Episode 126: 2024 H1 Unlimited Racing Season Check-in

Episode 126 checks in and gives a report on how the H1 season has progressed. Andrew Tate, Corey Peabody and JMK have all won races this year.  Who will win in San Diego for the Gold? How has the new mill rule gone with the fans? Tune in to find out!

Photo by Digital Roostertails

Chapters

• 0:25 Hydroplane Racing Season Recap
• 14:03 Improving Hydroplane Race Starting Procedures
• 18:35 Supporting the Hydroplane Racing Podcast

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:25

Ruchetel Talk, the podcast dedicated to everything about the sport that we all love, hydroplane racing. I am your host, david Newton, and it's time once again. So sit back, relax and welcome to Rooster Tail. Talk, well, talk. Hello race fans, this is episode 126, and it's August 13th.

Speaker 1: 0:56

Last week I wanted to get a race recap and season recap of what's happened so far in H1 Unlimited Racing. Due to some traveling and some other plans, things got switched around, so we had another classic race, a visit back to 1984. And you listened to the Budweiser Columbia Cup and that was a great race, fun race. Hope you enjoyed listening to that classic. We're going to have some more classic races on the podcast here before the season's over and some more interviews. But I want to talk a little bit more about the season what's happened so far, because we're a majority of the way through the season. We've had four great races. They started out in Guntersville, then went over to Madison and then on the West Coast had the Columbia Cup and Seafair. I want to talk about those races before I get into the Gold Cup which is held next month down in San Diego. But there's been some fast racing on the water and I know you've been paying attention to it so I'm going to do a brief recap on some of those races.

Speaker 1: 1:51

It started out in the end of June over in Guntersville, had a fast field and Andrew Tate's actually been the top qualifier at each event so far. He was our top qualifier in Guntersville and on that two a half mile race course he was our top qualifier at an average of 168.789 miles per hour. That was our fastest time we've seen this year so far. I was hoping we'd hit that 170 mark over in Guntersville but nonetheless he was our fastest qualifier in Guntersville, won the race pretty handily over there. Fast boat, he stayed out of trouble, had a great day of racing, won Guntersville and then the next week went over to Madison, indiana. Not all the boats stayed with the field there. We had six boats in Guntersville and five in Madison and in Madison again the top qualifier at 157.370. And again he had the fastest boat. He stayed clean in the final heat, won the race handily.

Speaker 1: 2:57

But getting over to the West Coast we had some little bit of disturbances and a little bit of controversy in Tri-Cities as well. In Seattle and the Apollo Columbia Cup, andrew Tate again was a top qualifier, fastest boat in the field and he showed them why he's 156.185 on that shortened two-mile race course. I was hoping we'd see him hit the 160 mark over in Tri-Cities with the two-and-a-half-mile race course but unfortunately, due to water levels and some safety concerns, they shortened the course to a two mile race course. But unfortunately, due to water levels and some safety concerns, they shortened the course to a two mile race course and that proved to make it quite challenging for the drivers.

Speaker 1: 3:32

On Saturday of the race, jay McElkelly he went up and over. He went to the rooster tail of his teammate Corey Peabody and flipped the boat in the first heat of racing on the end of Saturday, taking one of the boats out of the race, went down to seven and then, unfortunately, in the second round on Sunday, another freak accident. It was really a freak accident and there was some confusion. In the first turn. I think some of the buoys were out of place. Corey didn't hold a tight line but looking back through the footage I'm not blaming Corey. I think there were some issues with the buoys there in the turn. He went a little wide, and so did Bobby King, and he went up and over through the rooster tail and actually stuffed right in front of Dave Villawalk and Dave Villawalk went up and over him and I was sitting actually to the entrance in the first turn and I saw it happen live. But what the rooster tells, I didn't see Bobby King go over. I actually saw what I thought was Dave Villag starting to flip in the corner in the same spot where he flipped in 97 and had an unfortunate accident there. But the way it happened was weird. It went up and then didn't continue, it just went down and so I thought something else was up and then once the rooster tail settled you could see that most of the grand boat that was still there. It was pretty badly damaged with the wings and the sponson. Fortunately both drivers were safe on Sunday and J Michael Kelly was safe on Saturday.

Speaker 1: 4:56

The field got knocked down to five boats pretty quick there at that race, with a little confusion or trickery or whatnot. Unfortunately Andrew Tate didn't have the best start and actually fell behind the field, which I thought was going to be another easy win for him. The victor at the end of the day was Corey Peabody, which actually won his third race in a row there in Tri-Cities, or actually third race in four years in Tri-Cities. So something about Tri-Cities. I don't know if it's the water or what it is, but Corey Peabody, he's got that course down and he was a victor once again.

Speaker 1: 5:29

Then the following week in Seafair it was the 75th anniversary of Seafair. We had eight boats in the field and eight boats started and we actually had, I think, eight boats left the field relatively undamaged compared to the damage in Tri-Cities. Once again we had Andrew Tate at the top of the qualifying ladder. I really enjoy watching the qualifying. I don't know about you, but I just find that pretty thrilling to see with the lap times and how fast the boats can go. Some of the boats actually struggled. You can see, going into Sunday, jay McAuley in the eight, the Beacon Electric, was really behind the pace for what he normally would be. I think some of the effects of repairing the boat and repairing the damage from his flip in the previous weekend took effect on him. But once again the top of the qualifying ladder was Goodman Real Estate, driven by Andrew Tate. He qualified at 156.985 miles per hour, again on a two-mile course pretty fast speeds for this age of restricted fuel restrictions on turbine engines.

Speaker 1: 6:31

I really thought this was going to be Tate's race. Once again, I thought this was his race to win. The Beacon Electric was behind in speed and Beacon Electric was pretty far off the pace. I think they qualified. They had some issues with qualifying but I think they qualified in the high 140s. But watching the final heat live in person it was nice because you could actually see what was going on. I think with some of the coverage some of the things weren't presented live on YouTube or con coverage. There were some mouse and cat games going on and there were some shenanigans happening.

Speaker 1: 7:08

Before the start. Andrew Tate went through both jay michael kelly's ruchetel and cory peabody's ruchetel and I'm sure you're probably tired of talking about it now it's been a week and a half since, since seafair, but I'm sure you've seen all the facebook posts and all the the, the couch drivers that know what happened and what they think should have been called and should not have been called. But regardless, it took Andrew T out of the race that first Ruchetel. It took him out of the race. It did damage to the front where it took the canard wing off and there's no way you could actually, you know, run a full race at full speeds without the canard wing. So unfortunately he was taken out right away and then the second time he went through Corey's rooster tail. After the score up he went down on power and was late to the start. So I mean coming back from that and finished in fourth place. I think that was. That was pretty spectacular for him to do without a canard wing.

Speaker 1: 8:05

But somehow Jay McAkelly pulled the rabbit out of the hat and he had a slower boat all weekend but in the final heat, when it counted, he got first place and won the race on that rough seattle course probably probably the roughest course, I would say, out there right now. And he he found a way to win and he's. He's done it now three years in a row and he knows his stuff on in seattle, on lake washington. So whether he should have been called or not, it's hard to say. He's done it now three years in a row and he knows his stuff in Seattle on Lake Washington. So whether he should have been called or not, it's hard to say. I haven't really seen an official statement on that penalty or non-call on that penalty before the start, but crazy stuff before the start there and a month away from San Diego.

Speaker 1: 8:48

I'm a little concerned on how aggressive they're going to be driving down there. Because it's going to be the Gold Cup, the 60th anniversary for San Diego and, with some of the non-calls down so far this year, it'll be interesting to see what happens down in San Diego. Hopefully there's not dirty driving, hopefully there's not too aggressive driving, hopefully everyone's safe down there. You know everyone's going to be hanging it out and they're going to be going for gold. Some interesting things that could happen. But the driving, unfortunately it's been a little bit aggressive towards the latter half of the season and I hope that down in San Diego early on the judges can put an end to it so everyone's safe and we can have a true race winner on the water and not have boats damaged in the final heat. Setting precedent is going to be important going into that final heat. If they're being pretty lax and letting things slide, it's going to get sloppy and it's going to get messy and I just don't want to see anyone get hurt. But, being the 60th anniversary of the san Diego Bay Fair, they're hosting the Gold Cup this year and it should be a fun one.

Speaker 1: 9:53

There's some interesting things to note down there. One thing that could happen Dave Villock. He has 10 Gold Cup victories. I know he's gunning for another 11th and he wants to tie Chip's record. It'll be interesting to see how Wiggins Racing responds down there. They have a brand new boat and they've shown some major speed Right out of the box. They did a lap of 163 in testing, I believe, in Guntersville, which was only like the second time out, I believe. So they've got some speed in that boat. Unfortunately they had that wreck and accident in Tri-Cities and hopefully that doesn't set them back too far, because it does take a while to keep getting more and more speed into the boats. So hopefully they'll be able to make a strong impression down there and take off the gloves and see what they can do to win that, to win the gold.

Speaker 1: 10:41

But you also have Dustin Eccles in the bucket list racing. They've shown this year that they've been consistent. They've finished all their final heats. They've had the boat stay in one piece. This year, thankfully this is the first year in a while. They've left every race pretty unscathed and they keep improving that boat and Destin's getting more and more confident in that cockpit. So you're going to see some fast speeds there in that final heat with Dustin Eccles. You know both strong racing boats are going to be at their best. And you've got Miss Madison Racing the Goodman Real Estate with Andrew Tate. So you've got the best drivers and probably the fastest boats we've had in a long time. And then don't forget Jamie Nielsen. He's shown that he can get lane one, he can put his nose in there and he can make an impression and finish on top. So you're going to have some fast racing.

Speaker 1: 11:27

I'm excited for the San Diego Bayfair. Got to wait another month for it to happen because that's not going to happen until the 13th through the 15th of September. So it's going to be really anyone's race. I did predict early on in the season that the Flavor Pack or Bucket List Racing, with Dustin Echols, is going to be the underdog victor in San Diego and I think I'm going to stay with that because that's a fast race course it's two and a half mile on salt water and that boat, that team, is really built for speed and they know how to make a boat go fast. And as long as he can stay clean and have a great start in that final heat, even in lanes three or four, I think he's got a great shot at winning that race. So it's too hard to say at this point right, still have another month. We'll see together how the events unfold for the 60th anniversary of the Bay Fair and the Gold Cup.

Speaker 1: 12:21

Well, looking at my deck-to-deck stats I don't know about you, but I'm doing pretty well right now I'm tied for second place. I've got 5,415 points. I'm tied with HydroKid 200 points behind. So it's going to be fun to see how the deck-to-deck season, the Fantasy League, ends. And I've got to say I think I'm ahead of HydroDan. I'm looking at the list here and I can't see where he's at. He's down here somewhere. I know he's there, but I've just got to rub it in that I'm ahead of him, I think for the first time in many years of his existence. So hopefully you're having fun with deck to deck and you're on there making your picks to see who will come out on top for the last race here.

Speaker 1: 13:06

Now one last thing I want to talk about. I know I touched on that controversy there in Seattle. I don't think there's much more to say with that, because I think everyone and their grandmas made their opinions known on Facebook. But the other thing I wanted to note this year H1 has implemented a new starting procedure. The 80-mile-an-hour rule is gone. They have gone to a score-up buoy which would be in the front stretch, the starting line, and each race site it's had its own unique flavor. Some race courses, the longer ones, it's been a minute 30. You can't be beyond the starting line at a minute 30. In Seattle, in Tri-Cities, it was a minute 15. And I believe in Guntersville and Madison. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you could cut after the score at Bowie, but in Tri-Cities and Seattle on the shorter courses you could not. So it's been interesting to see that.

Speaker 1: 14:03

I was hoping the parking starts would be gone. I didn't see it happen in Guntersville, wasn't happening in Madison, didn't see it in Tri-Cities but it came back in Seattle. So the boat started to park on the far turn, on the north turn actually, and trotted their way up to the starting line for the score up. Now in Seattle I was sitting on the shorelines in the south turn with the fans and it got pretty packed in there.

Speaker 1: 14:26

And one thing I really noted in Seattle most of all was you could kind of hear the announcers. You couldn't hear them that well but the fans did not understand what was going on. Every time there was a heat and the boats came up for the score up in a minute and 15, they thought that was the start of the race and they would run like hell to the start line, get to the corner and then they would slow down and every single time the fans around me really had no idea what was going on. They thought that there was some issue, maybe the heats were canceled or there was a red flag, or they didn't know what was happening. And then they would come around again for the start and I wish that there was some way to get this information out to the fans, the casual fans on the shoreline, so they could know a little bit more about it. A lot of professional sports have huge teleprompters or scoreboards that can relay the information out that tells you what inning it is or what quarter it is, what the time left is. I wish there was a way to get a patrol boat out there with a little sign that shows the starting clock. Maybe it shows more information about the score up, about the score up. Maybe they could have some QR codes around the parks that would go to a short video that could explain the new starting procedures, because the casual fans really had no idea about what was going on with that and that put some of them off. It was confusing.

Speaker 1: 15:53

It's been an interesting trial this year to see how it's unfolded. I know some fans like it, some fans don't. To me it's taken some of the fun of the fight for lanes out of it. It was interesting before with 80 mile an hour rule because I think there was much more into play with the drivers getting lane one and it really eliminated that park and start. We might not see it as much happening in San Diego due to the saltwater. We might not see it as much happening in San Diego due to the salt water, but I don't think that's going to prevent all the drivers from that In my mind.

Speaker 1: 16:26

I really love the way HRL has their starting procedures where they have assigned lanes based off of how the boats have qualified and then they go up for the start like they normally would for a timed start so drivers could jump the start if they were pushing it too far. That would eliminate the parking start and that would eliminate a lot of necessities for trying to figure out the 80-mile-an-hour rule. That would eliminate the necessities for another starting line. It wouldn't have a score-up buoy. That would simplify the procedures for the judges quite a bit and there would be less potential for calls, especially with the cutoff before the start. That happened to Andrew Tate and what happened to J Michael Kelly the previous year in Seattle, where he got cut off by Tate as well. It would be interesting to see what happens next year.

Speaker 1: 17:11

But if you have an opinion on the starting procedure, the 80-mile-an-hour rule or the park and start or the score-ups before the start this year, I'd love to hear comments. Comment below, comment on Facebook or Instagram, where this post is. I'd love to hear your opinions as a fan on what you like or don't like and what's going on for the starting procedure. With all that said, we've got one race left about a month away the San Diego Bay Fair. I almost said San Diego Bay Fair, I forgot it, but it's a gold cup at the San Diego Bay Fair. I almost said San Diego Bay Fair, I forgot it, but it's a gold cup at San Diego Bay Fair and they're going to be going for gold. So you know it's going to be a thrilling race. They're going to be going fast and they're going to be letting it hang out.

Speaker 1: 17:47

The last race of the year. We'll throw a poll out before the race. I want to see what your opinions are. Who's going to win the race? But we've got some fun interviews lined up. We're going to have next week the director of operations from Mercury Coffee. He sat down and talked with me at Seafair, so I'm going to share that talk with you next week. And then I've got some more interviews in the works and I'm excited.

Speaker 1: 18:10

What I have to share with you, don't forget, we're on Instagram. We're on Facebook at Roostertail Talk. We're also online with our website, wwwroostertailtalkcom. On there you can see all of our episodes. You can see what's new, upcoming releases. You can sign up for a subscription where I get to email you out the episode the night before. So if you want to sneak peek and preview the episode before everyone else can, you can sign up on there.

Speaker 1: 18:35

This podcast comes out of my pocket. It's a free podcast for everyone out there in Hydroland and I love sharing this with you. But this really runs on donations. So there's a contributions tab on the website. You can find on my website, richietaletalkcom, and you can send your contributions on there, and I really appreciate all those who have contributed in the past and presented money to the show, and it really helps me with the day-to-day fees and bills I have for the podcast, because it does add up. Unfortunately, due to the hosting fees and all the other necessities that come with this podcast, it does add up, so appreciate your support, but that's all I have for this week, so until next time. I hope to see you at the races.