NAMBA October 2021 Web.pub

20 October 2021 PROPWASH While You Were Gone… By Dave Rychalsky NAMBA History Chairman For many, it becomes difficult to run the racing circuit year after year. A number of things pop up in our lives that force model boating to take a back seat. Two of the most prominent ones are supporting your kids in their school sporting activities, and the other is job restrictions. When we are young, we have all the time in the world to devote to model boating; however, as the size of our families grow, going to soccer games / practices, basketball leagues, baseball travel leagues, etc., take the place of race dates. Work ends up causing interruptions in racing because In Memory Of “Big Daddy Don” (Continued from Page 19) himself and did a better job than I think I could have done myself as an accomplished boat painter. Don was a fixture at every race and most every Nationals. Always a true gentleman with a kind heart, he greeted everyone with a warm smile and hearty handshake. Despite him being such an accomplished painter himself, Don still called on me to paint one of his boats which was the Nitrogen Too boat. He said I want you to start with that scheme but do what you want, so I did. I added a little bit of this and a little a bit of that to truly make the boat their own. The boat even went on to become a National Champion with both Don and his son Tod sharing the cockpit. Don was so proud of that moment that the picture of him and his son’s accomplishment lived on the door of their trailer for all to see even until he passed on. It was the last paint job I ever did for Don and happy to say it was the best I had done as well. Don will always be missed as one of those faces that carved out the character of District 9. His students had to feel lucky to get him as their teacher in school. I was lucky to have him as a teacher in life. Rest In Peace Big Daddy Don. Your legacy will live on forever. – Roger Hooks, Jr . Don was a dear friend. He would ask for something I could get for him and push till he got it. We would talk about history which is what he taught in school. We didn't talk politics because we both agreed we didn't like what was going on. Sometimes he would talk about nothing at all, just to have a conversation. He always helped me when I needed it, without even me asking. I will miss him dearly. – Dave Bestpitch I first met Don at the 1981 District 9/19 Shootout race when I traveled 5 hours for my first race ever. Then in 1984 I moved to Northern California and since then he was a 2nd Dad to me and Uncle Don to my kids. This is a hard time for the Levescy family. He will be missed greatly. – Tom Levescy Don was a father figure to ALL of us...especially to my boys. He always had the part or piece you needed to get running and willingly shared. Great guy. David, Tod, Jay and Eric were and still are brothers from another mother...love ‘em all – Bob Tuttle My first memory of Don Osman was him sitting in a living room style recliner outside the Hydromaniacs trailer at the 2004 NAMBA Nationals. Inspiring! It wasn’t until I relocated to Dis- trict 9 in 2014 that I got to be around the Osman family more often and though by then Don’s time racing was mostly behind him, he did still get on that radio a few times and was in the thick of it with Tod, Jay, and Eric racing. He was always so welcoming and one to spark up a conversation. A true gentleman in racing – Chris Wittrig Rest In Peace Big Daddy Don. March 15, 1936 - August 2, 2021 of the globe. There are only 24 hours in a day and if you’re lucky, life seems to use up all of them. So, in my case, my son played soccer, baseball, basketball and golf while growing up. Taking him to various games and driving long distances for travel competitions meant that the boats will need to sit on the shelf for a while. On top of that, I was the VP of the town’s recreational basketball association for boys and girls from second grade through high school; which was an agonizing full-time job in itself. Parents are downright insane when it comes to their self-proclaimed so-called “gifted” child in any sport. I can write a book on the pathetic nature of a parent who thinks their child will make it to the pros! We would get 15 emails / calls a day from parents whining about a call from a referee against his / her child, a foul that wasn’t called or the type of socks some kids wore that “upset” their child. I had one father who yelled out to a sixth grade girl on his daughter’s team “make this shot you dumb B!#ch” because she missed the first foul shot!!! (Yeah, I had to call the police as the father of the girl slugged the guy). If anyone EVER wonders why people don’t volunteer to help in youth sports – it’s because of the wretched parents. I wake up happy every day knowing I don’t have to interface with any of those parental d***kh***s. – EV- ER! Anyway, upon my return to model boating last year (well, actually, this year), I found out a few things. First of all, never leave your radio box sealed for lengthy periods of time (years). If there was moisture inside, well it’s fungus. If you use balloons to seal your receiver & battery pack, some of the balloons just melted. It’s not heat, but the breakdown of the material of the balloons over time just seem to melt. If you happen to partially cover your boats during your hiatus, any sunlight hitting that boat will fade the paint on the uncovered sections. Even if you put the battery packs on trickle charge, after a few years, they are garbage – so toss them out. And if you decide to use them and something odd happens while you are running your boat, you will always have the thought of the battery pack being the root cause of the boat’s lack of response or erratic behavior. And, by ALL means, if you have a Lithium polymer battery and it looks “puffed” up, dispose of it properly and do not attempt to use it or recharge it. It’s as dead as Vanilla Ice’s career. It is wise to remove the engine and carb and perform an inspection. Take a look at the bearings, the piston / sleeve, to see if they need to be replaced. Especially check the Walbro carbs too – they need to be cleaned and re-built. If you happen to forgot to remove the flex shaft, you can probably toss that too. I left one boat, my Sport 40-II with the flex shaft still inside and there’s rust build-up on the shaft – yup tossed it. I typically remove the shaft after each race and place them in a four inch PVC pipe filled with marvel oil. A PVC grille is on the top and keeps the prop end out of the tube while the flex shafts are submerged in the oil. The Sport 40-II boat was somehow forgotten…dammit. So, when I entered my first race, I noticed a few things very different than six years ago – those other boaters have a ton of gray hair and wrinkles! I’m not talking a few gray hairs and wrinkles; I’m talking Alan Hobbs old. I also noticed there wasn’t one nitro powered boat at all. No one in District 1 is running nitro – it’s all gas. I have two nitro Scale boats, a Sport 40 II, a .21 mono and an “A” Mod tunnel that will probably end up being hangar queens. The reliability of a gas-powered boat has eclipsed the finicky nitro power plant. I know some districts are still running nitro classes, but it seems many are pushing the gas and fast electric powered boats. The major negative about gas powered boats is the fact that they are typically larger than the nitro boats, and hence, make it a challenge to get any gas boat up the stairs without bashing into a wall. I can carry a “C” hydro and “X” hydro rigger at the same time up the stairs without worry.