May 6, 2025 • 41 mins
Ted Porter shares his journey from Formula Boats family business to becoming an H1 Unlimited hydroplane racing team owner who claimed 18 victories and multiple championships. His decade-plus career in the sport represents one of the most successful ownership tenures in modern unlimited racing history. Join us next week for Part 2 of our interview with Ted Porter as he shares more stories from his time as one of the sport's most successful team owners.
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Episode Transcript
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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 to sit
back, relax and welcome RoosterTail, talk, tale, talk.
(00:52):
Hello race fans, today is May6th 2025, and this is episode
146.
Well, we're back at it here atthe podcast.
I know we took a little timeoff from the last episode, lost
a good friend and just neededsome time for that.
But I'm excited for today'sepisode because I'm going to be
giving you part one of myinterview with Ted Porter Now.
(01:15):
Ted Porter he hasn't been activein the H1 series for a few
years.
He still follows and comes downto races and shows his support
for H1.
But he was a limited hydroplaneowner for over a decade,
starting in 2005.
Now in his tenure with thesport, he won over 18 races,
(01:35):
which places him in the top 10list of owners of all time for
H1 racing, has a couple of worldvictories, won over in Doha
many times.
I think he owned Doha for awhile and won multiple times
over there, but it's an overallgreat guy and ambassador and
supporter of the sport.
(01:56):
Now I got a chance to talk withhim earlier in the year so
you'll hear us talk a little bitabout the weather, but I got
this interview done in Februaryand a little late releasing it,
just had some other things popup.
But I'm glad to get this out toyou now.
So let's take off the interviewas I talk with previous
Hydroplane owner, ted Porter.
Welcome to Richard L Talk.
(02:19):
I'm sitting down here in RentonWashington talking from west
coast to east coast, talkingwith Ted Porter, who's down
actually now in Florida for theMiami Boat Show.
How are we doing, ted?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Doing well.
Thanks for inviting me today.
Nope, I started the day in 20degree temperatures and now
we're down here where it's 84.
So all good.
Finally got off the plane tothe house and got to call you,
so we're all good yeah, I'mpretty jealous of the view.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
It looks nice and sunny outside.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
It's yes, it is in fact yeah, it's almost burning
out too much, but nope, it's.
It's sunny outside and uh, I'minside in the air conditioning,
all good, yeah yeah, it's a 30shere.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
I just had an interest in snow this morning,
so a little bit different viewfor you, mm-hmm, all good.
Well, I'm excited to have youon the show because you've made
a big splash on the sport,really made a big impact, I feel
, in a lot of ways.
I mean you were in the sportfor over a decade, introduced a
lot of new drivers, crew members, helped the boat counts and
(03:27):
just really supported H1.
And I think it hasn't been thatlong since you've been out of
the sport.
So I feel like fans know yourname and it's still relevant
with fans today.
But they might not know some ofyour background and how you got
started with boat racing andjust your past around boating.
Could you share a little bitabout your background with
boating before you entered theranks of each one?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah, I grew up in a family of boating, even outside
of racing, and my dad startedbuilding boats back in 1958.
And I have six.
Well, there's six of us in thesecond generation and five of us
are in the business buildingformula boats in Decatur,
(04:10):
indiana, formulaboatscom, andthen we've got six kids, so it'd
be our kids and next generationthat are working there at
Formula.
So again, we've gone to thelakes, done a lot of boating.
You know through the years wedo a lot of boating down here in
(04:31):
Florida and there's a smalllake in Indiana that we do a lot
of boating as well.
About a year ago my wife and Idid the Great Loop, where you
get in a boat in Florida, takeit up the East Coast, across New
York, through the Great Lakes,up and over down the Mississippi
and all the way out to the GulfGulf of Mexico or Gulf of
Indiana, anyway, or America.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Anyway, Gulf of Mexico.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Come out through the Gulf and then back around to
Fort Myers, florida.
So that was a blast too, butanyway, yeah, that's kind of my
background a little bit into theboating realm, non-racing yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Well, I've heard that's a.
That's a great experience, thatlittle, that loop that you did.
I have a friend from NewZealand, merv Sowden.
A few years ago he went and didthat and it was a pretty.
It's a pretty long, long routetoo.
How long was?
Speaker 2 (05:21):
that it is.
Well, my wife and I still haveday jobs, so we, we were in a
boat that we could go fasterthan others.
I mean, some people you knowsay we're going to spend, you
know they stop, we're going tospend four days here.
Well, we're going to spendabout four hours, refuel and
take off again.
So it was a little bitdifferent, but we still enjoyed
it.
The scenery is breathtaking andjust boating in general and and
(05:45):
it's cool to see some of yourown formula boats out on the
water and some of our customersand everything so, but we
actually uh completed.
It was a little over 5,000miles and we did it in about and
this is just time days on thewater.
I mean, we had a few days thatwe stopped, but it was just like
about 34 days on the water.
So, uh again, a lot of peopletake months or years to do it,
(06:08):
but we, we just uh we're lookingto check the box and thoroughly
enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Yeah, yeah, that's fun, that's fun.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah, I don't know if you want to dive into racing.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, hydroplaneracing in general, uh, you know,
firsthand, I as a kid I had uhsmall hydroplanes that I'd pick
up.
Second hand, you know, typicalof like a jay stock looking boat
but you know, maybe round nose,so that kind of dates me.
They were older boats and I'dgo bomb around on the lake in
(06:40):
them.
But as as far as uh, as uh boatracing, I didn't do any.
I did some snowmobile dragracing and things like that.
But as far as uh boat racing,uh, our company was involved in
offshore uh boat racing, kind ofboats that we build.
But, um, you know, hydroplaneracing uh, and mostly watched it
on TV while white world ofsports and things like that
(07:02):
through the years.
And uh, uh, you know, later onfigured out, madison is only two
hours and change from well,probably three hours from home,
but okay, okay, but yeah, nookay so you I'm just curious you
played around on the lake withwith outboards, but never raced
(07:22):
outboards, is that right?
correct, right, yes, yeah, nope,they mostly just ran along the
shoreline as a you know.
Back then, you know, you couldbe nine or ten years old and
they'd let you go out on thelake.
And today, I think, you have tohave a driver's license which
somehow, when you get a cardriver's license, it makes you
an expert boat driver.
But that's, each state hastheir own rules.
(07:44):
But that's kind of where we arewith that.
But yeah, no, I had fun a lakecalled Wawasee which is in
Northern Indiana and my parentshad a place on that.
Before that we were on a lakecalled North Webster, which was
a little smaller but no kind ofgrew up in Indiana around the
lakes and we only went toFlorida a couple of times a year
(08:05):
.
We're now there's a regionalairline called Allegiant that
flies around here and they flynonstop from, you know, 20
minutes from our home there andthey land 20 minutes from our
home down here.
So you know we can get downhere and do some boating down
here.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
But anyway, yeah, yeah, and I know Florida down
here and do some boating downhere, but, um, anyway, yeah,
yeah, and I know florida is a agreat spot for boating and all
that, but let's get, let's talkmore about racing.
There you go, yeah, and Ibelieve.
Correct me if I'm wrong on theyears, but 2005, uh, mike weber
raced a old leland boat and itwas painted yellow.
(08:44):
Were you the owner of that orwere you just a sponsor?
And then, no, we can't remember.
Mike Weber raced an old Lelandboat and it was painted yellow.
Were you the owner of that or?
Speaker 2 (08:48):
were you just a sponsor.
No, we remember.
I'm trying to trying tocondense this down, ok.
Ok, back back in the day I wason the Chamber of Commerce board
in Decatur, indiana, where allof our family grew up and lived
there.
Family grew up and lived there.
I was on the Chamber ofCommerce board and one of the
other board members said hey, Ijust heard somebody bought an
(09:10):
unlimited hydroplane.
I don't know if it was on eBayor something online, but it was
kind of a wild deal.
And it's this guy in Auburn,indiana, which is like, oh,
that's not even like an hour andchange from us.
So chad sanderson, the, the gal, the husband and wife that I
talked to about it, said, thisguy, chad sanderson, has a car
(09:33):
lot up there and we know him andand, uh, gee, would you?
He's looking to race it?
Would you guys be interested insponsoring it?
So, um, so that was uh, early2005.
Um, and I believe, uh, somehowthey got um, uh between Mike
Weber and Chad Sanderson and uh,they got hooked up with, uh,
(09:57):
bill Wooster.
Um, you know that had the eightyou ate back then and he was
going to help help, you know,make sure the boat got set up
right and at least uh run somelaps to get some publicity.
So, um, I talked to the familyand said hey, you know, for X
amount of dollars we can put ourformula boats name on this boat
.
You know what do you say?
(10:17):
You know, uh.
So we brought the the uh theboat.
I went up to look at it andtalk to Chad, and he was all
jazzed about it and everything,um, and brought it back down.
I believe it was the U U 19Appian Geronimo was the boat.
And uh and uh.
So he brought it down to theboat factory and uh put a fresh
(10:40):
coat of paint on it.
Uh, and then, um, it was eitherPyro or someone from the U8
team at the time.
Then, uh, scott Rainey camedown and uh started rigging the
boat.
So, and it was, it was kind ofa limp along thing.
I think the first race, uh, Ithink we uh, they hired uh Dick
(11:02):
Lynch to drive it, okay, and uh,there there was, and there were
some speed bumps along the way.
I mean, we had a crew that wasknowledgeable, but they were
also learning at the same time.
And, gosh, I could get out inthe weeds.
But just one quick note we gotdown there.
I believe it was, yeah,southern Indiana, I believe it
(11:23):
was Southern Indiana, but anyway, we got down there and we were
running the boat and it wouldn'tturn off.
It wouldn't shut off.
So we were in Evansville,that's where we were.
So we were in Evansville.
Dick took it out for a spin.
He had been on the wateralready once, but then he took
(11:44):
it out for a spin and he radioedback.
He said, hey guys, I can't getit to shut down, which is pretty
obvious First time he came intothe dock.
So they got this bright idea.
Pyro says, well, ok, you know,slow down as much as you can
come past the dock I'm sure thisis in the ocean manual, by the
way, or already racing type.
Yeah, slow down as much as youcan, get as close as you can.
(12:07):
And and then they got togetherand they said, okay, there was
three guys there and they said,okay, whoever feels they could
do this, you know, jump onto theboat.
You know, here he comes by.
And then boom, all three guysjump on this running boat, which
I think we have pictures of.
Somebody probably even hasvideo of it, but I love to see
that.
So they raised the cowling andgot it shut down, because I
don't think you know, dickwouldn't?
(12:28):
You can't drive a boat and shutit down at the same time.
So anyway, they figured out theproblem where the cable had
gotten stuck up againstsomething or unhooked or
something.
But anyway, long story short,they came to a pause and, uh, it
was the first time I think itwas towed in that weekend.
But no, it was fun to watchother competitive boats race and
(12:52):
it was fun to watch your namego round and round on, you know,
in racing.
And through the whole season itkind of built to where I think
they got.
Might have even gotten third inDetroit or something at the
Gold Cup.
It was kind of an intro yearjust to kind of get thrown into
(13:13):
it to see if we liked it as acompany or not.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
I'm assuming that first year as a sponsor you had
positive feedback from customersand and yeah, yeah, no, it was
cool.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
They, they were jazzed to see, uh, that the name
was out there and uh, yeah itwas all good and um, so then, uh
, I guess, if we're moving on,and Mike, mike Weber, then kind
of bent my ear about, hey, youknow well, he drove it later on.
I think Dick may have onlydriven in Evansville, I'm not a
hundred percent sure but then wetransitioned into Mike driving
(13:51):
it and then, um, then, yeah,then he started bending my ear,
you know cause he wanted to, I'msure, drive a better boat.
And he said, hey, there's thesetwo boats, you know, miss
Budweiser, boats that are justkind of sitting out there uh
gathering dust and uh, uh, wouldyou, you know, would you be
interested?
(14:11):
And I'm, um, I was just crazyenough to uh listen to him and
and, uh, uh, my family kind ofbought into it and we uh kind of
went out on the limb, limb.
Um, I think a lot of peoplethat get into uh racing, you
know, start out with a goodamount of money and end up with
(14:31):
less.
You know, they have a good timeand they're competitive.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Oh yeah.
Yeah, racing is definitely nota sport where I think you really
make money.
I think I think roger penskesaid once uh, you don't enter
racing to make money.
I think I think Roger Penskesaid once uh, you don't enter
racing to make money.
You, um, you need to survive it, or something like that.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yeah, yeah, definitely, but uh, but, but
yeah, I wouldn't trade it.
We had uh thing I liked, I meanin the, in the amount of time
we were in racing, uh, we were,I would say, extremely
competitive, uh, right off thebat.
You know uh first year and Ihope.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
I'm not jumping the gun.
We were.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
I would say extremely competitive right off the bat.
Oh, definitely First year and Ihope I'm not jumping the gun
here but the first year, yeah,after we did well, I could go
back a half step to going backto Joe Little I started
communicating with him about theboats and kind of struck up a
deal which was way north ofwhere I wanted to be, but if we
(15:27):
wanted to do it we had to get itdone.
So, you know, we got the twoboats, the three trailers, three
trucks, um, yeah, five, five orsix turbines which we built,
that through the years we gotmore turbines and about four or
five gearboxes and we built moregearboxes the years went on,
(15:51):
but and several propellers, butwe had propellers built every
year too.
So, um, yeah, it's somethingthat, uh, you need.
Uh, it doesn't just happen,it's the people behind the
scenes that make it happen, andthe crew chiefs and the crew
members and everybody else thatuh works really hard on the
weekends and and back at theshop to make it all competitive.
(16:15):
So you know, yeah, and that's.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
I think at that time that was the best package you
could buy for yourself to enterthe sport as an owner.
The Budweiser sat for a year, Ithink, maybe less, and you got
it.
And were you able to get manyof the crew members back to work
on those boats or was that kindof a big mistake?
Yeah, we got some of them.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yeah, john Rice, aka Fish, he came on in the early
years and there was a coupleother guys as well that we had
and yeah, if I mentioned everycrew member, we probably had 50
of them through the years, youknow.
But but yeah, we had a lot ofgood people in through the years
(16:59):
and even in the years where theequipment was needing some
attention.
You know my crew chief, tomAnderson, was always there and
you know I had two guys back atthe shop building.
We called them disposable partsbecause you know the wings and
the uprights and fairings andthings that cowlings.
(17:22):
You know you go to a weekend atDetroit or you go to another
weekend.
You know name a few differentplaces Seattle is brutal, yeah
yeah.
There isn't hardly any that arereal friendly on the boats,
right, right, so no, that's themain thing too that I really
(17:45):
enjoyed through the years wasthe people.
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Yeah, I mean it takes so many people volunteering,
crewing, working in-house,working at the pits drivers it
takes a village to make ithappen.
Yeah, Especially I mean youdouble down and triple down for
some years with your houseworking at the pits drivers.
It takes a village to make ithappen.
Especially I mean you doubledown and triple down for some
years with with your holesalways, yeah, we had always
running multiple boats which wasgreat for the sport, but yeah
thank you, yeah, and some ofthat came just through.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Uh, we would get in an accident with one of the main
, the primary T5 or T6.
And then I guess there's somedrivers or some owners I'm sorry
that spend weeks or months oryears rebuilding their boats and
I wanted to get it done andback on the water in a matter of
(18:34):
a couple days, and if thatcouldn't happen, I'd try to run
some kind of a boat, because thething we were trying to do was
keep boats on the water for thesport.
Yeah, you know, yeah, we weregoing to win.
We wanted to win, we wanted tohave a good time, but part of it
was, I felt, you know, at thebeginning of the year you make a
commitment to be at the racesand you're letting yourself and
(18:56):
the other teams and theassociation down if you're not
there.
So that's that's kind of whatwe did.
That's how we came up with the,the first U5, which was the,
the one that they raced in in 05.
That's the one that we used asour first backup boat, and then
the.
The other boat was the 57, whichyou know had a history in
(19:19):
itself of starting out, I think,as the lobster boat, and then
eventually it was like U10,maybe Ahern Rental or something
like that.
But anyways, that was oursecond backup, and then that one
evolved into being, you know, apretty steady race boat for a
couple of years too.
So you know.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Yeah, but what do you think?
The biggest challenge washaving multiple boats in the
field at all times.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Well, it's having a comparable, equal equipment to
run in the different boats,because, um, a lot of it is.
Uh, you know, your, your crewthat works for your team, and
your crew chiefs.
You need to convince them atthe same time that you're not
just you don't have a screwloose and you're crazy to do
(20:08):
this, but you want to help thesport.
The sport's short a boat or two.
If you don't show up with threeboats, they're going to be.
If you just take one, they'regoing to be down two, and so you
end up racing three, um, andhave some pretty good luck.
I mean, we, you know, we racedifferent weekends and we'd be
(20:29):
either two on the podium, or,you know, two on the podium and
one just off the podium, orwhatever you know, and have
three boats out there runningaround.
It's, it's, it's a wild site.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Definitely.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Yeah, definitely.
Well, you mentioned thepersonalities that you've worked
with and I know you worked witha lot of great people in the
sport and you had a lot of greatdrivers in the sport, and I was
wondering if I could list offyour drivers, and not to not to
rank them against each other,but just to maybe you could
share your best impression orbest story for each driver.
I'm sure, like children, youhave your favorite, but you
(21:04):
don't want to share that outpublicly.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
But I'd just like to hear Well, I might.
We'll see.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Okay, well, let's do it then.
All right, let's start off withthe first year.
I believe I started off withMike Allen.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Yes, Mike Allen.
(21:43):
He was a super guy, hard racer,didn't know any limitations.
I mean, he just put her to themat and let her eat, did, and I
kind of.
He was driving a t5 at the timeand t5 is, um, it's got a few.
It was one of those boats whereit would go blistering fast but
it would look like it was uh,sticky on the water and then
next thing, you know, you'reseeing the underside of the boat
(22:04):
and you know that's not a goodthing, you know.
But we did figure out.
A few years later we added some, modified the hall a little bit
.
The runners in the front shoesin the back did some mods and
it's been super user-friendly.
Since she was brutal, I mean,had her moments, I definitely
(22:31):
wouldn't blame that all on Mike,but he did get caught in the
cockpit a few times, where itgets away from you.
But that's in the cockpit a fewtimes, uh, where it gets away
from you.
So, but that's in the.
You know, in the 10 or 11 yearswe were racing, uh, yeah, well,
I think we went over six times.
So, yeah, uh, in different,different holes.
So you know, yeah, but uh, butno, super nice guy, mike Allen,
(22:56):
uh, great racer.
Uh, we just, uh, just, throughthe years we would go to a
different driver or whateverthat we thought would give us
the advantage with the field wewere racing against.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Another driver you named earlier, Mike Weber.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Yeah, mike Weber, super nice guy.
He was a good racer.
I think his personality made upfor any shortcomings he had in
in racing.
Um, you know, even though he'sa weber, I think he's the cream
of the crop when it comes tobeing being a nice guy and
everything.
Nothing against the other ones.
(23:33):
But I'm just saying mike is anice guy and I've heard him get
sideways with people before too,but he's he's, he's a straight
shooter.
You know where he's coming from.
Uh, just like the rest of theWebbers here.
There's never a doubt wherethey are and they'll um inform
you of it.
But no, he's really nice guy,helped to get in, help get me
some contacts with people.
(23:54):
I mean, he set me up with withMike Allen, which, again, you
know not to jump back to him,but that first year was just
mind blowing and I'm sure we'lltouch on that here in a little
bit.
But yeah, we, we had a, youknow we went to Valley Field and
on a race with, with a crew, ateam and a crew that the
(24:17):
knowledge level was not there,but the equipment was made up
for it and nothing.
Nothing against them either.
They just got moreknowledgeable as years went on.
But yeah, we went up there andwon that first race with a
rookie owner, a rookie driverand a rookie crew chief and went
on to the national championshipthat year.
But we'll keep strolling alonghere with the drivers, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Okay, yeah Well, one thing I was saying, like it
doesn't matter what sport you'redoing or what challenges any
first year into that, it's goingto be a pretty high bar to set.
So it was impressive to see thevictories that you had, and
success you had in the firstyear of racing.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Yep All right.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Next on the list Jeff Bernard Jeff.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Bernard, jeff, bernard, it's exciting to see
that he's going back into theU12 again this year.
He drove for us a couple timesover the years.
He is a nephew of Mike Weberand it's really cool the way the
race community is connected.
Uh, because they can help youout in ways you know to keep the
(25:24):
boats running, to drive theboat with all their heart.
And uh, um, no, jeff, jeff'sneat, and Christabel and their
kids, it's, it's kind of a, it'sa neat family.
Uh, it was always a joy to havehim around the pits and uh, um,
no, it's it.
You know, we kind of liftedeach other up to.
(25:45):
You know, if something wentsouth during a heat or something
that we didn't end the way wewanted to, we'd talk it over and
get rolling again.
And now Jeff's a good kid.
Good kid, but no, he hasmatured through the years and,
yeah, he's got a great futureahead of him.
Yep, excellent.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
What about Cal Phipps ?
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Cal Phipps is.
He's a character superknowledgeable of race boats,
hull bottoms and he's the onethat helped with the mod of
modification.
He brought a guy down, tim, Ithink.
I think he passed away, butanyway, it really Cal's another
(26:31):
one of those that just speakshis mind and sometimes you know
it's in your face, but it'ssomething you need to hear, you
know, yeah, and you have to takea moment to just you know.
okay, he didn't just say thisfor hearing himself speak, you
know, it had substance to it andeverything.
The first time, I believe hegot in the cockpit the year we
(26:55):
were running, we had our currentdriver I'm thinking it was Jay
Michael, I'm pretty sure wasrunning that year and we, you
know, we put Cal in the hall forthe first time and he went out
and laid down a faster lap andthat was the beginning of a
(27:16):
little bit of a rivalry there,but a friendly rivalry so I
think at that point he justdidn't know the limits of the
boat and so him being therehelped to push everybody to do
better and go faster.
So, yeah, yeah, he was a goodguy.
Still is, yep, yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
How about Jesse Robertson?
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Jesse Robertson was a neat guy to have around.
He's got a marketing background, kind of an art, so he helped
us with a little bit ofmarketing stuff Driver.
He did a great job, went outthere and laid down some laps.
I think we might have had apodium finish with him once, but
(28:00):
just having him around the pitswe kind of had.
He was almost too pretty to sitin the seat.
He looked kind of like wecalled him Fabio or whatever,
but I don't know if he ever didto his face.
But I mean it's just one ofthose deals where he looked like
somebody that people would wantto come over and get his
autograph and everything.
(28:21):
He was a talented driver didgreat.
I think we only had him aboutone year but we were just
shuffling drivers around betweenthe different teams.
We've got a, a couple bigsponsors come in and kind of
poach some drivers away fromsome teams and that was
short-lived, anyway, 50 words orless.
(28:44):
They come back hoping to get aride back, and we had a waiting
period after that, but all iswell.
And we had a waiting periodafter that, but all is well.
I think anytime we can bringsomebody into the sport a new
sponsor or something amulti-year commitment is
important and not building upthe expectation beyond what they
(29:05):
expect to get.
But no, it's always good tohave fresh sponsors in the sport
, no doubt about it.
That is, fresh sponsors in thesport, no doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Yeah Well, that is one hard thing in the sport.
Just a thought came across mymind.
There's a limited amount ofboats, but I feel like there is.
The drivers are two, three,four fold.
For how many boats are outthere that want to race and
could race and have potential tobe in the cockpit?
But it's hard to get your timein the seat.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
There's a lot of talent out there.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
There's no doubt about it, um, and it's, it's the
team, the crew chief and theequipment behind the driver that
helps them to look good.
I don't want to belittleanything on the driver, but, uh,
before the races, uh, you know,our crew chiefs, um, you know,
like Tom Anderson, he would sitthere.
They'd calculate where theyOther teams do it too but where
(29:56):
the driver needed to be, at whattime.
And if this happened, then thisA plan A and a plan B, they
might even have it taped to thedash inside the boat, just so
they remember.
It's all a team thing, no doubtabout it.
You know, our job is to makethe driver look good.
So at the end of the weekend welook good.
(30:18):
So you know.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
All right, how about Jimmy Shane?
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Jimmy Shane.
It's kind of funny how we gotJimmy Shane.
We started out using him on alittle bit more of a part-time
gig, uh, and then I asked him tocome back, uh, to do a
full-time gig.
But, uh, he's, he's a good,really good-hearted kid.
Um, he's, uh, he's a greatracer.
(30:45):
Uh, you get him uh, in a boatthat runs fast and he will take
it across the finish line first.
There's no doubt about it.
He's uh, good equipment, goodconditions.
He's an amazing driver,definitely, yeah, so I, I like
him, I like his whole family.
Um, we gave uh bianca a in theearly days and we, I was looking
(31:11):
to try and build, uh, I guess,a female into racing, uh, and uh
, you know, I asked, uh, mikeWeber for a few names and he
gave me some names and then, uh,we came across Bianca and, um,
although it didn't work out, youknow, for her to qualify, it
(31:33):
did, obviously, between her andJimmy.
They got a couple really neatkids and so that they kind of
met between racing here and thengoing to Doha, which is a whole
other story.
But, yeah, really cool.
But an interesting little twistwas I had originally pegged
(31:57):
Kelly Shane before I even gotreal warm on Jimmy.
I definitely needed him to comein right away to fill a temp
spot in the 57 over in Doha.
But Kelly Shane was definitelyon my list even ahead of Bianca.
Nothing against Bianca, I'm justsaying.
But an unfortunate situationhappened where she went for a
(32:20):
ride in a Jersey Skiff, Ibelieve had an accident and hurt
her back really bad, broke itor did something, and that even
held her back in some of theother racing that she did.
But but uh, probably littleknown to the public, she was
gonna be the, the one I wasgonna try and put in the, you
know, in the seven, but uh, okay, didn't happen.
(32:42):
So too bad time.
Yeah, things change, uh, fate,history, whatever.
That's life, so a bummer, soyou never know where that would
have gone.
But uh, yeah, definitelychanged history, but it's what
it is, so yeah, I feel likethere's a huge file for
hydroplane racing.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
That's under the the what if file.
Right, so that falls in there.
Yep, all right.
J Michael Kelly.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
J Michael Kelly, super, super good driver.
I think you could put him in arowboat with a big engine on it
and he could go out there andturn some really hot laps.
It just seems like no matterwhat kind of boat you put him in
, if it's off, you know it's notrunning quite like it should,
then he'll get you lane one andyou know you'll do really well.
And there's, yeah, he went onhis lid at least once.
(33:41):
Everybody has to do it at leastonce.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
Oh yeah, but he's really good yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
Yeah, really good.
He left the team.
He was one of those that had awaiting period.
After he left, for a bigsponsor asked to come back, and
I just told him he's going tohave to wait a couple years
before I get over it.
So, anyway, it is what it is,you know.
But when he did come back, heraced amazing for us again too.
(34:13):
So yeah, and I'm not not takingaway from jimmy, I'm just
saying that jay michael is, he'suh, he's an amazing driver,
definitely, no matter what youput him in.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
So yeah, yeah, definitely from a different
breed there scott littycoatsciddycoat.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Super personality.
Obviously he wanted Doha for us.
I think he had great equipment.
I could go on all day.
We had drivers that would comeon the team and they would ask,
hey, I'd really like to drive T5or hey, I'd really like to
drive T6.
And usually the senior driverwould get his choice.
(34:50):
The senior driver would get hischoice and you know, we just
changed the numbers on the boatsand we wouldn't really
necessarily tell the publicwhich one was running and let
them guess.
So that was kind of a fun partof it.
But uh, I believe I believescott ran uh t6, which was the
newer hall, and uh did a greatjob.
He hang it out there and andand he did well for us.
(35:13):
Super personality, great familyenjoyed it.
All of their whole family isfun.
So is Jim Michaels too.
I forgot to mention that, butbut yeah, scott, he's, he's kind
of a, you know, he, he.
I think it works for a featherlike.
Know, I think he works for afeather-like coach, I think he
does.
(35:33):
They do build, you know,high-end motor coaches on
Prevost chassis.
So he's got a little bit of asales side to him and a little
bit of a.
He's just a super nice guy,always smiling, always
chattering.
He's a really good guy.
Did great for us.
But again another one of thosethat that uh left to go to
(35:55):
another sponsor, so anyway, yeahand he's still waiting all good
, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Well, it's fun to see his son's getting into racing
now, just like jay michaelsfamily and other families.
But yeah, yeah, yep, really funto watch.
Very cool yep, mark evans markevans is a hoot.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
I I brought him on um .
You know he he's raced longenough ago that it was kind of
um had to teach an old dog newtricks.
You where he'd go out there andhe'd early on.
You know it was like he nevergot out of the cockpit.
So he jumped back in day one.
(36:39):
He's sticking his nose down inthere and kind of ruffling some
feathers and it wasn't an unsafesituation at all.
He's just like he's like acowboy, just we're going for it.
And you know he's just likehe's like a cowboy, just we're
going for it.
And you know he goes out thereand he he's always got something
funny to say, he's always goteverybody laughing and smiling
(36:59):
and having a great time aroundhim and and and he's a great
driver too, has been for years.
And he he was willing to jumpin the the 57 and you know it
wasn't the best of the best buthe went out there and you know
we usually let him qualify inone of the other halls and then
go out there and just you know,race meaning qualify as a driver
(37:20):
, and then once they getqualified, we put them in the
other boats to qualify the boat.
So it.
57 is a great.
It's a great haul.
It's not being run right now.
But yeah, mark, I probably talkwith him more than any other
driver just because he and Ijust chat about things and
(37:43):
vintage boats and mahogany andmerlot, all the neat stuff.
He's trying to get me hookedinto vintage stuff.
That may happen someday, we'llsee.
All right, Fantastic.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
I think I got all of your drivers listed there.
Did I miss any?
Speaker 2 (38:03):
Yeah, I think I sure hate to miss anybody.
I think we got them all.
We did let guys take rides inthe boat that are racing today.
Anybody, we did let guys takerides in the boat that are
racing today.
I know Corey and Jamie Nielsen,I think.
Andrew, I think he might havegot a ride in our boat just to
(38:24):
go out and lay down some laps,just to see what it was like.
But yeah, we tried to do thatwhenever we could.
Okay, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Well, before we move on with the interview, do you
want to say who your favoritewas?
Speaker 2 (38:36):
No, you can almost hear it in my voice.
But favorite, in what way?
Speaker 1 (38:48):
The ones that raced the best or the ones that you
wouldn't?
Speaker 2 (38:51):
mind going and having a beer with sometimes.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
There you go, there you go, yeah, yeah, all right.
Well, knuckleheads, that's allthe time we have for this week.
Make sure you tune in next weekas I'll have part two of my
conclusion of my interview withTed Porter.
I know Ted shared some greatstories in this episode and he
has more to tell next week greatstories of this episode and he
has more to tell next week.
(39:13):
In the meantime, check us outonline on our website,
wwwroostertaltalkcom, and alsoon our social media pages on
Instagram and Facebook.
If you're not part of theRooster Tail Talk Plus series
yet, why not Become a membertoday on our website and enjoy
many benefits from the site?
I have a secret portion to mywebsite that has some great
articles and old photos andother artifacts from Hydroplane
(39:38):
yesteryear, but also you'll beentered into a monthly raffle
drawing for a monthly prize andearly access to all new episodes
.
Don't forget we're on all majorpodcast platforms Spotify,
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And that's all I got for today,so until next time, I hope to
(39:58):
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 to sit
back, relax and welcome RoosterTail, talk, tale, talk.
(00:52):
Hello race fans, today is May6th 2025, and this is episode
146.
Well, we're back at it here atthe podcast.
I know we took a little timeoff from the last episode, lost
a good friend and just neededsome time for that.
But I'm excited for today'sepisode because I'm going to be
giving you part one of myinterview with Ted Porter Now.
(01:15):
Ted Porter he hasn't been activein the H1 series for a few
years.
He still follows and comes downto races and shows his support
for H1.
But he was a limited hydroplaneowner for over a decade,
starting in 2005.
Now in his tenure with thesport, he won over 18 races,
(01:35):
which places him in the top 10list of owners of all time for
H1 racing, has a couple of worldvictories, won over in Doha
many times.
I think he owned Doha for awhile and won multiple times
over there, but it's an overallgreat guy and ambassador and
supporter of the sport.
(01:56):
Now I got a chance to talk withhim earlier in the year so
you'll hear us talk a little bitabout the weather, but I got
this interview done in Februaryand a little late releasing it,
just had some other things popup.
But I'm glad to get this out toyou now.
So let's take off the interviewas I talk with previous
Hydroplane owner, ted Porter.
Welcome to Richard L Talk.
(02:19):
I'm sitting down here in RentonWashington talking from west
coast to east coast, talkingwith Ted Porter, who's down
actually now in Florida for theMiami Boat Show.
How are we doing, ted?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Doing well.
Thanks for inviting me today.
Nope, I started the day in 20degree temperatures and now
we're down here where it's 84.
So all good.
Finally got off the plane tothe house and got to call you,
so we're all good yeah, I'mpretty jealous of the view.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
It looks nice and sunny outside.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
It's yes, it is in fact yeah, it's almost burning
out too much, but nope, it's.
It's sunny outside and uh, I'minside in the air conditioning,
all good, yeah yeah, it's a 30shere.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
I just had an interest in snow this morning,
so a little bit different viewfor you, mm-hmm, all good.
Well, I'm excited to have youon the show because you've made
a big splash on the sport,really made a big impact, I feel
, in a lot of ways.
I mean you were in the sportfor over a decade, introduced a
lot of new drivers, crew members, helped the boat counts and
(03:27):
just really supported H1.
And I think it hasn't been thatlong since you've been out of
the sport.
So I feel like fans know yourname and it's still relevant
with fans today.
But they might not know some ofyour background and how you got
started with boat racing andjust your past around boating.
Could you share a little bitabout your background with
boating before you entered theranks of each one?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah, I grew up in a family of boating, even outside
of racing, and my dad startedbuilding boats back in 1958.
And I have six.
Well, there's six of us in thesecond generation and five of us
are in the business buildingformula boats in Decatur,
(04:10):
indiana, formulaboatscom, andthen we've got six kids, so it'd
be our kids and next generationthat are working there at
Formula.
So again, we've gone to thelakes, done a lot of boating.
You know through the years wedo a lot of boating down here in
(04:31):
Florida and there's a smalllake in Indiana that we do a lot
of boating as well.
About a year ago my wife and Idid the Great Loop, where you
get in a boat in Florida, takeit up the East Coast, across New
York, through the Great Lakes,up and over down the Mississippi
and all the way out to the GulfGulf of Mexico or Gulf of
Indiana, anyway, or America.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Anyway, Gulf of Mexico.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Come out through the Gulf and then back around to
Fort Myers, florida.
So that was a blast too, butanyway, yeah, that's kind of my
background a little bit into theboating realm, non-racing yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Well, I've heard that's a.
That's a great experience, thatlittle, that loop that you did.
I have a friend from NewZealand, merv Sowden.
A few years ago he went and didthat and it was a pretty.
It's a pretty long, long routetoo.
How long was?
Speaker 2 (05:21):
that it is.
Well, my wife and I still haveday jobs, so we, we were in a
boat that we could go fasterthan others.
I mean, some people you knowsay we're going to spend, you
know they stop, we're going tospend four days here.
Well, we're going to spendabout four hours, refuel and
take off again.
So it was a little bitdifferent, but we still enjoyed
it.
The scenery is breathtaking andjust boating in general and and
(05:45):
it's cool to see some of yourown formula boats out on the
water and some of our customersand everything so, but we
actually uh completed.
It was a little over 5,000miles and we did it in about and
this is just time days on thewater.
I mean, we had a few days thatwe stopped, but it was just like
about 34 days on the water.
So, uh again, a lot of peopletake months or years to do it,
(06:08):
but we, we just uh we're lookingto check the box and thoroughly
enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Yeah, yeah, that's fun, that's fun.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah, I don't know if you want to dive into racing.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, hydroplaneracing in general, uh, you know,
firsthand, I as a kid I had uhsmall hydroplanes that I'd pick
up.
Second hand, you know, typicalof like a jay stock looking boat
but you know, maybe round nose,so that kind of dates me.
They were older boats and I'dgo bomb around on the lake in
(06:40):
them.
But as as far as uh, as uh boatracing, I didn't do any.
I did some snowmobile dragracing and things like that.
But as far as uh boat racing,uh, our company was involved in
offshore uh boat racing, kind ofboats that we build.
But, um, you know, hydroplaneracing uh, and mostly watched it
on TV while white world ofsports and things like that
(07:02):
through the years.
And uh, uh, you know, later onfigured out, madison is only two
hours and change from well,probably three hours from home,
but okay, okay, but yeah, nookay so you I'm just curious you
played around on the lake withwith outboards, but never raced
(07:22):
outboards, is that right?
correct, right, yes, yeah, nope,they mostly just ran along the
shoreline as a you know.
Back then, you know, you couldbe nine or ten years old and
they'd let you go out on thelake.
And today, I think, you have tohave a driver's license which
somehow, when you get a cardriver's license, it makes you
an expert boat driver.
But that's, each state hastheir own rules.
(07:44):
But that's kind of where we arewith that.
But yeah, no, I had fun a lakecalled Wawasee which is in
Northern Indiana and my parentshad a place on that.
Before that we were on a lakecalled North Webster, which was
a little smaller but no kind ofgrew up in Indiana around the
lakes and we only went toFlorida a couple of times a year
(08:05):
.
We're now there's a regionalairline called Allegiant that
flies around here and they flynonstop from, you know, 20
minutes from our home there andthey land 20 minutes from our
home down here.
So you know we can get downhere and do some boating down
here.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
But anyway, yeah, yeah, and I know Florida down
here and do some boating downhere, but, um, anyway, yeah,
yeah, and I know florida is a agreat spot for boating and all
that, but let's get, let's talkmore about racing.
There you go, yeah, and Ibelieve.
Correct me if I'm wrong on theyears, but 2005, uh, mike weber
raced a old leland boat and itwas painted yellow.
(08:44):
Were you the owner of that orwere you just a sponsor?
And then, no, we can't remember.
Mike Weber raced an old Lelandboat and it was painted yellow.
Were you the owner of that or?
Speaker 2 (08:48):
were you just a sponsor.
No, we remember.
I'm trying to trying tocondense this down, ok.
Ok, back back in the day I wason the Chamber of Commerce board
in Decatur, indiana, where allof our family grew up and lived
there.
Family grew up and lived there.
I was on the Chamber ofCommerce board and one of the
other board members said hey, Ijust heard somebody bought an
(09:10):
unlimited hydroplane.
I don't know if it was on eBayor something online, but it was
kind of a wild deal.
And it's this guy in Auburn,indiana, which is like, oh,
that's not even like an hour andchange from us.
So chad sanderson, the, the gal, the husband and wife that I
talked to about it, said, thisguy, chad sanderson, has a car
(09:33):
lot up there and we know him andand, uh, gee, would you?
He's looking to race it?
Would you guys be interested insponsoring it?
So, um, so that was uh, early2005.
Um, and I believe, uh, somehowthey got um, uh between Mike
Weber and Chad Sanderson and uh,they got hooked up with, uh,
(09:57):
bill Wooster.
Um, you know that had the eightyou ate back then and he was
going to help help, you know,make sure the boat got set up
right and at least uh run somelaps to get some publicity.
So, um, I talked to the familyand said hey, you know, for X
amount of dollars we can put ourformula boats name on this boat
.
You know what do you say?
(10:17):
You know, uh.
So we brought the the uh theboat.
I went up to look at it andtalk to Chad, and he was all
jazzed about it and everything,um, and brought it back down.
I believe it was the U U 19Appian Geronimo was the boat.
And uh and uh.
So he brought it down to theboat factory and uh put a fresh
(10:40):
coat of paint on it.
Uh, and then, um, it was eitherPyro or someone from the U8
team at the time.
Then, uh, scott Rainey camedown and uh started rigging the
boat.
So, and it was, it was kind ofa limp along thing.
I think the first race, uh, Ithink we uh, they hired uh Dick
(11:02):
Lynch to drive it, okay, and uh,there there was, and there were
some speed bumps along the way.
I mean, we had a crew that wasknowledgeable, but they were
also learning at the same time.
And, gosh, I could get out inthe weeds.
But just one quick note we gotdown there.
I believe it was, yeah,southern Indiana, I believe it
(11:23):
was Southern Indiana, but anyway, we got down there and we were
running the boat and it wouldn'tturn off.
It wouldn't shut off.
So we were in Evansville,that's where we were.
So we were in Evansville.
Dick took it out for a spin.
He had been on the wateralready once, but then he took
(11:44):
it out for a spin and he radioedback.
He said, hey guys, I can't getit to shut down, which is pretty
obvious First time he came intothe dock.
So they got this bright idea.
Pyro says, well, ok, you know,slow down as much as you can
come past the dock I'm sure thisis in the ocean manual, by the
way, or already racing type.
Yeah, slow down as much as youcan, get as close as you can.
(12:07):
And and then they got togetherand they said, okay, there was
three guys there and they said,okay, whoever feels they could
do this, you know, jump onto theboat.
You know, here he comes by.
And then boom, all three guysjump on this running boat, which
I think we have pictures of.
Somebody probably even hasvideo of it, but I love to see
that.
So they raised the cowling andgot it shut down, because I
don't think you know, dickwouldn't?
(12:28):
You can't drive a boat and shutit down at the same time.
So anyway, they figured out theproblem where the cable had
gotten stuck up againstsomething or unhooked or
something.
But anyway, long story short,they came to a pause and, uh, it
was the first time I think itwas towed in that weekend.
But no, it was fun to watchother competitive boats race and
(12:52):
it was fun to watch your namego round and round on, you know,
in racing.
And through the whole season itkind of built to where I think
they got.
Might have even gotten third inDetroit or something at the
Gold Cup.
It was kind of an intro yearjust to kind of get thrown into
(13:13):
it to see if we liked it as acompany or not.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
I'm assuming that first year as a sponsor you had
positive feedback from customersand and yeah, yeah, no, it was
cool.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
They, they were jazzed to see, uh, that the name
was out there and uh, yeah itwas all good and um, so then, uh
, I guess, if we're moving on,and Mike, mike Weber, then kind
of bent my ear about, hey, youknow well, he drove it later on.
I think Dick may have onlydriven in Evansville, I'm not a
hundred percent sure but then wetransitioned into Mike driving
(13:51):
it and then, um, then, yeah,then he started bending my ear,
you know cause he wanted to, I'msure, drive a better boat.
And he said, hey, there's thesetwo boats, you know, miss
Budweiser, boats that are justkind of sitting out there uh
gathering dust and uh, uh, wouldyou, you know, would you be
interested?
(14:11):
And I'm, um, I was just crazyenough to uh listen to him and
and, uh, uh, my family kind ofbought into it and we uh kind of
went out on the limb, limb.
Um, I think a lot of peoplethat get into uh racing, you
know, start out with a goodamount of money and end up with
(14:31):
less.
You know, they have a good timeand they're competitive.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Oh yeah.
Yeah, racing is definitely nota sport where I think you really
make money.
I think I think roger penskesaid once uh, you don't enter
racing to make money.
I think I think Roger Penskesaid once uh, you don't enter
racing to make money.
You, um, you need to survive it, or something like that.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yeah, yeah, definitely, but uh, but, but
yeah, I wouldn't trade it.
We had uh thing I liked, I meanin the, in the amount of time
we were in racing, uh, we were,I would say, extremely
competitive, uh, right off thebat.
You know uh first year and Ihope.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
I'm not jumping the gun.
We were.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
I would say extremely competitive right off the bat.
Oh, definitely First year and Ihope I'm not jumping the gun
here but the first year, yeah,after we did well, I could go
back a half step to going backto Joe Little I started
communicating with him about theboats and kind of struck up a
deal which was way north ofwhere I wanted to be, but if we
(15:27):
wanted to do it we had to get itdone.
So, you know, we got the twoboats, the three trailers, three
trucks, um, yeah, five, five orsix turbines which we built,
that through the years we gotmore turbines and about four or
five gearboxes and we built moregearboxes the years went on,
(15:51):
but and several propellers, butwe had propellers built every
year too.
So, um, yeah, it's somethingthat, uh, you need.
Uh, it doesn't just happen,it's the people behind the
scenes that make it happen, andthe crew chiefs and the crew
members and everybody else thatuh works really hard on the
weekends and and back at theshop to make it all competitive.
(16:15):
So you know, yeah, and that's.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
I think at that time that was the best package you
could buy for yourself to enterthe sport as an owner.
The Budweiser sat for a year, Ithink, maybe less, and you got
it.
And were you able to get manyof the crew members back to work
on those boats or was that kindof a big mistake?
Yeah, we got some of them.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yeah, john Rice, aka Fish, he came on in the early
years and there was a coupleother guys as well that we had
and yeah, if I mentioned everycrew member, we probably had 50
of them through the years, youknow.
But but yeah, we had a lot ofgood people in through the years
(16:59):
and even in the years where theequipment was needing some
attention.
You know my crew chief, tomAnderson, was always there and
you know I had two guys back atthe shop building.
We called them disposable partsbecause you know the wings and
the uprights and fairings andthings that cowlings.
(17:22):
You know you go to a weekend atDetroit or you go to another
weekend.
You know name a few differentplaces Seattle is brutal, yeah
yeah.
There isn't hardly any that arereal friendly on the boats,
right, right, so no, that's themain thing too that I really
(17:45):
enjoyed through the years wasthe people.
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Yeah, I mean it takes so many people volunteering,
crewing, working in-house,working at the pits drivers it
takes a village to make ithappen.
Yeah, Especially I mean youdouble down and triple down for
some years with your houseworking at the pits drivers.
It takes a village to make ithappen.
Especially I mean you doubledown and triple down for some
years with with your holesalways, yeah, we had always
running multiple boats which wasgreat for the sport, but yeah
thank you, yeah, and some ofthat came just through.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Uh, we would get in an accident with one of the main
, the primary T5 or T6.
And then I guess there's somedrivers or some owners I'm sorry
that spend weeks or months oryears rebuilding their boats and
I wanted to get it done andback on the water in a matter of
(18:34):
a couple days, and if thatcouldn't happen, I'd try to run
some kind of a boat, because thething we were trying to do was
keep boats on the water for thesport.
Yeah, you know, yeah, we weregoing to win.
We wanted to win, we wanted tohave a good time, but part of it
was, I felt, you know, at thebeginning of the year you make a
commitment to be at the racesand you're letting yourself and
(18:56):
the other teams and theassociation down if you're not
there.
So that's that's kind of whatwe did.
That's how we came up with the,the first U5, which was the,
the one that they raced in in 05.
That's the one that we used asour first backup boat, and then
the.
The other boat was the 57, whichyou know had a history in
(19:19):
itself of starting out, I think,as the lobster boat, and then
eventually it was like U10,maybe Ahern Rental or something
like that.
But anyways, that was oursecond backup, and then that one
evolved into being, you know, apretty steady race boat for a
couple of years too.
So you know.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Yeah, but what do you think?
The biggest challenge washaving multiple boats in the
field at all times.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Well, it's having a comparable, equal equipment to
run in the different boats,because, um, a lot of it is.
Uh, you know, your, your crewthat works for your team, and
your crew chiefs.
You need to convince them atthe same time that you're not
just you don't have a screwloose and you're crazy to do
(20:08):
this, but you want to help thesport.
The sport's short a boat or two.
If you don't show up with threeboats, they're going to be.
If you just take one, they'regoing to be down two, and so you
end up racing three, um, andhave some pretty good luck.
I mean, we, you know, we racedifferent weekends and we'd be
(20:29):
either two on the podium, or,you know, two on the podium and
one just off the podium, orwhatever you know, and have
three boats out there runningaround.
It's, it's, it's a wild site.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Definitely.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Yeah, definitely.
Well, you mentioned thepersonalities that you've worked
with and I know you worked witha lot of great people in the
sport and you had a lot of greatdrivers in the sport, and I was
wondering if I could list offyour drivers, and not to not to
rank them against each other,but just to maybe you could
share your best impression orbest story for each driver.
I'm sure, like children, youhave your favorite, but you
(21:04):
don't want to share that outpublicly.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
But I'd just like to hear Well, I might.
We'll see.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Okay, well, let's do it then.
All right, let's start off withthe first year.
I believe I started off withMike Allen.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Yes, Mike Allen.
(21:43):
He was a super guy, hard racer,didn't know any limitations.
I mean, he just put her to themat and let her eat, did, and I
kind of.
He was driving a t5 at the timeand t5 is, um, it's got a few.
It was one of those boats whereit would go blistering fast but
it would look like it was uh,sticky on the water and then
next thing, you know, you'reseeing the underside of the boat
(22:04):
and you know that's not a goodthing, you know.
But we did figure out.
A few years later we added some, modified the hall a little bit
.
The runners in the front shoesin the back did some mods and
it's been super user-friendly.
Since she was brutal, I mean,had her moments, I definitely
(22:31):
wouldn't blame that all on Mike,but he did get caught in the
cockpit a few times, where itgets away from you.
But that's in the cockpit a fewtimes, uh, where it gets away
from you.
So, but that's in the.
You know, in the 10 or 11 yearswe were racing, uh, yeah, well,
I think we went over six times.
So, yeah, uh, in different,different holes.
So you know, yeah, but uh, butno, super nice guy, mike Allen,
(22:56):
uh, great racer.
Uh, we just, uh, just, throughthe years we would go to a
different driver or whateverthat we thought would give us
the advantage with the field wewere racing against.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Another driver you named earlier, Mike Weber.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Yeah, mike Weber, super nice guy.
He was a good racer.
I think his personality made upfor any shortcomings he had in
in racing.
Um, you know, even though he'sa weber, I think he's the cream
of the crop when it comes tobeing being a nice guy and
everything.
Nothing against the other ones.
(23:33):
But I'm just saying mike is anice guy and I've heard him get
sideways with people before too,but he's he's, he's a straight
shooter.
You know where he's coming from.
Uh, just like the rest of theWebbers here.
There's never a doubt wherethey are and they'll um inform
you of it.
But no, he's really nice guy,helped to get in, help get me
some contacts with people.
(23:54):
I mean, he set me up with withMike Allen, which, again, you
know not to jump back to him,but that first year was just
mind blowing and I'm sure we'lltouch on that here in a little
bit.
But yeah, we, we had a, youknow we went to Valley Field and
on a race with, with a crew, ateam and a crew that the
(24:17):
knowledge level was not there,but the equipment was made up
for it and nothing.
Nothing against them either.
They just got moreknowledgeable as years went on.
But yeah, we went up there andwon that first race with a
rookie owner, a rookie driverand a rookie crew chief and went
on to the national championshipthat year.
But we'll keep strolling alonghere with the drivers, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Okay, yeah Well, one thing I was saying, like it
doesn't matter what sport you'redoing or what challenges any
first year into that, it's goingto be a pretty high bar to set.
So it was impressive to see thevictories that you had, and
success you had in the firstyear of racing.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Yep All right.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Next on the list Jeff Bernard Jeff.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Bernard, jeff, bernard, it's exciting to see
that he's going back into theU12 again this year.
He drove for us a couple timesover the years.
He is a nephew of Mike Weberand it's really cool the way the
race community is connected.
Uh, because they can help youout in ways you know to keep the
(25:24):
boats running, to drive theboat with all their heart.
And uh, um, no, jeff, jeff'sneat, and Christabel and their
kids, it's, it's kind of a, it'sa neat family.
Uh, it was always a joy to havehim around the pits and uh, um,
no, it's it.
You know, we kind of liftedeach other up to.
(25:45):
You know, if something wentsouth during a heat or something
that we didn't end the way wewanted to, we'd talk it over and
get rolling again.
And now Jeff's a good kid.
Good kid, but no, he hasmatured through the years and,
yeah, he's got a great futureahead of him.
Yep, excellent.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
What about Cal Phipps ?
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Cal Phipps is.
He's a character superknowledgeable of race boats,
hull bottoms and he's the onethat helped with the mod of
modification.
He brought a guy down, tim, Ithink.
I think he passed away, butanyway, it really Cal's another
(26:31):
one of those that just speakshis mind and sometimes you know
it's in your face, but it'ssomething you need to hear, you
know, yeah, and you have to takea moment to just you know.
okay, he didn't just say thisfor hearing himself speak, you
know, it had substance to it andeverything.
The first time, I believe hegot in the cockpit the year we
(26:55):
were running, we had our currentdriver I'm thinking it was Jay
Michael, I'm pretty sure wasrunning that year and we, you
know, we put Cal in the hall forthe first time and he went out
and laid down a faster lap andthat was the beginning of a
(27:16):
little bit of a rivalry there,but a friendly rivalry so I
think at that point he justdidn't know the limits of the
boat and so him being therehelped to push everybody to do
better and go faster.
So, yeah, yeah, he was a goodguy.
Still is, yep, yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
How about Jesse Robertson?
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Jesse Robertson was a neat guy to have around.
He's got a marketing background, kind of an art, so he helped
us with a little bit ofmarketing stuff Driver.
He did a great job, went outthere and laid down some laps.
I think we might have had apodium finish with him once, but
(28:00):
just having him around the pitswe kind of had.
He was almost too pretty to sitin the seat.
He looked kind of like wecalled him Fabio or whatever,
but I don't know if he ever didto his face.
But I mean it's just one ofthose deals where he looked like
somebody that people would wantto come over and get his
autograph and everything.
(28:21):
He was a talented driver didgreat.
I think we only had him aboutone year but we were just
shuffling drivers around betweenthe different teams.
We've got a, a couple bigsponsors come in and kind of
poach some drivers away fromsome teams and that was
short-lived, anyway, 50 words orless.
(28:44):
They come back hoping to get aride back, and we had a waiting
period after that, but all iswell.
And we had a waiting periodafter that, but all is well.
I think anytime we can bringsomebody into the sport a new
sponsor or something amulti-year commitment is
important and not building upthe expectation beyond what they
(29:05):
expect to get.
But no, it's always good tohave fresh sponsors in the sport
, no doubt about it.
That is, fresh sponsors in thesport, no doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Yeah Well, that is one hard thing in the sport.
Just a thought came across mymind.
There's a limited amount ofboats, but I feel like there is.
The drivers are two, three,four fold.
For how many boats are outthere that want to race and
could race and have potential tobe in the cockpit?
But it's hard to get your timein the seat.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
There's a lot of talent out there.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
There's no doubt about it, um, and it's, it's the
team, the crew chief and theequipment behind the driver that
helps them to look good.
I don't want to belittleanything on the driver, but, uh,
before the races, uh, you know,our crew chiefs, um, you know,
like Tom Anderson, he would sitthere.
They'd calculate where theyOther teams do it too but where
(29:56):
the driver needed to be, at whattime.
And if this happened, then thisA plan A and a plan B, they
might even have it taped to thedash inside the boat, just so
they remember.
It's all a team thing, no doubtabout it.
You know, our job is to makethe driver look good.
So at the end of the weekend welook good.
(30:18):
So you know.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
All right, how about Jimmy Shane?
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Jimmy Shane.
It's kind of funny how we gotJimmy Shane.
We started out using him on alittle bit more of a part-time
gig, uh, and then I asked him tocome back, uh, to do a
full-time gig.
But, uh, he's, he's a good,really good-hearted kid.
Um, he's, uh, he's a greatracer.
(30:45):
Uh, you get him uh, in a boatthat runs fast and he will take
it across the finish line first.
There's no doubt about it.
He's uh, good equipment, goodconditions.
He's an amazing driver,definitely, yeah, so I, I like
him, I like his whole family.
Um, we gave uh bianca a in theearly days and we, I was looking
(31:11):
to try and build, uh, I guess,a female into racing, uh, and uh
, you know, I asked, uh, mikeWeber for a few names and he
gave me some names and then, uh,we came across Bianca and, um,
although it didn't work out, youknow, for her to qualify, it
(31:33):
did, obviously, between her andJimmy.
They got a couple really neatkids and so that they kind of
met between racing here and thengoing to Doha, which is a whole
other story.
But, yeah, really cool.
But an interesting little twistwas I had originally pegged
(31:57):
Kelly Shane before I even gotreal warm on Jimmy.
I definitely needed him to comein right away to fill a temp
spot in the 57 over in Doha.
But Kelly Shane was definitelyon my list even ahead of Bianca.
Nothing against Bianca, I'm justsaying.
But an unfortunate situationhappened where she went for a
(32:20):
ride in a Jersey Skiff, Ibelieve had an accident and hurt
her back really bad, broke itor did something, and that even
held her back in some of theother racing that she did.
But but uh, probably littleknown to the public, she was
gonna be the, the one I wasgonna try and put in the, you
know, in the seven, but uh, okay, didn't happen.
(32:42):
So too bad time.
Yeah, things change, uh, fate,history, whatever.
That's life, so a bummer, soyou never know where that would
have gone.
But uh, yeah, definitelychanged history, but it's what
it is, so yeah, I feel likethere's a huge file for
hydroplane racing.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
That's under the the what if file.
Right, so that falls in there.
Yep, all right.
J Michael Kelly.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
J Michael Kelly, super, super good driver.
I think you could put him in arowboat with a big engine on it
and he could go out there andturn some really hot laps.
It just seems like no matterwhat kind of boat you put him in
, if it's off, you know it's notrunning quite like it should,
then he'll get you lane one andyou know you'll do really well.
And there's, yeah, he went onhis lid at least once.
(33:41):
Everybody has to do it at leastonce.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
Oh yeah, but he's really good yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
Yeah, really good.
He left the team.
He was one of those that had awaiting period.
After he left, for a bigsponsor asked to come back, and
I just told him he's going tohave to wait a couple years
before I get over it.
So, anyway, it is what it is,you know.
But when he did come back, heraced amazing for us again too.
(34:13):
So yeah, and I'm not not takingaway from jimmy, I'm just
saying that jay michael is, he'suh, he's an amazing driver,
definitely, no matter what youput him in.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
So yeah, yeah, definitely from a different
breed there scott littycoatsciddycoat.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Super personality.
Obviously he wanted Doha for us.
I think he had great equipment.
I could go on all day.
We had drivers that would comeon the team and they would ask,
hey, I'd really like to drive T5or hey, I'd really like to
drive T6.
And usually the senior driverwould get his choice.
(34:50):
The senior driver would get hischoice and you know, we just
changed the numbers on the boatsand we wouldn't really
necessarily tell the publicwhich one was running and let
them guess.
So that was kind of a fun partof it.
But uh, I believe I believescott ran uh t6, which was the
newer hall, and uh did a greatjob.
He hang it out there and andand he did well for us.
(35:13):
Super personality, great familyenjoyed it.
All of their whole family isfun.
So is Jim Michaels too.
I forgot to mention that, butbut yeah, scott, he's, he's kind
of a, you know, he, he.
I think it works for a featherlike.
Know, I think he works for afeather-like coach, I think he
does.
(35:33):
They do build, you know,high-end motor coaches on
Prevost chassis.
So he's got a little bit of asales side to him and a little
bit of a.
He's just a super nice guy,always smiling, always
chattering.
He's a really good guy.
Did great for us.
But again another one of thosethat that uh left to go to
(35:55):
another sponsor, so anyway, yeahand he's still waiting all good
, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Well, it's fun to see his son's getting into racing
now, just like jay michaelsfamily and other families.
But yeah, yeah, yep, really funto watch.
Very cool yep, mark evans markevans is a hoot.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
I I brought him on um .
You know he he's raced longenough ago that it was kind of
um had to teach an old dog newtricks.
You where he'd go out there andhe'd early on.
You know it was like he nevergot out of the cockpit.
So he jumped back in day one.
(36:39):
He's sticking his nose down inthere and kind of ruffling some
feathers and it wasn't an unsafesituation at all.
He's just like he's like acowboy, just we're going for it.
And you know he's just likehe's like a cowboy, just we're
going for it.
And you know he goes out thereand he he's always got something
funny to say, he's always goteverybody laughing and smiling
(36:59):
and having a great time aroundhim and and and he's a great
driver too, has been for years.
And he he was willing to jumpin the the 57 and you know it
wasn't the best of the best buthe went out there and you know
we usually let him qualify inone of the other halls and then
go out there and just you know,race meaning qualify as a driver
(37:20):
, and then once they getqualified, we put them in the
other boats to qualify the boat.
So it.
57 is a great.
It's a great haul.
It's not being run right now.
But yeah, mark, I probably talkwith him more than any other
driver just because he and Ijust chat about things and
(37:43):
vintage boats and mahogany andmerlot, all the neat stuff.
He's trying to get me hookedinto vintage stuff.
That may happen someday, we'llsee.
All right, Fantastic.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
I think I got all of your drivers listed there.
Did I miss any?
Speaker 2 (38:03):
Yeah, I think I sure hate to miss anybody.
I think we got them all.
We did let guys take rides inthe boat that are racing today.
Anybody, we did let guys takerides in the boat that are
racing today.
I know Corey and Jamie Nielsen,I think.
Andrew, I think he might havegot a ride in our boat just to
(38:24):
go out and lay down some laps,just to see what it was like.
But yeah, we tried to do thatwhenever we could.
Okay, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Well, before we move on with the interview, do you
want to say who your favoritewas?
Speaker 2 (38:36):
No, you can almost hear it in my voice.
But favorite, in what way?
Speaker 1 (38:48):
The ones that raced the best or the ones that you
wouldn't?
Speaker 2 (38:51):
mind going and having a beer with sometimes.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
There you go, there you go, yeah, yeah, all right.
Well, knuckleheads, that's allthe time we have for this week.
Make sure you tune in next weekas I'll have part two of my
conclusion of my interview withTed Porter.
I know Ted shared some greatstories in this episode and he
has more to tell next week greatstories of this episode and he
has more to tell next week.
(39:13):
In the meantime, check us outonline on our website,
wwwroostertaltalkcom, and alsoon our social media pages on
Instagram and Facebook.
If you're not part of theRooster Tail Talk Plus series
yet, why not Become a membertoday on our website and enjoy
many benefits from the site?
I have a secret portion to mywebsite that has some great
articles and old photos andother artifacts from Hydroplane
(39:38):
yesteryear, but also you'll beentered into a monthly raffle
drawing for a monthly prize andearly access to all new episodes
.
Don't forget we're on all majorpodcast platforms Spotify,
apple Podcasts, podcasts, castbox and more.
And that's all I got for today,so until next time, I hope to
(39:58):
see you at the races.
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