Roostertail Talk

Episode 159: Brad Luce, Part 3

• David Newton • Season 7 • Episode 23

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In this revealing conclusion to our three-part interview with Brad Luce, the voice of H1 Unlimited pulls back the curtain on race officiating, broadcasting challenges, and the passionate people working to grow the sport we love.

Throughout the interview, Brad's passion for hydroplane fans shines through. As an H1 board member, he constantly advocates for improved fan experiences – from ensuring venue gates open before boats hit the water to maximizing on-water time during race weekends. 

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Speaker 1:

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 to sit back, relax and welcome. Rooster Tail, Talk, tale, talk. Hello race fans, Welcome back to the podcast.

Speaker 1:

Today is August 26th 2025, and this is episode 159. For today's episode, I have part three and the conclusion of my interview with Brad Luce. If you haven't heard parts one or part two, I have part three and the conclusion of my interview with Brad Luce. If you haven't heard parts one or part two, I highly recommend that you go back and listen to those before today's episode.

Speaker 1:

I have a link in the bio below, but otherwise, Brad's going to talk more about his involvement with H1, give us some fun anecdotes around broadcasting for the series, but he's also going to talk more about his involvement with HydroTown and his other responsibilities further than broadcasting for H1 Unlimited. And at the end, I think you'll find a few things that he's looking forward to in the series and hopefully it gives you a little bit more insight to some of the work going on behind the scenes to make next year even better than this year was. So, with that being said, let's jump in and listen to the conclusion of my interview with Brad Luce. Well, I like to live in a hypothetical world all the time.

Speaker 2:

Good, I don't know if you do as well. Can I be a driver in this question?

Speaker 1:

Not this one, but maybe the next one. All right, but as an announcer, you've gotten a chance to share the booth with some people this year it's Tanner, and you've had other years with different people. But if you could say, the next race, add someone to your broadcasting team. Let's say someone that you could get and someone that you couldn't get, that maybe passed on, who would that be? Wow, wow.

Speaker 2:

Wow, wow, wow, okay, yeah, that on who would that be? Wow, wow, wow, wow, okay, yeah, go, that's. That's really a good question. Um, I guess the first couple of names come to mind that I can't have because they're no longer with us, but I guess um first name that popped into my head when you said that was Ron Musson I mentioned. I love the 62 Bardol and that picture I have of Ron Musson with the autograph. I always liked him. I guess he was articulate. He did Camel Cigarette commercials right, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So he must have been able to talk, so maybe he would. I have no idea if this guy would have been any good, but just because he was an idol. And my first real hero I guess in the boat racing world was Ron Musson, which and it had a massive impact upon me when he died back in Washington DC. I'll never forget that day and how that all went down and that was because of how much he meant to me and the sport meant to me as a young kid. So I guess Ron Musson, I guess that comes. I could throw out a whole bunch of names and while I'm thinking that, I go. Well, muncy was the spokesman, right.

Speaker 1:

Right, right right.

Speaker 2:

And to me, to me we can argue, but to me, to me we can argue. But to me Bill Muncy is the greatest driver of all time and I say that because he was such a great spokesman for the sport. Obviously he knew the sport so well. He developed we've all seen the clips before he developed some of the language of the sport, but he could. There's a guy who could speak to the common fan and to the new fan and not talk over their head. Bill would have been amazing to work with. I can only imagine something like that. And then I guess, if we can really go out on a big, long limb, there's a name back there, not back as far as Garwood, but a guy I've been kind of studying lately a little bit and I've become very impressed with him is Danny Foster. He was kind of the Bill Muncy of his era and I didn't realize until I started digging into this and there's a good story why I started digging into it. But I didn't realize he was as good as he was and I didn't realize he was the master that he was. I did meet him once. I have a picture of me and Danny Foster. Okay, yeah, danny Foster, fred Alter and myself in a photo back in Detroit at a. We were at the Detroit Yacht Club. Okay, and I guess I digress you ask for an answer. I've given you three, but those are three names that came to mind and a current day guy. I'm going to tell you I've worked with a few and I'm going to say somebody I've worked with before and I guess everybody knows 2022, corey Peabody. Yeah, he was awesome at Seafair in 2022.

Speaker 2:

I learned in Madison that I was not going to have my color commentator for Seafair. So what is that? I've got a month, first week of July to first week of August and we're on the road and we got Tri-Cities in the middle of it and I started talking to people about it. I said I got to just brainstorm here a little bit, just throw names at a wall. What are we going to do? Well, corey blows the boat over in Madison and I know Corey and he's not shy. And I know Corey and he's not shy. He knows the sport well, he's articulate. All the conversations I had with other people, his name just kept bubbling up, and so I remember I thought, well, I'm going to go about this the right way, I'm not going to call Corey. I'm going to call Darryl Strong and I don't know Darryl Strong. I mean, I've met him a few times but, I really don't know Daryl Strong.

Speaker 2:

I mean, I've met him a few times but I really don't know this guy. So I get the number and I call Daryl and he calls me back and I told him what I wanted to do and what. Would would that be okay with him, because I know he's not going to be driving in Seattle and he goes. You don't have to call Corey. He said I'm going to tell you right now, corey will do it. He said and I'll tell Corey, he's going to do it. So that all got taken care of real quick. So Friday in the pit area at Seafair, I'm up on the tower, the pit tower there, and we're ready to go. The course is opening at I don't know 8.30 or whatever time it was, and we're like four minutes from the course opening. I got boats hanging over the water and we're going to go testing. No Corey, no Corey. All of a sudden I hear this Lowe's. Lowe's. I looked at here comes Corey, he's running, he goes, I'll be there in a minute and he, corey.

Speaker 2:

The reviews were outstanding, everybody loved him, everybody loved him and I remember in 2022, I guess that's part of the streak of four for JMK Mike wins the race in Seattle and I remember we were talking about it after the heat had ended and talking about the race win, and I looked over at Corey and he was really looking down there kind of stretching to see the pit area and I said, corey, how about we cut you loose and get you out of here? I got a hunch, you want to go down? And he said, yep, thank you very much. And we all said, as much as we liked you up here and this was my producer and the sound guy and everybody else that's up there as much as we enjoyed having you, we never want to see you here again, we want you out driving. Yes, he saluted and took off Corey Peabody was outstanding.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, he was. He did a great job.

Speaker 2:

I'll tell you, somebody else who got their first broadcast gig this weekend is somebody that I said would be a great color commentator, and I just thought of this Dustin Eccles.

Speaker 1:

Oh, he did fantastic.

Speaker 2:

He took my place on KONA and I stepped out of that to go to the live stream full time this year and Michael McDonald from KONA called me and he says we're thinking about Dustin Echols and he said what do you think? Asked my opinion of it and I said I don't think you could do any better. I mean he knows all the people, he knows the sport and I learned very quickly when he moved from the 440 to the big boat and suddenly I was interviewing him more.

Speaker 2:

He is extremely articulate and I mean that's kind of checking all the boxes, right. Right, you can string sentences together. You're very articulate, know the sport, know the people. Nobody's going to be intimidated by him, right? And I don't know how it went. I heard it was going very well. I heard his voice a couple of times. It sounded good, so good for him.

Speaker 1:

Yeah no, he did a great job. I listened to the kona broadcast on the shorelines and many people I talked to that were there and some people back east listening to it online said dustin did a great job good, I'm happy for him.

Speaker 2:

He, he's good. So there I danced all around that question.

Speaker 1:

Before I gave you five guys yeah, and then number six is david newton, right?

Speaker 2:

of course yes all right of course, and quite honestly again, we talk about. We did the driver thing in madison. We need to pull in other people, other aspects of the sport. A guy like you to come on talk about the RC stuff Tell us what's going on and I have to have a conversation with you about the Sharky hole that Dave just won in yesterday. It's actually got a little different color scheme on it this weekend. Did you notice?

Speaker 2:

that the gold was gone and there was some red on there, that's right. How does that affect the RC guys? It ran once with a little gold and now it's got a little.

Speaker 1:

I'll bet that's fun stuff, the different versions, yeah, the different registrations you can get to race them. I like that All right. Well, just part of your broadcasting. You have so many different challenges and it seems you know sometimes in the final heats over the years, that things happen on the water and you're not sure what the call was or whatnot. How do you handle situations like that, trying to figure out the order, because I'm just thinking back many years where we weren't sure if shane won, like in 2012. Who won? Kelly shane, or was or was it Steve David? Like who was the winner? How do you dance around that? How do you handle that challenge?

Speaker 2:

There's one very important aspect to all of that, and nobody likes the fact that our boats have to go through tech inspection, but we all understand why the boats have to go through tech inspection. So and we were having this conversation just a few weeks ago that actually is on some level. The broadcasters that's the crutch Always temper it with it's still unofficial. It's still unofficial. The boats have to go through tech. And if, when you're talking to a driver in an interview on the dock we were talking about this last night I did dock interviews for 30 years and you'll learn real quick You'd only have to get bit once and make a mistake on something like that. You always lean on tech inspection, tech inspection from the announcer standpoint and the interview with the winning driver can be your best friend because, remember, these are all unofficial. But right now, corey Peabody or whoever it may be, you're the winner on the water and they know that. But you plant that seed back in and then, when they repeat it back to you, you know we think we're good, I think we're good, but we'll wait for Seth up in the tech truck to tell us that we're okay. Yeah, it's been hard sometimes.

Speaker 2:

Um, there was a year out here. I don't know the year but, um, you will remember when dave cut off steve david at the top end of the race course on the final lap right and dave came down for the victory and then boom, they took it away and nobody on our broadcast team wanted to go talk to Dave. I drew that short straw and I remember I just went up to him and said Dave, we're hearing of a penalty, what are you hearing? And he goes I don't know, I don't know. I remember it very well. He just said I don't know, I don't know what they're telling me, I'm hearing all kinds of things. And he just kind of walked away. But that's okay In an interview, that's okay. Yeah, because it's not how good the interview was. It's that's what his reaction was to it. Seahawk fans all remember Aaron Andrews talking to Richard Sherman. I mean, it was television gold, right.

Speaker 1:

I mean it got replayed millions of times.

Speaker 2:

You can still see it today. You never know what you're going to get and you're not in control of that. But you got to get the microphone in front of them and see what comes. But I've always tried to have to temper a little bit what I said. It's hard Sometimes you don't know where to go. I was interviewing this is coming back to me now I was interviewing Scott Rainey with the Beacon Plumbing and Jean Fiorat in Seattle at the Seafair one time.

Speaker 2:

And I, finally, I had to wait for television because I was live radio, so TVs got to talk to them first and then they stepped out of the way and I went up to scott rainey and I started saying something about seafair champion and he goes. Well, apparently you haven't heard. We have been disqualified and those are the winners over there. That's the cheer you're hearing coming out of the ELAM camp. So yeah, there's been some embarrassing moments. It's going to happen.

Speaker 2:

But you try and temper it and don't do anything until it's official and make sure that official word comes from somebody who is official, that official word comes from somebody who is official. I won't say it until I get it from one of three people within H1. And as I say that that's not true because there's a fourth person who's not an official, but if they tell me I know right where they got it, and they and I have had that conversation, nick Kish, if you come down and tell me it's official, then I know where he got it. So you just have to make sure you know your sources and be a little late rather than being sorry, just make sure you got it right, don't jump the gun.

Speaker 1:

That's one of many challenges of the gig, right.

Speaker 2:

It is and you learn how to handle it. Is you and you learn, you know how to how to handle it and, like I say, you only have to get bit once. It's like yesterday. Uh, yesterday there was nick came down and he said something to me and he was jumping in the truck. I took my headset off. We were in the middle of the heat and I said what? And he said dump, dump, dump, dump, dump. I said okay, is that official? And he goes. I think so, think so. And I said no and I just went right back to the broadcast. No, I think so isn't going to work. No, don't just wait. 100%.

Speaker 1:

Yep.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so you'll learn, oh yeah. But that's part of hydroplane racing, yeah, of our legend and lore, the whole rhubarb thing and arguments, but that's okay. Yeah, yeah, we try. I will say this about our officials because I love what we're doing now. Our communication here in Tri-Cities, because of our locations with each other, wasn't ideal. Madison is perfect. I hope we never change it when I stood on the overlook. Have you been to Madison?

Speaker 1:

I haven't yet.

Speaker 2:

All right, front row of the overlook. I got the Ohio River and the pit area at my feet. I can see turn one, I can see turn two and I'm right on start finish and I'm on the front row. To my left is the chief referee. He's right there. I got Jonathan right there and something happened.

Speaker 2:

Coming out for the final heat, one of the boats came out of the pit area and went straight across the course. Everybody else went down toward turn one. I knew that was a no-no a couple of years ago, so I saw it happen and I called it and I said so-and-so is coming out and going straight across the race course. And as I'm saying it, I'm holding the mic and I'm looking right at the chief referee and he could hear me talking to him and he turned to me and he just nodded his head up and down. I said I'm not sure that is a legal maneuver and he's nodding his head and so that really helps.

Speaker 2:

But what he is doing that is different is we watch a race and we know there's been some stuff. You know we saw boats get wet, we saw this, we saw that when the boats come back to the dock he will they start looking at the three referees. We'll start looking at the, the footage that they have available to them. But if the boat that was the winner on the water, if they're not involved in any of the quote unquote shenanigans that maybe went on, he will come to me and say the winter's clear, they're clean. We're looking at some other stuff. This happened at San Diego last year.

Speaker 2:

There was a lot of stuff going on behind the leader, but Peabody had appeared to be clean for his second gold cup and he came to me. Actually, he was across the body of water, but he called me so I stepped off the mic, I took it because it was him and he said we're looking at a lot of stuff. He said but I can tell you Corey Peabody is clean on the water and I know what that means. It means don't second, third and fourth may be messed up, but if Corey clears tech inspection he's golden and I can tell the fans we have a winner and it is confirmed. And he called me and told me Corey's clean.

Speaker 2:

We're not sure about what's going on behind him. I said so if he clears tech, he's our gold cup champion. And he said yes, he is. And oh, by the way, I just got that notification he has cleared the tech truck. I said so he's our 2024 Gold Cup winner. He said you got it. He's really good about that and that really helps to tell me. If that's what the people want to know is the winner Tell me the winner's clean.

Speaker 2:

We'll figure out the rest of it after and let you go dig all that stuff out. Another change we made was now it's whoever is the winner on the water. That's the first box that goes to the tech truck. Um, last year we confirmed every winner. I want to say it nick was timing it. From the time the winning boat crossed the finish line to the time we got tech truck cleared. We were under 10 minutes. Wow, I thought it was pretty good. Yeah, I thought it was really good, and the tech because I was.

Speaker 2:

This is again the stuff we were doing behind the scenes. How can we make it quicker? And, honestly, I had to understand. A few of us were on a committee and we wanted to understand exactly what happens from the time the boat crosses the finish line to the time he clears the tech truck. Why does it take so long? It doesn't help when Jimmy Shane shuts off the home street in front of the Muncie Memorial in San Diego to stand up in front of the Home Street hospitality area and you can't get your hands on the black box for 20 minutes, there's another discussion.

Speaker 2:

But things like this that you don't think about, or if they come back to the dock, like Tri-Cities and it's a traffic jam and they shut the boat off and they're 50 yards offshore, you can't get to the box, little things like that. And we were looking at how could we expedite it. I went into with others into the tech truck, we went in and we looked at had self. Show us what he does. I'm just looking at it and going can we put this on a mobile cart? Can we take this test device? Can we wheel it down on the dock? Take this box out of the boat, shove it right in right there, get a go, no go.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Anything.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 2:

Well, we found out that it really wasn't that much of a hang up and we just started prioritizing the boats number one, number two, number three, in that order we designate now official people. That's your boat, that is your boat. It is your job when that boat gets in, to get on the deck with the crew, get that box out and run. You can see them run, yeah, run it to the tech truck, yeah, and then seph knows what order to take them. So we've tried to cut as much slop out of that system. Last year it really showed.

Speaker 1:

It showed well yeah, no, it has. I mean, I'm thinking back further than past years, right, I remember some seafarers where, oh, did they win? Do they not win? Like 10 minutes go by, 20 minutes go by, 30 minutes go by and hour goes. Hour goes by and maybe we have a winner. We are still waiting to hear that. But last year and this year hasn't been that right. It's been much more condensed, shorter period, which is what the fans want. So that's been, that's been great. The h1 has prioritized that and improved on that they really have.

Speaker 2:

And we've got, you know, a new officiating crew. We went up to HRL and got Jonathan Abbott. He came down and joined us last year and he's he's been great. He's a really nice guy. We give him a hard time, he talks funny and all that stuff, but he's he's really a nice guy. But he really understands boat racing and he understands the need to get the information to the fan.

Speaker 2:

Now, the killer in what you just said, which is very, very true, take what you said and what I said the tech truck isn't the log jam. When it goes to 15 minutes, when it goes to 20 minutes, to a half hour or an hour, that's not the tech truck. We can take the box out and plug it in. We we've got that. So what's the hangout? What's causing that hour delay? And now, this is my opinion, we'll throw that out. This is my opinion. Um, sometimes we're looking at a lot of film and sometimes we're taking a long time to make a call. It's not the tech truck, that's a go, no go, that's a yay or nay. Make a call on the water.

Speaker 2:

Now I am of the opinion get the information that you have available to you, whatever source of information you have, review it, make a call. Make the call like a basketball referee on a charge or a block. Make the call and if you're wrong you're going to have to live with it. If, if some footage comes up later that shows Whoa, didn't see that, didn't realize that angle. Yeah, we probably missed that call. You're not going to change it, right, right, take what you have available to you and make the call, knowing full well you're going to make a mistake. It's going to look at the NFL. Yeah, look at the NFL. The new Orleans saints were supposed to be in a super bowl one time and now the rules are all different about pass interference and all that. It's going to happen, but it's better than waiting a couple of hours. We cannot have our fans walk away from the shoreline not knowing who the winner is and having to go pick up the paper Monday morning or go online and see whoa, he won.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, when did that happen? Right, can't do that, no, yeah. And like you said, like, look at other sport events, right, nfl, nba, whatever it is it's merely judgment calls. So human error has it's gonna play into it. It does. And whether that's big boats, like we're talking, the Limited today, or it's the RC boats that I do as well, it's all human error and you've got to make the call. With RC boats, we've got to make the call within the first lap. You know if it jumped the gun or whatnot, so it's hard.

Speaker 2:

That's funny it is. It's the exact same thing. And if my buddy Nick Kish was sitting here, he would say it's the same thing on HydroZoom. Yeah, it's the exact same thing. You've got to make the call. So, base it on something. Base it on something. And that's what I used to in my sales career. That's what I used to tell salespeople that work for me.

Speaker 2:

Sometimes the worst thing you can do is not make a decision. Salespeople that work for me. Sometimes the worst thing you can do is not make a decision. And if you're faced with a customer or something and you have to make a decision, make the decision. All I ask is base it on something. So if I come to you and go, David, what in the world were you thinking? Why did you do this? Well, don't say I don't know, I had to make a decision. No, base it on something and then make it and we can have a discussion. Well, what you should have done, maybe, was this Get the information you've got, make the call.

Speaker 2:

And Jonathan has said that. He said nobody comes up and sees me on the tower during race day. He said we're going to make the calls Now, when everything is done, somebody wants to come up and talk to me about it. I'll show them why I made the call and they might point something out different to me. And he says I will acknowledge that yeah, we missed that call. We missed it, we blew it. I'm not going to change it and I think that's. You're going to make some mistakes, but I think that's that's a good thing. I think that's the only way you can do it Exactly, Exactly. I think that's the only way you can do it Exactly, Exactly. Make the call. Make the call. Refereeing is not a fun job. No, it's not Anybody that ever grabbed a whistle and said, oh, I'll ref that basketball game, yeah, good luck. It takes a special person to do it.

Speaker 1:

And a thick skin, yep. Well, I could talk for hours on ends on boats. I know you can too, but I don't want to strain your voice anymore. No, no, it's fun, I got one more question here for you let's do it but just the fans.

Speaker 1:

They always clamor, they want to hear some more goodness or good news coming out from the future, and we talked a bit about Detroit and the. I know there's efforts to be or being done behind the scenes to get that back on the series and we're really hopeful of that. But is there anything else that we can, as a fan, clamor on and hope for in the future for the sport? Are there things, other things in the talks that you can share with us? Because everyone talks about those golden years. We want to get back to those golden years. We want to see it be a bigger show. What else is on your mind? What can you share with us?

Speaker 2:

Well, I would love to sit here and tell you yeah, next year we're going to have seven new race teams, six new race sites, and all our problems are just magically going to go away.

Speaker 1:

Perfect, there we are, we're done.

Speaker 2:

We'll leave it on that note. But again, I'm the optimistic guy and I'm always. I think the sport's in a very good place right now. But my opinion doesn't count. But I'll tell you why I feel that way. And there is I think we mentioned the name Daryl Strong. Daryl's been very heavily involved HydroTown and H1 Unlimited. A lot of people don't understand the difference between the two. Hydrotown is basically taking over the marketing aspect of the sport and handling the contracts and so forth with the race sites. But they're handling that side of it where H1 Unlimited puts on the events. That's basically the line. And HydroTown was four people right out of the box. That has changed. It went from four down to two, down to one, now up to two. There are two people involved in HydroTown. Daryl Strong has been in there all along and the name that hasn't yet come out in this discussion is Bruce Ratchford. I don't know if you've met Bruce.

Speaker 1:

I haven't had the chance yet.

Speaker 2:

And I will say this publicly, bruce, I'm sorry but I'm telling everybody, if you ever have the opportunity, do not Unlimited. And our boat racing that we all love. He is so bullish on this sport. He's a local guy here in the Tri-Cities with his Apollo Mechanical. He's a hoot to talk to. He's just local guy here in the Tri-Cities with his Apollo Mechanical. He's a hoot to talk to. He's just a character and he kind of has a little bit of a gruff exterior or the persona you might see out front. He's got a heart of gold. Very smart man, very, very smart man. I mean you look at the business that he has built here with his own two hands. I mean you look at the business that he has built here with his own two hands and he started this little company here and he's now the fifth largest mechanical contractor in the United States. Wow, this is a big deal. Yeah, and he just loves boat racing.

Speaker 2:

And of everybody that was here this past weekend for the APBA Gold Cup in the Tri-Cities, nobody was more excited than Bruce. He was the sponsor of the race. He had two boats in it At the end ofCities. Nobody was more excited than Bruce. He was the sponsor of the race. He had two boats in it. At the end of the day, he won the darn thing. By the way, he's undefeated as an owner. Just thought we'd throw that out, by the way.

Speaker 2:

By the way, bruce, if you are looking at yourself in the mirror and listening to this, and you're a fan and you go, I'm just a fan. I just love boat racing. I just want it to get better and I want to go and I want to see the boats and I love everything about them. And da-da-da, that's Bruce Ratchford. He's a kid. He's giggling with excitement and I'm broadcasting this weekend standing on the edge, just to the left of the start-finish line tower, looking at the river and the radio guys for all the teams and all the classes were just to my right. They were on the lower level of the tower. He was coming up there for every heat and I'd look down as we'd get going. I'd go ah, that's right, one of his boats in this one. I'd look over at him. He'd smile, we'd nod at each other.

Speaker 2:

He is a big reason to be bullish. Now I know what everybody wants. Same thing you want, I want. We want more boats, more sites. Obviously, we got the word of the decision from Guntersville that they won't be back on the circuit. I don't think there was a big surprise there. It would have been tough down there the last few years. Weather had just kicked our rear end and and there's just nothing we can do about it.

Speaker 2:

And people are going well, can't we do this? No, it was an ocean. We at one point on Saturday down there were told we had 70 mile an hour winds coming. We were told get out of here. And we basically took the start finish line tower and took it down, took it apart, packed it up, put it away and we spent a day putting that stuff together.

Speaker 1:

And that wasn't the first time you had to evacuate the feds, like the first year you had to evacuate, yes oh yeah, yeah, the storm never came right.

Speaker 2:

That's right, 2018. We did, and they bus everybody into that venue. The buses all came. Yeah, it was tough down there. Great venue, venue, yeah, great venue. And the people. That whole southern hospitality thing is true, and Ted Grange, wherever you are, bud was his line, so I won't steal it, but Ted used to say, yeah, there's southern hospitality and then there's Guntersville hospitality and it's cut above. It truly was, and so we're sorry to lose them.

Speaker 2:

But there is talk. I will just simply say there's talk of other sites. We at the board level, the H1 board level, which I'm a member, we are very cognizant of needing more sites. We need more fans, we need more sites, we need more boats, and there's talks of ways we can maybe get more sites. We need more fans, we need more sites, we need more boats, and there's talks of ways we can maybe get more boats. There's talks of how could we do that, how could our current owners maybe assist bringing in new owners? So we know we need all that stuff. It's not going to happen overnight, but I think what I was saying there was.

Speaker 2:

There's ways that some of the owners are talking about. You know, could they help a team get started. A team that has multiple boats, brings in another boat and kind of gets it started and then helps shift that off to a new owner, because it's not just a new owner wants to come in and say, I want to get involved in this sport. Well, it's not just getting a boat and the equipment and the driver. You need a shop, you need tools, you need a crew. There's a whole lot that goes into that, and so there's been some discussions. I've heard of you know how could existing owners maybe help facilitate that with new owners? Because there are some people out there that are wanting to get involved and you don't always get a turnkey thing like Bruce Rashford did.

Speaker 2:

Right, right, I get such a kick out of that team right now because and I tell the fans, if you're a casual fan watching our sport the 91, the Goodman Real Estate with Andrew Tate they were here last year. Same team, same boat looks, the same driver, crew. What's different Sponsor, how do you know? Oh man, well, who cares about the owner? But that was a big change, as we all know. But there are people out there and so there are discussions about that type of thing. We've talked about Detroit to your point. I think everybody agrees we need to get back there and I'm convinced we will. I'm absolutely convinced we will. I know I got friends in Detroit going. Frank, great Luce, I heard you when.

Speaker 1:

When, where do I?

Speaker 2:

get tickets. I'm with you. I'm with you, I want to go. But there are other places that are being talked about and there are other places where perhaps and we've talked about it and we've been invited on a couple of occasions One didn't quite work out.

Speaker 2:

We thought it was going to where we could go, put on an exhibition, and we know exhibitions can sometimes lead to other things. So what I would say to the fan is we do not meet as a board once every six months and spend the first hour of an hour and a half meeting saying how are you? We meet every two weeks? These are topics that are on the table Right now. Of course, we're going to have a meeting this week and it'll be what went right in Tri-Cities, what went wrong, what do we need to improve and, oh, by the way, what needs to be done before next weekend. Because we've got these two back-to. We're always, we always have an eye for the future.

Speaker 2:

Whether you, whether you appreciate or like what I do as an announcer, what I'm trying to bring to the table on the board and it was kind of explained to me this way I am trying to bring the fan perspective, yeah, and because there's a bunch of owners on there. Sometimes when I first started I was a little intimidated. Mike Denslow is the chairman of the board of H1. The rest of them are all owners, right? Charlie Grooms, he's still there, but he was a representative owner.

Speaker 2:

So it's a bunch of owners and they start talking about what do we need to do on this and some of that stuff I can't vote on. I don't even understand the question that they're talking about when it gets into the monetary side of it and all that. But it's kind of become a little bit of a joke on the board meetings because we have these agendas and we get to the end of the agenda and the last statement is always is there any other business we need to talk about? It's kind of almost become Brad, what have you got for us this time?

Speaker 2:

Because I always have something and it's about the darn fans, Because I said earlier, that's what I am, that's what you are. You boil us all down. We're just fans. We all want and desire the same things and I've kind of got myself wrapped around the axle on something that seems so simple, so simple. But one of the items I've brought up is on occasion we get the schedule for the event. Have you ever noticed that the gates open at the same time the course opens? Well, in Seattle it's a six-day walk from where you park to get to the water's edge. And if you're a fan like you and me, I would be livid. I would be livid because I, first of all, I'd be sneaking in because by the time I can park my car and walk down, I can hear the boats running Right, and I missed that whole first test session. There should be an hour difference and to me that's just so simple. It's so simple.

Speaker 2:

I like to abdicate and I know some of the owners are probably going to go loose. Did you really say that with Newton? Yeah, I did. I look at sometimes the constant erosion, for lack of a better term but we seem to be getting less and less time on the water. We need to get the boats out there more on the water. I don't know and there's ways we can talk about and things that have happened to do that, but I want the boats on the water. What is it? What did we say? 15 days a year?

Speaker 2:

They're only out there 15 days a year. Let's maximize the time. Let's not cut down the heats, let's not make it. You know, just one lap to go qualify. We got to keep these three qualifying laps in there and stuff like that.

Speaker 2:

So we do talk about the fan experience. It's part of our mission statement. The last part of our mission statement is being ever mindful of the fan experience. I take it kind of as my responsibility on the board to make sure the board doesn't forget that, because at the end of the day, that's who I am and I'm not going to do this forever and then I'm going to become that fan. I guarantee you that gate's going to open an hour before us because I'm going to be down there with you and we're going to be watching.

Speaker 1:

Right, I'm really passionate about that part, so yeah, I love to hear your passion when you're broadcasting. I love to hear that you're. You're advocating for the fans, because the fans need a voice and they have a strong voice and and they love they do. I love to hear that they're being heard and you're advocating for them. They do.

Speaker 2:

I love to hear that they're being heard and you're advocating for them. And we all read the comments. Okay, we all read the Facebook comments, but you know what, whether they're negative or positive, it's because they're passionate. Oh, yeah, it's because they're passionate. Just know, we feel the same way you do and we want what's best for the sport, the same way you do, and we want what's best for the sport, and I'm I'm never going to, I'm, you're never going to be able to talk to me and have me go. Nope, sports done, we're going away. This is it. We're out.

Speaker 2:

No, there's too many people that are dedicated to it. Uh, and, as far as the fans, I will stand on my drum in front of anybody and say you are the most important person at the event. I always say, oh, it's the boats, yeah, they're important. And the drivers, the owners, okay, the venues. But you know what? If we have all that and nobody shows up, guess what? We're done, we're done. And so the fans, you are the most important people there and we're going to keep, I'm going to keep shouting for you because I are one, for lack of a better term. You know, that's what I am. I'm a fan.

Speaker 1:

So are you? Yes, exactly that's why we're here, right.

Speaker 2:

That is exactly why we're sitting here in a hotel room the day after the race in Tri-Cities, and I will see you next Friday down on the water's edge at Lake Washington. Yes, you will, and we're going to do it again, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Well, I hope we do it again and again and again. Yes, absolutely.

Speaker 2:

We're going to. We are going to I'm going to be bullish on the sport. We're going forward. We got a couple of look. It takes money and we've got some people leading the sport who A they have some money and they're not afraid to spend some of that money. Now they're going to be very honest with you. They intend at some point to get it back. But think about that. If they do get it back, what does that mean? Well, that means we're suddenly successful If this becomes an investment on their part and they're willing to invest this money up front not forever, that's not going to go on forever, but they've got to start seeing the momentum build, and that's a big part of this whole production trailer.

Speaker 2:

If you want to be a professional sport and have these big sponsors, you have to act that way too. We have to look like when we roll into town, we know what we're doing, and that includes this whole production broadcast team. Come by and see our trailer. We've got some issues. Yes, we are aware of them. Yes, but, man, we look the part, and that's part of it. Yeah, Not all of it. And the big part is you got to actually do it and make it work and we'll get there. We're getting better, but at least this was part of it. We got to look the part when we come into town and so we're going to get there is every time we wanted to talk about what was necessary to make the sport better.

Speaker 2:

What these fans are talking about when they're saying you know, h1 needs to do this and that and everything else. Yeah, we know that, but every time we'd have that conversation, it was always the retort to it was do you have any idea how much money that costs? And these guys are trying to take that argument off the table, take that roadblock away. Then what happens? If money's not an object not forever, but if money's not an object, then how would we go about doing that? That's a big step. That's a really big step, because it's always we don't have that kind of money.

Speaker 2:

We don't Trust me. There's nobody making a lot of money here, and so I know I'm off on a bit of a tangent there, but hopefully that gives fans that are listening and I know you've got a big following, because what you do and what you do is terrific. Well, if you're listening to this, I hope that made you feel like there are passionate people with resources who want to make this better. It's just not going to happen overnight and we are trying. We are really trying. Every time we get on a call, there's some passion on that call and these owners and they want to make it right.

Speaker 1:

Well, I love to hear that, brad. I love your passion and I thank you for what you've done for the sport broadcasting and your voice for the fans, and I'm looking forward to many more broadcasts from you and what the sport's going to bring us.

Speaker 2:

Well, you're very welcome. Thank you. I think, like I just said, what you do is amazing. And have you still got that running? Oh, yeah, Good, Keep it going. Because I want to say something to the fans out there. Uh, if you see me, if you see me walking around, come up and say hello, I love meeting fans. I love meeting fans. We have this, the meet and greet over here, over there, when they had the boats. Bruce Ratchford has already told me he's going to make that a whole lot bigger next year. He wants food vendors out there. He wants some live music out there. Bruce has got a vision here, but I had some fans come up to me. It was really.

Speaker 2:

I love the young ones. The young ones are the best. And to get your picture taken with some of these little guys, you know, and the parents are with them and they go. Well, my, my son's a fan, and dah, dah, dah. I immediately forget the parents. And I want to go to that kid and you, and you know why because that kid is you and me. Yep, that was me, more years ago than I'm going to admit, but that was me and I remember and I'm all the way back to that picture with Ron Musson. When he came out and signed that autograph he took the time for me and that's what it's all about.

Speaker 1:

That small gesture he did just grew everything for you right.

Speaker 2:

It grew to this. I am living a dream. I'm truly living a dream because I grew up worshiping these guys. You know Ron Musson, rex, manchester, bill.

Speaker 1:

Muncy.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, the Detroiters. I still love Cantrell.

Speaker 2:

Cantrell is one of my favorites of all time, and Shaneth and all that. I grew up in that. I was fortunate enough to live that, albeit as a young kid, and now those drivers that I admired, these guys are my friends. I know them, I know their wives, I know the kids, and so, yeah, I'm living a dream. I really am living a dream. I've been very, very fortunate, this sport's been very good to me and it's been a hell of a ride. It's not over yet. It's not over yet.

Speaker 1:

It has been a hell of a ride, but unfortunately this ride is over for us. That's all the time we have for this week. Knuckleheads come back next week and we'll have another interview with someone else from the sport of hydroplane racing. I really hope you enjoyed the episode with Brad loose, as you get more insider information around the sport of hydroplane racing and within H1 unlimited. Again, thank you, brad, for your time Really appreciated, taking time out of your schedule the day after the Gold Cup. I know he was tired, I was tired, but hydrofans can never stop talking boats, don't forget. We're online, our website roosterteltalkcom. We're on social media. We're on Facebook, instagram. Check us out there for more information about the podcast updates and just some other fun things around the sport of hydroplane racing. But I got nothing else for you this week, so until next time, I hope to see you at the races.