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Todd Sr. was not only a success in business but was a charter member of the group that started the USTS, with Kay Harrison and Tim Chance in the mix as well. They took the concept of a club and enhanced it with a designated race chairman, Risk Mgr, Referee, Scorer, and the volunteer’s needed to make all this work. For over 38 years the USTS has been the leader in pro racing, able to put on a pro only race at many sites across the Midwest, Florida, and the east coast.
Todd Jr. eventually became the President of the USTS, and his leadership skills are second to none. Todd was the President of the USTS two different times and over the course of about 18 years leading the organization to new heights and to independent success in the Pro category. Driving down the costs to the average racer and controlling our insurance costs were goals that Todd had set and it gave us the ability to control our destiny. The sadness has been to watch other organizations struggle during the Pandemic. We hope that all will survive and go on to greater heights The recession of the 2000’s taught Todd that the independence for the Title Series was paramount to our survival. It was a financial business issue that sent the Title Series on to independence and the success of that move is in the ability we had to navigate through this year with great leadership and a healthy financial condition. Todd worked hard to set the Title Series up with good leadership under him and set it up to succeed after he left and as you know Pete Nydahl has brought the USTS through the Covid Pandemic, still able to put 4 races on the schedule in 2020, quite a feat for the racing in 2020. Todd also formed an alliance with the NBRA which has been a successful relationship and Pete has continued this and hope that it is a long-term relationship with them and their President Alan Owen. Our thanks to Todd for his leadership here.
Tom Brinkman, is an integral part of the B&B Electric, and is crew chief on the B&B racing team but never forget he was a great Runabout driver winning a number of Championships himself as well as taking pride in his Son Brady’s championship in K-Pro in a 4 championship weekend at Depue. Tom drove one of the first capsule runabouts ever at Depue and sitting down in a runabout must have been quite an experience. His favorite class was the 500R and in typical understatement by Tom, says I wasn’t real fast, Ju just went about winning Championships and setting speed records. The 500R was always Tom’s favorite class as he said the power and speed were thrilling to him.
Tom like Todd had a set of drivers that were his competitors like Tom Sr. and Jim Kirts, along with Eddie Thirlby, but he said the two who were the toughest for him were the brothers Krier, Rich and Mike. As you know Mike builds those beautiful and just stable Krier runabouts. Tom started racing 250R at the age of 15 and faced some of the stiffest competition ever in Pro Racing. He said that they were always his main competitors and were difficult to chase down as they drove hard the whole way. He said if you were out front, you’d better be ready to run 4 hard laps of racing all the way through to the checkered flag. When he beat them, he was grateful, but his ability was there as well.
His most memorable race was split between 2 years, 2002 when chasing the 500R competition record and 2003 both at The famous Orange Cup Regatta in Lakeland, Fl. In 2002, he was not able to get out in the first heat, but was on the nose to set a record for the 2nd heat, only to run out of fuel about 1/3 of a lap from the finish, heartbreak city for sure. In 2003 he came back loaded for bear and ready to try to get to that record once again. So, the thought of running out of fuel was on their minds, and they held Tom until about forty five seconds before the one minute gun went off hoping that would be enough of a cushion for Tom to finish.. Well Tom was on a record setting pace once again and thinking they had solved the ooooooooppppps, the Kremlin’s struck again and there he sat, once again out of fuel. Cannot imagine the feeling of knowing you were on the run of your life, only to see it slip through his fingers once again. Well the second heat was now ready to go and now the decision of when to send him out once again. This time Tom said they cut it real close as they held him to a point where Tom was just breaking over the top when the one-minute gun went off. He caught the pack on the backstretch and came around for the start. Tom was on a mission, he knew his crew had given him a rocket ship, as Tom said, I it wasn’t right the first time, Todd would always make sure it was the right the next. As they headed for the first turn together, that ended shortly as the competitors began to see only the rooster tail of Tom’s motor as he tore off some great laps knowing he was on a record run if he could finish. Tom went on, I am sure tiptoeing to make sure he had enough fuel to win and up a long standing record, not just up, he destroyed it by seven miles per hour, imagine that, kind of speed, at 83 plus miles per from 76, he was absolutely flying and this had to be just pure joy to know that he finally got it done and had enough fuel to do so. He took home the Orange Cup that year following in the footsteps of Orange Cup wins in 1978 and 1986. Tom, in an interview after the record run, said he was just sick about heat one as it not so gently reminded him of the year before when it happened as well, so running out of fuel while faster than the record was just heartbreaking. As he said, “we had it all together for the second heat,” and he was not going to be denied hat record.
Tom has since retired from racing, now spending his time at the business and being the “crew chief” for B&B Electric, working with Brady when he runs at different races and when the circus comes to town and that big trailer sits beside the water, Tom takes over running the pits and getting everyone to the water. That goes with several others from the crew with Mitch Bosnich, JP Jedwabny, beach boss, Rick Jedwabny and others pitching in to put the Brinkman boats on the water.
Todd Jr. eventually became the President of the USTS, and his leadership skills are second to none. Todd was the President of the USTS two different times and over the course of about 18 years leading the organization to new heights and to independent success in the Pro category. Driving down the costs to the average racer and controlling our insurance costs were goals that Todd had set and it gave us the ability to control our destiny. The sadness has been to watch other organizations struggle during the Pandemic. We hope that all will survive and go on to greater heights The recession of the 2000’s taught Todd that the independence for the Title Series was paramount to our survival. It was a financial business issue that sent the Title Series on to independence and the success of that move is in the ability we had to navigate through this year with great leadership and a healthy financial condition. Todd worked hard to set the Title Series up with good leadership under him and set it up to succeed after he left and as you know Pete Nydahl has brought the USTS through the Covid Pandemic, still able to put 4 races on the schedule in 2020, quite a feat for the racing in 2020. Todd also formed an alliance with the NBRA which has been a successful relationship and Pete has continued this and hope that it is a long-term relationship with them and their President Alan Owen. Our thanks to Todd for his leadership here.
Tom Brinkman, is an integral part of the B&B Electric, and is crew chief on the B&B racing team but never forget he was a great Runabout driver winning a number of Championships himself as well as taking pride in his Son Brady’s championship in K-Pro in a 4 championship weekend at Depue. Tom drove one of the first capsule runabouts ever at Depue and sitting down in a runabout must have been quite an experience. His favorite class was the 500R and in typical understatement by Tom, says I wasn’t real fast, Ju just went about winning Championships and setting speed records. The 500R was always Tom’s favorite class as he said the power and speed were thrilling to him.
Tom like Todd had a set of drivers that were his competitors like Tom Sr. and Jim Kirts, along with Eddie Thirlby, but he said the two who were the toughest for him were the brothers Krier, Rich and Mike. As you know Mike builds those beautiful and just stable Krier runabouts. Tom started racing 250R at the age of 15 and faced some of the stiffest competition ever in Pro Racing. He said that they were always his main competitors and were difficult to chase down as they drove hard the whole way. He said if you were out front, you’d better be ready to run 4 hard laps of racing all the way through to the checkered flag. When he beat them, he was grateful, but his ability was there as well.
His most memorable race was split between 2 years, 2002 when chasing the 500R competition record and 2003 both at The famous Orange Cup Regatta in Lakeland, Fl. In 2002, he was not able to get out in the first heat, but was on the nose to set a record for the 2nd heat, only to run out of fuel about 1/3 of a lap from the finish, heartbreak city for sure. In 2003 he came back loaded for bear and ready to try to get to that record once again. So, the thought of running out of fuel was on their minds, and they held Tom until about forty five seconds before the one minute gun went off hoping that would be enough of a cushion for Tom to finish.. Well Tom was on a record setting pace once again and thinking they had solved the ooooooooppppps, the Kremlin’s struck again and there he sat, once again out of fuel. Cannot imagine the feeling of knowing you were on the run of your life, only to see it slip through his fingers once again. Well the second heat was now ready to go and now the decision of when to send him out once again. This time Tom said they cut it real close as they held him to a point where Tom was just breaking over the top when the one-minute gun went off. He caught the pack on the backstretch and came around for the start. Tom was on a mission, he knew his crew had given him a rocket ship, as Tom said, I it wasn’t right the first time, Todd would always make sure it was the right the next. As they headed for the first turn together, that ended shortly as the competitors began to see only the rooster tail of Tom’s motor as he tore off some great laps knowing he was on a record run if he could finish. Tom went on, I am sure tiptoeing to make sure he had enough fuel to win and up a long standing record, not just up, he destroyed it by seven miles per hour, imagine that, kind of speed, at 83 plus miles per from 76, he was absolutely flying and this had to be just pure joy to know that he finally got it done and had enough fuel to do so. He took home the Orange Cup that year following in the footsteps of Orange Cup wins in 1978 and 1986. Tom, in an interview after the record run, said he was just sick about heat one as it not so gently reminded him of the year before when it happened as well, so running out of fuel while faster than the record was just heartbreaking. As he said, “we had it all together for the second heat,” and he was not going to be denied hat record.
Tom has since retired from racing, now spending his time at the business and being the “crew chief” for B&B Electric, working with Brady when he runs at different races and when the circus comes to town and that big trailer sits beside the water, Tom takes over running the pits and getting everyone to the water. That goes with several others from the crew with Mitch Bosnich, JP Jedwabny, beach boss, Rick Jedwabny and others pitching in to put the Brinkman boats on the water.
