April 15, 2025 • 41 mins
David Newton steps back from his host duties as Don Mock from the Hydroplane & Raceboat Museum turns the microphone around for part two of an in-depth conversation about David's lifetime in RC hydroplane racing. This fascinating conclusion dives deep into the technical aspects of driving radio-controlled boats from the shore—a completely different challenge than being in the cockpit of a full-sized unlimited.
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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 love, hydroplane racing.
I am your host, david Newton,and it's time once again, so sit
back, relax and welcome.
Rooster Tail, talk, tale, talk.
(00:51):
Hello Breeze fans, welcome backto the podcast.
It's April 15th and this isepisode 144, part two and the
conclusion of Don Mock takingover the show and interviewing
me.
Well, I hope you liked lastweek's rendition of the podcast.
It was something a little bitdifferent.
Don Mock from the HydroplaneRaceboat Museum took over the
(01:14):
show and asked me some questionsabout my life around hydroplane
racing.
Of course I mean what else thisepisode?
We're going to be focused moretowards that radio controlled
side of the sport that I havespent my entire life doing and
we're going to talk more aboutRC boats, the background, some
(01:35):
of my favorite things and myexperience with that in my life.
Now, I got to admit that Ihated editing this episode
because I don't like listeningto my own voice and I'm a little
critical of myself.
But I hope you enjoyed part oneand let's jump into part two,
the conclusion of Don Mockinterviewing me about
(01:57):
hydroplanes.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Okay, david.
So David, driving these RCboats.
I had a couple more questionsbecause I'm still so fascinated
as a fellow competitor yeah, andbeing beat by guys like you.
I'm always trying to figure outwhy am I getting beat by them?
What am I doing, stupid?
Well, I've never been known asa great driver.
I'm good at the gambit ofthings and they come together in
(02:26):
a win every now and then.
You've been a student of thesport way longer than me, in
perspective, because since youwere a little tiny kid Anything
that you remember that your dadpointed out to watch for out on
(02:46):
the course what were some ofyour biggest mistakes that you
consistently did and your dadhad to slap you around to say
quit doing?
Speaker 1 (02:53):
that Well, I mean, I don't want to getlimited.
Especially, my dad reallypreached going out and practice
and practice, just doing lapsand getting comfortable and
staying away from the goddamnbuoys.
(03:14):
Go out there and don't, don'tbe around the buoys.
But he wanted me to do ahundred laps before I raced.
And so I remember I don't knowif we actually got to 100 or not
, but we we tried to, and he hada friend uh, nick arena lived
on lake mcdonald who went out tohis house a couple times.
I tested the tempest out there,but he would just have me
(03:36):
practice and just go halfthrottle, stay away from the
buoys, try to hold a clean arc.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
I did that for a a while.
One thing I need to point outto people that are listening
that aren't really familiar withRC hydroplanes there's two
styles of controllers that we'vealways used the thing we hold
in our hand and drive the boatwith, and you and I both grew up
or you grew up, I came in as anadult driving what you'd
(04:05):
consider to be an airplane radiowith sticks yeah, the gold
boxed, chicago Exactly, and wedidn't know what we were missing
.
But that's your heritage.
I mean, you probably did that10 years, right, I raced stick
radios.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
I remember Jesse Robertson gave me a hard time
about it but eventually I thinkI bought it in 2001 or something
like that I went over to awheel radio.
But yeah, we started off withstick radios and yeah, that's
airplane technology there Notreally as smooth and transition
as a wheel radio would be.
(04:46):
We didn't write it.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
but your dad was really obviously good but he was
part of where it was invented.
Essentially His original stickradios were all left, all right.
There was no in-between right.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Yeah, the Reed radios , they called it.
So it was basically on and offswitches for the throttle and
the and the rudder.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Yeah, yeah, but now, yeah, but then they transitioned
to the proportional radios,which is what we use now and
then we went through that hugeperiod of time with the
frequencies and the frequency,the wheel and everybody.
You can't have two boats on thesame frequency, so we had these
little clothespins with thefrequency number on them.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Yeah, we'd pick a frequency.
We were always 75, 510.
Well, that was your number,that was our number.
It was 66, so we registered asthat.
So we never raced each otheruntil the final heat, but it was
pretty rare that both of us,one of us would make the final
decision, but then one of youhad to change the crystal in
your radio Right.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
So up comes the lid and we all sit around waiting
you got it ready yet.
You pull it.
You got to find the crystal,pull it out, put it in a
replacement with a differentfrequency.
That took up a lot of time andthought all that we didn't think
much of it then.
I look back now how easy it iswhen you don't even think about
it.
You just turn your radio on.
(06:07):
Who cares it just finds one of300 or some frequencies out
there.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yeah, frequencies aren't your thing anymore.
Now it's what the DSM is whatthey call it.
So it's cell phone technology,so it just finds its own
frequency.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
So when you did do a wheel right, did you get to
practice on one somebody else'sfirst, or did you just dive in
and say I think I had an RC car?
Speaker 1 (06:29):
at the time and I just kind of got that car and
then, um, it didn't seem to thethrottle was was weird.
No, was it, because I was thethrottle on the stick radio.
You could like set it andforget it to whatever speed you
wanted, right, but with thewheel you're constantly had a
trigger finger on on on thethrottle, so you'd be constantly
(06:53):
you have to hold the positionof the throttle.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yeah, I remember.
And then I remember peoplestarted using OS carbs and we
started trolling slower andslower.
Oh, like the real boats wouldtroll.
People started using OS carbsand we started trolling slower
and slower, like the real boatswould troll.
Right, and I remember I got toa point where I'd have to push
forward on the throttle to getit to idle down.
It's like knit lane one.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Did you get caught up in all that trolling thing?
Oh, yeah, god, that was such a.
I hated that and it opposedeverything about my racing and
my propellers and Dave Brandtand these guys would come up to
the line yeah, me and DaveBrandt would and I'd get back
there and I'd just try to find apole to shoot through and if I
tried to slow down to that thething would conk out.
(07:37):
I just was so glad that fadsort of went away.
It's not so much.
And the electrics now.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Well, it's a problem with electrics because you can
just go half a mile an hour.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah, people probably don't realize driving these
things from the shore.
It's funny.
We've been playing around withthese RC sailboats and we got
Chip one and he's reallyenjoying it.
These are little, almost fourfoot long racing sailboats and
we got chip one and he's reallyenjoying it.
He's a little, oh yeah, four.
You know, almost four foot longracing sailboats or a kit.
You buy cheap plastic andthey're just fun as hell.
(08:12):
I always wanted a large seasailboat.
That just contrast against allthe chaos of racing our boats.
But here's one of the greatesthydroplane drivers of all time
trying to drive from the shore aboat that's only going three or
four knots.
He enjoys the hell out of it,but it's odd for him this
(08:34):
steering because he's not usedto it.
Of course we're using stickradios with those.
That's just what they do.
He's turning left and theboat's going going right and
he's blasting or hacking around,but he has a.
Chip is a really good friend ofRC racers.
He has enormous respect for it.
(08:54):
He'll stand up for us any timebecause he knows he's tried and
he's driven them a number oftimes and he understands the
perspective of the boat.
It's a 360-degree differentexperience than where you are on
the course and I don't knowabout you, but I have places on
the course where I'm glad I amand there are also places on the
(09:17):
course where I can't tell I'mnot confident what the boat is.
You seem to have it all figuredout.
You seem to go down, especiallygoing into the right turn.
You seem to just be thereexactly right every time and I'm
out in lane 10 because I'mafraid I'm going to hit the buoy
.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Yeah, and you're just always in the right place.
Well, I mean, there's so manythings over the years I've
picked up on.
I mean one thing like going tothe right turn.
Years ago I don't rememberwhere we were, I think over in
Rock Island.
You could, you could go up onthe little hill on the right
side.
You could see the boats comingat you.
Oh yeah, and everyone going onthe backstretch was given left.
(09:57):
Yes, cause they were worriedthey're going to be hitting the
entrance bin.
But with depth perception, allactuality, they're like 20 late,
20 yards off, and then they'regoing further.
Yeah, right, so I figured out.
You know, if you're, if theback stretch is lined up
properly, you should, you shouldhold your straight line the
whole way right and then andreally just hold your arcs in
(10:19):
the corners and you should befine.
My hard spot is, if I'm notlean one going into the first
turn, I I have a hard timeseeing my boat, and there was
several heats in the last year.
Well, I couldn't see the Atlasat all, and so I've learned over
the years it's better just tohold your arc going through the
corner than to react and dosomething stupid.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
That's exactly my downfall.
I drove the boat through turns.
I'm always correcting, yeah,and it seemed like you and dave
brandt learned the arc and youjust said turn the wheel and let
it, let the boat turn, yeah,and don't try to steer it.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Let it and that's yeah, because I mean, I mean, if
you think about it, this isactually john ruby.
I talked with him about thisyears ago and if you're
overreacting in the corners andturning too tight or having to
recreate um recorrect, you'rescrubbing speed off right and so
really you want to hold yourperfect arc around the corner.
So I try to try to do use asless of the rudder as I can.
(11:17):
Yeah, to turn the boat, butthere was a couple heats last
year where I was like lean threeor four and I couldn't see the
boat going through the cornerand I guess, and each time I
came out in the right spot and Ijust looked for blue and I'd
find it.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
You and I together in Chelan we did that.
I tried to guess too and Ioversteered and I came up and
banged into you.
Because that is, there'snothing like a first turn,
especially in the FEs whereeverybody's side by side.
You hit that turn and there'sfive boats and it's just water.
(11:52):
Yeah, there's no boats, it'sjust a wall of water and you're
just hoping to see.
I remember your dad telling meone time he says everybody's
tendency is that when they can'tsee their boat, they
subconsciously steer the boattowards themselves, overcorrect,
overcorrect.
Try to bring it in so they cansee it.
And I would do that.
(12:13):
Of course I'd come flyingthrough the buoys and into the
infield.
I'd try that.
But that takes some drivingchops to get through those first
turns.
Best place is to be the leader,right.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Oh yeah, you can get up front and then you can direct
everyone else.
But my dad would always say itin those situations he came out
of it no-transcript, turned andopened them up and there there I
was.
It worked out, yeah.
But one other thing I was likethinking back on it is reading
the water, because it's such adifferent vantage point from the
shore.
You have to read the water forwhat you're racing, and there's
(12:47):
you.
I mean, over the years you gothe same places.
You know like, yeah, the areaswhere the wind is a problem,
usually like in um, in tricities, like in finley, the the
right side's always gonna berougher than the left.
Yeah, we're over ellensburg.
The left side's gonna benotoriously rough, the right
side won't be as bad and there'sa little channel where the wind
comes down the back stretch.
(13:07):
So there's that area you haveto watch out for.
But you just watch the waterand watch the wakes and over
time you can read it and beproactive with where you're
going with it and trying to readthe wind coming off the water,
because on the shoreline ifyou're feeling the wind, it's
already passed on the water, soit's not.
There's times where people getcaught because it's it's not
(13:28):
windy on the shoreline, butthere's a wind coming across the
back stretch and it gets theirboats before they can get to it.
But you can.
You can see the, the ripples ofthe water.
Oh yeah, what's happening there.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
To me that's a big one and you have the wind-caused
conditions caused by theweather, but then you have five
other boats who have just beentrolling around for a start
causing all kinds of chaos, andnow you've got all those rollers
and odd waves.
It's like Seattle for the bigboats and have to plan ahead for
(14:00):
that.
I guess that's.
One good thing about the FEboats is that we don't go
through the left turn everbefore the start.
It's nice and pristine for thefirst run down.
After the start you get to gothrough that turn in clean water
.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Then you come back to the right turn and it's roughed
up, that's pretty funny.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Then you also have to watch right turn and it's
wrapped up, because everyone'scircling and trolling there.
Oh geez, yeah, that's prettyfunny.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Yeah, but then you also got to watch the other
people's wakes too.
I mean not just the roostertails, but the wakes that they
leave behind, because if you'recoming up on lap traffic, even
if they're a quarter or half alap ahead, they leave a wake,
yeah, and so anytime you crossthat wake, your boat's going to
react, so trying to stay on oneside of or the other of that
wake, yeah that's pretty crucial.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Your dad talked a lot about that.
You know crossing wakes yeah,you're going in that bubbles up
water and you lose speed.
You can't yeah, you can't runthe guy down if you're in his
right directly.
Same in the full-size boatsyeah, you just that's a no-no.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
There's a lot of sponsor modifications we've done
over the years to help RussNockway.
There was a lot of lessons onthat, he taught me.
So the boat doesn't suck downand spin out or stuff on you,
but still you've got to learn todrive through that and survive
that.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
So, RCU, I don't know if people around the country
this matters to them, but to usour race sites are golden that
we have and you've raced on allmore than I have, I think and a
lot of them are gone that wedon't yeah, we don't yeah, can
you run us through some of yourfavorites that you like you
enjoyed going to and I mean.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Well, I remember.
One side I don't miss at all isgranger.
Oh, I never went there.
It was halfway between Yakimaand Tri-Cities, yes, and it was
right next to a water treatmentfacility and it would smell.
The water wasn't clear, it wasbrown, lots of bugs, and it was
a small course.
So I'm glad we're never goingback there again.
(15:55):
But some fun ones that I miss.
I miss Spokane.
Yeah, we can't go there anymorebecause of construction.
They built where we used torace from.
It's now a convention centerand they put fencing up around
the lake.
But that was always fun becausethat was around Memorial Day
weekend and we'd go out thereand District 8 would race their
boats the same weekend and itwould be part of the three-day
(16:17):
weekend.
They would have a fair in thepark and then the big event was
your birthday yeah, I was alwaysaround my birthday time.
Yeah, then we'd go to themexican restaurant and wear the
hat, yeah they would embarrassme and say yeah, I would duck
down under the table and hidefrom everyone then you know when
, actually when I get some othersites that we don't get to go
(16:38):
to anymore.
Yeah, we used to race in Yakima.
We don't go there anymore.
Spokane, the Dalles that wasn'ta great site.
I don't think Woodland wasgreat.
I loved Woodland.
It was a sandy beach area, itwas calm.
You could spread out.
(17:00):
But the one I think I missedthe most is actually Rock Island
.
It was a dirt gravel pit.
The little lake or the biggerlake.
I had fun racing on both sides,because it was like the short
course and the big course, Ithink.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
I cut you off there on that little course.
I set those little courses up.
They were tiny, they were tiny.
I enjoyed that.
I set those little courses up.
They were tiny, they were tiny,but it was fun.
I enjoyed that.
Yeah, I like the little courses, I think I'm.
It's funny when we did the 50thanniversary video for RC
Unlimited and I have all thisold footage of us, especially in
Elma, when your dad would setup these.
(17:35):
Your dad ran the race and hewould set up these.
Your dad ran the race and hewould set up these enormous
courses and they had to be.
Our RC courses are fromentrance buoy to exit buoy are
typically about 350, 375 feetlong, and then another 50 out
around the apexes.
That's about the size that we'dpace off those.
(17:56):
Elmer had 500 feet.
Oh yeah, easily.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
And he loved it.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
The bigger the better .
And the boats you couldn't win.
You couldn't drive to win there.
You boat won the race.
You had to have a fast boat,cause you'd be on this trade
away for five minutes.
You have enough fuel to survive.
He seemed to really enjoy justscrewing with everybody with
those big courses And'd love tosee the hot new guys try to race
(18:23):
on one of those things.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
I don't think we could see that far now.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
The six scale guys.
They should be on a biggercourse.
Yeah, they should.
Elmo's was pretty fun.
We had some good times there.
I never won a race there, didyou?
Speaker 1 (18:40):
No, I um, I did actually really well in my
rookie year 96, because we hadthe gold cup there, yeah and
Elma, and back then you had toqualify to be in that race, yeah
, and if you didn't qualify it,so the top 20 would make the
Gold Cup and then the rest wouldbe in the Belmont Sea.
I think I qualified 19th.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
I was right in the bubble.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
But I was so excited I made it to that because that
was the premier class, thepremier race.
I just finished all my heatsand I made the final.
I think that was the only finalI made in my rookie year and I
actually got third behind DavidJensen and Jesse Robertson
Mm-hmm, because everyone elsecrashed and flipped or whatever
(19:27):
and that was pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
To get that there, my rookie year Yep, with Woodland
and Portland.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
You remember Forest.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Lake and Portland, oh yeah.
Forest Lake and Portland, yeah.
Friday Harbor, oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
That was a weird.
That was.
I don't know what to make ofthat.
How many years did we race upthere?
I think there was only a coupleyears, Three or four maybe.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Yeah, and then we used to race near Black Lake in
Olympia.
Oh yeah, there was a littlepond there off the yeah.
Percival Cove little pond thereoff the.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Percival Cove.
Yes, it's a swamp now.
It was a swamp then, but nowit's really a swamp.
Where else have we used to race?
We ventured into Oregon.
Remember those races inTroutdale and some of those.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
We were in Springfield for a little while.
There was some farmer in Malalahad a pond, went there once, I
think I feel like there's onemore on the east side, but I
can't think of it.
Yeah, yeah, but I would say outof every one that we raced at,
I miss.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Rock Island the most, but you and your dad also
ventured off to some nationalevents, right.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Yeah, you went to Vegas.
Yeah, towards the end of hiscareer he wanted to go out and
race with other bigger clubs, sowe went down.
We went to San Diego a coupletimes, raced down there.
I won both of those.
And then the gas class startedto grow and had classic
Thunderboats which were stockSonoma engine and they were
(20:58):
basically gas scale scalenowadays but a stock motor.
And we raced in Vegas at theWorld Cup.
That was in 2007, yeah, and wewon that one.
That was fun, wow, his model,the Hawaii Kai and we actually
went the following spring downto Orlando and winter nationals
(21:21):
there and we shipped my eightscale and his classic new
classic Thunderboat and somesport boat he built and we
shipped him down there and wonthat event down there.
That was pretty weird, though,cause the humidity was so high I
had to change, like all of mynormal things on the motor for
it to work, so otherwise it justit would just quit on the stand
(21:43):
.
That was pretty hard to figurethat out.
He went down to Arizona acouple times and raced.
I can't remember it's where theLondon Bridge is oh, the Havasu
.
Havasu, yeah, they have a clubthat races down there.
He ran there a couple times.
He was good friends with TedMcKay and Leonard Feeback, don
(22:06):
and Dan Ast.
Those were the guys down there,some of the founding fathers
talked about Leonard Feeback.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Yeah, this is kind of an obvious question, but you're
better than anybody to answerit.
You've been hearing us talkabout these RC boats and they
sound fun.
How do you do it?
How do you get started?
Who do you call?
I called Roger Newton myself.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
That's how I got into it.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
All it took was one phone call and I had a boat and
I was in the club.
One phone call to your dad,1985.
Thank God I'd still be a guitarplayer if I hadn't.
I'd still have money is whatI'd have.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
But what does someone do?
There's a lot of different.
I mean it depends on the areayou live in.
Some areas race 110th scaleelectric, 108th scale nitro,
108th scale electric, gas class.
But there's a lot of optionsout there.
You can go to my website,newtonmarinecom, and there's all
the plans are drawn on 1.8scale.
I'm trying to figure out.
I think I can do 1.10 scalesize now if you let me know
(23:11):
ahead of time.
I can't blow it up any biggerthough.
My machine only prints two feetwide so I can't go to the gas
class size.
But you can get plans to startyour build off.
Or you can contact your localclub and see if they have boats
for sale.
If you live in Washington, thebig clubs RC Unlimited.
They race around the state ofWashington.
(23:33):
I think it's rcnlimitedcom ororg, probably both yeah, one of
those and then ERCU.
They do predominantly one scalebut they also do a 1, 7th scale
electric boat as well and theyturn to the left and they race
on the western side ofWashington and it's
ercu-hydrosorg is their websiteand I'll put these links below
(23:58):
in the bio.
But then also another classicThunder.
They race as well 110th scale.
It's classicthunderus.
So there's some options forclubs here.
But if you want to getfiberglass boats, your best bet
is to contact Steve Goltieri outof Florida.
It's an RC boat company.
He sells gas and 1.8 scalehydroplanes, carbon fiber and
(24:21):
fiberglass and a lot of them areyour dad's drawings yeah, a lot
of them are from my dad'sdrawings and he has a lot of
cowlings that fit a lot of thosethings For 1-10 scale.
You can get some cowlings fromMitch Dillard hydrocreationsus.
He's got a lot of 1-10 scalecowlings that he makes them out
of plastic but you can beef themup with fiberglass or wood or
whatever.
(24:41):
And then if you wanted to get awood frame kit, you can get ML
Footworks I think they're out ofwell, they're back east and you
can get wood frame kits invarious sizes from him as well.
So there's a few options there.
I don't know if there's as manyas there was when you started,
but a few options out there now.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Well, when I started there was Roger Newton plans.
You go to Wagner's Hobby andbuy plywood, whatever he told
you to build them out of.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
A couple other important websites
offshoreelectricscom, that'ssome great stuff for all
electric boats.
And then Bill Brandt issupporting the hobby with a lot
of things for variousRattlesnake RC yeah, rattlesnake
RC, I think it's allrc1.com, Ithink is his site.
So he's got a lot of parts andpieces people need as well.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Yeah, it's hard to walk into a hobby store and do
this, though, isn't it, if youcan find?
A hobby store nowadays yeah, itjust doesn't work that way.
It's always kind of been thatway.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
But yeah, but we need an updated video.
Back in the 80s you made avideo on the construction for
1-8 scale hydros and reallyshowcased RC Unlimiteds and what
they did, and the club Need anupdated version.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
I know I wanted to do a 40 years later on the 82
Atlas, yeah, you say.
By the way, besides the model Ibuilt in the video, here's the
real one.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
I never thought it would lead to that.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
What are the improvements that you've seen
from your dad's days,material-wise and
construction-wise?
I know like graphics now we canget wonderful detailed graphics
.
Your dad probably had the handletter of the slow-mo 5 on the
side of his boat.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Yeah, I mean, when he started it was in the early 70s
and there were plenty of hobbyshops around, so you can get
motors and radios, which they'reall vastly improved now.
I mean, all the radios that weuse are all waterproof and you
can get away without using aradio box anymore.
Um which you?
There's no way you could havedone that back then.
(26:47):
But, um, I mean, everything nowis pretty much purchased online
.
But, um, your materials backthen was all probably wood and
glue and um, and now people areusing carbon fiber, there are
various fiberglass materials,some people are using Kevlar in
(27:08):
their boats, hysol I mean prettymuch all the materials that the
real Unlimiteds are using,we're using in our models.
Some people are even going asfar as honeycomb, yeah, sure,
but various exotic metals.
I mean metals and aluminum.
Some people are using titaniumfor skid fins yeah, it's been
hours and hours crafting a skidfin.
(27:30):
You know a lot, so I mean, thematerials are pretty exotic
nowadays.
What?
Speaker 2 (27:35):
and spending what you could do it's pretty
intimidating for people whenthey hear all of that about
these exotic materials and howto get started in it.
But you really can.
I've always said this.
If you just had a Roger Newtonplans and you just methodically
substitute some of therecommended materials, instead
(27:56):
of a 16-inch plywood, maybe youlaminate some 32 inch plywood
with a layer of carbon orsomething, you can make
substitutes that are maybe alittle slighter, a little
stronger, I don't know.
But you know, nothing's reallychanged from when your dad sat
down there and drew those, drewthose boats.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Yeah, I mean a lot of the.
A lot of the plans he drew werewith older technology.
But some of the plans he drewwere with older technology.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
They build those boats now and they still work
great If you could pull a few ofthe plans out of the hopper,
out of your wall, and you coulddisplay them.
What are the ones you're mostproud of your dad's drawings?
What do you think are thecoolest ones?
Speaker 1 (28:39):
I've got to say the Bubble Bud.
I'm partially favorite to that,but he did a great job of
drawing that.
Uh, it's very beautiful.
The one that he like nailed outof the park, which is kind of
obscure.
One is he made paint scheme forthe 88 miller highlife.
Oh, the last one, oh geez, uh,the u31.
That's a tough one, but he forwhatever, like he, he nailed it.
(29:01):
I thought it's beautifully done.
Another one would be like theslow motion four, because he was
such a.
That was his favorite boatgrowing up and he was such a
geek with it.
He did all these notes about in54 that had this repair on the
sponson.
It showed this patch here andthey used these different wings
throughout the years.
And slow motion five too, andslow motion 5, too.
(29:23):
He just loved those boats.
He has all those notes on those.
That's pretty cool, that's somehistory.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Well, you know every restoration that's gone on at
the museum and some of thereplicas from the Vashon guys
and the Wahoo.
Inevitably I walk in andthere's your dad's plans laying
there.
And the one that stands out tome is the nose cowl on the
pay-in pack.
Because that cowling nose,which was part of a full cowl in
(29:53):
the 74, 75 pay-in pack, cameoff.
They lost it and they put apointed nose on it.
And so when Ken Muscatel, mike,had the boat restored and hired
Mike Hansen and thestate-of-the-art guys to restore
that boat, mike wanted arecreation of that front nose
(30:13):
cowl.
And where do you start?
Immediately, there's your dad'splans and the way it was made.
It's not molded fiberglass.
They build a wooden butt.
They call it of cowling a fakewood on the boat.
Yeah, plywood, and two-by-foursand nails and everything.
And there was the plans, yourdad's plans, and I look at it
(30:39):
and look at the thing and say,yeah, that looks pretty good.
Then he takes it off the boatand takes it to a metal worker.
Who, who?
Hammers?
Wow, the metal.
I guess it's aluminum, maybesheet metal, yeah, over this
buck, it's crazy positive plugand makes the part, yeah, and
they brought it back and set iton the boat and it's and and
(31:00):
mike would have not had a cluewhere to begin it hadn't been
for that.
That's wild.
Having it your dad's drawing ofthat thing, yeah, so it's a
every time I look at that nose.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
cali, go newton well, my dad was really meticulous
about trying to get a lot ofthose angles and in shapes
correct and he used to have ablank wall in the boat shop I
have now and he had a projectorand he would try to get photos
of the boats and try to getprofile shots and shots for the
(31:29):
graphics and whatnot.
He would illustrate the wallwith the graphics and try to get
them scaled right.
He would trace them out.
It was very meticulous.
He spent hours and hours onthis drawing.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
When he would take a boat that was caroled with boats
and it's the same boat, justpainted different.
Could he trace over the top ofa light table or something?
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Yeah, well, he didn't have a light table but he had
an architect's table and hecould trace over that.
That's how he did that, yeah,yeah, he would just trace the
profile of the previous hull andthen get all the new paint
scheme and graphics and all thatGoing back to how it's changed.
Back, when he started,everything was hand-drawn and
(32:14):
hand-painted on the models.
There's no graphics.
Everything was customly doneitself.
Now, people are so reliant onthe graphics.
I know some people havecomplained that our customers
want everything done withgraphics.
I know some graphic people havecomplained that they want every
.
Our customers want everythingdone with graphics, like all the
stripes on the boat, everythingWraps.
They just basically want towrap it.
(32:34):
Now, yeah, in which some peoplehave wraps on their models, wow
, yeah, I know Greg Roth had one, nelson Holmberg had one, a few
others have done that.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
When would your dad be.
He's been gone now since 2008.
2008.
Yeah, it's getting to be sometime.
Yeah, what would he be the mostproud of if he looked at not
unlimited racing, but his RCworld?
I mean, he had to know theinfluence that grew from him.
(33:07):
Oh yeah, but besides beingproud of you, what are some of
the clubs, the technology, theinterest, I mean, what do you
think would blow his mind and hegoes?
Speaker 1 (33:20):
I can't believe you guys are.
That's a good question.
I mean, I'm sure he'd be blownaway.
How fast the electrics are nowis that?
I mean, even the technologyfrom when he last raced has
grown in leaps and bounds andwe're actually restricting what
we have.
I mean, technology is way farsurpassed what we have.
I think that would blow him uppretty far away.
(33:42):
He really wanted to do an RCturbine, oh yeah, uh.
And he got in touch with somepeople before he passed and, um
cause, there was a guy PeterPeter Mueller, I think his name
was, maybe out of Florida thatdealt one and he really wanted
to do one.
And there's people in Germanynow.
Yeah, I've seen some videos andI think that's what he wanted to
(34:04):
do.
But he knew the cost wasprohibited.
It was like $2,500 for a motorand gearbox combination back
then, but I think he got a kickout of where electrics have gone
.
I think he'd really like theseventh scale, the big boats,
the electrics and the classesthat were more geared towards
(34:25):
scale and keeping it scale youtold me one time how many, how
many boats he built.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
What was that number?
I?
Speaker 1 (34:33):
don't, I don't remember, I don't know the
number.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
You told me that I yeah I've forgotten way over 100
, I mean 100.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
Yeah, I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Yeah, he's way over, because he built boats, not just
race boats.
People would commission himlike the ones hanging in the
restaurants, yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Yeah, he's got two down at Kid Valley and Rettin'
at King's Golden Park.
They're not little.
Those are one-fifth scale.
Yeah, they're monsters and hebuilt those.
He was on disability leave fromwork.
He did something with his backand he built those for Kid
Valley.
And he actually borrowed someMerlin parts I from Ike
(35:08):
Keelglass we had part of aMerlin in the shop for a while.
He handcrafted the Merlin andthe props and everything that
was on the boat.
Good, yeah, but he built those.
But he was also commissioned by, like, bernie Little.
I think he built 10 or 15 boatsfor Bernie and he built some
boats for Bill Bennett, bruceMcCaw oh yeah, he'd always build
(35:32):
a model for the museum galaSure To auction off and he would
build.
Some people in the RC worldwould con him into building
boats for him.
He was always building boatsfor me and himself.
Yeah, he built well over 100.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Well over 100, yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
And where are they now?
Who knows?
Speaker 2 (35:50):
They're legendary.
I was out at their house onetime and he was working on
something and he didn't evenneed to look at his own plans.
He had the thing in his mind.
Oh yeah, He'd just look at thesponsor line and go.
I remember him looking at mythriftway Before I had it go.
I remember him looking at mythriftway before I had it
painted.
I just roughed out, I took itto the museum and he gave it to
me once over and he goes you'rea little deep here and you might
(36:13):
want to bring that up and hejust spotted this stuff just by
eye and I, okay, I went home.
So I'm really proud of thatthing because that's my sixth
scale.
Sixth scale, ms thriftway, thatI I keep at home.
It'll go to the museum to joinroger's sixth scale.
Fomo 5.
(36:33):
Yeah, we ran together and a fewothers.
That a class that never.
It was never a racing class, itwas just a except or weed
whacker, right that's our firstattempt, but yeah, and you try
to start a newer class.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
That was in the late 90s, right?
Yes, and that never took off.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
No, we just had fun as hell running them though,
yeah, and I just enjoyed thehell out of building.
That was always my favoriteboat as a kid and I didn't even
know that the Thriftway in 1955and 1956 was a mahogany boat.
I knew it was mahogany with thepainted stripes and I'd never
done a mahogany wood like JohnErnst did.
(37:11):
Those guys do.
I didn't want to mess with thatand he said well, then build a
57.
I go what's different?
It's painted brown.
What are you talking about?
Painted brown.
And my whole life I had no ideathat in 57, because of the
damage the thing went ithappened in Detroit they just
painted it brown, repainted thestripes and I go that's for me,
(37:35):
I can paint it brown and Ialways remember being so amazed
that I didn't know that historyfact.
Yeah, and we had a great timewith those.
What's going to happen withRooster Tail Talk?
What's the next day going tolook like?
Going video ever.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
Probably should go video, but it's a lot of work.
I'm a one-man team.
I don't have enough time.
I feel like with the audioportion, at least it's something
you can listen to on the go andlisten to while you're out?
Speaker 2 (38:05):
Have you had any offers, any help from some of
the big owners?
Because you're doing them aheck of a good thing, yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
I guess I've gotten a few passes, but nothing too big
yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
I hope they're listening and appreciate your
time and interest in whatthey're doing, because without
guys like you, we've got nothing.
You're the one-man savior rightnow getting people talking.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Yeah, try to keep.
I mean, it's such a shortseason, right.
I mean races start in June andthey're over beginning of
September and there's a lot ofweekends in between.
There there's nothing on thewater, but this is hopefully
something to keep theconversations going in the off
season and I'll come back forseason 7 in February.
So when this is airing thiswill be past February probably,
(38:56):
but I got a few people on thehooks for interviews, trying to
get those locked down and justhopefully get some more fun
interviews on the way.
I want to travel this summerand go to another race, but I
haven't been to it before, but Idon't know.
I really want to go toValleyfield, but looking at
airfare costs, for that, it'd bequite a place, yeah.
(39:17):
Yeah, and I want to go toDetroit, but they can't get
their act together to get backthere.
I don't know if that'll happenagain or not, so I've never been
there.
I hope I can go there one dayMadison.
I've never been to Madison Meneither.
That would be cool.
I'd love to go to Evansville,but they're not there.
A lot of places I wish theywould still go to.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
There you go, folks.
This is David Newton.
This is your real host of uh,rooster tail talk, and I hope
you've gotten a little betteridea about who he is and what
he's about, because he's a he'squite a handful of a guy.
He's got a lot going on and Ihope you appreciate and listen
in on these podcasts when youcan and and I'm going to be
(40:05):
listening.
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 welcome.
Rooster Tail, talk, tale, talk.
(00:51):
Hello Breeze fans, welcome backto the podcast.
It's April 15th and this isepisode 144, part two and the
conclusion of Don Mock takingover the show and interviewing
me.
Well, I hope you liked lastweek's rendition of the podcast.
It was something a little bitdifferent.
Don Mock from the HydroplaneRaceboat Museum took over the
(01:14):
show and asked me some questionsabout my life around hydroplane
racing.
Of course I mean what else thisepisode?
We're going to be focused moretowards that radio controlled
side of the sport that I havespent my entire life doing and
we're going to talk more aboutRC boats, the background, some
(01:35):
of my favorite things and myexperience with that in my life.
Now, I got to admit that Ihated editing this episode
because I don't like listeningto my own voice and I'm a little
critical of myself.
But I hope you enjoyed part oneand let's jump into part two,
the conclusion of Don Mockinterviewing me about
(01:57):
hydroplanes.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Okay, david.
So David, driving these RCboats.
I had a couple more questionsbecause I'm still so fascinated
as a fellow competitor yeah, andbeing beat by guys like you.
I'm always trying to figure outwhy am I getting beat by them?
What am I doing, stupid?
Well, I've never been known asa great driver.
I'm good at the gambit ofthings and they come together in
(02:26):
a win every now and then.
You've been a student of thesport way longer than me, in
perspective, because since youwere a little tiny kid Anything
that you remember that your dadpointed out to watch for out on
(02:46):
the course what were some ofyour biggest mistakes that you
consistently did and your dadhad to slap you around to say
quit doing?
Speaker 1 (02:53):
that Well, I mean, I don't want to getlimited.
Especially, my dad reallypreached going out and practice
and practice, just doing lapsand getting comfortable and
staying away from the goddamnbuoys.
(03:14):
Go out there and don't, don'tbe around the buoys.
But he wanted me to do ahundred laps before I raced.
And so I remember I don't knowif we actually got to 100 or not
, but we we tried to, and he hada friend uh, nick arena lived
on lake mcdonald who went out tohis house a couple times.
I tested the tempest out there,but he would just have me
(03:36):
practice and just go halfthrottle, stay away from the
buoys, try to hold a clean arc.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
I did that for a a while.
One thing I need to point outto people that are listening
that aren't really familiar withRC hydroplanes there's two
styles of controllers that we'vealways used the thing we hold
in our hand and drive the boatwith, and you and I both grew up
or you grew up, I came in as anadult driving what you'd
(04:05):
consider to be an airplane radiowith sticks yeah, the gold
boxed, chicago Exactly, and wedidn't know what we were missing
.
But that's your heritage.
I mean, you probably did that10 years, right, I raced stick
radios.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
I remember Jesse Robertson gave me a hard time
about it but eventually I thinkI bought it in 2001 or something
like that I went over to awheel radio.
But yeah, we started off withstick radios and yeah, that's
airplane technology there Notreally as smooth and transition
as a wheel radio would be.
(04:46):
We didn't write it.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
but your dad was really obviously good but he was
part of where it was invented.
Essentially His original stickradios were all left, all right.
There was no in-between right.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Yeah, the Reed radios , they called it.
So it was basically on and offswitches for the throttle and
the and the rudder.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Yeah, yeah, but now, yeah, but then they transitioned
to the proportional radios,which is what we use now and
then we went through that hugeperiod of time with the
frequencies and the frequency,the wheel and everybody.
You can't have two boats on thesame frequency, so we had these
little clothespins with thefrequency number on them.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Yeah, we'd pick a frequency.
We were always 75, 510.
Well, that was your number,that was our number.
It was 66, so we registered asthat.
So we never raced each otheruntil the final heat, but it was
pretty rare that both of us,one of us would make the final
decision, but then one of youhad to change the crystal in
your radio Right.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
So up comes the lid and we all sit around waiting
you got it ready yet.
You pull it.
You got to find the crystal,pull it out, put it in a
replacement with a differentfrequency.
That took up a lot of time andthought all that we didn't think
much of it then.
I look back now how easy it iswhen you don't even think about
it.
You just turn your radio on.
(06:07):
Who cares it just finds one of300 or some frequencies out
there.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yeah, frequencies aren't your thing anymore.
Now it's what the DSM is whatthey call it.
So it's cell phone technology,so it just finds its own
frequency.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
So when you did do a wheel right, did you get to
practice on one somebody else'sfirst, or did you just dive in
and say I think I had an RC car?
Speaker 1 (06:29):
at the time and I just kind of got that car and
then, um, it didn't seem to thethrottle was was weird.
No, was it, because I was thethrottle on the stick radio.
You could like set it andforget it to whatever speed you
wanted, right, but with thewheel you're constantly had a
trigger finger on on on thethrottle, so you'd be constantly
(06:53):
you have to hold the positionof the throttle.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yeah, I remember.
And then I remember peoplestarted using OS carbs and we
started trolling slower andslower.
Oh, like the real boats wouldtroll.
People started using OS carbsand we started trolling slower
and slower, like the real boatswould troll.
Right, and I remember I got toa point where I'd have to push
forward on the throttle to getit to idle down.
It's like knit lane one.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Did you get caught up in all that trolling thing?
Oh, yeah, god, that was such a.
I hated that and it opposedeverything about my racing and
my propellers and Dave Brandtand these guys would come up to
the line yeah, me and DaveBrandt would and I'd get back
there and I'd just try to find apole to shoot through and if I
tried to slow down to that thething would conk out.
(07:37):
I just was so glad that fadsort of went away.
It's not so much.
And the electrics now.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Well, it's a problem with electrics because you can
just go half a mile an hour.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah, people probably don't realize driving these
things from the shore.
It's funny.
We've been playing around withthese RC sailboats and we got
Chip one and he's reallyenjoying it.
These are little, almost fourfoot long racing sailboats and
we got chip one and he's reallyenjoying it.
He's a little, oh yeah, four.
You know, almost four foot longracing sailboats or a kit.
You buy cheap plastic andthey're just fun as hell.
(08:12):
I always wanted a large seasailboat.
That just contrast against allthe chaos of racing our boats.
But here's one of the greatesthydroplane drivers of all time
trying to drive from the shore aboat that's only going three or
four knots.
He enjoys the hell out of it,but it's odd for him this
(08:34):
steering because he's not usedto it.
Of course we're using stickradios with those.
That's just what they do.
He's turning left and theboat's going going right and
he's blasting or hacking around,but he has a.
Chip is a really good friend ofRC racers.
He has enormous respect for it.
(08:54):
He'll stand up for us any timebecause he knows he's tried and
he's driven them a number oftimes and he understands the
perspective of the boat.
It's a 360-degree differentexperience than where you are on
the course and I don't knowabout you, but I have places on
the course where I'm glad I amand there are also places on the
(09:17):
course where I can't tell I'mnot confident what the boat is.
You seem to have it all figuredout.
You seem to go down, especiallygoing into the right turn.
You seem to just be thereexactly right every time and I'm
out in lane 10 because I'mafraid I'm going to hit the buoy
.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Yeah, and you're just always in the right place.
Well, I mean, there's so manythings over the years I've
picked up on.
I mean one thing like going tothe right turn.
Years ago I don't rememberwhere we were, I think over in
Rock Island.
You could, you could go up onthe little hill on the right
side.
You could see the boats comingat you.
Oh yeah, and everyone going onthe backstretch was given left.
(09:57):
Yes, cause they were worriedthey're going to be hitting the
entrance bin.
But with depth perception, allactuality, they're like 20 late,
20 yards off, and then they'regoing further.
Yeah, right, so I figured out.
You know, if you're, if theback stretch is lined up
properly, you should, you shouldhold your straight line the
whole way right and then andreally just hold your arcs in
(10:19):
the corners and you should befine.
My hard spot is, if I'm notlean one going into the first
turn, I I have a hard timeseeing my boat, and there was
several heats in the last year.
Well, I couldn't see the Atlasat all, and so I've learned over
the years it's better just tohold your arc going through the
corner than to react and dosomething stupid.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
That's exactly my downfall.
I drove the boat through turns.
I'm always correcting, yeah,and it seemed like you and dave
brandt learned the arc and youjust said turn the wheel and let
it, let the boat turn, yeah,and don't try to steer it.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Let it and that's yeah, because I mean, I mean, if
you think about it, this isactually john ruby.
I talked with him about thisyears ago and if you're
overreacting in the corners andturning too tight or having to
recreate um recorrect, you'rescrubbing speed off right and so
really you want to hold yourperfect arc around the corner.
So I try to try to do use asless of the rudder as I can.
(11:17):
Yeah, to turn the boat, butthere was a couple heats last
year where I was like lean threeor four and I couldn't see the
boat going through the cornerand I guess, and each time I
came out in the right spot and Ijust looked for blue and I'd
find it.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
You and I together in Chelan we did that.
I tried to guess too and Ioversteered and I came up and
banged into you.
Because that is, there'snothing like a first turn,
especially in the FEs whereeverybody's side by side.
You hit that turn and there'sfive boats and it's just water.
(11:52):
Yeah, there's no boats, it'sjust a wall of water and you're
just hoping to see.
I remember your dad telling meone time he says everybody's
tendency is that when they can'tsee their boat, they
subconsciously steer the boattowards themselves, overcorrect,
overcorrect.
Try to bring it in so they cansee it.
And I would do that.
(12:13):
Of course I'd come flyingthrough the buoys and into the
infield.
I'd try that.
But that takes some drivingchops to get through those first
turns.
Best place is to be the leader,right.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Oh yeah, you can get up front and then you can direct
everyone else.
But my dad would always say itin those situations he came out
of it no-transcript, turned andopened them up and there there I
was.
It worked out, yeah.
But one other thing I was likethinking back on it is reading
the water, because it's such adifferent vantage point from the
shore.
You have to read the water forwhat you're racing, and there's
(12:47):
you.
I mean, over the years you gothe same places.
You know like, yeah, the areaswhere the wind is a problem,
usually like in um, in tricities, like in finley, the the
right side's always gonna berougher than the left.
Yeah, we're over ellensburg.
The left side's gonna benotoriously rough, the right
side won't be as bad and there'sa little channel where the wind
comes down the back stretch.
(13:07):
So there's that area you haveto watch out for.
But you just watch the waterand watch the wakes and over
time you can read it and beproactive with where you're
going with it and trying to readthe wind coming off the water,
because on the shoreline ifyou're feeling the wind, it's
already passed on the water, soit's not.
There's times where people getcaught because it's it's not
(13:28):
windy on the shoreline, butthere's a wind coming across the
back stretch and it gets theirboats before they can get to it.
But you can.
You can see the, the ripples ofthe water.
Oh yeah, what's happening there.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
To me that's a big one and you have the wind-caused
conditions caused by theweather, but then you have five
other boats who have just beentrolling around for a start
causing all kinds of chaos, andnow you've got all those rollers
and odd waves.
It's like Seattle for the bigboats and have to plan ahead for
(14:00):
that.
I guess that's.
One good thing about the FEboats is that we don't go
through the left turn everbefore the start.
It's nice and pristine for thefirst run down.
After the start you get to gothrough that turn in clean water
.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Then you come back to the right turn and it's roughed
up, that's pretty funny.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Then you also have to watch right turn and it's
wrapped up, because everyone'scircling and trolling there.
Oh geez, yeah, that's prettyfunny.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Yeah, but then you also got to watch the other
people's wakes too.
I mean not just the roostertails, but the wakes that they
leave behind, because if you'recoming up on lap traffic, even
if they're a quarter or half alap ahead, they leave a wake,
yeah, and so anytime you crossthat wake, your boat's going to
react, so trying to stay on oneside of or the other of that
wake, yeah that's pretty crucial.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Your dad talked a lot about that.
You know crossing wakes yeah,you're going in that bubbles up
water and you lose speed.
You can't yeah, you can't runthe guy down if you're in his
right directly.
Same in the full-size boatsyeah, you just that's a no-no.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
There's a lot of sponsor modifications we've done
over the years to help RussNockway.
There was a lot of lessons onthat, he taught me.
So the boat doesn't suck downand spin out or stuff on you,
but still you've got to learn todrive through that and survive
that.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
So, RCU, I don't know if people around the country
this matters to them, but to usour race sites are golden that
we have and you've raced on allmore than I have, I think and a
lot of them are gone that wedon't yeah, we don't yeah, can
you run us through some of yourfavorites that you like you
enjoyed going to and I mean.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Well, I remember.
One side I don't miss at all isgranger.
Oh, I never went there.
It was halfway between Yakimaand Tri-Cities, yes, and it was
right next to a water treatmentfacility and it would smell.
The water wasn't clear, it wasbrown, lots of bugs, and it was
a small course.
So I'm glad we're never goingback there again.
(15:55):
But some fun ones that I miss.
I miss Spokane.
Yeah, we can't go there anymorebecause of construction.
They built where we used torace from.
It's now a convention centerand they put fencing up around
the lake.
But that was always fun becausethat was around Memorial Day
weekend and we'd go out thereand District 8 would race their
boats the same weekend and itwould be part of the three-day
(16:17):
weekend.
They would have a fair in thepark and then the big event was
your birthday yeah, I was alwaysaround my birthday time.
Yeah, then we'd go to themexican restaurant and wear the
hat, yeah they would embarrassme and say yeah, I would duck
down under the table and hidefrom everyone then you know when
, actually when I get some othersites that we don't get to go
(16:38):
to anymore.
Yeah, we used to race in Yakima.
We don't go there anymore.
Spokane, the Dalles that wasn'ta great site.
I don't think Woodland wasgreat.
I loved Woodland.
It was a sandy beach area, itwas calm.
You could spread out.
(17:00):
But the one I think I missedthe most is actually Rock Island
.
It was a dirt gravel pit.
The little lake or the biggerlake.
I had fun racing on both sides,because it was like the short
course and the big course, Ithink.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
I cut you off there on that little course.
I set those little courses up.
They were tiny, they were tiny.
I enjoyed that.
I set those little courses up.
They were tiny, they were tiny,but it was fun.
I enjoyed that.
Yeah, I like the little courses, I think I'm.
It's funny when we did the 50thanniversary video for RC
Unlimited and I have all thisold footage of us, especially in
Elma, when your dad would setup these.
(17:35):
Your dad ran the race and hewould set up these.
Your dad ran the race and hewould set up these enormous
courses and they had to be.
Our RC courses are fromentrance buoy to exit buoy are
typically about 350, 375 feetlong, and then another 50 out
around the apexes.
That's about the size that we'dpace off those.
(17:56):
Elmer had 500 feet.
Oh yeah, easily.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
And he loved it.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
The bigger the better .
And the boats you couldn't win.
You couldn't drive to win there.
You boat won the race.
You had to have a fast boat,cause you'd be on this trade
away for five minutes.
You have enough fuel to survive.
He seemed to really enjoy justscrewing with everybody with
those big courses And'd love tosee the hot new guys try to race
(18:23):
on one of those things.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
I don't think we could see that far now.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
The six scale guys.
They should be on a biggercourse.
Yeah, they should.
Elmo's was pretty fun.
We had some good times there.
I never won a race there, didyou?
Speaker 1 (18:40):
No, I um, I did actually really well in my
rookie year 96, because we hadthe gold cup there, yeah and
Elma, and back then you had toqualify to be in that race, yeah
, and if you didn't qualify it,so the top 20 would make the
Gold Cup and then the rest wouldbe in the Belmont Sea.
I think I qualified 19th.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
I was right in the bubble.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
But I was so excited I made it to that because that
was the premier class, thepremier race.
I just finished all my heatsand I made the final.
I think that was the only finalI made in my rookie year and I
actually got third behind DavidJensen and Jesse Robertson
Mm-hmm, because everyone elsecrashed and flipped or whatever
(19:27):
and that was pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
To get that there, my rookie year Yep, with Woodland
and Portland.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
You remember Forest.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Lake and Portland, oh yeah.
Forest Lake and Portland, yeah.
Friday Harbor, oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
That was a weird.
That was.
I don't know what to make ofthat.
How many years did we race upthere?
I think there was only a coupleyears, Three or four maybe.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Yeah, and then we used to race near Black Lake in
Olympia.
Oh yeah, there was a littlepond there off the yeah.
Percival Cove little pond thereoff the.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Percival Cove.
Yes, it's a swamp now.
It was a swamp then, but nowit's really a swamp.
Where else have we used to race?
We ventured into Oregon.
Remember those races inTroutdale and some of those.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
We were in Springfield for a little while.
There was some farmer in Malalahad a pond, went there once, I
think I feel like there's onemore on the east side, but I
can't think of it.
Yeah, yeah, but I would say outof every one that we raced at,
I miss.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Rock Island the most, but you and your dad also
ventured off to some nationalevents, right.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Yeah, you went to Vegas.
Yeah, towards the end of hiscareer he wanted to go out and
race with other bigger clubs, sowe went down.
We went to San Diego a coupletimes, raced down there.
I won both of those.
And then the gas class startedto grow and had classic
Thunderboats which were stockSonoma engine and they were
(20:58):
basically gas scale scalenowadays but a stock motor.
And we raced in Vegas at theWorld Cup.
That was in 2007, yeah, and wewon that one.
That was fun, wow, his model,the Hawaii Kai and we actually
went the following spring downto Orlando and winter nationals
(21:21):
there and we shipped my eightscale and his classic new
classic Thunderboat and somesport boat he built and we
shipped him down there and wonthat event down there.
That was pretty weird, though,cause the humidity was so high I
had to change, like all of mynormal things on the motor for
it to work, so otherwise it justit would just quit on the stand
(21:43):
.
That was pretty hard to figurethat out.
He went down to Arizona acouple times and raced.
I can't remember it's where theLondon Bridge is oh, the Havasu
.
Havasu, yeah, they have a clubthat races down there.
He ran there a couple times.
He was good friends with TedMcKay and Leonard Feeback, don
(22:06):
and Dan Ast.
Those were the guys down there,some of the founding fathers
talked about Leonard Feeback.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Yeah, this is kind of an obvious question, but you're
better than anybody to answerit.
You've been hearing us talkabout these RC boats and they
sound fun.
How do you do it?
How do you get started?
Who do you call?
I called Roger Newton myself.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
That's how I got into it.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
All it took was one phone call and I had a boat and
I was in the club.
One phone call to your dad,1985.
Thank God I'd still be a guitarplayer if I hadn't.
I'd still have money is whatI'd have.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
But what does someone do?
There's a lot of different.
I mean it depends on the areayou live in.
Some areas race 110th scaleelectric, 108th scale nitro,
108th scale electric, gas class.
But there's a lot of optionsout there.
You can go to my website,newtonmarinecom, and there's all
the plans are drawn on 1.8scale.
I'm trying to figure out.
I think I can do 1.10 scalesize now if you let me know
(23:11):
ahead of time.
I can't blow it up any biggerthough.
My machine only prints two feetwide so I can't go to the gas
class size.
But you can get plans to startyour build off.
Or you can contact your localclub and see if they have boats
for sale.
If you live in Washington, thebig clubs RC Unlimited.
They race around the state ofWashington.
(23:33):
I think it's rcnlimitedcom ororg, probably both yeah, one of
those and then ERCU.
They do predominantly one scalebut they also do a 1, 7th scale
electric boat as well and theyturn to the left and they race
on the western side ofWashington and it's
ercu-hydrosorg is their websiteand I'll put these links below
(23:58):
in the bio.
But then also another classicThunder.
They race as well 110th scale.
It's classicthunderus.
So there's some options forclubs here.
But if you want to getfiberglass boats, your best bet
is to contact Steve Goltieri outof Florida.
It's an RC boat company.
He sells gas and 1.8 scalehydroplanes, carbon fiber and
(24:21):
fiberglass and a lot of them areyour dad's drawings yeah, a lot
of them are from my dad'sdrawings and he has a lot of
cowlings that fit a lot of thosethings For 1-10 scale.
You can get some cowlings fromMitch Dillard hydrocreationsus.
He's got a lot of 1-10 scalecowlings that he makes them out
of plastic but you can beef themup with fiberglass or wood or
whatever.
(24:41):
And then if you wanted to get awood frame kit, you can get ML
Footworks I think they're out ofwell, they're back east and you
can get wood frame kits invarious sizes from him as well.
So there's a few options there.
I don't know if there's as manyas there was when you started,
but a few options out there now.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Well, when I started there was Roger Newton plans.
You go to Wagner's Hobby andbuy plywood, whatever he told
you to build them out of.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
A couple other important websites
offshoreelectricscom, that'ssome great stuff for all
electric boats.
And then Bill Brandt issupporting the hobby with a lot
of things for variousRattlesnake RC yeah, rattlesnake
RC, I think it's allrc1.com, Ithink is his site.
So he's got a lot of parts andpieces people need as well.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Yeah, it's hard to walk into a hobby store and do
this, though, isn't it, if youcan find?
A hobby store nowadays yeah, itjust doesn't work that way.
It's always kind of been thatway.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
But yeah, but we need an updated video.
Back in the 80s you made avideo on the construction for
1-8 scale hydros and reallyshowcased RC Unlimiteds and what
they did, and the club Need anupdated version.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
I know I wanted to do a 40 years later on the 82
Atlas, yeah, you say.
By the way, besides the model Ibuilt in the video, here's the
real one.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
I never thought it would lead to that.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
What are the improvements that you've seen
from your dad's days,material-wise and
construction-wise?
I know like graphics now we canget wonderful detailed graphics
.
Your dad probably had the handletter of the slow-mo 5 on the
side of his boat.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Yeah, I mean, when he started it was in the early 70s
and there were plenty of hobbyshops around, so you can get
motors and radios, which they'reall vastly improved now.
I mean, all the radios that weuse are all waterproof and you
can get away without using aradio box anymore.
Um which you?
There's no way you could havedone that back then.
(26:47):
But, um, I mean, everything nowis pretty much purchased online
.
But, um, your materials backthen was all probably wood and
glue and um, and now people areusing carbon fiber, there are
various fiberglass materials,some people are using Kevlar in
(27:08):
their boats, hysol I mean prettymuch all the materials that the
real Unlimiteds are using,we're using in our models.
Some people are even going asfar as honeycomb, yeah, sure,
but various exotic metals.
I mean metals and aluminum.
Some people are using titaniumfor skid fins yeah, it's been
hours and hours crafting a skidfin.
(27:30):
You know a lot, so I mean, thematerials are pretty exotic
nowadays.
What?
Speaker 2 (27:35):
and spending what you could do it's pretty
intimidating for people whenthey hear all of that about
these exotic materials and howto get started in it.
But you really can.
I've always said this.
If you just had a Roger Newtonplans and you just methodically
substitute some of therecommended materials, instead
(27:56):
of a 16-inch plywood, maybe youlaminate some 32 inch plywood
with a layer of carbon orsomething, you can make
substitutes that are maybe alittle slighter, a little
stronger, I don't know.
But you know, nothing's reallychanged from when your dad sat
down there and drew those, drewthose boats.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Yeah, I mean a lot of the.
A lot of the plans he drew werewith older technology.
But some of the plans he drewwere with older technology.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
They build those boats now and they still work
great If you could pull a few ofthe plans out of the hopper,
out of your wall, and you coulddisplay them.
What are the ones you're mostproud of your dad's drawings?
What do you think are thecoolest ones?
Speaker 1 (28:39):
I've got to say the Bubble Bud.
I'm partially favorite to that,but he did a great job of
drawing that.
Uh, it's very beautiful.
The one that he like nailed outof the park, which is kind of
obscure.
One is he made paint scheme forthe 88 miller highlife.
Oh, the last one, oh geez, uh,the u31.
That's a tough one, but he forwhatever, like he, he nailed it.
(29:01):
I thought it's beautifully done.
Another one would be like theslow motion four, because he was
such a.
That was his favorite boatgrowing up and he was such a
geek with it.
He did all these notes about in54 that had this repair on the
sponson.
It showed this patch here andthey used these different wings
throughout the years.
And slow motion five too, andslow motion 5, too.
(29:23):
He just loved those boats.
He has all those notes on those.
That's pretty cool, that's somehistory.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Well, you know every restoration that's gone on at
the museum and some of thereplicas from the Vashon guys
and the Wahoo.
Inevitably I walk in andthere's your dad's plans laying
there.
And the one that stands out tome is the nose cowl on the
pay-in pack.
Because that cowling nose,which was part of a full cowl in
(29:53):
the 74, 75 pay-in pack, cameoff.
They lost it and they put apointed nose on it.
And so when Ken Muscatel, mike,had the boat restored and hired
Mike Hansen and thestate-of-the-art guys to restore
that boat, mike wanted arecreation of that front nose
(30:13):
cowl.
And where do you start?
Immediately, there's your dad'splans and the way it was made.
It's not molded fiberglass.
They build a wooden butt.
They call it of cowling a fakewood on the boat.
Yeah, plywood, and two-by-foursand nails and everything.
And there was the plans, yourdad's plans, and I look at it
(30:39):
and look at the thing and say,yeah, that looks pretty good.
Then he takes it off the boatand takes it to a metal worker.
Who, who?
Hammers?
Wow, the metal.
I guess it's aluminum, maybesheet metal, yeah, over this
buck, it's crazy positive plugand makes the part, yeah, and
they brought it back and set iton the boat and it's and and
(31:00):
mike would have not had a cluewhere to begin it hadn't been
for that.
That's wild.
Having it your dad's drawing ofthat thing, yeah, so it's a
every time I look at that nose.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
cali, go newton well, my dad was really meticulous
about trying to get a lot ofthose angles and in shapes
correct and he used to have ablank wall in the boat shop I
have now and he had a projectorand he would try to get photos
of the boats and try to getprofile shots and shots for the
(31:29):
graphics and whatnot.
He would illustrate the wallwith the graphics and try to get
them scaled right.
He would trace them out.
It was very meticulous.
He spent hours and hours onthis drawing.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
When he would take a boat that was caroled with boats
and it's the same boat, justpainted different.
Could he trace over the top ofa light table or something?
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Yeah, well, he didn't have a light table but he had
an architect's table and hecould trace over that.
That's how he did that, yeah,yeah, he would just trace the
profile of the previous hull andthen get all the new paint
scheme and graphics and all thatGoing back to how it's changed.
Back, when he started,everything was hand-drawn and
(32:14):
hand-painted on the models.
There's no graphics.
Everything was customly doneitself.
Now, people are so reliant onthe graphics.
I know some people havecomplained that our customers
want everything done withgraphics.
I know some graphic people havecomplained that they want every
.
Our customers want everythingdone with graphics, like all the
stripes on the boat, everythingWraps.
They just basically want towrap it.
(32:34):
Now, yeah, in which some peoplehave wraps on their models, wow
, yeah, I know Greg Roth had one, nelson Holmberg had one, a few
others have done that.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
When would your dad be.
He's been gone now since 2008.
2008.
Yeah, it's getting to be sometime.
Yeah, what would he be the mostproud of if he looked at not
unlimited racing, but his RCworld?
I mean, he had to know theinfluence that grew from him.
(33:07):
Oh yeah, but besides beingproud of you, what are some of
the clubs, the technology, theinterest, I mean, what do you
think would blow his mind and hegoes?
Speaker 1 (33:20):
I can't believe you guys are.
That's a good question.
I mean, I'm sure he'd be blownaway.
How fast the electrics are nowis that?
I mean, even the technologyfrom when he last raced has
grown in leaps and bounds andwe're actually restricting what
we have.
I mean, technology is way farsurpassed what we have.
I think that would blow him uppretty far away.
(33:42):
He really wanted to do an RCturbine, oh yeah, uh.
And he got in touch with somepeople before he passed and, um
cause, there was a guy PeterPeter Mueller, I think his name
was, maybe out of Florida thatdealt one and he really wanted
to do one.
And there's people in Germanynow.
Yeah, I've seen some videos andI think that's what he wanted to
(34:04):
do.
But he knew the cost wasprohibited.
It was like $2,500 for a motorand gearbox combination back
then, but I think he got a kickout of where electrics have gone
.
I think he'd really like theseventh scale, the big boats,
the electrics and the classesthat were more geared towards
(34:25):
scale and keeping it scale youtold me one time how many, how
many boats he built.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
What was that number?
I?
Speaker 1 (34:33):
don't, I don't remember, I don't know the
number.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
You told me that I yeah I've forgotten way over 100
, I mean 100.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
Yeah, I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Yeah, he's way over, because he built boats, not just
race boats.
People would commission himlike the ones hanging in the
restaurants, yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Yeah, he's got two down at Kid Valley and Rettin'
at King's Golden Park.
They're not little.
Those are one-fifth scale.
Yeah, they're monsters and hebuilt those.
He was on disability leave fromwork.
He did something with his backand he built those for Kid
Valley.
And he actually borrowed someMerlin parts I from Ike
(35:08):
Keelglass we had part of aMerlin in the shop for a while.
He handcrafted the Merlin andthe props and everything that
was on the boat.
Good, yeah, but he built those.
But he was also commissioned by, like, bernie Little.
I think he built 10 or 15 boatsfor Bernie and he built some
boats for Bill Bennett, bruceMcCaw oh yeah, he'd always build
(35:32):
a model for the museum galaSure To auction off and he would
build.
Some people in the RC worldwould con him into building
boats for him.
He was always building boatsfor me and himself.
Yeah, he built well over 100.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Well over 100, yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
And where are they now?
Who knows?
Speaker 2 (35:50):
They're legendary.
I was out at their house onetime and he was working on
something and he didn't evenneed to look at his own plans.
He had the thing in his mind.
Oh yeah, He'd just look at thesponsor line and go.
I remember him looking at mythriftway Before I had it go.
I remember him looking at mythriftway before I had it
painted.
I just roughed out, I took itto the museum and he gave it to
me once over and he goes you'rea little deep here and you might
(36:13):
want to bring that up and hejust spotted this stuff just by
eye and I, okay, I went home.
So I'm really proud of thatthing because that's my sixth
scale.
Sixth scale, ms thriftway, thatI I keep at home.
It'll go to the museum to joinroger's sixth scale.
Fomo 5.
(36:33):
Yeah, we ran together and a fewothers.
That a class that never.
It was never a racing class, itwas just a except or weed
whacker, right that's our firstattempt, but yeah, and you try
to start a newer class.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
That was in the late 90s, right?
Yes, and that never took off.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
No, we just had fun as hell running them though,
yeah, and I just enjoyed thehell out of building.
That was always my favoriteboat as a kid and I didn't even
know that the Thriftway in 1955and 1956 was a mahogany boat.
I knew it was mahogany with thepainted stripes and I'd never
done a mahogany wood like JohnErnst did.
(37:11):
Those guys do.
I didn't want to mess with thatand he said well, then build a
57.
I go what's different?
It's painted brown.
What are you talking about?
Painted brown.
And my whole life I had no ideathat in 57, because of the
damage the thing went ithappened in Detroit they just
painted it brown, repainted thestripes and I go that's for me,
(37:35):
I can paint it brown and Ialways remember being so amazed
that I didn't know that historyfact.
Yeah, and we had a great timewith those.
What's going to happen withRooster Tail Talk?
What's the next day going tolook like?
Going video ever.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
Probably should go video, but it's a lot of work.
I'm a one-man team.
I don't have enough time.
I feel like with the audioportion, at least it's something
you can listen to on the go andlisten to while you're out?
Speaker 2 (38:05):
Have you had any offers, any help from some of
the big owners?
Because you're doing them aheck of a good thing, yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
I guess I've gotten a few passes, but nothing too big
yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
I hope they're listening and appreciate your
time and interest in whatthey're doing, because without
guys like you, we've got nothing.
You're the one-man savior rightnow getting people talking.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Yeah, try to keep.
I mean, it's such a shortseason, right.
I mean races start in June andthey're over beginning of
September and there's a lot ofweekends in between.
There there's nothing on thewater, but this is hopefully
something to keep theconversations going in the off
season and I'll come back forseason 7 in February.
So when this is airing thiswill be past February probably,
(38:56):
but I got a few people on thehooks for interviews, trying to
get those locked down and justhopefully get some more fun
interviews on the way.
I want to travel this summerand go to another race, but I
haven't been to it before, but Idon't know.
I really want to go toValleyfield, but looking at
airfare costs, for that, it'd bequite a place, yeah.
(39:17):
Yeah, and I want to go toDetroit, but they can't get
their act together to get backthere.
I don't know if that'll happenagain or not, so I've never been
there.
I hope I can go there one dayMadison.
I've never been to Madison Meneither.
That would be cool.
I'd love to go to Evansville,but they're not there.
A lot of places I wish theywould still go to.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
There you go, folks.
This is David Newton.
This is your real host of uh,rooster tail talk, and I hope
you've gotten a little betteridea about who he is and what
he's about, because he's a he'squite a handful of a guy.
He's got a lot going on and Ihope you appreciate and listen
in on these podcasts when youcan and and I'm going to be
(40:05):
listening.
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com