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December 3rd, 2009 Hello Boat Racing Fans, What do you think of our new look here at Tribal Thunder Racing? Take the poll, we really want to know!!! We can also be seen at www.k-boat.com. We would like to say congrats to Ty Newton for his accomplishments over the past year. He is now one of the elite as he will be inducted into the Hall of Champions for 2009. This is the "best of the best" for the APBA world. The team that helped Ty needs to be congratulated also. It takes a lot of hard work and determination to accomplish that level of performance. Where to start? Well the Outlaw is coming along. We have been very busy with this boat making lots of parts and mounting these parts. Things are looking good. It looks like there is light at the end of the tunnel. We should have the steering brackets in a week or so. Then we can mount the steering complete. Charlie thinks that when the steering is "rigged”, then we'll be at the point of taking everything out of it, getting it back on the rotisserie. From there, the body work begins. This hull will be painted in a custom red color w/ a few "extra" touches. Jon Byers will be leading the way on color application along with the flawless clear. Rumor has it that Charlie will be calling upon long time family friend and lettering specialist, Terry Johnson, from over East of the mountains in Wenatchee, WA. to apply the Gold Leaf Outlaw lettering. I wonder who did it when the boat was first built in 1976-1977 era. Who knows, these guys may even get the beautiful wood dash "restomod" done too. After the hull gets back home, then everything can be installed for good and finish off a few other things too. The seat will need to be mounted as will all the plumbing and electrical be completed. Fuel will be held in an original stack tank the Phil Bergeron built in 1976. This tank is a virgin, never had fuel in it. It’s almost too pretty to not leave in the house. NOT. As for the other project, can you say Hondo? There is a restoration on a 18' Flat bottom that isn't too extreme, but, this one is just a "clean it up and sell it" type of thing. It did get a little more than planned, but, it looks very good now. If you’re looking for a nice Flat bottom with a nice tandem axle trailer, this one could be your new ride. We plan on selling it minus motor, but we could install one of ours for you or install whatever you have now, just contact Charlie and he can fill you in. The Tribal Thunder K-Boat is tucked away in the warm shop awaiting its new engine. Just a few things are being changed and then we’re off to Walt Ausin's ProMax dyno to get the tune-up in the ball park. We are planning on running the K at a few Southern races in the spring, getting it ready to do battle at Burley. Check back in the first part of 2010 for an updated racing schedule. We look forward to seeing you at the races, The Tribal Thunder Team.
August 7th, 2009 Welcome to the wet and wild world of flatbottom boat racing!
We have been working away on the return of the Outlaw. Charlie has been busy with hardware and getting the bottom ready for those 130 mph blasts on the water. This boat will get a 500 cu in Alcohol burning, Kinsler stack injected, Pontiac ProStock engine fresh form Gus Foster. This engine made 1000 hp on the dyno! It really likes to be heard from the beach when Charlie has the tach in the 9400 rpm range! We have designed and machined a new idea in transom bars. It is a one piece billet bracket now instead of the angle aluminum and 5 pillow blocks as is most common in the flatbottom world. The machining was accomplished by Dick St John at Joe Severance Racing. Lots of chips from that block of material. Started out as 110 lbs and now is close to 11 lbs!
We had the K boat out a little this year. Working with Kelly Stocklin on props has been a good thing for us. He not only is a great prop guy and a fellow racer, but he also is a driver of flatbottoms and UL's!!!!!! He is able to talk to Charlie and they can understand each other in order to tune the prop. Now if the guy doing the engine tuning was as sharp as the prop guy, well, there wouldn't be a hole in the pan !!!
First outing , it decided to stress test a lifter. Not too bad, but it was a test! The next time out, was a little "milky" on the oil situation as it was just plain to rich on the tune up. So after changing oil Sunday morning, the crewchief decided he was going to conserve a little oil (it is expensive right?) and tried only half the normal amount in the tank? Bad idea said #7 rod bearing to the rod. Then the #7 piston decided it was pissed off at the valves and then the party was in full swing. The loser was the pan, multiple holes, dents and lots of CARNAGE. Dooh and a slap on the forehead. Gus says he canned my ass, so I'll get him some more parts to fix my stupidity.
As for the Wizard , we have been a little too busy with racing and the Outlaw, so this hull is just waiting for the finishing touches.
On that thought of the Wizard, we have to mention the passing of a great friend, brother, and racing partner, Craig "Runaway" Nicholson. He was involved in an excavating accident on Valentines Day this past February. He is missed very much by all of us, and will be for many years to come. His wife has decided to help us finish the boat and race it. We have since planned to finish the project with lots of help from the team and many others. Jon Byers will bring the hull back to it's prior glory and more. Charlie will finish the capsule install and this will include enough room for Charlie himself to do the shakedown runs in this boat. After he has decided it is dialed in, one of the young guns on the team will take over and do it like Runaway would have. Dillon Wehrer says he is up to the task. This is Runaway's godson! I'm sure Runaway will be there for Dillon and guide him to the finish line as fast as can be! I can just here Jackie (Runaway's wife) and Julie Wehrer (Dillon's Mom) on the beach now.
January 2, 2007
Hello Race Fans, Happy New Year!
Are you ready for some of the fastest Flatbottom Sprint boats in the world ? The Northwest is bubbling with excitement!
We have been super busy with the end of year and the holidays and hope you all got lots of goodies from Santa!
Santa was very good to Tribal Thunder Racing and we would like to welcome A&M Precision Measuring Systems Inc. aboard. They have stepped into the racing world with the ear piercing music of Blown Alcohol Zoomies. These guys are normally tied up in some Billion dollar aircraft or maybe a space age company making sure that all the parts are just right for all of us to enjoy. From airplanes to cars to boats, they can measure what ever you need to jig and anything you need to verify is correct to a dwg tolerance and beyond. They use the latest laser technology and have the expertise to carry you to Star Wars and beyond! Call Jay Nelson @ 206-718-1934 or send him a note; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and tell them the Tribal Thunder Racing gang sent you!
We have really been working hard and we think it has paid off. Thanks to Gus and Andy, we have two new engines fresh from Foster's Machine Service. Thanks to Ron Smith and R2S along with Jim Hatley of Jim Hatley Racing, the tune up is complete and ready to cackle. We had a little testing time and seemed like Charlie was able to pull the reins back on all those horses, check out the short videos!
Thanks to Scott and Al Lapointe at Security Race Products, we were able to talk to Charlie as he was trying to manhandle all that Foster power!
We would like to also say Thank you to all that have helped us through the winter and on into this new racing season like John at Brinton Autobody, JR at RBS Superchargers, John at Aviaid Competition Oil Systems, Craig, Keith, Josh and B-Dawg at Wicked fabrication, Craig, at Warehouse West, Tom Cerillo at Cerillo Magnetos, Gaines at Custom machine, Dick at St.John MFG, Joe Severance at Severance Racing.
We will post the schedule as soon as it is decided by the Seattle Drag & Ski assoc. and APBA.
We hear there are quite a few boats that are ready to go here in the Northwest and we look forward to seeing all of them as we do seeing all of you!
Have a great day and keep the pipes clean and hot!
April 5, 2006
Hello Race Fans! It's time to hear the THUNDER on the water. We've been cooped up long enough in the garage making noise with the tools, now lets make some real noise. We have a couple of fire breathing monsters to turn loose on the water.
We have some new toys to play with and we can't wait. Corsa Instruments worked with us over the winter and now we have their latest and best ever data logger called the EZ-Logger. EZ is right , man this thing is bad to the bone and so simple to use. And it works like you won't believe. It will gather so much data, you'll be jumping for joy with all the charts and graphs and you too can have what most others wish they knew. A great feature it has is that it is wireless and we can watch what the engine is doing from the beach! Call Chuck and the boys at Corsa and they will bend over backwards, to help you be well informed with what is going on inside your race boat , car, tractor or go-cart too! Thanks Corsa!
We also have a new set of radios to talk to the driver and take his order for lunch or what ever he wants to yak about. Thanks to Scott and Al Lapointe at Security Race Products they have fixed us up with the best communication system and a new helmet plus a new driving suit. Now we can talk to Charlie and see what the water is like and how he thinks the boat is runnng along with the wireless data logger now we can tell Charlie to shut it off if we see a problem!!!!
We would like to also say Thank you to all that have helped us through the winter and on into this new racing season like John at Brinton Autobody, Gus at Fosters Machine Service, JR at RBS Superchargers, John at Aviaid Competition Oil Systems, Ron and R2S at Ron Smith Motorsports, Craig and the crew at Wicked fabrication, Jim Hately of Jim Hately Racing, Steve, Craig, Chris at Warehouse West, Tom Cerillo at Cerillo Magnetos, Clyde at Wizard Engines, Gaines at Custom machine, Dick at St.John MFG, Joe Severance at Severance Racing.
We hope to see you at Lawrence Lake for the Thunder and the excitement of the Northwests fastest boats!!!!!!
October 10, 2005
Hello to all of you out there from all of us in the Pacific Northwest. It has been a short racing season for us, hopefully you've had fun at the races like we did! We finished the season on a bang, in fact with more than one rod banging the oil pan???? But it won't take much for Gus to get it fixed and ready to Thunder again. Maybe he will already have the second motor ready to set in the new boat before we can get the broken one to his shop? We would like to thank Foster's Machine for their constant support, Ron Smith Motorsports for their help, Brinton Autobody for all their support and Wicked Fabrication for all the help the boys do there and in helping us getting to the races (it's their pretty red trailer that gets us there). We would also like to thank Aviaid for keeping the blood pumping and Kinsler for squirting the Alky. Oh ya, and Tom Cerrillo for burning what we feed the beast and ARP for keeping all things tight!
We plan on seeing all of you in just a few months after winter has dug it's icy claws into the lakes and rivers that we try to tame with a propeller. Untill then, have a safe "off season" and look for more action in the very near spring time.
Maybe we'll see the world famous Duff Daily in the spring on some of the fastest water in the good ol USA?
From the gang at Tribal Thunder, have a good one and we'll see you soon at the races.
July 13, 2005
Hello to all!
As for the SuperStock, Wickster and Hughmiester gave Charlie something to yell about on Sunday afternoon. Seems the driver was able to run between 96.1 and 97.1 MPH laps!!!!!! Everybody was happy to see that happen. I hope those guys can figure out how to get another couple MPH out of the boat now. Could be they need some alky in that thing? Or a baby bottle?
It was really good to see Gay and Family come up from Oregon to help cheer on the boys! Rumor has it the crewchief, Randy, was off chasing Salmon and Halibut? He'll have his work cutout for him in Pateros!!!!
We would like to THANK Gus Foster from Foster's Machine Service for building all the engine Charlie could handle, Wicked Fabrication for shop time and labor, Lance Faulkner for the great Canary Hull and all the team that was there this weekend. See you in Pateros!
June 10, 2005
Hello to all of you from all of us! It's been a little while since we've chatted. Time flies when your having fun!
As for the SuperStock, the first race out at Lawerance Lake was, shall we say, "too much lube in the boat that should have been in the oil pan" is what Charlie said when there was only 4 qts to drain out? And why was the crank black????? After we decided that the "gremlins" had cursed us by pushing the front seal out and therefore leaking all the oil out, we should put a retainer on that seal??? But I hear, ( I wasn't there ), Dave Rankin came through and supplied us with one of his spare bullets and we were back on the water. Charlie was a little worried at that point that he may beat them with their own engine, we're still wondering what happened???
Now we must say that in order to get to Burley, we were a little short on parts to put something back together. But then comes a RACER by the name of Kip Brown that offered to help us with his own parts!!!!!!! Looks like we'll be in Burley loaded for good time and fast racing with the best of the best!! Thanks to Kip! It's guys like Kip that we are proud to call a FRIEND. We owe him big time!
We hope to see you at Black Lake in the hunt for fast water and a good time! Have a good one!! The Thunder is Back.
April 26, 2005. Hello and Welcome to all of you from all of us! We hope you've all had a great winter and are ready for another great season of BOAT RACING! We've been very busy all winter getting ready for this year and it's almost time to Rock the spring air with the sounds of engines pushing the limits of the rpm band.
We are putting the finishing touches on the Pro Stock. By the end of the week, we should be plumbed complete and all the wiring finished. The only thing left will be for Charlie to complete his mission of making a throttle bracket to connect the throttle cable to 960 horsepower of Pontiac performance to his right foot! We all think he has what it takes!
We at Tribal Thunder Racing would like to Thank John Brinton and Duff Dailey for their continued support and Brinton Autobody for all their support too!
We would also like to Thank Corsa Instruments for supporting us in collecting data with their awesome "Black Box" and their continued help in customer support are always endless!
Region 10 is going to be on FIRE this year with new boats, new teams, and as well as the past competition. Everybody is out in force to be the fastest flats in the country. We wish everybody luck in the pits as well as on the water!
When you’re at the races, stop by and say HI, bring your camera and we'll take pictures of your little one in the Drivers seat! Get ready to rumble, here comes the Thunder
Sept 24, 2004. Season Wraps Up Well it looks like this year is winding down. We didn't get to do much racing as this year was a year of construction, both houses and families! We were on our game and did win the Western Divisional’s, and Bonnie and Charlie brought another boat racer into the world. CONGRATS to them! We would like to thank our sponsor, Brinton Auto Body for hanging in there with us for next year in lieu of our decision to take this year off in PRO STOCK.
We would like to thank all of the guys in Region 10 for all their continued support too! Without them, boat racing in the PACIFIC NORTHWEST would be a whole bunch different! Thanks also to our many fans & friends! See you next year! That's all for now, check back soon for the latest news about the Tribal Thunder Racing Team!
July 12, 2004. Black Lake Skookum Creek Tobacco & Kamilche Trading Post Regatta. Race results:
Click here for the NEWS link at www.theolympian.com
April 2, 2004
RSBN.net Update:
March 19, 2004.
Check out Brian's quote on RSBN.net after being interviewed on the Fast, Wet & Wild show! Click here!
March 18, 2004.
Tune in to RSBN.net and litsen to our very own Engine Mechanic Brian Wehrer! RSBN.net is the largest ALL Motorsports Internet Radio Stations in the world, and they are Seattle-based. Brian will be live on the net tonight, so be sure and tune in! Hey Brian, be sure and put in a good word for the rest of us! ;-)
Feb 24, 2004.
The website is getting a facelift! We are gearing-up for the 2004 season by creating some new promotional material handouts, and giving the website a new look and feel. It should load a lot faster and be easier to find what you are looking for. If you are interested in the promotional handouts, you can take a 'sneek peek' by cliking here! If you would like to sponsor us, or find out how to help out click here. |