Smoke on the Water: The IHBA 2005 Season Opener

By James Drew, Mark & Ron Westfall, and Marty Reger

John White on a license pass in the PRO NITRO Hot Licks goes Boom!

The 2005 IHBA season opened at Firebird International Raceway, and had all the makings of a great event. Nine of the best Top Fuel Hydros in the nation were on the grounds, four of which featured brand new, radical hull designs. Unlike NHRA Top Fuel racing, this class allows you to experiment with all types of combinations (Boat, Driveline and Nitro percentage). Every T.F.H. ran some type of twin-prop drive system, and there were five different systems being used. All boats must meet the stringent IHBA safety requirements, and now include full face helmets with oxygen apparatus installed in approved driver re-enforced capsules.

Daryl Erlich won this 1st round in TFH when Glen Wilson in the Toxic Rocket redlighted.

Boats on the Rope!

The season kicked off with Friday’s test n tune session. Rex Childers in Jay Hartounian’s “Whiskey River II” led the fuelers with a nice 5.19 @ 202 mph pass. Dale Ishimura from Torrance, Ca., took over the wheel in the Eddie Knox owned “Problem Child,” and after a nose-diving start thundered to a top speed of the event 232.72 blast. The brand new Scott Ellison designed boat with outriggers off the hull (based on RC technology) was debuted by the Ron McLellan / Bob Montgomery “Liquid Quicker” Top Fuel team. The boat took a nice set, and Montgomery shut it down.

New helmets were required in Top Fuel Hydro.

Ted Faggart in “Superstar” led the Top Alcohol Hydros with a great 5.45 @ 217 mph blast. Terry Newton in the Lucas Oil “Fair Warning” twin turbo turned in a 5.55 @ 216 mph pass. Andy Reynolds' “Parental Discretion,” Bob Genther’s “Domestic Disturbance,” and John Swanson’s “Urban Menace” all collected 5-second time slips, and appeared ready to challenge Faggart and reigning TAH World Champion Tim Stoke's “Widowmaker” for TAH supremacy.

Eddie Knox's Problum Child with Dale making a good pass.

Mike Neuharth getting ready to go into the water.

The wind began to pick up as the Final session of qualifying was set to begin. During the last session of Pro Mod, Mike Neuharth of Sequim, Oregon, in his “Silver Belle” and Bart Smith in “Purple Haze” tangled in a great side by side qualifier, but as they reached the 1000 foot mark, both boats encountered trouble and crashed. Smith’s capsule ejected as designed and he walked away from the crash, but Neuharth’s boat made a violent move and tumbled without ejecting the capsule, sinking with the hull. The IHBA rescue crew was quickly on the scene, but when they brought up Mike’s capsule it looked like it had been compromised.

On this pass, Mike crashed. We are sorry to say that Mike passed away due to injuries. Please keep Mike's family in your prayers.

Unfortunately, Mike Neuharth died from his injuries. A full accident investigation is now underway to find out what went wrong with the capsule. Neuharth had raced drag boats for over twenty-five years, and had won many IHBA and Columbia Drag Boat Assn. races. After Mike’s crash, there was a somber atmosphere around the whole facility. The rest of qualifying was called off for the day, and some classes would be paired based on 2004 points.

The brand new Berryman Bullit. Daryl Erlich is the pilot of this new TFH Designed by Jim Dunn.

Sunday morning began with racers, crewmembers, and fans having heavy hearts. At 11 a.m., RFC IHBA Chaplin Jim Jack spoke and then there was a moment of silence for Mike Neuharth. The national anthem played and the first pair of Top Fuel Hydros came to life. Nitro was in the air and the crowd were on their feet as John Haas wheeled the Amos Satterlee tuned “Speed Sport Special” to a great 5.19 @ 229.32 win over Dale Ishimura’s nose-diving 6.52 @ 223.14. Tedesco then drove by McLellan’s radical hydro with a 5.65 @ 217.72 run, but the parachutes failed and Tedesco put the “Cannon” on the Firebird shoreline. The boat suffered some damage, but the Del Fowler led crew did a great job and would have the boat ready for round two.

Here is Liquid Quicker in the pits; this design is by Scott Ellison and is based on an RC Boat!

Daryl Erlich started the weekend in the radical Jim Dunn designed outrigger “Berryman Bullet” hull, but problems forced a switch to the Texas team’s “Hot Licks” Watercraft. The switch paid off as Erlich unloaded a 5.20 @ 219.20 on the number one qualifier Glen Wilson. World Champion Jerry Kutz in “Plumb Crazy” was declared a round one winner as Childers never left the rope. The semis began with Kutz blasting to low ET of the meet with a fireballing 5.06 @ 226.64 pass as Tedesco red lighted away a nice 5.36 @ 219.18. Erlich ran an early shut off 5.97 as the Lou Osmon owned “SSS” could not make the call.

Toxic Rocket with Glen Wilson is an all carbon fiber hull. this TFH is starting to come around. This hull is the 2nd one made. The first one built was Faulkerson's Nitro Bullit, which is ready to run but is inactive due to lack of $$$ to bring it out to play.

All other racing had ended as the “Plumb Crazy” and “Hot Licks” crews thrashed on their respective machines. Fans and racers alike crowded the side-by-side Top Fuel pit areas, and both teams were fired and ready by 5:30 P.M. (All other races were complete by 4:30). As the tree was activated, both boats launched skyward but Kutz’s big purple boat banged the blower and Erlich marched to a 5.13 @ 215.92 season opening win.

Twin Drive in the Speed Sport Special TFH of the Osman Family.

2002 IHBA Top Alcohol Hydro Champion Ted Faggart in “Superstar” marched through a great field, first putting away Reynolds in round one, and then Swanson in the semis with bracket-like 5.40 and 5.47 passes. On the other side of the ladder the Lucas Oil twin turbo boat of Terry Newton upset reigning World Champion Stokes in round one, and Darrin Christle’s “Jackal” in the semis, running a best of 5.58. In the final Faggart, parlayed a small starting line advantage and low ET of the meet (5.39 @ 222.52) to down Newton’s close 5.55 @ 216.76.

Twin Drive in Jerry Kutz's Plumb Crazy TFH. This boat has gone as quick as 4.55 at Red Bluff a couple of years ago when it was the Wild Side.

Don Bausher in “Big Trouble” won top Alcohol Flatbottom, the “funny cars” of drag boat racing. Don received a legal single in the final and idled down the track for the season opening win.

Scott Loomis in the Crap Shoot Pro Mod won the race with a heavy heart and gave all the prize money to Mike Neuharth's family. Scott has the only Jon Kaase Moutain Motor Ford in Pro Mod.

Scott Loomis in the 805 inch, nitrous assisted, mountain motored “Crapshoot” hydro ran a final round 7.07 to take the win in Pro Mod over Vic Esposito in “What a Tomato” at 7.09. Scott graciously gave his trophy and the check to Mike Neuharth’s family.

Famous Amos Satterlee has more wins in TFH than any other TFH crew chief!

Nice example of an Open Sportsman boat, an eight second class.

The Sportsman winners:

PCE - Ray Florez “Head over Heels” def. Rich Dumill “Sunday Showdown”
PE - Robert Harris “Crafty Lee” def. Gary Brown “Without a Trace”
TE - Vince Nelson “Heartbeat” def. John DiGiacinto “Rotten Banana”
ME - Matthew Doll “Lap Dance” def. Kevin Kraft “Whacker Smacker”
SE - Roger Silva “White Lightning” def. Ron Baker “ Topless”
RR - Darrin Habinger “Jett On” def. Jon Lemon “Flat Nasty”
PWC - Chad Magerkurth “ Flat Eatin my H2O”
Big Boat - Ron Ayers “Predator” def. Ted Olsen “Booze, Dope & Strippers”

Ex Drag Racer Tim Morgan was spotted checking out the action. Tim is building another TAH after crashing his last TAH at Firebird Lake last year.

With nine Top Fuelers on the grounds, and the anticipated 2005 debuts of “Madness,” “Public Nuisance,” “Megaforce,” “Performance Plus,” “Rapid Package,” “Hot Licks” with John White, and “Fear Factor,” this could well be the best year of fuel racing EVER!

2 x IHBA Top Fuel Hydro Champion Greg Tedesco has the boat set up correctly. Now they need to get motors to live.

The 2005 season moves on next to the biggest drag boat race in the country at Red Bluff, Ca., on Memorial Day weekend. BE THERE!

James Drew
Mark & Ron Westfall
Marty Reger