where has all the NItro gone

[Lamar_Huff]

Atlanta has bad memories of home boy rules. I could write a book on my times in Atlanta. It used to be a regular stop for me on the racing schedule. Here are a couple of examples.......

John,

How long ago are we talking here? The guys (and gals) currently running the show are a pretty unbiased and friendly group.

We would love to have you back!

Lamar Huff

President

Atlanta Model Boaters

 

[Lamar_Huff]

There was guys that dont know what holding your lane on the start going into and out of turn 1 means (going from lane 10 to 1)...but interesting enough they were out of towners.

Hmmm... Who could you be referring to??? HA HA HA :lol: :lol:

Anyone that races the GP series knows... That's fo' sho'...

Lamar

 

[John Finch]

Thanks for the invite Lamar. Don has told me the racing has been great the last few years he has been there. If I was to go I would have to launch his twin. That's a heavy boat and I'm getting old. This year he made it even heavier so it will withstand all the rough water with all those twins. I'm going Gas this year all the way. I don't know how many races I will be attending this year because I have a lot of school scheduled for my CPM certification. Just when you think your gonna retire, you get into something else.

 

[Ed Knudsen]

As a boater who has raced Atlanta since the early 70's at Stone Mountain and finally at Naturly fresh I can understand John's feelings. I was there during the incident John is talking about. There were absoultly some Atlanta members at that time who were out to run you over. But I hope John realizes it wasn't all the members. While we were still living in Atlanta Barbara and I, after being in RC boats for 18 years, quite RC boating completly for 15 years due to a few Atlanta club members that were in my opinion totally out of control. The last straw was when for about the upteenth time one of the members actually cut the course to run me over and take me out. I believe from the same "family" that chased John down. I was so upset that Barb had to pull me to the car before I did something stupid. Figured the fun was out of it so we sold everything and never went back until last year. Some of the best side to side racing I experienced was against John F ( and his pesky Twin Crafts against my Sightlers) Paul Hayes, Rob Robertson. Doug Floyd, Paul Psalmonds,Steve Speas, Doc Turner, Randy Dicks etc. etc. in Atlanta. So it wasn't everybodyin the Atlanta club! Come to Atlanta John and give it and Lamar another shot - Barb and I are.

Ed

 

[Lamar_Huff]

I can assure you that none of the guys on our current club roster would cut the course to run you over... Now don't get me wrong, some of us race HARD, and crap sometimes happens in the heat of battle, but cutting the course to take some one out is UNACCEPTABLE... If I did that my Dad would personally kick my arse!!!

There are also a few guys hanging on by a thread... they might accidentally run you over, but to give them credit for doing on purpose would be completely OVERSTAING their driving abilities!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Thanks for the kind words guys... Please look me up when you get to the pond & introduce yourself.

Lamar

 

[Mark Bullard]

As a boater who has raced Atlanta since the early 70's at Stone Mountain and finally at Naturly fresh I can understand John's feelings. I was there during the incident John is talking about. There were absoultly some Atlanta members at that time who were out to run you over. But I hope John realizes it wasn't all the members. While we were still living in Atlanta Barbara and I, after being in RC boats for 18 years, quite RC boating completly for 15 years due to a few Atlanta club members that were in my opinion totally out of control. The last straw was when for about the upteenth time one of the members actually cut the course to run me over and take me out. I believe from the same "family" that chased John down. I was so upset that Barb had to pull me to the car before I did something stupid. Figured the fun was out of it so we sold everything and never went back until last year. Some of the best side to side racing I experienced was against John F ( and his pesky Twin Crafts against my Sightlers) Paul Hayes, Rob Robertson. Doug Floyd, Paul Psalmonds,Steve Speas, Doc Turner, Randy Dicks etc. etc. in Atlanta. So it wasn't everybodyin the Atlanta club! Come to Atlanta John and give it and Lamar another shot - Barb and I are.Ed

I remember those days myself. Had a F hydro race that I was called over and I know that I was behind the lead boats on the start. I was running a Twin and was running pretty good. I complained the whole race but my partner Doc Turner said you can catch them and we did in 4 laps. After the race I gave the score as first place and told the CD that I was not over and he said I know, I just wanted to see you run your boat. I did go on the win that class that year. The mono racing was so rough back then and yes I have seen those boats cut across the course to take someone out. But mono racing is tough racing if you have a good bunch of mono's.

Over the years as those local racers in question have disapeared the club has changed and gotten better. And has become what all clubs should be.

 

[Rigged]

and Lamar isnt very hard to find...just look for the tables with a gazillion yellow boats around them :lol: :lol:

Cant say ive seen anyone cut the course during a race, that actually had control of their boat...

well except for me doing the NAMBA half mill one time :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Ron Olson]

Unfortunately it sounds like a problem with those racers wanting to beat a known name anyway that they can even if it involves taking them out to do it.

I've seen this at the local short tracks around here, they bring in big name NASCAR boys to do a few laps and even though they may be driving someone else's race car, they'll try their damnedest to take them out.

 

[tnrcboatracer]

As a boater who has raced Atlanta since the early 70's at Stone Mountain and finally at Naturly fresh I can understand John's feelings. I was there during the incident John is talking about. There were absoultly some Atlanta members at that time who were out to run you over. But I hope John realizes it wasn't all the members. While we were still living in Atlanta Barbara and I, after being in RC boats for 18 years, quite RC boating completly for 15 years due to a few Atlanta club members that were in my opinion totally out of control. The last straw was when for about the upteenth time one of the members actually cut the course to run me over and take me out. I believe from the same "family" that chased John down. I was so upset that Barb had to pull me to the car before I did something stupid. Figured the fun was out of it so we sold everything and never went back until last year. Some of the best side to side racing I experienced was against John F ( and his pesky Twin Crafts against my Sightlers) Paul Hayes, Rob Robertson. Doug Floyd, Paul Psalmonds,Steve Speas, Doc Turner, Randy Dicks etc. etc. in Atlanta. So it wasn't everybodyin the Atlanta club! Come to Atlanta John and give it and Lamar another shot - Barb and I are.Ed

Hey Ed, Glad to see that you're back. I too was in the Atlanta club in the late 70's through mid 80's. Can't say I remember it was that bad, but I was a younster back then (16-23yrs old). I don't know if you remember, but I bought your Team Shadow line from you back in '88 or '89. The mono molds are long gone, but I still have the documentation and the 20 and 90 hydro molds. Glad to hear that you're back.

I may try to make it to Atlanta this year myself.

 

[Scott Norris]

Ahhhhhhhhh the good old days back at Stone Mountain. Trying NOT to be the recipient of the Cherished "Piece of the Rock Award"!!

 

[tnrcboatracer]

Ahhhhhhhhh the good old days back at Stone Mountain. Trying NOT to be the recipient of the Cherished "Piece of the Rock Award"!!

Yep, the dreaded rock. It definitely taught you to run a tight course. My HS buddy had a 3D mono with an OPS65 and Octura hardware, and I had a 20 tunnel built from some magazine plans. I rigged the K&B for a tuned pipe straight out the back. The boat was killed when another club member's E/F mono ran over it during an open water play day. The pipe mounting wires made a mess of his prop, though.

I remember during the '80 Spring Nationals that someones E/F mono went up into the woods when it staightened out off of bouy #5, but atleast he missed the rock. I also recall a few sunken boats in that pond. I wonder if that pond is still there?

Back in those days ('79 or so????) I believe the club meetings were in a podunk town out in the sticks named Alpharetta?????

 

[Ed Knudsen]

Man great to hear from you guys. Got a couple of those piece of the rock trophy's myself Scott. Mark great to hear from you also. Bet you remember the days in Birmingham and Charlston, the first "winter nats" in Orlando too. I sure remember those twin outriggers you and Doc ran. Pond at Stone Mountain was drained. Probably about a gizzelon plugs, pipes, props and more then a few hulls buried in the muck. I know I donated a few of each.

I'll be running the New Shadow .21 Mono prototype at the race.

I'm still Nitro guys - can't quite bring myself to swap to the "dark side" (yet!).

 

[John Finch]

Ed,

The gas mono's are faster than the ones we ran in the 80s and you don't have to tinker with them all the time. The gas classes are like IROC. We all run equal boats and engines, which makes for a real drivers race. The nitro stuff is so one sided nowadays because the old farts like us understand it and can run well while the rest of the field can't get needle settings or even get launched because of the complexity. Anyone can put any tuned pipe at any length on a gas boat and it will work half way decent even if they don't know what they are doing. It brings the newer modelers up to speed with the experienced boaters real quick. The learning curve for them is not so much how to set the boats up, but in the learning to drive aspect of things. I have had more fun racing the gas boats lately because the competition is always tight, the boats look like real boats, and they are exciting to watch. Try it!

You may be surprised at the fun level on the fun meter.

 

[BobGutsell]

Here in Hamilton, New Zealand I have a fairly modest fleet of 3 boats. Two are nitro, a sport 45 and 1/8 scale and I'm just finished a 57" mono offshore boat with a CC Pro Mod zenoah in it. I have to say that the gas boat is currently getting all my attention because, it's so dman fast and enjoyable. The fact that I go to the local lake with nothing more than a Boat, Transmitter and spare gas is also very appealing as well.

I will probably stay with the hydros as I really do like the scale and semi scale racing boats. But it's not hard to appreciate the Gas boats.

Our club here in Hamilton has lain dormant for a couple of years and we've jus got it going again. With regular running every week at the local lake we get about 1 new member every couple of weeks. Guess what they end up running? Gas!

Somebody said earlier that they see Sport and scale hydro classes in hydros surviving in Nitro but not much else. I agree that probably will be the future of our sport. Will zenoahs run on bio-fuels?

 

[Scott Norris]

Ed & Jon, I'll look for you at the Spring Nats. If you happen on me please introduce yourself. I'll be the busy one running full classes of Nitro Monos & Hydros between myself and my running buddy Gavin. I saw a few years ago that the Spring Nats gave out name tags for everybody. Would like to see that done again at all the Big Races at least!

 

[Scott Norris]

Ed,The gas mono's are faster than the ones we ran in the 80s and you don't have to tinker with them all the time. The gas classes are like IROC. We all run equal boats and engines, which makes for a real drivers race. The nitro stuff is so one sided nowadays because the old farts like us understand it and can run well while the rest of the field can't get needle settings or even get launched because of the complexity. Anyone can put any tuned pipe at any length on a gas boat and it will work half way decent even if they don't know what they are doing. It brings the newer modelers up to speed with the experienced boaters real quick. The learning curve for them is not so much how to set the boats up, but in the learning to drive aspect of things. I have had more fun racing the gas boats lately because the competition is always tight, the boats look like real boats, and they are exciting to watch. Try it!

You may be surprised at the fun level on the fun meter.

Dang it John, Don't stop racing Nitro Completely! One of the reasons I started back racing is to Race You!! Doug Floyd isn't around anymore so you are my last Target from the old days!!!

 

[katman]

Very good points to this thread.

Go over and look at the entries to the Texas super race, dominated

by gas entries. Nitro has only 3-4 entries a class?

Keith

 

[Don Ferrette]

The nitro is and will be there but gas is very appealing 'cause it's like plug and play. As John said you barely even have to be close to the correct set up and it'll still at least run ... instant gratification. The nitro still gets my blood flowing as there is simply no substitute for one of my twins on the pond dialed in at full song or the 1/8th scales that just look so realistic when they're out on the water. I enjoy both nitro & gas and will be running both all year, either way I'll have a good time. B)

 

[Joe Warren]

They keep saying gas boats are cheaper i do not see it maybe after you buy it and have it all together but by the time you get a good engine boat and all the back up stuff you could have gone out bought 2 nitro boats Norm i checked out James boat and a few others he has almost 3,000 dollars in it thats crazy. Robert

I agree with you. It blows my mine on what some of these people pay for these gas boats ready to run. And to see the level of performace that their money got them is just disapointing. But if you add up the money you may find that we all spend about the same for one boat to race for a year. But what I want to see is more boaters going out and buying wood or glass and building their own design boat. This is what it takes to build model boaters that will stay into the hobby.

2 races last year with only about a dozen gas boats. One race had 175 boats NITRO IS NOT DEAD DONT KID YOURSELF. but GAS IS GROWING at a rate faster than ever with some big bucks being poured into racing..

No Gas Boats here........ All Nitro...... Nitro is for Racing, Gass for the Generator, Diesel to get there. :blink:

 

[Lamar_Huff]

No Gas Boats here........ All Nitro...... Nitro is for Racing, Gass for the Generator, Diesel to get there. :blink:

And don't forget Alcohol is for DRINKING!!!

Lamar