September 3, 2024 • 24 mins
What if you could relive the golden days of hydroplane racing through the eyes of an industry veteran? Join us for part 1 of my chat with Jeff Campbell, the crew chief of Nine Beacon Plumbing and general manager of Strong Racing. Jeff shares candid anecdotes from his storied career. Listen in as he recounts pivotal moments from national events, offering invaluable insights into the highs and lows of his journey, shaped by his father's enduring passion for boat racing. Don't forget part 2 will be available next week, September 10th, 2024. Enjoy!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Ruchetel Talk, the podcast dedicated to everything
about the sport that we all lovehydroplane racing.
I am your host, david Newton,and it's time once again, so sit
back, relax and welcome toRooster Tail Talk, we'll talk.
(00:48):
Hello Reese fans, welcome backto the podcast.
It's episode 129, and todayyou're going to hear part one of
my interview with Jeff Campbell.
Now, jeff, you may know hisname, or you might have heard
his name in passing, but he'swhat I call one of the unsung
heroes of H1 Unlimited.
He has crewed for many boatsover the years, many different
(01:11):
teams and racing organizations,but currently he is the crew
chief of the Nine BeaconPlumbing and general manager of
Strong Racing.
This didn't happen overnight.
Like I said, he has a lot ofexperience in the sport and some
may know of his beginnings ofracing inboards in the 70s and
80s.
It's really been a familyaffair for him, as he works with
his brother, mike Campbell, andhas crewed with him for many
(01:33):
racing teams and raced with himnot only in inboards but along
with RC scale hydroplanes.
I got a chance to race withJeff and Mike over the years.
They're fierce competitors, nomatter what they race, and
you're going to hear a littlebit more about his history and
background in hydroplane racingand get to understand why it's
so important for Jeff.
Now I could go on and on abouthis victories, his trivia and
(01:57):
his accolades in the sport, butyou're going to hear that in
this interview, so I'm not goingto distract us anymore and not
go into any more digressions andlet's get into that interview,
as I sat down with him in hisoffice down in Kent, washington,
at Strong Racing Headquarters.
Well, I'm sitting down here inKent, washington, at Strong
Racing Headquarters, sittingacross from Jeff Campbell, crew
(02:19):
chief of the nine BeaconPlumbing.
Jeff, how are you doing today?
Good?
Well, thanks for taking yourtime to talk today.
Sure, I know you got a lot todo to get ready for San Diego,
but I like talking to peoplefrom all corners of the sport
and I consider you one of theunsung heroes of the sport,
because drivers and owners getall the accolades of the sport.
But what crew members reallymake the boats go and?
(02:41):
And you have a long and greathistory in the sport and have a
lot of victories, so I'm excitedto talk about that today.
But you've done this boatracing thing for a majority of
your life.
How did this all get introducedto you.
How did it get started?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Well, I would say it's basically all my life.
I was born into it.
My dad raced outboards before Iwas born and inboards during my
childhood.
There was always something boatrelated going on in the garage,
so there was no option.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
That's what I was born to do so your first
memories are pretty much aroundboat racing then.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Yeah, in fact, mom showed me pictures a while back
of me playing in the sand with arace boat in the background, so
it's basically been my entirelife.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Well, so yeah, you had no choice.
I can understand that.
My dad was big into hydroplaneswhen I was a kid, so I was
around it, but you got startedracing inboards.
When did that start for you?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
start for you.
77 was the first year Iactually drove a boat.
I was 15 years old.
Dad gave me an option he wouldeither buy me a car or build me
a race boat.
I picked the boat because Ifigured I could buy myself a car
.
That's how I got into actuallyracing.
What?
Speaker 1 (04:03):
hole, did you start?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
with.
It was one that Dad built.
It was what they would considera one liter stock.
Now, in the beginning it was a1200cc and then it went to one
liter.
It was a T-boat.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
You raced that for a while, but you had some success
in boards.
I believe you have some recordsand some victories.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Yeah, I set a kilo record with that boat, set a
mile and two-thirds record withthat boat and then eventually
sold it to Greg Hopp.
Oh, and then Dad and I built aone-liter modified now I think
that's what you call them.
I built a one liter modifiednow I think that's what you call
them was a Y boat and had somesuccess with that, set a record,
(04:49):
won the national high pointchampionship with that boat and
ended up at the museum up on thewall.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yes, yeah, I believe that's with Perkins inboard as
well.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Yeah, perkins is up on top and mine's down on the
bottom.
Yeah, Awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
I know you had some success at inboard nationals.
Can you talk about thoseexperiences?
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Custake was 77 nationals and that was my second
race I'd ever been at.
So you know, here I'm a 15 yearold kid and there's all these
boats and it was an eye-opener.
I ended up second overall.
I had the fastest boat but Ididn't know how to drive it, so
I was late to the start, screwedup, but I ended up second and I
(05:34):
got $200, which was a trophy.
that was probably four and ahalf feet tall, so for a
15-year-old kid it was the bigthing.
And then Dayton we went to thenationals in 80, put my boat up
on top of Jerry Kelson's boatand towed it back to Dayton and
(05:57):
didn't do very well at all.
I think I got seventh or eighthor something.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
It wasn't.
It wasn't a great experience.
And then in 85, I took my oneliter back there and again I had
a very fast boat, got down tothe first turn and somebody had
hooked and ran into the side ofit and tore the whole right
spawns and all.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Oh geez, so never got out of the first turn.
Did you go cartwheeling throughthe water then?
Speaker 2 (06:22):
No, I stayed in the boat Just tore the right
spalding off.
I was able to drive it back tothe beach, Okay, and then I
hurried home and then fixed theboat during the week and then
the next weekend we went toCullaby Lake and I set a mile
record with it.
So it was a little bit ofcomfort in my disaster.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Well, that probably had to have been a highlighted
for you to be able to take awrecked boat and fix it yourself
and set a record.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
And that's kind of what I've done over the years is
been able to reconstruct stuffand when I was very little I'd
take stuff apart, rarely everput it back together.
But over the years I figuredout how to fix things and
improve things.
That's what we've done a lot onthe nine over the years yeah,
you have.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yeah, you've really transitioned that boat.
I want to get to the talkingabout that in a little bit, but
why did you decide to stopracing inboards?
Speaker 2 (07:18):
um, I sold the one liter in 1985 for a couple of
reasons.
A the mid 80s were verydangerous in inboards.
A lot of people were gettingkilled and I had a two year old
and I had another one on the wayand I thought, you know, it's
(07:39):
probably a good idea to walkaway.
So I sold everything and walkedaway.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Well, I mean probably was a smart decision.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Yeah, because the canopies were just starting out
in the big boats and they hadn'tgotten down to the limits and
stuff and nobody knew what itwas going to cost or how you're
going to do it, so it was just agood time to get out.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
That took a while to get into inboards.
Yeah, when was it regulated ininboards?
I couldn't even tell you.
I feel like it was in the 90sat some point.
Yeah, that was a while, but atthat time you were busy with
Unlimiteds then right, 85?
Speaker 2 (08:18):
No, I was still living in Oregon.
I moved to Seattle in 86 andthen started working on the
Miller a little bit in 86.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
You've crewed for a lot of teams You've crewed
correct me if I'm wrong butMiller, American, Mr Pringles,
Budweiser, Jones, Racing andStrong Racing.
Yeah, Did I miss any on thatlist?
Speaker 2 (08:43):
There's a few more in there.
I did a little bit with thePietras Pizza, which was the
former Budweiser hole.
I did work on the us westcellular.
Okay, um, there's a lot of guysthat just helped out a little
bit here and there didn't reallycrew on them.
The ones you have there, those,those are the main ones.
Okay, well, tell me, how didyou get started with miller um
(09:05):
86?
My brother, mike, was workingin kent for lacero on the Miller
boat.
When I moved up here I went towork for Don Kelson building
patterns and boat stuff.
Then I stopped by the shopbecause it was on my way home to
see what my brother was doingand see the shop.
I'd known John Walters and allthose guys.
(09:27):
I stopped by more and moreoften.
They started giving me thingsto do and by mid season I was
had a uniform and I was going toraces.
So that's kind of how it allreally got started.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Yeah Well, yeah, you got started 86 there, and when
did you switch over to the nextteam?
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Um, for the 88 season my brother had left Miller and
went to pringles okay andeventually the phone rang.
They needed help.
So I started going up helpingthem get that boat ready to run
and then there again ended upwith a uniform and going to all
the races kind of kind ofsnowballed into basically a crew
(10:09):
guy.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Yeah, that's an interesting experience to go
from there because you were.
You did you help finish theboat in 88?
Yeah, and it was a fast boat,but you had a lot of work on
your hands.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
We crashed a lot yeah it, uh, and it was a great
learning experience because youknow when you crash a lot, you
got to fix a lot of things.
So I learned how to do a lot ofthings that I didn't didn't
know before and better ways todo it, faster ways, because we
needed parts so much faster,yeah, so yeah, that was a tricky
(10:43):
boat.
It it was either fast or it wasupside down.
Yeah, one of those thingslooking back now what we know we
could have fixed it, but at thewe just didn't know.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
What do you think was the biggest cause back then?
What flipped so much?
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Part of it was where the brake was and just weights
and balances and so much stuffthat we've learned over the
years to adjust wings andcanards.
And it didn't have the fullcanard, it had the flaps.
So there's a lot of things thathave evolved since then.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
How long did you work for Worcester then?
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Off and on, probably until about 1993-ish, mike and I
decided we wanted to racego-karts.
We raced go-karts in themid-90s up until we started at
Budweiser.
Did you have much success withgo-karts?
So we raced go-karts in the mid90s, so up until we started at
budweiser.
So did you have much successwith go?
Yeah, we won a couple ofchampionships and a lot of
(11:38):
regional races and stuff.
So it was fun.
It was a.
It was a learning curve.
You know, we started withnothing and worked our way up to
the top.
Yeah, by the end we had fullcarbon fiber bodies.
We had some pretty fancy gokarts.
At the end it got too expensiveand too time-consuming, finally
had to just give it up.
(12:02):
From there you went to BudweiserRacing.
Yeah, budweiser 92 startedpart-time.
They had crashed in Seattle.
Then they called and said comehelp us put it back together.
So they basically made a nightshift.
So there was five or six of usthat would come in after work
and the regular crew guys wouldset us up with what to do
through the night.
(12:22):
We'd work till you know nine,ten o'clock at night, you know,
get their stuff done for them,and then they come in the
morning and finish, and then, uh, that was before san diego, so
we'd finish the thing up, sentit down to san diego and then
they told us thanks for your,thanks for all your effort and
sent us away.
Yeah, um, and then they crashedin san diego yeah so then they
(12:45):
called mike and I back and said,hey, why don't you guys just
come after work nights andweekends?
We'll put you on the payrolland just kind of help us out.
So did that from 92 until 95.
It became a full-time job, okay, so I quit my job at kelson's
and started working at budweiser.
Yeah, and then mike came along.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
I think two years later he came along full-time,
okay I didn't know about havingnight shifts for the to fix that
boat, but that that crash in 92I think it was missing the back
half of the boat it was a lotof parts.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Yeah, it was.
We basically saved I think itwas the right sponson, the
cockpit and a little bit of thebottom, but it was.
It was basically a new boat,yeah, and then you, it didn't
even last a race and it wasupside down again.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
How many crew guys were paid on the Budweiser?
Speaker 2 (13:37):
There was about six people that were there full time
.
Yeah, yeah, but there were sixpeople that knew what they were
doing.
You don't need as many peopleif the guys know what they're
doing.
I started out the bottom.
I got all the crappy jobs andeventually worked my way into
(13:58):
being one of the guys.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
It took a while you had a long stint there at
Budweiser I was there frombasically 1992 to 2004 when they
closed it down.
Well, one thing that I'm alwayscurious about with your
Budweiser years, you didsomething different in 2004.
On March 13th 2004, you wentdown to Oroville, california,
(14:20):
trying to get the straightawayrecord for propeller-driven
craft.
I know you got the kilo recordbut didn't get the mile record.
Yeah, but you're at like 220miles an hour on the kilo record
and the boat failed.
Can you talk about thatexperience down there?
How different was that than arace?
Speaker 2 (14:37):
It was kind of a strange deal because it was
basically an outboard kilo deal.
So there was lots of outboardsand a couple of inboards and it
was, would say, not backyard,but it was very it was.
It's not the big prominence ofan unlimited race, yeah, so it
(14:57):
was kind of basic, back toground, roots, grassroots, you
know pretty basic stuff.
They had a crane just for us.
Nice place, what water was good, um, good, but it was a lot of
work because we had to set upthe boat just to go fast and try
to keep it on the water.
We had a different rudder,different skid fin, moved some
(15:20):
weight and a super good motor.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
What ultimately failed on that run Propeller let
go.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
That took out the back.
Yeah, it took out the back ofthe boat, took out the motor,
took out the gearbox.
It was a disaster.
It was a lot of work because wehad to go racing.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Oh, that's right.
It was right before the seasonstarted.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
It was early in the season, so we had to take it
home and put it all backtogether.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Fun.
So yeah, Well, if you wouldhave gotten the mile record,
what do you think you would havegotten up to?
Speaker 2 (15:55):
I think we probably would have got upside down.
Oh okay, the boat's not reallydesigned to do that.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
I mean, if you were going to try to go for an all
out record, you probably shouldstart from scratch.
Um, which is funny because thethe U8 that we have, that was
originally its intention was tobe a straightaway boat.
Really.
So when it was first conceivedand drawn up, it was going to be
a straightaway boat.
(16:23):
Interesting.
So there's.
There's some things in thatboat that aren't great for what
we're doing, because it was setup to go straight.
Okay.
So I think ultimately, youcould probably run 240, 250 if
you really wanted to with thistype of engine.
Yeah, but the problem ispropellers don't like to go that
(16:43):
fast and motors don't like togo that fast, and it's it's's.
It's very hard on equipment.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Yeah, it's, it's a huge commitment I think I heard
an interview years ago from kenwarby said there was a a limit
with propellers.
You could only get up to justso much.
And then the cat starts tocavitate and yeah, it won't work
it's.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
It's pretty much beyond the limits, you know, 240
, 250, and there is a offshoreboat that weren't 240, I believe
.
Okay, but they had twopropellers, so, yeah, that makes
it a little bit easier, yeah somaybe not the best experience
to go down there.
Well, it's, it's all experience.
I mean it was.
It created a lot of work, butit was interesting.
(17:24):
Um, I don't know if anybodywill ever try it again.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Well, after Budweiser ended in 2004, you had a little
break there, didn't you?
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Yeah, after Budweiser I went to work for Red Dot
Corporation Mike and I both didand they were an air
conditioning company, so totallydifferent ballgame.
Had to relearn everything butstill did some boat stuff on the
sides and then started racingmodels during that.
So that kept me interested inboats.
(17:58):
But I had a regular 9-to-5 job.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Yeah, we raced together for a while.
We had some good heats together, so how did you get back into
crewing?
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Mike Jones and Mike Hansen called me one day out of
the blue and asked me to run theU9 for two races.
They were short on people andwanted somebody that had some
idea of how to run a boat.
So I said, sure, called up acouple of Budweiser guys, said,
hey, let's go run this boat, wedon't have to win, all we're
(18:33):
going to do is put it in thewater, let it go around and put
it back on the trailer.
So that's what we started.
And then it's evolved into themess that we're into today.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Yeah, you're still with the same boat.
Same boat, technically Sameboat.
I don't know how much of it'sleft of the there's still some
left in there.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
There's a lot of my heart and soul in there, but
yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Well, over all these years, you've had a lot of
victories as a, as a crew member, as a crew chief.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Do you have any?
Do you have a favorite win outof all those?
One of my all-time favoriteswas the very first one, in 87,
san Diego, with the Miller.
That was really the first timethat I had been at a race with a
uniform doing a job and won theGold Cup.
That was a very good impression.
(19:33):
Um, I wanted to do that overand over again, so that was the
first one.
Um, they're all.
They're all a little bitspecial, but I would say that's
probably the most memorable one.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Yeah, yeah, have you kept track of how many gold cups
and how many?
Speaker 2 (19:46):
victories you've been on Roughly.
I have it written downsomewhere, but I think total
victories is at 66 or 67,somewhere in there.
And I just counted ones that Iwas actually at a race with a
uniform doing a job Budweiserstuff when we were just working
on the boat didn't go to race.
I didn't count any of those.
Okay, I think I'm at nine orten gold cups and I think 15
(20:15):
wins as a crew chief, butnobody's counting.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
No one's counting.
Was there one that was the mostchallenging for you?
Speaker 2 (20:27):
This last one at Seafair was very challenging.
Um, they're, they're all hard.
They all have their own uh, Idon't even want to call it but
their own set of problems.
Yeah, um, there's alwayssomething that comes up.
You know, this broke or wedidn't get where we needed to be
(20:47):
, we missed the start.
You know, we had to do certainthings.
It's all hard and memorable.
Um, this last one in Seattle, Imean, jay Michael did not have
the fastest boat by far, but hedidn't.
Yeah, he, somehow in Seattle,he always drives the heck out of
the boat.
So sometimes the thing fallsapart around him, but it doesn't
(21:08):
stop him.
He, somehow in Seattle, healways drives the heck out of
the boat.
Sometimes the thing falls apartaround him, but it doesn't stop
him.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
He really drives hard .
Yeah, he's got a knack in.
Seattle with that rough waterFor some reason, Jay.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Michael in Seattle and Corey in Pasco, we've got
the combination.
I wish we could get thatcombination in Madison.
We wish we can get thatcombination in Madison.
We just can't seem to win inMadison.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Well, for some reason , that's right.
Madison has been a challengefor strong racing.
I don't know why they justhaven't found a combination that
has worked well.
It's a notorious course, andwe're going to talk about the
next week, because that's allthe time we have for this week
and tune in for episode episode130, and hear part two of my
interview with Jeff Campbellnext week, and we're going to
talk more about challenging racecourses, his experience with
(21:54):
drivers and what the futureholds for strong racing and his
own career in unlimitedhydroplane racing.
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(22:18):
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We're going to have moreraffles each month.
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(22:40):
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(23:00):
hope that this podcast hasbrought you some joy in your
life, as it's brought joy intomine, and I really appreciate
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make this podcast happen andcontinue to grow and expand.
But that's all I have for thisweek.
I look forward to having youback next week for my second
part of my interview with JeffCampbell and until then, I hope
(23:21):
to see you at the races.
Ruchetel Talk, the podcast dedicated to everything
about the sport that we all lovehydroplane racing.
I am your host, david Newton,and it's time once again, so sit
back, relax and welcome toRooster Tail Talk, we'll talk.
(00:48):
Hello Reese fans, welcome backto the podcast.
It's episode 129, and todayyou're going to hear part one of
my interview with Jeff Campbell.
Now, jeff, you may know hisname, or you might have heard
his name in passing, but he'swhat I call one of the unsung
heroes of H1 Unlimited.
He has crewed for many boatsover the years, many different
(01:11):
teams and racing organizations,but currently he is the crew
chief of the Nine BeaconPlumbing and general manager of
Strong Racing.
This didn't happen overnight.
Like I said, he has a lot ofexperience in the sport and some
may know of his beginnings ofracing inboards in the 70s and
80s.
It's really been a familyaffair for him, as he works with
his brother, mike Campbell, andhas crewed with him for many
(01:33):
racing teams and raced with himnot only in inboards but along
with RC scale hydroplanes.
I got a chance to race withJeff and Mike over the years.
They're fierce competitors, nomatter what they race, and
you're going to hear a littlebit more about his history and
background in hydroplane racingand get to understand why it's
so important for Jeff.
Now I could go on and on abouthis victories, his trivia and
(01:57):
his accolades in the sport, butyou're going to hear that in
this interview, so I'm not goingto distract us anymore and not
go into any more digressions andlet's get into that interview,
as I sat down with him in hisoffice down in Kent, washington,
at Strong Racing Headquarters.
Well, I'm sitting down here inKent, washington, at Strong
Racing Headquarters, sittingacross from Jeff Campbell, crew
(02:19):
chief of the nine BeaconPlumbing.
Jeff, how are you doing today?
Good?
Well, thanks for taking yourtime to talk today.
Sure, I know you got a lot todo to get ready for San Diego,
but I like talking to peoplefrom all corners of the sport
and I consider you one of theunsung heroes of the sport,
because drivers and owners getall the accolades of the sport.
But what crew members reallymake the boats go and?
(02:41):
And you have a long and greathistory in the sport and have a
lot of victories, so I'm excitedto talk about that today.
But you've done this boatracing thing for a majority of
your life.
How did this all get introducedto you.
How did it get started?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Well, I would say it's basically all my life.
I was born into it.
My dad raced outboards before Iwas born and inboards during my
childhood.
There was always something boatrelated going on in the garage,
so there was no option.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
That's what I was born to do so your first
memories are pretty much aroundboat racing then.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Yeah, in fact, mom showed me pictures a while back
of me playing in the sand with arace boat in the background, so
it's basically been my entirelife.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Well, so yeah, you had no choice.
I can understand that.
My dad was big into hydroplaneswhen I was a kid, so I was
around it, but you got startedracing inboards.
When did that start for you?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
start for you.
77 was the first year Iactually drove a boat.
I was 15 years old.
Dad gave me an option he wouldeither buy me a car or build me
a race boat.
I picked the boat because Ifigured I could buy myself a car
.
That's how I got into actuallyracing.
What?
Speaker 1 (04:03):
hole, did you start?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
with.
It was one that Dad built.
It was what they would considera one liter stock.
Now, in the beginning it was a1200cc and then it went to one
liter.
It was a T-boat.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
You raced that for a while, but you had some success
in boards.
I believe you have some recordsand some victories.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Yeah, I set a kilo record with that boat, set a
mile and two-thirds record withthat boat and then eventually
sold it to Greg Hopp.
Oh, and then Dad and I built aone-liter modified now I think
that's what you call them.
I built a one liter modifiednow I think that's what you call
them was a Y boat and had somesuccess with that, set a record,
(04:49):
won the national high pointchampionship with that boat and
ended up at the museum up on thewall.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yes, yeah, I believe that's with Perkins inboard as
well.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Yeah, perkins is up on top and mine's down on the
bottom.
Yeah, Awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
I know you had some success at inboard nationals.
Can you talk about thoseexperiences?
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Custake was 77 nationals and that was my second
race I'd ever been at.
So you know, here I'm a 15 yearold kid and there's all these
boats and it was an eye-opener.
I ended up second overall.
I had the fastest boat but Ididn't know how to drive it, so
I was late to the start, screwedup, but I ended up second and I
(05:34):
got $200, which was a trophy.
that was probably four and ahalf feet tall, so for a
15-year-old kid it was the bigthing.
And then Dayton we went to thenationals in 80, put my boat up
on top of Jerry Kelson's boatand towed it back to Dayton and
(05:57):
didn't do very well at all.
I think I got seventh or eighthor something.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
It wasn't.
It wasn't a great experience.
And then in 85, I took my oneliter back there and again I had
a very fast boat, got down tothe first turn and somebody had
hooked and ran into the side ofit and tore the whole right
spawns and all.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Oh geez, so never got out of the first turn.
Did you go cartwheeling throughthe water then?
Speaker 2 (06:22):
No, I stayed in the boat Just tore the right
spalding off.
I was able to drive it back tothe beach, Okay, and then I
hurried home and then fixed theboat during the week and then
the next weekend we went toCullaby Lake and I set a mile
record with it.
So it was a little bit ofcomfort in my disaster.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Well, that probably had to have been a highlighted
for you to be able to take awrecked boat and fix it yourself
and set a record.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
And that's kind of what I've done over the years is
been able to reconstruct stuffand when I was very little I'd
take stuff apart, rarely everput it back together.
But over the years I figuredout how to fix things and
improve things.
That's what we've done a lot onthe nine over the years yeah,
you have.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yeah, you've really transitioned that boat.
I want to get to the talkingabout that in a little bit, but
why did you decide to stopracing inboards?
Speaker 2 (07:18):
um, I sold the one liter in 1985 for a couple of
reasons.
A the mid 80s were verydangerous in inboards.
A lot of people were gettingkilled and I had a two year old
and I had another one on the wayand I thought, you know, it's
(07:39):
probably a good idea to walkaway.
So I sold everything and walkedaway.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Well, I mean probably was a smart decision.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Yeah, because the canopies were just starting out
in the big boats and they hadn'tgotten down to the limits and
stuff and nobody knew what itwas going to cost or how you're
going to do it, so it was just agood time to get out.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
That took a while to get into inboards.
Yeah, when was it regulated ininboards?
I couldn't even tell you.
I feel like it was in the 90sat some point.
Yeah, that was a while, but atthat time you were busy with
Unlimiteds then right, 85?
Speaker 2 (08:18):
No, I was still living in Oregon.
I moved to Seattle in 86 andthen started working on the
Miller a little bit in 86.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
You've crewed for a lot of teams You've crewed
correct me if I'm wrong butMiller, American, Mr Pringles,
Budweiser, Jones, Racing andStrong Racing.
Yeah, Did I miss any on thatlist?
Speaker 2 (08:43):
There's a few more in there.
I did a little bit with thePietras Pizza, which was the
former Budweiser hole.
I did work on the us westcellular.
Okay, um, there's a lot of guysthat just helped out a little
bit here and there didn't reallycrew on them.
The ones you have there, those,those are the main ones.
Okay, well, tell me, how didyou get started with miller um
(09:05):
86?
My brother, mike, was workingin kent for lacero on the Miller
boat.
When I moved up here I went towork for Don Kelson building
patterns and boat stuff.
Then I stopped by the shopbecause it was on my way home to
see what my brother was doingand see the shop.
I'd known John Walters and allthose guys.
(09:27):
I stopped by more and moreoften.
They started giving me thingsto do and by mid season I was
had a uniform and I was going toraces.
So that's kind of how it allreally got started.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Yeah Well, yeah, you got started 86 there, and when
did you switch over to the nextteam?
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Um, for the 88 season my brother had left Miller and
went to pringles okay andeventually the phone rang.
They needed help.
So I started going up helpingthem get that boat ready to run
and then there again ended upwith a uniform and going to all
the races kind of kind ofsnowballed into basically a crew
(10:09):
guy.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Yeah, that's an interesting experience to go
from there because you were.
You did you help finish theboat in 88?
Yeah, and it was a fast boat,but you had a lot of work on
your hands.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
We crashed a lot yeah it, uh, and it was a great
learning experience because youknow when you crash a lot, you
got to fix a lot of things.
So I learned how to do a lot ofthings that I didn't didn't
know before and better ways todo it, faster ways, because we
needed parts so much faster,yeah, so yeah, that was a tricky
(10:43):
boat.
It it was either fast or it wasupside down.
Yeah, one of those thingslooking back now what we know we
could have fixed it, but at thewe just didn't know.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
What do you think was the biggest cause back then?
What flipped so much?
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Part of it was where the brake was and just weights
and balances and so much stuffthat we've learned over the
years to adjust wings andcanards.
And it didn't have the fullcanard, it had the flaps.
So there's a lot of things thathave evolved since then.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
How long did you work for Worcester then?
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Off and on, probably until about 1993-ish, mike and I
decided we wanted to racego-karts.
We raced go-karts in themid-90s up until we started at
Budweiser.
Did you have much success withgo-karts?
So we raced go-karts in the mid90s, so up until we started at
budweiser.
So did you have much successwith go?
Yeah, we won a couple ofchampionships and a lot of
(11:38):
regional races and stuff.
So it was fun.
It was a.
It was a learning curve.
You know, we started withnothing and worked our way up to
the top.
Yeah, by the end we had fullcarbon fiber bodies.
We had some pretty fancy gokarts.
At the end it got too expensiveand too time-consuming, finally
had to just give it up.
(12:02):
From there you went to BudweiserRacing.
Yeah, budweiser 92 startedpart-time.
They had crashed in Seattle.
Then they called and said comehelp us put it back together.
So they basically made a nightshift.
So there was five or six of usthat would come in after work
and the regular crew guys wouldset us up with what to do
through the night.
(12:22):
We'd work till you know nine,ten o'clock at night, you know,
get their stuff done for them,and then they come in the
morning and finish, and then, uh, that was before san diego, so
we'd finish the thing up, sentit down to san diego and then
they told us thanks for your,thanks for all your effort and
sent us away.
Yeah, um, and then they crashedin san diego yeah so then they
(12:45):
called mike and I back and said,hey, why don't you guys just
come after work nights andweekends?
We'll put you on the payrolland just kind of help us out.
So did that from 92 until 95.
It became a full-time job, okay, so I quit my job at kelson's
and started working at budweiser.
Yeah, and then mike came along.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
I think two years later he came along full-time,
okay I didn't know about havingnight shifts for the to fix that
boat, but that that crash in 92I think it was missing the back
half of the boat it was a lotof parts.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Yeah, it was.
We basically saved I think itwas the right sponson, the
cockpit and a little bit of thebottom, but it was.
It was basically a new boat,yeah, and then you, it didn't
even last a race and it wasupside down again.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
How many crew guys were paid on the Budweiser?
Speaker 2 (13:37):
There was about six people that were there full time
.
Yeah, yeah, but there were sixpeople that knew what they were
doing.
You don't need as many peopleif the guys know what they're
doing.
I started out the bottom.
I got all the crappy jobs andeventually worked my way into
(13:58):
being one of the guys.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
It took a while you had a long stint there at
Budweiser I was there frombasically 1992 to 2004 when they
closed it down.
Well, one thing that I'm alwayscurious about with your
Budweiser years, you didsomething different in 2004.
On March 13th 2004, you wentdown to Oroville, california,
(14:20):
trying to get the straightawayrecord for propeller-driven
craft.
I know you got the kilo recordbut didn't get the mile record.
Yeah, but you're at like 220miles an hour on the kilo record
and the boat failed.
Can you talk about thatexperience down there?
How different was that than arace?
Speaker 2 (14:37):
It was kind of a strange deal because it was
basically an outboard kilo deal.
So there was lots of outboardsand a couple of inboards and it
was, would say, not backyard,but it was very it was.
It's not the big prominence ofan unlimited race, yeah, so it
(14:57):
was kind of basic, back toground, roots, grassroots, you
know pretty basic stuff.
They had a crane just for us.
Nice place, what water was good, um, good, but it was a lot of
work because we had to set upthe boat just to go fast and try
to keep it on the water.
We had a different rudder,different skid fin, moved some
(15:20):
weight and a super good motor.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
What ultimately failed on that run Propeller let
go.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
That took out the back.
Yeah, it took out the back ofthe boat, took out the motor,
took out the gearbox.
It was a disaster.
It was a lot of work because wehad to go racing.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Oh, that's right.
It was right before the seasonstarted.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
It was early in the season, so we had to take it
home and put it all backtogether.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Fun.
So yeah, Well, if you wouldhave gotten the mile record,
what do you think you would havegotten up to?
Speaker 2 (15:55):
I think we probably would have got upside down.
Oh okay, the boat's not reallydesigned to do that.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
I mean, if you were going to try to go for an all
out record, you probably shouldstart from scratch.
Um, which is funny because thethe U8 that we have, that was
originally its intention was tobe a straightaway boat.
Really.
So when it was first conceivedand drawn up, it was going to be
a straightaway boat.
(16:23):
Interesting.
So there's.
There's some things in thatboat that aren't great for what
we're doing, because it was setup to go straight.
Okay.
So I think ultimately, youcould probably run 240, 250 if
you really wanted to with thistype of engine.
Yeah, but the problem ispropellers don't like to go that
(16:43):
fast and motors don't like togo that fast, and it's it's's.
It's very hard on equipment.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Yeah, it's, it's a huge commitment I think I heard
an interview years ago from kenwarby said there was a a limit
with propellers.
You could only get up to justso much.
And then the cat starts tocavitate and yeah, it won't work
it's.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
It's pretty much beyond the limits, you know, 240
, 250, and there is a offshoreboat that weren't 240, I believe
.
Okay, but they had twopropellers, so, yeah, that makes
it a little bit easier, yeah somaybe not the best experience
to go down there.
Well, it's, it's all experience.
I mean it was.
It created a lot of work, butit was interesting.
(17:24):
Um, I don't know if anybodywill ever try it again.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Well, after Budweiser ended in 2004, you had a little
break there, didn't you?
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Yeah, after Budweiser I went to work for Red Dot
Corporation Mike and I both didand they were an air
conditioning company, so totallydifferent ballgame.
Had to relearn everything butstill did some boat stuff on the
sides and then started racingmodels during that.
So that kept me interested inboats.
(17:58):
But I had a regular 9-to-5 job.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Yeah, we raced together for a while.
We had some good heats together, so how did you get back into
crewing?
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Mike Jones and Mike Hansen called me one day out of
the blue and asked me to run theU9 for two races.
They were short on people andwanted somebody that had some
idea of how to run a boat.
So I said, sure, called up acouple of Budweiser guys, said,
hey, let's go run this boat, wedon't have to win, all we're
(18:33):
going to do is put it in thewater, let it go around and put
it back on the trailer.
So that's what we started.
And then it's evolved into themess that we're into today.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Yeah, you're still with the same boat.
Same boat, technically Sameboat.
I don't know how much of it'sleft of the there's still some
left in there.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
There's a lot of my heart and soul in there, but
yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Well, over all these years, you've had a lot of
victories as a, as a crew member, as a crew chief.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Do you have any?
Do you have a favorite win outof all those?
One of my all-time favoriteswas the very first one, in 87,
san Diego, with the Miller.
That was really the first timethat I had been at a race with a
uniform doing a job and won theGold Cup.
That was a very good impression.
(19:33):
Um, I wanted to do that overand over again, so that was the
first one.
Um, they're all.
They're all a little bitspecial, but I would say that's
probably the most memorable one.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Yeah, yeah, have you kept track of how many gold cups
and how many?
Speaker 2 (19:46):
victories you've been on Roughly.
I have it written downsomewhere, but I think total
victories is at 66 or 67,somewhere in there.
And I just counted ones that Iwas actually at a race with a
uniform doing a job Budweiserstuff when we were just working
on the boat didn't go to race.
I didn't count any of those.
Okay, I think I'm at nine orten gold cups and I think 15
(20:15):
wins as a crew chief, butnobody's counting.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
No one's counting.
Was there one that was the mostchallenging for you?
Speaker 2 (20:27):
This last one at Seafair was very challenging.
Um, they're, they're all hard.
They all have their own uh, Idon't even want to call it but
their own set of problems.
Yeah, um, there's alwayssomething that comes up.
You know, this broke or wedidn't get where we needed to be
(20:47):
, we missed the start.
You know, we had to do certainthings.
It's all hard and memorable.
Um, this last one in Seattle, Imean, jay Michael did not have
the fastest boat by far, but hedidn't.
Yeah, he, somehow in Seattle,he always drives the heck out of
the boat.
So sometimes the thing fallsapart around him, but it doesn't
(21:08):
stop him.
He, somehow in Seattle, healways drives the heck out of
the boat.
Sometimes the thing falls apartaround him, but it doesn't stop
him.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
He really drives hard .
Yeah, he's got a knack in.
Seattle with that rough waterFor some reason, Jay.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Michael in Seattle and Corey in Pasco, we've got
the combination.
I wish we could get thatcombination in Madison.
We wish we can get thatcombination in Madison.
We just can't seem to win inMadison.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Well, for some reason , that's right.
Madison has been a challengefor strong racing.
I don't know why they justhaven't found a combination that
has worked well.
It's a notorious course, andwe're going to talk about the
next week, because that's allthe time we have for this week
and tune in for episode episode130, and hear part two of my
interview with Jeff Campbellnext week, and we're going to
talk more about challenging racecourses, his experience with
(21:54):
drivers and what the futureholds for strong racing and his
own career in unlimitedhydroplane racing.
If you haven't checked us out onsocial media, please do so.
We're on Facebook and Instagram, but also check us out on our
website, wwwroostertaltalkcom,and on there we have a brand new
tab for a subscription servicecalled Rooster Tail Talk Plus.
(22:18):
With Rooster Tail Talk Plus,you get early access to episodes
.
We're going to have a monthlyraffle prize drawing.
This first one we had lastweekend was for a free weekend
pass to the San Diego Bay Fairand APBA Gold Cup.
We're going to have moreraffles each month.
We're going to have more prizesand I'm looking to have more
(22:40):
access to other features for thesubscription service, with a
possible photo gallery and otherfun things.
So look for that in the future,but if you haven't done so,
check out the subscriptionservice.
You can choose your own leveland contribute to the show
because, as I've said before, Iam a school teacher.
I don't make a lot of money andI do this on my own dime, and I
(23:00):
hope that this podcast hasbrought you some joy in your
life, as it's brought joy intomine, and I really appreciate
those who have supported me inthe process and continued to
make this podcast happen andcontinue to grow and expand.
But that's all I have for thisweek.
I look forward to having youback next week for my second
part of my interview with JeffCampbell and until then, I hope
(23:21):
to see you at the races.
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