I guess we were all pretty shocked to hear about the loss of Curt Anderson yesterday. You could look around the R/CU pits at any given race and, well, Curt might have seemed to rank among the most likely to remain upright. I, for one, expected to rub decks with Curt for many more races to come. So I, like you, am deeply saddened to learn this morning that I have lost another good friend and racing buddy.
I say now, as we so often do, that I regret that I did not know Curt better off the race course. He and Greg made every effort, but I was always anxious to head home after a Tri-Cities race. Still, this does not diminish my R/CU experiences with Curt one bit- they were all great. Some were even epic. As a perennial middle of the packer', I might, on the occasional race, elevate to the level where I gave Curt and/or Greg a few problems out on the race course. And often on these occasions, I would be racing against Curt, or calling for somebody racing against him. You get the picture- we were in a lot of close races against either each other, or with the racer we were each calling for. Since a lot of those ended up being drag races to the finish line, we shared a lot of laughs and a lot of post-race jabs on the driver's stand. It was always good fun and always good natured with Curt and I, like many, really appreciated that aspect of his personality. He raced hard, but if it didn't work out, he was still going to make it a fun time. He was still going to laugh about it. It was the same whether he struggled, or he won the race.
I only raced with Curt for seven or eight seasons. (I forget now!) But many in R/CU have raced with him for over two decades. Curt, I learn now, was one of our 'old timers' in R/CU. And when we lose one of the old timers, we really feel it at the beach.
I could pretty much count on seeing Curt at Two Rivers Park for the first race of the season. Heck, I think he may have lived in the neighborhood. As I have been working to get my boat ready for the Kennewick trip, my fond memories of racing there flood back and fuel the anticipation for the next season opener, a little over a month away. I was looking forward to tangling with Curt and Greg with great relish. Today, those high hopes and giddy preseason expectations are all put to the side as my thoughts turn to Curt, the person, and what I learned from knowing him. I have a lot to think about.
One small detail of Curt's life- one which perhaps does not matter to anyone else but me- will remain a profound mystery, now lost forever with his passing. How in the world did he ever get one (or maybe 2) K motors to last for several years? Incredible! Unbelievable!
Via con Dios, Curt. You will be missed by all of us.
Marc Connelly
If you would like to leave your feelings like Marc has done here, a Memorial page has been created for that.
3/10/2009 - March Newsletter
The latest newsletter is available for you to read. See link at right side of the Home page. Members, please remember to send your stories in to Geoffry so he can continue to have something to mention in the newsletter. He does such a great job; it would be a shame to not have these newsletters published anymore due to lack of contributed content.
3/9/2010 - Sad News
It is with great sadness that we announce a fellow racer has passed away. Curt Anderson passed away at his house on Monday morning of an unknown illness. When we get more details we will pass them on.
3/4/2010 - Boat Draw
The following boats will be up for draw. Boat Registration forms must be filled in and postmarked by March 26, 2010 to be eligible. The date of draw will be April 2, 2010
9516 1999 U-16 E-Lam Plus (white)
8808 1988-90 U-8 Mr Pringles
8200 1988 U-31 Miller High Life
8901 1994 U-1 Miss Budweiser
7704 1983 U-21 Island Security Systems
5677 1963 U-75 Miss Exide
9299 2005 U-5 FormulaBoats.com
8255 1983 U-100 Miss Rock KISW
8255 1986 U-100 Boat
8803 1996 U-3 Roostertail
9401 03-05 U-8 Llumar Window Films
2/17/2010 - Registrations
Just a reminder if you haven't paid your yearly registration dues. You are now late and may send them in with a $15.00 late fee. Boats not paid up by February 28th will go up for draw on the 5th of March.
2/15/2010 - Newsletter request
Hey everybody, its Geoffry Grembowski, and I want to try and put out the next edition of the newsletter before the season starts. In order to do this I ask that you send in articles, pictures (especially of new boats), links, or any other snippets of information that you know exists in the racing world. Send them to the link above right, then look for the newsletter to come out soon!
1/23/2010 - Updated Registrations
Your 2010 boat registrations and tri-annuals are due on Feb 1. You have 9 days to get them Chet Lepinski. If you need to know what you owe either check the Registration information in the Members Section, or .
1/7/2010 - Glow Plug Buy
Brian Lepinski is putting together a glow plug order for O'Donnel Blue plugs. The plugs will be priced at $3.59 per plug if we order up to 500 plugs. If the order gets up to 1000 plugs or more, the price will be $3.29 per plug.
These O'Donnell blue plugs are the same ones that the Brandt's were running last season and in Brian's opinion hold up better than MC-9 plugs. Please
and let him know the quantity you would like ASAP. Brian will let everyone know the price on February 15th. Money will be due on February 31st. Plug delivery will be at the race sites, or he will ship it to you if you want to pay postage.
11/21/2009 - RCU Video
Check out this video that gives an overview of R/C Unlimiteds and what you might expect if you were to join or attend a race. If you are interested in racing with us, we would be happy to accept you! You can consider us just an extension of your family. We would love to have you come race with us, and we will give you some good competition as well! We hope to see you at a race soon!
5/24/2009 - Up Close Racing
Here is a video of the '93 Circus Circus making its rounds in an Ellensburg test session. This is your chance to see an 1/8 scale hydroplane running the coarse up close and personal!
Established in 1974, "R/C Unlimiteds" is a group of hydroplane enthusiasts who race 1/8th scale Radio Controlled models of Unlimited hydroplanes, of the past and present. The size of our propeller driven boats are approximately 2 feet wide, by 4 feet long. We use .67 (11cc) sized marine inboard engines that produce around 3HP. Our top boats travel in excess of 60MPH!!! Our over 60 club members race over 85 different radio controlled unlimited hydroplanes ranging from the 1964 Miss Eagle Electric to the latest 2006 Oh Boy! Oberto. We run a fourteen race circuit throughout Washington. While the size of the boats may be small, the competitive juices, excitement and challenge are all as large as they are for our full sized counterparts.
The races that we have are run under the same rules and regulations as the full size unlimited hydroplanes. The race format can vary slightly from race to race, but generally, four flights of preliminary heats are run to accumulate points which qualify boats to run in the "winner take all final". A tally will be made of the points each boat has gained after it has raced against other boats in four different heats. The top 6 boats (#1 - #6), according to most points gained after the preliminary heats, will be placed in the "winner take all final". The next 6 boats in points (#7 - #12) will make it into the First Consolation race. The following 6 boats in points after that (#13 - #18) will make it into the Second Consolation race.
An example of one race format could be as follows:
The Second Consolation race would be raced, and the winner of that race would advance into the First Consolation race.
Then the First Consolation race would be raced (including the winner of the Second Consolation) and the winner of this race would become the "trailer" in the "Winner take all Final".
The "trailer" in the "Winner take all Final" has to start two buoy lengths back at the start of the race, unless another boat in the Final were to "die" before 30 seconds to the start. If a boat in the Final dies before the 30 seconds to the start of the race, then the "trailer" boat can start up with the rest of the group instead of having to start two buoy lengths back.
HEAT RACES:
1st place earns 400 points
2nd place earns 300 points
3rd place earns 225 points
4th place earns 169 points
5th place earns 127 points
6th place earns 95 points
7th place earns 71 points
Full points are awarded in preliminary heats, and in the Final
1/2 points are awarded in the First Consolation heat
1/4 points in the Second Consolation heat.
Our circuit is called the Oh Boy! Oberto Championship Series and runs from April through October each year. An average of forty boats show up at each event and the races run from about 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
No reproduction or modification of content is permitted. You must receive express written permission from Stubbers Media to use any materials such as images, video, or text which are owned by R/C Unlimiteds / Stubbers Media.
Boat Registration forms must be filled in and postmarked by March 26, 2010 to be eligible. The date of draw will be April 2, 2010