Pro Nationals will be at Depue

[Tim Small]

We just got word that 5 feet of water is guaranteed by JULY 25th, which means the PRO NATIONALS will run as scheduled in DEPUE ILLINOIS. We want to thank everyone involved that helped make this happen. Pumping of water will start ASAP, and will be completed by the time testing starts on Wednesday the 25th. Thanks again for your patience. See you all soon

[guedo499]

Can Depue 2012 be referred to as the "Dammed Nationals"? Only one way to raise the water level... I'm going to bring my dam fishing pole, and dam lures and catch a few of those dammed up carp.

[Big Don]

Feel free to take all the dam pictures you want.

[racerv24]

Is this a done deal? So much yes it is no it's not.

[racnbns]

What?------

Is this a done deal? So much yes it is no it's not.

Could you repeat that in english?

Bruce

[treadguy]

Looks like it's a go, Bruce. Hope all goes as planned. At least we can all congregate and enjoy the time we have left at this historic place in our lives. Remember the rains there...........if it rains enough we can race down main street.........

[benf27]

Where can I get some dam bait?

[stevegray]

DePue

Been to DePue when you can pit in the neighborhood, It's the best race in the WORLD since What 1930?

[T Chance]

Been to DePue when you can pit in the neighborhood, It's the best race in the WORLD since What 1930?

Millie Harrison and Mel Kirts ran PR's at Depue.

[RLR]

Depue and the Men's Club

I do not know even where to begin to put the thanks and praise in place for the herculean effort being put on by the City officials, The Depue Men's Club, and the citizenry of Depue.

Having spent a lot of my formative years as a child in the city, I always knew that Depue was special. After moving away and watching the struggles of the Illinois Valley and seeing the spirit that is so Special to Depue, i am left truly in wonder.

From living with my Grandparents after my Dad passed away, to coming to visit Depue with family, and of course every year the boatraces came to town. After moving to California an living out there for 30 years, I always looked forward to coming back and being involved with The Depue Men's Club. I was, and still am amazed at the amount of work, taking their vacations from work to work 80-100 hours during the week of the races and to see Wives, Sisters, Brothers, Daughters and Son's all pitching in to make this the enormous success that it has been over the years is what the American Spirit is about, which is, I will not go down without the fight being taken to you.

This year our hearts ached as we have seen the drought do damage to the crops of the midwest, the heat sucking what little moisture there was in the ground, and in the back of our mind, what is it doing to Lake Depue, and what would it mean to Depue if we were unable to race there. You see over the years, the racers and the city have become friends and family and we all hurt when one hurts. We are very aware of our family in Depue and what they mean to us.

As we drew closer to decision time, our insurance companies policies say we have to have enough water for safety and with that, we did not have enough as of a week ago. Never say Never to the folks of Depue. Eric Bryant, mayor, Steve Solario, the Mens Club and others picked up the challenge and found a way through their dedication and fortitude to pick up the challenge and head to the mouth of the river to accomplish a dam and pump water into the lake. I do not know how, other than to say the divine providence of the Lord has stepped in to lift all of us.

Permits were issued in record time, the city came together with the Men's Club, the citiizens have stepped up and a volunteer army has put the entire community, including the racers, on their shoulders and are carrying us to a hopeful conclusion. We pray that this effort will result in the needed water to race and our grateful for the efforts being made.

Pray for these citizens, give them our thanks, give them the deserved acclamation for stepping up when all looked to be lost. My thanks and heartfelt prayers to these folks, who have blessed our lives.

Thank you,
Ray

[treadguy]

Well said, Ray. This little town has big city drive. Doubtful that any place else could accomplish what they have. Looking forward to seeing all the friends we have made who live in DePue over the years. Much thanks and congrats to everyone who stepped up to get this done. DePue now.........and forever.

[racingfan1]

Lake DePue update

First of all thank you Ray for the kind words and you will always be a citizen of DePue.

Here a brief capsule of what has been happening. Final approval for the 3 permits came around noon Friday and work started immediately. The two different groups , affectionately called the sand people and the the mouth people , were formed and shifts were made. The sand people actually started filling 4 ' X 4 ' X 4 ' sand bags on Friday evening , first with the help of a local construction company and a backhoe and when the operator had to leave by hand with shovels. By the time it had gotten dark around 25 people had filled roughly 60 bags.

Saturday morning started at 6:30am with people coming to the park shelter to volunteer their time and efforts. The sand people were organized into 3 four hour shifts. It figures the one day we did not want rain we got it. The road that leads around the lake and along the river is mostly sand and mud so morning travel to the mouth was severly hampered. Without a four wheel drive vehicle , access was almost impossible. Luckliy the construction company had taken the equipment down Friday so the backhoe with the 60ft arm was already in place. The sand people , who Friday night was filling bags at a local gravel pit owned by the construction firm , moved their operation down to the river in order to cut down the time in travel for the sand bags. Time was split all day between filling the bags by shovel and then with the help of a smaller backhoe. In the 3 shifts we filled around 100 more sand bags. The mouth people were busy preparing the mouth of the lake for the placement of the sandbags , of which roughly 200 will be used. Finally around 2:30 the road had firmed up enough that we were able to get the tandem trucks down the road. Each sandbag weighs about 2500lbs and they could haul 14 bags at a time. From the place where we filling bags it is roughly 3 miles to the mouth of the lake and lets just say the road is not quite Interstate 80. So the round trip to and back with the loading and unloading takes quite a while. They worked the entire day until it got to dark to work. We were fortunate to have the ladies from town prepare sandwitches , drinks and cookies so workers did not have to take a break during the day, a big thank you goes out to them.

Today brings a hot cloudless sky and a rise in the humidity.Filling and placement of the sandbags should be completed today and the pumps will start. The Corps of Engineers figures approx. 500 millions gallons of water will be needed to get to lake to the water level needed. Heres hoping all goes well today. It truely has been a community effort. See you all in a couple weeks . Travel safe !

There are plenty of people to thank for what is happening. I have posted an article from Saturdays local paper.

http://newstrib.com/main.asp?Section...29&TM=50647.31

[racingfan1]

Just got a text from Abbi Bos that as of 3:20pm water has started pumping into Lake DePue. When both pumps are going they have a capability of pumping 40,000 gallons a minute.

[T Chance]

good news!

[Harmon-51V]

U want to talk about some dedicated people. This project is a prime example! Hopefully everything stays running smooth n we will plenty of water for the nationals. I just can't thank everyone involved in this enough for the time and work put in these last few days..

Racers when u see a men's club member or the mayor thank them for all the work they've done to have the races this year n every year but especially this year