so fat, it was so small in the boat and you know it was so light and so small and it was a handful to drive. But it always recovered and it always came back in and that's what I liked about it. But the.

Speaker 2:

Unlimited Light series it was. You know there was a lot of different people involved in it. You know there was the East Coast portion of it and the West Coast portion of it, and you know to call it East Coast and West Coast. It was really too bad that we couldn't get together and run a series with, like you just said, with the Unlimited, you know, and you would have the Unlimited and the Unlimited Lights, and that never did happen. There was some races on the East Coast, you know, where they would have a few Unlimited Lights and then they'd come out West and there'd be a few Unlimited Lights. But you know we could never get the whole package put together and that was really too bad. But it was a lot of fun, you know. It was affordable. That's what was fun about it.

Speaker 2:

A lot of people got involved in it and could afford to do it. And then they started, of course, and it never and of course it always happens Somebody wants to get their fingers in the pot and they want to change the rules, and you know. And then there it goes. Now you start putting stock blowers on the stock big block and there's people that couldn't afford that. And then there goes your class. You know what I mean. It's like the seven-liter class years ago, back in the late 80s and 90s. I was looking the other day I saw a high point list for the seven-liter Grand Nationals and there was like yeah, I want to say there was 30-some boats that scored points, wow, and but you know, but because of somebody wanting to change the rules, there went the class and now there's none. There's a few Grand Nationals out there, you know, but not like it was or not like it could be Right, and that's sad when that stuff happens.

Speaker 1:

It's so unfortunate when that happens because it doesn't matter what size of class it is. Yeah, and even the small model RC boats to the unlimited lights. You know Grand Nationals that just messes up the racing and you lose interest and people can't afford it. And there it goes.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, there it goes.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, you got it. Yeah, that stock, that stock, you know, that stock seven-liter motor that everybody could afford to run is now by the wayside. Yeah, but anyway. Yeah, that's the sad part of the sport when stuff like that happens.

Speaker 1:

No, yeah, Well, back in the 90s you got. I'm not sure I can't remember if it was your first ride in a limited or not, but you had a chance to run a race drive for the Misexide in Seafarer. I think it was 90s yeah, Dicks or so, but now it's approximately about 30 years after your dad ran for the same sponsor. What was that like? To be able to race an unlimited on? The same body of water under the same name as your dad. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's. How often can that happen to somebody or for somebody? You know what I mean, Right, right, it is. What do you say? You know? I mean Mike Jones gave me the opportunity to get in the boat, and the Red Robin Misexide and went out.

Speaker 2:

You know what do you say? I mean, it was unbelievable, it is one of those once in a lifetime things and mom didn't like it, but oh well. But yeah, yeah, it was a neat experience, a lot of fun, a lot of fun and you know, to break in the unlimiteds driving the same boat. Your dad drove not the same boat but the same sponsor. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, the same boat, not the same lake on the same lake, yep.

Speaker 2:

Same body of water, yep yeah. Good memories, those are fun memories, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

You know, in the 90s still, you had that experience and you got a few rides and then limited, yeah, but I remember there was a year.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I got a few rides out of the deal in the 90s and into the 2000s. You know, Fred Leland put me in a couple of his boats and you know I lived up in Friday Harbor up in the San Juan Islands and Rick Campbell lived up there and he brought me in to help build one of Ken's boats. You know the purple boat purple and pink boat, that's what I call it. Yeah, and you know so I, you know, drove the boat around, got in the truck and drove the boat around the country and did that for a couple of years and I got in Ken's boat a couple of times. I was told I was maybe a backup driver, but it never really happened. No, yeah.

Speaker 2:

And back then, back then Ken was Ken was pretty tough to get him out of that seat, right right.

Speaker 2:

You know I was wondering if you were backup. Yeah, well, the word, those words were said, but it never happened. Yeah, and you know, like I said, ken had his butt glued into that seat and there wasn't anybody else that was going to take that from him. Yeah, but that's okay. Yeah, you know, that's okay. He's done a lot for the sport and I appreciate the opportunity. One year I can't remember what year was in Tri-Cities, I got in the boat and I was going to go out and qualify and something happened. I don't remember what it was, yeah, right off hand, but I never, never got to take the boat out. But anyway, yeah, between Ken and you know, and Fred Leland and I drove a few of Fred's boats and actually one one of he did seafar. Everybody else jumped the gun, but that's their fault, not mine.

Speaker 2:

That's right, that's right. Yeah, you know I was on time, they weren't, you know. So accounts. In fact I got my. There's a case right here in the room. I'm in the house and I'm looking at that trophy. I'll be done, but anyway, yeah, so.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, well, I mean back when I remember hanging around the crew a little bit, when you crewed on the on the security racing team the late 90s with the pink and purple monster. Yeah, I just remember my dad always having some fond memories of Ken's crews over the years. Did you have a favorite memory of working on the boat with Ken or for the team?

Speaker 2:

I think the memories came from the team. You know Ken, ken was a busy guy Back then. He was involved in the politics of the sport and he would run down, jump in the boat, drive it and he didn't see much of Ken early but that's okay because he was keeping the sport together, because back then that's what it needed was someone to do that and that was his job. But back then it was me and you know Bakke, jim Bakke, and you know there was a bunch of guys on the crew and we all got together so well and we all worked together so well and lots of memories amongst the crew guys back then.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, life out on the road, life out on the road was fun. Yeah, yep, yeah. The fond memories is that being out on the road and working with the other guys.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, definitely. Yep, well, I just remember that. You know you said the pink and purple boat, that's what you called it. I just remember Bill Fritz. I think he helped out a couple times with Ken's crew and he mentioned to me one time he was walking down to get lunch or something and someone asked him if he worked for 31 Flavors Baskin Robbins and he just about lost it there.

Speaker 2:

So that's funny, I never heard that one.

Speaker 1:

Well, you remember those uniforms, the pink and purple.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah. In fact, I still have one of the cruise shirts the pink and purple and green Yep.

Speaker 1:

Yep.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so you know you're being on the island and painting the boat and painting the uprights and painting them and taking the mask off and oh my God, that's ugly. You know you're going to run that.

Speaker 1:

Oh.

Speaker 2:

Campbell, you wanted it.

Speaker 1:

Was that his? Thing?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that was his thing, that was his Yep. Okay, god yeah, oh boy, yep.

Speaker 1:

Well, fast forward in time and remember a few years back you were helping out the sport, each one as a referee.

Speaker 2:

Yep, how did you get?

Speaker 1:

involved, to be a referee in the sport and helping out in that, and how was your time? Like on that side of the sport.

Speaker 2:

Oh, it was 96, I believe it was. I got a call. I got a call from Jim Codling that was in there then and Mike Noonan and I got a call to ask if I'd come and help and that was at Tri-Cities and I thought, well, okay, I guess. So I drove over there and next thing I knew I was the helicopter referee. I was up in the air and the helicopter making the calls and I sat in the helicopter for about six years I was up in the helicopter and making calls from up there and of course nobody liked the calls but nobody likes anything in H1 or the unlimited. And then I got out of there and some new people come in and I just didn't want to get up in the helicopter anymore. So I made a change and I started running the tower, I started running the race course and so I made all the calls off the tower and more or less ran the race from the tower and that was that job. And I mean there's a lot of different jobs in H1 that a lot of people don't realize is part of the deal. There's a lot of people behind the scenes that people don't realize how important they are. But anyway, I was chief referee for a few races and that wasn't fun. The owners make the rules and when you abide by the rules they still don't like it. So that's how that works and that's too bad too. It really makes it tough, makes it tough on the people. All they want to do is run their boat and run by the rules, and when you change the rules that's pretty tough to do. So I think it wasn't that glamorous. Yeah, oh, no, no, no, no.

Speaker 2:

I was there for I want to say nine, 10 years. I did it and finally I just got excuse the expression, I just got tired of getting beat up every Monday morning in the newspaper, literally, literally beat up, chastised and verbally abused. You know, especially, you know tri-stitties, the towers way down the river, and I would have to jump in a golf cart or on a little scooter or something and drive down to the tower and then drive back and at the end of the final heat, driving back to the pits. There was a couple of times I swear I was going to get clothes lined off that, off that scooter. You know people with people with sly remarks. You know there's the dumb ass. You know. But yeah, yeah, and true story too. You know, it's a people you know at airports Monday morning, at people flying home to Seattle on Monday morning, and here I, you know, here we are getting on the same plane and you can hear the sly remarks.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And but yeah, so it wasn't fun anymore. You know it's. I always told myself you know, when boat racing wasn't fun anymore, I wasn't going to do it anymore. Yeah, and that's. That's pretty much where it went. You know it wasn't fun anymore. I love the sport with all my heart. I always will, and I would love to get back into it, and I would love to, just because I love the sport so much. But I'm not going to, I'm not going to think it verbally chastised, chastised every Sunday night and Monday morning.

Speaker 2:

No, no, I'm not going to you know, yeah, no, it's not at all.

Speaker 1:

Well, you didn't totally walk, walk away from everything, because a few years ago I was you. You've located your dad's old inboard that Miss Mitamoffie talked about earlier.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so it turned fun again, yeah.

Speaker 1:

It turned fun again.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, I, a buddy of mine, I'd been looking for the boat for years and a buddy of mine, I knew it was around somewhere but I didn't obviously didn't know where. Well, a buddy of mine was a UPS driver and he went into this warehouse down by Blackstock Lumber, down by Lake Union, and he went in and delivered some boxes and everything. And he looked over in the corner and here's he thought it was a hydroplane, with a whole bunch of boxes stacked on top of it and stuff like that. And we, him and I, grew up together. He knew the Miss Mitamoffie I mean, he was my kid, we went to school together Great school, junior high, you know and he went to races with our family. He knew the boat and so he asked the guy if he could go over and look at it and guys, well, yeah, go ahead. And he went over and took some of the boxes off of it and he looked in it and he knew, he knew immediately it was the boat. And he he says, okay, well, thank you, and he could get outside fast enough. And he calls me and he says you got to get down here. He says I think I found the boat.

Speaker 2:

Wow, so I wasn't doing anything at the moment. I reached down there and knocked on the door and the guy answered the door and I asked him. You know, a buddy of mine was here a while ago, ups driver, and he looked at you have a hydroplane here, and he says, yeah, you mind if I come in and look at it. So no, come on here. So I went and looked at it and I knew immediately. In fact, I knew immediately because there's a, there was a St Christopher metal jammed underneath one of the battens and I could see the very, I could see the very edge of it and that was dads, and I don't know how it stayed there, but it was there. And so that I could tell that part of the boat was still original.

Speaker 2:

And so, anyway, yeah, so I sat down with the guy and I told him the story, you know, the family story, and what the boat was and what I wanted to do with it. And the guy almost had the guy in tears, you know telling him the family story and about dad and all the stuff, and he says, well, you better get that thing out of here before I change my mind. He gave it to me. Wow, yeah, he gave me the boat.

Speaker 2:

So I called Don Kelsen and Jerry Kelsen, because I knew that's where the boat would be fixed, for you know, whatever we done. So I got with Don and he came down and it had fallen down onto the trailer. You know, it had rotted through it and, and you know so we got the boat down to Don shop and turned it over and got her upside down and started tearing it apart and it's all over but the shouting. You know it, yeah it, that was it. And the boat was reconstructed back to its exact, exactly the way dad had it back when he was the milkman it was the misvita milk and the boat to this day is the same exact engine, same exact paint, same exact everything the way dad had it. And yeah, so it's a pretty cool deal, pretty cool story.

Speaker 1:

How long did that take to restore?

Speaker 2:

It took about a year. I wasn't in a big hurry. I wasn't in a big hurry.

Speaker 1:

Anyway, yeah neat deal. Well, I'm just curious the first time you sat in the boat and you took that out on the water, what emotions were going through your mind?

Speaker 2:

I was in tears. I mean, I'll be honest with you, like like like span away, like span away. You know, I got in the boat and it was like something came over me and my sister was there, you know, and my you know what of my family's left was. That was there and yeah, it was just a big rush came over me. It's something, you know, everybody should feel. Yeah, and then the very first time I ran it, I went out and the strut fell out of it, yeah, so I had to get back to dawns and dawn. We had to fix that. But yeah, the boat's been a lot of fun. Once we got all the bugs ironed out of it and, you know, got the vibrations out of it and everything.

Speaker 2:

The thing is, the thing is so much fun to drive. It's just a Cadillac. You know it's against all your normal thinking when you drive it because you don't think you know. Well, here comes this turn and I got to turn this tub, you know. And sure enough, you know there's a way to drive it. And Freddie Wright I don't know if you know who Fred Wright is. He's a machinist. He's done a lot of, he's worked on a lot of unlimiteds and he's. He's built a lot of the rudders and a lot of the systems for boats and when dad was racing the big boats, fred Wright would drive them as by the milk if dad was chasing points or whatever, and you know. So Fred sat me down and explained how to drive the boat and and sure enough, yeah, the thing is just with Cadillac. You know, there's a particular way. You got to drive a conventional hydroplane and once you get that feel it's, it's, there's nothing like it. It's a lot of fun, Lots of fun.

Speaker 1:

Well, can you describe what it means to you to have that back?

Speaker 2:

Oh, it's one of. It's one of them, things, david, it's hard to describe, you know, I mean I got it right out of here in my garage, you know, and, and you know, every time I go out in my shop it's right there. And right now, you know, because of you know, the cancer that I have, and and financially, right now I, I, the motor, needs to be done, redone, and Marty Hack, who's the great motor builder around here, I wouldn't let anybody else do it. He told me, you know that right now I have a the motors, you know, tired, and I did a great job maintaining it for a few years. But it's really tired and he's afraid, if I go out and run it, that I'll blow the motor up and then I'll have nothing. And so he says you're better, you're better off. Just, you know you've raced before. You know, just sit back and relax, and when you, when it's time to do it again, you know we'll, we'll put the motor back together, we'll freshen it up and, and you know we'll, we'll get her back in the water.

Speaker 2:

So it's been a couple years since the boats run and. But that's okay, I'm good with that. I've been to a boat race before. You know, I I don't need to race every weekend. A lot of people, you know that, want me to get back out there and I want to get back out there. But I, when I do something like this, I do it right and I'm not. I'm not going to throw something together just to go out and run the boat. I don't need to just go out and run the boat. You know, I want to go out and make sure it comes back in. Anyway, yeah, she's a neat toy, she's, she's, she's a lot of fun and it's a keepsake, you know if I ever get rid of it?

Speaker 2:

I think it will probably. If I ever get rid of it, I think it'll be a Viking funeral, you know, like, like, like, like the Hawaii Kai.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'm just going to say well, yeah, unfortunately that's down down there and the sound yeah yeah, yeah, yeah Well. I'm glad you got the bottom of that. It's restored and it's it's such a great connection to have with your father.

Speaker 2:

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it is very special, you're right.

Speaker 1:

Well, we've been talking for a while and I don't want to keep it too much longer, but one last question, just uh sure, thinking about all the years in your racing career whether it was driving wrenching with your dad was, was your friends Do you have that one special year? Because I feel like we always have that special year in racing where it just stands out that everything went right Maybe not on the water, but just just everything went right in your mind. Do you have that? What year is that for you?

Speaker 2:

David, you're being tough. Wow, there's a lot of them, I've, I've. There's so many. There's so many small memories. You know that. Uh, so many small memories, just the little things I remember. One time at Lake Spanaway, bud Burns come up to me when he was driving the shady lady and he said you want to drive the boat? I said yeah yeah, I want to drive the boat.

Speaker 2:

You know that's a shady lady. Hell yeah, I want to drive it. So I went out and won heat as a division one seven later and went out in the boat and I wasn't even trying but went out and set a new world record. But it didn't count because Howie LaBrie broke down on the last lap and there wasn't enough boats across the finish line, but uh but. But it was. But it was so much fun because a lot of people don't remember. But Bud Burns, you know he had that big old pop deli and he weighed a ton and the boat kind of the boat kind of ran downhill. When he would drive it it was still fast, but boy, it would kind of be downhill.

Speaker 2:

And I got in the thing and I was just a skinny little run and the thing actually broke loose and flew when I drove it and I didn't realize it, but I broke the division one seven later world record by a considerable amount, wow. But you know, it's a little things like that that you know. You remember, you know that, uh, yeah, little things like that that they'll always stick with you. You know the two and a half later that Sam Bryant owned that I drove, and what year was it? 1980. Ah, shoot, I can't remember what year 84, 85, I don't know but uh, between Sam and I we ran 34 races and 127 of them he's.

Speaker 2:

And that was that. That was in a, that was in a Larry Campbell hold. Jeff and Mike Campbell, their dad built the boat and that thing was so fast, wow. But back then you know everybody, that little stock pinot motor with a little carburetor on it and it was just a great little boat. But that right there. You know that. You remember stuff like that. You know everybody called me cheater cam. They never pay the money to tear the motor down, but they call me cheater cam. They couldn't call you cheater cam if they broke it down, and then you're legal.

Speaker 2:

That's right. That's right. That's why they never did yeah.

Speaker 1:

Right on.

Speaker 2:

David, thank you for the call, yeah.

Speaker 1:

It was a lot of fun.

Speaker 2:

I'm glad you called me to do this. You know you. You know I'm thinking about things that I haven't thought about for a long time and neat stuff. I'm glad, I'm glad. I'm glad you asked me to do this.

Speaker 1:

It was a lot of fun having you on. I appreciate it. Well, listeners, no matter what you have in your cup, whether it's water, juice, milk or a beer, let's raise it up, let's give it toast and remember the great life of Doug Brow and his family's legacy in hydroplane racing. Doug, this is for you, and enjoy your time up there with all the other hydroplane, all the other people from the sport that we've lost over the years. Well, thank you, doug.