Random shots from the pits

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Well, I guess that one was too small to identify most. so here goes another.

[Dave-4Q]

Is that Gary Augustine's boat (E12) in the distant backround? Where was this?

[Dave_E71]

Is that Gary Augustine's boat (E12) in the distant backround? Where was this?

500cc Worlds in Lakeland, FL

[corin_huke]

Well, I guess that one was too small to identify most. so here goes another.

The other one was a little small Wayne, but the drivers in it were #53 Tiziano Trombetta, #24 Giulliano Landini, #12 Per Krage, Pierro Baldisorotto - Italy (sp)

The next (larger) pic is Trombetta and crew (Bros. Cagnolati - Alberto & Gigi, Alberto's son, etc) pitting next to Landini

BTW the Ferrari on the side of Trombetta's boat is nothing to do with the other famous Italian racing name. This Ferrari is a company that builds cranes, cherry pickers and Hi-Abs for the back of trucks - they sponsored Trombetta for years

Trombetta and Family Cagnolati are still involved in racing, Trombetta especially. Tiziano is still one of the top drivers in Europe and has done a lot of winning over the years - if you look at the results on the UIM pages his names appears many times.

Tiziano has a very close tie in with VRP, in fact you could call him Carlo's works driver. He also builds very nice composite boats - hydros and the catamaran designs we run in F500, 0-700. So, if you ever see a Betta boats, it's one of his, the Betta name, being the last part of Tiziano's name

Next! - bring em on Wayne. But can you make them a little bigger - my eyes aren't as good as they were. Too much looking at old boat pics having to identify European drivers for you guys!!!!

Photos: Steve Richardson - www.formulaseries.net

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I'll make them a little bigger, but they may not come out too good Corin. I hadn't processed any B&W at the time and I overdeveloped most of them. Doing five rolls at a time means the whole batch was bad.

I had not been to a race in 10 years and when Joe told me about the Lakeland race I called up Mark Spencer about doing a story. He was still with Powerboat then and he told me to go for it. I actually got the story done and a little over half the negatives developed. Then something came up and I didn't finish. I never submitted the story and I still have some film yet to be developed.

Anyway, here are a few more. If you want to see any particular area of the group photo blown up, let me know.

[corin_huke]

Hey, no problem Wayne - I can always by myself a better pair of glasses!!!

The Italian in the Mostes boat (you can see the U Mostes decal back to front on the boat near the screen), the guy being lifted and the driver being congratulated by his countrymen, are all the same guy, Moreno Fresalone. He won the World 250 in Lakeland and if my memory serves me correctly, he was damm quick!

Also, I remember a lot of 'nastiness' going on and people being DISQ for this that and the other - Dan Kirts for taking a boat out of the pits to repair, another driver having a licence from one country in 500 and another licence (from a different country) in 250!!! Hey, what do you expect when the Europeans are in town and there's a lot on the line .......we don't play well with others!!!!

I have to take my hat off to you guys regardng the licence situation. It was at a time that a country could only field 5 drivers. On the morning after qualiication we stood there watching drivers, who didn't qualify, standing in line with their documents and then coming away with a smile on their face. It wasn't until flags for Mexico, Australia, Outer Mongolia( !) started appearing on the boats of these drivers' boats, instead of the stars & stripes, that we realised that APBA licences had been swopped for licences of other countries. Fair play to you - I wish I'd have thought of it - could have made a fortune selling flag decals!!!!

[David Mason]

Hey, no problem Wayne - I can always by myself a better pair of glasses!!!

The Italian in the Mostes boat (you can see the U Mostes decal back to front on the boat near the screen), the guy being lifted and the driver being congratulated by his countrymen, are all the same guy, Moreno Fresalone. He won the World 250 in Lakeland and if my memory serves me correctly, he was damm quick!

Also, I remember a lot of 'nastiness' going on and people being DISQ for this that and the other - Dan Kirts for taking a boat out of the pits to repair, another driver having a licence from one country in 500 and another licence (from a different country) in 250!!! Hey, what do you expect when the Europeans are in town and there's a lot on the line .......we don't play well with others!!!!

I have to take my hat off to you guys regardng the licence situation. It was at a time that a country could only field 5 drivers. On the morning after qualiication we stood there watching drivers, who didn't qualify, standing in line with their documents and then coming away with a smile on their face. It wasn't until flags for Mexico, Australia, Outer Mongolia( !) started appearing on the boats of these drivers' boats, instead of the stars & stripes, that we realised that APBA licences had been swopped for licences of other countries. Fair play to you - I wish I'd have thought of it - could have made a fortune selling flag decals!!!!

To be a true champion is to get beat on the water and not the beach. So kudos for everyone working that out and getting you all on the water. That is one thing boat racing here in the States is different from other motorsports, we all help each other even if it means getting beat. There are always exceptions for people of course, but in general we all help each other.

[corin_huke]

To be a true champion is to get beat on the water and not the beach. So kudos for everyone working that out and getting you all on the water. That is one thing boat racing here in the States is different from other motorsports, we all help each other even if it means getting beat. There are always exceptions for people of course, but in general we all help each other.

I agree 100% Dave - but I think Dan Kirts and the other (dual licence) guy fell foul of the UIM rulebook rather than anything else - for example, it says that you cannot hold licences from two different contries at the same time...

Like in the US, hydro racing in Europe is a very tight knit community - one which you don't see so much in other powerboat classes. I guess the thinking is "lets beat him on the water, rather than in the pits" but also, we are all in the same boat (excuse the pun) and sooner or later you are gonna need some help too....

[Master Oil Racing Team]

It was Herr DuCoffre with the West German team that taught us about some drivers using another country's license in some of the earlier UIM races. They wanted more boats on the water too. The way we did it then was not to issue a Bolivian or Ugandan license, but from Canada and Mexico. The Canadians came from the ranks of drivers from the North and Mexicans from the South.

I had actually spent some time working on a plan to allow Americans to field more than 5 drivers at a World Championship. The rationale was that America was so big that you could drive all across Europe in about the same time. The West Coast did not participate in a lot of the racing in the east. And the clincher was that FIA allowed two U.S Grand Prix events on the circuit. If they allowed that because of the size of America, then it was a precedent for UIM. Also one big point was the vast numbers of drivers in each class. My proposal was to allow 4-5 drivers from US West and 4-5 from US East. I never presented it because, at the time, if a new proposal was shot down you could not try again for several years. I wanted to get all my ducks in a row before the presentation.

I talked to Jose Mawet about it at length at one of the convention meetings and he liked the idea. We were not getting much American representation in Europe at that time, and Europeans were just starting to come over here. He thought it might help get more Americans interested. About the time I got everything together we quit racing.

[John Schubert T*A*R*T]

I agree 100% Dave - but I think Dan Kirts and the other (dual licence) guy fell foul of the UIM rulebook rather than anything else - for example, it says that you cannot hold licences from two different contries at the same time...

Like in the US, hydro racing in Europe is a very tight knit community - one which you don't see so much in other powerboat classes. I guess the thinking is "lets beat him on the water, rather than in the pits" but also, we are all in the same boat (excuse the pun) and sooner or later you are gonna need some help too....

Having raced pro & OPC where we had Lemans type starts, at Lakeland I was asked to be a starting judge & I did serve. The starts of the 250 were terrible. I was towards the center of the starting grid. Several drivers did not maintain their straight line to the turn buoy. I believe I actually DQ'ed one US driver & one European.

I don't blieve that the US drivers & their representatives were solely responsible for the dual license, yet I didn't believe it to either be ethical or patriotic. There were representatives from the UIM there & they naturally had to rule on the license issue. I remember that almost after evry heat of 250 & maybe 500 that the rulling committe had to meet. I had to sit in one regarding the bearing away issue.