Roostertail Talk
A show dedicated for preserving the history, breaking down the racing and looking to the future of the incredible sport of Unlimited Hydroplane racing. My name is David Newton, and I will be bringing you a weekly show in which we will discuss the boats, drivers, owners, crew members, legends, fans and anything that is involved with the sport that I love; hydroplane racing.
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Roostertail Talk
Episode 152: Steve Montgomery, Part 3
The voice that defined an era of hydroplane racing returns for the captivating conclusion of our three-part interview with legendary broadcaster Steve Montgomery. Take a nostalgic journey through the golden age of unlimited racing as Steve shares extraordinary stories from his decades behind the microphone.
Photo by Digital Roostertails
Help the podcast by subscribing to our new service, Roostertail Talk+. The podcast is still free to all on our website and through all major podcast platforms (such as Apple Podcast, Spotify, Castbox, etc) but with Roostertail Talk+ there is more you can enjoy ! With this service you will get early links to new episodes, enjoy access to extra content, raffle prizes and more. This is a new service that we will be adding to as we move along. As always your support to make this show grow is very appreciated! https://www.buzzsprout.com/434851/supporters/new
Ruchetel Talk, the podcast dedicated to everything about the sport that we all love, Hydroplane Racing. I am your host, david Newton, and it's time once again. So sit back, relax and welcome to Rooster Tail Talk talk. Hello race fans, welcome back to the podcast. It's episode 152. And today you're going to be treated with part three of my interview with Steve Montgomery. Now this is the conclusion, the last part of my interview with Steve. I had a great talk with Steve Montgomery. Now this is the conclusion, the last part of my interview with Steve. I had a great talk with Steve.
Speaker 1:Hope you were able to listen to parts one and two. If you haven't listened to that, please go back. Listen to episodes 150 and 151, as you're going to hear Steve talk more about the beginnings of his career. But we're going to jump in and he's going to talk more about more of the locations that he's traveled throughout his career broadcasting races for H1 Unlimited. Back in the day it was called UHRA, urc and it's had a lot of names, but he was the voice for many years and he's got he has more stories to share. So let's jump back in to my talk with Steve Montgomery to share. So let's jump back in to my talk with Steve Montgomery Thinking about broadcasting with that. Like you said, you've traveled to so many different races, and especially in the 90s when they had nine, 10, 11 race seasons, traveling from places all around the coast to coast. Did you have any favorite race sites that you would go to to broadcast?
Speaker 2:You know if it was a race site. I loved it period. Detroit was great. I had great friends in the press room and on the committee. I always loved going to San Diego Good friends down there. Certainly among my favorites all time would be Hawaii and talk about being in the right place at the right time. Don Jones was commissioner and I was in his office, um, over in uh, what do they call that area? Lower Queen Anne, the seafair office and he had just gotten off the phone and he said come in, sit down. We're going to Hawaii. And I said who is? And he said we're going to run, we're going to run on Pearl Harbor. And I said wow, how are you going to do that? And he explained to me how they're going to ship the boats and everything and I said uh, do they have an announcer?
Speaker 2:And Don said uh just a minute and he dialed a number. He said hi, it's me again. He said do you guys have announcers you want to use or do you want me to bring one? Okay, and he hung up the phone. He said you're the uh hydro. You're the announcer for honolulu hydro fest. And I said wow, and that was a. That's a good chapter in the book. There were wonderful experiences connected. I mean talked about getting treated well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we were working with the navy and when you go put on a new race, it was always a struggle getting all the logistics and you know all the people doing the. The Navy didn't have any of that. It was like you know, stand by this gate. If they have a blue badge they can come in, a yellow one has to go over there. The thing went smoothly from day one and they were the first.
Speaker 2:I went over with Don Jones I think it was probably a Wednesday when we got there the first time and we went out to the uh Ford Island. You had to take a boat to get there. They put a bridge in later, but originally we had to boat it all the time. So we're standing on this island. No civilian had been there since World War II. And we're looking around and Don said, okay, well, this will be a pit area right here, this long cement thing and I'm going to, I need a over over to. There is where the race course will be, so I need some kind of a tower or something there for the officials. And the people said okay, and Don said now we're going to have spectators here, so this three foot grass has to be cut down. They said, all right, well, by Thursday night the grass was three inches long and they had a tower that they used for painting ships. It was a barge with a tower on it and they had dragged that over and put it there. And they put that whole thing together in no time at all.
Speaker 2:The funny part of that story was that the captain of Pearl Harbor and I didn't know Navy ranks, but captain is a pretty big rank in the Navy Captain of Pearl Harbor was Doug Porter and he was with us setting all this up. Bob Fendler had been instrumental in that whole thing. Bob actually started the process with the previous captain of Pearl Harbor, denny Blair, who was from West Seattle, which was one of the reasons that that race happened. Denny was gone. He had, uh, whatever they call it done his three years and he was in Washington DC. So captain Porter had taken over.
Speaker 2:So we get the race underway, we're qualifying and all that stuff. And captain Porter and I were standing on the tower and he said how are you getting out here tomorrow? And I said, oh, I'll catch one of the boats. He said, well, I'm going out at such and such a time. Meet me in that parking lot and you can ride on my boat. And I said, okay. So I still don't understand what a captain is, right? Yeah, so we get on this neat little gig. It's a crewman and the captain and his dad, who was in town, and me. We're heading over to the island and I notice that every boat that meets us is saluting the boat that I'm on and I thought something's going on here. This is kind of a big deal, yeah. So I mentioned that to somebody later and they said Steve, the captain of Pearl Harbor is in command of Pearl Harbor.
Speaker 1:This is the guy.
Speaker 2:The next guy above him is in charge of the whole Pacific fleet. So I told Doug Porter this story and he said well, don't feel bad, when I came out here I came from the Pentagon, but before that I had ships. So they had a party for me on one of the ferries that goes back and forth to the island, had it all decorated up and all that stuff. My wife heard two guys standing in the corner on this ferry and one of them said you know, doug must've really screwed up. He had a heavy cruiser and now he's got this damn ferry. So don't feel bad about not understanding all of the ranks in the Navy, but we had a wonderful time working with the Navy. It was a. They needed a place for me to stay and so they put me in something called the Bachelor Officer's Quarters, which sounded pretty nice. Me in something called the bachelor officer's quarters, which sounded pretty nice. It was like a very old motel, six okay, with no, no air conditioner or anything. But I was happy I was in hawaii. Yeah, so I'm. I'm standing there on my first day and, um, tom burke, who, uh, who I had met earlier. Well, I guess I met him. Then somebody brought him. Frank de Frank DeSilva from MWR Navy, brought this guy over, introduced him as Tom Burke.
Speaker 2:Tom ran the Outrigger Hotels in Honolulu. He said are you staying with us? And I said, oh no, I'm over here in this. Tom said, well, is it nice? I said, well, I can't say that, but it works. And Tom said, well, come into town, we'll put you in a room. And I said really, Sure, okay, he said. He said I'll check back with you, so he comes back in about an hour. And he said go to go into Honolulu, find the Outrigger Tower I think it was called and give them your name. They have a room for you.
Speaker 2:I said well thank you very, very much. It was going to be quite an upgrade, right? So I go into town, find the tower, they give me a key and I go up to my room and I don't remember the floor it was on, but it was next to the elevator shaft and it was kind of a funny shaped little room and all night the elevator went up and down. So the next day Tom Burke comes up to me and says did you stay with us? And I said yes, sir, thank you very much. And I said he said well, how was the room? And I said you know it's just fine. He said well, what do you? You don't sound like it was great. And I said well, it was right next to the elevator. Tom said oh no, do we have permission to move your stuff? I said yes, you certainly do. They said go to the desk again, give me your name. So I did that. They handed me a key and it said like 2102 on it. So I go over to the elevators and the elevator goes up to 20. So I go up to the 20th floor and I get off and there's two little elevators out of that floor and one of them says 2102. So I take that one and now I'm on the roof of the hotel, like like the opening of Hawaii Five-0. And I'm up there by myself and I've got this suite and I thought I was there for about four or five days. I didn't know anybody that would want to come up and see my suite, so I spent that whole time by myself in this incredible suite.
Speaker 2:Then the other story that was great was Frank DeSilva brought a guy over and he said Steve, you need to meet Todd nicely, he needs your help. And I said how do you do? What can I do for you? He said, well, I'm putting on the award ceremony and I need an emcee. Could you help us out? And I said I'd be happy to, sir. And Frank said well, you, you should know that Todd's job is he runs the golf course.
Speaker 2:I said, oh, so, todd nicely, and I became good friends and I played many happy rounds of golf on the Pearl Harbor golf course. In fact, debbie and I actually went over years later. He was still there. Oh, wow, and put us on the course. So I met a lot of great people Tom Burke and Larry Warnken and Frank DeSilva from MWR, which was Morale, welfare and Recreation, kind of like the old USO. Okay, and Bob Fendler and his wife, great people who were wonderful hosts, some of my favorites, good memories there. We had a party. We were invited to a party at the Admiral's house. This guy was Sink Pack Fleet, which is short for Commander-in-Chief Pacific Fleet. Okay, that's big.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:That's half the world. He lived in a house up on the hill above Pearl Harbor Pacific fleet Okay, that's big. Okay, that's half the half half the world. He lived in a house up on the hill above Pearl Harbor and it was the house where Admiral Nimitz had stood on the deck and watched the bombing of Pearl Harbor. So we're out there with the Admiral and he says this is where Nimitz stood, right here and right down there is where the planes came in, and that, wow, wow, little bit of history right here. You know great memories, but we got treated. We got treated great over there and they were really great trips. Debbie says well, why didn't I know you then?
Speaker 2:Cause she came a little later and I said, boy, that would have been great yeah man?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's, it's. It's fun to recall those memories and think back to the places the sport went to and raced at, and they were there for a decade or so.
Speaker 2:Someone the other day asked me that there was something about one year because of the way the APBA schedule was. I think we did two races in the same calendar year or something like that. It ended up being like 11 races in 10 years.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Boy, they went by fast. Yeah, speaking of the golf tournament, the golf course, for long time we had a tournament on Thursdays and a lot of the drivers played in it. It was really fun back then, but I was doing something and I couldn't. I couldn't get there until Thursday morning. I took a plane out of Seattle, so I told Todd and um and Frank that I would try to make it, but I didn't know what time I was going to get to Hawaii. Well, I get off the plane in Hawaii and there's a sailor with a sign that says Montgomery. He said that's me and he said come on, let's go golf. So they had a, he had a rig outside and he uh, it was a military police. So he puts my clubs in the back of my suitcase, turns off his flashers, drives me to the golf course. Now you know, things like this just wouldn't happen if I didn't have this job. Yeah, amazing.
Speaker 1:That is amazing.
Speaker 2:But favorite, favorite, favorite places always involves favorite people like Bob Hughes and Madison and I became very good friends and I met Bob the night before Jerry bangs was killed. So it's a it's very well ingrained in my moment. And actually that night Jerry and his wife were going to go with Bob to see Barney Armstrong's machine in Federal Way. Jerry decided he wanted to stay home and rest, so Hannah Bangs and I and Bob went to see the band and then the next day we lost Jerry. Yeah, and that was really tough on me because he was probably my best friend in the sport. And that same year, after that season, billy Shoemaker retired. So the next year Jerry Bangs and Billy Shoemaker were not around and that was that was tough on me because that was a big part of my sport.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that is the sad part, when you get to know the people so well and then when, when they're gone, especially um killed on the race it's hard.
Speaker 2:Jerry was sitting in a chair because he was driving Jerry Kalin Squire Shop which was a turbo charge at Allison, one of those kit boats things and we had helped him get the Squire Shop onto it. So Jerry was sitting in a chair next to the boat and I was sitting beside him and he wore all kinds of gear. He had a helmet and a neck brace and he couldn't hardly talk right. So he slapped me on the knee and got up and went and got in the boat and never came back. It was a really tough day, yeah, yeah, no kidding.
Speaker 2:Actually, after the boat spun and threw him out, um, anna and I went over. They had a they had a helicopter landing pad at that time time kind of on the east side of the pit area and the helicopter was picking him up out of the water. So we were standing there waiting for him to come over to us and the helicopter went right over us to harbor view and I went oh no, what do I do now? Dave herrensberger came up behind anna and said come on, anna, I'll get you there. He took her to the hospital and I was just uh, I was in a fog for several days after that one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's hard Oof. On a happier note, just thinking about those race sites uh, was there any ones that you didn't quite look forward to going to as much, or is that something you wouldn't want to share, maybe?
Speaker 2:Well, as race sites go, there were some that were new and um and having trouble getting their infrastructure together, and that made it. You know, we went to Kansas city a couple of times. Yeah, Great market, not great race sites. Um, I'll tell you, though, I've never seen one as tough as that Coeur d'Alene course in 2013.
Speaker 2:I've never seen one as tough as that Coeur d'Alene course in 2013. It was. The pit area was 50 feet straight up in the air from the water. Yeah, the course was rough. The start finish where Debbie and I were was way down the lake. We had trouble getting back and forth but logistically that one was really tough. Yeah, yeah, but I saw a lot of the.
Speaker 2:We had startups like in Phoenix, houston. Poor guy. This guy in Houston was a promoter who ran a big festival downtown so he set up the race at Lake Clear Lake. Right, yeah, clear Lake, I guess it was. I think it rained every minute we were there. It was just no, no, nobody bought a ticket. Yeah, he lost everything he had put in. There was a race in Oklahoma city. This guy was a drag racing promoter. When we arrived there on Thursday, he had built grandstands for a hundred thousand people. They went on forever. He had. He had porta potties for 50 people at once to use them. Nobody bought a ticket. Oh my God. It was just really sad to see.
Speaker 2:That was the year we ran the Miss Rock as the Coors Light Silver Bullet. Yeah, mitch Evans drove it. Yeah, back in 85. And the interesting thing about that was it was my first experience with vinyl. Oh, okay, the boat was black and white. I got the color scheme off of Don Perdomo's funny car. The front of the car was one color and then it had a slash, a vertical slash, and the back of it was white and I thought that would work cool on a hydro and that's why you see the Miss Rock with the black and then the red stripe and then the white tail end. Yeah, rock with the black and then the red stripe and then the white tail end. Yeah, so we had all that was on it.
Speaker 2:Um, mitch and Mark had painted the boat in, uh, chelan for Fred. So we took it to Oklahoma city and it was black and white, not a spot of color on it anywhere. We took it into this dealership, the Coors Light dealership in, uh, in Oklahoma city. The Coors distributor and this little guy rolled in with a trailer, opened it up and it was all full of this vinyl and he put stripes on the boat and he put big logos on the cowling and everything I asked him he had. I said can you put one of those? Yeah, I can do that. Put something on the tail. That didn't stay. It was like a griffin or something. Yeah, I thought if these things will stick, this is the deal. Yeah, it took him an hour maybe to do that entire boat. Wow, and that was my last experience with paint. That's crazy, but can you imagine painting like the rock logo?
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, that would take On a boat Hours and hours yeah.
Speaker 2:And that guy was so good at it he had done the boat and the funny car and the van. Wow, all kinds of stuff for us, wow.
Speaker 1:I didn't think we'd ever go this long.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry if I'm taking too much of your time. No, that's fine. I didn't think I would remember that much.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm pulling the memories out. Yep, well, I'm pulling the memories out. Yep, well, looking back at you know you broadcasted so many different heats. Do you have a favorite heat you look back on, just, for whatever reason, that just was exciting to you and just has a favorite recall for you?
Speaker 2:You know there were so many of them, but there is one. It's Detroit, it's a I think it's a gold cup, and Chip Hanauer is driving for Fred Leland, okay, and Dave Vilwock was dominant. Yes, In the bud. Now, I think this might've been in the Garbrecht era, when they were messing with the fuel flow all the time.
Speaker 2:It might've been, but if, yeah, if, you won last week, it got turned down this week and so on, and all that stuff. So I loved Fred Leland, of course, and Chip was a good friend. And now they're into the lap four of the gold cup and Chip is ahead of Dave Vilwock and I had expected for three laps for Dave to go by him and he, he just couldn't do it, probably didn't have the fuel flow, and one of the few times that you can find me on tape really shouting and I'm going, dave is not catching Chip, hanauer and Hanauer comes around the final turn and down to the start finish line and I had trouble holding it together. It was one of the most exciting finishes that I ever had a chance to call. Yeah, but that was the good thing about the turbine era is we had close finishes, mm-hmm. I mean, bill O'Meara told me about a race he did with slow motion four, five laps on a huge course and all the boats died on the first lap except the slow-mo.
Speaker 2:And he said so I'm doingby-play of the quill shaft wondering is it gonna hold? Oh, I think about. I thought he was slowing down. Looks like he's okay now. He said I did that for four laps oh yeah, that is something.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I wouldn't think of it. One thing too is back, you know, in the 70s, when you're announcing, everything was Merlin or Allison or Griffin, so it probably was the audio levels compared to announcing a race with turbines was quite different.
Speaker 2:Made a big difference in microphones. Yeah, because we used to find a microphone that would pick up your voice and not pick up much from the other side. When the boats went by, it just wiped you out voice and not pick up much from the other side. Okay, when the boats went by, it just wiped you out. End of my career. We were putting a special microphone out to hear the boats when they went by because they were so quiet. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, did you have a favorite boat driver or crew member or owner that you would always interview, that you could always count on to get a golden interview?
Speaker 2:In the beginning. It got better as we went. Yeah, we had, you know, you had Bill Muncy originally, obviously. Oh yeah, who was gold. But most of those drivers were not good spokesmen. And then we had new guys come in and I can I can tell you that, uh, j Michael Kelly and Jeff Bernard, and these guys who came in all at once, they were not speech makers at all. Yeah, great, great boat racers, and if you listen to them now they are so much better. They've really become very good at the interview thing. But Steve David was another one who came along who was really fun. My favorite interview with him.
Speaker 2:I was on the dock in the Tri-Cities and I don't remember what he was driving. He was brand new at the time but he was going out to qualify and I said so, what's the plan here, what's the game plan for the qualifying lap? And he said I'm going to go down into the first turn, head up the backstretch and then about halfway up I'm going to take off and once I get up to about three, four hundred feet, I'm going to head up for yakima and do a loop over by the mountain and come back down and hit the back stretch at about 250 260 miles an hour he said I think that's going to give me a pretty good speed and I said this guy is going to be fun to work with.
Speaker 2:Right, I'll tell you my, my favorite, steve david. When you when you talk about which drivers were really good, the day I found out how good Steve David was he was not in an unlimited. We were in Norfolk, virginia, and at the time the unlimited lights were a pretty good series a whole bunch of boats, oh yeah and they had an event where half a dozen of the unlimited drivers got in limited boats and ran a little race. Steve David got in I think it was the Blockbuster boat and smoked everybody and I thought this guy knows how to work a race boat. You could really tell.
Speaker 2:You can tell a lot about watching the guys in the Limiteds. But as I was discussing with my son Brian yesterday the difference, when you get to an Unlimited, you have to be an expert pilot. You have to really be able to keep the boat off the water, don't set it down too hard when it does come down and the guys that are going fast now are the ones that are really good at that. In most of the limiteds you have a power to weight ratio where you can mash the gas and steer pretty much, you know.
Speaker 2:So, that was something that I learned that from Dave Vilwock, because I asked him what's the difference between the really good drivers? And he said well, watch a guy when he gets loose, does he set it down gently or does he panic and hit the pedal and get it back on the water? Because when you land hard you lose time, you lose a little bit of momentum. So I learned to watch you watch Mark. Oh, I said Mark Tate, you watch. So I learned to watch you watch. Um, you watch Mark. Uh, I would have said Mark Tate and you watch Andrew Tate fly a boat and uh, it's just like. It's like an airplane close to the water. Yeah, no, no friction at all. Yeah, the fast guys are all doing that now.
Speaker 1:All the people that you see at the top of the qualifying ladder. It's an art form to watch them float the boats and keep them on the water.
Speaker 2:Something we said reminded me of the race that I went to with Bill O'Mara, where I sat there and didn't say anything. Yeah, I was asked years later to give a talk at the museum to a group of the guys that hang around there and I couldn't think of what the heck to talk about. So I sat on the stool with my clipboard and I said here's what we're going to do. I have a lousy memory, but I have a bunch of videos in my head. I'm going to describe a video to you and you tell me when. It was Okay. So I said okay, I'm sitting by Bill O'Mara. One of the Starrett brothers is going up the back stretch in a Notre Dame and he noses it in. Somebody in the crowd immediately hollers 1971 or whatever it was you know when the Notre Dame. So we did that for 45 minutes.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So, okay, one year I played tennis with Bill Muncy in uh Tempe, arizona. It was the first year we raced at Firebird and somebody else shouted the year. So I wrote down all the years and now I have this, this whole long list of videos and I had timestamps on them Cause those guys all knew all the dates that I couldn't remember. That's fun. Bill Muncy was a pretty good tennis player, by the way, was he? Was he? I think I beat him, but it was a friendly match and we didn't. Okay, I don't think we kept score that close.
Speaker 1:All right. Well, was there anyone that you got on the microphone? That was just hard to get them to come out of their shell and make an interesting interview.
Speaker 2:Sure, probably a lot of them over the years, and maybe that's why I have forgotten all of them. Like I said, when the young guns all came into the sport at once, most of them were pretty tight-lipped yeah, not much to say, yeah. And those are the kids that are men now and they're still racing and they're great spokesmen. So they've really developed that ability. Yeah, yeah, they're still racing and they're they're great spokesmen, so they've really developed that ability.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's been fun to watch them grow and mature, as as behind the microphones, over the years. Like you said, it's fun to watch. Well, with the evolution of the sport, I mean, you've seen so many different things happen with hydropon racing so many different designs, sponsorships, people come and go. Do you have a golden year of racing that you can think back to? Let's say, maybe this was the peak of unlimited hydroplane racing and maybe not from the racing standpoint, but just from the amount of interest.
Speaker 2:It's probably a group of years and certainly Bernie would still be here. Yeah, because the sport was just a little bigger and shinier back then. Yeah, it was interesting. You know, I was around through so many different management systems, right Started with Don Jones and and Buddy Byers and, uh, ken Muscatel filled in for a while and then you had the the Bill Doner era. Well, bill was, bill was a promoter and he had a lot of the faults that promoters have, but boy, he made things happen, really dynamic guy, and there was a lot of energy Referees. I was announcing I was on the beach in Las Vegas on Lake Mead man. Bill Newton was the referee, and those were back in the days when you'd see the referee having dinner with Bernie you know, and all the other owners.
Speaker 2:Well, wait a minute, what's going on here? I remember a heat where I was standing on the ground and beside me there was a little single wide trailer and the referee was Lee Shaneth and he was up on top of the trailer. And here come the boats and the Budweiser is about a rooster tail ahead of everybody and everybody else is on time Right, so he's clear down there. When the flag drops and they run the heat, nobody says anything. And I said was that a legal start? And Lee Shana said do you have a problem with that? I said no, sir, that was a great start.
Speaker 1:Oh man, back in the day, back in the day, yes. Well, just with your knowledge of the sport, do you think we'll see a resurgence with the sport come, come back in some form of popularity? I mean, there's some great things happening with the sport now. Like you said, your son has you know the drones. Footage has come in and streaming has uh been a good uh kick for the sport. But do you think we'll ever see the circuit grow again, have more races and have more teams?
Speaker 2:I think the new stuff that's going on, with new owners like the Tri-Cities people, daryl and the Apollo folks, I think there's enough strength there to keep it alive. It's hard for me to explain why it can never be what it was, because nothing is what it was. Okay. My dad was a good example. He was a mechanic and he loved anything that you could put a motor in. Well, but back then how many things were being raced Cars and uh, and now there are snowmobiles and lawnmowers and motor sports were huge. It wasn't just boat racing, it was any motor sport, anything with a motor in it. That's long gone. You know the the, the thrill of uh, of watching motorports like Indy 500 and NASCAR. Both have struggles financially and with sponsorship. So the answer is no. It can't go back and be what it was. But that doesn't mean it can't be good. Can't be good.
Speaker 2:The sport has a huge drawback in that the arena is so big and so expensive to set up and run and there's so many regulations and all that stuff. Like Dave Villewalk once pointed out, he said you know, we're the one sport that doesn't ask you to build us a new stadium, but if you are in the chamber of commerce in uh, sioux falls, south dakota, and you decide you want to put on a race. The financial obligation is just huge and my friends in in cordelaine the battles that they went through with um permits and all that stuff. Most people would no, it's not worth it. Yeah, I just can't put that much time and energy and legal fees into it. Some of my contacts here are still paying some of the bills or making sure everybody gets paid from 2013. Wow, so that makes it really really tough.
Speaker 2:And then look at races like Detroit. How can Detroit not be putting on a race In that city? You can't find a sponsor big enough to get the boats back on the Detroit River when the facility is completely there. Yeah, all you got to do is put the buoys in the water and line the boats up in the pit area. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's a tough one yeah.
Speaker 1:It's the tough one. Yeah, it's sad to see the sport not return to some areas, like you said. Like Detroit, it has such a big history and you would hope that they could. It'd be as simple as dropping the buoys in, but there's so much that goes to it.
Speaker 2:Exactly, the sport started out many, many years ago as rich guys with fast boats. You know, I'll have Clara make a picnic and I'll meet you over at the beach and we'll race our boats, and that's the way Unlimited was born, way back then. Well, in many ways it's a bigger version of that now. You know, it's some guys that can afford to race these big boats and it's up to other people to put the races on. And it's hard to do as far as the finances and the manpower and all that stuff. The boat count, which for a while was looking scary, has come back a little bit. People keep a couple of surprises. People with boats that hadn't run for a while now say they're going to run them. Yeah, and you have. You know, um, daryl Strong coming along when he did was great for the boat, for the sport, and I don't know where it would be without him. It would probably be around, but it wouldn't have as many boats, right, right. And there's a good example of how long I've been gone. I have never met Daryl Strong. Oh, really, yeah, wow, I certainly like to. I certainly respect him for what he's done. And then the new owners, the Apollo people same thing there.
Speaker 2:You know you asked me about announcers. Yes, and we would be remiss if I didn't mention Brad Luce. Yes, please do. If Brad hadn't come along when he did, I don't know what the sport would be doing for a play-by-play guy. Right, brad is remarkable. He has a great memory. He was never in radio, he was a hydro fan and he had a friend in the Tri-Cities who said well, you know, the boats do some interviews for me, and that's how he started and he has developed the announcer side. If anything, he's never asked me for advice. By the way, if anything, I would say you need to develop an excitement voice that is not a scream. Okay, yeah, yeah, but but and Jeff Ehler, you got to love Jeff Ehler. Okay, yeah, yeah, but but and Jeff Aylor, you got to love Jeff.
Speaker 1:Aylor.
Speaker 2:Right, jeff. Jeff has a problem because he sounds like he's from where he's from, so he's he's kind of limited geographically, but in a sport, you know, we know him and love him, so it's fine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's great when they come, come in and they have such a knowledge of the sport that it takes it to another level memories like I never had.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but see, I started out doing television so my delivery was developed for uh, network tv. So it is by nature a little different than the guys that on a pa system you can pretty much say what you want any way you, but when your audience is going to be national, it's a little different deal. So that was where I came up. That's why I have, hopefully, a little more professional delivery.
Speaker 1:Well, just think, like I've said before, thinking back on the voices of the sports, I think yours is iconic, Just how much you've given to the sport and broadcasting. Like I've said before, thinking back on the voices of the sports, I think yours is iconic, Just how much you've given to the sport and broadcasting and it just it, uh, it enhanced the races having you there.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, that was my goal. Um, if people ask me, um, people ask me, what exactly were you trying to do all those years? And I can honestly say whether I was announcing the PA system or doing television or radio, or running the PR thing, which I did for six years In fact, if I was a PR director three different times. The last time was, uh, at the start of the Doha races, speaking of race sites that one was really something. Yeah. Speaking of race sites, that one was really something. Yeah, but my goal was to make this sport look and sound as big and as good as it possibly could and I think if you have that in mind, it'll really steer you the direction you want to go with your things you say and the things you do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, you definitely did that. You put your touch on the sport. And before you go, do you have any other crazy stories you'd like to share with us?
Speaker 2:You know, this afternoon I'll have many more memories pop up.
Speaker 1:Why didn't I tell him about that?
Speaker 2:But, I think I've taken enough of your time.
Speaker 1:Well, there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. That that was part three, the end of my interview with steve montgomery. Had a great time going down nostalgic lane with steve and I could spend hours and hours doing that. So I hope none of my guests get too annoyed with all of that. But I could go on for hours on end talking about unlimited hydroplanes. But but I want to thank Steve Montgomery once again for his time with this interview. So much fun, but I'm looking forward to the next one. But until then, check us out online.
Speaker 1:Our website is roostertaltalkcom. We're on social media Facebook, instagram. And if you haven't heard of Rooster Tail Talk Plus, it's our subscription service where you can choose your entry level for a monthly fee. You get early access to all new episodes. You get extra content on the website. We have pictures, articles.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna be throwing up some other interviews and oddities up there around the sport of hydrofin racing as well. As every member of Roostertail Talk Plus will get a 10-card trading set that I made for this year called Hydro Racing Kids. It's a fun take on the old Garbage Pail Kids back in the 80s 90s that some of us used to collect, and it's been a while since there's been trading cards for the hydroplanes, so I thought it'd be a fun addition for the podcast. Again, these aren't for sale, these are only for Roostertail Talk Plus members. Big shout out to Andrew Tate. Big win over there in Madison, indiana, winning the 75th annual Madison Regatta. Fun to see him in the winner's circle again and we'll see what can happen when they come out to the west coast. Tri-city is just a few weeks away. Got some fast boats, a couple new teams on the circuit. It's going to be fun. So until then, I hope to see you at the races.