Us1 Ius

[Tony Staron]

Congratulations to the Following:

IUS Hydro: Russ Stone (15838 pts)
1US Runabout: Dave Jones (3700)
US1 (overall grand champion): Russ Stone


Hydro finishes (top 7)
Russ Stone
Jay Cunningham
J Tozier
C Tozier
J Rutherford
JM Kelly
Dave Young

Runabout (top 7)
Dave Jones
Ralph Cook
Tylane Hebert
Cassandra Keller
Rick Keller
Kevin McAfee
Ed Hearn

[Phantom13]

Holy Cow!!!!

Way to go Rookie...Dad!!!!

[Tony Staron]

Rookie Riot!!

I fondout today that Russ is a ROOOKIE!!!! He ac***ulated a lot of points and from what I undestand, Had a lot of fun for a man just starting to race at 50 something. I am not sure this has ever been done in a rookie year before. Very proud of you and your team, Russ. I am sure the entire boat racing world will see a lot more of you in the years to come. Watch out SE/FE drivers. Also you D stock and D mod drivers. YOU HAVE SOME NEW COMPETITION. This is what AOF is all about. New blood, enthusiasm and a "can do" attitude. Congratulations again.
Tony

[Kevin Martin]

Great Job Russ!!!

russ is a gentleman, and a great competitor!!! we're proud to have him and his entire family in our club!!! he has set the standard, for us all to strive for!!!great job once again russ, you deserve this. kevin martin

[Holeshot Racing]

Russ Stone

Hats off to you Russ, you like to race hard and are willing to help anybody else out also. Your whole family is a pleasure to be around both on and off the race course. (might want to keep a short rope on the one you call Mike).
Just kidding, Had a great time with all of you this year. Again nice job on a great season

Terry Fiorelli
Holeshot Racing

[WATER DAWG]

Beginner's Luck

Holy Cow!!!!

Way to go Rookie...Dad!!!!

Holy cow is right! Now that I’ve gotten some instruction on how to post on this Forum, I’d like to publicly thank you, Tony, Kevin, and Terry for your kind words. And also, many thanks to all the other wonderful people in the three boat racing associations we’ve been involved with over the past two years who have so graciously offered us their unselfish assistance and advice.

As all of you in SLORA know, no one had more fun racing this past year than I did. My first season goals (self-graded) were to:
1. Stay out of the big kids’ way and be safe (B-),
2. Work on my starts and gain some much needed driving experience (B+),
3. Keep the boat upright on the course and stay in it until getting back to the pits (A-), and
4. Have fun (A+)!

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank a few very special people who provided what little encouragement it took to finally drag me (biting, kicking, scratching, . . . ) into becoming active in hydro racing at this late stage; come on now, I held out for quite a little while!, . . . I endured about four grueling months of crewing Mike’s SE hydro before he practically forced me to take his R92 "Gone Bananas" boat out for a couple of laps after the last race of the 2003 season. How does that saying go again?, “. . . . old enough to know better, but too young to care!”

So in no particular order, a huge THANK YOU! for the “funnest” summer in recent memory to:

** ‘Coach’ Sampson; “ . . . . hey Stone, I’ll go in ‘halvers’ on it with you . . . , “
** Mike; “ . . . . Dad, that’ll be the dumbest thing you ever do if you don’t buy this boat . . . , “
** Corey; “ . . . . we’ll have that engine back together and buttoned up by 9 o’clock tonight . . . . , “
** Denise; for always getting me to the boat on time, and making sure I was all buckled up, and ready to go,
** Bob; for his invaluable assistance in getting me started this year -- I wouldn’t have made a bunch of DSH starts without your help!,
** Nicole; for her marinated ribs, shishkabob’s, and mudslides!,
** Jude; for keeping me well fed and hydrated, and for being way more supportive than I ever expected when I got into this -- I should have known better, you’ve been there for all my other crazy antics over the past 35 years!,
** All the officers, drivers, and associates of SLORA; for showing me what a well run, safe sport this can be, relatively speaking -- I watched Mark walk away from his 100+ mph blow-over at the first SLORA race I ever attended. I have really been impressed with the safety emphasis at every race, and by the professionalism of all the drivers, officials, and course workers,
** And finally a feeble attempt to try to include a bunch of other racers and crew who have helped me and the others on the team these past two years: (if I miss you, please don’t take offense -- it’s a ***** getting old!); here we go -- Mark T., Kelly T., Ben T., Rod B., Ben B., Dennis W., Danny B., Dan S., Brian N., Lee B., Terry F., Rick K., Dennis and Becky K., Cheney S., Lora S., Kevin M., Cassandra K., and to all the others I’ve missed - you know who you are! Thank you all!!

Finally, in the future, I hope all of you are spared the embarrassment of ever again having to congratulate some over-the-hill, one-foot-in-the-grave driver for winning it all in his first year out. Come on now everybody, I’m looking forward to seeing a lot more boats in all the classes providing some really close racing and exciting competition next year. I know it’s going to be a whole lot tougher for me to win even a few heats, let alone some races, or another championship. I don’t imagine I’ll be sneakin’ in under the radar again next year, but I can hardly wait to strap ‘em on and get to racing in the Spring!

Go Fast, Drive Smart, Turn Left!

[Ben Toombs]

I can't wait.....

I can't wait to do a little paint swapping with you this year.

I am sure I will Learn A whole lot from you and I am exited about that.
I can hardly wait.

[AOFoffice]

Ben, I love your enthusiasm. You are in good company in your club and area. If you do even a little bit as well as Russ Stone in his first year, call yourself a pro! I will be adding up your points, and who knows, maybe you will even get rookie of the year. AOF has a lot of races in your neighborhood, and working on a lot of cooperation from SOA, Whidby Islands and CORA. Get yourself lined up for a bery busy race season.
Connie

[WATER DAWG]

Fresh meat!

I was really glad to see your post for DSH stuff!! Welcome to the fray -- I'd love to have every heat this year start w/ 8 or 9 boats. The only thing that I'd ask is to please just make sure you get your paint onto the areas of our boat that need it!!

If you run across an extra foot throttle in your equipment search, I'd be interested in one for the SEH. Or if anyone else out there has a single cable foot throttle laying around collecting dust, please contact Ben, or me -- no pipes to run, just the throttle.

I'm really looking forward to getting out again on the water in a couple of months, shake out the cobwebs, and see what everybody's been working on over the winter. See you at Bridgeport?