Texas FE history.... 1st one down, many more to come...

Contributed by- Bryan Foster

 

Conroe Fast Electrics Invitational 2003 February 22nd-23^rd, 2003

Held at Sendera Lake Estates in Magnolia, Texas

 

This one WAS a moment in FE History...

With our first invitational race behind us, I wanted to take the time to write this so that others could benefit from our success and hard work. Starting a club was only just the beginning for us, and now we are looking into the future of FE racing with an eye on records and the camaraderie that comes with the groups that run in the FE circles.

Conroe Fast Electrics started a little over a year ago and has been growing ever since we have a great club and team. Although there have been moments that would make grown men cry from blowing up a brand new BL controller, to sinking a brand new LSH carbon Shovelnose hydro. I can honestly say that without the valuable resource that RumRunnerRacing has been, most of our club members may very well have never met. Our club is the first NAMBA recognized FE organization in Texas, which we all consider it an honor to have. We are growing quickly, an hope to be as large as the clubs on the left coast by the end of next year.

We started out running box-art boats and realized that there are faster and better boats out there. The vendors who were found on RumRunner were the first to get our business, and I am sure that they will get much more.

We have grown and each new member has helped to raise the bar for us, whether it be, introducing faster boats, better setup techniques, or better driving, and showmanship, every member of the club contributes in some manner. This is what has made our club a success, the club members.

This race added two new members for us Mr. Guy Rosinbaum of Kemah, Texas, and Mr. Frank Hearn of Arkansas. Our club will benefit greatly from both of them since Frank is a custom Shovelnose Hydro builder, and Guy is the owner of the fastest growing FE hobby shop in Texas.

The team is more than a group of guys driving boats, they are an extended family, we each must learn to work with the others and become a part of the other racers persona, which is crucial to organizing and running a race, let alone to keep from running one another over on the course.
 
With that said, I wanna tell ya'll bout' the racing... Again, if I leave anything out...shoot me later....

Saturday 22^nd- Mother nature decided to try and make the scene and shut us down... Didn't work!! We managed to get our boats dialed in for the weather and had some good laps put in... With the high winds we found out just what it means to hit the water... No three boat pile ups, but close!!

I am going to hit the highlights of Sunday... and hopefully manage to post some pics and a video or two (didn't have too much time to snap pics and make vids...

We ran hard and fast... LSH- Tony Graffia took home 1st place wood, followed by Guy Rosenbaum in 2nd, and Frank Hearn taking 3rd. Frank Hearn brought out some awesome custom built Lauderbach influenced Shovelnosed hydros which were very competitive...even against a veteran driver who normally runs in rough water... I am impressed by his work in the new shovels, and hope to see more of them...

Kids class- well what can I say... they all did a great job!!

N-2 mono- well we opened it up to make it interesting... John Himsel took home 1st with ease (as usual), Jason Phillips, who had just built a new tunnel (so we had to let him run it to make things interesting) took 2nd, and CJ took home 3rd... Katie and I were very impressed with CJ, he kept up with the big boys and finished the race with class...

P enduro- Bryan Foster took home 1st, Tony Graffia took home 2nd with plenty of batts left over... and John Himsel held out for third...

We had an exhibition run between Tony's Braveheart P hydro and my Rum Runner O hydro... which was quite interesting with the high winds blowing us all over the course...

The last class was the best....
P Sport Hydro- Bryan Foster took home 1st, with Tony Graffia in 2nd, and John Himsel in 3rd... This class had the fastest boats that I have seen in oval trim in some time... They managed to bring in lap times from the mid 12s to mid 13s during dialing and were remarkably stable despite the high winds and rough chop...

For those of you who didn't make it out... You missed out on the dinner at Outback Steakhouse courtesy of Rum Runner Hobbies and Frank Hearn (who covered the great appetizers)...

Thanks to everyone who made the first FE race in Texas a part of FE History...