The fleet is growing
Les Régates de Valleyfield
actually owns 8 hulls, : GP-7 Long Gone, GP-11
Fast Eddie, GP-50 Brodie Motosports, GP-88 Rolling
Thunder, GP-247 DeepWater Special, GP-444 Grand
Prix Valleyfield, GP-777 The Crush and GP-1001
Miss Dinomytes.
5 other boats should be part
of the GP class for 2009: GP-1 Showboat, GP-15
Graham Trucking GT / Happy Go Lucky, GP-93
Renegade, GP-59 Baby Doll III and a team that
would include Wally Johnston.
September 3
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)
July 24
It's confirmed, Mike Monahan will drive the GP-7 this weekend in Cambridge, filling
in for Jimmy Shane who will be filling in for the injured Mike Allen.
June 29
Take a peak at the new
look of GP-1 and to the other GP profiles
June 10
Test session of GP-1001 on
June 9.
May 28
First pictures of " the
Crush " GP-777
May 27
GP-1001 Dinomytes in exibition
at the team's fundrising diner
GP-7 News
The
GP-7 is ready to go for the 2008 season. We worked on cosmetic details
on the boat, painted
the engine compartment, fixed the deck where we had to remove the gas
tank from the 2007 season. The Engine has been freshened up and is
ready. We are also in the process of having a second engine built for
the 2008 season. We are also currently looking for sponsors for the
boat, If any company would like to have their name on a competitive GP
boat for the 2008 season or for one race please get in contact with
Jimmy Shane at jimmyshane@hotmail.com
or Kelly Shane at kellyshane317@verizon.net
. The team is
planning on running all the ACHA GP races this year. The 2007 season was
a great learning experience for the entire team and we look forward to
good 2008 season.
May 21
Preparation of
GP-50
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)
May 2
Construction of
GP-50
Transformation of GP-1
April 12
Construction
of GP-88
April 8
Huey’s
News, Rumours and Gossip !!
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)
March 28
GP-93's
complete team profile
March 19
Construction
of GP-88 and GP-444
Work on
GP-1001 Dinomytes
Construction of GP-777 Olympiad
March 10
By
Paul Davidson
News
from the CBF Vice-President, Public Relations and ACHA-GP
Technical Rules Representative, Mr. Ron O'Neill
It
was confirmed by Mr. O'Neill from Denise Moughan (the Events
Organizer & Secretary of the New Zealand Grand Prix Hydroplane
Drivers Club) that a delegation from her country will be traveling
to Valleyfield to see "Les Régates Molson Dry de
Valleyfield" and to meet with the ACHA-GP principals. Along with
Mrs Moughan, Warrick Lupton (The Treasurer and several time World
Grand Prix Champion driver and owner of the three GP Annihilators
boats ) his wife Lee, along with GP driver Mark Cromie among
others. There are no plans to bring boats this year but Mr. O'Neill
reports there have already been discussions to make plans to bring
at least one boat to Valleyfield in the future. Peter Knight Sr. and Jr.
were also confirmed until recently but had to unfortunately cancel
their trip due to Peter Sr's health issues. They were really
looking forward to make this trip to Valleyfield.The delegation is
apparently very eager to see the ACHA-GP boats in action and
also to meet with both Canadian builders Claude Bergeron and Bert
Henderson. Some Grand Prix boat orders might very well be coming
their way, we never know...
February 27
What
real men are made of
The
ACHA's Vice President & Public Relations Mr.
Ron O'Neill sends Hydroplane Quebec pictures of
his long time friend Mario Maraldo
recuperating at home from a knee replacement
operation. Mario has been a Grand Prix driver
for a long time during the thick and thin days of
the class. This year, Mario turns 70 and should be
part of the "Les Régates Molson Dry" de
Valleyfield's 70th anniversary event.
Mario
is a race warrior with a young heart. It will be exciting
to see Mario drive the Baby Doll III again
around "the Saint-François bay"!
Please make sure to stop by and say
hello to Mario and in the pits. Mario will
greet you with a warm smile and firm handshake!
Wishing
you a fast recovery Mario !!!
February 26
Huey’s
News, Rumours and Gossip !!
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)
February 6
Construction
is going on on GP-88 and GP-444
Modification
of GP-1( GP-555) by Scott Liddycoat
February 3
New look
of the GP-1001 Dinomytes
January 30
Pierre
Maheu works on the GP-1001
January 14
Pictures
of the construction of GP-88 in Claude Bergeron's
shop
Pictures of the construction of GP-50 by Brodie
Motorsports
December 21
Press
Release from
Huey’s
News, Rumours and Gossip !!
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)
December 12
Former
"Pleasure Seeker GP-2" returns to
the water
Stored since
the late 90's in a garage in New
Jersey, the Pleasure Seeker GP-2 has been sold.
Over the years, many have tried to acquire
this ultra-competitive boat, but it's owner,
Roger Mahan was reluctant to sell--until
now.
HydroplaneQuebec.com found out that a deal
was made between Roger Mahan, Marty
Wolfe and his partner, Dennis Johnson to
purchase the GP-2. Already owners/partners
of boats in different classes sponsored by Trafficade and
Wolfe
engines; among them a wickedly-fast
Bergeron/Pigeon National Mod hydro named
"Desperado",
the duet is making the big jump into GP and/or
Unlimited Light racing
with a boat capable of being competitive with any
other current hull.
The Pleasure Seeker GP-2 was built in 1994,
and was one of the best in the mid 90's with Jimmy
King at the wheel. It was also one of the rare
GP boats powered by a Chrysler Hemi engine.
Look for this hydroplane to most likely be painted
with the Trafficade colors in 2008. Boat number and
name has yet to be disclosed. Stay tuned for
more info!
November 15
There
will be some new teams on the GP circuit next year
and one of those teams can count on a lot of
experience. The team composed of Tom Baker, Todd
Roesch, Huey Newport and Mike Endress will bring a
lot of credibility to the GP class revival. Hydroplanequebec.com
collaborator Paul Davidson got in touch with Huey
Newport
to find out how he sees the 2008 season and beyond.
Q:
Mr. Newport, what role will you play with the new
Grand Prix team and the class?
Huey:
“ I’ll be doing
all the PR work for our team. We haven’t gotten a
major sponsor as of today but when we do
I’ll coordinate all activities with that sponsor.
I’ll also be transporting the race boat rig to and
from races. I’m building a huge trailer and will
be setting it up as a complete rolling machine shop
with drill presses, welding equipment, etc. for all
race teams to use.”
Q:
Huey:“Our
company sells performance racing products throughout
North America
. We handle 250 different manufactures for racing
products. We sell wholesale to the public and on the
Internet through our sister company www.horsepowersales.com
We
will also carry a complete stock of motor parts
including blowers, injectors to complete blown
motors for all GP racers to use as needed.”
Q:
What impressed you the most with the GP class this
year, even though it was
basically a work in
progress year?
Huey:“What
impressed me the most was how every GP owner,
driver, to crew was more relaxed and everyone
got along together. This makes it more fun to race.
In the past
we had a couple of owners who had to
“Go fast for my sponsor” and to tell the truth,
ruined the GP class.”
“The
Valleyfield
group did their homework this past year and really
covered all the bases. The races were well organised
and classes were run off very fast. The fans
loved it and didn’t have to sit around all
day waiting to see the heats.”
Q:
What name, number and colours will your team show
next year?
Huey:“We
don’t have a name yet but colors will probably be
red over white and the
number will be GP-777, a tribute to the late
Marty Niles who won a lot of races with
our “Orange Crush” GP-777”.
Q:
How do you see the GP revival developing in the next
few years?
Huey:
“With the great
help from the
Valleyfield
group, I predict the GP class in 2 more
years will be one of the largest and most
competitive in all of boat racing. I’ll also give
you a couple of new scoops before the
convention:
-
Mike Weber will be driving the “Showboat” GP out
of
New Jersey
in 2008 and
they’ll be ordering a new Balcer hull for 2009
-
Norm Phillips will be ordering a new
Henderson
hull for 2009 also.
-
Our team will have a second boat for 2009.”
With
the new engine rules, you can build a competitive
blown motor for less than $15,000 and run it all
season long plus won’t have all the horsepower of
those old big motors tearing your boat up.”
Q:
Anything you would like to say for our Hydroplane
Quebec International viewers?
Huey:
I think all our GP fans
have a great treat in store for them. No longer will
you see one boat way out in front of the pack,
you’ll be seeing a NASCAR type race on water. It
will come down to who the better driver and who will
have the better handling
boat on any given Sunday.” I predict a lot of
exciting side by side GP racing plus by
2010 we should see 20 to 25 new GP boats at all
regattas.”
October 24
The
return of GP-1001 in 2008
Another
legendary hydro will be back on the water in 2008!
Pierre Maheu will return in 2008, not behind the
wheel of GP-46, but with the Miss Dinomytes
GP-1001--a
well known name and number from the late 80's early
90’s.
A lot of
you will remember the duel between Howie Benns in
the Miss
Dinomytes and Jean-Pierre Lessard in the Dynasty
Dinomytes
in Valleyfield 1992, or the 1988 World
Championship won by Howie Benns in Valleyfield .
In a
recent interview, Pierre tells HydroplaneQuebec.com,
"In the early 90's, the film “Days of
Thunder” really had a serious impact in my
life. This film starring Tom Cruise playing the
character "Cole Trickle" and his famous
#46 race car really made me a passionate fan of the
NASCAR series, and for the world of racing in
general. This is where I got the idea to put #46
on my boat when I got into racing in 1997.
Today
with the Dinomytes team and its important history in
the world of hydroplane racing, it only makes sense
to use the legendary GP-1001. I was 13 years old
when Howie Benns won Valleyfield in 1988. It is
evident that I never thought in my wildest dreams
that I would be driving a GP with this famous number
one day. With Valleyfield 's help, it is a
great honor for the team to now have a very
important financial partner with Dinomytes. With a excellent
quality boat and partner, I strongly believe
that Valleyfield fans will be able to identify
even more with our team and this will put more incentive
and pressure to do well. I will never be able to
replace such prestigious names as Howie Benns
and Jules Leboeuf, but sitting in the cockpit of a
boat baring the same name and number as they did in
the past is simply an unbelievable dream come true.
The
Grand Prix class is coming back in a mighty big way
and it would be very interesting to possibly go back
to places like Cocagne or Ville-Marie.
Perhaps those towns could come back as Grand Prix
racing sites one day.
Valleyfield
will always be Valleyfield with its history and
prestige makes it a place that everybody wants to
win. When I won 2000
Valleyfield 2.5 liter class, it was a magical
moment in my life that I will never ever forget. My
ultimate goal now is to win Valleyfield with
the GP-1001.
Beauharnois
and St-Félicien
have both been excellent places for the Grand Prix
class this year. The course layouts favoured the
sheer speed of the GP's. The 2008 season will be
bigger year and the fans will be thrilled with more
racing excitement"
The
Team will have a party on Saturday
November, 24th at 6 pm at the St-Esprit Church
basement, 101 Salaberry Street, Valleyfield. The
cost is 20$ and it's a great opportunity to
meet the team.
October 16
2 new
stellar teams to race Grand Prix in 2008.
Team
Extreme gets “GP Extreme”
During a brief wind delay at
the 2007 Wildwood, NJ inboard event where the first
meeting took place between Bob Zabady and Scott
Liddycoat. Bob Zabady, current owner of the
PS-5551, K-555 and the 2007
High Point
winner GP-555
Showboat driven by Ken
Brodie was looking for a talented driver who
would take over the operation of the Showboat race
team in 2008. Brodie Motor Sports will have a new
hull and will not race the GP-555 anymore. Scott
Liddycoat, who in previous conversations with the
HydroplaneQuebec.com team, had made it clear he was
ready to jump into the seat of a Grand Prix
hydroplane. A few weeks later, the deal was made and
Scott will have the honor to make his debut behind
the wheel of the boat bearing the GP-1. Scott, who
is originally from Burlington, Ontario but now
resides in Virginia, has a lot of experience as a
driver in 2.5 litre, 2.5 mod, 5 litre and National
Modifiéd classes. Along with his brother Todd, Team
Extreme’s accomplishments include winning the 2004
GNH Championship in his NM/GNH-97, the 2006 &
2007 5 litre North American Championships in
Cambridge
,
Maryland
and the 2007 Summer Nationals in
Hampton
,
Virginia
. Scott had worked with the legendary Henry
Lauterbach in Portsmouth, Virginia, before he
started building his own wood boats. He now restores
vintage hydros, along with building and repairing
hydroplanes in all classes. Scott should be picking
up the boat the weekend of Oct 20th, and bringing it
back to
Virginia
for updates and any needed repairs. Will the boat be
painted in the traditional red “Team Extreme”
colors? Stay tuned for more updates…
A brand new Ron Jones hydro in
the GP class.
You heard it here
first--another new serious team will be joining the
GP class in 2008—this time from out west. Justin
Weymouth from Woodinville,
Washington
should be picking up his brand new hull from Ron
Jones just before Christmas.
Weymouth, who won the 2005 championship in the 2.5
litres Mod class is used to driving long distances
as he drives cross country to the east coast to
attend a few races each year, along with traveling
to New Zealand in 2006 and won the UIM World
Championships. In 2008,
Weymouth
will team up with another experienced driver which
is also used to traveling to numerous races all over
the
USA
and
Canada
. The E-98 Agitator,
owned and driven by Wally Johnson out of
Helena
,
Montana
will be driving the new Ron Jones Grand Prix
hydroplane. Johnson said he is very excited to drive
the new boat.
