October 2018 web.pub

Safety Corner For The 2018 Nationals By Lohring Miller NAMBA Safety Chairman The NAMBA Nationals has always been a very safe event. I’m not aware of any racing activities that resulted in injuries from the boats. However, there have been several other incidents at the Nationals that cause major concerns. Heart attacks are a serious worry, especially as we get older. I’m aware of one at the Nationals and there may have been others. Be careful, take any heart medicine as prescribed, and slow down. Heat stroke is another very serious problem. Again, I’m aware of an incident where an ambulance was called. Don’t ignore a headache, drink lots of water, and stay out of the direct sun as much as possible. A less serious problem is sunburn. Put on a high SPF lotion on all exposed skin and wear a broad rim hat. Falls are another issue that can get serious as we get older. I’m aware of one that resulted in hospitalization. Falling out of the retrieve boat could also be a worry. Fortunately, most nationals designate retrieve boat drivers who wear life jackets and are familiar with the boat. The SD Gassers Are Born…. (Continued from page 11) It has taken a great deal of time to build things up and slowly the membership has grown to 20 plus members. We are proud of the fact that we truly aim to make it a family atmosphere. Many of our members are from the same households as we have several families involved. Classes like G-Limited Crackerbox were established in our club several years ago but did allow for a few variations such as stainless carb shafts and relieved pistons. The class required certain props and restrictions on pipe expense in an effort to keep the class cost effective and appealing. In just a short time we had over 10 boats showing up to our club races. Our classes have expanded to G-Limited Mono as well as a few others. If you have ever been apart of a new club, you know how difficult it is to start off with nothing. We also burdened ourselves with a plan not to charge racers to be a part of the club or to even race. Club members would chip in what they could and several have been key in getting this going with retrieve boats and other items. We are still growing and hope to one day build our own drivers stand, a first class PA System and maybe even venture on in to hosting District 19 races. The past few years Neal Boyle of the Argonauts has hosted a District 19 race. Due to scheduling issues, the 2017 event was not one that our club could support on a large scale. However, in 2018, we decided that even though we were separate clubs that we needed to show District 19 and it’s members that we have an active, friendly, and helpful club. We did our best to work along side Neal and help make sure he had some extra man power to host the event. Our club has talked about hosting races however I have preached to our club members that we are still not ready. After partaking in this most recent event many now understand what I have meant. Our club is continuing to grow slowly and we truly hope that over the next year or so we can continue gaining members. Once the foundation is solid enough and there are enough members that can help out, the club will inevitably branch out and host District 19 races. I had a great time at the recent San Diego race. It was great to see old friends and truly awesome to watch our young club meet some of the out of town racers that they only knew by name. It brought back those memories I had when I started out. We are still a long ways from where we want to be, but we are so much closer now than when we started. The SD Gassers want to thank Neal Boyle for his continued efforts to keep San Diego racing alive in District 19. With that being said, I truly hope that NAMBA District 19 will support our growth and understand that we really want to help grow the hobby. We just know that it starts at the local level first and foremost. So a huge thanks goes out to Peter Piraino, Tom Hockenberry, Rick Cotton, Ralph Jones, Al Waters, Mike Stewart and Paul Curwen for putting up with me and helping grow the hobby we love. I would also like to thank District 19 racers who have supported our club and joined us for club races such as Todd Soltero, DC Massey, Ron Buck, Michael Graves, Tom Drake, Tom Long and Michael Coleman. PROPWASH 12 October 2018 NAMBA retrieve boat drivers can’t do this, though it’s common other places