Rumors...Good News...

[Ron Hill]

Dave Rankin is building a new Carbon SS with a CAPSULE...for Dennis to drive in 2005..

Three other guys are talking Capsules in their FLATBOTTOMS...Jeff Brockhauser, Drexel Vandenburg and Pat Eason owner/driver of K711...

I have offered my capsule mold to anyone who wants to use it...at NO CHARGE...

The FLATBOTTOM guys are a good group, and I think they are seeing the light about capsules..

[Ron Hill]

Check this out...Not sure the capsule... Maybe Ron Jones...

[march3stv]

That's different????? :p

[chill]

You said it Scott,
That is the problem with capsules in Inboards they look different. I know a SS or GN could be made to look very cool and desirable to race. I have been to parker three out of the last five years and seen three people killed in inboard boats. Tunnel boats have had capsules for over ten years now and saved more lives then I could count and look better then they ever have. My blow over at Parker in 96 could have very easily made me a statistic, looking at the boat after it was back on the beach. I know I cant race much longer having people killed at boat races in any class simply because my wife will never go with me. I agree with my dad the inborders today are a good group of people and I would like to see them around for awhile. Boat racing has always been a family sport and I don’t know any family that will participate in a sport that kills off people all the time.

[racer98]

Ron,
I dearly hope the rumors are true. If they would spend half as much time looking at ways to make the sport SAFER, as is spent on what shape scoop to put over the carb or what color anodize to use, we might put the FUN back in the deal.

[Miss BK]

Absolutely! this is GREAT news!

It took me a long time to start enjoying races again after watching 2 close friends get killed just months apart. That was more than 13 years ago, and the tunnel boat capsules have allowed me to enjoy boat racing again.

Now my kids are starting to pay attention to whats happening on the course, and after our Super Stock friend Lance's death, we find something else to do when the non-capsuled inboards are running. That's no kidding. It would be just too traumatic for me to see another non capsule death, and I would not know how to explain it to my kids.

It's hard enough now just to pass by his daughter's wagon....

:(


I'd much rather see a wreck like this, where the driver is out of the ambulance and standing on the beach even before his crew has all the pieces pulled out of the lake.

[B VALACHOVIC]

The safety capsule has been in tunnel boat racing for 19 years. Developed for the International Formula One series where the fatality rate was very high. Chris Hodges was the first to develop the Tiger Cell wich was funded by Outboard Marine Corporation. If you have ever seen one it bolted in the boat and was covered by the front and rear cowling . The front was square and direct behind the driver had a V type structure for rear protection. Bob Spaulding and Bertil Wik both had these in 1985. Cees Vander Velden also had his own design for that year and in 1986 incorporated the center section of the boat to the capsule as the tunnel boats of today are. Bob

[march3stv]

I feel naked even running down the river in my open "play" STV on the weekend without being strapped into a capsule! Years ago, I never used wear my car seatbelt (even post seatbelt law) regularly until being strapped into a capsule boat...now it's a natural and/or instinctive "part" of my life whether in a car or race boat!...the best "part" is that you can be there later to tell poeple about! It's the ony way!

[rossdbos]

Well, I just wanted to let everyone in on the little secret:
I have four teams - Two Pro-Stocks and Two GN's that are in process of encapsulating their boats. I have even met with the producer of a Discovery Channel T.V. show that is possibly interested in documenting the entire process for an upcoming show. I have a bold and lofty goal of getting these boats on the water by April Parker. Stay Tuned!
Ross :)

[Ron Hill]

I won't tell people what your OLD NICKNAME was or about your Sport C Racing...

I'll just call you Rossdbos...unless, I need some favors.....

Keep us posted, my guys haven't called me in two weeks.....I was ready to move on this!!!! (We'll get there!!!!)...Someday...Rankin for sure will have a new capsuled SS.

ADD:

I
ll bet you have some great pictures of you and the Wilsons...

[racer98]

I'm ready to pull the trigger. If only somebody would quit buying houses finish his remodel so I can make some money???

[John Howe]

Capsules RULE!!! They are now mandatory on the inboard KRR flatbottom class any my opinion, should be mandatory in all flat bottom classes, as they are in all inboard hydro classes! Thirteen times I`ve watch some one die in a non-encapsulated race boat. I talked to long time KRR racer Duff Daily right after he crashed, while battling for the lead in a capsulated KRR, and he said "It was kinda boring, really.". Duff has crashed many times in open cockpit flat bottoms and has a lot of scars, and chronic problems, to prove it. He stil does run a open cockpit flatty, but after taken second place to a capsule boat, in a big race, he looked me in the eye and said he wasn`t really going for it. I knew what he meant. Mike Allen did win APBA National High Point and was inducted into the Hall of Champions all the while campaigning a capsuled super stock a few years ago. By the way, Duff has been in the Hall of Champions 7 times, and I believe still holds the 1 1/4 record in the KRR class.

If Duff reads this, I know he`ll kick my ***! Oh' well, it won`t be the first time.

[Moneypit]

First let me say hi to everyone here. I'm new......While at morgan City, La. last october Duff offered to let Mike Lee make a couple of laps in the capsuled PS boat. Just to see.......Mike was thinking about it, but then Duff lost part of the boat, (scoop) and retired it for the weekend......I would like to talk further about the "free" use of the mold........Moneypit.......

PS: I might add that if I have anything to do with the PS89 boat in the future, it WILL be with a capsule..........Ray

[V-Drive Video]

Capsules RULE!!! They are now mandatory on the inboard KRR flatbottom class any my opinion, should be mandatory in all flat bottom classes, as they are in all inboard hydro classes! Thirteen times I`ve watch some one die in a non-encapsulated race boat. I talked to long time KRR racer Duff Daily right after he crashed, while battling for the lead in a capsulated KRR, and he said "It was kinda boring, really.". Duff has crashed many times in open cockpit flat bottoms and has a lot of scars, and chronic problems, to prove it. He stil does run a open cockpit flatty, but after taken second place to a capsule boat, in a big race, he looked me in the eye and said he wasn`t really going for it. I knew what he meant. Mike Allen did win APBA National High Point and was inducted into the Hall of Champions all the while campaigning a capsuled super stock a few years ago. By the way, Duff has been in the Hall of Champions 7 times, and I believe still holds the 1 1/4 record in the KRR class.

If Duff reads this, I know he`ll kick my ***! Oh' well, it won`t be the first time.

I think Duff has been over like 26 times :eek: :) One of my favorites.

[ONCB]

Of course there are folks like me who think a race is still interesting if speeds were limited so the older boats and poor dudes like us can still race! ONCB translation: Outlaw Nostalgic Circle Boats now limited to 70 mph for the quickest 8 and the under 60mph for the Ski-Vintage ones. But I am not so stupid to admit that we could still get hurt.....Why the Outlaw name? We did and are still trying to rewrite the rules so wonderful OLD boats and drivers (me included) can still experience the thrill of a fast turning fishing boat within the safety of a protected course and adequate equipment rules, instead of blasting down a crowded patch of water now dominated by jet skis and bass boats!!!......Yuck May I suggest some of you join us for a future race? Admission is free and we love the smell, vibration, and noise of a monster motor restrained behind us with a few bolts! First race: June 11, Issaquah Washington :D

[racer98]

ONCB,
Do you have a place for v-bottom boats (GN style)?
Did anything get worked out with Burley?

[ONCB]

ONCB,
Do you have a place for v-bottom boats (GN style)?
Did anything get worked out with Burley?

We can run any style bottom in the Vintage Class. Our bracket racing classes currently does not allow any over 19footers. However, It only takes three boats to make a class and we have a 21 Shiada waiting in the wings and one Sleekcraft 21. Just need some more GNs up here.....

Burley is a big question still. I am sure you know more than I. Most of us will not drag a boat that far without the possibility of an actual race. I have tried to put a North South Nostalgia Challenge together but no success. The biggest problem is our busy June with Burley being the third race in a row! Mr. Price was working on something but hasnt gotten back to me. Maybe Ross could help, but for now, we arent going as a group. I think our guys would really get into that place and put on one heck of a show....they have never even been spectators there. Oh well, there's next year.

[begborrowsteal]

Dave Rankin is building a new Carbon SS with a CAPSULE...for Dennis to drive in 2005..

Three other guys are talking Capsules in their FLATBOTTOMS...Jeff Brockhauser, Drexel Vandenburg and Pat Eason owner/driver of K711...

I have offered my capsule mold to anyone who wants to use it...at NO CHARGE...

The FLATBOTTOM guys are a good group, and I think they are seeing the light about capsules..

I am new to this Forum, but I am not new to this sport. I have paid my dues and have learned a few of lifes lessons. It was my boat that took the life of one of my best friends and our family has been devastated by it. However my friend Gus, would still be here today, not because of him being in a capsule boat, but because he would have never got in a capsule boat in the first place. The good lord would have had to find another way to take him home. Gus, and myself did not or would we ever believe that Capsules are safer and the total answer to this safety question. If that was the case why are people still dying in capsules? People die hang gliding, should we put them in a capsule? I am not ever going to say that If you feel safer in one then by all means you should be in one, But please listen to those of us that do not believe that they are the answer. Do not mandate it. Let us choose how we want to play. I got in the sport because I like bugs in my teeth and I hated Cars because of roll cages. Capsules are a rich mans false insurance. Many of us that are on limited budgets simply cannot afford them. Some of you will say that life is to important not do something. Remember this is america and the freedom of choice should mean something. I personally do not believe that on a one pin turn with six or seven boats on a narrow river a capsule boat is going to work. I have on a number of occasions almost been run over by a blind driver in a capsule boat and the only reason I was not is that I seen him coming and got out of his way. What's going to happen when two of them goes to the bottom after a nasty crash and the rescue guys can not get to both of them before their air runs out? Don't push something down on every one because it works for you. Safety needs to be a lot of factors that the sport in general does not seem to be able to afford. After Dale Earnharts death, millions was spent in research and then the development of the hans device, and It was mandated because It has been proven to work and the teams could all afford it. As a sport we all need to find some middle ground or there is going to be three capsule boats on the water trying to put on a show and the rest of us watching from the shore. The majority of the racers that are left are dirt poor. Capsules will kill the rest of us off and finish the deal.

[Miss BK]

But what about the rest of the racing classes who did go to capsules, and found that not only are they not the "death trap" that we all thought they were in the beginning, but actually made boat racing WAY more fun?

To me, capsules helped cut way back on all those downer funerals with weeping widows and donations to the devastated orphaned children. That is NOT fun and pain like that will make people quit faster than safety improvements.

I've been around racing a long time too, and the MOST negative thing that can happen to boat racing is for the fans and fellow racers to watch someone die.

When it comes to boat racing, the guys seem to find the cash - and a capsule, air and belts might cost a total of $3,000. I spent more than that from one barrel roll at a Havasu race -- hospital bills are much higher than the cost of a capsule.

When you lose 3 or 4 drivers per year to non-capsuled deaths, you not only lose racers who fear they'll experience same fate, but it impacts other boat racing classes as well.

So now the IHBA requires capsules and helmet restraints. The Outboard drag clubs don't require them, but more and more drivers are choosing a capsule boat. They want to race, not die. F1/Champ/ModU requires capsules. SST120 requires them. SST 60. Even the 80 mph SST45 class requires them.

Capsules have raised boat racing safety 100 fold. There are some boats, however, that just aren't suitable for a cell - such as many of the SO classes. In some of those cases, the cell itself brought on different dangerous issues. But in OPC, Drag hydro, Inboard, Super Cat Offshore, Unlimited -- they've saved those categories from extinction.

After a series of deaths, I understand the Australia PB Assoc has just passed a rule that all new inboard boats built MUST have a capsule. They had to force this rule upon the racers if they wanted to see their sport survive.

There is a similar new rule in Australia that pertains to UIM kilos - which may cause a problem with Ken Warby's 400mph WWSR boat, which was built without an actual "Safety" capsule because no survivable 400mph capsule currently exists. It would be a bit futile.

I can name about 15 people back in the 80's who refused to run in an OPC with a capsule for fear of drowning. I was one of those people. But only because I had a bad case of the "fear of the unknown". I think that happens with any big changes in safety. Look how NASCAR racers fought the helmet restraint rule. Now these same drivers who raised such a fuss - even Dale Jr - say they'll never run a race without them.

Did you know that ModVP drivers were wearing the HANS device back in 1990? Lifeline has been making them that long too. A HANS saved a boat racer named Andy Anderson in Bay City 15 years ago. Boat racers in capsules had already learned about the whiplash effect from a hard stuff. A decade before Dale Earnhardt died.

After watching my friends flip and walk, and flip and walk, and flip and walk and flip and walk away hundreds of times.... I finally came to realize that these capsules weren't the negative that we falsely assumed they were. Instead, capsules became the device that SAVED our sport. No different than placing seat belts in automobiles.

Back then, everyone thought we'd all burn to death "strapped" to the crashed car. Today we know that the risk of burning to death is far less than the risks of a non-seat belted fatal injury.

Well, that's my two cents. I just wanted to say that I was once scared of capsules too. But after you've been around capsules and have seen thousands of flips where the driver is fine, it changes your mind. (Note: There were six flips and two collisions involving four boats at Port Neches - and not a single injury.

Even though some went home with a broken boat, everyone who raced was unscathed and went home to their families afterward. That's what I call a good weekend. Capsules work!




Seeing these kinds of things in the pits just totally tears my heart. I cry my eyes out everytime I walk by .....

[Miss BK]

There are some vision issues with a capsule, that is true. Now a driver can't turn and look behind his boat anymore - he has to rely on what he can see through his canopy and his mirrors. In OPC, that was a major complaint early on and took time to get used to.

So that's why most of them have turned to radio help. (Radios are not that expensive anymore)

I've heard stories about some drivers in the Inboard category who keep going even after flares are fired and flags waving, and then nearly hitting the stalled boat. I'm still trying to understand how that could happen.

If a driver is bobbing in the water or a boat is stalled in the middle of the course, the rest of the boats (capsule or not) should not be moving. If any driver misses seeing the flare gun or the flags, then his radio person should be yelling at him to STOP as soon as the flare goes up. That would be three different warnings: Anyone who misses all three signals has more than just a vision problem - that means he is not paying enough attention to what is going on, and he should probably not be driving at all, IMO.

[Mark75H]

Thanks to both parties for expressing their opinions, however it must cease at this point.

Carrying on with this subject in this thread or another thread will cause the adminstrators of BRF to take action to avoid conflict .... and conflict is against BRF policy.

Take note, this is the one and only warning. :(

If you have any questions contact Ron Hill at ronhill@speakeasy.net, Ted March at FH111@msn.com , Jeff Lytle at ajlytle@sympatico.ca or Sam Cullis at Mark75H@aol.com

[John Howe]

I was at a race in Meridian Misssissippi in the late 80`s, in which a driver in the super stock class went passed the judges stand for 4 laps with the red flag out. It was with a full field of flat bottoms. A lead boat crashed at the entrance of turn 4 on the lead lap, and a red flag raised and flares were shot. The entire field of boats was stopped by the by the entrance of turn 1 of the "second" lap, except for this one racer. Red flags were also razed in the turn judges boat, at both ends. This "racer" continued on. He even had to "zig-zag" around a rescue boat approaching the crash scene on lap two. He drove past several flags and flares. Nobody had capsules then. The referee pulled his "ticket" forever.

A little while later, here in florida, I was doing flags at another inboard race. It was "just a litle backyard local race" . Just as I was about to raise the green flag for the start of the race. The referee shouted me to raise the red. The ambulance had just left the pits to go on another rescue run. For 4 laps the 3 boats continued. The ref called all three drivers for a private meeting afterwards, but nobody lost thier ticket.

[BStellyman]

Of course there are folks like me who think a race is still interesting if speeds were limited so the older boats and poor dudes like us can still race! ONCB translation: Outlaw Nostalgic Circle Boats now limited to 70 mph for the quickest 8 and the under 60mph for the Ski-Vintage ones. But I am not so stupid to admit that we could still get hurt.....Why the Outlaw name? We did and are still trying to rewrite the rules so wonderful OLD boats and drivers (me included) can still experience the thrill of a fast turning fishing boat within the safety of a protected course and adequate equipment rules, instead of blasting down a crowded patch of water now dominated by jet skis and bass boats!!!......Yuck May I suggest some of you join us for a future race? Admission is free and we love the smell, vibration, and noise of a monster motor restrained behind us with a few bolts! First race: June 11, Issaquah Washington :D

ONCB,
I would like to talk to you about your Nostalgia class up there. I am sort of the self appointed organization helper of the Nostalgia classes we run down here in So. Cal. We limit ourselves to 80mph monitored by a on-board GPS unit in every boat. Has been very successful for us, and like you, we are putting on one hell of a show. Would like to talk to you more regarding a North/South event possibility in the future, plus share some plus's and minus's we may have both had.

Brad Stellman
stelly1@att.net