October, 1999 All the latest on the Las Vegas meeting... This is an additional reminder about the Las
Vegas Meetings and Banquet at the Sahara Hotel. Thanks to David Holmer for all the latest facts on the meeting! MMS and UL-15 Hopp Racing team up... Greg and Jerry Hopp have enlisted the services of McIntosh Marketing Services for their Unlimited Light (UL-15) for 2000. "We were quite pleased with Doug's performance as team manager this year for the Hopp Racing Team so we were very willing to avail ourselves to his services for next year" said Jerry. More on Riptide Racing... Forney Insurance Group, Inc. will be the 2000 sponsor for Riptide Racing! Another new team joins the fleet! We welcome Riptide Racing... We have word that Steve Hook of Chelan, WA will be be upgrading an older GNH hull to UL spec's for the 2000 season. Steve crewed for Rick and Shawn Bridgeman some this season. He has traded in his 5 liter hull and will be running the west coast UL series and all region 10 GNH races. The team will be know as Riptide Racing with Bill Hoffman serving as crew chief. Always good to hear, he has also indicated that sponsorship has been secured for the 2000 season. MMS announces it's first team! We welcome Mike McLellan Racing... Mike McLellan, 1998's ULRS "rookie of the year" and Canada's only Unlimited Light driver has announced that he will be entering the Unlimited Light racing season in 2000 with a new UL team based out of Kelowna, B.C. Mike is finalizing his purchase of a UL hull and is busy assembling his crew. Shop facilities are ready and the team is scheduled to start work in December. McLellan began his UL career in 1998 at Tri-Cities, WA and went on to finish in 2nd place at Seattle, WA. Filling in for the injured Jerry Hopp (UL-15) driving the "Professor Bee.com" at Kelowna, B.C. this year he finished all 3 heats for a 6th place finish overall. We here at ULRS.org have spoken a lot with Mike via e-mail over the last few months and offer our sincerest welcome as he joins the Unlimited Light fleet for the 2000 season. Signal Motorsports Incorporated of Seattle, WA announces a new UL... Rob Simpson, President of Signal Motorsports Incorporated (Seattle, WA) contacted us recently to let us in on the fact that he is the owner of a brand new Unlimited Light that will be driven by Mike Eacrett at select races next season. Business obligations for Signal Motorsports precluded their involvement in the 1999 racing season, but they are already gearing up to ensure that the upcoming year will be an exciting one for them. To quote Rob directly, "We're anxious to race!" It looks like the 2000 season is going to be a great one for the Unlimited Lights as the field just continues to grow. Bo Darling to Lead Hydros Marketing Effort... The Unlimited Hydroplane Racing Association (UHRA) announced today that Forrester “Bo” Darling has been named Chief Operations
Officer and Sales/Marketing Director. Darling has already assumed his new responsibilities and reports to Ken Muscatel, Ph.D., UHRA commissioner since
September, 1998. McIntosh Marketing Services just unveiled their new site in an effort to help promote the Unlimited Light Racing Series and its teams. You can visit MMS's new site at http://www.seanet.com/~mms/ on the web. As we reported earlier, the service will represent and work with teams to assist in their early promotional efforts. As their site says, they are unveiling a "new marketing service company dedicated to promoting the needs of new participants joining the ULRS." MMS plans to assist these new teams in set-up of shops, securing of equipment, drivers, crew, team promotion and most important, assisting in the acquisition of both local and national sponsorships. Several exiting Unlimited Light teams as well as the ULRS.org, Hydros, A.P.B.A. and H.A.R.M. sites figure prominently in the new site's design. We wish Doug the very best in his new endeavor and offer our thanks for the support of the series. Deel Me In (GNH 8) may be dealt in as a UL soon... In speaking with Patty Cumbo over the weekend, we have learned that the GNH 8 (Deel Me In) team has been thinking of going UL if they're able to get a sponsor onboard. Boat owner Jim Deel along with Calvin Phipps and Frank Richardson will share driving duties. The Winter Meetings... We're just a little over a month away from the 1999 UHRA Winter Meetings. This year the meetings are being held in Las Vegas, Nevada. An e-mail will go out tomorrow (10/14/99) with further details. If you don't receive an e-mail, please let me know. We are trying to finalize our e-mail list. Thanks! More teams being discussed... It's really an exciting time for the Unlimited Lights as we are hearing rumblings from all sides that new teams may be in the works. One such rumbling relates to the newly forming Davis Unlimited Hydroplane Racing Team. In talking with J. Scott Davis over the weekend (the individual pictured on the site), he has expressed interest in fielding a UL team along with an Unlimited team if the sponsorship dollars become available. He has his work ahead of him, but we wish him the best in his efforts. Also, we've heard from Doug McIntosh that his new promotion company has been drumming up some interest and may yield a few new entries to the fleet. More details on both stories as they become available. New UL team on the way... John O`Brien and J.C. Courtwright of Thunder Valley Racing, Inc. of Issaquah, WA have announced the purchase of the GNH "Canada Boy" Balcer hull. They will spend this winter upgrading the hull to UL status and will run on the ULRS circuit in the 2000 season. Nick Badolato has been named as the driver. Thunder Valley Racing, Inc. are the organizers of the Tastin' N Racin' event held at Lake Sammamish in early June. Their event attracted over 40,000 people last year. Doug McIntosh announces new direction involving the UL fleet... From the desk of Doug McIntosh "Today I am announcing the beginning of McIntosh Marketing Services. MMS is owned and operated by me and I will be promoting some Unlimited Light racing teams. It is my goal to see at least 10 full time UL's on the circuit next year. I have commitments to the Hopp Racing Team until October 15th at which time I will be pursuing more teams to represent." Word from Lake Sammamish... Congratulations to Rick Bridgeman in the UL-17 Miss Ted`s Red Apple Market for winning Lake Sammamish last weekend. The second place finish was a story in itself. After being injured in a spectacular accident in San Diego just two weeks ago, Greg Hopp limped back into the drivers seat of the UL-15 Miss Graham Trucking over the weekend. He responded by winning the first heat and taking second in his second heat giving him an overall second place for the race. Nick Badolato took third place in the Thunder Valley boat. Special thanks to Doug McIntosh of the UL-15 team for getting us all the details! ULRS.org in the news... I'm happy to report that the ULRS.org launch is picking up a little steam in the press. Two stories have emerged today. The first can be found on the front page of RacingWest's site. Along with our press release, they've included a photo of the UL-10 and the UL-72 running side-by-side in Madison earlier this year. The second write-up can be found in today's update section of American Race Fan under ULRS. It's strictly a text piece, but we thank both sites for the exposure and coverage. The latest on the UL-23... Bob Larimore of the UL-23 team has confirmed that SuperCuts will be their title sponsor for the Hawaii race! In addition, J W Myers, who drove a heat in San Diego and is part of the U-14 team, will be driving more in Hawaii. It is hoped that he will be qualified as a UL driver by the final. Madison's own Denny Jackson returns to the driver's seat... Speaking with Denny Jackson by e-mail he told us that, "Joe Marshall has taken me on as driver for the GNH-33 (The Tennessean) for next year." We'll have more on this story as we gain additional details from Denny and the team. Though his site doesn't have any details on this story, you can learn more about Denny on his website; Denny C. Jackson's Page of Things That Don't Amount to a Whole Lot. He has some great shots of his return to racing aboard Mike McCormick's Excalibur earlier this year. National modified hydro to compete with UL's in Hawaii... Seattle's Paul Droullard and his National Modified Hydroplane (renumbered UL-9) are coming to Hawaii to challenge the Unlimited Lights. "We are building an Unlimited Light for next year, however, this (weekend) it is a David vs. Goliath story" said Droullard. "Our boat runs a 550 HP small block Chevrolet against the others 800 HP big block Chevrolets. But I don't think it is hopeless, we are 700-800 pounds lighter than they are and if the water lays down smooth we are capable of 110-114 MPH lap speeds." The UL-9 is sponsored by Aloha Hyundai/Kia located on the Nimitz Hwy. Story written by David Holmer, Hydros.org Wiggins Hydroplane Racing gains a new home on the web... I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to visit the new UL-10 Earl's Performance Products website. You can find it at http://www.ulrs.org/ul10.htm. Please take a moment, stop by and let us (or Charley) know what you think. It has been a real pleasure developing the site with the Wiggins family and the entire UL-10 team and we look forward to bringing you all the latest news and information in the future through their new home on the web. The UL-10 team is the first site to be launched under the new ULRS.org domain. Additional sites will debut in the months ahead. Next up, we begin working with Randy Haas and the entire UL-110 Miss CompAir team to develop their new site. The racing spirit is alive and well... Recently we communicated with Bob Larimore of the UL-23 Apex Laser about the Hawaii race and he explained that "we were done for the year after using up everything and every possible combination of engine parts for the west coast swing. Phil and Joe from the UL-72 Pocket Mechanic are loaning us an engine for this race! We can't thank them enough for making the trip possible for us and for helping the series out." Our hats off as well to the entire UL-72 team. For the final word on the Hawaii race... For a recap of all the action from this years Hawaii race, please visit our recently archived race coverage page. The Unlimited Lights
website debuted on 9/23/99!
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