Roostertail Talk

Episode 137: Eric Christensen

• David Newton • Season 7 • Episode 1

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Roostertail Talk is back with season 7.  The first episode for the new season features a conversation with Eric Christensen revealing his journey from enthusiastic fan to team owner and driver. Eric discusses the challenges of starting a new racing team, acquiring his boat, and his goals for the upcoming season, emphasizing safety and community involvement.

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Speaker 1:

Ruchetel Talk, the podcast dedicated to everything about the sport that we all love. Hi, dreamland Race. I am your host, david Newton, and it's time once again. So sit back, relax and welcome Rooster Tail Talk talk. Welcome back race fans.

Speaker 1:

We're on to season seven of ruchetel talk and I know it took a few months off there in the off season it's still technically off season, but not for this podcast. We're going to be bringing you some more interviews around the history of the sport and what's going on currently in H1 Unlimited and I took the past few months, took it off and I've actually conducted a few interviews with some people from the sport from yesteryear and it's going on right now and I'm excited to get those out to you. And we're going to start off season seven with this episode, episode 137, which is going to be talking with Eric Christensen, a new player in the game of H1 Unlimited. He just released a few weeks ago, a press release saying that he is forming a new team and joining the ranks of H1 Unlimited. Now this isn't something to be taken lightly.

Speaker 1:

Unlimited Now this isn't something to be taken lightly. It takes a lot of time, commitment, effort, financial backing and, really, a village. It takes a village to make this happen, and Eric's going to talk about a little bit of his backgrounds in racing, as this is a new name for some of us that have followed the sport for many years. He's also going to share his progress and what the process is going to entail to get his own team on the water this year in H1 Unlimited. So why don't we get in to my interview with Eric Christensen? Well, I'm sitting down in Richetel Talk headquarters in Renton Washington. I'm on the Zoom call with Eric Christensen making some waves right now, buying a new boat and getting into being a new H1 owner. Eric, how are you doing?

Speaker 2:

Doing great. How are things with you?

Speaker 1:

Oh, they're doing well. We've had a few snow days here, but back at school and things are going well right now, right on. Well, I have a lot I want to talk to you about because you're a new H1 owner. You're picking up some boats and you're going to be on the circuit this year and helping the sport out a lot with boat number, boat count. But also just having a new team on the circuit is always really fun. But I always like to ask a lot of my guests what was your favorite hydroplane growing up? How did you get involved in the sport? Because I always look back on those old days and I have my favorite drivers teams. I'm always curious what other people are on the sport. What was their favorites?

Speaker 2:

yeah, growing up, I really, you know, I've always really enjoyed fridayland's pico team. Um, you know, just remember as a little kid sitting on the couch watching Seafair on television. You know that was long before, of course, we had the internet, so we didn't get the live streaming like we have today, you know. So I just got that one race per year to watch and that was Seafair on television and that was Fridayland's Pico American Dream.

Speaker 1:

What about favorite?

Speaker 2:

driver. That was Mark Evans. Okay, mark Evans, you know, true class act talked to anybody very approachable and just an all-around great guy and he was pretty competitive.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, he's a fun one to watch and I always enjoyed his interviews and I think we're around the same age, so it's fun to hear some of the favorites, because I think we have some overlappings, but just fun to hear some background with other fans.

Speaker 2:

That kind of relates my style to Mark Evans. Yeah, very approachable happy-go-luckyucky. You know you're in it because you love it.

Speaker 1:

I think that's why we're all in the sport, yeah yeah, he should have a great positive attitude and fly by the seat of his pants and I don't think much got him down no not at all.

Speaker 1:

well, I think, if I'm if I'm not mistaken, I believe you actually got to work for for Fred later on in your life after you got to watch him on TV and whatnot. But I'd like to know what's more of your background with boat racing, because I don't think a lot of fans know your involvement and you've been around the sport for a number of years.

Speaker 2:

Sure, sure I'm gonna say we all start as as a fan growing up and you know, watching the races and going to the races, everybody starts as a fan. I started my my career in 2000 when I became a seafair volunteer. Okay, that's my first actual in-person race that I attended was Seafair in 2000. I was a logistics contractor, basically building stairs going up to the trophy stage, stuff like that, and it snowballed from there. I was involved with environmental pick, you know, with the, the pig pads, mopping up the oil off the water, you know, if there's an accident or whatever, uh, and that's where I met bill worcester, uh, the owner of the u8. Um, I met bill and he invited me down to a shop when I expressed interest to personally get involved with a boat.

Speaker 2:

And that summer I went down to his shop and I was still in high school at that time and brought my bicycle onto the ferry.

Speaker 2:

And uh, cause I didn't want to have a car over there in Seattle, so I just rode my bike up to the shop and I would uh do a lot of sanding on the boat, um, a lot of floor sweeping, uh, you know, doing the garbage and stuff.

Speaker 2:

And so then I bought my own boat when I was introduced to the Perkins family. Brian Perkins drove for uh Joe and Jackie Turner out of uh Belfair, washington, and then I purchased my first two and a half stock hydro from the Turner family and that's started snowball rather rapidly from there, uh, and I bought my own UL at at that time and I was crewing for uh the hops, okay, and I went back East with the hops and that's where I was crewing for the hops, Okay, and I went back east with the hops and that's where I was working on. I didn't work on Fred's stuff in Fred's shop, I was helping. You know, when we went back to Valleyfield Madison you know the whole east coast swing I was working on Fred's stuff on the road with him at that time and that's where I was working on. Fred's stuff was when we were on the road.

Speaker 1:

Okay, and so you met Tim then through the hops, because I think they had a good relationship around that time, if I'm not mistaken.

Speaker 2:

That is correct. Yeah, because Greg was the driver at that time and my old DOL was the old pocket mechanic.

Speaker 1:

Oh, okay okay, I miss the ULs. I thought that was a great class of racing. Just it seemed at the time I could be wrong, but I feel like it was an affordable class and it just had some close racing.

Speaker 2:

It was an affordable class, yeah, and it just had some close racing. It was an affordable class, but the only downfall was stuffing blower boats with non-blower boats. You know, then you're restricting the blower boats and you know, so you're taking, you're handicapping a boat from something that it was designed to do. And to me it was just the idea was spot on. But it just you put a big load on the blower boats. You know you're kind of handicapping them and you know, just makes it hard on the equipment as far as I was concerned. But you know, the idea was good, it just didn't work out in the end.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's too bad. Yeah, it was just. It's too bad because I felt like there was another opportunity for more sponsorships and brought more attention to the sport. So it was nice to have the marriage between Unlimited Lights and Unlimiteds at the time.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, it was great. I kind of missed the class when it went away. But then, as time went on, I was able to see what the Grand Prixs were able to do on their own and I was kind of like, okay, this, it was done for a good reason and I was happy to see. You know, it was Grand Prix world and then Grand Prix America and we are where we are today with that class and you know, last couple years I got in, got back into the sport here a couple years ago after taking it was a 11 year hiatus, which is a long time to be off the water, but during that time, let me say I've I was still a fan and I still volunteered, you know, and I was a rescue diver for many years at the limited inboard races and still volunteered at Seafair, you know.

Speaker 2:

So that's I've never really stepped away from the sport, but I've had a lot of things in my life that came up where I had to kind of step aside for a little bit. Two years ago I was able to get into an E350, john Rifle's boat, oh yeah, drove at Chelan and Black Lake here a couple years ago and got my feet wet again and that's pretty cool. So I was pretty happy to get that one First place in Chelan here a couple years ago and that meant a lot to me.

Speaker 1:

That's great. Yeah, I know John from Racing RC Boats. He's a very nice guy, very good gentleman, so that's a fun experience.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, and I thank him and his wife Rhonda for giving me that opportunity to get my feet wet and last year I campaigned my GP. Get my feet wet. Last year I campaigned my GP. We didn't have a whole lot of success. We went down to San Diego, we broke some parts, we put them together and went to Manson and finished it off. It was a great time. And now, here here we are.

Speaker 1:

Yeah Well, it's always. It's always a big jump when you step into a new class, especially like GP last year a lot, a big learning curve. And you've got a big learning curve ahead of you because you have had the opportunity to acquire the boat affectionately known as the Casper boat from the Madison regatta organization. How did this opportunity present itself?

Speaker 2:

I wanted to get into a haul. You know, I sold the old Freye to the O'Farrell team here a couple years ago and I started my own trucking company. Kind of took a lot of time away Going up to the mountain. You know I do alpine ski racing in addition to hydroplane racing and I'm also a road cyclist too, so and a little bit of the adrenaline junkie in the essence. So I kind of stepped away a little bit and before I picked up the gp and then that's kind of my get my foot back back in the door again.

Speaker 2:

It led to how do I get my own boat? Which boats are available? What can I get into affordably? What is going to be the most competitive bang for the buck? And so I was talking to a good friend of mine, gary Coles, for the buck. And so I was talking to a good friend of mine, gary Coles, and we're talking about the dust buster, or miss piggy, whatever you want to know it as, or Casper the boat's got a few nicknames to it. Yeah, and we're talking about that boat. And I was talking to Mark Evans too. And it's like the boat's never been crashed, it's never had any kind of an accident.

Speaker 2:

The boat was way overbuilt. We all know, fred, halls are built like a brick house. Yeah, you know, they're tough, very tough. Um, I said, okay, well, I guess that's the boat. You know, it's got no time on it, it's never been crashed. It should be in pretty decent shape and it is. Um, I talked to one of the guys on the madison team, uh, trey, he's one that kind of got the boat prepped, ready for display, and I was talking to him and he's like you know what kind of conditions to haul in?

Speaker 2:

Is it runnable? And he says it's, it's very doable. He goes, that boat looked pretty solid when we went through it and he was amazed at the condition that it was in. So that's why I say we're not really worried about it. And I talked to the inspectors here and they've all agreed, yeah, we've got to go through the inspection process. But they all know those Fred Leland hauls are very tough, very stout, and it's like okay, then that's the one we're going to go with. And so I called the regatta and I talked to Kyle Bipes and he says, yeah, you know, let me talk to the rest of the board and I'll get back to you and about. I think it was just under a week later.

Speaker 1:

I got a phone call back from Kyle and we settled on a price. Well, it's really exciting. I know Madison sold the other boats that was stationed out there. But, like you said, fred built stout boats and didn't really notice it. Casual fan didn't notice it. But one thing that always stood out to me is they never qualified that great but their, their speeds never dropped in race water. He always built kind of a tank ready for battle in the race, rough race waters that uh, you'd see in seattle and detroit and on the circuit. So I've always heard that fred built really strong, uh, lasting boats absolutely, absolutely.

Speaker 2:

And you know that's one thing I put to the fans. They're listening. You know it's some of the comments I've seen on the facebook press release is, you know, the book, the capsule's not legal, it's not safe? Well, yeah, it not safe. Well, yeah, it is safe. And I challenge people, it's like you know, fred, boats have gone over several times. You know, name me an instance where a Fred cockpit's imploded or where you know where it injured the driver. Right, I can't think of one.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, he's had several blowovers and from my memory I think pretty much everyone's been pretty much unscathed. I mean, it's pretty hard to go 200 miles an hour and crash and not have anything happen to you.

Speaker 2:

Well, and I know, when it came to the cockpits, driver safety was top notch. That was Fred's primary deal was keep my driver safe in those cockpits. And you know his, his cockpits were super heavy. I mean heck, the lids weigh 400 darn pounds. I mean I've. You know, I had, I had a Fred boat and just lifting that lid up without the canopy shock on it, oh my gosh, you're the one lifting it without assistance, like whoa. Yeah, you know. No, I, there's no concern that this boat will pass tech inspection okay, I'm glad to hear that.

Speaker 1:

Do you, do you recall what, where, where did the name casper come from for this boat?

Speaker 2:

so talk talking to gary. It. The boat was ran as the new kid in town with ray forestman, okay, and afterwards the new kid it came back to um, it came back to fred's shop and it was all painted white and so it just kind of sat in the shop and they used it as a table. Oh okay, I was like an all-white boat is just kind of like the ghost in the room and so that's yeah the name, casper, it's just it sat there, nobody really thought, thought about it. You know, you just kind of walk past this one all the time.

Speaker 2:

The ghost in the room just sits there. That's how I got his name Casper All right, that makes sense.

Speaker 1:

It's a pretty expensive table to have in the shop. I just want to make sure it wasn't haunted or something like that. Yeah it is yeah, all right. Well, I mean another thing too is there's so many boats on the circuit now that are 20, 30 years old that I think a good amount of the boats have some age and mileage on it.

Speaker 2:

So I'm glad to see this one back out. Yeah, there's boats that are older than Casper.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, there's boats that were built in 92. Yeah, those were built in 92. I'm sure there's others out there that you know early 90s were built. I don't think the boat. You don't have that boat in your shop yet. Is that correct?

Speaker 2:

Correct, I was talking to Kyle, and we're just, I mean, playing around snowstorms in the holidays and you know I got so much stuff going on, right, right now just trying to break free, you know, get out of dodge to go pick the thing up.

Speaker 2:

it's been a logistical nightmare, you know, and so I have my meeting on the 13th and so I'm hoping to be on the road on the 15th, headed to madison to pick the thing up. Okay, I think we're gonna be able to make that one work. Okay, kind of been, you know, telling our program director up at the mountain for our alpine skiers and team, because I'm coaching up there, uh, and so it's like, you know, I told everybody to say, hey guys, I gotta get out of town, I gotta go get this boat, you know, and I pretty much dropped the gavel, I'm leaving town. Yeah, this is what it is, I'm leaving town. I'll film the 15th wheels up, headed to Madison with the trailer to pick the boat up.

Speaker 1:

Well, I'm. I know you've been talking to a lot of people about the boat and getting more information and you're building a list of things to do. What's, uh, what's on the, what are some big items on the agenda list to do to that once it gets in your shop?

Speaker 2:

basically, we're going to be going through every single compartment. You know, I've got the camera. You know the snake, you know little scope cameras. We're going to be able to run it through everything, pop every duck, catch off. Uh, you say I.

Speaker 2:

I talked to trey months ago and he's, you know, when he went through to paint the whole boat for the display, he says this thing is intact. He goes this is in pretty decent shape and so. But you know, we're going to go farther into it than that. Well, at every, every bulkhead, every frame, make sure nothing's delaminated and make sure no honeycombs corroded or pitted or anything, and uh, kind of start putting it back together.

Speaker 2:

From that point, as far as I know, and as far as trade, you see, there's not a whole lot that needs to be done. It's just me time consuming, putting new plumbing, getting all the wiring stuff put back in the boat. It does, you know, it comes with the, the circuit panel and everything is all there. Steering cables are all there, so I'm just going to have them pull tested and pop the skid fin bracket off. You know, because the, the bracket and all that stuff, you know the it needs to be magged every year and so once that is done, we're gonna pop that stuff off, get it out from mag, get it back and start reassembling the boat yeah, your work cut out for you.

Speaker 2:

That's uh exciting it's gonna be a very long, long, long couple months, and we're just going to go by quickly yeah, it always does.

Speaker 1:

Well, are you planning to have this ready for for the spring testing in in tri-cities and in mid bay? What's what are your thoughts on on making the tour this year?

Speaker 2:

I'm hoping we're going to get to testing. I'm kind of being a realist. I'm not having, I guess I would say you know I'm I don't. My personal belief is I'm kind of counting more towards going straight to Guntersville or Madison. Do I hope we can make the testing? Absolutely, I'm not leaning on that a hundred percent. I kind of see us going straight to Guntersville and Madison and hoping for the best.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, hopefully you can make it to the testing. That's always so valuable to get testing time but it seems in years recently it's other. Outside of that test session in May for H1, not many people can test have open water in Seattle or Tri-Cities.

Speaker 2:

And this boat's big enough. You know we can't splash in Lake Taps here in Washington like we can in the Hornets. You know a little bit different Speeds are a little bit different, are a little bit different. You know different requirements right, right god. That'd be fun to see, but yeah, that's a downbeat that wouldn't go over well no, probably have every pierce county sheriff down here at the boat ramp, and not in a good way.

Speaker 1:

No well I. There's so many components that go into starting a team and getting a program on foot. One big component I always feel is the crew. Do you have a crew put together yet? Do you have people helping you out? Have people been out to your shop yet?

Speaker 2:

I have a couple of crew members that have rolled over from our GP team, but I'm kind of looking to put together a new crew, so we're always open to accepting new crew members. Um, if they want, they can message me on the christiansen motorsports facebook page. Fire off a message and we can, you know, arrange a meeting and see what works. Uh, but yeah, we are currently looking for new crew members.

Speaker 1:

Where are you located at? Is it in Graham? Is that correct?

Speaker 2:

We're in Buckley, washington. Oh, buckley, buckley, okay.

Speaker 1:

Alright. Yeah, I often get fans that sometimes reach out to me and say that they love the sport and want to get more involved. Crewing is one aspect I know a lot of people want to get jump into, so hopefully we can find a couple guys to to come out to buckley and help you out with this project yeah, that'd be great.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we already got a couple people out, reached out, and so I'm meeting with them here, a couple truck drivers which is huge, so I'm not the only one having to drive the truck and the boat and you know, be kind of nice to come up, come home every, you know, every now and then. So I got a couple of retired truck drivers that stepped up and said they'd be willing to drive the truck.

Speaker 1:

Oh good, yeah, that's a. That's a big task right there Just getting the boat to the races and having some people that can getting the boat to the races and having some people that can drive the truck, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1:

That's huge One thing you posted and we talked previously on the phone about. You have a display boat now and you were able to acquire. Albert Lee actually owned for some time the Cellular One which also ran as Winston Eagle and Pete'sete's wickadale. Ken muscatel had it for a while, but you got the display boat. What plans do you have for that? Because I mean, you're going to be working on getting your boat out this year, but uh, what are your thoughts for the display boat as well?

Speaker 2:

obviously, getting the primary boat done and race ready is going to be priority number one. As we're working, maybe we've got some things on the primary boat that we only need two or three people to work on. Maybe we can pull the display boat out and get people jumping on that thing too. I want the boat and the trailer to match the race boat and trailer as as well. You know, in terms of graphics or paint. You know all our sponsors. I want it to look like the real boat. Yeah, um, we offer displays to all our sponsors. I don't care what level they come in at, everybody gets displays and I want to be able to have the boat on display like Genesee Park, at Seafair you know all these other venues that we go to on the West Coast. I want that hall to be available for any local car shows, whatever it be. I want that boat to look just like where kids can sit in that boat and get their picture taken. You know, make some memories.

Speaker 1:

That's fantastic. Yeah, I love that. I remember seeing it down at Seafair a couple years and it's I feel like it's been absent for a while. I haven't seen it. I could be wrong, but what's the shape like for that boat now?

Speaker 2:

It's going to need a lot of 30 second outdoor cleaner now. It's gonna need a lot of 30 second outdoor cleaner. Yeah, um, it can get cleaned up. You know it's not, you know it's just dirtier than it is damaged, you know. So, yeah, it can be cleaned up, looking nice here and it won't take a lot. The pain is going to take the most time. Yeah, um, I'm kind of in the mood. Where shoot the sides white and vinyl wrap over the top. Vinyl wrap, the depths.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that seems to be kind of a go-to nowadays. There's been a lot of teams in hydroplane racing but cars and just a lot of racing teams have gone to that wrap route and it seems to work pretty well. They can hide any blemishes you have there too. Yeah, for the most part.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, to work pretty well, they can hide any blemishes you have there too. Yeah, for the most part, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Okay, yeah, this boat will never run again, you know, no, but it's a solid display boat, you know yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, that boat had a lot of history and had a lot of miles. That should never see the water again. She's tired. Tired, yeah she is. I remember I remember cruel my dad on that and it flipped to 94, 95 and in tri-cities and it broke the boat in half and or most of the right side off of it at least, and it went through a few few other crashes. It's uh, yeah, it's tired. Yeah, very much so. Yeah, but that's huge though to have for a sponsor, and some teams recently have kind of gone back to that. I know mercury's coffee had a display built this last year, so it's it's pretty invaluable to have sponsors or have for the sponsors, and do you have any sponsors lined up for this year already?

Speaker 2:

yeah, we do. Um, you know, we currently have the fraternal order of eagles, which is huge. We got a lot of um out-of-state support. I brought the san diego area down to uh watch the san diego race and I put their madam president for the auxiliary okay down there with us and she brought her daughter and her daughter got to sit in the gp and get their picture taken. They're just loving it. Um, so it's really starting to take off. It's getting traction every day. I'm getting, you know, I'm getting feedback with uh from a club in indianapolis which is huge, and so we're we're really growing the foe sponsorship, really looking forward to this season and I'm so happy to welcome Albert Lee back to the sport. Oh, awesome, I think it's great they signed on with us and that's where the boat came from and that was a part of the sponsorship from Albert Lee and really welcome them on board with us.

Speaker 1:

Well, I'm glad to hear that Albert Lee's back in the sport, because they're a Seattle-based family that's supported the tight end racing for years and it's fantastic to have them back.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I got a lot of associate sponsors that we're currently working on. That's the meeting on the 13th Could be a pretty decent size sponsor, so I was like I don't want to go to Madison now and take a chance.

Speaker 1:

I'm missing that meeting.

Speaker 2:

I need to be at this meeting. There's no way I can miss this meeting. Oh, definitely. So, yeah, we got a lot of associate sponsors coming on board with us in addition to Albert Lee, and so I think we're going to be looking pretty good.

Speaker 1:

Well, great.

Speaker 2:

We're not going to be, you know, the big dollar top teams, but for a first year rookie team, I think we'll be okay.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean, it's a lot to get your feet wet in the first year. You can't expect to go out guns blazing, but it's a big learning curve. And if you're true to Fred's form, there's so many years I remember seeing that boat and it had a hundred, or it seemed like a thousand, stickers on there of all the associate sponsors. So if you're true to Fred's form, you'll have a lot of names on the side of your boat, like he did Exactly, and I'm okay with that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, lots of real estate for stickers yes.

Speaker 1:

Well, one thing with your press release you deemed and you claimed the U number U2. And I'm always fascinated to hear the stories behind the selection of the numbers because I feel I think every team really has a feeling behind that number and has a reason why they chose that. That number has a good history of the sport. It was on the Miss US for a number of years. Jim Harvey had that number, bob Stile had that number for Squireshop Racing. Why did you choose that number as opposed to a different one?

Speaker 2:

shop racing. Uh, why did you choose that number as opposed to a different one? Well, you just said it there. Uh, the first part of your question, um, I'm pretty patriotic and I kind of voiced that. You know, I'm proud of our country, I love our country, um, and that was the miss us, and so that boat was near and dear to my heart and it always will be. Um, um, and as well, as you know, I'm a fraternal or regal member and you know, there we show pride in our country.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And with what we involved, I'm thinking well, miss US, let's do it. And you know we're kind of following that suit with that Um. And it's also kind of a cool thing because having you to number kind of puts you up in the front of race site programs too.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I can donate in line.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'm paid more too, right, so sneaky, all right.

Speaker 1:

A little more exposure for our sponsors, right, right well, I love, I love to hear that and it's fun that it's a historic number and you can kind of keep that legacy going with that U number. Absolutely, as you're a new owner but you're also going to be driving the boat. I don't know if the regulations have changed and I don't think the fans quite understand what it takes to qualify as a driver. Can you run us through that process? There's a certain number of laps you have to take and certain speeds, I believe yeah.

Speaker 2:

So you got to it's 15 laps, 10 of which have to be over at or over, 130 miles an hour, and then you have to have five under 130 miles an hour. Okay, then you got to run through I believe it's three heats. You have to run it without penalties, you know, obviously, start on the outside and behind and get, get your heats in to get qualified. And you got to take a written exam too. Yeah, that's a part of it. And obviously, capsule training you got to do every year as well, which I've always done anyway. Um, you know, as a rescue diver, I'd you know, and I'm doing it this year I'm volunteering as a rescue diver at capsule training. I do it every year. People call me weird, it's creepy, but to me it's kind of fun.

Speaker 1:

Well, someone's got to do it, right, right. Yeah, it's always curious because I always hear that 15 laps, but I know there's more to it and something the fans don't quite understand. Well, ideally, in an ideal world, you get that done in Guntersville, right?

Speaker 2:

Right, I'm hoping to have that done in Guntersville, correct.

Speaker 1:

Again a newcomer in the sport owner or driver on the H1 circuit, a new team for fans to root for. What would you like the fans to know more about your team?

Speaker 2:

I like to go back to the way Mark Evans conducted himself and still does. You know, I'm me personally as an owner and driver. I approach a sport from a different angle than a lot of drivers and owners and stuff. I don't know all their history, but I kind of approach it as we're all fans. I started out as a fan, so is everybody else, but I've been a volunteer for seafair and region 10 inboard for many years as well, so I don't see myself any higher than I do the fans you know better than them or anything. I approach it as a happy-go-lucky. I'll talk to anybody. Maybe he wants to talk, talk hydroplanes, let's go geek out next to the truck, you know, let's talk about you know, yeah, and very approachable. I don't see my asa. I don't see myself any better than the fans because I'm just a fan too. I'm just a lucky fan that has an opportunity to go play with boats.

Speaker 1:

Well, that's perfect for the sport, because the drivers need to be approachable. And there's. You know, growing up, I always loved watching Steve David, Chip Hanauer, Steve Reynolds, because those drivers were always really approachable. Right right, yeah, and that's what the fans love. So happy to hear that yeah, very much so I'm.

Speaker 2:

I've never been one to hide. Oh, I don't want to talk to them, I've. Let's geek out for five minutes. This is cool, you know I've always loved talking about the sport. You know that's what I love to do. Yeah, so you know, I my I got friends that just like. Can you stop talking about hydroplanes for?

Speaker 1:

five minutes and they're not a chance in hell. Yeah, I can't tell you how many parties I've gone to where you know no one else likes hydroplanes, so I'm just sitting in the corner pretty quiet because no one else to talk to about it I totally feel you on that.

Speaker 2:

You know, I'm just like you know. I kind of rocked back and forth like okay, any hydro fans in here no okay, I just pull out my phone, look at pictures of hydroplanes. It's okay, but totally approachable. That's the way I've always approached my team. Someone wants to stand out the fence line or go up to the truck and talk talk about boats or look at the boats, sit in the cockpit, come on up. You know I'm happy to do that, perfect.

Speaker 1:

Well, I'm a teacher and I've talked about that a lot in in the, in the podcast and I there's some aspects I feel like that kind of translate to hydroplane racing and other parts of our, our lives, and I'm very goal driven and I feel that when you have goals in life and whatever you're doing, you can accomplish a lot. And there's so many things that I know you want to do as a first year in H1. But if you put us down to what do you think your number one goal is for this year? Because I know everyone wants to go out and win all the races and do everything, but out of everything you have in front of you, what would you say your number one goal is for for year, one in each one.

Speaker 2:

My number one goal, I would say I just want to start and finish all my heats in a safe manner, without any penalties or DQs or any of the above. I just want to race clean and safe. Rather it be from the outside, I don't care. I just want to start and finish all my heats, bring the boat back to the dock in one piece, get the boat home in one piece and kind of you know what would be. The icing on the cake to me is like the end of the year. I take like number five, high point, you know, fifth place high point or better, that'd be, that'd be awesome. I just be blown away. Never my dreams, but that's a goal and this is going to happen. Yeah, maybe, maybe not, but you got to set the mark somewhere and you've got to have a target to shoot for.

Speaker 1:

Right. Yeah, I think you know that's a great goal to have your one, and it's easier said than done, right.

Speaker 2:

So many, so many things you have to to conquer to do that, but it's definitely attainable, absolutely. You know, and any way I can, you know, you know I can represent my sponsors in the best possible way and have fun and start and finish clean and safe. That's my goal. Yeah, I want my sponsors to be happy. I want the fans to have a great time and let's bring the boat home in one piece and have a party at, and let's bring the boat home in one piece and have a party at the end of the year sounds great you party down in in buckley washington right there, there you go.

Speaker 1:

Uh, I really appreciate your time, eric, and can't wait to see the u2 on the water this season. I'm excited.

Speaker 2:

I'm excited Things are really starting to look up for us. So it's it's been a really tough road to hoe in the last few years, but yeah, I'm kind of caught an opportunity that I couldn't turn down, so we're jumping on it. Well good.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's, it's. It's hard to jump into it, so can't wait to see you out in the water and good luck.

Speaker 1:

I appreciate it. I sure hope you enjoyed my talk with Eric Christensen and got to know a little bit more about this new team and a little some more movement announcements and new drivers announcements, with some boats being sold and shuffled around in new names in the sport, which the sport has needed, some new, new faces and some new blood, and I'm hoping that this is a trend that will continue as we can hopefully build upon this sport that we all love. As, as I said before beginning of the episode, I have conducted some interviews. I'm going to be releasing some names and some more details of those interviews coming up, and I've got some more on the schedule coming up. This month I'm going to be talking with some great names from around the sport of hydroplane racing and I'm always excited to get those out to you, the listeners, and I think there's gonna be some talks that you'll really enjoy.

Speaker 1:

In the meantime, don't forget to check us out on social media. You can check us out on Facebook, instagram and also our website, rucheteltalkcom. On there, check the special tab called Ruchetel Talk Plus, and that is where you can show your support for the show. You can choose a monthly subscription. In exchange, you can get early access to all episodes, as well as access to the Rooster Tail Talk archives. In the archives you'll get to see old articles, interviews from yesteryear, and you also get a glimpse at my hydroplane picture collection. There's galleries there from various years and I'd be adding more to this as time progresses.

Speaker 1:

I appreciate all the support that you, the listener, have given me over these years, and especially those who have subscribed, because there's so many little costs that they ding you with in the production of a podcast and, as I said before, I'm a one-man show and I'm doing all this on my own time and spending my own time on the podcast, so all of your support really helps me to grow and expand this podcast. That's all I have for today, so until next time. I hope to see you at the races.