Sunday, Jul. 29, 2007

Brown shows off new hydroplane but won't hit water

By Jeff Morrow, Herald sports editor

Nate Brown made it to Lampson Pits on Saturday with his new U-17 Red Dot unlimited hydroplane.

But Brown has no intention of putting the boat into the Columbia River this weekend.

"My goal this year was to build this boat and make these two races (Tri-Cities and Seattle)," Brown said. "I sort of made that goal, even though we're not racing here. But none of my guys have been to the boat races before. I want them to look at the other teams and how they do things."

Brown said he almost made it in time to qualify.

"I had just one steering bracket in the cockpit to finish," he said.

Brown, who retired from driving last year, decided to build a new boat after a number of his friends convinced him to do so as a group project. He wanted it to be just a low-key project.

But it got bigger and bigger. A sponsor, Red Dot Manufacturing, jumped on board. Mark Evans donated more equipment. The Ellstrom team has given him all the help he needs.

"Now I have like a real race team," Brown said. "Which is OK, since it's like one less zero out of my pocket. I still have a lot of money in this."

And he'll unretire for one more race, next week's Seafair, before he hands the keys over to his nephew, Kip Brown.

"I'll be really happy if we look professional, have no snags and can make the final," he said.

w Billy Schumacher, the owner of the U-37 Miss Beacon Plumbing, was excited about this season back in May when his team was in the Tri-Cities for some spring training.

Getting those extra laps on the Columbia was the extra head start his team needed for a run at the national title.

But driver Jean Theoret flipped the boat at the season's first race, Evansville, and the team has been scrambling since.

"This year nothing has gone our way," said Schumacher, whose team won the Gold Cup in 2006. "The flip hurt Jean's confidence in the boat, and it's just starting to come back now."

Theoret agrees.

"That always stays in the back of your mind," Theoret said. "Is this gonna happen again?"

w Former boat owner Jim Harvey was in the pits Saturday, getting his racing fix.

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't miss it," said Harvey, 60, who sold his boat and equipment this offseason to Ken Muscatel. "I still have the need for speed. I did this for 41 years."

And he says that while he enjoys his job as service manager at Seattle Boat, he would never close the door on racing again.

"I enjoy coming back and seeing friends," he said. "I miss the competitiveness."

What he really misses, he says, is the cohesiveness of a race team that's well-funded.

"When we were funded well, we ran well," Harvey said. "The T-Plus people, the Trendwest people all funded us well. I don't need to own a team. I'd like to manage a team. But it'd have to be the right opportunity."

w U-16 Miss Elam Plus driver Dave Villwock is third on the all-time list for career victories at 55. He's only behind the late Bill Muncey (62) and the retired Chip Hanauer (61).

Does Villwock think about eventually passing those two?

"Not really," he said. "Hey, I may never win another race."

w Rookie driver Dave Bryant says two things strike him about driving the U-10 Miss Hoss Mortgage Investors unlimited compared to smaller stock boats.

"Speed and size," Bryant said. "And the fact you can see things when you're out there qualifying by yourself. But when there are five or six boats out there you can't see so well and you're trusting your boat."

Bryant does like the Tri-City course.

"It's big and it has big, swinging turns," he said. "It's very driver friendly. But that first turn is wild."

• Comments
• Add Comment
• Disclaimer