NAMBA Propwash 04-2023 Web.pub

PROPWASH 2 April 2023 This committee meets twice a month via Zoom along with Karl Loveless and myself, I’m so pleased with the progress they have already made in such a short amount of time. David Santistevan NAMBA’s IT Chairman has been working with his team to provide us with a race management program that is currently being tested with great success in a couple of districts. We look forward to being able to use it in the near future. Great job David! The Arrive and Drive program is now available for all districts and clubs to use as tool to get potential members involved with no cost to the new member during these events. Finally, we will be looking to update our current NAMBA logo. We will be sending out examples of new logos to include our current logo for our membership to vote on. This year is an odd numbered year which means all odd numbered NAMBA Districts will be selecting new District Directors. If you would like to serve as a District Director, make sure to get your nomination along with your supporting signatures to the NAMBA Office before September 1st. We will also be voting for a new NAMBA President and Vice President. These offices are crucial to the direction of our organization. In order for NAMBA to move forward in serving its members and our hobby we need good people to step into these positions. If you or someone you know would like to serve your fellow members, prepare your nomination along with your supporting signatures and get them to the NAMBA Office before September 1st. I can honestly say, I have thoroughly enjoyed being your District 19 Director, serving two terms as your Vice President and now your NAMBA President. Some of my best friends in world I have met while enjoying this wonderful hobby. Please do your best to get involved, help your local club, spend time guiding a potential member and support your District Director. Be in the moment, be positive and respectful and most importantly enjoy the time spent with your fellow members, after all this is the reason, we enjoy our hobby. Please remember NAMBA is our members working with and for each other. 50th Anniversary NAMBA Nationals By Chris Wittrig Co-Contest Director 2022 marked the 50th Anniversary of the first ever NAMBA Nationals held in 1972 at Legg Lake in South El Monte, California and hosted by NAMBA District 9 before the formation of District 19 a few years later. District 9 was honored to have the opportunity to host this special anniversary event and took to task raising the bar by delivering an experience for the racers that paid due respect to the significance of that 50th Anniversary. When I was District 9 Director, we requested to host the event and to have it is a very spectator and racer friendly site in Seaside, California. Roberts Lake in Seaside is on the opposite side of a small highway from the ocean and our host hotel was on the beach and a less than 10-minute walk from the hotel to the driver’s stand. Several restaurants and other amenities were within a short walk of the race site and in a less than 10-minute drive participants were able to enjoy days or evenings on Cannery Row in Monterey or taking the legendary 17-mile drive along the peninsula. In 2021 I decided to relocate out of California and discussions were held regarding what that meant for the Nationals event. Through those discussions Central Coast Model Boaters, the host club of the Seaside site, and their club President Bob Tuttle stepped forward and offered to be the host club of the event with Bob sharing the Contest Director role with me. From there they rallied their club members, we pulled in other talent where needed, and plans were put into place to bring racers and their families an event to remember. At the 2022 we introduced something new – the poker chips. Event-branded blue, red, and grey chips handed out to the first, second, and third place finishers on the driver’s stand at the end of their heat. Drivers could then take the chips to the office area to redeem raffle tickets with three going to first place, two to second, and one to third. It also made a nice keepsake to commemorate the event that replaced the traditional ribbons that have been given out and created a lot less work for the people who already do so much during the event. We’ll get to the results later. I want to give recognition to the people who helped make this one of the more memorable NAMBA Nationals events. THE RACERS: What a great group of racers we had this year. The Nationals always feels like a family reunion so it’s nice to see those people we sometimes only see once per year as well as welcome new faces to our family. This year was even more challenging due to the increased cost of getting to and from the event as well as some coming to the west coast in back-to-back years. During the planning phase we were very conservative in our expectations of attendees and boats and the racers blew that away with just under 100 participants and just under 600 boats. Having offered Wednesday in the middle of the week as an off day to enjoy the area (the weather didn’t disappoint) there were some days with a lot of heats to run and we asked for help from the racers by being ready for heats, letting us know if they are scratching a class, and putting forward a good face for our hobby with the spectators and they did not disappoint. Thank you, racers!! BOB TUTTLE: As I mentioned before, Bob stepped up and offered his club to help host the event. It doesn’t stop there though. Bob used his skills to build an incredible driver’s stand for this event, and also worked with his employer, Vince Felicetta at Brown Felicetta Designs in Watsonville, California to cut the amazing and truly unique trophies that were handed out which is something their shop had never done. Bob was also instrumental in working with the City of Seaside coordinating boat racing activities at the pond. ROGER HOOKS JR: When we were awarded the 50th Anniversary NAMBA Nationals the first person I reached out to was Roger. There isn’t much that people saw or touched related to the Nats that Roger didn’t have his hands in. If it was creative content, logos, t-shirts, trophies, program, swag box, or even custom paint jobs on some of the raffle boats Roger was involved. Truly the most talented graphic artist in all RC Boat racing, Roger was critical to making this event special and he didn’t let us down. Kudos as well to his wife Amy and daughter Kaiya for all their help with those swag boxes. JEFF LANGAN: Jeff is still relatively new to RC boat racing and a member of Central Coast Model Boaters. This was his first Nationals event. One of the things people will remember most about the 50th Anniversary NAMBA Nationals is the welcome party held at his employer’s site Monterey Touring Vehicles. Monterey Touring Vehicles rents classic cars for drives through the historic Monterey Peninsula. Jeff arranged having the event in their car barn, lined up the catering and Tap Truck, and brought one of those classic cars to display each day at the event. Jeff also took on one of the most critical jobs at the event – pit boss. He worked the area getting gift certificates and coupons