the foundation built, we built the railing
and folding step system. We had
beautiful weather while fabricating the
trailer, but when it came time to spray
paint the spring winds kicked up and
kept us from painting for four days.
Once we got the paint sprayed, we
installed the flooring and built the CD
Tower. The night before our event, Tom
and I stayed until 10 pm working in the
dark. We had to have the trailer finished
enough to use for our event. We towed
it to the race site the next morning at 5
am. We set the trailer up as well as the
rest of the race site. We all sat back for a
second and realized that we had actually
gotten it all done. Soon we would have
racers showing up for open water. We
would also be racing in El Paso for the
first time in 15 years. Racers began to
arrive and all that hard work was about
to be put to the test.
We had 100 boats show up for this
2011 race that was listed on short notice.
Dick Roberts, Gary Rose, Lenny and
Leanne Blake, and Ted and Kim McKay
of Arizona joined us. David and Robert
Holland of Colorado made the journey
down to race with us. Jerry Wright, Dale
Roberts, Scott Grissman, David Meloni,
David Baker, and Buford Tanniehill of
District Seven were also in attendance.
We had some great racing over two days
and saw Dale Roberts take home several
of the Shootout Championships. Scott
Grissman won a few classes as did Ted
Mckay and Robert Holland. The racing
was close and we witnessed some great
racing. Ted McKay took home the high
points award and Dale Roberts took
home the Eli Karagich “Award for
Excellence” memorial trophy.
Continued on page 14
PROPWASH
April 2012
13
2012 West Texas Shootout for Autism Awareness
By Jay Stone
Rio Grande Racers
Up until 2011, the last time I
could remember running boats at
Ascarate Lake in El Paso was in
1995 when the club was named the
El Paso Ragged Edge Racers. I was
just out of high school and slowly pulling away from the hobby due to school. When I
started back in the hobby in 1999, I was upset to learn that we no longer had access to
the lake here in El Paso.
Over the next few years, we tried to regain access to the lake but were denied. We
ended up having to travel to Carlsbad, New Mexico to do any testing. We formed the
Rio Grande Racers boat club. However we held all of our races and events in
Carlsbad. Many of us became fairly experienced at building new boats and showing
up to races to break in engines and get boats dialed-in. It was challenging to say the
least. Because of this our club membership numbers began to dwindle as well.
In 2006, I stepped away from the hobby again to sand drag race. My boats were all
sold off as I started to build my 74 Ford Bronco with a 408cui small block. I gave up
propellers for paddle tires and became the 2007 track champion in the super modified
class in El Paso. 700+ hp in a short wheel base was fun, but racers started dropping
ridiculous amounts of money on 560+ cui engines. I stepped away from racing and
settled into crew chief duties for my friends Top Alcohol Dragster. During this time I
began running into Henry Keller, who was is a crew chief of a Top Dragster team.
Henry and I had raced boats together back in the early 1990’s in El Paso. He and I
talked at length one day at a race and he informed me that he was working to get us
back on the water at Ascarate Lake. A few weeks later he called me and said he
wanted to have a meeting and asked me to contact people in our area that had run
boats in the past. Our first meeting took place with about six members in attendance.
Henry informed all of us that after quite a bit of effort, he had once again secured the
water for us again in El Paso.
Henry’s daughter Annmarie is an avid racer. She has competed in the Junior
Dragster ranks and also raced her Super Comp dragster. She was now racing boats and
giving the guys a run for their money in another sport. Annmarie just so happens to
suffer from a High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder. With that in mind, we
decided as a club to team up with the Autism Society of El Paso. Henry and his wife
Maribeth were very familiar with the Autism Society as they had gained assistance
from them for many years helping deal with Annmarie’s condition.
Within a month, we re-formed the Rio Grande Racers club, signed our club up with
NAMBA, and made sure we had all of our site insurance paperwork submitted. The
club held its first play day at Ascarate Lake on February 27, 2011. Our club was slated
to have a district race in June. We knew we had to secure a retrieve boat, PA system,
and some sort of driver’s stand before that date. In the meantime, we kept having play
days and saw our club continue to grow. On April 5
th
I was working to get everything
together for our June race when we learned that the San Antonio club would not be
able to host their race due to drought like conditions. After several calls between
Henry Keller and myself, we made a decision that was seen as completely crazy by the
rest of our club. We decided to step up and take the April 30-May 1st race date that
San Antonio was giving up. This gave us less than four weeks to get everything ready
and we were now even further behind the eight ball than we had been before.
A local farmer donated a 8x24 foot cotton trailer. The wood was completely rotted
out and the trailer needed bracing and supports added. I immediately looked to my
dear friends Anselmo Najera and Alfredo Balcorta who had assisted me in building
my Bronco. In three weeks we totally disassembled the trailer, built and welded in
cross member bracing as well as jack supports on all four corners of the trailer. Tom
Balliet, JC Greenlee, and Tony Solo assisted in this process. Tom was there each and
every day and thankfully kept me from completely pulling my hair out. After getting
Robert Holland in the winners circle