Blarney Results - 6/13/02

[Sam Baker]

Good show at Blarney last night. First night of points and that brings everybody out. 9 boats in Lake Racer and 4 in Pro Modified. Several more inboards.

Lake Racer was the Bob Albee show again. Bob had some motor problems heading out there, but it turned out to be a weak battery. So with a generator charging the battery right up to race time, it made the difference. Nick Winski unveiled his XR-2002 weighing in at a svelte 1304 (not bad for a lake boat with full interior, big batteries, stock 15" midsection and 6 inch rite height jack plate. So, Nick had to run (12) 25 pound bags of shot to make weight.

Bill Gohr in his XR-2002 ran Jon Mumford's Allison XB-2002 in the first race, with Mumford getting the win. Next, Jeff Houghtaling's Allison SS-2000/280 combo took care of Jack Fisher's Seebold Eagle/Mercury 200 Mod rig. Next was Krazy Karl Lindwahl and his STV ProComp/Merc 260 against Jim Schweitzer and his STV Euro/280 with Krazy Karl getting a GREAT start and holding off the hard charging Euro. The 280 boats have to run bigger props so they give up a little at the start, but boy do they come on down the track! Next up was Hollywood Nick Winski taking on Tom Klement running a Mirage/260 combo. Nick made a good first pass and was able to put Klement on the dock. Bob Albee got to sit and watch the first round as he had a bye.

Second round action narrowed the field down to Bob Albee and Karl Lindwahl as they just had too much for Mumford, Houghtaling, and Hollywood.

Albee was hot again as he strolled to victory in the Lake Racer class collecting 300 points to start the year.

Pro Modified class saw 4 boats take to the 700' Blarney Island strip. Rich Srnec got the best of me again (although it was much closer this week - at least I couldn't see him at the finish line) and Vydas Rykasius took care of Jeff Cleinmark. That set up the final of Rich Srnec and Vydas Rykasius. This week, Vydas switched to 2:1 to really get the hole shot and it paid off as the first race down the track was a tie setting up a rerun. RichS aired the boat out completely (I could see his whole deck from the starting line he was aired out so much), but it wasn't enough as Vydas Rykasius picked up his first every class victory at Blarney Island. Vydas is one of the nicest guys in the world and I've always had a great, friendly rivalry with him, so I was just as happy to see him win as he was. Great Job Vydas. Vydas said afterward that it was great to get the victory, but he didn't think his motor would live a full season of races turning 10,500 RPM with those small gears. We'll see.

Chap Waters took on the open class and the unlimited class with his nitrous mercury on the Seebold champ boat. In the open class, the finals came down to Chap and Donny Little. Donny's been doing his home work and that Jet boat absolutely destroyed Chap. Something tells me that that won't happen again. I have to say, I don't think I've ever seen a pass as fast as Donny's last night - truly awesome. Chap then stepped up to the unlimited class against a V-drive hydro and got his revenge against the 4 strokers as he half tracked the hydro. One nice thing about running on a rough lake like that is the hydros don't like that rough water and Chap looked fabulous running 120 over the rough stuff to victory.

Results for Week 3:
Lake Racer:
Bob Albee - Mirage/Mercury
Karl Lindwahl - STV/Mercury

Pro Modified:
Vydas Rykasius - STV/Mercury
Rich Srnec - Allison/Mariner

See you next week.

Sam

[mardyn]

Our ODBA Official Staff presented Vydas with our "Rising Star Award" in Montgomery a few weeks ago. Looks like our observations and predictions are right on target! Congratulations to Vydas, Chap, and all the other winners from Blarney's and we hope to see everyone in Westlake next weekend.

but Sam.... a jet boat? a mud sucker? the fastest run ever? what's up with that? I guess there's always the exception to the rules....


Again, congrats to the winners, even the the inboard guys!

David Berry
ODBA

[Sam Baker]

That Jet Boat has a new Warren Johnson engine in it. It's insane. That's an 8 second boat in a bracket. Donny Little really knows his stuff, so there's no shame in getting beat by that. Chap would have to step up to an insane combination of nitrous to run with him.

Sam

[mardyn]

Sam,

Sounds like Donnie has his act together with the J/B. Most of those guys are real clowns, but a few can certainly surprise everyone with some outrageous performance.

I've seen both ends of the spectrum and had my ass handed to me on a platter when my boat was running as good/fast/quick as it ever had... and by a J/B no less... It was quite a humbling experience.

David Berry

[BK]

Sounds like a lot of great racing. Hope to see it in person soon.


David B. -- I took stroll thru http://www.marinedynamics.com photo gallery the other day ---- saw a lot of familiar faces, and brought back a lot of memories!!! Sure do miss you guys.

[Fl Boy in ILL]

Man is Bob on a roll, 3 Blarneys in a row and 1 St Louis all in 3 weeks and all FIRST PLACE. Hope I can do that good at Ky Lake this weekend

Rick

[mardyn]

Hi Val,

Thanks for the comments about our website. Cindy Ryan is currently putting together some new photos and updates that hopefully will be up soon. It's always difficult to keep the site fresh and up to date, but we keep on trying.

Hope you and the gang are all doing OK and would love to see y'all at the races this summer or fall. Brad seemed to enjoy himself in Jasper last October, hope you can make it this year.

David Berry

[KaptainKirk]

Ya posted before who had weighed who did not.
Also with tech.
Could ya update that post and add to it what they weighed at weigh in.
I am sure that would be an interesting post for all !!
K.K.

[NPK2003]

So Kirk, I noticed your "Rumble Post" has added HST Hunter to the Spiel! So very TACTFUL not to mention the word>>>>AMIGO!
OH NO! AMIGO!

I will be sure to stir the pot tomorrow when I travel to Otterfest on Gull Lake. It's 11:30 pm and I plan to leave at 4:00 AM, so bye!
;)

Nick

[Sam Baker]

Just like ODBA, APBA and every other racing organization, the weights of the boats are not as important as the weight after the race. Everybody has been told what they need to make weight and they will have that.

It's their business what they weigh and how much weight they need to add, so it's not my place to tell the whole world what everybody weighed. I don't think anybody would really care, but it's not my place to say it.

ODBA doesn't post the weights of every racer do they?

I'm sure the guys wouldn't mind if you went up and down the dock and asked them what they weighed. However, I'm not going to be the one to tell.

[krazykarl]

Good Job with the play by play results from the Thursday night boat race's, It's an enjoyable post to read. Also that was great sportsmanship to Vidas, as I was standing next to Vidas when you congratulated him, you could tell you were excited for him. thats how it should be(NO whining and crying like some racers I know, JOE, OH did I say that out loud). I also want to congratulate Vidas(Great job). Hopefully my time for glory will be soon for I have yet to win 1st place myself in the seven years I have been racing at Blarney's. This past Thursday was close,but Bob is on his game. He has a hell of a hole shot. I could'nt catch him. Maybe next Thursday will be my day. By the way, you forgot to mention in your post 2nd round I beat John Mumford. I have been trying to beat Johno for a long time. All my buddies have been teasing me that I get ass waxed by a fishing boat! I finally sent him back to the dock.Next week wil be tough,Jeff Clienmark will be racing this class.And you know Gore and Johno will be making adjustments for revenge,along with all the racer's (PS Sam,My last name is spelled Lindwall, Not Lindwahl)

[Sam Baker]

I truly am excited for Vydas. Of all the people I race, he's my favorite. Not because he's never beaten me (he hasn't yet), but because we truly have a very friendly rivalry. When I beat him, I don't rub it in (because I know the next time we meet, I think it'll go the other way), and I know he's worked very hard to continue to improve. It's good to see the weight seems to be about right out there as my race with Rich Srnec was close and then he and Vydas tied the first time, so all three of us are within a boat length and that's perfect.

As for your name, sorry for the misspelling. I grew up in Minnesota and everything up there ends in "ahl". It's a scandinavian thing.

You were close. It's going to be tight this year. I know Nick Winski was out on Friday, Saturday and today trying to dial in that boat of his. Having to run 300 lbs. of weight is killing him. It's hard to keep it from moving around and it's hard to find places to put it.

Sam

[Jim Morris]

purchase some rubbermaid containers ,number depends on weight placement ,drill 4 holes in each container so that you can bolt them to the floor ,place tie down straps under each container where the screws can go thru
i ran this way with 400+ # s at odba the weight will not move

jim

[Bill Gohr]

Since Sam touched on this I'll bring this up, Why can't the people racing the class know what the other guys weigh they are racing and how much weight they should have in the boat. Yes it's true that at any other normal race the boat gets weighed when it comes out of the water, However for those of us that don't run at the Island may not understand, We weigh the boats only once a year and the driver and Sam are the only ones who apparently know how many bags of shot they need to carry, or if they're in the boat. I know that I can go to any APBA race or ODBA race and stand any where near the scale and tell you what any boat weighed as it came out of the water. We at the Island are not allowed this priviledge. So the question always comes up.

As far as Last weeks winners congrats to Vydas, he's been out there for a long time and finally came out on top. (Why didn't he end up in the lake). As far as Cleinmark goes you should have kept your fast boat, can't run a lake boat (like Nicks) with a 260 in unlimited and expect to win I don't care how tight the heads are. For Rich Srnec I give the "only time I've seen an Allison trimmed higher than Cleinmark and driven to the dock" award.

[KaptainKirk]

it would be interesting ta note the different manufactureres and how much boats weighed in real life with a driver (before added weight)
As we all know brochures can be off from reality !

I meant this from a non racer view point for the rest ta read and compare to their boats.

Hey Bill....bummer ta have missed Pizza thurs.
Maybe on da 27th.
K.K.

[Sam Baker]

Good point. The problem is in the rigging. The boats are all so rigged differently. Some have 2 batteries with 24V trim, some have one battery with a Mercruiser tilt pump, etc. Also, we weigh every Mirage and Allison that comes to us and they're 50 lbs plus or minus.

Also, with STVs and Mirages, they can be built light or heavy. Joe's STV is a lot lighter than Vydas' boat for example. Vydas has spent 3 years doing everything possible to lighten that boat up and he's still heavier than Joe - not much now, but still lighter.

Sam

[Sam Baker]

Sorry Bill, just now saw your reply above. You say that you aren't allowed to see the weigh-ins? Since when? They're open to anybody who wants to see. I would have loved it if everybody was there to watch weigh in. As a matter of fact, I would have loved it if ANYBODY would help me with this. Like I said, it's not my place to tell everybody what everybody weighed. Feel free to do a little legwork and go up and down the dock and ask.

I've asked for help for three years and nobody seems interested in helping me. If you'd like to help, you can see everybody weigh. If that's the incentive I need to put out to get some assistance, than that's great. Next year, you can be responsible for providing a place to weigh, a winch, a calibrated scale, a bridle that people approve of, schedule time to meet people, sit around on your ass when they blow you off, put up with people bitching about having to be weighed, then having those same people bitch about getting beat by a lighter boat because "it's not fair", then having people with questionable integrity question the integrity that I've based my life on, and finally.

You were the biggest opponent to boats being weighed. You said "nobody would race" if they had to weigh. There are more boats and closer racing and more winners than there ever was before. Granted, your lightweight Allison with the Drag Motor no longer cleans up in the stock class, but I wanted what was best for the class, not what was best for me, you, or any other single person. If that were the case, I wouldn't want to be weighing boats because Nick and Bob can get lighter (in Nick's case - MUCH lighter) than anybody in the class and it would be a cakewalk for them.

If you want to know what people weigh, you handle it, or at least show up to help. It's easy to sit there, watch me do all the work, then try and poke holes in my methodology. Whatever is happening is working. Vydas would NEVER win a race if we didn't have weights (Rich needs to add 125 pounds to make weight - without that weight, Vydas doesn't beat him last week). John Mumford in his Allison Bass Boat doesn't beat you last week without you having to add weight. The system is working.

Sam

[KaptainKirk]

with ya Sam its a Thankless job !!
Sorry I couldn't be there ta help !!
I am having a hard enough time just getting there to weigh.
I am not bitching about the weight hell we all know that some day ( and I say that losely !) if I ever win it will be because of the weights !!
Thank you for your efforts and devotion to us and the sport of Drag Racing!
K.K.
P.S. I still think Rookies shouldn't have ta add weight to they win one heat.
Sorry just had ta bitch.....ya wouldn't think I had posted this if I hadn't.
All joking aside Thank you for your efforts and ability ta put up with the B.S.
K.K.

[Sam Baker]

You know what, that's a great idea. I have always tried to figure out some sort of boost to new people. I don't know if they should be able to come in at any weight, but they should get a weight break to start - maybe 50 or 100 lbs?

I don't care if you have the world's most perfectly set up boat, until you get out there and run, you're at a disadvantage to the others that are racing.

Can't do it this year, but I'll take it up with John for next. You keep going and I can guarantee you you'll be competitive by the end of the year. Pete was competitive in that boat, so there's no reason you can't be.

Thanks for your support - I needed to vent.