Yes Folks, it's true.
The Broadway Bod Busters won 17-1/2% of the first through third award offerings at the entire 2010 NW Regionals. This is an all time haul for the boys in black, and you thought we were in it for the money!
Noel Coward wrote about going out into the midday sun and so it was for the Bod Busters who arrived at noon for the first day of competition. To say the BBB arrived at the speed circle doesn't create the visual; it's more like letting a litter of puppies out all at once. Lines going this way and that, props and tables higgled-piggledy, the constant drone of "Do you have one of these? I can't find mine" and the unending parade of F2D proto speeds and 1/2A proto speed interrupting the otherwise serene speed atmosphere.
F2D Proto, was led by none other than the Combat Monster (Don McKay) who set a new Regionals record of 99+ mph beating Kenny-b's old record of 97 mph.. The event now requires .014 solid lines eliminating all previous records. Speeds were down a bit but the challenge was met by the Rein Man who by all accounts, should have blown everyone off the tarmac. An unfortunate shaft run on his super fast pc-7 brought the effort to a screeching halt with a disappointing 97+ mph. The Buzz Man also had a secret weapon that remains secret. Turning a nifty 102 in the event BEFORE the line change to .014 solids, Buzz managed to just squeak out a 93+ mph speed for third best time. Me? I didn't bring the model due to pure laziness and too many other things to do.
The So-Cal boys lad by Jerry Rocha cleaned up the 1/2A proto event with 105 mph and the Combat Monster taking 3rd place with a respectable 89 mph. The Rein Man blew up his Profi and my "not so secret weapon" (Picco P-0) fitted with a new crankshaft and head ran sickly for a dead last place.
With lead in stolen from Paul
Revere and the Raiders, The Louie-Louie Speed Team, brought out their deadly
McGee .65 powered D job to post the winning time in D speed. While slower
than before, the Louie-Mobile sounded and looked much faster than the 172+
posted. Mike-Louie and Ken-Louie (right) were certain they had broken 180
mph when the sad news was handed down by the timers. Further inspection
showed that the prop was slipping during the flight! The following day the
Louie brothers tried it again only to have the secret "purple prop"
crack and flex out during the even slower flight.
Some of you may not know it, but to pull a D speed is a formidable task. The Louie-Mobile pull tests at 131 lbs! Several of the Bod Busters were holding onto Kenny-b while the Beavers held on to Mike-Louie. It looked like a tug of war between the BBB and the Beavers, in the midst of all this, Mike was heard yelling "the pull test hooks are bending!" but all went well.
The Bod Busters gave up an unheard of two first place trophies in combat. One in 80 mph in a well fought match between The Rein Man and Andrew Prior, and one in D-Bat. It was none other than The Alien (Mel Lyne) who went undefeated in D-bat and escaped in his alien-mobile after the event.
Equipment in all events seemed to be of good caliber with very few bad runs in all three events. The reintroduction of the CS Oliver tiger made its presence known in Vintage diesel combat. Several were trying it out with better results than the standard PAW or Sharma. The fastest engines were the Sharma, and a CT tuned PAW but not by much. This is really good news for those who have struggled with setting the correct compression and needle valve on the balky diesels, the CS Ollie is a more user friendly engine.
1/2A equipment was mostly Jeff Dawson wings and Cyclon, Fora and profi power plants.
80 mph is increasing in F2D type equipment mainly due to the Chehalis-Cup series. A mixture of foam and "store bought" designs were used, with the edge going to the quicker and lighter F2D models. Is it possible we are ushering out the big iron?
Although we brought out several racers, the Ryan team did, too. Rock Star Paul Gibeault had pit issues that could not be overcome. Although he broke all existing records in Mouse 1, he had the assistance of Kenny-b as a pit man. Kenny was found wandering near the hot-dog stand just moments before the start of the race and an intense training session took place. By the finals the two Bod Busters were more in sync and turned a record breaking 5:07,but it missed the mark set by the Ryan team of 5.03. (not bad racing).
The Rock Star was devastated, so much so that we could not snap him out of it until after a smoking run in F2A speed, at which point he began asking, "What happened in the other racing events?"We had to tell him it was hats off to the Ryan team.
The absence of Steve-O was noticed and the loss of his presence was reflected in our stunt scores. Dirty Dan the Stunt Guru has been laying back like a good punch line. Just when you think it's safe to come out, he'll be there with one of his excellent runs. Dan did have his excellent flying Wimpact there, and it looked flawless.
The Rein Man has taken a vow never to fly stunt again due to some issues of inconsistent stunt judging but after seeing ex combat flyer Gordon Delany's twin flown by ex combat flyer Howard Rush, he may just reconsider.
Once again the BBB has added to the fraternity of the Bod. After much discussion and a long courtship, the BBB is proud to announce the addition of The Lone Wolf, Robert Smith.
Robert comes to us with a long history of all manner of control line that includes jet speed! Robert is one of the few who has flown at the old Sand Point contests of the 60's, and was one of the first to adopt .15 size 80 mph combat ships in the NW. He has been making improvements to the R&B Ripp-off, and has a very tight turning version of our foamie. Robert hails from Roy, Wash., and has his own personal flying field.
We welcome Robert.
But wait, there's more! Yet another member of the combat community has been invited to join our ranks. Known for his foot fetish as imprinted on huge combat wings, it is none other than Lee Letchworth. Lee hails from the Bay area (Rodeo California) and was at one time a professional street performer. Not to be confused with a professional street walker, Lee would perform feats of magic and skill as he still does today with a combat wing. We explained the Rules of being a Bod Buster to Lee, that is:
There are no dues, there are no more than two meetings a year at Stars, once you are a member you cannot quit or be kicked out. You were selected not only for your talent but for yourself and how you are.
As with all members, a pseudo name is given each member, after much rancor and debate with our good friend Gary Payton, he has relinquished the name "The Glove" and it now belongs to Lee "The Glove" Letchworth
We welcome Lee.
Yar, Yar..
The Broadway Bod Busters almost took more
awards than were offered in all classes of stunt. WOW!
20 total awards! At this rate, we'll have to have a bowling tournament!
The BBB want to express our heartfelt thanks to Mike Hazel, John Thompson, The Eugene Prop Spinners and all of the sponsors and experts who helped run things, for putting on the Grande-Dame of control line flying.
This year was special in that you can hear footsteps of change coming and I think all appreciate the event more and more each year. From the dominance of the Ryans in racing to the high fivin stunt guys in the hospital, it was a time to remember
-- Kenny-b.
Broadway Bod Busters members (from left) Ken Burdick, Dan
Rutherford, Jeff Rein, Paul Gibeault, Bob Smith, Buzz Wilson. Not pictured:
Don McKay, Lee Letchworth. Flying Lines photo.
This page was upated June 5, 2010