Episode 148: H1 2025 Season Preview with Hydro Dan

Time to dive into hydroplane racing's 2025 season following the H1 pre-season test session in Tri-Cities, where boats hit impressive speeds and fans got their first glimpse of this season's contenders. HydroDan (one of the creators of the Deck2Deck Hydroplane Fantasy League) joins the podcast as we chat about what to expect this season with H1.
Also, don't forget to sign up for the free Deck2Deck Fantasy Hydroplane Racing league at deck2deck.us and join the Rooster Tail Talk group to compete against other listeners this season.

Photo by Digital Roostertails

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, we'll talk. Welcome back, race fans. It's episode 148, and today is May 27th 2025. I know we took last week off.

Speaker 1: 1:07

I enjoyed my weekend over in Tri-Cities. I went over to the first test session of the year and saw the H1 pre-season test session, which has become a ritual and a tradition every year now and it's becoming a bigger and bigger event, which I'm really happy to see, had a lot of fun, but just really enjoyed talking with all the fans of the sports. I got to meet some new faces and if you're one of those people that reached out and introduced yourselves, I really appreciate you as a race fan and getting to know more of you out there, because it is a fun extended family of racing and I love being able to share that passion with others. So great to see you at the test session. Share that passion with others. So great to see you at the test session. And a lot of fun things on the horizon this year for H1.

Speaker 1: 1:51

And we've got the first race in a couple of weeks over in Guntersville, alabama, and before we get there, I actually spent last week talking with HydroDan, one of the creators of the deck-to-deck Hydroplane Fantasy Series, which is online free to play. It's been going for for a number of years now. If you haven't haven't done it, why not? It's a fun fantasy league. It's free. Uh, it's a fun way to banter with friends about the racing and and brag about your picks and whatnot. So a fun addition for the sport. So if you haven't signed up for it, check the comments below in the bio. I've got a link and Dan's going to talk more about that in the episode. But we really just went over testing what we saw, what we witnessed, what exciting things happened and what we got to look forward to this year. So let's join that talk with Hydro Dan. Well, I'm sitting down here on Zoom talking with Hydro Dan. From Deck to Deck Racing Dan, how are you doing today?

Speaker 2: 2:55

David, I'm great. It's a pleasure to be talking to you again. I think this is what our second or maybe even third year in a row we've done this.

Speaker 1: 3:02

Yeah, I think it's our third year and unfortunately I didn't get to catch up with you over in Tri-Cities. It was kind of a wild day of the test session, but hopefully you had a good day over there.

Speaker 2: 3:14

I had a great day. I kind of hunkered down in the west turn off the exit pin for most of the day. I only made one trip down to the pit area and I looked for you and I didn't find you. But, um, I'm sure this summer I will get together and and be able to watch some of the racing together. Hopefully, oh, definitely, Definitely.

Speaker 1: 3:34

Yeah, it was a. It was an interesting day. Um, a lot of stuff we'll talk about on the water, uh, but before we get down there, I know you like camping out in that west end of the race course. It's a great view down there from. The boats come on pretty close to the shore, but I felt like the boats were a little bit closer this year to the Kennewick side. Do they have to change the layout a little bit for a possible sandbar? I think? Some issues with the river Was it closer to you on that side? Some issues with the river, was it closer to you on?

Speaker 2: 4:05

that side, absolutely. That was when I, when I parked and got out of my car and walked to the shoreline, um, just kind of looking around and figuring out where I wanted to set up for the day, that exit pin, buoy, what it had to be, a hundred yards closer it, uh, it seemed really close to the shoreline, um, which is exciting as a fan and and, uh, you know, for photographers and uh, but my sort of my mind went to how the heck are they going to fit four or five boats in between that exit pin and the shoreline? You know, on race weekend. But I think, think, uh, that'll be an exciting turn for fans and and for the uh competitors yeah, that's super cool.

Speaker 1: 4:50

I've never gone down to that end to watch a heat, so this might be the year for that.

Speaker 2: 4:55

Yeah generally we sit kind of in the middle of the course on the kenneth side on race weekend weekend, but uh, I do like to watch the testing up there, just as a different vantage point yeah, yeah, and it was closer um, by the pits as well.

Speaker 1: 5:12

I know they had, I think. I think it was 100 yards or 100 feet or whatever. They went closer to the kennewick side, so I'm not sure how much that comes into play as a driver with the the alterations, because I think the one side that you were talking about is a little bit narrower and the turn near the bridge is a little wider, but the speed seemed relatively similar to last year. I didn't go back and do the research, you did some research. What were the speeds like last year? Do you remember?

Speaker 2: 5:42

Yeah, so in my research, in my research, the speeds from the test session last year, do you remember? Yeah, so really similar research. In my research the uh speeds from the test session last year were fairly similar, okay, to what they put up this year. If you recall that, I think last year at the uh race weekend was when they had the issues with the water depth.

Speaker 2: 6:00

Yeah, kind of had kind of had to um, you know, re-survey the course on the fly and I think they did a brief qualifying session and and the times were down. Compared to the times were down in that qualifying session last year, before the race weekend I think, due to the changes in the course, but this week, this past test, yeah they seemed pretty much in line with last year's testing. I think the biggest jump was maybe the 165 that the U9 put up and I know they had a technical data recording issue and maybe that wasn't an official time, but that was a pretty big jump for them yeah, and I would say, watching some of the boats, that was one of the boats I was impressed with.

Speaker 1: 6:53

It just seemed like it had a great ride around the whole course. It was just very streamlined, smooth. Um wasn't really doing anything out of out of out of control or, you know, out of out of the normal for those boats, but um, with those speeds because h1 just did post like an official speed times for that weekend. It didn't post that time because I think it was the 9 and 11. Both had runs that when they came back to the data truck it didn't record the times or some issue with that, so it wasn't official, but it was on the clock at 165. So super impressive.

Speaker 2: 7:34

Super duper, impressive and I think generally most of the boats handled really well. Of course we had the U21 that got out of shape and went over and we can talk about that a little bit later. But I think maybe the 27 rattled around that corner a little bit, coming around the apex of the turn. But other than that everyone looked pretty, dialed in, especially for an early season test session. The 11 looked nice and dialed in especially for an early season test session. The 11 looked nice and dialed. They had speeds up in the upper 150s. Nielsen really can get that thing around the corners on a tight line. It was fun to watch Tate's great in that newer hole from the old Madison camp. So really impressed by everyone. Really Even the 21 was really looking good and I thought speeds were coming around and then unfortunately they went up and over.

Speaker 1: 8:42

Yeah, he was posting some faster times. I think they were kind of gradually going up until that blow over. But let's talk more about the times and we'll tackle that flip. Earlier this week H1 posted kind of an Excel file that had all the times of laps and some issues and notes, and so let's run down the times real quick. So we had the. The u8 posted a fast lap of 161, the nine posted at 165, the 11 had a 158, the 21 had a 156 mile an hour lap, the 27 had almost 161 miles an hour and the 91 at 163. Was there anyone out of that group that surprised you?

Speaker 2: 9:27

Yeah, I think that U27 time jumps out, you know, plus 160. That's a real good time for that boat. I know they spent much of last year kind of getting that sorted out as pretty much a brand-new boat and now it looks like they may jump in where perhaps the U40 left off with, uh, you know, as another one of those contenders. Um, you know, I think you talk about. It really seems to me to be a three boat race right With the the eight, nine and 91, boat race right with the the 8, 9 and 91, but now you have the 27 coming in there, just like the 40 did last year. At times where you're where you're thinking to yourself, hey, if the brakes go their way, um, you know this, this boat definitely could be on the podium and, and heck, maybe even win a race or two, right?

Speaker 1: 10:23

yeah, and I think for the case for the 27 it was pretty much. It was a brand new boat last year and it's a short season, didn't have a lot of time to tune everything for it. But now with the new ownership this year of bwr racing, uh, I've got some some pretty big heads behind the scenes. But I think the hansons are working on it and some other people on their team. It was impressive to see them rise up this year. It'll be interesting to see what they do. I think you're right. It's going to fill that hole in the field for the 40. It's kind of that dark horse that could throw a wrench into some plans for the 9 and 8 and 91.

Speaker 2: 11:02

Absolutely. Then you have the 71-year-old Dave Villwock, for the nine and eight and 91. Absolutely. And then you have, you know, the 71 year old Dave Villawock, the winningest driver in the sports history. I think it seems like the days of him playing villain or somewhat behind him, it seems like, you know there's there's a lot less swap and paint these days, maybe, and and more good, clean racing, and I think people are coming back around to Dave in many ways, a lot of the fans. So, heck, I would love to see him win a race this year. I think it would be a cool story for the sport and a lot of motivation for the 70-year-olds out there.

Speaker 1: 11:39

Yeah, I think they have a good shot this year. It'll be interesting to see. It'll be fun to see him get one more victory into his pile. I know he wants to go for another gold cup so and it's going to be in Tri-Cities. That'll be a hometown for his owner, so I know that'll be some pretty big motivation for them there. Absolutely yeah.

Speaker 2: 11:59

Yeah, and I just I was spending some time with the Unlimited News Journal record books and it's pretty interesting to look at the um percentage of races. One versus races entered. Villalock is the leader at, uh, about 44%. And then Andrew Tate is right there at 35%. He's in the top five, um. And then you've got Peabody is a top 10 at 30, you about 32%, oh wow. And then JMK is right, you know, in the mix and in top 25 of all time at about 17%. So, yeah, four, just you know, kind of historic to the sport drivers in some of these lists here.

Speaker 1: 12:50

Yeah, I mean it's it's. It's sad it's a smaller field, but the, the, the expertise behind the wheels of these boats right now is probably the highest ever and in Jamie Nielsen I think he's right in there. He always gets lane one and can drive a great course and really gives everything he can for the 11. He hasn't had a victory yet, but they came close last year with some podium finishes.

Speaker 2: 13:16

He's got a knack for nabbing inside lanes, which is always important. So, yes, I think he's a threat. So this season, if I'm not mistaken, there's five national boats it's the 8, 9, 11, 27, and 91. And I think really all those boats are capable of a win. You know, I think the the 11 and 27 might need a break, or two more than the others, but out of those five, I think, I think, um, I think anyone could potentially win a race.

Speaker 1: 13:52

Yeah, and that's been the case, I think, for a while now in the sport, just quality over quantity, you don't know who's going to go away with the victory at the end of the weekend. So a lot of things to look forward to in that sense. But some other notes on the testing. I was looking deeper into that Excel file that H1 posted about all the times and there was, like I said, there was, a couple of boats that had incomplete tech data after they ran the 11 and the 9. And also the 21 and the 8 also had an N2 violation and the 11 had a fuel flow of violation. No penalties in testing, but it's just notable that they had those issues in testing the first time out and hopefully that's not going to be an occurring, reoccurring pattern throughout the year. Hopefully in testing they can find their limits and not have that take away any points or finishes this year.

Speaker 2: 14:53

Yeah, that's sort of how I look at it. It is a test session. That's when you want to get these gremlins and things worked out and your boat ride dialed in, and I think you know those types of things are sort of anticipated in the test session and hopefully they get it all resolved. Those types of things are anticipated in the test session. Hopefully they get it all resolved. In Guntersville we have six boats, with the addition of the U6 Madison boat, all putting down hot laps and with no violations on that big course.

Speaker 1: 15:30

Yeah, and that's going to be key, I think, uh, just making making sure it's straightforward for the fans and don't have to run into um that issue after the race, that he was illegal or not, you know.

Speaker 2: 15:42

Yeah, it's no fun to explain to a new uh hydroplane fan what an N2 violation is, right.

Speaker 1: 15:51

Well, um, one thing that just it's always intriguing to me is is the paint schemes not a lot different this year, aside from the 11, was it? But was there any that stood out to you? Did you think anyone is? There was some tweaks on the nine and the eight, um, but was there any paint schemes that stood out to you this year?

Speaker 2: 16:10

and seeing that test session, oh, I love talking paint schemes. Um, yeah, you know I I really thought the U11 flavor pack uh scheme was striking, that the bright yellow with blue accents. It's unmistakable on the water. It's uh, it kind of stands out compared to the other boats. Um, yeah, I was a big fan of the 11's look. I think the Beacon, electric and the Apollo boats also. You know, I would say they get the honorable mentions for kind of bright and vibrant looks on the water, very photogenic and fun to watch race uh, race out there.

Speaker 1: 16:52

Yeah, I gotta say that probably my favorite right now is the is a flavor pack, the U11. Um, glad to see that team get a sponsor for the full season. Um, hoping that they can kind of add to their pile and maybe push a little bit further forward. But that paint scheme, like they took what was on, uh, Stockland's boat the 40 last year and they just tweaked it a little bit further forward. But that paint scheme they took what was on Stockland's boat the 40 last year and they just tweaked it a little bit and I thought it was great on Stockland's boat but they just did a little bit more tweaks and it seemed a little bit more vibrant on the water. So I'm looking forward to seeing that more on the water this year. But yeah, so that would be my favorite for what I've seen so far.

Speaker 2: 18:33

Well, good, we agree on something. Yeah, no, it looked great and I mean, you know, regarding the 11 team, they really popped on the scene last year with the Mercury Coffee sponsorship and the boat looked beautiful in the red and black and the marketing campaign of that company was great. The social media presence was great. It was sad to see them step away this year. Hopefully they're a company that may come back, you know, when things are feeling a little healthier, and I know the owner is really a big fan of the sport and grew up watching it, so I'd love to see them back, or or or that brand on another boat in years to come.

Speaker 1: 19:17

Yeah, yeah, marketing wise, they had it down and nailed last year that the coffee display and they always they had like a little coffee stand with the pits and they had giveaways and the paint scheme was really crisp on the water yeah, sad to see that one go. I heard through the grapevine that they started to expand a little bit more in the Pacific Northwest with some more locations and they just weren't sure if they could make it happen this year or not for H1. But hopefully, like you said, they'll be back next year.

Speaker 2: 19:51

Absolutely. We'll all welcome them back.

Speaker 1: 19:53

Yeah Well, we got to talk about the probably the big impact at the test session on Saturday and I actually missed it. I was in the pits yakking away with some, some friends, and I heard a big, big gasp from the crowd and some smoke come up in the air, but the U21 Lake Ridge paving it flipped, going on the backstretch. Hopefully you were paying attention. I wasn't.

Speaker 2: 20:17

I was one of those that you probably heard gasp. I was watching it, I had my eyes trained on it. Unfortunately I didn't have a camera on it or anything, but I was sitting on the like I mentioned on the west end, off the exit pin. So where that occurred was across the race course on the end of the back chute. And as he was coming up the back chute I was kind of saying to myself man, he looks really good, you know, and sounded fast, sounded good, sounded healthy, everything looked great. Sounded fast, sounded good, sounded healthy, everything looked great.

Speaker 2: 20:54

And then all of a sudden he just popped into the air, hung there for a second, long enough for me to yell oh gosh, I think he's going over. And then went up and over and did the, you know, almost I guess it was a full flip right. And then he almost made two revolutions before he hit backside and backside first and then kind of flopped down and, yeah, the big smoke and water plume. I couldn't tell if he was right side up or upside down. So thank goodness he was right side up and popped out. Okay, um, but yeah, my mind went from wow, he looks great to oh no, he's going over so, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 21:40

I always hate to see someone flip. Thankfully he's safe and healthy and you can. We can complain more about it, but it could have been much worse, and hate to see that happen, especially in testing. Uh, they're just trying to get things ready for this year and they're one of those teams that's not going to make the full series, but they really want to be there for the Gold Cup.

Speaker 1: 22:01

And Gunnar O'Farrell, the driver, grandson of the owner, greg O'Farrell. He had a post on social media the day after. I'm going to read it real quick so you can kind of hear more from him, but he said he wanted to start out by thanking everyone for their support yesterday. Today I felt better than expected after flipping and I can't wait to get back in the boat. Thanks to everyone who's reached out from home and those who came up to me after. Huge thanks to H1 Rescue and Waterfowlies Rescue Teams and, most importantly, thank you to my family for continuing to support me for all my racing.

Speaker 1: 22:39

After further inspection, the team found a broken keyway in the prop shaft and a broken output shaft in the motor. Unfortunately, we have no way to determine the order of events. Either failure could be the cause of going over. The boat is back in the shop and off the trailer getting ready for some repairs on the transom. But it can all be fixed and we will be back on the water for the Gold Cup at Tri-Cities Water Follies July 25th through 27th. So, dan, what's some initial thoughts after hearing that statement from Gunner?

Speaker 2: 23:08

Well, first of all, I love hearing that they're going to be back on the water and that he's safe and healthy and that's all great news. Yeah, my first intuition was that there was going to be some pretty heavy damage, just from the way it looked like it entered the water on the transom and flopped down, and that's at which point I went down to the pit area to get a look. And then, once I got up closer and it looked like maybe just the? Um, the fairings and you know the, the tail section was pretty banged up, but otherwise it didn't look like there was too much hole damage. Um, it really reminded me of the elam flip. Yeah, I guess in 2006 it was sort of at the same place on the race course and almost uh, very reminiscent of that, of that flip and and landing, and I think that was the year that uh, elam and vilwak, that it was a flip and win, if I'm not mistaken, in 2006 yeah, that was uh.

Speaker 1: 24:09

after the team changed drivers, that was dave elwock's first race with ELM and yeah, he did come back and win it. I remember being on the shoreline.

Speaker 1: 24:19

I'm getting nostalgic and I'm digressing but I was on the shorelines and I remember, looking through binoculars and that whole time that Bill Elwock was being towed back then to the pits, he was walking around the boat on a radio instructing people from a team to get this part ready, get this ready. Um, yeah, but anyways, yeah, it was very similar to that crash and the way it landed was very similar and, um, I had those thoughts too, worrying about, you know, the boat being more damaged than it was, seeing the videos on my phone and the pictures. But I think just the way it landed was. Fortunate for that team it wasn't further damage to the boat.

Speaker 2: 25:02

Absolutely yeah, and not to jump ahead here, but once we get to a little bit of deck-to-deck talk you know the 21 and the 12 and the 6, some of these boats that aren't running full circuit you're going to have to choose one of these boats or a couple of these boats at some point in the season. So I think the 21 looked really great before the incident and hopefully when they get back out there in July they'll pick up where they left off with with really good speeds and they might be a a boat to pick, uh, in the tri-cities or seattle yeah, I think that that would be a great pick, for for some people they've ran.

Speaker 1: 25:47

That's our new boat, that they've only really ran it a handful of times, I think they ran it.

Speaker 2: 25:51

Yeah, I think they ran it at Seafair.

Speaker 1: 25:53

I think they raced it at Seafair. I don't even know if they raced it in Tri-Cities since it was built, but it hasn't been run too often and every year they've stepped up a little bit here and there. So yeah, but I also did see some pictures online that they're repairing the transom and they're they're already hard at work on it, so it's going to be good to go for for july, which is great to hear that.

Speaker 2: 26:15

That is great. Yeah, just looking back at the 24 season summary, it looks like they they did run both races in washington they've had a fourth and at tri-cities last year and uh, and then a sixth in seattle. Okay, got it got it.

Speaker 1: 26:30

Well, I want to talk about gold cup predictions, season high point predictions, but also, deck to deck, what should we jump into to next, and what do you want to talk about next?

Speaker 2: 26:39

I I'd like to uh jump into deck to deck, um, for this reason really is is to give you your flowers. Uh, david, you finished second in the overall of the entire uh public racing um league and you're only out of first place by like 30, 30 points, 35 points. So kudos to you. Job well done you. You kicked my butt and I have to make good on our wager. I believe I need to have a shirt made up for Tri-Cities that said David Newton beat me, and with a big Mr Pale talk logo on it. So I'm on it, man, congratulations.

Speaker 1: 27:22

Yeah, well, thank you. Thank you, that was definitely my best year I've had. I think all my other years that was second to last. I my best year I've had. I think all my other years that was second to last. I wasn't anywhere near the top. So, um, I finally picked some teams that didn't shoot themselves in the foot at the, at the races. It was. It was a fun year. I always love doing deck to deck and it's, uh, it's another way to extend, um, our, our, our love for the sport, Right?

Speaker 2: 27:45

So, um, yeah, thank you, and uh, that was, that was a fun year last year. Absolutely, yeah, it's. Uh, I think it's our 16th season coming up, oh, wow, and uh, we should be live, um, when this airs. We're getting everything kind of in place to to go live right now as we speak, so, but we, like I said once, we, once this airs, we should be live for the race season and with, uh, five races on the schedule, we are gonna have the same basic format, except we're gonna have, um, two boat picks for seattle and tri-cities, because that's where the field is anticipated to be its largest, you know, with seven or eight boats. So we're gonna do one pick in Guntersville and Madison, two for Tri-Cities in Seattle, then one for San Diego.

Speaker 1: 28:33

Okay, All right, so you'll be able to pick seven boats out of the eight then.

Speaker 2: 28:39

Seven out of eight. So you got to go reach deep into the field and I would suggest I mean I'm not going to give you pointers because you kicked my butt, but for everyone else out there I'd say start maybe you know work from the end of the year and and in san diego, and make sure you have a boat, that's kind of a national boat that'll be there, and then work your way towards the front end of the year so that, um, you can kind of fill out your picks and make all your picks pre-season, and then you can edit them as you go. But it's always good to have something plugged in there and just in case you forget down the road to make a pick, you've just.

Speaker 1: 29:15

You already have something plugged in yeah, I'll admit that I've been caught with that in years past where I I forget to pick ahead of time and I get to the race weekend, oh I gotta make my pit pick and it's it's too late. So yeah, it's always always good to put it ahead of time because you can always change it afterwards or at least before the race yeah, just yeah, plug something in there as a placeholder and then you can.

Speaker 2: 29:38

You can edit it later and, as I always say, you don't, you don't want to dns, especially when there's only five races that's right.

Speaker 1: 29:45

Yeah, make sure you don't dns, all right. Well, that'd be fun. I'm looking forward to another year of that and, um, make, yeah, like your little tweaks to it and pick a couple of boats for tri-cities in Seattle and, uh, anything else new for this year, or or updated.

Speaker 2: 30:05

No same, same basic principle. Um, you know, it's a strategy game, it's not a simulator or video game. It's pure strategy. You pick a boat or two for every race and you collect those points and you can't pick any given boat more than once. So we're keeping with that approach and it's worked so far. So if it's not broke, don't fix it.

Speaker 1: 30:31

Yes, exactly, and I'll put some links in the bio below. But for anyone new, where do they go, Dan?

Speaker 2: 30:38

So you go to deck2deckus. It's free to register and play. Once you register and choose boats, you are in the public overall league. Uh, racing against everybody else. That's, that's playing deck to deck. And then you also can go in and set up private leagues for your friends or family or your RC racing group or what have you, and um, and then do little side wagers if, if you want, with your friends and family or just for bragging rights.

Speaker 1: 31:12

Yeah, and I'll have a side hustle I guess you want to say a side group for Rich Tale Talk as well. So look for that, perfect.

Speaker 2: 31:20

Look for that as well. I think we've got to keep our wager going.

Speaker 1: 31:24

I think so. Yeah, and what was that? You said I'm the king, is that what?

Speaker 2: 31:30

we're going to put on the shirt. We could add that, if you need to Sure, I know no, but yeah, I'll be fine.

Speaker 1: 31:37

We'll look for a shirt for you this year in Tri-Cities and have a nice photo op there. Perfect, all right. Well, I think we got to talk about the gold cup, because that's going to be held this year. The 60th running of a race on the Columbia River Was this year and they have a gold cup for water follies event. Well, that's gonna be an extra long weekend of racing and going into that, like you said, we should expect to see Seven boats there, if I'm not mistaken. See seven boats there, if I'm not mistaken, because it should have everyone on the circuit except for the Miss Madison racing team which can only make the first two events. There you go. So what are initial thoughts? What's some predictions you have? Who do you see being crowned Sunday afternoon as the next Gold Cup champion?

Speaker 2: 32:27

Well, I'm always a big fan of JMK and the beacon electric. I think he's one of the great drivers of our generation. Obviously, Andrew Tate is a dominating force in that X home street hole. Uh, X um home street hole. Uh, I believe he was top qualifier in five out of six races last year. Yeah, he won the national championship pretty handily. But I think I'm going to go with the U nine to three Pete in tri cities and defend the gold cup. There's just something about that course that Peabody loves. He has good luck there. The boat is fast on that course, and so there it is. You heard it here first U9, three-peat in Tri-Cities.

Speaker 1: 33:23

Yeah, he has some magic key to that race site. I don't remember that off the top of my head, is it? He's won three of the last four, three last five, something like that. Yeah, yeah, he seemed to find a way to win in tri-cities didn't he win there in his rookie year? Yeah, I believe, yes, I believe not his rookie year. It was the first year for strong racing. He, he won there. Oh, there you go. Yeah, that's what I mean. That's what I mean yeah, yeah, so yes, yeah.

Speaker 2: 33:52

He just has magic. He has some Tri-Cities magic there, so I think it's hard to pick against him, so I'm going to go with him, yeah.

Speaker 1: 34:02

How about you?

Speaker 2: 34:02

David, what do you think?

Speaker 1: 34:03

Well, you know I I was thinking about it on the way home too, like who's going to win that Cause? That's going to be a big event. It's going to have four heats of racing. Long weekend of racing. I went back and forth from from Peabody to JMK to Tate to Villalock, coming back and winning it to kept going round and round but I got to and I picked him a lot, but I'm going to stick with Tate. I think Tate's going to win it. I know John Goodman's put a lot into that racing team financially and really wants to win a Gold Cup, and so there's some pressure there. I just feel like Tate's going to come away with another Gold Cup victory and it's going to be not. It might be the first win for that new team, bwr Racing, but I think Tate's going to come away with this gold cup.

Speaker 2: 34:56

There you go. I like that pick Andrew Tate. What a strong race driver and just a beautiful boat. That's one of my favorite boats of all time. The boat just handles perfectly. Oh yeah, um, you know, interesting too. I think tate last year at the gold cup in san diego kind of took himself out and, uh, with a, a dmz violation in the in the pre-race. Yeah, there was some.

Speaker 1: 35:23

there were some wonky things going on there. I think there were some penalties and whatnot. But yeah, I think he yeah, I don't know, I can't remember exactly, but it was something like that. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, dmz, and got disqualified, yeah, so so I think he's got.

Speaker 2: 35:37

He's got probably triple motivation this year to go out and win a cup. So yeah, I like that pick?

Speaker 1: 35:44

Well, let's, let's do a backup pick, just in case. After Peababody, who would you, who would you pick for your, your runner-up, to win this, and I'm pretty sure I know who you're gonna pick.

Speaker 2: 35:54

but I would, prop you know, I would. My brain is telling me to go with tape, but my heart is saying jmk yeah yeah, yeah, and he's another.

Speaker 1: 36:06

He's another, one that just finds a way to win when all the odds are against him, right?

Speaker 2: 36:11

exactly, yeah, see seattle last season.

Speaker 1: 36:15

Right it's, uh, it just finds a way yeah, well, I don't think I can pick him the same guy for the backup, because that's not fun, um. But I'm going to say gosh, you know, just for fun, because I would love to see it. I'm going to say the 11 just because it's a hometown sponsor, I think the owners of Flavor Packs from Tri-Cities, and that's a team that's just given their heart and soul to the sport and I think they're going to find some way to be up there and be in position and the chips fall their way. They'll, they'll, they'll take it. So, after, after, after tate, I'll say um nielsen for my number two pick okay, that would be cool.

Speaker 2: 37:02

I'd love. I'd love to see that. Yeah, I don't know if anyone deserves it more than scott rainey. Oh my gosh already worked on that team.

Speaker 1: 37:09

yeah, yeah, scott and Shannon Rainey. They have just given their heart and soul to the sport for I don't know how many years, so I don't think there's anyone more deserving of a win than them. Well, what about season high points Last year, tate? I mean, he pretty much just took the reins and let everyone dry on points, right, yeah, do you see him having to repeat on points? Do you see someone else stepping up this year?

Speaker 2: 37:36

Yeah, no, I would see. I think Tate repeats, I think it's his. To lose the race season is if you have one off weekend or a mechanical issue, you know, or, god forbid, someone gets upside down and you know, if you're taken out of one weekend, then your national championship dreams are probably over. There's just not enough races to make up the ground. So I would say yes, I would go with Andrew Tate to win the national championship again and sport the U1 in 2026. However, you got to stay clean and do it, and sometimes that's out of your control. So I think if I have to take a second place finisher, I would say JMK in the eight as a close second and Peabody right on their tails.

Speaker 1: 38:38

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That is a good point. I mean it's you're used. We're used to years ago having seven, eight, nine, 10 race seat boat or race events for a season and if you have a bad weekend you can make it up. But with five races, if one of these teams has a bad weekend in Guntersville or Madison, they're not going to really be able to come back from that. So it really is the long game and I think Tate knows how to do it and he'll do it again. But if it's not him, I can see actually Peabody. I think Peabody has more of the long game in mind, so he'll be my backup for Tate on the high points this year.

Speaker 2: 39:27

Yeah, okay, there we go.

Speaker 1: 39:29

I'm writing this down all right, and then yeah, when I win again next this year on points, what are you going to do next year for? Uh? Should I make like a rich? Tell talk sombrero for you to wear let's do it.

Speaker 2: 39:46

Yeah, heck, why not?

Speaker 2: 39:50

all right yeah, and I'll even say this I'm gonna go out on a limb and say, um, I'm gonna say tate wins two events. I'll say that jmk wins one, p body wins one, peabody wins one, and then I think the fifth will be Jamie Nielsen or Vilwock. I think one of those two guys is going to get a win. So I think there's going to be some. You know, a lot of variety this year and a lot of different winners, which I think is good. You know, parity in the sport is good and I think we're going to get some of that this year.

Speaker 1: 40:27

Well, I'm not going to root against that. I'd love to see the parity and I'd love to see multiple race winners from different teams.

Speaker 2: 40:37

So I'm hoping you're right on there. Yeah, let's hope for it. And this year I'm planning on going to the two Washington races and I think we'll see two different winners in those races.

Speaker 1: 40:50

Well, I would love to see that and we did last year, because Peabody won in Tri-Cities which like he's a king of Tri-Cities and JMK won in Seattle. But yeah, let's see, let's see that happen again two different race winners in Washington, I'm all for it. Yeah, well, a couple weeks away from the first race, june 6th through 8th, I mean gunnersville, uh, and then the next month, fourth of july weekend in madison, indiana, and I'm gonna train this is the year I think I'm gonna try and make it to madison and uh, and travel there.

Speaker 1: 41:21

I've never been there, so I'm looking forward to that, but I got nothing else. So you got anything else, dan no?

Speaker 2: 41:27

no, that's uh, that's excellent. Uh, just uh's excellent, uh, just uh. I've been to Madison one time and I'll just uh word of word of advice. Take uh those little portable fans or misters, or anything you can do to stay cool.

Speaker 1: 41:43

Yeah, I heard it's uh. It's uh humid and hot and all kinds of sweaty. So that'll be, that'll be interesting.

Speaker 2: 41:52

Yeah, yeah, no, but it's, it's a great time there. They know how to. It's kind of that sort of Southern hospitality thing. It's a it's a great time. Really good views of the race course from everywhere you're at. I watched some of that race on the Kentucky side and then I think I guess maybe it was a testing day I watched, uh, or qualifying day. I watched from the Kentucky side and then was over on the main side for most of the race weekend. But it was. It was so much fun and people that are just huge fans of the sport. It was, um, you know, I my heart was, uh, was pretty sad for those fans when they uh, when their boat team was kind of sold out from underneath them. But hey, it looks like they're rising out of the ashes and they've got a boat and a driver and they're going to be on the circuit here for a couple races. So I'll be rooting for the Miss Madison team.

Speaker 1: 42:44

Yeah, it's a phoenix coming out of the fire. All right, well, that's all I got, dan, so looking forward to seeing you at the Columbia Cup.

Speaker 2: 42:52

Looking forward to seeing you there. I'll have my shirt ready to pay up for the wager. Congratulations again and thank you for having me on and thank you for the documentation that you do for the sport. It's just incredible what you're doing and I look forward to every episode.

Speaker 1: 43:12

Well, thank you. Thank you, I've got some more fun interviews on the line. I think the next episode after this is going to be a talk with Steve Montgomery, a legendary broadcaster, and thanks for listening and all your support. And thank you for doing all the fantasy deck-to-deck stuff. That's been a lot of fun and just another way to enjoy the sport. Thanks, david, appreciate it. Well, that's all I have for you this week, knuckleheads. Make sure you tune back in.

Speaker 1: 43:40

Next week we're gonna get back to our regularly scheduled programming time every tuesday. We'll have a new episode. In the meantime, check us out on social media. We're on facebook, instagram, our website's online, rucheteltalkcom, and on there there's actually optional subscription base for rucheteltalk plus, where you get early access to all new episodes, as well as uh additional features on our website with pictures from years gone by, programs, articles and other fun stuff that you can enjoy from hydroplane racing in yesteryear. Really excited about this upcoming season. And actually I want to give a shout out we didn't mention the actual winner from last year's Deck to Deck Championship. It was Hydrogears. So, hydrogears, I apologize, I don't want to take all the credit. You did beat me. You got the top spot with Deck to Deck. So congratulations on that. Hopefully you can play again this next year and let's have some fun with Deck to Deck. But until then, I hope to see you at the races.