December 24, 2024 • 34 mins
Join part 3 of my chat with Mark and Mitch Evans as they share thrilling stories from their racing careers during the transformative 90s in hydroplane racing. This episode highlights their experiences with race day triumphs, the evolution of boat designs, and the profound impact of regulations on the sport.
Tune in next week on New Year's Eve, as we're going to have part four and conclusion of my interview with Mark and Mitch Evans.
*Photo by Jon Osterberg
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Mark as Played
Transcript
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.
Hello Reese fans, welcome back.
(00:52):
It's episode 135, december 24th2024, and it's Christmas Eve.
Merry Christmas out there inHydroland.
Hope your Christmas season, orholiday season, is going
wonderful for you.
Hope you got lots of time withfamily, friends, time to relax
and rest and recoup for the newyear, and hopefully part three
(01:13):
of my interview with Mark andMitch Evans will help you get
there.
This is part three.
We're going to talk more.
We're going from the 80s to the90s and we're going to talk all
about Mark and Mitch'sexperience in the 90s.
Really focus more with Mark andhis accolades, with going from
JR working on building BobFendler's boat to driving for JR
(01:36):
and the American Spirit team.
Mitch Evans jumps in there ashe raced for JR as well with the
Coug's Light and his experienceat Seattle after that quick
build on that two-winghydroplane.
Talk about the Exide and theBudgears, and you're going to
enjoy listening to all this andall their wild and crazy
adventures along the way as theywin races along the circuit.
(02:00):
Let's get back to my talk withMark and Mitch Eppin.
Well, getting back to yourearly, early years in racing and
one thing that just alwaysfascinates me as a driver um
going through different eras ofracing, and you both went
through an era of going fromopen cockpit to enclosed
canopies um getting thatexperience there.
How hard was that to adjust?
(02:22):
Was that an easy, easyadjustment, like was it day one,
you're used to it, or did ittake a while?
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Personally.
For me it took a while, becauseyou're so used to having that
vision and being able to lookaround and now you're relying on
looking through a piece ofglass and strapped in and
strapped in.
And a great thing where theradios came along.
So that voice, you know thatdefinitely held.
But it took me a while toadjust to it for sure, and then
(02:51):
going through because I mean itwas hot, it was just
uncomfortable, everything aboutit wasn't really very natural
you know, so it took me a while.
It was an evolution, for sure.
Yeah, the heat in the cockpitis insane.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
You're sitting there waiting and a booty breaks loose
or something.
And you know the cool suits.
We've tried numerous types ofcool suits and they just don't
work.
They just don't last.
So that heat thing, that's atough one.
Have you ever got?
Speaker 1 (03:19):
a temp like on what it is in there.
Have you ever tried to figure?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
tried this.
I didn't really want to know.
I know it.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
It was ultra hot Someone had to.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
We've got to ask someone to put a temp gauge in
there.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Someone said 160.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Well, I don't think 160, that's a little much.
But anyway.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
yeah, I've asked around and I've gotten the same
response.
I don't want to know.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
We were able to make some little ventilation in some
areas.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
You know, get some air movement with you.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
That's the only way you could yeah, you could
survive it for a very long time.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Yeah, I had an experience in evansville where
my latch was kind of giving mefits to open the canopy and uh,
so the guys would jump on andopen it.
I shouldn't say that safetything, but no matter what, that
was the case.
So super hot and humid inevansville, pulled up to the
dock, I was fine.
I told jay I shut down, theygot the boat, they jumped on,
hooked the ropes and just as Ilooked up, jay had taken his
(04:09):
headset off and pulled him downand I reached to grab my latch
and it wouldn't open and I wentoh no, so I'm beating on the
window.
My crew guys can't hear me,he's not on the radio.
Well, right then my mind, Ithink, decided well, the race is
over, dude, and here's how hotyou really are.
All of a sudden, the heat Ifelt.
I thought I was on fire andthat's what got me.
(04:32):
Later I thought well, I pulledin.
I didn't feel hot.
You know my adrenaline.
We were racing.
But once you relax and figureout how hot you really are, oh
man, now I can fry it in minutes.
Then you can't panic.
Although I was looking at theask bar, I was wondering, I'm
going to go out that way, darnnear did yeah, Alright.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Well then you got hooked up with JR later.
American Spirit.
How did that deal come?
Speaker 3 (05:04):
about.
Like I said, back when we builtMitch's boat I interacted with
him and then later on we were ata meeting and Bob Findler asked
me to build him a boat and Isaid, oh my gosh, bob, the only
way I'll build you a boat is youbuy the canoes from Jones and
the cockpit.
After what Mitch and I wentthrough trying to put a cockpit
(05:26):
together and so on and so forth,and I said I'm pretty sure we
can do this intersection and soon.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Did you go back here?
Speaker 2 (05:35):
No, we built it over there we rented a space behind
the house, yeah, so.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Jones has had a space and they actually had a little
apartment.
So I ended up living there andthat's how I interacted with the
joneses so much I mean, oh mygosh.
And so then, uh, we did that.
Jones jr saw me busting my button the dual automobiles, boats,
and, uh, really wanting todrive.
And and then, uh, he was.
(06:01):
Him and his dad, um, weregetting very upset that they
would build the boat and itwould go out the door and the
teams wouldn't do what they sayand the boat would kind of fail
and they would blame the Joneses.
Well, they got so mad aboutthat.
Finally, one day JR told me hegoes.
I'm sick and tired of this.
He says I'm going to rent aboat from Steve Woomer.
You want to drive it?
(06:21):
I said, jr, if you mess with meI'm going to beat you up.
I said, sure.
I said I've been wanting to.
He says, well, I'm going to goget that circus boat that
flipped in San Diego and drag itin the shop and we're going to
do something.
And sure enough, he did.
He drug that pink thing in oneday and the rest is history.
(06:41):
We rebuilt it and then that'swhen he hooked up with Steve
Lampson and they came up withthe American Spirit concept the
red, white and blue and that'swhere we went.
So I lived in this littleapartment there and busted butt,
but, like I said just beforethat, mitch came over and you
stayed in that little apartmentwith me.
It's been a few weeks there.
Yep, me and Mitch and Uncle Bob, we built the jig and got all
(07:06):
the frames and so on and soforth and got the canoes from
Jones's.
So it's nice to go right nextdoor to Jones's and watch them,
build the parts and the cockpit.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yeah you go.
What do we need for this?
We kind of go okay, you come upwith a drawing, here you go.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
But I will say the funniest thing about bob he
wanted a two-seater.
He said, yeah, two-seater.
So the way their fuel slosh wasthey were able to put tandem
tight.
But then about halfway or threequarters of the way through,
mitch had to leave.
Go back with ed.
They decided to make athree-wing thing, two wing three
.
You know.
I said no, no, no, no, I don'twant to.
No, I said we're so far behindright now in the three-wing
(07:46):
thing.
Senior just showed me thesegiant spars they got to make.
I said Bob, you're having ahell of a time with the money
anyway.
I said man, I don't really wantto be a part of this.
I said I totally vote againstit.
But I stayed on, helped themfinish it.
We get out there to madison andsteve david went flying into
(08:08):
the turn with that thing aboutswapped ends and then they went
back to the.
They filled it in, you know, toconvince.
But that boat was 34 feet longby one minute long and a
two-seater, yeah, and heactually wanted me to ride in
the cockpit and while stevedavid drove he thought I could
run the flaps and watch a radarscreen and watch where the rest
of the boats were.
(08:28):
He seriously was going to put a, you know, like a jet fighter.
Really you're going to backthat's what it was so.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
So the concept wasn't pr, it was he wanted.
Well, he wanted two driversyeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
He wanted a co-pilot to run flaps and watch, then let
steve steer and talk.
That was his concept, plus giverides at the races and promote
the races.
We went to a national meetingand it got out and Tom Deeth
threw the rule book on the tableand said this ain't happening.
I disagree, right here.
Only one person rides in thatboat during race, is riding the
(09:00):
rule book.
We tried to get APBA to changeit, or the race commission,
whatever it was called at thetime.
They said URC, urc at the time.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Wow, well, they had other drivers in the past.
They're both two drivers.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Yeah, well, they went back to the two that was at
Quicksilver and they werestrapped in and went they kind
of designated them as a ridingmechanic right In the day, but
they kind of designated him as awriting mechanic in the day,
both two people operating theboat.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
I called Steve and said you want to do this?
He goes.
Okay, I'll do it too.
It's all in for it.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
But they got Bob on that one that goes into the what
could have been file that's abig file.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
And you want to know something.
Not to get into this wholestory, but just yeah, I'm going
to put it out there.
That boat actually createdcontroversy in our sport.
In some of these meetings theywere saying no more of these
fancy, weird boats, we've got toget everything down to standard
size and shape.
And I go, I said no, why?
(10:09):
And they said, well, mark,here's a perfect example.
Just look what you did, bobFindler.
You guys went off in a wholeother direction.
Two seats, three wings, and nowthe boat's a failure.
And down the road it went Circus, circus.
They spent a whole bunch ofmoney on that three-point, you
know.
And then if it would just stayto a standard hole, they'd be
(10:31):
out racing and we'd be doinggood.
That was their theory.
So that's how things.
That's really when thingsstarted, getting restricted into
a standard hole and stuff youknow.
Later I kind of agreed, but atthe same time, like my concept
with this Elstrom Hall and so on, I told the whole racing
community don't call me anymore,you owners, go away, get lost,
(10:54):
I'm putting it together, youcan't stop me.
I said I can go out on the lakeand I can put this program
together.
I'll come in and if you're soscared, I'm going to whoop your
butt.
That's just too bad.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
That's the way the world is.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
I hope it works.
I hope I do kick your butt.
But these owners, right nowthey've invested in the turbines
and they've told me you'll makemy engines obsolete.
So what, there's not enougharound?
Well, they're already obsoleteright, yeah what there's nothing
, there's not enough around.
Well, they already are obsoleteright, yeah, not to not to bash
them too bad, but I will.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
I'll stand up right in front of them, tell them
they're crazy to not letsomebody get so restricted well,
I mean that's that's been partof the fun of the sport over the
years, seeing all the differentdesigns and trials and yeah,
and tribulations and errors andeverything that goes with it.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
But I mean it wouldn't be I mean, the boats
wouldn't be like they are todayif they wouldn't have kept
trying things yeah, because byaccident sometimes you pull off
a really good idea design orsomething that you thought maybe
wouldn't work and actuallyworked really good.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Yeah, you can draw it on paper, put it in a wind
towel, but I mean physicallybuilding it, pulling it away,
because I think there's beenmore animation there than
anything.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Well, going back to JR's days and the record Spirit,
you won 92 in Madison.
That was your first win, right,correct?
How thrilling was that for you,mark.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Oh, it was a blast.
It was ironic.
Just like Mitch, I thought Ihad second place.
Oh really, yeah, I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
I won until.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
I got back to the dock Because the Winston and the
Bud slammed into each other.
The Winston did get by me witha great big hole in it, but I
just let him go.
I thought, hey, that boat'sgoing to come apart.
Well, he finished in front ofme.
So I heard Jay screaming on theradio woo-hoo, I'm thinking,
gosh, this isn't bad.
Third race, we get second place.
So I get to the dock, we'redoing our interview and my
(12:46):
wife's got.
Her eyes are just bugged outand the crew's freaking out
what's going on.
They go, you got first placeand I'm like I did, and then, oh
my gosh, it went nuts.
And so it was very enjoyable,especially since I'm going to
throw this out Steve Woomer,that JR rented to lease the boat
from.
Well, he didn't like me.
(13:08):
He thought I was a maniac, hethought I'd crash the boat.
He totally against me drivingthe boat.
He told jr not tire me.
He said the guy's too out ofcontrol and he's.
So.
Jr says no, mark's gonna begreat, and he works on the boat
and he'll be all right andwoomer I don't know how much the
bet was.
He says that.
All right and woomer I don'tknow how much the bet was.
He says that kid's gonna blowthat boat over a crash by the
third race.
(13:28):
Well, guess what one?
Speaker 1 (13:32):
I couldn't wait to run down to the pits and tell mr
woomer he never won with his,with his crash boat, right yeah
yeah, exactly, oh, we laughed onthat one Woomer did not like
that, but he congratulated melater.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
That's funny.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Yeah, well, mitch, at the same time, I think 92.
I believe, yeah, it was 92.
You had an opportunity with JRbecause he built a tooling at
Coors Dry and you ran it inSeattle the first time.
Did you help build that boat?
How did you get involved withthat project?
Speaker 2 (14:06):
No, I just was.
He was just at the time justtrying to put somebody in there
that had some experience, Ithink, because obviously it was
a new design, and then he justasked me to come and help him
out and uh and it was reallyjust as simple as that.
And then and then, I know, Ithink at that point um you guys
just finished toby yep, yep, andwe and we, you know we ran it
(14:29):
hadn't been really successfuland I'm just thinking, yeah,
maybe I wanted.
To try turbine.
That was.
That was kind of the firstthing for me, you know.
So that was just a anopportunity that kind of came
along at the me, you know.
So that was just an opportunitythat kind of came along at the
time.
So I said, sure, I'll come andhelp out however I can.
And it was obviouslyshort-lived, just the one-race
deal.
And then he was able to workwith Dave and obviously go on to
(14:51):
San Diego after that.
So it was 40 days.
It was incredible to see a boatbuilt like that, put together
and show up at the NCAA and thenrun.
It was really a miracle andthen just to get out and give
them some feedback.
(15:11):
You know, there was obviously alot of things to try to work
out on it, but you could tell itwas going to be a great boat.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
And you know it took a lot of time to get it dialed
in, so it was just a run racedeal for you.
Yeah, Do you think that designwould have worked if they didn't
start the restrictions then?
Yeah for sure, that was it.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
It was just because it definitely had the potential
to run really fast, but itneeded a huge amount of
horsepower and you know,different gears and props.
So it all started changingabout that point.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Sure, a floaty boat that we weren't supposed to blow
over.
Yeah, and I was in twodifferent boats, but I had Steve
David blow over on my rightside one time and he blew over
my left side one time.
We're doing things, yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Yeah, but they were modifying everything about that.
It was literally being closedup in many different aspects
with flaps and different angles,so there was a lot of things
that were happening.
It went way one way and theybrought it back and finally I
think they just decided the bestway to have the sport survive
was to make the enginerestriction keep as many parts
(16:23):
together as they could, becauseobviously there was stuff coming
out of them and props comingoff.
I mean I was in San Diego, Itimed the PT wheel across the
water out in the parking lot.
I mean you just knew at thatpoint, man, something had to
change quickly or we were goingto be done racing, yeah that's
scary, yeah, what that couldpossibly do man Boy, yeah man.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Well, Mark, you drove that same boat a couple years
later.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Right, as the X-Side, as the X-Side, yeah, yeah that
was a big deal.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
How'd that all come about?
Speaker 3 (16:59):
X-Side Racing.
Well, we finished up theAmerican Spirit, we reconfigured
it, we got the X-Sidesponsorship and actually that's
back up.
I was trying to do a lot ofmoney for Brian Keough and they
got the X-Side sponsor and theythrew down a lot of money so we
were able to put it together.
(17:21):
Jay LaCrone took the boat andthe truck out to Detroit for a
big show.
We were all done.
The owner, art Hawkins, came upand asked Jay LaCrone if that
boat was going to win.
Jay says well, you know it'lldo all right, but you know you
need that other boat, thattwo-wing boat, and the owner
(17:42):
says okay, go back.
So Jay calls me up, says hey,guess what?
We're going to get the othertwo wing put it together.
You're kidding me?
So we had a two-boat team andyeah and uh.
So, uh, we took it to Seattleto test it and I ended up.
I wasn't JR.
They gave me the choice ofwhich boat I wanted to run, and
(18:07):
so I said I'll tell you what.
Let's take this thing down toLake Washington and I padded up
the cockpit the best I could,told the guy's name.
Let's get ready, because I'mgoing to let it rip.
I'm going to either crash it orsomething's going to happen
here.
So I did drove the snot out ofit and it seemed to work all
right.
And so then we took it back toDetroit and we got to the Gold
Cup and it was so hard to driveand Jimmy King was the backup
(18:30):
driver and man, I just finally,at the last second, said no, I'm
going to drive the good boatand Jimmy can drive that.
And it was a handful.
Just the waves, you know, beatthe back, spar up.
So back to where.
I don't like these two wingthings.
They don't work that well.
Plus they really, you know theyfloat.
(18:51):
They feel like you're goingover quicker than normal.
In fact that's the Budweiserboat, that two-wing boat.
I drove that at Madison.
I was pretty nervous.
I couldn't get myself to go100% on that.
I didn't want to blow it over.
But Saturday morning Mitch goes, that thing looks darn flat.
(19:12):
It shouldn't have any troubles.
Same thing I always go over theambulance.
Guys Get ready, because this isgoing to be all out.
Got fastest qualifier, but thewhole time it was just oh whoa.
I mean if you'd have done thatin another boat you'd probably
get on your lid so it's hard todrive that and keep it well
(19:33):
psychologically it just rightfelt like you're already over.
And then chip didn't like it,you wouldn't.
But steve dav, man, be careful.
It's an odd feeling.
It's different than a regularboat.
That was kind of in my head alittle bit, I think.
But then at Madison I decidedjust let it rip and we got
fastest qualifying.
It worked, but again it keptcoming apart.
The waves would come up andblow the back end out.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Yeah yeah, there wasn't much left of that boat, I
think after that race was over,yeah no, no, we've gone through
those parts everywhere.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Six or seven uprights and wings.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Yeah, no, beat it up.
Well, the Exide team, though itseemed like it was well-funded,
you came close to winning inSeattle and just couldn't quite
get there.
Why do you think that was withthat team?
Oh, why did?
Speaker 3 (20:20):
it win there.
Why do you think that was like?
Was that that team?
Oh, couldn't get a, couldn'tget a win.
Um, oh, it's just.
Um, we had to turn to the moon.
You know that.
That's when we were turning,that it's before restrictions,
and we were blowing stuff upleft and right.
You know so, uh, but see, weonly made seven races and before
we got, let go if you want totalk about it.
It's the truth.
(20:41):
I brought it up on the Internetthe other day and I don't think
John liked it too much, but I'ma truth guy.
Art Hocken went to prison.
Yes, seven races in.
Yeah, he got busted for theSears Die Hard contract that
they overbid.
And then even my local storehere brought on Exide just
because of us.
And he comes up and goes Mark,three out of four batters are
(21:04):
dead, there's fucking nothing.
And I go what?
And then it was after we leftSan Diego that we found out that
we were all fired.
And then later on we went toprison.
And that was so ironic becausehim and his wife had me in the
bus out there in Detroit.
Oh man, you're going to be infor 10 years.
(21:26):
It's going to be great.
They paid me really well andthe whole crew and a couple of
them moved back there andironically he got 10 years.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
God, that's too bad.
Yeah, quite the story.
Another what could have been?
Yes, that's too bad.
Yeah, quite the story.
Another what?
Speaker 3 (21:40):
what could have been.
Yes, yeah, because we were justgetting rolling and you know it
just.
It proved to you right therethat it doesn't matter how much
money you have.
It was like one guy said well,you guys almost have more money
than Budweiser, how come youcan't win?
Well, they're dialed in.
You know, you give a guy allthe money he wants until he gets
(22:01):
his crew dialed in his parts,his stuff.
You know we had gear ratiodifferences and we were all kind
of learning, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
It takes time.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Yeah, I think the next year.
I'll tell you what you mentionedsecond place at Seattle.
That was one of the fun onesI'll never forget, because Dave
had the race covered.
I was on the radio with Jay andI go oh man.
So Jay just went silent.
I just thought, well, I'meither going to catch him or
(22:34):
blow it over or up, or I didn'tcare.
So the last lap I just took adeep breath and let it rip.
I come around there and I cameup to Dave's skid fin area and I
come around the corner and theboat just bit.
Really well, exiting the turn,I'm gaining.
All of a sudden I look and Icould see Dave was just drifting
clear out away from the buoys.
(22:54):
I'm going what in the heck ishe doing, man?
And I'm gaining.
Well, he'd already thought he'dwon the race.
He was like waving at the crowd, I guess.
Well, shoot, I just jetted inand got tied into the buoys as I
could, and Danny Walters saidhe'd never forget it.
He said all of a sudden, dannywas on the radio with Dave and
he just started screaming go, go, go.
(23:14):
So it's just amazing that aboat can gain that much just by
getting on the inside.
I think you only beat us by aboat length.
Yeah, that's it.
Wow, yeah, it was fun, I had ablast.
Yeah, sometimes, you know,second and third place races are
more fun and crazy than gettingfirst.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Right, right, it's interesting how that works.
Yeah, it's better battles backthere.
Yeah, yeah, better battles backthere, yeah, yeah.
Well, mark, I'll talk aboutyour bud years and then I'll get
back to you mitch on yourcareer.
But after that you gotopportunity to drive for bernie
and bud and took over for chip,right uh, it was pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
Um, we were in kansas city and I was driving the
second boat for fred, the rockboat.
He'd had leased it to RickCampbell out in Friday Harbor.
So we were just a bunch ofgoofballs having a good time.
We had one engine, one gearbox,one prod.
We just had the leftover stuffbecause they had just got Pico.
So Dave Billbock was the maindriver for Pico and Fred says
(24:11):
listen, don't you ever pass thatboat.
He said that's our main sponsor.
So you guys go have fun, and soon.
So he said that's our mainsponsor.
So you guys go have fun, and soon.
So we're at Kansas City and Igot inside Dave and Chip I don't
know what they were doing, butI got inside of them and I
massed the gas.
Well, our engine was runningpretty good, we were getting
some pretty good props.
So I went into the turn withthem Down the back stretch.
(24:33):
You know, I thought I'll liftand let them go, you know.
Well, I lifted and my throttlewas stuck on the floor.
I barreled into the turn aboutpooping my pants and hung onto
the boat, passed him, leading upthe front stretch.
I go holy schmoly but thethrottle's still stuck and so
(24:54):
I'm trying to drive and I hit itwith my foot and it popped back
.
Yeah, but then my reactions Ijust slammed it back down and it
stuck again.
So here comes the turn again.
That went on every corner andI'm crapping my pants and anyway
, I end up winning heat.
And I get to the dock, therewas Fred Leland standing there
(25:15):
with his arms full and I thought, oh man, I'm going to get in
trouble.
Sure enough, I got off the boatand he goes.
Marco, what did I tell you?
I go?
You said not to pass him.
But Fred, the throttle's stuck.
And he's looking at me and goesyeah, right, yeah, yeah.
Well, it did.
The throttle's stuck, theboat's on the trailer.
I'm standing there and I lookand here's a couple of the bud
guys I think it was Ronnie and Idon't know Rheinberger.
(25:36):
I go, what are you looking at?
They go.
We just wanted to come down andsee the bunch of goofballs that
just kicked our butt.
I go well, we're not goofballs.
He goes Evan, turn around andlook at your crew.
I turn around and I'm likewe're goofballs.
No, no one had their right ofuniform on.
We were a bunch of crazies.
It was fun.
After the race, ron Brown cameover and asked me if I wanted to
(25:57):
drive the bud and I said oh,you're joking.
What's that?
He goes, well, chip's hurting.
He hurt his ribs really bad andwe need you to drive the boat
if you would like it.
And I said, sure.
Ironically, I had an ice packin my suit because my ribs were
busted up, so yeah, but anyway,so uh.
They said, no, yeah, you'd liketo come drive the boat, okay,
(26:18):
well, um, so I did uh.
Where did we go after that?
Oh, that was uh, that's rightevansville, and the boat was
coming apart.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Uh, yeah yeah, and then madison.
After that, yeah, the otherboat came apart.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
Yeah, they were all coming apart, they were all
getting just beat up, that'sright, getting into the two-wing
thing.
But that's about the time Chip,you know, figured out what he
had going with his you knowphonic dysphonia, I think is
what they called it.
He was having a rough time, theboat was having a rough time.
So, anyway, I just gotcontracted with Bernie to be
backup driver for him and itjust was a great experience.
(26:54):
I was still with Fred's camp,so every time I got out of the
cockpit on a trailer fire orwhatever they didn't want me
looking in the enginecompartment, they didn't want me
looking in it Just get off theboat.
So it was really fun tointeract with the crew guys
because again, characters in oursport oh my gosh, lauren Sawyer
that's the radio guy was just acharacter interesting to get
(27:17):
along with.
It was a little tough for somepeople but I did all right.
Just a great experience and I'mgrateful to be able to do it.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
And that was 95 and 96, correct?
I think you were at that timeat 96, Chip left.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Budweiser and you were driving.
Yeah, he crashed in Detroit andwent over the top.
Yeah, Then he quit.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Yeah, what happened with the Dave switch with you
and Fred, because I feel likethere was some backdoor things
kind of going on.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Yeah, what it was was , unfortunately, in 96, when I
took over that year, they tookthe fuel flow from 4.3 to 4.1
and that amount of fuel flow, uh, hurt the bud big time.
Plus I'll go ahead and say itthere was some.
(28:10):
There was some controversyinside the bud camp.
The guys weren't getting along.
I found out later Ron wastrying some other props and
using me as a test pilot.
I didn't care, I said throwwhatever you want at it, I'll go
mash the gas and try differentthings.
It's fun.
Well, so we weren't successful.
We weren't winning anything andthe boat was ill handling
(28:32):
because of the propellers andthey were just trying different
things.
But ironically, we got to sandiego and one of my my favorite
fans came up and says gosh, Ihope you're not the only
budweiser driving to never win.
And that got me.
Oh wow, I didn't think aboutthat.
So bernie called up.
He was very upset.
In fact there's a great storyabout August Bush coming to town
(28:56):
and dragging me and Ronnie intothe shop, wanting to know why
we weren't winning, andproceeded to tell Ronnie to go
back to Vietnam getting moreengines and the fuel flow thing
was biting them and so on.
But then here's Pico winninglike crazy, you know, but they
were cheating, they were pushingfuel and so when you get?
(29:16):
So I got to San Diego and I saidI told Ronnie.
I said listen, don't you makeme the only driver to never win.
I said I talked to Bernie.
He called me up, he told me totell you to put that boat back
together like it was last yearin Hawaii, because they went out
in the rough waters and whoopedus off Nothing.
Because they went out in therough water and just whooped us
off Nothing, no problem.
So before the final heat at SanDiego, I got pretty mad at Ron
(29:36):
Brown.
I said, listen, don't make me.
You know I want to win.
Yeah, and I can't believe it.
I got in the boat, took offfrom the dock, went down that
back stretch and went holyschmoly, a whole different boat.
So sure enough, I won easy andI won again in Hawaii very
easily.
But that's just kind of becausethey went back to the original.
(30:00):
Hey guys, mark, how are you?
We've got a meeting.
Rod, I'll talk to you in just abit.
Is one of you?
Tim?
Speaker 2 (30:07):
No, no, tim's out on the boat right.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Yeah, okay, yeah, oh, tim Evans.
You're looking for tim evans.
Yes, yeah, uh, gosh, end of uhedoc.
Oh, okay, yeah, this is umcaptain bob lynch.
How's it going?
Dave Newton, he's the famous RCmodel podcast.
(30:38):
I've met you.
Oh, that's right.
That's right, how are you?
Oh?
Speaker 1 (30:47):
thank you.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
How are you Good?
How are you Good Excellent?
Speaker 3 (30:52):
Excellent, good, are you excellent, excellent, oh man
, good, good, well, good to meetyou alright, too much.
I was going to call you to comedown to the, down to the race,
but we'll have to pour inconcrete and all sorts of other
things.
Alright, well, we'll catch up,man.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
I gotta figure out what's what's, what's, what's,
what's, what's, what's, what's.
We'll catch up, man.
I've got to figure out whatwide-blown sports is going on
down on Tim's boat.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
Good luck with that, rod Childhood friend.
His dad was involved with ourdad and the whole committee for
the Alpacup races.
He's one of the greatest acrossthe lake.
Fun, fun.
But anyway, the boat was wasphenomenal.
You know, because I said Ron,you got all the data from last
(31:40):
year, just please put it inthere.
It just ran really well.
That's basically what happened.
And so when we got over toHawaii, rumors were already
going that you know that thatwas what was going to happen.
Bernie took me out on the dockand said listen, I'm not letting
you go because you're a baddriver.
(32:00):
He says Dave's got informationand propellers and so on and
I've got to go that route.
I said okay.
And then that's what was socool about Dewey and Mark Gumby.
There they both apologized andsaid basically they got caught
with their pants down.
They did not think they wouldlose that much horsepower going
(32:23):
from 4.3 to 4.1.
And then the combination ofprops and gear ratios we were
trying.
It was just tough, but it wasall right.
It was a hell of an experiencefor me.
They learned some things, me,they learned some things and I
learned some things.
But boy, then when we swappedit was.
It was just chaos, man it wascrazy.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
So then you went over to Fred's with the Pico
sponsorship and at the same time, mitch, I believe, you hooked
up with Jerry Rise and AppyAndronimo team, so you both were
in some pretty good boats atthat time.
Ho ho ho, merry Christmas,sounds like Santa's about to
(33:03):
climb down my chimney.
I better run to bed so he canleave me lots of hydroplane
gifts underneath my Christmastree.
Hope you do the same Tune innext week on New Year's Eve, as
we're going to have part fourand a conclusion of my interview
with Mark and Mitch Evans.
So until next time, merryChristmas, happy Holidays and
hope 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.
Hello Reese fans, welcome back.
(00:52):
It's episode 135, december 24th2024, and it's Christmas Eve.
Merry Christmas out there inHydroland.
Hope your Christmas season, orholiday season, is going
wonderful for you.
Hope you got lots of time withfamily, friends, time to relax
and rest and recoup for the newyear, and hopefully part three
(01:13):
of my interview with Mark andMitch Evans will help you get
there.
This is part three.
We're going to talk more.
We're going from the 80s to the90s and we're going to talk all
about Mark and Mitch'sexperience in the 90s.
Really focus more with Mark andhis accolades, with going from
JR working on building BobFendler's boat to driving for JR
(01:36):
and the American Spirit team.
Mitch Evans jumps in there ashe raced for JR as well with the
Coug's Light and his experienceat Seattle after that quick
build on that two-winghydroplane.
Talk about the Exide and theBudgears, and you're going to
enjoy listening to all this andall their wild and crazy
adventures along the way as theywin races along the circuit.
(02:00):
Let's get back to my talk withMark and Mitch Eppin.
Well, getting back to yourearly, early years in racing and
one thing that just alwaysfascinates me as a driver um
going through different eras ofracing, and you both went
through an era of going fromopen cockpit to enclosed
canopies um getting thatexperience there.
How hard was that to adjust?
(02:22):
Was that an easy, easyadjustment, like was it day one,
you're used to it, or did ittake a while?
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Personally.
For me it took a while, becauseyou're so used to having that
vision and being able to lookaround and now you're relying on
looking through a piece ofglass and strapped in and
strapped in.
And a great thing where theradios came along.
So that voice, you know thatdefinitely held.
But it took me a while toadjust to it for sure, and then
(02:51):
going through because I mean itwas hot, it was just
uncomfortable, everything aboutit wasn't really very natural
you know, so it took me a while.
It was an evolution, for sure.
Yeah, the heat in the cockpitis insane.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
You're sitting there waiting and a booty breaks loose
or something.
And you know the cool suits.
We've tried numerous types ofcool suits and they just don't
work.
They just don't last.
So that heat thing, that's atough one.
Have you ever got?
Speaker 1 (03:19):
a temp like on what it is in there.
Have you ever tried to figure?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
tried this.
I didn't really want to know.
I know it.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
It was ultra hot Someone had to.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
We've got to ask someone to put a temp gauge in
there.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Someone said 160.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Well, I don't think 160, that's a little much.
But anyway.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
yeah, I've asked around and I've gotten the same
response.
I don't want to know.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
We were able to make some little ventilation in some
areas.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
You know, get some air movement with you.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
That's the only way you could yeah, you could
survive it for a very long time.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Yeah, I had an experience in evansville where
my latch was kind of giving mefits to open the canopy and uh,
so the guys would jump on andopen it.
I shouldn't say that safetything, but no matter what, that
was the case.
So super hot and humid inevansville, pulled up to the
dock, I was fine.
I told jay I shut down, theygot the boat, they jumped on,
hooked the ropes and just as Ilooked up, jay had taken his
(04:09):
headset off and pulled him downand I reached to grab my latch
and it wouldn't open and I wentoh no, so I'm beating on the
window.
My crew guys can't hear me,he's not on the radio.
Well, right then my mind, Ithink, decided well, the race is
over, dude, and here's how hotyou really are.
All of a sudden, the heat Ifelt.
I thought I was on fire andthat's what got me.
(04:32):
Later I thought well, I pulledin.
I didn't feel hot.
You know my adrenaline.
We were racing.
But once you relax and figureout how hot you really are, oh
man, now I can fry it in minutes.
Then you can't panic.
Although I was looking at theask bar, I was wondering, I'm
going to go out that way, darnnear did yeah, Alright.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Well then you got hooked up with JR later.
American Spirit.
How did that deal come?
Speaker 3 (05:04):
about.
Like I said, back when we builtMitch's boat I interacted with
him and then later on we were ata meeting and Bob Findler asked
me to build him a boat and Isaid, oh my gosh, bob, the only
way I'll build you a boat is youbuy the canoes from Jones and
the cockpit.
After what Mitch and I wentthrough trying to put a cockpit
(05:26):
together and so on and so forth,and I said I'm pretty sure we
can do this intersection and soon.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Did you go back here?
Speaker 2 (05:35):
No, we built it over there we rented a space behind
the house, yeah, so.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Jones has had a space and they actually had a little
apartment.
So I ended up living there andthat's how I interacted with the
joneses so much I mean, oh mygosh.
And so then, uh, we did that.
Jones jr saw me busting my button the dual automobiles, boats,
and, uh, really wanting todrive.
And and then, uh, he was.
(06:01):
Him and his dad, um, weregetting very upset that they
would build the boat and itwould go out the door and the
teams wouldn't do what they sayand the boat would kind of fail
and they would blame the Joneses.
Well, they got so mad aboutthat.
Finally, one day JR told me hegoes.
I'm sick and tired of this.
He says I'm going to rent aboat from Steve Woomer.
You want to drive it?
(06:21):
I said, jr, if you mess with meI'm going to beat you up.
I said, sure.
I said I've been wanting to.
He says, well, I'm going to goget that circus boat that
flipped in San Diego and drag itin the shop and we're going to
do something.
And sure enough, he did.
He drug that pink thing in oneday and the rest is history.
(06:41):
We rebuilt it and then that'swhen he hooked up with Steve
Lampson and they came up withthe American Spirit concept the
red, white and blue and that'swhere we went.
So I lived in this littleapartment there and busted butt,
but, like I said just beforethat, mitch came over and you
stayed in that little apartmentwith me.
It's been a few weeks there.
Yep, me and Mitch and Uncle Bob, we built the jig and got all
(07:06):
the frames and so on and soforth and got the canoes from
Jones's.
So it's nice to go right nextdoor to Jones's and watch them,
build the parts and the cockpit.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yeah you go.
What do we need for this?
We kind of go okay, you come upwith a drawing, here you go.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
But I will say the funniest thing about bob he
wanted a two-seater.
He said, yeah, two-seater.
So the way their fuel slosh wasthey were able to put tandem
tight.
But then about halfway or threequarters of the way through,
mitch had to leave.
Go back with ed.
They decided to make athree-wing thing, two wing three
.
You know.
I said no, no, no, no, I don'twant to.
No, I said we're so far behindright now in the three-wing
(07:46):
thing.
Senior just showed me thesegiant spars they got to make.
I said Bob, you're having ahell of a time with the money
anyway.
I said man, I don't really wantto be a part of this.
I said I totally vote againstit.
But I stayed on, helped themfinish it.
We get out there to madison andsteve david went flying into
(08:08):
the turn with that thing aboutswapped ends and then they went
back to the.
They filled it in, you know, toconvince.
But that boat was 34 feet longby one minute long and a
two-seater, yeah, and heactually wanted me to ride in
the cockpit and while stevedavid drove he thought I could
run the flaps and watch a radarscreen and watch where the rest
of the boats were.
(08:28):
He seriously was going to put a, you know, like a jet fighter.
Really you're going to backthat's what it was so.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
So the concept wasn't pr, it was he wanted.
Well, he wanted two driversyeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
He wanted a co-pilot to run flaps and watch, then let
steve steer and talk.
That was his concept, plus giverides at the races and promote
the races.
We went to a national meetingand it got out and Tom Deeth
threw the rule book on the tableand said this ain't happening.
I disagree, right here.
Only one person rides in thatboat during race, is riding the
(09:00):
rule book.
We tried to get APBA to changeit, or the race commission,
whatever it was called at thetime.
They said URC, urc at the time.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Wow, well, they had other drivers in the past.
They're both two drivers.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Yeah, well, they went back to the two that was at
Quicksilver and they werestrapped in and went they kind
of designated them as a ridingmechanic right In the day, but
they kind of designated him as awriting mechanic in the day,
both two people operating theboat.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
I called Steve and said you want to do this?
He goes.
Okay, I'll do it too.
It's all in for it.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
But they got Bob on that one that goes into the what
could have been file that's abig file.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
And you want to know something.
Not to get into this wholestory, but just yeah, I'm going
to put it out there.
That boat actually createdcontroversy in our sport.
In some of these meetings theywere saying no more of these
fancy, weird boats, we've got toget everything down to standard
size and shape.
And I go, I said no, why?
(10:09):
And they said, well, mark,here's a perfect example.
Just look what you did, bobFindler.
You guys went off in a wholeother direction.
Two seats, three wings, and nowthe boat's a failure.
And down the road it went Circus, circus.
They spent a whole bunch ofmoney on that three-point, you
know.
And then if it would just stayto a standard hole, they'd be
(10:31):
out racing and we'd be doinggood.
That was their theory.
So that's how things.
That's really when thingsstarted, getting restricted into
a standard hole and stuff youknow.
Later I kind of agreed, but atthe same time, like my concept
with this Elstrom Hall and so on, I told the whole racing
community don't call me anymore,you owners, go away, get lost,
(10:54):
I'm putting it together, youcan't stop me.
I said I can go out on the lakeand I can put this program
together.
I'll come in and if you're soscared, I'm going to whoop your
butt.
That's just too bad.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
That's the way the world is.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
I hope it works.
I hope I do kick your butt.
But these owners, right nowthey've invested in the turbines
and they've told me you'll makemy engines obsolete.
So what, there's not enougharound?
Well, they're already obsoleteright, yeah what there's nothing
, there's not enough around.
Well, they already are obsoleteright, yeah, not to not to bash
them too bad, but I will.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
I'll stand up right in front of them, tell them
they're crazy to not letsomebody get so restricted well,
I mean that's that's been partof the fun of the sport over the
years, seeing all the differentdesigns and trials and yeah,
and tribulations and errors andeverything that goes with it.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
But I mean it wouldn't be I mean, the boats
wouldn't be like they are todayif they wouldn't have kept
trying things yeah, because byaccident sometimes you pull off
a really good idea design orsomething that you thought maybe
wouldn't work and actuallyworked really good.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Yeah, you can draw it on paper, put it in a wind
towel, but I mean physicallybuilding it, pulling it away,
because I think there's beenmore animation there than
anything.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Well, going back to JR's days and the record Spirit,
you won 92 in Madison.
That was your first win, right,correct?
How thrilling was that for you,mark.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Oh, it was a blast.
It was ironic.
Just like Mitch, I thought Ihad second place.
Oh really, yeah, I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
I won until.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
I got back to the dock Because the Winston and the
Bud slammed into each other.
The Winston did get by me witha great big hole in it, but I
just let him go.
I thought, hey, that boat'sgoing to come apart.
Well, he finished in front ofme.
So I heard Jay screaming on theradio woo-hoo, I'm thinking,
gosh, this isn't bad.
Third race, we get second place.
So I get to the dock, we'redoing our interview and my
(12:46):
wife's got.
Her eyes are just bugged outand the crew's freaking out
what's going on.
They go, you got first placeand I'm like I did, and then, oh
my gosh, it went nuts.
And so it was very enjoyable,especially since I'm going to
throw this out Steve Woomer,that JR rented to lease the boat
from.
Well, he didn't like me.
(13:08):
He thought I was a maniac, hethought I'd crash the boat.
He totally against me drivingthe boat.
He told jr not tire me.
He said the guy's too out ofcontrol and he's.
So.
Jr says no, mark's gonna begreat, and he works on the boat
and he'll be all right andwoomer I don't know how much the
bet was.
He says that.
All right and woomer I don'tknow how much the bet was.
He says that kid's gonna blowthat boat over a crash by the
third race.
(13:28):
Well, guess what one?
Speaker 1 (13:32):
I couldn't wait to run down to the pits and tell mr
woomer he never won with his,with his crash boat, right yeah
yeah, exactly, oh, we laughed onthat one Woomer did not like
that, but he congratulated melater.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
That's funny.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Yeah, well, mitch, at the same time, I think 92.
I believe, yeah, it was 92.
You had an opportunity with JRbecause he built a tooling at
Coors Dry and you ran it inSeattle the first time.
Did you help build that boat?
How did you get involved withthat project?
Speaker 2 (14:06):
No, I just was.
He was just at the time justtrying to put somebody in there
that had some experience, Ithink, because obviously it was
a new design, and then he justasked me to come and help him
out and uh and it was reallyjust as simple as that.
And then and then, I know, Ithink at that point um you guys
just finished toby yep, yep, andwe and we, you know we ran it
(14:29):
hadn't been really successfuland I'm just thinking, yeah,
maybe I wanted.
To try turbine.
That was.
That was kind of the firstthing for me, you know.
So that was just a anopportunity that kind of came
along at the me, you know.
So that was just an opportunitythat kind of came along at the
time.
So I said, sure, I'll come andhelp out however I can.
And it was obviouslyshort-lived, just the one-race
deal.
And then he was able to workwith Dave and obviously go on to
(14:51):
San Diego after that.
So it was 40 days.
It was incredible to see a boatbuilt like that, put together
and show up at the NCAA and thenrun.
It was really a miracle andthen just to get out and give
them some feedback.
(15:11):
You know, there was obviously alot of things to try to work
out on it, but you could tell itwas going to be a great boat.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
And you know it took a lot of time to get it dialed
in, so it was just a run racedeal for you.
Yeah, Do you think that designwould have worked if they didn't
start the restrictions then?
Yeah for sure, that was it.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
It was just because it definitely had the potential
to run really fast, but itneeded a huge amount of
horsepower and you know,different gears and props.
So it all started changingabout that point.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Sure, a floaty boat that we weren't supposed to blow
over.
Yeah, and I was in twodifferent boats, but I had Steve
David blow over on my rightside one time and he blew over
my left side one time.
We're doing things, yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Yeah, but they were modifying everything about that.
It was literally being closedup in many different aspects
with flaps and different angles,so there was a lot of things
that were happening.
It went way one way and theybrought it back and finally I
think they just decided the bestway to have the sport survive
was to make the enginerestriction keep as many parts
(16:23):
together as they could, becauseobviously there was stuff coming
out of them and props comingoff.
I mean I was in San Diego, Itimed the PT wheel across the
water out in the parking lot.
I mean you just knew at thatpoint, man, something had to
change quickly or we were goingto be done racing, yeah that's
scary, yeah, what that couldpossibly do man Boy, yeah man.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Well, Mark, you drove that same boat a couple years
later.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Right, as the X-Side, as the X-Side, yeah, yeah that
was a big deal.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
How'd that all come about?
Speaker 3 (16:59):
X-Side Racing.
Well, we finished up theAmerican Spirit, we reconfigured
it, we got the X-Sidesponsorship and actually that's
back up.
I was trying to do a lot ofmoney for Brian Keough and they
got the X-Side sponsor and theythrew down a lot of money so we
were able to put it together.
(17:21):
Jay LaCrone took the boat andthe truck out to Detroit for a
big show.
We were all done.
The owner, art Hawkins, came upand asked Jay LaCrone if that
boat was going to win.
Jay says well, you know it'lldo all right, but you know you
need that other boat, thattwo-wing boat, and the owner
(17:42):
says okay, go back.
So Jay calls me up, says hey,guess what?
We're going to get the othertwo wing put it together.
You're kidding me?
So we had a two-boat team andyeah and uh.
So, uh, we took it to Seattleto test it and I ended up.
I wasn't JR.
They gave me the choice ofwhich boat I wanted to run, and
(18:07):
so I said I'll tell you what.
Let's take this thing down toLake Washington and I padded up
the cockpit the best I could,told the guy's name.
Let's get ready, because I'mgoing to let it rip.
I'm going to either crash it orsomething's going to happen
here.
So I did drove the snot out ofit and it seemed to work all
right.
And so then we took it back toDetroit and we got to the Gold
Cup and it was so hard to driveand Jimmy King was the backup
(18:30):
driver and man, I just finally,at the last second, said no, I'm
going to drive the good boatand Jimmy can drive that.
And it was a handful.
Just the waves, you know, beatthe back, spar up.
So back to where.
I don't like these two wingthings.
They don't work that well.
Plus they really, you know theyfloat.
(18:51):
They feel like you're goingover quicker than normal.
In fact that's the Budweiserboat, that two-wing boat.
I drove that at Madison.
I was pretty nervous.
I couldn't get myself to go100% on that.
I didn't want to blow it over.
But Saturday morning Mitch goes, that thing looks darn flat.
(19:12):
It shouldn't have any troubles.
Same thing I always go over theambulance.
Guys Get ready, because this isgoing to be all out.
Got fastest qualifier, but thewhole time it was just oh whoa.
I mean if you'd have done thatin another boat you'd probably
get on your lid so it's hard todrive that and keep it well
(19:33):
psychologically it just rightfelt like you're already over.
And then chip didn't like it,you wouldn't.
But steve dav, man, be careful.
It's an odd feeling.
It's different than a regularboat.
That was kind of in my head alittle bit, I think.
But then at Madison I decidedjust let it rip and we got
fastest qualifying.
It worked, but again it keptcoming apart.
The waves would come up andblow the back end out.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Yeah yeah, there wasn't much left of that boat, I
think after that race was over,yeah no, no, we've gone through
those parts everywhere.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Six or seven uprights and wings.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Yeah, no, beat it up.
Well, the Exide team, though itseemed like it was well-funded,
you came close to winning inSeattle and just couldn't quite
get there.
Why do you think that was withthat team?
Oh, why did?
Speaker 3 (20:20):
it win there.
Why do you think that was like?
Was that that team?
Oh, couldn't get a, couldn'tget a win.
Um, oh, it's just.
Um, we had to turn to the moon.
You know that.
That's when we were turning,that it's before restrictions,
and we were blowing stuff upleft and right.
You know so, uh, but see, weonly made seven races and before
we got, let go if you want totalk about it.
It's the truth.
(20:41):
I brought it up on the Internetthe other day and I don't think
John liked it too much, but I'ma truth guy.
Art Hocken went to prison.
Yes, seven races in.
Yeah, he got busted for theSears Die Hard contract that
they overbid.
And then even my local storehere brought on Exide just
because of us.
And he comes up and goes Mark,three out of four batters are
(21:04):
dead, there's fucking nothing.
And I go what?
And then it was after we leftSan Diego that we found out that
we were all fired.
And then later on we went toprison.
And that was so ironic becausehim and his wife had me in the
bus out there in Detroit.
Oh man, you're going to be infor 10 years.
(21:26):
It's going to be great.
They paid me really well andthe whole crew and a couple of
them moved back there andironically he got 10 years.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
God, that's too bad.
Yeah, quite the story.
Another what could have been?
Yes, that's too bad.
Yeah, quite the story.
Another what?
Speaker 3 (21:40):
what could have been.
Yes, yeah, because we were justgetting rolling and you know it
just.
It proved to you right therethat it doesn't matter how much
money you have.
It was like one guy said well,you guys almost have more money
than Budweiser, how come youcan't win?
Well, they're dialed in.
You know, you give a guy allthe money he wants until he gets
(22:01):
his crew dialed in his parts,his stuff.
You know we had gear ratiodifferences and we were all kind
of learning, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
It takes time.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Yeah, I think the next year.
I'll tell you what you mentionedsecond place at Seattle.
That was one of the fun onesI'll never forget, because Dave
had the race covered.
I was on the radio with Jay andI go oh man.
So Jay just went silent.
I just thought, well, I'meither going to catch him or
(22:34):
blow it over or up, or I didn'tcare.
So the last lap I just took adeep breath and let it rip.
I come around there and I cameup to Dave's skid fin area and I
come around the corner and theboat just bit.
Really well, exiting the turn,I'm gaining.
All of a sudden I look and Icould see Dave was just drifting
clear out away from the buoys.
(22:54):
I'm going what in the heck ishe doing, man?
And I'm gaining.
Well, he'd already thought he'dwon the race.
He was like waving at the crowd, I guess.
Well, shoot, I just jetted inand got tied into the buoys as I
could, and Danny Walters saidhe'd never forget it.
He said all of a sudden, dannywas on the radio with Dave and
he just started screaming go, go, go.
(23:14):
So it's just amazing that aboat can gain that much just by
getting on the inside.
I think you only beat us by aboat length.
Yeah, that's it.
Wow, yeah, it was fun, I had ablast.
Yeah, sometimes, you know,second and third place races are
more fun and crazy than gettingfirst.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Right, right, it's interesting how that works.
Yeah, it's better battles backthere.
Yeah, yeah, better battles backthere, yeah, yeah.
Well, mark, I'll talk aboutyour bud years and then I'll get
back to you mitch on yourcareer.
But after that you gotopportunity to drive for bernie
and bud and took over for chip,right uh, it was pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
Um, we were in kansas city and I was driving the
second boat for fred, the rockboat.
He'd had leased it to RickCampbell out in Friday Harbor.
So we were just a bunch ofgoofballs having a good time.
We had one engine, one gearbox,one prod.
We just had the leftover stuffbecause they had just got Pico.
So Dave Billbock was the maindriver for Pico and Fred says
(24:11):
listen, don't you ever pass thatboat.
He said that's our main sponsor.
So you guys go have fun, and soon.
So he said that's our mainsponsor.
So you guys go have fun, and soon.
So we're at Kansas City and Igot inside Dave and Chip I don't
know what they were doing, butI got inside of them and I
massed the gas.
Well, our engine was runningpretty good, we were getting
some pretty good props.
So I went into the turn withthem Down the back stretch.
(24:33):
You know, I thought I'll liftand let them go, you know.
Well, I lifted and my throttlewas stuck on the floor.
I barreled into the turn aboutpooping my pants and hung onto
the boat, passed him, leading upthe front stretch.
I go holy schmoly but thethrottle's still stuck and so
(24:54):
I'm trying to drive and I hit itwith my foot and it popped back
.
Yeah, but then my reactions Ijust slammed it back down and it
stuck again.
So here comes the turn again.
That went on every corner andI'm crapping my pants and anyway
, I end up winning heat.
And I get to the dock, therewas Fred Leland standing there
(25:15):
with his arms full and I thought, oh man, I'm going to get in
trouble.
Sure enough, I got off the boatand he goes.
Marco, what did I tell you?
I go?
You said not to pass him.
But Fred, the throttle's stuck.
And he's looking at me and goesyeah, right, yeah, yeah.
Well, it did.
The throttle's stuck, theboat's on the trailer.
I'm standing there and I lookand here's a couple of the bud
guys I think it was Ronnie and Idon't know Rheinberger.
(25:36):
I go, what are you looking at?
They go.
We just wanted to come down andsee the bunch of goofballs that
just kicked our butt.
I go well, we're not goofballs.
He goes Evan, turn around andlook at your crew.
I turn around and I'm likewe're goofballs.
No, no one had their right ofuniform on.
We were a bunch of crazies.
It was fun.
After the race, ron Brown cameover and asked me if I wanted to
(25:57):
drive the bud and I said oh,you're joking.
What's that?
He goes, well, chip's hurting.
He hurt his ribs really bad andwe need you to drive the boat
if you would like it.
And I said, sure.
Ironically, I had an ice packin my suit because my ribs were
busted up, so yeah, but anyway,so uh.
They said, no, yeah, you'd liketo come drive the boat, okay,
(26:18):
well, um, so I did uh.
Where did we go after that?
Oh, that was uh, that's rightevansville, and the boat was
coming apart.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Uh, yeah yeah, and then madison.
After that, yeah, the otherboat came apart.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
Yeah, they were all coming apart, they were all
getting just beat up, that'sright, getting into the two-wing
thing.
But that's about the time Chip,you know, figured out what he
had going with his you knowphonic dysphonia, I think is
what they called it.
He was having a rough time, theboat was having a rough time.
So, anyway, I just gotcontracted with Bernie to be
backup driver for him and itjust was a great experience.
(26:54):
I was still with Fred's camp,so every time I got out of the
cockpit on a trailer fire orwhatever they didn't want me
looking in the enginecompartment, they didn't want me
looking in it Just get off theboat.
So it was really fun tointeract with the crew guys
because again, characters in oursport oh my gosh, lauren Sawyer
that's the radio guy was just acharacter interesting to get
(27:17):
along with.
It was a little tough for somepeople but I did all right.
Just a great experience and I'mgrateful to be able to do it.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
And that was 95 and 96, correct?
I think you were at that timeat 96, Chip left.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Budweiser and you were driving.
Yeah, he crashed in Detroit andwent over the top.
Yeah, Then he quit.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Yeah, what happened with the Dave switch with you
and Fred, because I feel likethere was some backdoor things
kind of going on.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Yeah, what it was was , unfortunately, in 96, when I
took over that year, they tookthe fuel flow from 4.3 to 4.1
and that amount of fuel flow, uh, hurt the bud big time.
Plus I'll go ahead and say itthere was some.
(28:10):
There was some controversyinside the bud camp.
The guys weren't getting along.
I found out later Ron wastrying some other props and
using me as a test pilot.
I didn't care, I said throwwhatever you want at it, I'll go
mash the gas and try differentthings.
It's fun.
Well, so we weren't successful.
We weren't winning anything andthe boat was ill handling
(28:32):
because of the propellers andthey were just trying different
things.
But ironically, we got to sandiego and one of my my favorite
fans came up and says gosh, Ihope you're not the only
budweiser driving to never win.
And that got me.
Oh wow, I didn't think aboutthat.
So bernie called up.
He was very upset.
In fact there's a great storyabout August Bush coming to town
(28:56):
and dragging me and Ronnie intothe shop, wanting to know why
we weren't winning, andproceeded to tell Ronnie to go
back to Vietnam getting moreengines and the fuel flow thing
was biting them and so on.
But then here's Pico winninglike crazy, you know, but they
were cheating, they were pushingfuel and so when you get?
(29:16):
So I got to San Diego and I saidI told Ronnie.
I said listen, don't you makeme the only driver to never win.
I said I talked to Bernie.
He called me up, he told me totell you to put that boat back
together like it was last yearin Hawaii, because they went out
in the rough waters and whoopedus off Nothing.
Because they went out in therough water and just whooped us
off Nothing, no problem.
So before the final heat at SanDiego, I got pretty mad at Ron
(29:36):
Brown.
I said, listen, don't make me.
You know I want to win.
Yeah, and I can't believe it.
I got in the boat, took offfrom the dock, went down that
back stretch and went holyschmoly, a whole different boat.
So sure enough, I won easy andI won again in Hawaii very
easily.
But that's just kind of becausethey went back to the original.
(30:00):
Hey guys, mark, how are you?
We've got a meeting.
Rod, I'll talk to you in just abit.
Is one of you?
Tim?
Speaker 2 (30:07):
No, no, tim's out on the boat right.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Yeah, okay, yeah, oh, tim Evans.
You're looking for tim evans.
Yes, yeah, uh, gosh, end of uhedoc.
Oh, okay, yeah, this is umcaptain bob lynch.
How's it going?
Dave Newton, he's the famous RCmodel podcast.
(30:38):
I've met you.
Oh, that's right.
That's right, how are you?
Oh?
Speaker 1 (30:47):
thank you.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
How are you Good?
How are you Good Excellent?
Speaker 3 (30:52):
Excellent, good, are you excellent, excellent, oh man
, good, good, well, good to meetyou alright, too much.
I was going to call you to comedown to the, down to the race,
but we'll have to pour inconcrete and all sorts of other
things.
Alright, well, we'll catch up,man.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
I gotta figure out what's what's, what's, what's,
what's, what's, what's, what's.
We'll catch up, man.
I've got to figure out whatwide-blown sports is going on
down on Tim's boat.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
Good luck with that, rod Childhood friend.
His dad was involved with ourdad and the whole committee for
the Alpacup races.
He's one of the greatest acrossthe lake.
Fun, fun.
But anyway, the boat was wasphenomenal.
You know, because I said Ron,you got all the data from last
(31:40):
year, just please put it inthere.
It just ran really well.
That's basically what happened.
And so when we got over toHawaii, rumors were already
going that you know that thatwas what was going to happen.
Bernie took me out on the dockand said listen, I'm not letting
you go because you're a baddriver.
(32:00):
He says Dave's got informationand propellers and so on and
I've got to go that route.
I said okay.
And then that's what was socool about Dewey and Mark Gumby.
There they both apologized andsaid basically they got caught
with their pants down.
They did not think they wouldlose that much horsepower going
(32:23):
from 4.3 to 4.1.
And then the combination ofprops and gear ratios we were
trying.
It was just tough, but it wasall right.
It was a hell of an experiencefor me.
They learned some things, me,they learned some things and I
learned some things.
But boy, then when we swappedit was.
It was just chaos, man it wascrazy.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
So then you went over to Fred's with the Pico
sponsorship and at the same time, mitch, I believe, you hooked
up with Jerry Rise and AppyAndronimo team, so you both were
in some pretty good boats atthat time.
Ho ho ho, merry Christmas,sounds like Santa's about to
(33:03):
climb down my chimney.
I better run to bed so he canleave me lots of hydroplane
gifts underneath my Christmastree.
Hope you do the same Tune innext week on New Year's Eve, as
we're going to have part fourand a conclusion of my interview
with Mark and Mitch Evans.
So until next time, merryChristmas, happy Holidays and
hope to see you at the races.
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