Author: admin

The first race of the 2007 season began for the U-13 the same way the 2006 season ended last year in Seattle. Sponson damage and damage to the rear right upright was incurred by driver J. Michael Kelly prior to the start of heat 1B in Evansville this afternoon. While still in the 5 minute milling period prior to the heat the U-13 while holding lane 2 took a heavy hit to the right sponson from the U-6 Madison boat driven by Steve David. The incident appeared some what similar to Tri Cities last year. In spite of the damage to the right sponson and upright J. Michael continued to start the 3 lap heat finishing a poor 5th place. The damage will be repaired and the U-13 will be ready for the final racing day in Evansville.

The U-13 Team will open the 2007 season with several new crew members brought on board over the winter. Since they have all been working on the hull since the first of the year we do not consider them new to the team.

Added to the U-13 traveling crew will be Jeff Kelly, father of Driver J Michael Kelly. Jeff has been working in the shop since last year and now will be attending all races this year. In addition to Jeff, former U-8 crew member Mike Johnson will return as well as Bob Jenson, Len Bartush and new crew member Donna Gross, formally with Mike Jones U-9. It is their hard work that has been instrumental in helping crew chief Curt Tavenner build new parts and make the necessary repairs to the hull caused by last years catastrophic accidents.

Harvey Chenault and Russ Bircher will assume the dual role as over the road truck drivers and assist the regular crew at the race sites. Lenny Bartush will continue as our webmaster and hopefully be joined by several other individuals we are currently talking to about helping to expand our web site and keep up to the minute news about our team activities.

A refurbished and newly painted U-13 will be leaving the Auburn, Washington shop Sunday 6/24/07 for the first 2007 race of the season. Over the winter a multitude of new parts were fabricated and several areas inside the boat was modified and improved from 2006. Although there has not been a lot of news coming out of the U-13 camp this winter, that was by design. We are now ready to unveil our efforts and are looking forward to running the entire six race schedule. For many people who saw the boat last year they will probably notice some very subtle changes. The major modifications have involved an improved cockpit as well as other internal changes. There is a multitude of other changes that may or may not be noticed but all should improve what we believe was a very good and fast boat in 2006. The hull remains extremely light but the team will be using this fact as a positive for adjusting to individual race site conditions.

Hopefully we will be able to run the entire circuit without any major incidents but we have come to the realization “it ain’t easy being green”.

The U-13 is looking to add a web site writer and/or writers to our team. We are looking for individuals who might be interested in being involved with our team in the capacity of writing for our web site on a weekly or as required bases. We would like to have 2 people who would provide East coast and West coast up to the minute information and stories relating to our team operation. 

Individuals will be part of our team and will be required to work long hard hours with low pay but will receive plenty of “atta boys”. You will be given a team uniform and a hard card allowing full access to all areas including the hot pits. Travel possible.

No restriction on gender, age etc. but must have good communication skills and some knowledge of computers and networking. Video recording and photography is a plus.

You will be asked to provide a small article on the U-13 or hydroplane racing in general to display individual skills. 

Please email your article to len@detroitunlimited.com or for more information if interested.

We are also interested in bringing on board a skilled marketing individual.  Compensation and benefits are negotiable. Contact len@detroitunlimited.com for consideration.