Episode 176: Kool Kat Motorsports, Part 3

We wrap up our trilogy with Cool Cats Motorsports by getting specific about 2026 goals, how we stay consistent across a full season, and what we want fans to experience at the races. We also go off-track into teaching, Racing To Read, and the behind-the-scenes work it takes to grow hydroplane racing. 

Please do me a favor this summer, when you go to the races, make sure you go over and say hello to the team and thank them for what they're doing for the sport, what they're doing for the fan experience, and let them know you listen to them on the Roostertail Talk podcast as well!

Episode 174: Kool Kat Motorsports, Part 1

Episode 175: Kool Kat Motorsports, Part 2

Koolkat Motorsports Gp135 Facebook

John Shaw Racing Facebook

Brent Hall Racing Facebook

Racing2Read

V-Foundation

*Photo by Arica Alread

Transcript

2026 Goals And Consistency

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Everything about hello listeners and once again welcome back to the podcast. Today's April 7th, 2026, and it's finally here, part three of my interview with the CoolCats Motorsports Racing Team. This is episode 176. And if you haven't heard the first two installments of my interview with Ed Thompson, John Shaw, and Brett Hall, I highly encourage you to go back to episodes 174, 175, as you missed a lot of them going back on their background, their history around hydrofine racing, and kind of how what led up to today, where they're at now. Now, with this episode, we kind of go more into their thoughts on the future for this season, what goals they have. We got a little bit distracted talking about our daily jobs. I'm a teacher, John Shaw, as well, and we're going to talk more about that and some other fun things along the way, as well as what they're looking forward to racing this year in the GP American Racing Series. Like I said before, this is part three. This is the conclusion to my trilogy of the interview. So let's jump back into my conversation with the Cool Cats Motorsports racing team. Oh well, think looking forward to this year. I mean, we talked a little bit briefly about some goals with that, but I mean you can't list all of them. I mean, we we always have a million goals going into every season, but what would your top goals be for the 2026 racing season for for both boats, for for both drivers, for the team?

SPEAKER_03 2:23

Yeah, I'll I'll start because I said mine already, but really it's just good clean laps, uh, continue to advance and uh develop in my driving. And John said it too. Just get comfortable with the boat.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

Yeah, I think with with us, we need to we need to nail down the consistency component that we've kind of struggled with the past couple of years. And um, you know, Mike with the 79, they've they seem to be ultra consistent, so we're not really changing anything in on that side of stuff. Um we see we I think if we start and finish every lap and just get faster and faster and faster all season long, which is what we've done, and uh just continue that trend. I I think we're gonna be you know a force to be reckoned with at the end of the season. Um, you know, for me, I would say like our our goal would be to be one-two in in GPA high points. And I think you know, Austin and Kevin and and Greg and Jerry and um yeah, you know, the Grants are gonna have something to say about that, but that's that's our goal.

SPEAKER_04 3:25

I mean uh that type of points. I mean it's just it's I mean if you don't speak for storms. Yeah, I mean if you've gotta set the goals high. And uh that's what we've done. I mean we're gonna be happy with finishing start to fish things. I've been both having all that and not struggle for things. I gotta give them a break again because we can bring the boat. I mean there's a lot of high school every boat stuff. Um starting for you to go to games, we just gotta rebook the phone. I'm gonna rebuke after drawing still in points or same points. I mean, it's up to my drivers. I mean, we set high goals and we want to be satisfied with starting fashion and continue to just keep going to brand. I mean, we're we're we're in a long this is a long haul. This ain't uh w you know one white season show.

Driver Seat Versus Broadcast Booth

SPEAKER_00 4:38

So good, good, glad to hear that. Well, Brent, with this with this edition this year, um racing, I'm glad to see you back in the driver's suit uh driver's seat, but probably gonna see you less in the uh announcers booth. How does this affect your plans? Because last year you had a good presence announcing and broadcasting for H1 on the on the YouTube streaming services. How is that gonna affect that side of things for this year?

SPEAKER_03 5:04

Yeah, it might just uh change a little bit. I'm still part of the media team, so I'm really excited about that. And as I mentioned earlier, last year was about really bringing the stories um of the other drivers and and boat racing to the fans. And then this year it'll just be from a different seat. Um, let's do that same thing from the seat of a grand prix and let them get firsthand knowledge of hey, how did how did it go, Brent? And I'm telling you myself, like, yeah, wow, that was really rough. Or man, I I was uh blown away with how that hole opened up and I shot right through. Whatever those initial feelings and thoughts are as a driver, we're gonna start bringing some of that. And I might even be interviewing some of the the drivers too and talking about, well, yeah, did you see the door close on that? You know, we we just might bring a different angle to it. Um, Daryl and Brees are still really excited to have me on the team, and I appreciate that. Uh there the the racing side is first, and then you know, we'll do stuff after hours. I don't I don't need a ton of sleep, so let's let's just uh work hard on both dents. That's right, that's right. Got it.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

Well, is there any way we can like in NASCAR? Sometimes they'll they'll call the driver and then they'll talk to you. Can we get that in installed for your boat so we can get some live narration while you're out there racing? Yeah, that's a good idea.

SPEAKER_03 6:30

It is a good idea, Brent. Get going. Yeah, no, um, you know, and actually, I know last year we'd even talked about at least at H1, like how can we at least get the radio communication? So we'll see. Uh, you know, I I I won't promise that yet, but I do think the closer we can get the fans to the action and like them being in it and part of it, the more they're gonna stick and stay. So that's just like last year. We didn't have like concrete plans, but I loved how it morphed into something uh better than what we expected. And I expect the same thing this year. We'll bring some exciting stuff. If fans have ideas on what they want to hear, let us know at Cool Cat Motorsports. We're H1.

Bringing Fans Closer To Racing

SPEAKER_01 7:10

Fantastic. I mean, H H1's live stream, you know, it has gone up so many notches the past couple years, and every year it just gets better and better and better, and they keep learning from errors and and you know, it's it's amazing. Like, you know, I'm a huge fan of going back and looking at data, having the the laptop open next to the race and looking at like, well, this is going on, that's going on, this is going on, that's going on. Um, and thanks to H1 and and their live stream, that's been possible. You know, me watching onboard video or you know, helmet cam footage, stuff like that only goes so far. I can't see what the boat looks like on the water and the attitude of the boat from an onboard video. Right. But yet, you know, H1 is, you know, I'm I'm so glad that they because for a while there it's kind of like touch and go if they showed the GP heats, if they didn't show the GP heats, if they showed the little boats, if they didn't show the little boats. And now I think they're what if it's out on the water, I think it's on the live stream. And I think that's uh you know, that I think as a whole, that's just better for the sport as a as a whole. And it's you know, for me personally, I definitely, you know, definitely appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

Yeah. Well, that's a good point. I didn't think about you being able to go back and analyze your data as you're watching them to the heat unfold and as your boat is out there. So that's a that's a good perk there. Well, Brent, you gotta you gotta let me know if you need me to step in the in the booth for you, though, at some races. Ah, see, there it is.

SPEAKER_03 8:37

Like, hey, there it is. Let's go. Let's go.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

All right. Well, uh, John, I gotta get back to you though, because uh I think we share another passion of teaching. I've heard you have a long history of teaching in your family. I'm a teacher myself, and I think you know, with that six-seven hand gesture we we did there. I was I was holding back because you said that a couple of times earlier. But we're at the middle school level, we're a different level of crazy for teachers as that goes. But talk about what what level do you teach?

SPEAKER_01 9:11

I'm a middle school teacher, so I teach um computers to fifth grade and then engineering to sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. Okay. So we teach uh a coding class to sixth grade, uh CAD three modeling class to seventh grade, and then robotics to eighth grade.

SPEAKER_00 9:25

Oh, fun. That's awesome. Yeah, yeah, it's uh it's a lot of fun. Yeah. Uh what do the kids think about you racing hydroplanes?

SPEAKER_01 9:33

They all think that uh, you know, I'm slightly crazy, but um, you know, they're not quite wrong. Um, especially because a couple of kids have found me on YouTube and and on social media and they're watching this stuff and they're like, you know, that's actually you. And I was like, Yeah, that's that's actually me. Um and they're you know, it's it's kind of cool for me because like teaching engineering and then be them being able to see me apply it in my, you know, essentially my daily life. You know, I get home, I get home from school and I go work on the boats, whether it's out in my shop or or making parts in the basement or sitting on my laptop designing parts that I could 3D print as prototypes and all that fun stuff. Um you know it's it it's me taking what I teach them and applying it. So they're watching me, you know, use the stuff I'm teaching them in class to apply it to you know my hobby per se. Yeah. Um so it's that real world connection that I think you know helps out a lot. Um like I said, I came from a whole family of teachers. Both my my parents were for teachers, um, aunts and uncles were teachers, cousins are teachers, my brother's a carpentry teacher, sister-in-law is a math teacher, my wife's a middle school science teacher, my sister's an assistant principal. Like, you know, we always joke that we should open up the family business and it's uh, you know, it'd be a school. Yeah. Um because it's I mean, literally everybody in the family seems like they're they're teachers in some way, shape, or form. Um, my brother-in-law is a teacher at uh Herbert Craft Company, so he does all sorts of trainings with that. Um, it's just kind of uh it's kind of what we do.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

Yeah. Well, I think you're right though, you have some level of crazy in you if you're teaching middle school. It's a it's a unique age with a lot of changes and uh interesting personalities coming out at that at that time frame.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

I would agree 100% with that.

SPEAKER_00 11:31

Well, that's that's awesome though. I'm glad you can share that with your kids and they are receptive and uh they uh they have fun with that. You ever seen about any of the races near nearby?

Racing To Read And New Fans

SPEAKER_01 12:44

Yeah, there's been a couple kids that have come to the um the race in Edgewood, which is about an hour and a half about an hour and a half from where I teach. Yeah. Um, I've had probably you know, I've had I think two families came to that event. There's been quite a few kids that travel down to Cambridge, which is about uh an hour from where I teach. Um so it's kind of cool when you know I'm walking around, you know, kind of in my element of racing, and they're like, Mr. Shaw, Mr. Shaw, and I'm like, who the heck is calling my name? Um I used to teach in Cambridge, so I used to see kids, you know, you get piles and piles of kids at the Cambridge events. Um you know, always cool to show up to school the first day, and there's kids wearing, you know, like the Cambridge classic t-shirts, and it's like, oh, no way, like you were there, I was there. And just kind of makes it easy to to you know bridge that connection with kids right right off the get-go on the first day.

SPEAKER_00 13:34

Yeah, yeah, that's fun. That's fun. Well, I share my passion in hydrogen racing in my my room as well, but I I can't make any cool claims that I'm I'm driving them or I'm in the boats because they they asked me, is that you on the boat? No, it's not me. I took the picture though. But yeah, fun.

SPEAKER_02 13:54

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

Well, there's there's an organization, uh nonprofit organization you're uh with as well called Racing to Read. Can you talk more about that and and your involvement?

SPEAKER_01 14:05

Yep, and um racing to read started with my sister when she lived out in Seattle. She um wanted to do something to try and promote literacy, you know, in we targeted middle school students mainly because we were, you know, we were all in middle school. So my like I said, my wife's a middle school teacher, um, my sister was a middle school teacher, I'm a middle school teacher. So, you know, we knew we knew the demographics pretty well. Um, so she kind of came up with this idea of how do we get the kids to read and what reward could we could we give them? And um, you know, she reached out to the C4 organization and they were, you know, just over the top with the idea of the kids read 10 books and then they get a pair of tickets to the event. And I mean, I think we over the years we've probably given out you know, the I was gonna say we've given out the kids have earned um, you know, probably I don't have the exact number off the top of my head, but it's probably 2,500 to 3,000 tickets between the races that we've you know we've partnered with. Um and uh the whole goal is to to you know promote reading and the reward is to come to a race. But at the end of the day, we want the kids to to become passionate about the sport that we love. Because again, if we can't get people to follow the sport, the sport doesn't exist. Um and if you can get them at a young age when like you know they're interested in cool stuff that's loud and goes fast, you know, especially the boys like before they find girls, you know, it uh they tend to hold on to that for a little while.

SPEAKER_00 15:43

Yeah, that's awesome. Uh I used to teach language arts and I'm always trying to pr uh promote reading, so love to hear the synergy you had with that. So not only are you helping them with their their academic lives and promoting reading and find that joy of reading, but trying to get a hydroblank fan out of it as well. I like that.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

Yeah, so kind of how it all came together. And yeah, we've been super fortunate that race sites have you know partnered with us and are willing to give away tickets. Um, because I think it it it it goes both ways. Like, yes, they're giving out they're giving up revenue to sell tickets to the event, but most people aren't showing up to an event with them and a parent. It's usually the rest of the family that they're gonna pay to get in with. The kids are also gonna be you know supporting the vendors, buying merchandise. Um you know, there's giving a ticket is like opening the door, but they still have to walk in and enjoy it. So and um, you know, we're super happy with what we've done. We're always looking to grow and expand the program. Um now that the whole my, you know, my sister and and her family moved in in east from Seattle, it it's kind of gotten a little bit, we know we've kind of lost the the contact to continue to grow it, but um, you know, we actually had a conversation two weeks ago about how what we need to do to try and and build that farther and farther and farther. So we're hoping in the you know the next couple of weeks we're unrolling some stuff that are gonna you know kind of point that back in a positive direction. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:18

Okay.

unknown 17:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 17:20

I was just gonna chime in real quick uh real quick on that, because I uh Caitlin does such an amazing job with racing to read. And I got a chance to just um be a small part of it back in 2022 when I was doing uh PR and marketing for strong racing. I think a couple of the drivers had conflicts, and so uh they said, Brent, would you go to the racing to read event? And I think it was at a it was at a middle school in Kirkland. And what a great event. I'm telling you, the kids just lit up. We had a boat set up. Chris uh Panares had his his boat, his two and a half stock set up. We had the unlimited on tilt and uh several other classes like Steve Huff had his five liter. And we just started bouncing people from boat to boat. But the other thing we did at that race that was fun, and just wanted to make sure to show this here too, is um we brought the hydroplane simulator. So we just had it set up on a laptop, we had a table, uh, and you know, the the kids just absolutely loved it. And they got a chance just to test and see, well, gosh, what what is it like to drive a hydroplane? And you know, we'd only have them on because we had a super long line for maybe five, 10 seconds, and I wouldn't tell them about the wing and they blow it over and laugh and then you know go on to the next. But people kept coming back on break. It was just like, wow, they're really excited about this. And you know, obviously the program Racing to Read is amazing because it's it's driving kids to read and earn something. But then kind of the output for us was that we made a lot of new fans. Some of those kids downloaded the the game, it's a free game uh that you can download from Hydra Sim, and you just need a wheel and to download our factor. But boy, I tell you, um that that program and that that formula really works well. And I'll just dovetail on one thing really quick, and it's about my brother. My brother, another teacher, a math teacher, and he passed away this past fourth of July. We went to his middle school, another middle school teacher, so I'm sure he knows about the 6'7 as well. But uh, we we were able to present there and brought a model boat, brought my suit. And I just think as John was mentioning, this is how we build new fans. And I think people are like, oh, the kids today don't really know much about our sport or don't really like our sport. But until we present it to them, we don't know. And I tell you, the number of hands that were up, you'll see a picture on my Facebook. It was just amazing. I couldn't get to them all. They just had questions and were inquisitive. And John, I know you've experienced the same thing in your classes too. That's the light bulb that we need to go off is just getting in front of them, presenting it, letting them touch something, feel something, try something, and they'll be hooked just like us.

SPEAKER_00 20:09

Yeah, and it's so important that and vital you do that for young fans because it's not like other sporting events in the area. That's like in Seattle, we have one race in the year, one weekend in August that has a race. So the you know, the access and visibility is very limited for for kids in this area because otherwise, if they don't know the event's going on, they're not gonna, they're not gonna be be there and get that experience. So it's very vital.

SPEAKER_03 20:35

Yeah. Yeah. So no, and um, so I was proud to honor my brother in that. We're also honoring him through the the V Foundation. And the V Foundation is uh, and this is kind of going back, but uh the coach of the um North Carolina State Wolfpack, he um died of cancer and it became a very famous speech on the SBs and ESPN. Um but that cancer fund has they've raised over$458 million, and they'll be a part of our uh family too. And so really excited for um us to do something in honor of my brother. We'll talk more about that at another point, but uh it's racing the read and then the V Foundation both are part of Cool Cap Motorsports.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

That's awesome, that's awesome. And I'll make sure to put some links in in below in the bio for fans to be able to reach out and and help with those foundations as well because they're both very important in their own rights. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 21:36

Yeah. Well, I going from a serious note to non-serious note, I gotta ask John what uh what's the what brain rot is that just drives you crazy in the classroom?

SPEAKER_03 21:46

There you go.

SPEAKER_00 21:48

Oh, probably the tongue tongue sa tongue. Tongue tongue tongue sa her.

SPEAKER_03 21:52

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wait, what tell us what is this?

SPEAKER_01 21:58

No one knows what it really is. It's like a stick. Is it what like it kind of looks like a baseball bet, but it's not really a baseball bet. And it just I don't honestly know what it does, but the kids will just look at you when you ask them a question, they'll be like, dun, dun, dun. And I'm like, nah, I don't want to hear it. Like, oh no. No, it's I don't I don't understand the whole brain rot thing. Like, especially like our fifth graders, they are yeah, I mean they dive deep into like all these memes and gifts, and like it's it's something I don't understand, so I'm like, I I just don't get it. Yeah, yeah. I mean that kind of makes me feel you know, I know we're starting to sound like our moms and dads.

SPEAKER_03 22:38

Yeah, exactly, exactly. Like, come on, yeah, like man, yeah.

Classroom Memes And Middle School Slang

SPEAKER_00 22:42

Yeah. I I don't know what the hell they mean either, but I uh I was just I throw it back at them. I like I try to embrace it in the classroom and then it becomes off as cringe and then they stop.

SPEAKER_02 22:52

So that's the same thing.

GPA Board Role And Growing Boats

SPEAKER_01 22:55

Okay. I just like I don't know exactly what it means, but I know like if I say skibbby enough, they're gonna stop saying skibby. Yeah. So It's another language. It's still wild. It's still wild. I swear middle school has their own language and it's not written down and it changes daily. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:13

Yeah.

unknown 23:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:14

There's yeah. It's uh you need a um uh a translator sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

It's kind of like middle school urban dictionary.

SPEAKER_00 23:24

Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

It's crazy. Yeah. I just said it takes a special kind of special kind of special to teach middle school.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

Yeah. It's it's wild. I'll just say that.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

But it's entertaining. And it's it's not the same day-to-day. Like it's uh, you know, they they keep up they keep me on my toes. And I I I enjoy it.

SPEAKER_00 23:47

Yeah, I really do. Yeah, it's a it's a fun challenge.

SPEAKER_02 23:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:52

Yep. Uh well, I know Brent and John, they have all kinds of hats they wear uh for their jobs and and passions that they do. But Ed, uh, I know you have many hats as well. Um look surprised as I say your name there. But uh this this past September it's announced that you were on the board of directors for the Grand Prix of America series. Uh so I wanted you to talk a little about what's your role on the board and how are you contributing to this this racing series.

SPEAKER_04 24:21

Okay, yeah, I would I was kind of uh shocked and honored when I uh was approached on an offering exposition, uh being a part of GPA. And uh I mean it's a uh for me it it's it's good because I think maybe I can help bring uh more different ideas uh than uh just the race boat mentality by bringing some of these red stuff in. Uh there's a lot of different marketing ideas, um media ideas. Uh and basically more just to help the group. I mean, we're a small group of guys. It all has full-time jobs except for me. I'm retired. I know a couple of them get in retirement. I'm retired way as much. Uh and uh just helping what I can to make forward, make the sport better. I mean, uh I I'm I'd like to see GPM just keep building it and get bigger and bigger. I mean, I think they did so well. We're larger, we're larger than the Grand Prix Soccer Taca. We're so little uh 12 boats right now, minute boats. There's like 14 or 15 rocking, but we're at 12 minute boats over vibrations. And that's good um compared to six or seven on the other side. So um it's just a matter of getting ourselves out there in front of the public and keep rocking in ourselves and make us what we are.

SPEAKER_00 25:50

So that's fantastic. I am love to hear that there's more boats because that's like the number one thing fans want is just more boats at the races. Uh and get can you talk about any of the work that you've that's gone on in the offseason?

SPEAKER_04 26:07

Yeah, we're just uh spinning schedules, spinning contracts, uh uh Larry does a lot of the contracts and sends them out to the people whenever we have to get them and make sure we've got the dates set, uh, get our calendar base set. Uh and then some out of putting the GPO crew together. I mean, it's another research thing and all that job roles uh to uh what they're gonna be doing when they get to the races. We have uh Snake and Mark and the pick eyes, uh you know, uh Mike Mike Ridell is still very much involved. Uh Ryan Richards got helping. I mean, he's doing everything he can to promote the sports Richard Races. He's putting out three boats this year. Plus he's uh yeah, plus he's running his uh JR and he's running at uh GPA. So uh yeah, basically we're just tipping a lot of hopes. Um, but it there's nothing really changed. We win on the GPA Down series this year, but that's because HLL decided not to uh participate and uh with the fire, so we're we've taken it some different routes and we were looking at some different options, which were staying hard-cutting stores until we can make them become reality. Uh, because we know competitors to know what we've got cooking in back for lots of time, put some stuff together. Yeah. They want to say that we've got to go lunch the big boys and we've got to come west.

unknown 27:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:44

And maybe they're not coming in Madison, we'll go to Valleyfield. And then if you really get brave, come on out west, that's right. Let's go for it. So I'm all out there and having a good time. But the goal is, I mean, we're not, we don't want to be separate. I mean, the whole thing is we need to be one granitary group. And we can preach it all we want. Is it ever gonna happen? It's very hard to make that happen. Because everybody's got their own ways of doing things. So the leaders of life sides have their ways, our leaders have our ways, and then you got the links in between have their ways. And uh trying to get everybody's thing, it's kind of like having all the cups where I used to use in the automatic member on the advertising table and you're doing your marketing. All the cups are half whole or half up there. And trying to settle and get too many cups, you gotta get the cups in close and get a do a couple full cups instead of having four or five after and where we can get to where we're all participating together. The gallery is a great deal uh we've had the past couple years. Uh unfortunately we put them coming out to school, but um it would bring us together, but it's bringing them west. And that's that's the sad thing of the sport. I mean, it's uh they have they have no clue what they're missing until they come and race out West. And also, the fans, the race courses, and what we have is tremendous. I mean, Tri-Cities, Seattle, San Diego, yeah. I mean, it's just like it's like it's a they're the best fans in the world. When I had an old, an old guy ago, I went 60 still, 87 years old, he's a veteran. I hope he can establish here. John is the one who I'm talking about. We rode him around on the ball card, we had his walker and it goes.

SPEAKER_01 29:48

He was there every morning.

West Coast Racing Culture And History

SPEAKER_04 29:50

We gave him some sharks, we became a long time fan, we eat our hot dogs at the thing. We were still uh but his knowledge of the history of submarine round and the bank rates here just told us more than we could have done. Yeah. And when he left, I think, you know, I I gotta say that was probably John went in and wanted Bill Munchie trophy. So that that touched me more than anything when I forgot to put it in my thing because Phil Munchie was one of the most he was probably blowing up. You know what I mean? That was it and just sit there and look at that song, wow, I got Bill Munchie trophy enough. They took me a little bit because rapidly started saying it. And this film lost on me, I gave it me a folder that I'm not lying, so I can tell you about this of San Diego history advertising bookstores, the pamphlets, all the cards from the tools, and all of that. And there's, I don't know if I'll be here next year or year after that, but I want somebody that's dedicated to the sport to have it and he gave me. And I've got that sitting on my shop right now on a shelf. It's like going into a book, just to put it all together for weekend. And you know, I'm gonna make sure when I'm done with it, it returns to the uh battle to the um installer. I think that's where it really belongs. It's making David King a thing, but I really think, you know, that kind of just a history of all the boots and drivers and uh stuff. I mean, I took back from I think John, you remember 50s, 40s?

SPEAKER_01 31:28

Yeah, I thought it was the late 50s.

SPEAKER_04 31:30

Yeah, late 50s. I mean it's just things like full history. And it it belongs somewhere other even in my shop. You know, I mean, it's thing it's I got the same thing when I talk to John, my dad's been, you know, I mean what's gonna happen when that when I you know what happened. My brother's older than I am, so I gotta make sure that ends up somewhere. And I I put my job on playing for stuff. It's you know that kind of stuff is thing. So yeah, it's that's what it's about.

SPEAKER_00 32:04

Yeah. Yeah, that's awesome. Uh love to hear that connection there, yeah, and that history piece there. Well, with with with those three stops on the west side, you said it mentioned Tri-City, Seattle, and San Diego, and put you on the spot. Which uh race site is your favorite, you think, out of those three?

SPEAKER_02 32:22

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_01 32:28

For me, I think I think the history in Seattle is second to none. You know, like when when people think of you know uh boat racing, they think of Seattle. You know, on the East Coast they might think of Ballingfield, but you know, in in the States it's it's Seattle. I don't think there's a you know going back, you know, whatever, 40, 50 years ago, you know, there you know, it might be Miami. But anymore, it's it's Seattle. The the there's such a a close proximity to Seattle and all the race teams. Um the inboard races are you know, I swear every single inboard race in Region 10 is within like three or four hours of Seattle. There's a couple on the the eastern half of the state, but almost every single one of them is based around Seattle. Like it's just a a hub for boat racing.

SPEAKER_04 33:25

And with the hub comes fans, and you know, like for me, it's uh each one has a few point. I mean the feet and the coming up the side like they do in uh San Diego is incredible. Um Tri-Cities, I mean the fan based rows is like I mean the interaction with them and uh the playing, uh the interface in between. So I like that stuff. I mean, it's uh it it it's about putting on a um show, not just a boat race. Yeah, you know, like that's that's that's the thing at the event. And and like Johnson history is a lot. I mean, it's it's each one has its own little niche. So for me, it's climb the film. I mean, I wouldn't miss out anyways, but I mean it's uh it's impressive important. I'm gonna have a double both boat to I don't care what the film park did, but I bitched about it yesterday on TV on the Facebook about that$4.50 down that I paid here. But uh yeah, it's uh it's not wanting to single out.

SPEAKER_02 34:40

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:41

Uh he made me laugh because uh yeah, I was uh I think Steve David had a quote, it was about boats, and they asked him what was his favorite boat, and he said, the one I'm in. Sounds like that. Uh so maybe a little bit race course-wise, obviously growing up in Seattle, that's where my history is. And watching them as a kid, seeing it from our deck, just in between the trees. And I I think I saw Dean Chenowith blow over once from our deck. I just there are memories I'll I'll never forget as a child and and growing up and then being on that course too. But as as both Dead and John were saying, you know, there are unique things to each course. I've never been to Tri-Cities uh uh until I raced there with the hops and never understood how close the proximity was to the race course. Seattle's a lot further out. You know, you almost need to be on the log booth sometime to get that experience. But um Tri-Cities was an amazing race course. And then San Diego ends up being almost like the family vacation for a lot of the boat racing teams. They that's the end of the year. Uh the owners kind of roll out the red carpet and people bring family members, so that's a special time too. But yeah, I'll I'll say Seattle is it, but boy, the others are are really unique in other ways too.

SPEAKER_00 35:59

Yeah. I always tell people it's not hard to convince someone to fly to San Diego for a boat race.

SPEAKER_03 36:05

Right. Yeah. Well, can I go to San Diego with you? Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_04 36:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:08

Yeah. Yeah. That is true.

SPEAKER_04 36:11

Yeah, and I mean to give an honest plug too. Um, uh Midwest, uh, I would much rather if it if it was a tourist of what I was going, I would go to Madison over Rallyfield. And I'd been in a bow five race boat. And uh again, it's the plane, it's the people, just that that little hometown. It's not a big place, but uh just that little hometown and big big industry and big money, it's just local good people.

SPEAKER_02 36:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:42

And it plays with great, and it's a big deal there. And I mean, they don't get enough sometimes you hear about all the things, and that's a great race course. And uh I mean, I think Kyle Phipps does a great job there, what he's done with it recently, and uh you know, I'm excited to start the season one this year.

Favorite Race Sites And Madison Hype

SPEAKER_03 37:02

Yeah. Madison's amazing. And you're right about the parade. It I mean, it's their Super Bowl, and uh the tra the the town just comes alive. It really does. Uh I think if anyone hasn't been to a Madison race before, that's definitely got to be on your bucket list. Just uh experience it and just feel the energy. You drive to the town and you think about the movie. The movie just like comes out as you're going through. It's like, man, this is a spectacular place.

SPEAKER_01 37:34

Yeah. Mainstream America's on the field, so watch on.

SPEAKER_04 37:38

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:43

Madison's main street America. You know, it's uh like Ed said, it's you know, small town, but you know, all the fans that I talk to, that's that's the event that they look forward to uh all throughout the year. You know, it's like you know, oh, we have our family reunion. Oh, it's the weekend of the boat race. We come back for fourth of July, the weekend of the boat race. It's it's all centered around the weekend of the boat races. Everybody I talk to, it's like, oh, this is what we do the weekend of the boat race. Yeah. Um, and I like that that's just awesome.

SPEAKER_00 38:11

Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's that's fun. Yeah. And and Brett, like you said, it's it's on my bucket list. One day I'll I'll make it there.

SPEAKER_03 38:18

Yeah, you gotta get it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:22

Yeah. Well, I I feel like we could talk for hours uh about boat racing. And I I really appreciate your time. I have one more question I want to ask you before we end this. Um the marketing you had last year, the merchandise that you had, a lot of stuff, a lot of fun stuff for fans to purchase and and some freebie stuff. You had turts, stickers, uh, you had little givets or whatever you call them from your crocs. You got all kinds of fun stuff. I'm just curious, uh, looking, I know you're thinking about it. It's it's what this year, what kind of stuff can fans expect? Is there any fun stuff uh that we haven't seen yet that you might have?

SPEAKER_04 39:01

Well, we're working on a toilet. Uh we're coming out for new cool uh cool setups. Um 2026 settlement, of course, 62 ounce. Yeah, and uh some creative colors. Uh we'll be doing uh puddings, tank tops, uh regular teams and all colors, uh, you know, in all our two colors, I should say. Um we got the gimmilch, we're working on some um different stickers. We have um I don't know if John wants it out there yet. I'll let him say one if he wants to say it. Uh we'll announce it here. He's working on a couple we're working on a film book uh that's coming out that he has put together. That's very awesome. I'll say that. It's actually up print right now. It's like final draft, and it's it's just about ready to go. Um we have um some uh ropes that come up with some little wood uh guys, matter of fact, I'm not stuck. Uh do it like uh uh little wood cool cat model. Yeah, and it's made out of wood.

unknown 40:15

Okay.

New Merch And Supporting Foundations

SPEAKER_04 40:17

So yeah, we are uh always working on stuff because different things. We had that book back for the race and rune last year, which we'll have. Uh I don't know, we'll probably put something together for the V Foundation for stuff about uh because like I said, John will have race in the room will be the big banner on the back of the boat, and the V Foundation is going to be the big banner on the back of Let's Boat. And I mean, because we're all about supporting the foundations also, it's not just about getting paid about supporting what's happening. So fun. I mean, like and whatever else our creative lines pop up in between. So we were working on the boat, things are popping our heads, and we're like, hey, let's check into that.

unknown 41:03

Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 41:03

And we're always thinking about you know um things we can add to the some merchandise or you know, to the uh give me bags, um anything to enhance the fan experience. Yeah.

Podcast Thanks And Closing Notes

SPEAKER_04 41:16

Yeah, we were trying to get little uh we're still I'm still working on it, but trying to get the uh little stuff pads, like hand size, just that that big, something small, and a black top with the fans for the cool pop thing with some kind of thing on our telling. There's stuff we're trying to see that we can buy and bulk so it makes it affordable, you know. I mean, it's it's always something we're brewing the marketing. I mean, it's it's it's we're running it as a business, so yeah, we we're selling the stuff. But we're also not overcharging. You know, I mean we're keeping it reasonable, keeping things. I I John, this is one of my pet peeves last year. When you go to buy a next two, most of the teams you go to buy a 2XL shirt or a 3xl or 4XL or 5XL for these four for people. I still think of people. But um that if you know I'm I charge one price for all shirts, you know, and it you know, you kind of do that. And if I give a kid, the kid's shirts are 20 bucks. Um if if he needs an adult 2x, he's still gonna pay on 20 bucks. And that's how we do it. And it's um it so yeah, it's about the forms on us being able to afford the sport we do by making money and selling the merchandise, but it's also about supporting firms and not making putting it out.

SPEAKER_01 42:40

If there's anything that the viewers want or think we should, you know, think we could add to the arsenal of merchandise, just reach out. Like we're like I said, Ed, Ed and I are always you know pondering up some stuff as to like, hey, what do you think about this? Let's look into that. Um, like the givets, those that thing came about in uh you know, like a week, and it was like, check these things out, and Ed's like order them. And like two weeks later, they were here. And it was, I mean, it was one of those, like, hey, what do you think about this? Order them, those things are cool. Yeah, um, I mean, if there's anything that you guys can think of, you know, we're you know, ears are always open.

SPEAKER_00 43:15

Cool.

unknown 43:16

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 43:17

Yeah, well, again, I'll have the information in the bio so people can reach out for you.

SPEAKER_03 43:21

David, I think I'm trying to wrap, but I I have a question for you. Oh, sure. Yeah, yeah. How long have you been doing this uh this podcast?

SPEAKER_00 43:30

Um so I started just before COVID. I think it was 2019, the summer before COVID. Yeah. Yeah, I just I got into podcasting and there was nothing of for hydrogen racing. And um, like we touched on before, a lot of teams are so secretive on what's going on behind the closed doors, and it's such a short season. That I just wanted to get something out there for people to have that you're around, people can listen to. And I wanted someone to do it. And I started approaching people like, hey, you should do a podcast, you should do a podcast. And everyone said, that's a great idea, but you should do it. So I'm trying it out.

SPEAKER_03 44:09

So well, no, the reason I asked is that I just wanted to take a minute to say thank you for all the work that you do um and the number of podcasts that are out there. I was geeking out a little bit and maybe we can we'll close. But um David had posted like an old radio um broadcast from like 1985. And I hadn't heard it in years. I mean, I that was when I was a kid, and to hear those voices again was just such a big deal. And uh, you know, you really captured our history in a unique way. And I do hope maybe 40 years from now someone listens to this this podcast and goes, Wow, that's what they talked about back then. That that was pretty cool. But just know, like it means a lot. It's a lot of hard work. It you probably don't get the thanks you deserve, but I just want to make sure we set a moment now to say Thank you for all that you do for us and for the support of Hydro Plan Racing. It means a lot.

SPEAKER_00 45:07

Well, yeah, that that's going to be a good thing.

SPEAKER_04 45:11

Thank you. I mean, uh we haven't been recognized how much as a team out and forget up there and uh I think we have to talk about taking time to give us time a day and do this area.

SPEAKER_00 45:30

Oh yeah, I love having you guys on. And um, like I said, a lot of I think my listeners on the West Coast don't know much about you, and I I want to make sure that they're apparent and that they know uh what you got, you got a good thing going on here. Yeah, and and thank you, Brent, and and all of you for the kudos on the on the podcast. Like it is a lot of work, and uh it's a passion of mine, but uh I'm I'm glad someone out there's listening to it and enjoying it.

SPEAKER_03 45:54

So now you came highly requested, like we need to get on Reset Tale Talk. I was like, all right, let's do this.

SPEAKER_01 45:59

Yeah, reaching out. Yeah. I'll say any any anybody that's promoting the sport, like we we gotta tip our hats to. Like, you know, you're you're you're doing this, you know, in your own time. You know, the least we could do is is come talk to you. And again, like Ed said, thank you again for having us. It we greatly appreciate it. And I'm sure this won't be the last time you see us.

SPEAKER_00 46:22

That's right. Yeah, I hope not. As I was I was gonna say, it's always open door. Always have you guys on and love to uh have you guys return and and and be on here more. But uh really appreciate your time and hopefully uh you enjoyed today, and hopefully the fans got to know a thing or two about the cool cats.

SPEAKER_04 46:41

Right.

SPEAKER_00 46:42

Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_04 46:44

Um thank you. Yeah, guys.

SPEAKER_00 46:47

Well, listener, thus concludes the trilogy of episodes for my interview with the Cool Cats Motorsports Racing Team. I hope you enjoyed listening to the broadcast as much as I did interviewing Ed, Brent, and John. A big thanks goes out to Brent Hall, Ed Thompson, John Shaw for making this interview happen. They took times out when we held the interview from coast to coast. Uh so really appreciate everything Cool Cat's doing for racing, for the fan experience, and for being on the podcast. Please do me a favor this summer, when you go to the races, make sure you go over and say hello to the team uh and thank them for what they're doing for the sport, what they're doing for the fan experience, and let them know you listen to them on the Richard Talk podcast as well. Well, I've got more interviews on the line, I've got some more things on my calendar uh to get more content out to you, and I've got a few interviews in the bank as well. So I'm looking forward to getting some more content out to you, the listener. And the next interview is gonna be one that will take you back in time for someone who's been around the sport for many years, has a uh a history in his family, and really elevated the sport for a number of years uh and did his part. And I'll I'll tease that out this week. You'll listen and hear for that on our social media. Speaking of our social media, we're on Facebook, Instagram. You can check us out online at our website, rooshtateltalk.com. But that's all I got for you this week. So until next time, I hope to see you at the races.