Huey's
News, Rumors and Gossip 

 March 18

IT WON'T BE LONG NOW!

For some of us, there’s only five more weeks before the Jensen Beach, Florida race. As of this second week in March we have Marty Wolfe , George Kennedy, Milt Wiggins, and our Crush team going with Tom Pakradooni, and Marc Theoret considering on making this event. A few other teams are on a maybe status. Jessica O’Connor and her event team have worked their butts off to make this race a world class event and I would encourage every boat owner to try and support this one. This could become one of the biggest race events in the future of APBA inboard racing. Also, if this race comes off as planned it may be an official ACHA race next year. Speaking of our ACHA, they have finally posted our 2010 race schedule. They waited as long as they could for Quebec City to come on board but it looks like it will be 2011 before anything happens there. Our schedule looks pretty aggressive especially if Detroit and Morgan City come on board. It will be really great to meet up with our western group from the GP West  club. If we do in fact race in Detroit the GP west teams will come east and several of these teams will stay on and race in Valleyfield . What a great treat for our loyal race fans. It will be a lot of traveling for the GP teams but also a lot of great racing.   

Winning the GP world championship has its rewards especially if you have an engine shop. Ask Marty Wolfe , but don,t ask him to build you a motor anytime soon He’s covered up. Marty reports he’s just finishing up Marc Theoret,s GP engine and should be starting on Mike Webers/Dean Rojas the end of this month. Marty is going to have his hands full this summer tuning on three GP boats. Marty builds some great motors and really deserves this additional business. I told him though; I couldn’t give him any more speed secrets he’s going to fast!!!!  Only kidding Marty.

If the truth was known I'll be the first to say it I really think one of the fastest if not the fastest GP boat on our circuit day in and day out is Tom,s GP88 , Rolling Thunder. Al's got that boat flying. While we're on the engine subject rumor has it that Serge Blanchette is building a new engine for Pierre 's boat that will be second to none when it comes to a lot of horsepower. Remember Serge helped to write our ACHA engine rules back in 2007. I'm sure Pierre can't wait to get back out and run with the boys. Talk about another great year of competitive boat racing. How can you top 2009 with five different winners! Well stick around you ain't seen nothing yet. We all talk about Tom ,Bert, Marty, Jimmy, etc. How about the new young guns; Marc, Norm, and MARC Lecompte.  And don't leave out the hot dogs from the GP West teams when they come east and south. Remember back ten or more years ago when we only had about three boats that where competitive. This year I really believe there are TEN GP boats that are capable of winning on any given Sunday.

I was up at the Theoret shop a couple   weeks ago and got a good laugh from Robert. Seems he forget how much work goes into these boats. Robert like most of us has been out of racing some fourteen years. Speaking of old times we're going to miss Claude Bergeron out racing with us. Claude is and always will be one hell of a competitor. He'll still be around though working on the

kid’s boats. Bert and Jamie are busy working on their new design sponson molds for our new Crush II boat. It’s going to be real close to making it to the Florida race event. George Kennedy's partner, Bob Zabady was down in Florida two weeks ago and checked out the race site and reports their boat is in the paint shop and will be ready to go for the April race. Hats off to the Kennedy crew on there work putting the old Crush boat back together to their specs. We rig all our boats and I know when you start from scratch what a job it is. And yes, George will definitely be in those top ten boats capably of winning and you can take this to the bank; George will win this year!!  Boy, it won't be long before our first race in Long Sault. With new boats, new paint jobs, and new owners and drivers, what a great year for the ACHA series in 2010.  

See you at the races!    

Huey      

Fevruary 22

TEST AND TUNE in beautiful SOUTH FLORIDA

Yes, its official! There will be an APBA inboard race in Jensen Beach , FLORIDA on April 24 and 25 and yes, GPs will be the featured class. What better way to test and tune your boat for the upcoming ACHA GP series events. The month of April in Florida has got to be the best month of the year with the average temps in the 70s.  Yes there will be show money, tow money, prize money and possibly individual sponsorship money. And the big plus for our GP group, if this race goes over as planned, next year it could be an ACHA GP event with the possibly of the second biggest purse next to Valleyfield’s. But we all have to support this first year race event so please get working on those boats. We need at least 6 to 8 GP boats to put on a good show. We need everyone’s support on this one.  

Gentlemen, our ACHA series is probably the best series in inboard racing both in the US and CANADA . We can't rest on this. We've got to keep doing better. New race venues, new boats and owners, new sponsors, etc.  

For Jensen Beach other classes on their schedule include the 2.5 Mod, 5L, JSS, KRR, PS, and Vintage.  Any questions please call Jessica O 'Conner at  772-882-8630 anytime. But let me warn you ahead of time, she'll talk your ear off... Only kidding Jessica    

Our ACHA headquarters informs me they'll have our 2010 race schedule out very soon. They were waiting to hear back from Quebec City but unfortunately they had to put off their race event until 2011.  There’s also a chance we could be racing in Detroit this year two weeks before Valleyfield . More on this in our next newsletter.  

In the latest boat news word out of the Henderson boat works has Bert, Ralph, and the crew working overtime on the new CRUSH.  Talked with Jamie Auld this week and he reports this is Bert’s finest piece of work of all the boats he’s built to date. Forty percent of the boat will be carbon fiber reinforced with a new designed cockpit, center section, and brand new designed sponsons. Jamie states this new designed sponson package will enable the boat to go around corners better. There will also be a new design cowling without the old style blower scoop sticking up allowing for a more aerodynamic  feature  This will be Berts latest design GP hydro with over twenty design changes for 2010. Meanwhile, in the other CRUSH camp in FLORIDA Todd, Greg, Scott, and Harry are busy completely rebuilding and repainting the Steeler and getting it ready to go testing in Jensen Beach in April. Robert Theoret tells me they've been working on their GP trailer. I asked him what changes he was doing and he said their working on making the work platforms and steps wider for all the old people on the crew. Robert also reported Marcs painting the boat just like his 2.5 stock hydro. Heard George Kennedy and crew are also working 24/7 on his new toy and he too wants to head to Florida to test/race in April.  

Meanwhile, I hope everyone’s doing ok and we'll have more info, rumors, and good old gossip in our next newsletter.....

Huey

January 20

2010 – A Great New Year

I hope all our GP families and friends made their New Years resolutions which also included spending more money preparing their race boats for the upcoming 2010 racing season.  You think last year was competitive, wait till this year.  With three new teams joining our ACHA group and Pierre Maheu coming back, lookout, it could be anyone’s championship to win.  

Speaking of Pierre here are couple of the latest pictures of his repaired boat.  

Looks like Claude and his crew at Bergeron’s Hydroplane Shop did a great job repairing Pierre ’s boat.  With a new lightweight capsule I’ve heard Pierre ’s boat has lost over 100 pounds.  Glad to hear Pierre is getting back in shape long before his doctors said he would.  Looks like Pierre will be starting off the season where he ended up, at the front of the pack.  

George Kennedy has been working on the old Crush and will be sporting a red, white and blue color scheme for 2010.   Once he gets everything sorted out and his motors up to snuff he’ll be another top contender in our ACHA group.  

Mark and Robert Theoret are steadily working on the GP-444 and Mark can’t wait to finally get some time in the boat.  I give Mark about four to six races to get comfortable in the boat.  You know that when you’re a new father you’re thinking changes all together but once he feels right in the boat he too will be running in the front.  

Of course Bert in the new Crush 2 will also be a top runner but he too will have new boat gremlins to be worked out.  

As I mentioned in past newsletters the ACHA group had a dream, acted on it, and now has the premiere boat racing series in North America .  

Valleyfield should be a blast this year.  It seems the Detroit Unlimited race has been rescheduled to the last weekend in June or two weeks ahead of the Valleyfield Regatta.  We have also heard that the Unlimited Lights and GP West will make up the balance of the show.   GPW has been in contact with Valleyfield to see about running in Valleyfield after the Detroit race.  I can see about 4 to 6 GPW teams bringing their boats to Valleyfield to challenge our ACHA series GP boats.  What a treat for the Valleyfield fans.  

It’s very possible to have over 15 GP boats in Valleyfield with the possibility of any one of them able to win it all.   

You will have to be very consistent and perform very well in all your heats to make it to the seven boat final.  With so many fast boats in our fleet there is talk amongst our ACHA leaders of having a consolation heat at Valleyfield .  More on this in the weeks ahead.  

Anyway, all our teams will be working very hard to get an early start on their boats and I’ll have a report next month on each of the teams and their driver’s.  

We’ll be showing off our new Hydroplane Quebec Grand Prix format next month.  Until then think spring and warmer weather.  

Again, Happy New Year to all our fans.  

Huey  

December 15

Its Christmas for some / CBF Convention News

Three of our GP group recently got early Christmas presents. Robert and Mark Theoret got a GP boat along with George Kennedy.  Marty Wolfe got his much deserved GP High Point trophy at our annual CBF Convention in Brockville .  I think a lot of people don’t realize just what it takes to win this coveted title.  In our ACHA-GP series you go to a set number of races, race the same competitors week in and week out to determine the best of the best.  It’s like taking your fastest 10 / 12 five liters in the country and racing them 8 / 10 times a year.  There is no room for error and you’ve got to be on top of your game at every race.  

Now that Robert and Mark Theoret have been awarded the GP-444 Bergeron hull the winning tradition of the Theoret family will live on.  Congratulations to Robert and Mark, ACHA has chosen a well deserved team to get a boat.   

Talk about being competitive these two new race teams will be right up there when the checkered flag falls.  Good luck to you guys you’re both a very welcomed addition to our ACHA family of race teams.  

Also the other pictures included in this newsletter were taken after Thanksgiving at the Crush team’s race shop in Palm Beach Florida .  Yours truly took the Steeler down to get it completely gone through, repainted Crush red and re-lettered The Crush and GP-777.  Pat Haworth will be driving the old Steeler and Bert Henderson will be driving the new 2010 GP-77 Crush 11 (2) which will also be painted Crush red.  

Marty Wolfe and I were joking around at the CBF Convention and Marty asked me if our teams were still going to be chasing him next year?  I replied he won’t be able to sleep at night he’ll be seeing so much red in front of him.  But you know, all kidding aside, with new boats coming into our ACHA series next year it’s going to be a real dogfight and it could be anyone’s championship to win.  I would be willing to bet, realistically, that of our group of 14 + boats there are at least 8 that could win it all in 2010, it’s that competitive.

With several new rookie drivers coming on board next year it was decided to form a GP drivers committee to monitor everyone’s progress and report back to our ACHA directors. More to follow on this in another news letter.  

Also at the Convention new formats were discussed in all classes and a good time was had by all.  

Don’t forget to get out and do your Christmas shopping early

Huey

October 28, 2009

Huey’s Race Update!! 

Morgan City blowout!

You know several of us were complaining about driving 20 some hours to Morgan City. How about 2,700+ miles and 55 hours from Seattle driven by Jerry Hopp and his crew. But with Jerry and Greg Hopp you’re seeing hard core racers. On the other end of the equation you have Milt and Charley Wiggins. This team only races when they think they have a chance to win. We needed GP boats to promote Morgan City’s race and Milt’s team is only based about 400 miles from Morgan City yet they went to San Diego and up to Evansville (They still haven’t been paid a dime there) and wouldn’t help promote this race. Charley told me they weren’t competitive. And to top it all, I hear the GP class is going to be ask to grandfather Milt’s boat into the rules because it’s too long and wide. Good luck on getting that past.

Oh well – let’s get on to some real racing news for people who are real racers and also to our race fans. Special thanks do go out to those five GP boats that did travel a long way and did show up to race in Morgan City: Jerry & Greg Hopp, Marty Wolfe, Mike Weber, Patrick Haworth and Bert Henderson. And I want to especially thank Oren Dupre and his super race committee. Those Cajuns really treated us great and I’ll be the first to show up at next year race.

Even with the wind and rough water we did manage to get some GP time trials in on the surveyed 1¼ mile course. Greg Hopp went out and showed us why he’s the hot set-up on the west coast. He ran a top speed of 113mph, with the Steeler running 110, Marty at 109, Patrick turning 108 and Mike Weber running 98. Not too bad considering the extreme weather conditions.

Now for some good old hot Rumors and New Gossip!

 The English clan coming into Grand Prix? You heard it here first.  Randy English has told several people he’d like to step up to some real hard core competition and was also seen talking at length to Bert Henderson in Morgan City.
Speaking of Bert, he’s been meeting with Jamie Auld recently and they’re talking about a new 2010 design GP hull with several changes.
 Also on the rumor/gossip mill it seems ACHA will be building another new GP hull this coming year.  We still haven’t heard from Norm Philips/Jimmy King combo but I also understand George Kennedy is in line to get an ACHA hull.
Pierre Maheu’s hull is being repaired at Claude’s shop and should be finished fairly soon.  Pierre’s doing really well and can’t wait to get back into the thick of things.
 Tom (Packofdonuts) Pakradooni tested in Wildwood and wanted to come to Morgan City, but encountered engine problems.
 The Long Gone bunch has just gone through all their motors and reports they’re getting a big jump for next season.  Kelly’s learning her French as she’s going to Paris to attend Winter College over there. Good luck Kel!!
 Mike Weber/Dean Rojas finally ran some laps but need more testing time to be ready for 2010.
 A lot of things are changing at the Crush and Steeler shops and as soon as I can figure everything out I’ll give everyone a report.
I talked with Brian O’Connor and son Matt at Morgan City. He’s still looking to getting back into GP but still about a year or two away.

On a more serious note I’d like to thank Claude Bergeron on his many years driving and supporting GP racing. Claude, as most of you already know is retiring from GP and we’ll miss him. He’s always been one class act.

Norm and Mark will be returning with their GP-1001 Dynomites sponsor and can’t wait for that first five minute gun as now they’ve finally put their motor problems behind them.

Marty and Randy Wolfe report everything’s ship shape and they too will be ready to defend their 2009 GP Championship in 2010.

Hope to see everyone in Brockville.

Huey

(the views expressed by Huey Newport are not necessarily the views of Hydroplanequebec.com)

October  6

Huey’s Race Update!!

“ New Orleans here we come”

What better way to cap off a great year then to go race and party in New Orleans and Morgan City , Louisiana .

Now that our ACHA GP series has ended and we’ve crowned Marty Wolfe our new 2009 GP Champion, lets all go out and “Party”. Oh! And while we’re at it lets throw in an APBA/CBF World Championship GP race to see who’s truly the “King of the hill”. Also, lets try to entice all those hut dogs from the west coast to join in the party/race and call it our “Super bowl” of GP racing.

Get the best from the East, best from the West, and throw in a little party, while we’re at it. Sounds like a great idea to me. Already we’ve got three times the amount of friends and crew members we normally have at any given GP race buying their airline tickets. Should be quite a turn out if everyone that promises to attend, attends.

After all, I think all our teams deserve a lot of fun after a hard fought ACHA series championship and that goes for our west coast counterparts with their UL G series championship. A lot of our readers don’t know our west coast drivers and owners so here’s a brief rundown.

Jerry and Greg Hopp will be racing their G-15 “Graham Trucking” G boat with Greg doing most of the driving. This team has won several UL Lights series championships plus has won several G series races. I know most of you have seen Jerry at Valleyfield regattas and Greg also drives the “Graham Trucking” Unlimited.

Another quality team from Seattle is Shawn and Rick Bridgeman with their G-17 Ron Jones Jr hull. Their driver, Dustin Echols, has won several races in this new boat and just to give everyone a comparison, when Marty Wolfe races out West, he and Dustin have just about split all their races together. You definitely don’t want to see Dustin get the inside lane in any heat because he’ll beat you 80% of the time. I met Dustin and his wife Rena in Evansville this year and along with Rick and Shawn they are a class act. Shawn told me she’s got family in the New Orleans area so we’ll for sure see this team in attendance.

As far as the west coast team to beat, it’s got to be Cal Phipps driving Milt Wiggin’s G-10 Jones hull the “Titeflex Special”. This team has won the past two G races and Cal beat Marty Wolfe two weekends ago in San Diago. “We want revenge guys”, Milt has no excuses not to attend. This team hails out of Alabama not 400 miles from New Orleans. Milt has also supported GP and 7 liter races across the country and Cal tells me can’t wait to see how their G boat matches up against our ACHA GP boats.

In fact, I’ve heard from a lot of inboard racers who are coming to Morgan City just to see how these two groups (East and West) match up against each other at a neutral race site.

All these west coast boats will be a big challenge for our east coast ACHA campaigners.

Now that our west coast supercharged boats have formed a new club called “Grand Prix West”, what better way for their new club to promote themselves than to come East and help our guys promote this new race site. Morgan City’s race committee is putting up some good show money and promises to come up with some big bucks in 2010 if we can put on a good show which we’re very capable of doing. I really hope our west coast counterparts will help in this project.

As far as our ACHA boats who have committed to attend, here the most current list: Marty Wolfe, The Steeler, The Crush, Ken Brodie Jr, Tom Packadooni, and Mike Weber driving Dean Rojas Balcer hull.

This gives us nine “For Sure” entries which, if everyone shows up, will put on one hell of a show. Anyone of the nine boats is capable of winning this year 2009 World Championship for GP boats. Stay tuned for my November newsletter. Lots of rumors, news, and as usual good old gossip.

See you in New Orleans – Huey

Note: If you want to see some awesome GP ACHA style racing on DVD’s, just wait until Jean-Philippe Poulin brings out his 2009 GP DVD series tapes. This DVD tape set has several improvements over last year’s DVD’s with two camera angles, onboard cameras, and background P.A. announcers. They tell me these DVD sets should be out very soon so call or E-mail Jean-Philippe at 450-373-9292 ext 234 or jppoulin@fabgroups.com

September 23

Huey’s Race Update!! September 23, 2009

“News Flash” Wolfe Family wins “All the Marbles”

In what most will call the most competitive racing season in Grand Prix history, Marty, his sister Elizabeth, and dad Randy took home Grand Prix’s biggest prize, the 2009 GP high point championship.

It all came down to the final race in Beauharnois. Marty came into this event leading the Steeler by 30 points and the Crush behind by 34 points.

The first set of heat races saw Bert in the Steeler win his heat but Marty broke an engine coupling and didn’t finish his heat. Patrick in the Crush also won his first heat. Now Marty lead over Bert was only 20 points. In the next set of heats Bert picked up 2 more points when he finished second and Marty third. Now it was down to an 18 points lead for Marty going into Sunday’s heat and final.

Bert went out in Sunday’s heat, hit several rollers and holes in the water and tore half the belly pan off the Steeler which made it impossible to repair for the final.

What started out in June at Long Sault finally became Marty’s Championship at our final race event. Hats off to the whole Wolfe family and their great sponsor Trafficade and especially Dennis and Jeff Johnson. This team was a true class act.

I’d like to thank all our teams for a job well done. Everyone stepped up their efforts and brought GP racing to the head of the class. All over both country, APBA and CBF, GP’s competitive formula has made believers out of several of our critics.

Again thanks go out to our ACHA directors for a job well done. I don’t think anyone would have believe we would have come this far so soon. Now that the racing is at its best, ACHA can go out and sell the whole performance package. Several new sites want to be included next year, including Celina, OH and Hamilton, Ontario to name a couple. ACHA also has plans to hire a marketing sale rep to sell our race package. Even in this tough economy, things as far as our ACHA racing goes, couldn’t be any stronger.

Again, I’m still excited over this past year. Marty Wolfe, Bert Henderson , Claude Bergeron , Jimmy Shane and Pierre Maheu all were event winners. As I’ve said so often, who would have thought we would have there five winners in one season plus Patrick in the Crush and Tom Packofdonuts (by the way Tom, this is your new nicknames – all the teams agreed – sorry!) came so close to winning too.

Ken Brodie Jr finally put it all together this year, won several heat races and finished a strong second place in Tonawanda .

Speaking of Tonawanda , let me back track a little and report on our last two races.

In Tonawanda , the weather was perfect to start off Saturday’s racing. The first GP heat was a classic with just about everyone in attendance agreeing it had to be the most competitive GP race they ever saw. Long Gone had the inside lane, Steeler second, and GP Valleyfield third. All three dove into the first corner side by side – coming out, Jimmy and Claude would pull Bert about half way down the straightaway and then Bert would pull them into the second turn. This went on for four furious laps. The crowd went wild. Coming off the last turn Claude had about a three boat length lead. All three boats roared down the front stretch towards the checkered flag with Bert and the Steeler winning by a boat length over Claude and Jimmy. All three drivers were worn out but this heat had to go down in GP history as the best ever.

Just before lunch the wind kicked up and they couldn’t run the smaller classes and the GP’s weren’t scheduled to run until 5pm. Would you believe the Tonawanda crowd sat there all afternoon waiting the weather out just to watch the GP’s run again. I couldn’t believe it either. I thought we were back in Valleyfield .

This time Bert and Tom won their respective heats to set up Sunday’s heat and final.

On Sunday the weather wouldn’t cooperate and several heats were cancelled except of course the GP heats. The GP final saw Tom on the inside lane, Bert second, and Jimmy in Long Gone third. Tom led Bert and Jimmy for two laps only to be pasted by Bert on the third. Across the finish line it was Bert, Tom and Jimmy. No one knew it but Tonawanda ’s starting camera wasn’t working and the referee determined that both Tom and Bert had jumped the gun giving the race to a very smart and good clock watcher, Jimmy Shane in his “Long Gone”.

Our final race in Beauharnois this past weekend saw another beautiful weekend of sunny weather but also included strong winds out of the North, a big no-no at this race site. Most drivers agreed, this had to be the worst wind and water conditions of the year. I think just about everyone sustained some sort of boat damage. The Crush suffered the worst. The wing blew in half, going under the boat and hitting and tearing off one propeller blade. This bent the shaft, tore the strut in two and pulled the whip strut away from the bottom of the boat. The crew with help from several GP crews stayed up all night and got Patrick running for Sunday’s heats but with no wing.

Bert in the Steeler tore is belly pan apart and the water pressure blew the pan bottom up into the oil pan which in turn hit some connecting rods. What a mess and put him on the trailer for the final.

Claude, driving GP Valleyfield won the final and as the crane was lifting his boat out of the water the whole right sponson bottom started to delaminate. Talk about rough race conditions. Norm Shannon finished second with Marty and Patrick following.

Norm Shannon and crew finally put it all together for our final race. They’ve been struggling in the motor department but saved the best for last and from all the happy faces in the pits can’t wait for the five minute gun to fire in 2010. Mark Lecompte (Norm’s partner) ran his first GP heat in this boat and let me tell you; he looked like anything but a rookie. This team could be trouble for the rest of us next year.

What a year of GP racing. Lookout 2010! It’s going to be hard to top the 2009 season.

Our ACHA season has ended and many “that a boy” go out to all our team but «wait a minute” It ain’t over yet. Yes ACHA has crowned their Champion but we’ve still got the 2009 GP World Championship in Morgan City , LA in October. More on that race and a whole lot of gossip in my next newsletter coming out in a couple of weeks.

See you then

Huey

 August 19

Huey’s Race Update!! August 11, 2009

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems lately that every race you go to the racing gets better and better. St‑Félicien was the greatest! The people there are some of the best, most informed, hospitable people on our race circuit. If it wasn’t so far North, I’ll bet it would be our second most attended race event next to Valleyfield.

Special “That a boy” to Ken Brodie Jr and his crew for an outstanding job they did in St‑Félicien. They’ve had one problem after another all year but in St-Félicien they put it all together. Finished all their heats and the final and were feeling pretty good about themselves until the ride home. They made it into Ontario heading home in Buffalo when a tractor-trailer driver decided to go to sleep on the road and ran into their boat. Believe it or not he got the worst end of the accident. Those big GP steel skid fins can tear up a truck cab pretty bad and also he also got two torn up tires on his trailer. Ken’s boat received minor damage but the trailer got pretty banged up and they did manage to make it home alright in one piece.

Again, like Waterford, all our GP owners and drivers put on one hell of a show in St‑Félicien with only one boat missing the final. Marty Wolfe was his usual reliable self, finished third behind the Crush and Steeler and still came away holding a commanding lead over both the Crush and Steeler for our GP high point championship. Right now it’s his to lose and the way he’s been running I’d bet he’ll be our 2009 GP High Point Champion. I’m not sure but I think Marty’s finished every heat and final this year. Hats off to all the crew for a job well done.

The end of this month finds our GP fleet in Tonawanda, NY. Mike Weber and Dean Rojas will have their boat back together and will attend the New York event. These guys have worked real hard and we wish them the best of luck. I did hear a rumor that Jerry Hopp might be joining us in Tonawanda also. Jerry’s got a fast boat and our GP family would like to welcome him back to our ACHA racing group.

It seems every other boat is ready to go. Right now, Bert Henderson in the “Steeler” seems to be the boat to beat. Bert won our last two races. I’m still waiting for Patrick or Tom to get their first GP win. Pat in the “Crush” tried a little too hard in St‑Félicien, ran into the Steeler coming off turn two and had to settle for second place in the final. Don’t miss the video on that one. Bert’s got about two days work to repair his left sponson.

Like I keep preaching, our racing is getting better each race and the competition is really heating up.

Take care – hope to see everyone in Tonawanda!

Huey

July 29

Huey’s Race Update!!

Who would have thought less than three years ago our new Grand Prix Series would have turned out so competitive! I know our directors at ACHA headquarters did a great job with the engine rules, but I’ll bet they too didn’t think in less than three years time we’d have “FIVE” different winners in the past six races (counting last year’s Long Sault Race).  2009 Long Sault final was rained out.  Long Sault ’08 Jimmy Shane; Brockville ’09 Pierre Maheu; Syracuse ‘09 Marty Wolfe; Valleyfield ’09 Claude Bergeron and last week’s winner Bert Henderson at Waterford, Michigan.  And waiting in the wings we’ve got Pat Haworth and Tom Pakradooni waiting their turns--and seeing how their running, it won’t be too long a wait I’ll bet!

Everyone’s so competitive you’ve got to get the two inside lanes in the final or have a lot of luck on your side to win.

Our last two races in Valleyfield and Waterford had great deck to deck racing all weekend. Saturday’s late final heat had Bert and Claude running side by side for four laps with Bert winning by a boat length.  Some say it was the best heat race they’ve seen in GP history.

We’ve come a long way in just three short years and we’re only going to get better. We just found out everything’s a go for the World GP Championship in Morgan City, LA the weekend of October 17th and 18th so if you like seafood and great racing “come on down”. We also hear we’ll be getting a few GP boats from the west coast so this will truly be a World Championship at least here in North America .

One other very important point I’d like to bring up and that’s the way all our teams are working together and helping each other out, either with help working on the boats or just lending some parts. Throughout 30+ years of racing I’ve always said “I want to beat you on the water, not on the trailer” and I think everyone connected with Grand Prix has gone by this statement this year. A good example of this was last weekend in Waterford-- our “Crush” team was having some fuel delivery problems and Marty Wolfe took his whole injection system off his spare motor and let us try it. What other type of racing would you see this happening? Also, at Valleyfield all the drivers took over half the finals purse money and gave it to Pierre Maheu’s family who by the way looked great in the pits and our whole racing family wishes him the very best on his recovery.

Anyway, it’s off to St-Félicien this coming weekend with a long trip to “God’s Country” and the “Northern Lights”. If you’ve never been there you’re missing out on a great town and even better great race site!

Continued safe racing!

Huey

July 1st

Huey’s race Update

What a weekend at Syracuse!  This event had everything.  We started off Saturday with a couple of GP drivers asleep at the wheel (they blamed it on the clock). Patrick in “The Crush” took advantage of it and won heat 1A.  Heat 1B was a nightmare as you’ve already heard. Thank god Jimmy and Pierre are O.K.  I know everyone’s heard ten different sides to the accident. Talking with a lot of so-called “experts” there was a lot of blame all around. In this writers experienced opinion it was a racing accident, period. Both our guys are alright and both will race again.  Jimmy’s “Long Gone” is at Henderson’s shop and should be finished by July 4^th.  Pierre’s boat is another story and I really don’t see it out again this year. On the bright side, the doctors have Pierre up and walking around.  I just heard this morning that Pierre said he would be in the pits at Valleyfield even if they had to carry him in!  Boy you sure can’t keep a good racer down. After the sun finally came out on Sunday afternoon, we had a couple of side by side racing competitive heats. Finally at 5:45 p.m. the final was started.

Tom Pakradooni had the inside lane and hit the first turn first.  Marty Wolfe went by “The Crush” going into turn one and the three boats went up the back straightaway side by side. Patrick went into turn three leading by a couple of boat lengths only to come out third down the front straight.  For the next two laps Tom and Marty fought it out with Marty finally getting his first checkered flag final win of the year. Tom came in a close second with Patrick settling for third.

Everyone’s wondering who’s going to be the favorite at Valleyfield. At this point in time, looking at the “X’s” and “O’s” I’d say it’s a toss up between Wolfe, Pakradooni, and “The Crush” with Claude close behind. Claude had some rudder problems during his heats but the boat looked good in the final.

Mike Weber will have his new boat in Valleyfield along with Norm Shannon’s new rig. George Kennedy should have the GP555 “Showboat” ready also. If my count is correct, we should have eleven plus GP boats at Valleyfield.

After three GP races it appears the teams have their act together. Less motor problems than last two years and everyone has stepped up in the horsepower department. Everyone’s number one goal is to finish their heats, and they have to do it in a hurry. Tom Pakradooni and Patrick Haworth both had a first and a second in their respective heats and were tied in points going into the final but Tom won the pole or inside lane because he posted a faster time in his heat win.  At Valleyfield, they will have time trials to see who has lane choice on Friday, with two heats Saturday and one heat and final on Sunday. You sure don’t want to miss this race…

See you on the 10^th  

Huey

June 16

These words covered these last 2 weekends of ACHA-GP Series racing: “Speed , Consistency and Parity”! Long Sault was a pit! Cold, muddy and high winds. After an always too long winter and a lot of hard work by team members, 8 teams answered the call for the first race of the season, including the 2008 Champion now sporting a new sponsor's look and Pierre Maheu in GP-46 ADF Diesel, Claude “Bergy” Bergeron in the brand new GP-444 GP “Valleyfield”, Tom Pakradooni in GP-88 “Rolling Thunder”, Bert Henderson in GP-77 “Steeler”, Ken Brodie Jr. in GP-50 “Intensity”, Pat Haworth in GP-777 “The Crush”, Jimmy Shane in GP-7 “Long Gone” and finally, Marty Wolfe in GP-93 “Renegade”. Marty started strong with three heat wins but the final was cancelled. The first event of the season looked promising with good performances until mother nature put a halt on racing.  

Brockville was almost the same story weather wise, but on the performance side, everyone had their act together and believe me, they all came to race .Two of the fastest boats, Jimmy Shane's “Long Gone” and Claude Bergeron's “ Valleyfield ” didn't make the final but won one of their heat races. You needed to finish both your heats to qualify for the ultimate race. On Saturday, after delays, 2 heats of great racing in rough water conditions took place and very exciting it was.In this writer's opinion, the biggest surprise of the weekend was Tom Pakradooni. Wow ! Talk about a turnaround from last year. Tom's driving and boat were the talks of the pits. He did a great job all weekend long and if it wasn't for a broken blower belt going into turn one in the final, he might have win it all. Great driving job Tom and great tune up Al Jr.!  

Speaking of great, Pierre Maheu in GP-46 “ADF Diesel” won it all again with consistency. He won his heats, started on the pole and did his thing. Great job again team GP-46! The best show in the final was Pat Haworth in GP-777 “The Crush” and Marty Wolfe in GP-93 “Renegade”. These two went at each other the whole race and the crowd went wild. Pat came out 2nd with Marty finishing a very close 3rd. You can read all the results and see pictures of the ACHA-GP races in Long Sault and Brockville events elsewhere on the www.hydroplanequebec.com website. Nine boats (last week's 8 entries plus Mario Maraldo) showed up and seven of these could have won, that's parity but as I've said before, you had to finish both heats to get into the final. That's consistency! Not only did you have to finish those heats, you had to do it quickly. That's speed and that's what it's going to take this summer if anyone expects to win it all.  

Two years ago when the ACHA Series was formed, this is what they wanted to achieve: Speed, Consistency and most important, Parity! Another highlight of the weekend included Ted “Bud” Keating enjoying his first ever ride in an official heat, and he finished 3rd which enabled Bert Henderson in the GP-77 Steeler to make the final. Bud tested GP-77 for the first time a few weeks ago in Beauharnois , QC . Bert started the most important heat in 5th lane and was 4th until he encountered engine problems. Ken Brodie Jr. showed up with GP-50 Intensity with a  completely rebuilt engine from ground up and a new trailer. The boat looked great and Kenny qualified for the final but he too broke down with engine problems. Pierre Maheu's team and boat looked great and started off this year as the defending Champion and it looks like he'll be “the boat to beat”!  

Nice visitors have been seen in the pits as Jimmy King, who will drive Norm Phillips new GP in the future and Jamie Auld enjoyed talking with friends. Congratulations to all our drivers, owners and crews! You guys put on one hell of a show and you know as the year goes on, it's only going to get better. Looking forward to see the duo of Mike Weber/Dean Rojas with the rebuilt and updated GP-10 “R&D Promotions” and also Marc Lecompte-Norman Shannon in the gorgeous renamed GP-1001 “Miss Dinomytes” (the 2008 version of GP-444) at the next event in Syracuse NY . The 1001 team members worked around the clock for 2 months to try to be ready but all kinds of delays and wrong parts received did not help. Stay tuned for the next update and see you at the races!  

Huey ~

May 27

Huey’s news, rumors and good old gossip  #9

Less than one week away, ACHA’s series premier event will kick off in Long Sault, Ontario on May 30^th. Everyone seems to be busy working away with last minute details. Mike Weber and Dean Rojas just got their boat back from the decal shop and report it really looks awesome. They’ll be testing the 30^th in Dayton , Ohio and then be meeting up with our ACHA-GP group in Syracuse , NY  

Ken Brodie Jr. is still putting their GP-50 back together again a lot stronger with more supports than the original version. This year along with Marty Wolfe’s crew, Ken will be sporting a backup motor built by his dad Ken Sr.  

Speaking of Marty, he’s already one up on the rest of us. He was at a APBA GP race in Phoenix , last month, but the real story here is his sister Elizabeth. She went out to Phoenix with a 6 litre boat, qualified for the three boat final in the unlimited lights class and finished second overall out of a field of thirteen UL boats. Way to go Liz!!! She’ll be fighting Marty for a ride in their GP boat by the end of the year.  

Speaking of young ladies, I’ll bet Kelly Shane will get a ride in her brother’s “Long Gone” sometime late this year or for sure in 2010. Look out guys, these gals are coming after you!!  

The “Crush” bunch is all ready to test this coming week in Valleyfield . Our new crew of Bruce Theoret and Danny Lafrance report everything is in order, all changes are made, and they’re “Ready to Rumble”! Bud Keating’s finishing up on his new ride. “The Steeler” and him and Bert Henderson will also be testing in Valleyfield this week.  

I’m writing this in Nashville , TN , this week I’m getting our new “Steeler” race support truck wrapped in vinyl. I want to thank all of our race fans who responded to our questionnaire regarding changing the name and colors from the “Deepwater Special” to the “Steeler”. The totals favored not changing anything 60% to 40% but in the end, I had so much success with my three “Steeler” boats, I had to stick to the good old black, white, and orange colors. When our fans see the boat, I think they’ll agree.  

It’s good to see Norm Shannon and Marc Lecompte getting into our ACHA series events. Claude Tremblay is their motor guy and as soon as this team gets a little time in the new rig, they should get their share of wins. We know the boat is competitive. Speaking of competitive, I’d have to say Claude Bergeron will be the odds on favorite to be the man to beat this year. Last year’s boat really flew and his boat is 200 lbs lighter. Look out for this team.  

Jimmy Shane’s “Long Gone” has undergone some minor changes and Jimmy’s found another 100 + horsepower in his blown motors. He too will be one to watch. Remember, he won last year’s last race in Long Sault. One other dark horse out there is Tom Pakradooni with his GP-88 “Rolling Thunder”. Once Tom gets a little more hydro experience under his belt, he too will be hard to beat. Remember, he’s used to winning championships in other classes also.  

Wow! Talk about a competitive series!!! Anyone of our ACHA-GP boats can win a race on any given Sunday. Our ACHA crew has put together a great series of races and competitors.  

I said this before and I’ll bet you’ll see it this summer. I predict they’ll be at least one race event where one of our GP boats won’t qualify for the final after having won the final at the preceding event. It’s going to be that competitive. All our ACHA-GP boats and motors are equal. It’s going to come down to driver and handling. I’ve been in boat racing 39 years, and have never seen more excitement from our owners, drivers, crews, and most important, our race fans as I’ve seen this year!  

Bert Henderson has just started on Norm Phillips new GP hull for the 2010. Also, Richard Wilhelm ( Warren ’s son) is looking into getting a GP boat next year. It’s good to see the Kennedy’s clan getting back into GP racing. I’ll bet they’ll have a new GP in 2 to 3 years. Time will tell. I also look to several UL boats coming back east to race with us.  

Once again, this will be a Super year for our ACHA series!  

See you in Long Sault…  

Huey~

(the views expressed by Huey Newport are not necessarily the views of Hydroplanequebec.com)

February 14 2009

Huey’s news, rumors and good old Gossip!!! #8     

Well, snow and ice are finally melting away and it’s only seventeen more weeks until they fire the five minute gun in Brockville , Ontario . The ACHA-GP 2009 schedule has already been posted but our powers to be at the ACHA headquarters are looking at a couple of race sites to fill the August 15^th weekend. That will give us a solid eight weekend of race schedule.

 A lot of phone calls have been going out to new and old GP drivers regarding our GP driver’s committee. It has yet to be determined by ACHA headquarters but the general opinion by all our drivers is they would like our past drivers to be on the drivers committee, not our present drivers. I’ve talked with Tom baker, Robert Theoret, jeff Richards, Mike Endres and Ken Brodie sr. just to name a few and they all agreed and would be more than willing to volunteer their time ant the races.  

This is just another example why this ACHA series is the greatest show on the water. People, past and present working together to make everything work! There are no “I” and “ME”. What we can do to make things better for boat racing. Getting back to the drivers committee, the ACHA committee would then pick a couple of our past drivers to assist them at each race in monitoring our drivers. This year, there’s at least four drivers that have never been in a GP boat.  

I’d also like to take time out to thank the APBA Inboard Racing Commission for voting down the proposed engine change rules for yet another UL engine at their recent APBA Annual Convention in North Carolina . I still think that somewhere, sometime in our boat racing future the ACHA series events can hook up with these APBA, UL and GP guys for a race. One of their motor combinations is very close to ours in the ACHA-GP rules, and I predict we’ll be racing together at some race site in the next two to five years. From what I heard about their meeting in North Carolina , the UL class definitely needs to get some forward thinking new leadership to think what’s the best for their class, and future, not each individual owners.  

Here’s a little info on what some of our teams are doing. Marty Wolfe’s crew are just about to dyno their new motor and report they’ll have some info and pictures on this website in the very near future. Pierre Maheu is busy putting a second motor together and is also building a new cowling for his World Champion boat. Ken Brodie Jr. and gang are still ……putting their boat back together. The sponson is glued on and Ken reports, come hell or high water, he’ll be at Brockville in June.  

The Long Gone crew are busy putting their race truck back together after their accident going to Celina , OH this past summer. Claude Bergeron said he’s too busy finishing Dan Kanfoush’s new boat to worry about his own GP boat. He did tell me this week that their in good shape. They have some small details on their boat and they too are building a spare motor. When I was there this past Wednesday, Dan’s boat was looking real good and Claude’s just waiting for some Kennedy hardware so he can put the deck on and Dan can pick-it up. Dan and Jim have a lot of hard work ahead of them. Good luck guys!!!

I stopped at Bert Henderson’s shop along the way and Bert reports it looks like we won’t be seeing Norm Phillips this year but 2010 for sure. With the economy the way it is now, it’s just not in the cards this year for Norm and his crew but hopefully will see both Norm and Brian O’Connor in new boats next year. Stay tuned on this one!  

The GP-777 team has the “Crush” up at Scott Kropfield’s shop in Michigan redoing several major areas on the boat. Tom Baker, Clarkbar, Patrick Haworth and Bud Keating will be traveling up there in a couple of weeks to start their work on the “Crush”.  

I just traveled up to Odgensburg , N.Y. to pick-up the GP-247, “Deepwater Special”, and brought it back to Cincinnati to begin work on it. I felt really bad for Jeff and Kim Richards as we were hooking up the boat and trailer to my truck to leave. It was like I was taking their baby away! Jeff will still stay involved plus he says he’ll be going to several races and wants to help on our new driver’s committee.  

While I was up north, Bert and I sat down to discuss several ideas with our new boat team. Most of the old Deepwater Special team will stay together and Bert will still be driving all the final heats this summer, while Bud Keating, being a rookie to GP, will fill in at our event and drive in some heat races only. When I was in Valleyfield this past week, I had several people asked me to keep the Deep Water Special name and colors. Of course we’d all like to name and paint the boats our individual colors and names from the past. If I think back to all the boat names I’ve been involved with, several come to mind: The Godfather, Just E Nuff, Miss American, Olympiad, Irish Mist, and of course Orange Crush. As far as the Steeler name, I owned four boats named Steeler. A superstock and skiboat, flat bottom and a seven liter and GP boat. I guess that’s why the Steeler name comes first.

 Anyway, I’d like to take a survey or questionnaire regarding the name of the GP-247  

While at the races this past summer, I had a great number of our race fans ask me: “Can you explain to me what’s the difference between the direct drive boats and boats with a gearbox?” Well, I’ll try to explain it this way. A direct drive boat has the motor turned around backward to the front of the engine at the crankshaft. This shaft turns a larger propeller at engine RPM (up to 8500 rpm) A gearbox boat has the boat has the engine installed in the standard location. The propeller in this configuration is connected through a gearbox and a set of gears which can be changed if necessary according to the race course. According to what gears the owner chooses, the prop in this case (which is smaller) turns between 10,000 to 12,000 rpm.  

Now you’re asking, how does this effect the performance of these boats? If you take the top two direct drive boats, and the two top gearbox boats, put them on the water and everything else being equal (i.e. horsepower, drivers, etc.) and they all come up to the starting line in a flying start, the gearbox boat should beat the direct drive boat to the first corner. If these same four boats come up to the start very slaw, the direct drive boats with their larger propellers will out accelerate the gearbox boats nine times out of ten. On the shorter courses, the direct drive boats will have the advantage and on the larger courses the gearbox will have the advantage. If at anytime during the upcoming racing season any of our ACHA-GP race fans wants to look inside our boats or have any questions, please fell free to ask any of own owners, drivers, or crew members.  

In my upcoming news letter, I’d like to start a “For Sale” column for used or new parts. You can call me at 513-821-0444 or contact this website contacts to list your parts for sale.  

See you all next month!  

Huey  Newport

 (the views expressed by Huey Newport are not necessarily the views of Hydroplanequebec.com)

January 6 2009

Huey’s news, rumors and good old Gossip!!! #7  
Happy New Year “2009”  

Just a quick note to lead into my open letter, below. With the APBA convention coming up at the end of this month, I heard there were some new engine combos on the ballot for the GP and the Unlimited Light classes. I think both the ACHA-GP and APBA-GP classes have a great future down the road. Please think a little longer before you vote for yet another engine combo. It seems like it takes longer to get rid of some rules than it does to add them.  

On the news side, I’ve entered into a contract with Burt Henderson to purchase Jeff Richards assets with the “Deep Water Special”. Jeff will still attend some races and help us out. Bud Keating will be driving on a very limited schedule (heat races only) with Burt driving 90% of the time. Bud will be bringing his engine builders at Dart with him while Burt’s getting his old crew back together. This should be another top notch competitive team. I’ve put the new Staudacher on the back burner until 2010.  

                        An open letter to all “APBA-GP” and Unlimited Lights owners  

In 1985 at St. Pete Florida, a large group of seven liter owners let one person ruin their class. At the time, the 7 liter class was one of the most competitive classes in APBA inboard racing. The year before they had six different winners in their first nine races. This owner convinced everyone there that the new Ford engine was the “wave of the future” and at the next APBA annual meeting they all voted the Ford engine in and from that moment on, the 7 liter class has slowly died.  

In the late 80’s and early 90’s the Grand Prix class was at their peak. In 1987 there were 28 GP boats at the Valleyfield , Quebec regatta. In the 90’s another person who had at the time, a major money sponsor ruined that class also, and the GP class slowly died. Gentleman, your class is also dying a slow death, not by one person but by many!  

The biggest problem in our inboard racing society is two words: “ME and I” when it should be: “WE”. “I” want these rules to benefit “ME” or “I” can’t be competitive so “I” want new rules! What’s best for “ME” etc. I’ve been racing for 38 years in eight different inboard classes and I could name you at least 20 to 25 different owners and or drivers who have almost ruined their classes also.  

The biggest problem in APBA is we let the owners vote on their rules. Here again “ME” and “I” come into play. My boat’s too big or heavy. “I” want a bigger motor. “I” don’t like blown motors. “I” want more cubic inches and a bigger carb. And the list goes on.

I know a lot of you are critical of the ACHA Series in Canada but you know what?  They didn’t start out with the “ME” or “I” attitude. They stated what can “WE” do to bring the Grand Prix class back to where it once was. The biggest, fastest, and the most competitive in inboard racing.  

They looked at the history of all classes and determined they needed a spec engine rule period. Yes, they did put up the money and yes you’ve got to play by their rules but gentlemen, look at the results, “it’s working”!  

In the last two years of ACHA-GP racing, there has only been one engine failure. Yes, it was our “Crush” team’s motor but we found out you can’t turn a blown Big Block Chevy engine 9300 R.P.M. with Eagle rods and expect it to live. At the CBF convention in November, all of our ACHA-GP owners and drivers had a great meeting and came-up with several good rule changes. Changes that will make for a better show. No, the engine rules did not change, and they won’t, period! Here again that “WE” word comes back into play. “WE” wanted a better show for our race fans. Gentlemen, it’s not too late for your class. I can envision an East versus West GP circuit. One in which we could have a Super bowl of racing at some mid-west sites.  

You’ve got to stop allowing new engine combinations in your class. Sit down, elect or appoint a ”Czar”. Someone who’s independent of the situation. I’m not saying to copy the ACHA-GP rules, but at least get a little closer so maybe a supercharger change or a blower ratio change is all that separate the two classes.  

Yes, you’ll piss-off a couple of owners and yes, they’ll threaten to pull out, but you know what? If they are real dedicated boats racers, they’ll change, believe me. Come up with a spec engine or engine to boat combo. Not for next year, but down the road. I’m sure no owner wants to have a dinosaur sitting in his driveway. Act for your class’s future. We did it, so can you!  

Have a great New Year!  

Huey Newport
Owner GP-777

(the views expressed by Huey Newport are not necessarily the views of Hydroplanequebec.com)

December 23 2008

Huey’s news, rumors and good old Gossip!!! #6  

I’d like to apologize to all our loyal ACHA-GP race fans for not getting this newsletter out sooner. When you own your own business it seems you work three times as hard and with this economy the way it is, three times longer.  

First up is, special congratulations go out to Pierre Maheu for winning our ACHA-GP high point Championship. Pierre and his crew did a super job all summer long and did what he had to do to win his first Grand Prix Championship. Believe me, I can attest to the fact of just how much hard work, time, and of course money it takes to run one of our GP boats every year. It came down to the final race at Long Sault before we crowned our champion, Pierre. Jeff Richards and Bert Henderson finished the Championship a very close second with Marty & Randy Wolfe right on their heels for third place. I don’t know how we (The Crush team) managed a fourth place finish. We stepped on our (you know what) all summer long but finally got everything together in Long Sault.  

We had a great CBF convention with a special ACHA-GP meeting on Friday evening. Several good ideas were brought up to our ACHA powers to be, among them were:  

1)      Seven boat finals instead of six. Six starters with one trailer. We wanted an eight boat final but will try seven in 2009 and if this works go to eight in 2010. With all boat teams about equal, now we felt it’s only fair to add an additional boat to our finals. With the competition so tough, you could win one weekend and not qualify for the final the next.

2)      Do away with time trials. We thought it would be more exciting for our race fans to have two sets of qualifying on Saturday instead of one.

3)      A standby boat for our finals. He’ll be in the water at the dock and if one of the seven boats in the final cannot start the standby boat will be allowed to go out on the three minute countdown.

4)      A GP drivers committee will be formed to monitor all drivers, not just our rookies. There were several more good ideas brought up at our meeting but these four were the major ones we felt our ACHA committee should approve for 2009.  

This past weekend, Dan Kanfoush was up in Valleyfield at Claude Bergeron’s shop getting fitted out in his new GP boat. I heard it cost Dan an extra $238 dollars for a speeding ticket he got on the way there. Dan and partner Jim Sechler have already gotten their new trailer ordered and will be receiving most of their engine parts after Christmas. Dan tells me they’ll be on inboard test sessions in April at the Dayton , Ohio hydro bowl and he wants to be ready. Believe me, if you know this team’s past record, they will be right up there going for the ACHA-GP World Championship. Already I’ve heard of four teams that will be there to test among them Mike Weber and Dean Rojas with their redone Balcer hydro.  

Also this past weekend, several of our ACHA-GP owners and drivers attended the Performance Racing trade show in Orlando , Florida . Mike Weber was seen getting fitted out with a new Hans safety device. Myself, and Mike Endress were checking out some new engine goodies. Patrick Haworth and Todd Roesch were over getting Patrick fitted out in a new driver’s suit from Design 500 out of Seattle , Washington . Don Less and Ken Brodie Jr. were looking into purchasing a new engine Dyno for their race shop. George Kennedy and his son were also checking all the new goodies at the show. I think George would love to get back into GP racing now that we have an engine spec rule.  

You know, out of all the heats we ran this past summer, our crush team was the only team to blow a motor. Speaking of engines, the engine rules will not change for 2009. The ACHA committee promised that two years ago and they’re sticking to their promises. This is the one rule that will make our ACHA-GP grow.  

Mike Endres is our new official weatherman at the races. Mike bought one of those trick weather stations so he could monitor the weather and tune his engines as necessary. I also heard Serge Blanchette was attending the show.  

For the past two years, our ACHA-GP Champion Pierre Maheu and runner-up Jeff Richards have not had a major engine failure at all. With two new race sites (maybe 3) and 3 to 4 new race boats and teams this coming year, look out everyone: “The GP class is Back!!!”  

I’ve talked with most of our boats owners and everyone reports all is going well. Engines are being freshen up, boats checked out, and trailers be outfitted with new accessories. Ken Brodie Jr. and crew are putting their GP-50 back together. Everything seems to fit and they should be testing as soon as the ice melts. People don’t remember but at our ACHA-GP race in Cambridge , Ken was out in front of some pretty fast boats before he flipped his boat.  

Norm Phillips reports he still wants to order a new boat but getting ready for the 2009 season is still up in the air. Jimmy will be doing the driving for Norm. Mike Weber stopped by our shop a couple of weeks ago with his redone Balcer hull. It’s got a whole new bottom on it and Mike will be putting the new decks on it soon. Dean Rojas and Mike will be traveling to Cincinnati after the New Year to dyno their new motor. Dan Kanfoush along with his partner Jim Sechler will also be down at the dyno test session picking-up all their new motor parts for their new GP motor and to pick-up some tuning tips from Mike Endress.  

With all our GP boat motors within probably 50 horsepower of each other, it will come down to two things: “Driver and boat handling”. In over 50 years of Grand Prix boat racing I don’t think you’ll find a more competitive class than we have now with our new ACHA race format.  

Again, hats off to our ACHA leaders for coming up with a great new GP ides of racing and some very exciting and competitive rules to let this class grow into the forefront of inboard racing.

Again, sorry for taking so long to get this newsletter out to everyone, but please have a Great Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!  

See you next year!!  

Huey

(the views expressed by Huey Newport are not necessarily the views of Hydroplanequebec.com)

September 3, 2008

Huey’s news & Gossip #5  

What a busy summer and only one GP race to go. Looks like everyone will be at Long Sault the weekend of September 6th & 7th for our final ACHA-GP race of the year. Also, looks like Pierre Maheu could end-up as our ACHA-GP 2008 Champion and or Jeff Richard/Bert Henderson’s team being a very close 2nd in the points standing . My hat’s off to those two great teams! They saw, and they kicked everyone else’s butts. Talk about being ready to race, these two teams were on kill mode the whole summer.  

Most of our team owners also did a great job with their new boats. Getting them rigged out, tested, etc… I wish I could say the same for “The Crush” team. Talk about problems, breakage and frustration, I think our team invented these words. It would take ten pages of “what ifs” to describe our racing year but I don’t want to bore you to death. We spent last week testing a new motor with five different magneto set-ups and believe we’ve come up with an answer to everyone’s magneto problem. We’ll find out at Long Sault.  

I’d like to personally thank all of our GP teams for supporting our races and putting on some pretty good shows this summer. Another fantastic job by the ACHA-GP Valleyfield group for putting on a competitive series and some great racing. That final heat in Cambridge with these boats fighting for the 1st place was one of the best I’ve seen in a long long time.  

Speaking of race sites, several rumors are floating around about new sites for 2009. Littleton N.H. , Hampton V.A., Ville Marie Quebec and Gatineau Quebec to name a few. Most of us would like to see 10 good race events next year and I think our fearless ACHA leaders can make this happen too.  

I was glad to see the Unlimited Lights series finally coming back into the APBA fold. We need a good Busch type series for these owners and drivers to gain experience so they can move up to our ACHA-GP class. How many times have you heard someone in boat racing state: “You haven’t won anything in inboard racing until you’ve won the GP final in Valleyfield . Ask any boat racer in any class and they’ll all agree.  

Our 2008 CBF convention and GP meeting will be held November 15th in Valleyfield . We’ve had a great ACHA-GP series this year and with only a few minor changes here and there, it should lead to an even greater series in 2009.  

Who’s going to be the lucky team owner to receive a new GP boat under the ACHA banner? Many team owners have sent in their resumes but we won’t hear who until after our last race in Long Sault, Ontario .  

More on the gossip front….It seems Norm Phillips may have Jamie Auld overseeing Bert Henderson building him a new Auld/Henderson GP boat. Norm already bought a trailer and has two GP motors built. Brian O’Connor is still thinking about returning to the ACHA-GP class. Dean Rogas (he purchased Pierre Maheu’s old GP hull) and Mike Weber have stripped the decks off and report everything looks good underneath.

Dean and Mike will be sharing the driving duties and hope to compete in some of our ACHA events next year. There’s also another well known past owner who’s looking to getting a GP boat either in 2009 or 2010.  

All in all, our 2008 ACHA-GP series has been another big stepping stone in bringing Grand Prix back to its former position as the greatest spectacle in boat racing!  

See you soon!  

Huey~

(the views expressed by Huey Newport are not necessarily the views of Hydroplanequebec.com)

April 8

Huey’s News, Rumours and Gossip !!  #4

It’s now just two weeks to our first ACHA-GP race in Tonawanda , N.Y. May 31st and June 1st. The good folks at Niagara Frontier Racing Club have been working overtime to get ready for the big race. Every place I’ve gone these last three weeks has a boat race poster in their window. Should be a great spectator turnout and from all signs a good boat count.  

Two boats that were expected won’t be due to business reasons. Milt Wiggins and son Charles have to move Charles business on that weekend and Claude Bergeron’s boat won’t be ready.  

Everyone else is working overtime to get ready. Ken Brodie Jr. has picked his boat up at the paint shop and now starts the never ending task of putting it all back together.  

News from our team; Patrick Haworth has the boat in Valleyfield getting it painted and lettered. The name and color scheme have been changed. We got looking at the boats in the fleet and everyone except Long Gone had white bottoms so we decided to paint ours “red all over”. We’ve also listened to all our old race fans who loved the old “Orange Crush” name and decided to change the name to “The Crush”.  

I’ve been up at Mike Endres shop these past three weeks working with Mike, Gary Roesch, Mike Clark, Darryle Monette, Jim Teel and going over to Ken Brodie’s shop to borrow or cut some pieces of aluminum. It’s been over 14 years since Mike and I have set up a new GP boat.  

Marty Wolfe and his team motored all the way to Phoenix , AZ this past month to test out their new GP toy. Marty reports the boat handled great and had lots of power and would have easily handled the fleet at the race except for some oiling problems that forced them out of the race. Marty reports that all is well repaired and ready to race in Tonawanda .  

Milt Wiggins had their GP boat in Tennessee for an exhibition race with five other boats, and he to reports their boat ran super and won handily. I hope Milt can come up to Valleyfield and race our club owners.  

No new gossip to report. Brian O’Connor and Norm Phillips are still talking new boats for 2009, while Mike Weber is active seeking sponsors for his GP team for 2009.  

Hope to see all our fans at the end of this month in Tonawanda , N.Y.  

Until then, safe boating!  

Huey~

(the views expressed by Huey Newport are not necessarily the views of Hydroplanequebec.com)

April 8, 2008

Huey’s News, Rumours and Gossip !!  3

First off, it seems like Bert Henderson and Claude Bergeron will be finishing up our boat and Tom Packradooni’s boat by the time you read this. That gives us about 7 to 8 weeks to paint them and rig them out. Although Claude and his guys are working their butts off, I don’t think he’ll make the first race in Buffalo with his and Robert’s new Bergeron hull.  

Speaking of Tom’s new boat, GP-88 “Rolling Thunder” it will be painted white with royal blue trim and be sponsored by SANIMAX out of Quebec , Canada . Tom owns a marina and is the former National Champion in the Jersey Speed Skiff class. He’s also driven in several 5, 6 & 7 liter hydro races. He’s got one of east coast’s top engine builders in Al Grabinski building & tuning his engines.  

I talked with Pierre Maheu last week and he and his team are working overtime to finish his toy (Claude’s Miss Valleyfield 2007). He’s got a great and talented crew in Daniel Leclerc, Serge Blanchette and Dominic Maisonneuve. This should be a top team right out of the box. Remember, Pierre won Saint-Felicien last year and was very competitive with an older heavier boat in several races in 2007. His GP-1001 “Miss Dinomytes” will be sporting those bright colors of red, white and yellow trim. Paint job will be done by MC Design. Best of luck to both of these teams.  

Although we’ve lost Odgensburg , NY as a race site this year, the powers at ACHA are busy talking to other race sites for a race in August. Stay tuned on this one…  

Our team (GP-777) is getting everything together. Our new “Mule Motor”.  In all, we made over 38 pulls, trying different camshafts, intake manifolds, etc. Here’s a copy (please see below) of our better pulls for your information. In all our testing, it seems like you’re going to get around 1100 H.P. with ACHA’s spec motor and close to 1,000 foot pounds of Torque. Mike spent several hours redoing the fuel system which by the way is probably the “most” important part of these motors. You can go from Hero to Goat with one jet change, or changing your fuel bypass system. It should be an interesting summer. Tom Baker has been busy spending hours with Patrick Haworth on the phone with every prop makers in the business.  

Todd Roesch has purchased a new 450 Ford Dually to pull our new rig and of course Bud Keating has gone out of his way at Dart Machine to help us out with the best Dart block and heads (through ACHA) available. Special thanks go out to Rick Sparks at Comp Cams for supplying us with several different camshafts to test on the spec motor along with Tim Langley from Lunati (Crankshafts) and Ron at Diamond Piston.  

The Brodie bunch is busy getting their new boat finished. They have to be ready as Tonawanda is their home base. Ken Jr. reports all is proceeding on time and they will be ready.  

Elizabeth Wolfe reports the GP-93 (the former Pleasure Seeker GP-2) will race the ACHA-GP Tonawanda, Cambridge , Brockville and Valleyfield events in 2008. They could possibly do a few more, but will be determined at a later date. This is another team which will be very competitive right out of the box.   

Got a call from Milt Wiggins and he’ll be attending several of our ACHA-GP races with his hull.

Lucky ones, Bert Henderson and Jeff Richards are just about set to go. Warren Haworth has gone through their motor and reports everything looked great. You see, this is what’s going to make this ACHA-GP class great. They ran their motor all year, won some races, finished second in points and hardly had to spend anything to freshen up their motor.

The boys at ACHA have come up with a great spec motor that will stay together and boats that will run 150 mph plus and put on a great show for our fans. Everyone has agreed it’s going to come down to the best handling boat ant the best driver.

Take care, keep working on those boats and we’ll see everyone in Tonawanda . By the way, Mike and Terry Endres are having a get together party at their house on Grand Island (3 miles from the race course) for all our Grand Prix members and their friends.

It should be a great time and a great weekend!

Huey Newport ~

Dyno test results

(the views expressed by Huey Newport are not necessarily the views of Hydroplanequebec.com)

February 26, 2008

Huey’s News, Rumours and Gossip !!  #2

I want to thank all the good folks at the APBA Headquarters and our new APBA president Marc Weber for putting on another great APBA annual meeting in Detroit this past month. I could only stop in for a minute to say hello to some old friends and catch up with the latest news, gossip & rumors.  

On one hand it seems everyone in our boat racing fraternity are working together to promote our sport, but you “still” have that small minority that’s barely holding on to keep their class together, trying to survive that will do or say anything to stir things up.  

Such is the case with Unlimited Lights owners. Secret meetings, threats of fines etc. has only alienated several of its members to the point where they are saying: “I’ll race my boat where and when I please. Nobody’s going to dictate where I have to race on any given weekend”  

This class has so many different engine combinations you’ll have to have a major NASCAR type sponsor backing your team to be competitive. Only in the sport of boat racing do we have some boats owners hell-bent on destroying their class.  

Wake up guys! It won’t be too long before you’ll all be dinosaurs and your boats big old flowerpots!! And please leave the ACHA GP owners alone. We’ve got a great thing going for 2008. Step up to our rules and come race our circuit. You’ll be gladly welcomed but keep the engine rule changes to your class. We’re set for two years minimum, and we’re “NOT CHANGING ANYTHING” for anybody, period!!!  

Now on a more positive note, the powers to be from Valleyfield attended our annual meeting in Detroit and were promoting their World Championship race in July. Seems like they’ve got all their ducks in a row and are ready to go racing. Great job guys! It should be one of their biggest races ever. Speaking of Valleyfield , heard Peter Knight and some of his GP buddies from down under in New Zealand are planning to attend this year’s race.  

That’s the latest news, now to the gossip and rumors! Mike Weber, Brian O’Connor and Norm Phillips have all put their bid for new ACHA GP boats for 2009. These three gentlemen are avid racers and will be a welcomed addition to our fast growing “NEW” GP family. I talked with Justin Weymouth from way out in the State of Washington this past week and he hopes to get his new Ron Jones finished up this summer and maybe, just maybe attend a couple of late summer GP races. Although I haven’t personally met Justin, I hear he’s a great addition to our ACHA GP class which by all indications is growing by leaps and bounds.  

For those of you that don’t know Norm Phillips, he lives in Ontario , Canada , ran several GP races in the 80’s and 90’s and raises exotic animals for a living. He takes these animals to various shows around the country, rents them out to movie companies and also sells them worldwide. Want a lion or tiger cub cheap! Talked with Norm last week and he said he’s got plenty of lion and tiger cubs on hand. Seems something got in the water up there and now he’s got 42 lion and tiger cubs running around. Norm says he’s been chasing wild animals around for years and definitely wants to get back into GP racing.

Claude Bergeron and Bert Henderson are both working their butts off to get the latest new GP hulls out of their shops. Ken Brodie’s bunch are well on the way to finishing up their new Henderson hull and testing should begin as soon as the ice melts in Tonawanda which by the way is the site  for our first GP race on May 31st to June 1st.  

Mike Endress and Todd Roesch will be traveling to my shop in Cincinnati next week to dyno our new engine combinations. Last year we installed the latest state of the art Superflow 902 dyno with the latest advanced computer program in the industry. Although there is not too much you can change with the new GP engine rules we’ve got several minor changes we can do and we will print out all our horsepower & torque readings in my next column. These readings will be the most accurate available too date.

A lot of engines builders around the country have older Dynos that are a little loose and their horsepower readings tend to be a little on the high side.  

I talked with Robert Theoret this past week. He’s been spending the winter down in “Ole Mexico ”. He’s slowly working his way back home and can’t wait to get working on his old Lauterbach GP-444.  

Heard the boys down in Minnesota are having Larry Lauterbach build them a “brand new” Edelweiss hull with 2008 updates and motor. This would be a great match race in Valleyfield if we could get Robert and Larry to run a few laps for us. Stay tuned on this one.  

There still a lot of rumors and gossip going around but you’ll have to wait for my next column next month. For all you ACHA GP owners: Crank up those heaters, get those garages and shops cleaned out. Tonawanda will be here before we know it!

Huey Newport ~

(the views expressed by Huey Newport are not necessarily the views of Hydroplanequebec.com)

Huey’s News, Rumours and Gossip !! #1

On the news front, there seems to be a slight misunderstanding regarding the purchase of Roger Mehan’s Auld built GP-2 hydroplane. It was reported the boat was going to the west coast and would be run on the Unlimited Lights circuit only. I talked with one of the crew members and yes, they will be running some of the Unlimited Lights regattas but they also will be running several GP races. In fact, he stated: “We can’t wait for the first GP race in Tonawanda , N.Y. ”  

The new team will be a welcomed addition to our “NEW ACHA GP” family. They too realize along with hundreds of inboard racers that if you’re going to race boats and you want to get any recognition in our sport, you’ve got to do it in ACHA Grand Prix.  

Ask any former GP winner who won the crown jewel by winning the GP final in Valleyfield such as: Larry Lauterbach, Robert Theoret, Jimmy King, Frank Richardson, Howie Benns or Kent McPhail,” ask them if they had to pick their number one accomplishment in boat racing, they would tell you all to a man that it was to win the Grand Prix in Valleyfield, our "Daytona 500" on the water.  

Speaking of NASCAR, that’s exactly what our new ACHA GP committee in Valleyfield wants to happen. A NASCAR style of racing on the water. A spec blown motor that makes lots of noise, a well constructed race boat that stays together and a quality race boat driver when all assembled will put on the “Best Damn Boat Race” in North America . Of course, already we’ve got some owners who want to change little things in the motors or on the boats. Friends, I can answer all the questions with a resounding NO! Nothing will change, period! The ACHA has made our rules and that’s it. And you want to know a little secret? That’s why everyone who is anyone in our sport is coming “BACK” to ACHA Grand Prix.  

Won’t it be great to go to a race, clean your boat, be competitive, go home in one piece and be ready to go to the next race? Get over it people! No new rule changes! If we’d had done this fifteen years ago, there’s no telling where we’d be today.  

I talked with Brian O’Connor at the recent Performance Racing show in Florida this past weekend, and he too will be coming back to ACHA Grand Prix in 2009. He also was checking out all the new race parts and safety equipment available in today’s race market place. He too couldn’t believe that after all these years some group (The Valleyfield ACHA) has stepped up to the plate with a spec engine rule for Grand Prix. Brian’s only comments were: “Where were those rules when I was spending thousands of dollars on these big motors and repairing my boat almost every weekend?”  

I had a chance to check out all the new two way radio systems at the show. They’ve done a great job both with quality and pricing on complete systems. Remember, for 2008 you must have a two way radio system. Check out Horsepower Sales featured ads that should be coming out soon on this Hydroplane Quebec website. They will be selling a complete driver to crew radio two way package for under $650.00.

With all the phone calls, emails and letters flying around, 2008 already shapes up to be the greatest year ever for the “New Wave” of ACHA Grand Prix boats and racing. How long has it been since we’ve seen 2, 3 ,4 GP boats racing nose to nose or side by side? If you really think about it, you’ll have to go back 25-30 years. Until next time, stay tuned.  

Have a great Merry Christmas and a better Happy New Year!

Huey Newport

((the views expressed by Huey Newport are not necessarily the views of Hydroplanequebec.com)

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