November 19, 2024 • 33 mins
Chris Martin and Jason Colean continue their interview in Episode 132. Listen in as they continue to share their experience on the U-27 Wiggins Racing team. They go into more detail about the 2024 racing season for Apollo Mechanical as well as what is in store for next year.
*Note: Jason reminds you that this is part 2 of his interview in the photo
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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 love, Hydroplane racing.
I am your host, David Newton,and it's time once again.
So sit back, relax and welcometo Rooster Tail Talk talk.
(00:45):
Hello race fans, welcome back.
It's Tuesday, November 19th,and this is episode 132.
In today's episode we're goingto continue with last week's
interview.
I sat down and chatted withChris Martin from Alabama and
(01:06):
Jason Kuhling from EasternWashington, the Tri-Cities area
two crew members for WigginsRacing, the Apollo Mechanical
Race Team.
Last week they talked moreabout how they got into the
sport and how they enteredcrewing for Charlie Wiggins and
that great race team out of theeastern side of the United
States.
And today they're going to talkmore about their experience the
(01:29):
past year or two as theyfinished that rebuild and got
onto the racing circuit.
And they're going to talk moreabout those expectations for
racing, their experience fromthe past year and what we can
look forward to in the future.
I don't need to give you muchmore background.
You heard last week's I hope,episode 131.
If you didn't, please go backand listen to part one before
you get into part two here today.
(01:50):
But let's get into thatconversation with Chris and
Jason.
Well, there was rumors that lastyear, in 2023, that the boat
was going to come out west.
It might have been mainly Jasonsending rumors on that, I don't
know.
Uh, it didn't happen.
Uh, can you tell?
Tell me why?
You know what was the officialword and why it didn't come out
(02:12):
last year?
Where there's things?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
just that was absolutely.
The goal was to have it ready.
Just, man dave and I and youknow when chris would come home,
come over from work.
I mean we were working 12 to 15hours a day, seven days a week
on it.
There was just too much work toget done.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Then it got to the point where we number one.
We didn't have a sponsor, so itwas on Charlie's dime.
But we could have gotten theboat ready, probably for
Guntersville.
But we didn't want to sacrificethe quality of the build at
that point just to rush it andhave it ready.
We'd spent so much time andeffort into it at that point
(02:51):
there was no use in rushing itright there at the end just to
just to make the show.
We said we'd rather just takeour time, finish it right.
That way when we hit the waterin gunnersville we don't have
any problems.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Like you see, a lot of boats do their first time out
but even still, even after wemissed gunnersville, we you know
we were still optimistic.
We were going to maketri-cities.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
We didn't slow down after that yeah, well, I imagine
that just helped you for thisyear to be prepared for the
first race.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Right trying to make that last year, yeah and I would
say you showed you're ready.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I mean bill walk.
I don't think it was qualifying, I think it was in testing.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
He did over a 160 mile an hour lap, gunnersville
that was our second time awayfrom the dock yeah, that's
impressive the team must havebeen happy at that point, right,
we were very, very happy atthat point, right, we were very,
very happy at that point.
We were just happy.
The boat went out, came backwith no problems.
Yeah, I mean just to come backwith no electrical gremlins, no
(03:53):
mechanical gremlins.
The boat started up, ran how itshould have ran.
It responded well to theadjustments we made and the
results showed.
With that one, was it 163, 164?
Speaker 1 (04:05):
I want to say it was 163, but you'd probably know
better than that 163 soundsabout right.
Yeah, and did you haveintentions of pushing it that
hard, that quick, out of the box?
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Oh, absolutely not, Dave just kind of felt
comfortable with it and just letit go a little bit more, push
it until you start feelinggremlins, and then leave it
there and back off a little bitwell, he came out this year with
a big sponsor too, apolloMechanical, and I think they put
(04:40):
a lot into the team and alsothe sport they sponsored
Tri-Cities Race, seafarer.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Do you know how that came about?
How they were able to sponsoryou?
Speaker 3 (04:52):
I know Dave has a prior relationship with Bruce
Ratchford, the owner, whichBruce is an awesome, awesome
dude himself.
If anybody ever has a chance tomeet him, they'll see what I'm
talking about right there.
But I think Dave had a privaterelationship with Bruce and
Bruce wanted to get involved.
You know he was sponsoring thetri-seas racing.
He was wanting to get a boatout there also and Dave and a
(05:17):
guy named Steve Lampson hadworked a deal out and Dave asked
Charlie if he had a sponsorlined up.
Would Charlie be willing to puthis boat out there this year?
Charlie said yes, thankfully.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
I'd say it worked out pretty well.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
I would say so I'm happy with it.
I think everybody else on theteam is as well.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Steve Lampson.
I know Dave has a previousrelationship with him.
He he worked hard on the Lelandteam for years getting the Pico
sponsor and all the thousandsof them and all the thousands of
associate sponsors they'd haveevery year he was a.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
He's another, just like Dave.
He's a super, super hardworking guy.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Awesome.
Yeah, it's fun, and I love tosee the retro-esque paint scheme
back to the 90s Red, white andblue American flag.
It's got your own touch, butit's not the same.
But yeah, it's really cool,Although I bought a shirt in
Tri-Cities and it's not red,white and blue, it's red, white
and purple.
Now I don't know what that'sabout.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
I'll have to get you a new one.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Well, I would say things went well for the first
race and you finished it nomajor damage and you go over,
make the decision to skipMadison, so you're ready for the
West Coast and then inTri-Cities.
Really, I think it was a scarywreck that you guys had.
Yes, I was sitting on theshoreline at the entrance to
(06:51):
that first turn, and so I thinkthat heat day was a little bit
late on the outside, and so Ididn't see the Graham trucking
spin out in front of him.
I just saw his boat go up inthe air.
I thought it was a blowovermiss, but he ran over Bobby
Kennedy in the Graham trucking.
Tell me what was going throughyour minds that was right in
(07:12):
front of the pits.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Yes, standing there on the docks.
I mean you saw a big splash ofwater from the 12 kind of
submarine and you're seeing Davein his arc.
You hope to God that you're notgoing to hit it, but you could
hear it from the, from the 12kind of submarine and he's
saying dave in his ark.
You just you hope to godthey're not going to hear it,
but you could hear it from thedock.
You didn't see the collisionbut you could hear them hit yeah
I couldn't see anything happen,but you could hear, I'm sure
(07:35):
everybody in the park heard thatsmack yeah, that that sound was
, uh, that's the scariest soundI've ever heard in person.
And uh, we all got very luckythat the damage that happened
was all as worst as it was.
It could have been very, verybad.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Both drivers perfectly fine and both boats
repaired for the next week.
That's about as good as you cancome out of that.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
If Dave would have taken a tighter arc, or Bobby's
boat hadn't slowed down any, itwould have been a lot worse.
Or Bobby's boat hadn't sloweddown any, that would have been a
lot worse than what it was yeah, thank god, they're both okay
and they're safe.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
I would say some expertise came in there from
Bill Walker's reactions, becausehe ended up going backwards.
He wasn't upside down, yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
I couldn't even tell until I saw the video slowed
down.
It just happened so fast.
I couldn't even tell until Isaw the video slowed down.
It just happened so fast.
I don't know how he was able tophysically react to that.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
That's what I was about to say.
If you watch the cockpit videofrom that accident, you can see
as soon as it happens.
Dave, he's on the canard, so tobe his age and have reflexes
like that is pretty remarkable.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Yeah, there was no thinking involved.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
It was just reacting to the environment.
That was 100% skill right there.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Did you guys ever talk to him about the wreck
after?
Speaker 3 (08:53):
I did, yes, he was not to.
We'll just say he was scared,Rightfully, so he was scared oh
yeah, it was a scary wreck.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
What was the full extent of damage to it?
It didn't break any of the foamcore ribs, did it?
Speaker 3 (09:17):
No, none of the frames.
We got a pretty big hole in thebottom of the sponson but, like
Jason said, as far as theframes, nothing, at least that
we know of right now, no frameswere cracked or busted.
We had a little bit of damageon the uh, the side of the
non-trip deck.
The skid fin took quite a lickon it.
So, dave and uh, our crew well,dave and jason lowry they
(09:40):
grinded on it and got it prettywell smoothed back out.
But the biggest damage wasright there, right on the bottom
of the Les Fonson.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yeah, the deck separated off by the skid fin a
little bit Almost like the skidfin kind of torqued it and the
deck popped a little bit.
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Yeah well, I mean I'm surprised it wasn't for lyrics
damage, uh, damage than that,because I mean him going that
that speed, hitting the otherboat, stopping like that, it's a
pretty yeah, you know credit tocharlie and how well he uh, he
designed and we built that boatyou went on well, how well we
came through that yeah, was thata scramble to get it ready for
(10:24):
CFair, or was it just a few days?
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Luckily we had everybody right there all hands
on deck, so when we got we hadthe talent on the team also
there, everybody knew, justeverybody hopped in and
everybody did what they knewthey could do, and it was just
no matter.
What would you say.
Jason, two days, three at timeswe had it.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Yeah, by Wednesday you guys are ready to pull out
of town and then, naturallyhaving your sponsor, have a
giant mechanical shop a quartermile down the road.
Doesn't hurt either.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Yeah, and hats off to everybody at Apollo.
Man, anything we needed whilewe were there working on the
boat we didn't have to leavethat place.
They sent their own workers togo get parts and pieces for us
and make sure we were all takencare of.
So Bruce and everybody outthere at Apollo, a huge thank
you and we appreciate those guysso much for that.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Absolutely.
That was just amazing.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Well, it's a great experience to get that much
support from your sponsor.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
You couldn't ask for a better sponsor than those guys
.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
They enjoyed it too.
They were down there all weekand they wanted to be a part of
it.
They wanted to learn everythingthey could.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
That's awesome.
Well, it's a good thing theyhave a mechanical shop and not a
laundry shop or something likethat.
You got some more support,correct about that.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
All right.
Well, you left Tri-Cities.
You got some more support.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Correct about that All right.
Well, you left Tri-Cities.
You got a third-place finish inSeattle and I was really hoping
for a really strong finish inSan Diego.
I was hoping to get a littlepush there for the Gold Cup, but
I don't know what reallyhappened in the start there.
It looks like Lane went awayfrom VilleWalk but didn't even
start the start.
There looks like lane went awayfrom villawak but uh didn't,
(12:05):
didn't even start the race there.
So, um, what was your output?
Looking back on the season,would you say it was a success?
What was your high?
What was your low?
Speaker 3 (12:16):
me personally, I would say it's a success.
The boat came back in one piece.
Everything is uh, everything'sintact, nothing is broken.
We, I mean we turned that lapin Gunnersville at over 160.
We got the third in Seattle.
I mean we consistently theadjustments we made on the boat,
it was responding to thoseadjustments.
(12:36):
So we know, going into nextseason, that we know we have a
boat that we could, we couldtweak on and I think we could
win races with myself.
This is a boat that we could wecould tweak on and I think we
could win races with myself.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
This is a boat that's going to be.
It's going to be able tocompete for sure.
I mean, the one that I kind ofgo to is I think it was heat
five, maybe heat six in sandiego, or you know, we had, we
had jumped the gun, so it wasn'tfor much, but you, we were
sitting out there in lane twopulling J Michael Kelly from the
(13:07):
outside.
So I mean there's definitelysome huge potential in this boat
yeah, yeah, I mean, a lot ofthings were impressive.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
I would say as a fan, watching your team throughout
the year and grow and improveupon things.
It's unfortunate there wasn'tmore races to continue that and
uh see where you, where youcould go.
Unfortunately, we have a longwait now until the next season.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
That's the weight's the worst part, yeah wait from
seattle to san diego is badenough, but this wait from san
diego to testing is it'shorrible yeah, yeah, you only
have what?
Speaker 1 (13:42):
10 more months to go or something, yeah, just just
pretty much, just just a yearwell, at least you can go down
there in the off season.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
I'm stuck back here in the tri-city.
He's just waiting for facebookupdates, like everybody else
he's right about that.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
I can leave my office and go sit in the boating until
I want to.
I am pretty lucky about that.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Well, did you ever think about moving down there
permanently, jason?
Because you were down there forwhat?
A year and a half or so.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Yeah, what did I do?
I went down there, I got anapartment and I stayed out lease
and then some, I mean it wasonly supposed to be six months
that I was going to go downthere for.
So, yeah, you know, Crystal, mygirlfriend here, had a good job
and if I was only going to bethere for, you know, six months,
it doesn't make sense to uprooteverything and move down there.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Well, six months turned into 10 months, turned
into 12 months, turned into 15months.
I Well, six months turned into10 months, turned into 12 months
, turned into 15 months.
I mean, if I'd have known whatit was going to turn into to
begin with, I may have juststayed down there we would have
welcomed him.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
We definitely would have missed you on the RC
circuit, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Oh, I would have missed it too.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Are you staying in Tri-Cities or are you going to
move back down there?
What do you think, Jason?
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Oh, I'm here.
I'm here in the Tri-Cities.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Well, chris will I'm sure be sending you some
pictures next time he's in theshop to glow.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
He's always hitting me up, wanting me to take
pictures or go measure somethingfor his RC boat.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Go measure this, go take me a picture of that.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Well, a typical fan doesn't really know, like really
, what goes on as a crew member,and for most crew members it
doesn't start at the first race,right, it started the next
year's racing off-season startedwhen he got back from San Diego
.
So can you talk more about whatthat takes as a crew member to
really help the team andflourish and have a successful
(15:40):
season?
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Like you said, it started right when we got back
from San Diego with just washingeverything down and desalting
everything.
And once we got everythingdesalted and got the boat back
inside, the next step is toremove all the hardware and
everything that has to beinspected to forever for cracks
and all that, and then reallyjust kind of digest the season
(16:04):
and see what we want to improveon or what we may want to modify
on the boat to pick up, youknow, those extra mile per hours
that we need to, uh, to beright there next year.
Yeah, yeah, jason, are yougonna try and make?
Speaker 1 (16:15):
it down there at all to help out in off season.
You think to be right therenext year.
Yeah, yeah, jason, are yougoing to try and make it down
there at all to?
Speaker 2 (16:22):
help out in offseason , you think, you know if well,
it's kind of one of those thatif I can, you know I'd need to
spend three or four weeks downthere to really make it worth
the trip down there.
That's kind of, you know,difficult to do when you've got
a job up here and stuff.
You know I took all the timeoff to get off to go and do the
(16:46):
racing season.
It's kind of hard to get offmore time like that true true?
Speaker 3 (16:52):
yeah, then you.
You have a job now too, so it'sa lot more difficult than it
was the first time you came down.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Chris how many members do you have how many
Actively down there?
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Down in Alabama.
How many crew members do wehave?
Yeah, About five of us BobbyMark, okay, but right there in
our shop it's just Charlie,myself and Jason Lowry, and then
we have a few guys who live inthe vicinity of the shop who
will come by.
Whenever we kind of arrange acrew day or whatever something
(17:26):
needs to be done, then we bringin the extra hands the hardcore
core members has always beenpretty small yeah, it's just
mainly us three Charlie, myselfand Jason Lowry.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
We're there on a daily basis.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Well, I was hoping you could settle some rumors for
next year.
I mean it's never too early tosettle the silly season with
rumors.
First of all, do you guys bothplan on accruing next year for
Wiggins?
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Oh, definitely.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Yeah, I'll be back, for sure.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Alright, that was some of the most fun I've had,
yeah is Wiggins going to make afull season next year?
Oh.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
I have no idea on that.
Just if I was to say myself, Iwould probably say no, just.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
I would think they would.
Maybe We'll see.
Well, there you go we don'tknow.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Yeah, I mean, you see , right there.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
We don't know yet Okay.
So you haven't talked aboutthat.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
We shall see.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
No, we haven't had off-season meeting, crew meeting
yet at all.
I mean everybody.
Just we're still kind ofwinding down from last season.
So I'm sure at some point thiswinter, I'm sure before
Christmas, we'll have probablysomething like this a Zoom
meeting with everybody on thecrew and kind of have a meeting
of the minds and see whereeverybody's at and what
everybody's opinions are on theseason and what they would like
(18:59):
to do going forward.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Okay, All right.
I had two other rumors.
I wanted to see if I can settlehere.
The other one was Apollo's newreturn next year.
Is your head sponsor?
Paddle sponsor.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
I sure hope, so I know.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Can't confirm, but it feels pretty good yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
I can't confirm it, cause I don't want to speak for
Charlie, but I sure hope so.
That's all I'm going to say.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Well, I hope so too.
The last rumor is that Jason'sactually going to take over his
driving the boat because he's soimpressed he got better
finishes than Bill Locke didwith his RC.
Is that true?
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Yes, that's true, that's the rumor I'm hearing as
well.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Okay, I may have started that rumor, but I'm
hearing those rumors.
Yeah, there's a lot of talking.
Slam Jason.
Yeah, our last straight.
All right.
Well, do you think Bill Walkwill return though next year and
give?
Speaker 2 (19:57):
another stab I do.
I feel pretty comfortablesaying yes about that one.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Dave's super motivated to get not only one
more win for himself, but hereally, really wants to get a
win for Charlie and for Bruce atApollo.
Yeah, Rightfully so.
There's a lot of hard work andblood, sweat and tears and cuss
words and everything else that'swent into this boat.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Yeah, yeah, it'd be great to see a win for for
Wiggins and for Apollo mechanicand everyone involved.
So you've done so much for thesport, and then I think it'd be
good.
It'd be awesome to seesomething back for you down in
down in San Diego, though, chris, just a few weeks ago, uh, you
won a prestigious award, I think, for your crew.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
I did.
Can you talk about that?
Speaker 3 (20:46):
It's these headphones that were painted by a crew
member.
I can't remember his name.
I'm sorry, but back in the Picodays they had these headphones
painted for the crew.
The Pico days they had theseheadphones painted for the crew.
And this is something Dave andCharlie started this season with
us that at each race, theseheadphones are awarded to a crew
member that they recognize fornot only working hard but kind
(21:08):
of doing, doing extra, doingmore than your duties on just
your duties on the crew.
And that was uh yeah.
That was uh yeah, that wasreally cool.
Kind of got a little choked upwhen they did that.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
And then you went into the last race of the year
and you get to keep it allseason.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
That's right, I get to look at it all winter.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Oh, is that that that headphones passed on to the
next person at each race?
It is, it's like a weekly award.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
I do.
They may come up missing.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
That's funny.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
Oh cool.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
That's a fun award.
That's a fun tradition yourteam has.
Not too many teams havesomething special like that, so
that's cool.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
No, it's just it's cool to be uh, to know that they
recognize what you're doing.
I guess I mean it could belooked over during the, during a
race weekend.
I mean everybody's so busy withwhat they're doing that you
kind of overlook thateverybody's out there busting
their butt.
And look that everybody's outthere busting their butt, and I
would say 99% of everybody onevery crew.
We're all volunteers.
(22:19):
None of us are getting paid forthis, so it's cool to be
recognized that you're trying.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Yeah, yeah, that's fantastic.
I think the biggest award whenI was on Muscatel's team is if
you're caught sleeping duringthe race.
They would take a picture andthe next day that would go up on
the trailer.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
So that was we would all, we would all be screwed.
I think we all take a power napat some point.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Yeah, we found every bit of shade that that trailer
can provide.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Yes, oh, all right.
Well, I know you didn't make itto the full season this year.
You didn't go to Madison.
It's only five races.
It's not as extensive of acircuit as it used to be, but,
as a crew member, what's yourfavorite place to go and be a
crew member on the 27?
Speaker 3 (23:12):
As a crew member watching the race, madison is
the best place to go.
I mean, you're right there onthe dot, the boats are just a
few hundred yards right in frontof you.
Yeah, that's without a doubt, Iguess.
As far as the overall raceexperience, I like Seattle
(23:33):
Really.
Yeah, I like Seattle.
Just the experience with thecrowd and everything.
I'm an airplane freak myself,so I love the air show.
The fan interaction in Seattleto me is better than it is
anywhere else.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Okay really Wow.
Yeah, and there's quite anextensive air show there as well
in Seattle.
If you're an Air Nut, that's agood place to be.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
I was surprised.
This year Air Nut's featuringthe boat race.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Yeah, yeah, I was surprised, though this year I
feel like Seattle had more fansthan it has had in the past, at
least more people.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
There seemed to be a lot of people there this year.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Well, how about you, Jason?
What would your answer be forthat?
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Well, I'm 100% a homer.
I love the Tri-Cities.
Takes the cake, Nothing better.
Now there's nowhere that Ididn't enjoy going.
You know, we went to San Diego.
I'd never been to San Diego andI just had a fantastic
experience there.
I agree, San.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Diego was fun.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Yeah, it's a fun place, I think, except for one
thing the salt.
It's the only bummer down there.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
It just doubles your workload.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Yeah, if we could find a race to go on the
schedule after San Diego, Ithink that'd make a lot of crew
members happy.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Yeah, I mean years past.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
then we go down to Vegas and I was about to say we
need a season-ending showdown orsomething like that.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah, Just to wind down everything Right right,
yeah, and just desaltifyeverything and clear it out.
Yeah, well, hopefully they canget something in the future.
But it's been a while since Ihaven't ended on a saltwater
course.
It's been a long while.
I'm trying to think back towhen the last time that was
(25:28):
Except for last year, obviously,but still.
Yeah, well, yeah, I guess itwas last year because they
didn't have San Diego.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
All right.
Other than that, it's been along time yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Yeah, yeah, because for a lot of years it was in
Doha and then they haven't racedin Vegas since the late
nineties.
So, yeah, all right, well forthe fans out there that have
shown interest in being moreactive in the sport and crewing.
What advice would you have forthem out there?
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Volunteer, find a crew member, find a team owner
and just speak up to them.
You would like to help.
But the main thing is to showthe interest.
Don't just be there to takepictures and tell everybody, hey
, I'm on a crew.
The the more you work and themore you learn, the the more
(26:25):
they want you around.
But the easiest way to, justlike I said, to volunteer, if
you can't do it at a race likeme, and I think jason was the
same way do it on facebook,instagram or whatever, and I
think Jason was the same way Doit on Facebook, instagram or
whatever Social media.
Comment on a post, shoot them amessage.
You never know.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Jason, yeah, definitely just to, just to get
involved as much as you can.
That that's kind of so.
The working with the Wigginsteam was kind of ideal for me
because I'd always wanted to bea crew member but living in the
Tri-Cities there's there's not alot going on here.
So you got to make trips acrossthe mountain to get involved
with the team.
And you know so you're.
(27:04):
You're driving six, eight, six,eight hours to.
You know, go spend a couplehours working on the team.
And you know so you're.
You're driving six, eight, six,eight hours to.
You know, go spend a couplehours working on the boat.
And there's a lot of travel toto really make an effect.
So might as well just movethere all at once and spend all
your time there there you go,there we go, all right.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
uh, well, last question for both of you.
Uh, you, you went through a lotthis last year going to
different race sites, gettingthe boat prepared.
If you look back, what's theone moment that makes it all
worthwhile, like your oneexperience?
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Hearing that boat fire up for the first time and
leave the dock in.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
Guntersville.
That's exactly what I was aboutto say.
That first time it pulled awayin Guntersville.
As soon as it pulled away, thatwas it.
That made every bit of it worthit right there.
The rest of the season it couldhave whatever happened the rest
of the season.
Just seeing that boat go outfrom Guntersville right there
made all the work and everythingworth it.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Did you have that goosebumps moment when it pulled
away?
Did you get goosebumps on yourarms?
Speaker 3 (28:09):
it was a surreal moment, very, very surreal
fantastic.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Yeah, that's a trailer fire the couple days
before.
That was another big one.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Yeah, then you knew it was going to happen well,
well, that was the crazy thing.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
I mean, I guess a lot of people didn't know, but the
Thursday of the Guntersvillerace, up until even noon, 12
o'clock that Thursday, that boathad not been fired.
Wow, like you know, the paradewas that Thursday where the
boats were getting pulled intothe pits of Guntersville.
We still hadn't fired that boat.
We fired it at maybe 3.30 or 4pm.
(28:50):
We fired it, loaded everythingup and we timed it just right to
where we were pulling.
We zippered in line with allthe other Unlimiteds coming
across the lake at Guntersville.
We missed the meet and greetand we fell in line with them as
they were pulling into the pits.
That's how close we cut it.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Well, a lot could go wrong without getting a
successful trailer fire.
That was, I'm sure, a hugesalve relief right there.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Yes, that was awesome .
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Oh, fantastic, All right.
Well, guys, I appreciate yourtime and I love talking Hydros
with you and I'm hoping to seeyou out there next year.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Well, guys, well, I appreciate your time and love
talking Hydros with you, and I'mhoping to see you out there
next year.
Yeah, absolutely yeah, thankyou for having us.
Come find us and we'll set youup in the boat.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Well, that's all the time we have for this week.
Hope you enjoyed my chat withChris Martin and Jason Colleen
as we talk more about theircrewing experience.
And again, if you want to be acrew member, I know there's a
lot of teams out there, severalteams that are actually looking
for help right now.
This is the perfect time tojoin.
Whether you're in the Madisonarea, alabama area in Washington
(29:59):
State, there's several teamsout there that are looking for a
few good men and women to helpthem crew.
So don't feel awkward or shy.
Reach out, because there'steams looking for help right now
.
But really enjoyed talking withChris and Jason.
They're two great guys thatgive it all for the love of the
sport and just really enjoyedchatting with them and can't
(30:20):
wait to see them back out on therace courses next year.
One question though as I wasgoing through this editing
process, I really wish I wouldhave asked Chris about how he
liked the barbecue food inSeattle, because Caveman
Kitchens actually catered theApollo Mechanical U-27 down at
Seafair and I was really jealousbecause every day at lunch they
were having Caveman barbecueand that's a local staple here
(30:43):
in the Western side of well, thehydroplane community, because a
lot of people from thehydroplane museum and other
shops love to go down there andget barbecue.
That was, it's always myfavorite.
When I go down into kent Ialways have to stop at caveman
kitchen.
That was my dad's favorite.
Had a lot of banquets in themuseum that were actually
catered by caveman kitchens andI love it.
(31:03):
And just from crisp, being inthe south, I know they've got a
big reputation for having greatbarbecue down there.
I was curious on what histhoughts were.
So next time I see you, chris,I'm asking you I wanna know how
you like the barbecue that wehad there at Seafair at Caveman
Kitchens.
But that's all we have for thisweek, so really hope you
enjoyed it.
(31:23):
Don't forget to like andsubscribe on Facebook, instagram
or online.
We have our website,roostertelltalkcom.
And, don't forget, we have thatRooster Tail Talk Plus
subscription service where youget early access to every
episode as well as a monthlyraffle prize drawing Next month.
(31:46):
I'm not quite sure what I'mgonna release for next month for
my Rooster Tail Talk Plussubscribers, but I've got a few
things in my archives that I'mgonna dig through and I'm gonna
find something good, becauseit's December and that time of
year, so I wanna get a goodChristmas gift for my
subscribers.
Next week we're gonna have atrivia four-part interview with
(32:07):
two brothers who are in thesport, so I'm looking forward to
getting that out to you.
And until next time, well, Ihope to see you at the races.
Ruchetel Talk, the podcast dedicated to everything
about the sport that we all love, Hydroplane racing.
I am your host, David Newton,and it's time once again.
So sit back, relax and welcometo Rooster Tail Talk talk.
(00:45):
Hello race fans, welcome back.
It's Tuesday, November 19th,and this is episode 132.
In today's episode we're goingto continue with last week's
interview.
I sat down and chatted withChris Martin from Alabama and
(01:06):
Jason Kuhling from EasternWashington, the Tri-Cities area
two crew members for WigginsRacing, the Apollo Mechanical
Race Team.
Last week they talked moreabout how they got into the
sport and how they enteredcrewing for Charlie Wiggins and
that great race team out of theeastern side of the United
States.
And today they're going to talkmore about their experience the
(01:29):
past year or two as theyfinished that rebuild and got
onto the racing circuit.
And they're going to talk moreabout those expectations for
racing, their experience fromthe past year and what we can
look forward to in the future.
I don't need to give you muchmore background.
You heard last week's I hope,episode 131.
If you didn't, please go backand listen to part one before
you get into part two here today.
(01:50):
But let's get into thatconversation with Chris and
Jason.
Well, there was rumors that lastyear, in 2023, that the boat
was going to come out west.
It might have been mainly Jasonsending rumors on that, I don't
know.
Uh, it didn't happen.
Uh, can you tell?
Tell me why?
You know what was the officialword and why it didn't come out
(02:12):
last year?
Where there's things?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
just that was absolutely.
The goal was to have it ready.
Just, man dave and I and youknow when chris would come home,
come over from work.
I mean we were working 12 to 15hours a day, seven days a week
on it.
There was just too much work toget done.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Then it got to the point where we number one.
We didn't have a sponsor, so itwas on Charlie's dime.
But we could have gotten theboat ready, probably for
Guntersville.
But we didn't want to sacrificethe quality of the build at
that point just to rush it andhave it ready.
We'd spent so much time andeffort into it at that point
(02:51):
there was no use in rushing itright there at the end just to
just to make the show.
We said we'd rather just takeour time, finish it right.
That way when we hit the waterin gunnersville we don't have
any problems.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Like you see, a lot of boats do their first time out
but even still, even after wemissed gunnersville, we you know
we were still optimistic.
We were going to maketri-cities.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
We didn't slow down after that yeah, well, I imagine
that just helped you for thisyear to be prepared for the
first race.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Right trying to make that last year, yeah and I would
say you showed you're ready.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I mean bill walk.
I don't think it was qualifying, I think it was in testing.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
He did over a 160 mile an hour lap, gunnersville
that was our second time awayfrom the dock yeah, that's
impressive the team must havebeen happy at that point, right,
we were very, very happy atthat point, right, we were very,
very happy at that point.
We were just happy.
The boat went out, came backwith no problems.
Yeah, I mean just to come backwith no electrical gremlins, no
(03:53):
mechanical gremlins.
The boat started up, ran how itshould have ran.
It responded well to theadjustments we made and the
results showed.
With that one, was it 163, 164?
Speaker 1 (04:05):
I want to say it was 163, but you'd probably know
better than that 163 soundsabout right.
Yeah, and did you haveintentions of pushing it that
hard, that quick, out of the box?
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Oh, absolutely not, Dave just kind of felt
comfortable with it and just letit go a little bit more, push
it until you start feelinggremlins, and then leave it
there and back off a little bitwell, he came out this year with
a big sponsor too, apolloMechanical, and I think they put
(04:40):
a lot into the team and alsothe sport they sponsored
Tri-Cities Race, seafarer.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Do you know how that came about?
How they were able to sponsoryou?
Speaker 3 (04:52):
I know Dave has a prior relationship with Bruce
Ratchford, the owner, whichBruce is an awesome, awesome
dude himself.
If anybody ever has a chance tomeet him, they'll see what I'm
talking about right there.
But I think Dave had a privaterelationship with Bruce and
Bruce wanted to get involved.
You know he was sponsoring thetri-seas racing.
He was wanting to get a boatout there also and Dave and a
(05:17):
guy named Steve Lampson hadworked a deal out and Dave asked
Charlie if he had a sponsorlined up.
Would Charlie be willing to puthis boat out there this year?
Charlie said yes, thankfully.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
I'd say it worked out pretty well.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
I would say so I'm happy with it.
I think everybody else on theteam is as well.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Steve Lampson.
I know Dave has a previousrelationship with him.
He he worked hard on the Lelandteam for years getting the Pico
sponsor and all the thousandsof them and all the thousands of
associate sponsors they'd haveevery year he was a.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
He's another, just like Dave.
He's a super, super hardworking guy.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Awesome.
Yeah, it's fun, and I love tosee the retro-esque paint scheme
back to the 90s Red, white andblue American flag.
It's got your own touch, butit's not the same.
But yeah, it's really cool,Although I bought a shirt in
Tri-Cities and it's not red,white and blue, it's red, white
and purple.
Now I don't know what that'sabout.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
I'll have to get you a new one.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Well, I would say things went well for the first
race and you finished it nomajor damage and you go over,
make the decision to skipMadison, so you're ready for the
West Coast and then inTri-Cities.
Really, I think it was a scarywreck that you guys had.
Yes, I was sitting on theshoreline at the entrance to
(06:51):
that first turn, and so I thinkthat heat day was a little bit
late on the outside, and so Ididn't see the Graham trucking
spin out in front of him.
I just saw his boat go up inthe air.
I thought it was a blowovermiss, but he ran over Bobby
Kennedy in the Graham trucking.
Tell me what was going throughyour minds that was right in
(07:12):
front of the pits.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Yes, standing there on the docks.
I mean you saw a big splash ofwater from the 12 kind of
submarine and you're seeing Davein his arc.
You hope to God that you're notgoing to hit it, but you could
hear it from the, from the 12kind of submarine and he's
saying dave in his ark.
You just you hope to godthey're not going to hear it,
but you could hear it from thedock.
You didn't see the collisionbut you could hear them hit yeah
I couldn't see anything happen,but you could hear, I'm sure
(07:35):
everybody in the park heard thatsmack yeah, that that sound was
, uh, that's the scariest soundI've ever heard in person.
And uh, we all got very luckythat the damage that happened
was all as worst as it was.
It could have been very, verybad.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Both drivers perfectly fine and both boats
repaired for the next week.
That's about as good as you cancome out of that.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
If Dave would have taken a tighter arc, or Bobby's
boat hadn't slowed down any, itwould have been a lot worse.
Or Bobby's boat hadn't sloweddown any, that would have been a
lot worse than what it was yeah, thank god, they're both okay
and they're safe.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
I would say some expertise came in there from
Bill Walker's reactions, becausehe ended up going backwards.
He wasn't upside down, yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
I couldn't even tell until I saw the video slowed
down.
It just happened so fast.
I couldn't even tell until Isaw the video slowed down.
It just happened so fast.
I don't know how he was able tophysically react to that.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
That's what I was about to say.
If you watch the cockpit videofrom that accident, you can see
as soon as it happens.
Dave, he's on the canard, so tobe his age and have reflexes
like that is pretty remarkable.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Yeah, there was no thinking involved.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
It was just reacting to the environment.
That was 100% skill right there.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Did you guys ever talk to him about the wreck
after?
Speaker 3 (08:53):
I did, yes, he was not to.
We'll just say he was scared,Rightfully, so he was scared oh
yeah, it was a scary wreck.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
What was the full extent of damage to it?
It didn't break any of the foamcore ribs, did it?
Speaker 3 (09:17):
No, none of the frames.
We got a pretty big hole in thebottom of the sponson but, like
Jason said, as far as theframes, nothing, at least that
we know of right now, no frameswere cracked or busted.
We had a little bit of damageon the uh, the side of the
non-trip deck.
The skid fin took quite a lickon it.
So, dave and uh, our crew well,dave and jason lowry they
(09:40):
grinded on it and got it prettywell smoothed back out.
But the biggest damage wasright there, right on the bottom
of the Les Fonson.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yeah, the deck separated off by the skid fin a
little bit Almost like the skidfin kind of torqued it and the
deck popped a little bit.
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Yeah well, I mean I'm surprised it wasn't for lyrics
damage, uh, damage than that,because I mean him going that
that speed, hitting the otherboat, stopping like that, it's a
pretty yeah, you know credit tocharlie and how well he uh, he
designed and we built that boatyou went on well, how well we
came through that yeah, was thata scramble to get it ready for
(10:24):
CFair, or was it just a few days?
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Luckily we had everybody right there all hands
on deck, so when we got we hadthe talent on the team also
there, everybody knew, justeverybody hopped in and
everybody did what they knewthey could do, and it was just
no matter.
What would you say.
Jason, two days, three at timeswe had it.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Yeah, by Wednesday you guys are ready to pull out
of town and then, naturallyhaving your sponsor, have a
giant mechanical shop a quartermile down the road.
Doesn't hurt either.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Yeah, and hats off to everybody at Apollo.
Man, anything we needed whilewe were there working on the
boat we didn't have to leavethat place.
They sent their own workers togo get parts and pieces for us
and make sure we were all takencare of.
So Bruce and everybody outthere at Apollo, a huge thank
you and we appreciate those guysso much for that.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Absolutely.
That was just amazing.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Well, it's a great experience to get that much
support from your sponsor.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
You couldn't ask for a better sponsor than those guys
.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
They enjoyed it too.
They were down there all weekand they wanted to be a part of
it.
They wanted to learn everythingthey could.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
That's awesome.
Well, it's a good thing theyhave a mechanical shop and not a
laundry shop or something likethat.
You got some more support,correct about that.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
All right.
Well, you left Tri-Cities.
You got some more support.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Correct about that All right.
Well, you left Tri-Cities.
You got a third-place finish inSeattle and I was really hoping
for a really strong finish inSan Diego.
I was hoping to get a littlepush there for the Gold Cup, but
I don't know what reallyhappened in the start there.
It looks like Lane went awayfrom VilleWalk but didn't even
start the start.
There looks like lane went awayfrom villawak but uh didn't,
(12:05):
didn't even start the race there.
So, um, what was your output?
Looking back on the season,would you say it was a success?
What was your high?
What was your low?
Speaker 3 (12:16):
me personally, I would say it's a success.
The boat came back in one piece.
Everything is uh, everything'sintact, nothing is broken.
We, I mean we turned that lapin Gunnersville at over 160.
We got the third in Seattle.
I mean we consistently theadjustments we made on the boat,
it was responding to thoseadjustments.
(12:36):
So we know, going into nextseason, that we know we have a
boat that we could, we couldtweak on and I think we could
win races with myself.
This is a boat that we could wecould tweak on and I think we
could win races with myself.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
This is a boat that's going to be.
It's going to be able tocompete for sure.
I mean, the one that I kind ofgo to is I think it was heat
five, maybe heat six in sandiego, or you know, we had, we
had jumped the gun, so it wasn'tfor much, but you, we were
sitting out there in lane twopulling J Michael Kelly from the
(13:07):
outside.
So I mean there's definitelysome huge potential in this boat
yeah, yeah, I mean, a lot ofthings were impressive.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
I would say as a fan, watching your team throughout
the year and grow and improveupon things.
It's unfortunate there wasn'tmore races to continue that and
uh see where you, where youcould go.
Unfortunately, we have a longwait now until the next season.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
That's the weight's the worst part, yeah wait from
seattle to san diego is badenough, but this wait from san
diego to testing is it'shorrible yeah, yeah, you only
have what?
Speaker 1 (13:42):
10 more months to go or something, yeah, just just
pretty much, just just a yearwell, at least you can go down
there in the off season.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
I'm stuck back here in the tri-city.
He's just waiting for facebookupdates, like everybody else
he's right about that.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
I can leave my office and go sit in the boating until
I want to.
I am pretty lucky about that.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Well, did you ever think about moving down there
permanently, jason?
Because you were down there forwhat?
A year and a half or so.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Yeah, what did I do?
I went down there, I got anapartment and I stayed out lease
and then some, I mean it wasonly supposed to be six months
that I was going to go downthere for.
So, yeah, you know, Crystal, mygirlfriend here, had a good job
and if I was only going to bethere for, you know, six months,
it doesn't make sense to uprooteverything and move down there.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Well, six months turned into 10 months, turned
into 12 months, turned into 15months.
I Well, six months turned into10 months, turned into 12 months
, turned into 15 months.
I mean, if I'd have known whatit was going to turn into to
begin with, I may have juststayed down there we would have
welcomed him.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
We definitely would have missed you on the RC
circuit, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Oh, I would have missed it too.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Are you staying in Tri-Cities or are you going to
move back down there?
What do you think, Jason?
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Oh, I'm here.
I'm here in the Tri-Cities.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Well, chris will I'm sure be sending you some
pictures next time he's in theshop to glow.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
He's always hitting me up, wanting me to take
pictures or go measure somethingfor his RC boat.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Go measure this, go take me a picture of that.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Well, a typical fan doesn't really know, like really
, what goes on as a crew member,and for most crew members it
doesn't start at the first race,right, it started the next
year's racing off-season startedwhen he got back from San Diego
.
So can you talk more about whatthat takes as a crew member to
really help the team andflourish and have a successful
(15:40):
season?
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Like you said, it started right when we got back
from San Diego with just washingeverything down and desalting
everything.
And once we got everythingdesalted and got the boat back
inside, the next step is toremove all the hardware and
everything that has to beinspected to forever for cracks
and all that, and then reallyjust kind of digest the season
(16:04):
and see what we want to improveon or what we may want to modify
on the boat to pick up, youknow, those extra mile per hours
that we need to, uh, to beright there next year.
Yeah, yeah, jason, are yougonna try and make?
Speaker 1 (16:15):
it down there at all to help out in off season.
You think to be right therenext year.
Yeah, yeah, jason, are yougoing to try and make it down
there at all to?
Speaker 2 (16:22):
help out in offseason , you think, you know if well,
it's kind of one of those thatif I can, you know I'd need to
spend three or four weeks downthere to really make it worth
the trip down there.
That's kind of, you know,difficult to do when you've got
a job up here and stuff.
You know I took all the timeoff to get off to go and do the
(16:46):
racing season.
It's kind of hard to get offmore time like that true true?
Speaker 3 (16:52):
yeah, then you.
You have a job now too, so it'sa lot more difficult than it
was the first time you came down.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Chris how many members do you have how many
Actively down there?
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Down in Alabama.
How many crew members do wehave?
Yeah, About five of us BobbyMark, okay, but right there in
our shop it's just Charlie,myself and Jason Lowry, and then
we have a few guys who live inthe vicinity of the shop who
will come by.
Whenever we kind of arrange acrew day or whatever something
(17:26):
needs to be done, then we bringin the extra hands the hardcore
core members has always beenpretty small yeah, it's just
mainly us three Charlie, myselfand Jason Lowry.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
We're there on a daily basis.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Well, I was hoping you could settle some rumors for
next year.
I mean it's never too early tosettle the silly season with
rumors.
First of all, do you guys bothplan on accruing next year for
Wiggins?
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Oh, definitely.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Yeah, I'll be back, for sure.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Alright, that was some of the most fun I've had,
yeah is Wiggins going to make afull season next year?
Oh.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
I have no idea on that.
Just if I was to say myself, Iwould probably say no, just.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
I would think they would.
Maybe We'll see.
Well, there you go we don'tknow.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Yeah, I mean, you see , right there.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
We don't know yet Okay.
So you haven't talked aboutthat.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
We shall see.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
No, we haven't had off-season meeting, crew meeting
yet at all.
I mean everybody.
Just we're still kind ofwinding down from last season.
So I'm sure at some point thiswinter, I'm sure before
Christmas, we'll have probablysomething like this a Zoom
meeting with everybody on thecrew and kind of have a meeting
of the minds and see whereeverybody's at and what
everybody's opinions are on theseason and what they would like
(18:59):
to do going forward.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Okay, All right.
I had two other rumors.
I wanted to see if I can settlehere.
The other one was Apollo's newreturn next year.
Is your head sponsor?
Paddle sponsor.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
I sure hope, so I know.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Can't confirm, but it feels pretty good yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
I can't confirm it, cause I don't want to speak for
Charlie, but I sure hope so.
That's all I'm going to say.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Well, I hope so too.
The last rumor is that Jason'sactually going to take over his
driving the boat because he's soimpressed he got better
finishes than Bill Locke didwith his RC.
Is that true?
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Yes, that's true, that's the rumor I'm hearing as
well.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Okay, I may have started that rumor, but I'm
hearing those rumors.
Yeah, there's a lot of talking.
Slam Jason.
Yeah, our last straight.
All right.
Well, do you think Bill Walkwill return though next year and
give?
Speaker 2 (19:57):
another stab I do.
I feel pretty comfortablesaying yes about that one.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Dave's super motivated to get not only one
more win for himself, but hereally, really wants to get a
win for Charlie and for Bruce atApollo.
Yeah, Rightfully so.
There's a lot of hard work andblood, sweat and tears and cuss
words and everything else that'swent into this boat.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Yeah, yeah, it'd be great to see a win for for
Wiggins and for Apollo mechanicand everyone involved.
So you've done so much for thesport, and then I think it'd be
good.
It'd be awesome to seesomething back for you down in
down in San Diego, though, chris, just a few weeks ago, uh, you
won a prestigious award, I think, for your crew.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
I did.
Can you talk about that?
Speaker 3 (20:46):
It's these headphones that were painted by a crew
member.
I can't remember his name.
I'm sorry, but back in the Picodays they had these headphones
painted for the crew.
The Pico days they had theseheadphones painted for the crew.
And this is something Dave andCharlie started this season with
us that at each race, theseheadphones are awarded to a crew
member that they recognize fornot only working hard but kind
(21:08):
of doing, doing extra, doingmore than your duties on just
your duties on the crew.
And that was uh yeah.
That was uh yeah, that wasreally cool.
Kind of got a little choked upwhen they did that.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
And then you went into the last race of the year
and you get to keep it allseason.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
That's right, I get to look at it all winter.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Oh, is that that that headphones passed on to the
next person at each race?
It is, it's like a weekly award.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
I do.
They may come up missing.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
That's funny.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
Oh cool.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
That's a fun award.
That's a fun tradition yourteam has.
Not too many teams havesomething special like that, so
that's cool.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
No, it's just it's cool to be uh, to know that they
recognize what you're doing.
I guess I mean it could belooked over during the, during a
race weekend.
I mean everybody's so busy withwhat they're doing that you
kind of overlook thateverybody's out there busting
their butt.
And look that everybody's outthere busting their butt, and I
would say 99% of everybody onevery crew.
We're all volunteers.
(22:19):
None of us are getting paid forthis, so it's cool to be
recognized that you're trying.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Yeah, yeah, that's fantastic.
I think the biggest award whenI was on Muscatel's team is if
you're caught sleeping duringthe race.
They would take a picture andthe next day that would go up on
the trailer.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
So that was we would all, we would all be screwed.
I think we all take a power napat some point.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Yeah, we found every bit of shade that that trailer
can provide.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Yes, oh, all right.
Well, I know you didn't make itto the full season this year.
You didn't go to Madison.
It's only five races.
It's not as extensive of acircuit as it used to be, but,
as a crew member, what's yourfavorite place to go and be a
crew member on the 27?
Speaker 3 (23:12):
As a crew member watching the race, madison is
the best place to go.
I mean, you're right there onthe dot, the boats are just a
few hundred yards right in frontof you.
Yeah, that's without a doubt, Iguess.
As far as the overall raceexperience, I like Seattle
(23:33):
Really.
Yeah, I like Seattle.
Just the experience with thecrowd and everything.
I'm an airplane freak myself,so I love the air show.
The fan interaction in Seattleto me is better than it is
anywhere else.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Okay really Wow.
Yeah, and there's quite anextensive air show there as well
in Seattle.
If you're an Air Nut, that's agood place to be.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
I was surprised.
This year Air Nut's featuringthe boat race.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Yeah, yeah, I was surprised, though this year I
feel like Seattle had more fansthan it has had in the past, at
least more people.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
There seemed to be a lot of people there this year.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Well, how about you, Jason?
What would your answer be forthat?
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Well, I'm 100% a homer.
I love the Tri-Cities.
Takes the cake, Nothing better.
Now there's nowhere that Ididn't enjoy going.
You know, we went to San Diego.
I'd never been to San Diego andI just had a fantastic
experience there.
I agree, San.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Diego was fun.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Yeah, it's a fun place, I think, except for one
thing the salt.
It's the only bummer down there.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
It just doubles your workload.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Yeah, if we could find a race to go on the
schedule after San Diego, Ithink that'd make a lot of crew
members happy.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Yeah, I mean years past.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
then we go down to Vegas and I was about to say we
need a season-ending showdown orsomething like that.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah, Just to wind down everything Right right,
yeah, and just desaltifyeverything and clear it out.
Yeah, well, hopefully they canget something in the future.
But it's been a while since Ihaven't ended on a saltwater
course.
It's been a long while.
I'm trying to think back towhen the last time that was
(25:28):
Except for last year, obviously,but still.
Yeah, well, yeah, I guess itwas last year because they
didn't have San Diego.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
All right.
Other than that, it's been along time yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Yeah, yeah, because for a lot of years it was in
Doha and then they haven't racedin Vegas since the late
nineties.
So, yeah, all right, well forthe fans out there that have
shown interest in being moreactive in the sport and crewing.
What advice would you have forthem out there?
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Volunteer, find a crew member, find a team owner
and just speak up to them.
You would like to help.
But the main thing is to showthe interest.
Don't just be there to takepictures and tell everybody, hey
, I'm on a crew.
The the more you work and themore you learn, the the more
(26:25):
they want you around.
But the easiest way to, justlike I said, to volunteer, if
you can't do it at a race likeme, and I think jason was the
same way do it on facebook,instagram or whatever, and I
think Jason was the same way Doit on Facebook, instagram or
whatever Social media.
Comment on a post, shoot them amessage.
You never know.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Jason, yeah, definitely just to, just to get
involved as much as you can.
That that's kind of so.
The working with the Wigginsteam was kind of ideal for me
because I'd always wanted to bea crew member but living in the
Tri-Cities there's there's not alot going on here.
So you got to make trips acrossthe mountain to get involved
with the team.
And you know so you're.
(27:04):
You're driving six, eight, six,eight hours to.
You know, go spend a couplehours working on the team.
And you know so you're.
You're driving six, eight, six,eight hours to.
You know, go spend a couplehours working on the boat.
And there's a lot of travel toto really make an effect.
So might as well just movethere all at once and spend all
your time there there you go,there we go, all right.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
uh, well, last question for both of you.
Uh, you, you went through a lotthis last year going to
different race sites, gettingthe boat prepared.
If you look back, what's theone moment that makes it all
worthwhile, like your oneexperience?
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Hearing that boat fire up for the first time and
leave the dock in.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
Guntersville.
That's exactly what I was aboutto say.
That first time it pulled awayin Guntersville.
As soon as it pulled away, thatwas it.
That made every bit of it worthit right there.
The rest of the season it couldhave whatever happened the rest
of the season.
Just seeing that boat go outfrom Guntersville right there
made all the work and everythingworth it.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Did you have that goosebumps moment when it pulled
away?
Did you get goosebumps on yourarms?
Speaker 3 (28:09):
it was a surreal moment, very, very surreal
fantastic.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Yeah, that's a trailer fire the couple days
before.
That was another big one.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Yeah, then you knew it was going to happen well,
well, that was the crazy thing.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
I mean, I guess a lot of people didn't know, but the
Thursday of the Guntersvillerace, up until even noon, 12
o'clock that Thursday, that boathad not been fired.
Wow, like you know, the paradewas that Thursday where the
boats were getting pulled intothe pits of Guntersville.
We still hadn't fired that boat.
We fired it at maybe 3.30 or 4pm.
(28:50):
We fired it, loaded everythingup and we timed it just right to
where we were pulling.
We zippered in line with allthe other Unlimiteds coming
across the lake at Guntersville.
We missed the meet and greetand we fell in line with them as
they were pulling into the pits.
That's how close we cut it.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Well, a lot could go wrong without getting a
successful trailer fire.
That was, I'm sure, a hugesalve relief right there.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Yes, that was awesome .
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Oh, fantastic, All right.
Well, guys, I appreciate yourtime and I love talking Hydros
with you and I'm hoping to seeyou out there next year.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Well, guys, well, I appreciate your time and love
talking Hydros with you, and I'mhoping to see you out there
next year.
Yeah, absolutely yeah, thankyou for having us.
Come find us and we'll set youup in the boat.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Well, that's all the time we have for this week.
Hope you enjoyed my chat withChris Martin and Jason Colleen
as we talk more about theircrewing experience.
And again, if you want to be acrew member, I know there's a
lot of teams out there, severalteams that are actually looking
for help right now.
This is the perfect time tojoin.
Whether you're in the Madisonarea, alabama area in Washington
(29:59):
State, there's several teamsout there that are looking for a
few good men and women to helpthem crew.
So don't feel awkward or shy.
Reach out, because there'steams looking for help right now
.
But really enjoyed talking withChris and Jason.
They're two great guys thatgive it all for the love of the
sport and just really enjoyedchatting with them and can't
(30:20):
wait to see them back out on therace courses next year.
One question though as I wasgoing through this editing
process, I really wish I wouldhave asked Chris about how he
liked the barbecue food inSeattle, because Caveman
Kitchens actually catered theApollo Mechanical U-27 down at
Seafair and I was really jealousbecause every day at lunch they
were having Caveman barbecueand that's a local staple here
(30:43):
in the Western side of well, thehydroplane community, because a
lot of people from thehydroplane museum and other
shops love to go down there andget barbecue.
That was, it's always myfavorite.
When I go down into kent Ialways have to stop at caveman
kitchen.
That was my dad's favorite.
Had a lot of banquets in themuseum that were actually
catered by caveman kitchens andI love it.
(31:03):
And just from crisp, being inthe south, I know they've got a
big reputation for having greatbarbecue down there.
I was curious on what histhoughts were.
So next time I see you, chris,I'm asking you I wanna know how
you like the barbecue that wehad there at Seafair at Caveman
Kitchens.
But that's all we have for thisweek, so really hope you
enjoyed it.
(31:23):
Don't forget to like andsubscribe on Facebook, instagram
or online.
We have our website,roostertelltalkcom.
And, don't forget, we have thatRooster Tail Talk Plus
subscription service where youget early access to every
episode as well as a monthlyraffle prize drawing Next month.
(31:46):
I'm not quite sure what I'mgonna release for next month for
my Rooster Tail Talk Plussubscribers, but I've got a few
things in my archives that I'mgonna dig through and I'm gonna
find something good, becauseit's December and that time of
year, so I wanna get a goodChristmas gift for my
subscribers.
Next week we're gonna have atrivia four-part interview with
(32:07):
two brothers who are in thesport, so I'm looking forward to
getting that out to you.
And until next time, well, Ihope to see you at the races.
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