On the evening of May 9th, Jeff Ayler, Tim Torrance, Charley Wiggins and Charlie Grooms talked about the Miss Madison team and hydroplane racing on the airwaves of WORX.  Tonight we present the final part of our three part look at that conversation...

TT: Jeff Ayler, do you have any other topics of interest you want to talk about?

JA: I want to know the schedule for the Unlimited Hydroplane Racing Association. The season will begin May 21 in Lake Havasu, AZ. Then the boats will travel to Evansville, IN, June 23-25. And then the hydroplanes will be in Madison for the Belterra Resorts and Casino Indiana Governor’s Cup on July 1-2. Then the boats go to the Yankee Stadium of boat racing, the Detroit River in Detroit, MI, for the Gold Cup, July 7-9. Then they head west to Tri-Cities, WA, July 28-30. Then in Seattle, August 4-6. Then the season will wind up September 15-17 in San Diego, CA. We did have one e-mail passed along from Quebec, Canada, from on of our internet listeners. " On behalf of the hydroplane fans in Quebec, Canada, I would like to congratulate Charley Wiggins for his new ride and wish all the Miss Madison team members good luck for the year 2000," and that’s from Mark Perrier.

CW: We appreciate it, Mark. We’ll real excited. There’s a lot of hydroplane racing up there and we appreciate you following the sport.

JA: And also, too, today guys, the U-100 Miss Project X tested on Lake Washington in Seattle with new driver, Greg Hopp. Of course, that’s the old Pico American Dream team owned by Fred Leland. They tested two hulls, the ’98 hull and the’96 hull. Guys, Fred Leland is trying another radical cowling on one of these crafts. When Hopp took the ’98 boat out, the cowling on it has air inlets on the sides of the cowling, not the big air scoop up top as Fred Leland tries to master aerodynamics with the cowling. Charley, your thoughts on having that big airscoop up behind the driver of a turbine. It’s been successful, but Fred’s trying to prove it wrong.

CW: We may be, at this point, a little out of my expertise. There’s obviously nothing wrong with trying something different. Most people look at what Budweiser does, and if they’re doing it, it must be right. He doesn’t necessarily take that approach. Who’s to say one is right and one is wrong, without trying it. You have to give him credit for trying something different. I don’t know if the last one, two or three have been successful for them or not. It’ll be interesting to see what the outcome is. It’ll be also interesting in the saltwater condition to see if it would work in that situation.

JA: And, with your background in driving, are you a boat constructor also? And you can answer that and keep it tuned because there is a special guest on line one.

CW: I think I would have to fall in the driver-only. We do a lot of mechanic work on the light boat, but very little actual hull work. We’re learning to do some more composite work and that sort of thing. But more on the driver’s side.

JA: On line one, we’re going to have a special guest from Seattle, WA today. We’ll try to get that podded up momentarily. And it will be Greg Hopp, who’s calling in from Seattle, who did test the Project X today. What timing, Tim. We have Greg Hopp on the phone line. Try and get him set up. Greg, good evening. Jeff Ayler with WORX. We were just mentioning your test session today out in Seattle. How’d the testing go today out on Lake Washington in Seattle. You tested two Leland hulls.

GH: We took both of them out, including the boat Chip drove last year and crashed last year. They both went really well.

JA: Greg, tell us about the new cowling design on that ’98 hull I read on Hydrofest’s website earlier today. Fred’s convinced that airscoop up behind the cockpit isn’t going to work.

GH: Yeah, we tried something a little bit different. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t get on plane with that second set up. We learned something from that today and we can try something a little different to make that work.

JA: I’m sure you’re excited about driving the U-100 for the whole 2000 season. Your emotions going into the season – I know it’s a big moment for you – it’s your second year in unlimiteds.

GH: Definitely looking forward to stepping back into it. I’ve got some big shoes to fill with replacing Chip Hanauer. Our new sponsor, Project X, is a health organization. I’ve got some big racing to do and very excited to get on with the season.

JA: Greg, we also have Charley Wiggins in the studio tonight, brand new Miss Madison pilot. Charley’s not going to get test time before the season, but I know he’s anxious to get started. Got any questions for Charley?

GH: Yeah, Charley, are you guys going to make Havasu or is Madison going to be you’re first race?

CW: Well, we’re going to make Havasu with the light boat and Evansville’s going to be the first race with the unlimited.

GH: Like Jeff said, you guys haven’t had a chance to take it out, yet?

CW: No, we were hoping to get some time in the boat between when I got back from Havasu and when we went to Evansville. But not looking like that’s going to work out. We’ll just have to give it all we’ve got come the last week of June.

GH: Well, good luck Charley and I’ll look forward to racing against you in Evansville.

CW: I appreciate it, Greg. We did get to race against each other, one time I know of in Evansville in the light boat. Had a good close heat there. Greg gave me a lot of room; he was on the outside. We’ve had some good experiences racing each other and look forward to some good, close, clean competition in the unlimiteds.

GH: It’ll be fun. You’ll realize the unlimiteds are a bit more handful than the light. I didn’t think so when I first got into one. Boy, I’ll tell you what – that 30’ boat is a whole different animal.

CW: Do you have any words of wisdom to pass along this way? (Laughter)

GH: Yeah, pumps some weights.

JA: One more question for you. We appreciate the call in tonight from Seattle. The big red boat will be the one to chase down during the 2000 season. Does the Leland camp have enough ponies in the motors and the boat set up to go after the U-1 this year?

GH: Today, we didn’t try putting any big bullets in the boat. We weren’t trying to set any speed records. I drove for Fred, drove the Pico boat a couple times last year. I’ve got to believe the motors are every bit as good or better than they were last year. I’m looking forward to trying to chase ‘em down. Obviously, they are the boat to beat. We’re looking forward to the challenge and I’d like to think we may walk out of the season with at least a couple of victories.

JA: Greg, thanks for the call tonight from Seattle. Good luck to you and the U-100 team this year and say ‘hi’ to your dad, Jerry, and also give a pat on the back to Doug McIntosh for me.

GH: I will. Doug helped us out a lot last year and my dad. I could go on for hours just thanking people that helped me. Anyway it was nice talking to you guys and look forward to talking to you again soon.

JA: Greg Hopp with us on the telephone line out in Seattle,WA. Of course, he tested the U-100 Project X today out on Lake Washington. The ’98 Pico and the ’96 Pico hull. The U-100 has some test time before they go to Lake Havasu on May 21^st. Charley, I know being a driver, you want to get out on the water before going to a race. That’s one feather in Greg’s hat, I think going to Arizona. He’s been in the boat and he has a little bit of a feel for it when he gets there.

CW: Definitely he has an advantage because he was in the boats all last year. George Stratton has seat time in the boat they finished up over the winter. It’ll be a little disadvantage not getting any seat time prior to Evansville. It’s a race boat; been in several. Raced some in the past that I’d never been in and had to go straight into hot competition. Like Charlie Grooms said earlier today it’s not a sprint race where we have to do everything the first weekend. It’s going to be a process. Hopefully the crew understands that and hopefully the fans of Madison understand that as well. We can’t expect to go out and get the inside lane the first race and take on Budweiser. But the time will come and there will be a time and place and hopefully we can give them a run for their money.

TT: As we wind things down, Charlie Grooms, we talked about the engines just a bit ago of the Madison. equipment wise, beyond that point, where do we stand?

CG: Pat Furnish has spent the balance of the winter, as well as several other guys, have spent quite a bit of time over the winter building some spare parts. The unfortunate incident we had last year in Barrie depleted our engine cowling, some wing ferrings, and the wing and some different pieces and parts. We made every effort to replace those and get us back to the level we were this time last year. I think we pretty well accomplished that feat. That’s been accomplished. The gear boxes have been gone through and those are pretty well ready. So now we’re down to paint and making the thing look pretty and that’s high on the agenda list right now. That’s what we’ve done and I think we’ll be ready without much problem.

TT: Hopefully come Evansville, the last week in June, we can go down there. Things look very promising for the U-6 with new pilot Charley Wiggins. Charley, as we talked about earlier, as we wrap things up here, it’s got to be an exciting feeling for you to go to Evansville. You’re in the Miss Madison, the oldest continually owned hydroplane racing team. And for you, how do you prepare yourself? It’s May and you have to go to the last weekend in June. You have a lot of time before you actually step in and go.

CW: The biggest thing is I quit trying to think about it as much and just try to get our light boat ready for Havasu. It’s real exciting for me because it’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. Coming up yesterday and spending some of the day at the shop, I was pleasantly surprised at the equipment the team has and some of the backup equipment. It’s really exciting to be here and look forward to representing the fans of the city. It’s a really neat place to come to. It’s just real exciting. We’ll try to put a damper on that for a few more weeks and not get too excited. And remember that we have one race to run before we go to Evansville and get that behind us and then come back up here and get our game face on for Evansville.

TT: Jeff Ayler, looking to Havasu in a week and a half. Boat count may be 10 or 11, you reckon?

JA: We’re looking at 10 or 11 according to the UHRA media release received we earlier today. Tim, right now, they’re waiting on that one other boat to make that 11. They didn’t mention which one that is. I’ll try to find out which one that is. One other question for Charley. Charley, the lights are not running in Evansville this year due to the construction on the riverfront in Evansville. The lights will be in Havasu along with the unlimiteds. The lights did add a race in Issaquah, WA, the Tastin’ N Racin’ event. I asked you on our show few weeks ago, are you going our there or not?

CW: Right now it’s not our plan to go out there. We still don’t have sponsorships for that race. We just feel like it would be in our best interests to skip that race and come on back east, particularly with the Madison deal. I don’t think the last time we talked that had come about. So we have a lot preparation to do. We have things we want to do for our boat getting ready to come to Madison for this race course. Some special things to get that boat ready as well as all the matters at hand with the Madison race team. I think it’s in our best interest to come on back home and get ready for east coast racing.

JA: Tim, I think the only other thing since the last time we were on the air is that Ken Muscatel’s boat has been renumbered to U-25. He’s picked up a sponsor in Freeinternet.com and that will be the name of his boat this year. And I have learned that Llumar Window Films is back with Bill Wurster’s craft this year. Looks like Jimmy King’s penciled in to drive that boat this year. I didn’t do my homework on that one, but I’m just taking a guess that Jimmy King’s in the Llumar.

TT: Jimmy King in the Llumar and Greg Hopp in the Project X. Should be an exciting season, Jeff Ayler. You and I will be here pretty much every Sunday afternoon except for Madison. Who knows about Evansville. We’ll cover it all.

JA: To shock the world, I think I might stay here in the studios that day for the Evansville race because that’s one event we’ve not really covered. We have covered it thoroughly, but we want to give it the best coverage that we give the others. I think I’ll send you down and I’ll just stay here in the shade and bake in the studio.

CG: I’ve been there, Jeff, don’t go down there.

JA: It’s always 104 (degrees) down there – in the shade or wherever.

TT: In the shade, if you can find the shade, it’s 104. As we’re looking forward to Evansville and, guys, our time is just about out. We want to thank Charlie Grooms, Charley Wiggins, Jeff Ayler, always a pleasure to be with you. Any final thoughts, guys, as we go into the 2000 season?

CG: First of all, thank you for having us. As a race team, we’re very excited that Charley accepted our offer to drive our boat. As much as he is excited, we are as well. Looking forward to the season. It’s been a long off-season. Last season and last winter weren’t the way wanted them necessarily. But we’re looking forward to this year with renewed vigor, ready to go. I would also be remiss if I didn’t throw out 30 seconds of Madison Regatta information when I get the opportunity, being that Bob Hughes said I’ll be part of the Regatta now. The 100% Club or the Anniversary Club for the Madison Regatta, those tickets are on sale and I think the deadline is coming up the twelfth. Program book ads are coming up, but Belterra Resorts and Casinos has really done a good job. Real fortunate to have those guys on board. The Regatta committee is working extremely hard to make this thing. With having lost 3-4 races this year and if you read the internet and the UHRA page, virtually everything that’s going on on that page has to do with the Madison Regatta and the press releases about our sponsors and our Gold Flight Sponsors and all those things. So a lot of exciting things happening for the Regatta. I want to thank all those that work and help and the fans, come out and support the thing. That group with Herb Parker, Ann Center, Tony Steinhardt, Mike Frees and their group has done an excellent job. I applaud them and commend them. And I am definitely going to buy my ticket and hopefully everybody else will, too.

TT: That’s definitely what we want to see everybody do and support the Madison Regatta. Charley Wiggins, welcome to Madison as an unlimited hydroplane driver. Certainly looking forward to seeing you in the cockpit of the boat this year. This guy over here and I, we’re going to be bugging you pretty much all year. To think just because you go to Havasu without and unlimited hydroplane, don’t think you’re not going to be on WORX 96.7 because we’ll have somebody track you down.

CW: Like Charlie Grooms said, I’m going to take this phone with me. We can talk on his bill all day long if you’d like to and I can give you all the updates you need. I’d like to take this chance to thank Charlie Grooms and Bob Hughes and the rest of the Madison Board for giving me this opportunity and thank the city of Madison and, like I said, I’m real excited about this. I need to go ahead and thank the crew in advance for all the hard work I know they’re going to be putting into the boat. And all the time away from their hometown and their families they’ll spend working on the boat. I do appreciate all they help they’re going to give us and I just look forward working with everybody.

TT: Jeff Ayler, well we’ve done another hour again and they thought we couldn’t do it.

JA: We did it.

TT: We filled up an hour.

JA: Did you have fun?

CW: I really look forward to coming back. Start this and do it every week?

JA: Well, we’ll try to work out something. I’m always willing to talk about these boats. Tim, I just want to thank Chuck and Cindy Moore from Lexington, KY. www.hydrofest.com, they do a great job and they’re big supporters of us. We thank them. Also to all of our e-mails tonight, that’s the biggest batch this year. We want to thank our internet listeners world-wide. We’ll be here May 21^st.

TT: We’ll be here May 21^st and we’ll be doing it all again. And we’re going to have fun when we do it – there’s no doubt. We’ll find something to talk about, I’m sure. I’d like to thank Jeff Ayler, Charley Wiggins, and Charlie Grooms and thank all the listeners out there this evening. Listen to us again coming up May 21^st as we cover the Havasu race from Arizona. I’m Tim Torrance saying, "So long, everybody."

Thanks for joining us!