Episode 171: Fran and Edward Muncey, Part 1

We kick off season eight with an interview with Fran and Edward Muncey.  In San Diego Fran traces a chance meeting, a swift marriage, and the making of a racing showman whose heartbeat was jazz. Family stories, sponsor strategy, and the art of the start reveal how style, planning and music shaped their mission of speed.

This will be a 3 part interview.  Look for part 2 to drop next week in Episode 172.  Until then, I hope to see YOU at the races!

Transcript

Season Eight Opens

SPEAKER_02 0:27

Everything about the sport that we all love. Find your host like it. It's time once again to sit back. Relax. And welcome to tail talk. Hello, race fans, and welcome back to the podcast. Today's March 3rd, 2025, and this is episode 171, our opening episode for season eight. Now, man, it's hard to believe we're the eighth season for this podcast. Now, back eight years ago, I had no idea if this podcast would even work, if people would be listening to it. I didn't know if there were other people out there that wanted something like this. So to be here in season eight means so much to me, and I'm so excited for the interview that I have for you today and what have what I have coming up for you in this upcoming season. I hope you're excited as well, and I hope you had a great off season. I took a few months off to spend time with my family, focus on my job, and do some other fun things. But I haven't stayed still on the podcast. I've been working on some things behind the scenes, and I'm sure you've seen some things around my newest training card release, and I've been working on some more interviews. But I'm just so excited to get this interview out to you today. I'll start season eight on a high note. It's been a great interview. I had such a fun time. Back in September, I flew down to San Diego and went to the San Diego Bay Fair regatta. And I had the opportunity to go to the old Hilton and sit down and chat with Fran and Edward Muncie. Now, I shouldn't have to tell you about their background. A huge name of the sport of hydrogen racing with Muncie. I think that says it all. And Fran and Edward have made some contributions to the sports over the years that are impressive in their own right. I'm not gonna state some facts because if you don't know their name, um you need to go and Google it and do some history. But two of the sweetest and nicest people, I just had a blast sitting down and talking with them about their lives around hydroplane racing, around their late husband and father, Bill Muncie, and just what hydroplane racing has meant to them. So without further ado, let's jump in and start my interview with Fran and Edward Muncy. I'm sitting down here in the Hilton on Mission Bay, sitting across from Edward Muncie and Fran Muncie. Uh really appreciate your time today. How are you both doing?

Fran’s First Steps Into Racing

SPEAKER_00 3:07

I'm doing great. I can hardly wait to see the race tomorrow.

SPEAKER_03 3:10

So glad to be here. We love it. I mean, this is perfect time of year. Everybody's back in school, but the weather is perfect, the fog goes away, the sun comes out at just the right time. And so this is, although we're just in Seattle for that race, and with Jimmy Johnson driving the Atlas van lines, a blue blaster up there, it was kind of like a little appetizer for what's coming down here. You know, it's the fastest race. I think it's still one of the fastest race courses on the circuit. Yeah. And they're just awesome to watch.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

So yeah, it's a beautiful area, and I'd love coming down here. And like you said, it's it's a great time of year for many, but I mean, I'm a school teacher, so it's not perfect for me. I kind of fibbed and said I was sick on Friday, so don't tell my employer. But um love to be down here in San Diego, such a beautiful area. Yeah, didn't think of that. Yeah, so really excited to talk to you both today. Uh loved great lives and done a lot for the sport and many people in the sport. And uh, I want to start talking to Fran a little bit more about how you got involved with hydroplane racing because I know we all know the story. You met when you were married to Bill Muncie and had a legendary career as an owner. I mean, you were undefeated as a Gold Cup owner, won many times there, world championship, many races. But before you even met Bill, how were you interested in hydroplane racing or how did you get involved?

SPEAKER_00 4:24

I know I remember growing up in Pullop, Washington, my father would watch the races. I thought that was pretty boring because he'd watch it all day.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Uh, then moved to San Diego, and I was a member of the Pacific Beach Junior Women's Club. They said there's gonna be, we're gonna have a fundraiser, and you'll be collecting money uh and showing so I thought it was a boat show, so I volunteered. So my first day I found that here were these great big boats and and the drivers, I thought, oh my gosh, they must have a death wish. You know, it must be so dangerous. But anyway, um, and then Bill came up and asked me to go to if I would like to go to the banquet the next the next night after the race. So I said yes. And so that's how I met Bill.

SPEAKER_02 5:14

Were you just a lucky fan in the crowd that got a invite? Or did he did he spot you?

SPEAKER_00 5:18

No, I was helping with pit tours.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

And so that's how I happened to see how how d big and dangerous these boats must be.

SPEAKER_03 5:26

Yeah. And the backstory to that though, is all the people, a lot of the men in the pit areas interested in you and realize you're all married, but Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:35

Uh Phil Cole uh and Blake Borgison uh came up to the table where I was setting up pit tours and asked me out. Uh some ladies said they're married, so I didn't even want to go to lunch or dinner.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

And then Bill uh came up and he was such a gentleman. And so I did. I went to the banquet the next night after the race. Because I met him on a Saturday.

SPEAKER_02 6:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

I could only volunteer one day.

SPEAKER_02 6:04

Yeah. Yeah, back in those days they would always have a banquet Sunday night after the races crashed.

SPEAKER_00 6:09

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 6:09

Yeah. So you went there and you met him there?

Meeting Bill And A Fast-Tracked Romance

SPEAKER_00 6:12

So I uh Yes, I did. I drove. You know, I didn't he didn't come to the house and pick me up. I met him at the Bahia Hotel for the banquet.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

1969. That was September. And then uh he called and said, You're p you're uh you're on Wide World of Sports. So he said, so I saw you there. Do you think you could come up to Seattle? I'd like you to meet all my friends. And my mother lived in Piola still, so I said, sure. So I came up, he showed me all over Seattle, all of us met all of his friends for about two weeks. And then I had to, and he was so wonderful. He never even tried to kiss me, just such a gentleman. Uh took me to Mount Rainier, just all of the friends. A 13 Coins restaurant. Oh, yeah. That was his favorite.

SPEAKER_02 7:08

Yeah. Um I believe his picture is actually still up in 13 Coins. Oh, it is? Is it really Seattle, yeah, by the airport? Oh my goodness. That's so cool. Yeah, I saw that a couple years ago and went there, and it's one of the restroom in the hallway is this picture.

SPEAKER_03 7:20

Oh and then from there you got married. So how much later is you got there?

SPEAKER_00 7:25

So got married in November. So met him in September. Oh. I went up there. Uh so he didn't even try to kiss me. I was there for about two or three weeks. And then I was, then I said, then I was gonna go down to my mother's to pick up my children to fly back to San Diego. Anyway, then the next night we taught, it just walked around, oh, my my sister, and he he asked me to marry him, and he never kissed me.

SPEAKER_02 7:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

So that was wonderful.

SPEAKER_02 7:59

So you so he really was a gentleman, but he didn't waste his time. It was uh love at first sight, it sounds like.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

I guess, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:06

So then we were married in November, and Dave Seafeld and David Puckett were his best men. Dave Seafeld was late because I guess he always had a problem getting places on time. Yeah. So Bill felt holy to get this going, so he asked Dave Puckett. Uh who was a guest. Over in Port Ludlow.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:29

So everyone had to take a ferry over there. It's right near Chip Hanauer's house now.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

Oh, okay. Okay. Okay, nice.

SPEAKER_02 8:37

Yeah, beautiful area there, too.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_02 8:41

Well, it I never got a chance to meet Bill, unfortunately, and he seemed like a really genuine, nice man. Top his nails on the race course, but was he really just uh a genuinely uh nice person, very charismatic?

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Very, very nice.

SPEAKER_02 8:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

Very nice person. And had lots of friends, and he was so eloquent in his his speaking.

SPEAKER_02 9:04

Yes, yes, he was. Yeah, and unfortunately, I everything I see now is just videotapes from at the races, so didn't really get to see his persona as much behind the scenes, but glad to hear he was a genuine person, nice first class all the way.

The Showman Behind The Driver

SPEAKER_00 9:19

He was first class.

SPEAKER_03 9:21

And music was a big part, big part of his life, although we didn't get to see, we just saw bits and pieces of it in the offseason. Whenever he'd have friends over back in the day, I think it was common for people to entertain in some way at your house. His way of doing it was getting on the piano and start playing and playing lots of songs, and then it lead to a film and old projectors, old really old school types of projectors. Yeah. Remember the screen popping out of the ceiling, which was eight millimeter, I think. Unique at the time, and then he'd get back on the piano and this is does this happen in everybody's house? It was a it was amazing uh that that he did that and obviously realized no, nobody else would really do that.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

He always felt he had to entertain people. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

He was an entertainer, right? He was whatever he did.

SPEAKER_00 10:01

That's what he he was. He was a great race driver, but his main thing, Chip was uh zoned zoned in on racing. Yeah, that's that's all he thought about. Bill was more, he was more of a showman, and uh he did so much to build the sport. Yes, yeah. That got so many people involved, the Navy, uh, music, the Music Association of America. He just was always try trying to build up the sport.

SPEAKER_02 10:33

Yeah, yeah, he totally understood. It was it's a it's a spectacle, it's an entertainment, it's an event over a sport, I think, in my mind, right? You're trying to do something to entertain people, and he totally understood that message. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:46

You don't know the person if you have a chance to talk to is a Fred Radke. We just had dinner with him when we were in Seattle, and he had so many stories, stories that I thought I'd heard everything, but from his perspective, it was music. He didn't really care less about the hydroplane racing. So they were talking about music and different places they'd play and just this different circumstance scenarios they were in that were such just so cool. Yeah. And you can't imagine that today, but he was he still he loves sharing them, so it'll probably be easy to take him to lunch or breakfast or something like that and get him to start talking.

SPEAKER_02 11:18

We'll have to connect afterwards and get the number from for that.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Yeah, heal those on Mr. Island.

SPEAKER_02 11:22

But going back to that music though, I'm curious, Edward, did did you have a song that Bill would play that he would request?

SPEAKER_03 11:28

Not me. I was too young. I can I can't even remember him. He he was what year were you born? Uh 70. Okay. So I was 10 when he passed away. And but I can't even remember the songs. They were all jazz songs, which I didn't grow up with, so it I didn't carry it. Oh, mom did encourage me to play, and uh I tried to, but she tried. Darn it, Edward, start playing.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:49

It just didn't happen.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

But music was Bill's first love. Yeah. And so that's why he felt that he is the best starter in hydroplane racing, just because he had the beat. Right. He he just and he you've seen the flying starts.

Music As A Competitive Edge

SPEAKER_03 12:04

Oh, yeah, yeah, he was the master of that. David Williams will tell you about his, you can tell it better. Fred Radke had told him it's a song he would use to count his countdown to the clock and to time it right using music. So is it true that he wouldn't have a stop clock? He had him on the boat. He had him on the boat and uh on his arm, but um I guess his secret formula was his song. The beat.

SPEAKER_02 12:25

Yeah. Well, some when you're out there, there's so many things you're looking at, the gauges, the water conditions, other drivers. You can't be staring at a clock. So that was definitely an advantage he had.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

Well, he knew how he was gonna start. No one really paid attention, but before the first heat, during qualifying in practice, he did he'd say, okay, I'm gonna be at the uh second turn at in four minutes or whatever. Um so so he uh had it all planned out, but people didn't realize it.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:55

So that's why when he would do those flying starts, he he knew what he was doing.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:02

But music was his first love. And he would have he had a band when he was in high school and he played all the little resorts around uh in Mich in around Detroit. And then when he met Fred Ran, oh, then he would have all these men, um musicians, but they were attorneys, and he'd have them over to his house on Worcester Island. Yeah, and then he would write the charts. So he didn't just play every single instrument he could, but he also wrote all the charts for every section. Right.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Okay, wow.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

So he was he just loved the music. And his father would say to him, you know, I don't really want you, do you think you'd want to spend your life in um bars and you know dark places? And so he realized he didn't want to do that. And then he also had someone, the family, the his parents were very wealthy. He had the largest Chevrolet dealership, Ed Muncie, who he was named after, had the largest Chevrolet dealership in in the United States. Okay. So when people would order a car in those days, they would have to go to Muncie Chevrolet to pick it up. Um and then his boat. So uh Ford came out with an eight-cylinder engine because he raced uh smaller boats. What would they uh like seven liters now you'd call them?

SPEAKER_03 14:33

I think so. I think so, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:34

Uh-huh. So he so he would practice on the Detroit River, uh his turns and everything, because he he had less horsepower than the Ford boat uh okay.

SPEAKER_03 14:48

Because they were they were what was Bill's um I can't remember how much, but you're saying so he had just a little more horsepower, but more time.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

Because Chevrolet didn't have that, yeah. They were behind.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

Okay.

Life At Home, Desert Dunes, And Drive

SPEAKER_00 15:00

So finally that they worked and worked on it. They came up with an engine, and when he had that, then he could win. He won uh 52 races straight in his seven-liter with that Chevrolet engine. Oh, I think it was is it eight-cylinder?

SPEAKER_03 15:17

I yeah, well, as far as timing, I'm not sure what he ran at that time, but you're probably right. They probably came out with something.

SPEAKER_00 15:22

The name of the boat was my son.

SPEAKER_02 15:24

Well, fine, fine. Well, so you met him in 69, got married, then you moved up to Seattle. Yes. That's correct, and then Edward was born shortly after.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

And then then we moved to San Diego, and we lived right above the bay for about a year and a half, and then bought the house that I'm still living in uh for 53 years. Uh and he he loved San Diego and the desert. And he had a dune buggy, and he would always be going out in the in in the desert in the dunes.

SPEAKER_03 15:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

And he loved doing that.

SPEAKER_03 16:01

Yeah, but in the off-season, that's what he'd do on the weekends.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

Yes. And take you.

SPEAKER_03 16:05

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 16:05

Took uh the the uh sports editor, was he at the time?

SPEAKER_03 16:13

Oh, yeah. So he took a whole bunch of people out there that's just to let them experience what the life was like outside of hydroplane racing and stuff, chicken to the dunes where you get outside your comfort level real quick. Oh, especially something like a lap belt in those days, and a big Corvair motor was just screaming with horsepower, and he had lots of fun taking Bill Center. So you were thinking you.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:35

Yeah, among many other people.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

So he wasn't one that liked to sit around then, was he was Bill?

SPEAKER_03 16:39

No, definitely not. He was a father that said, if you're sitting down inside, he'd say, get outside and and you know, make things happen. Get outside, don't sit still. And he liked to tinker in the garage a lot. Yeah, and he'd always say he wasn't an engineer, he wasn't mechanically inclined, but he still loved to tinker his heart out and had all the tools and things like that to do that. And so he loved being in the garage and and going down to the desert when he wasn't traveling for Atlas van lines in the off-season and promoting Atlas van lines or that the or the sport or trying to reserve help with new race sites and such. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

Oh, yes, always doing that. And then if anyone needed a sponsor, he would uh fly wherever they were and make a presentation for them. Oh always trying to get more boats and good sponsors in the sport.

SPEAKER_02 17:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:23

Always.

SPEAKER_02 17:24

Yeah. Yeah, those are the stories you don't really hear often enough how much he did behind the scenes. Yeah. So awesome. Well, is there any any stories that you have of him at the races that you kind of cherish now, thinking back on that the fans might not really know of?

Sponsors, Atlas Van Lines, And Growth

SPEAKER_00 17:43

Oh, one thing he did was he loved coffee and he always smoked. Uh so in the morning of race day morning, every morning, but especially race day, he would have his coffee and cigarette, and then he'd walk up the pits to say good morning to all the drivers. And so that's why he he intimidated them, because he seemed so confident and could talk, you know, and their stomachs are churning and they're nervous about the day. But he was just seemed so confident. So Bill Cantrell told his driver, uh, Dean Chanwith, now don't don't talk to Bill when he comes by uh this morning on race day.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

And then the doctors that would they had to be tested in the morning, uh, they said, Bill, do you know there's a race today? Because his blood pressure is. Yeah. But he just he was never afraid, uh, never feared dying. He said, as as long as I'm out in front, racing and out in front, that's how he would want to die. He always said that, and that's exactly what what happened.

SPEAKER_03 18:54

Yeah, it went out the way he wanted them.

SPEAKER_00 18:56

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03 18:56

Those videos that they put together with Bill and Don Mock was a part of them, and Dave Seafeld, they got lots of great commentary from everybody. And Dave Seafeld said it, I think, best a number of times. And they tried to pull him back from the final heat saying, Should I run this? Should we run it a little bit leaner? Should we a little bit less fenced so we fly it a bit more, which meant you're more on the edge. And they were absolutely right. Remember the days of that you you see the extra nitrous bottles going in the motor or in the in the for the final heat, and you know they're putting on the smaller fence, you know, ah, dad's gonna really run it light, and but he would always bring it down every single time, except obviously in in Acapulco, where there's a whole bunch of different circumstances at that time that could that could have caused that. Uh, but we saw that at every single race and just thought that was amazing. And you assume the other teams are doing the same thing. I'm I'm sure they were, being competitive as as much as they can. Right. But uh on race day, from what I can remember, he was always just a great father. And he was always never treated, he wasn't as zeroed in as Chip was. Chip was so zeroed in, and it was amazing. But that was a style, and that was amazing about him. You know, also people had no idea where he was coming from. And the moment he got off the boat, if he won the race or lost the race, Chip would you knew with him, he put in 110% of himself. But once he walked off that dock, took his helmet off, it's as if it never happened, you move on. He didn't really show a lot of emotion, but then that was his awesome style about him and making him such a great racer. The very different personalities, and the dad would get right back into promoting. Once he got off the dock, he was talking about the next race and who that why he's gonna be so amazing. Yeah, fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 20:33

And then his first after we were married, uh he went to work for Lee Shayna.

SPEAKER_01 20:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:40

Uh out of Detroit. And they'd always been good friends. Uh the first sponsor was Murr Special Special. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 20:50

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

Mur Sheet Metal. So he thought, I've got to try to add some glamour to that name. Or that because it wasn't exciting.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

Right.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

And so that's why he he just came up with all kinds of brochures and just anything to make it exciting, make it more exciting. And we won a few races, and then uh O. H. Frisbee, Atlas Bandlines, called Lee and said, I would like to sponsor your boat.

Style Differences: Bill And Chip

SPEAKER_02 21:17

And so that's when it became so that had to be that was in the early 70s, I think was it 71 when Alice came aboard?

SPEAKER_00 22:29

Or 72. 72.

SPEAKER_02 22:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 22:32

And Bill won six out of seven races that year.

SPEAKER_02 22:36

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:37

And it was the it was still, it wasn't the blue blaster yet, but it was just the old conventional halt. And the other thing, people would say, Well, Bill, what do you think about a cab over? He said, Well, then you're the first person at the scene of the accident. But he didn't mean it for himself. But he just never wanted to. I guess he did try uh driving one the thrift way.

SPEAKER_03 23:00

Thriftway two.

SPEAKER_00 23:02

Uh huh. So he he didn't prepare for that. But he and Lee got along just wonderfully and so but before Atlas, they were experimenting while Bill Cantral was the crew chief and Jim Kurth was there and uh with a uh what was it, turbocharged Allison?

SPEAKER_02 23:26

Yes, yeah, yeah. They were trying to try some different things with that and make it make it have more horsepower and have more better performance.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

But it just never never worked.

SPEAKER_02 23:35

Yeah. S big names in the sport. You mentioned Jim Kurth, uh Lee Shahnith, and O. H. Frisbee, and a lot of people involved to make this happen. Was O. H. Frisbee uh did he become a good family friend over the years?

SPEAKER_00 23:47

Oh, he loved Bill like a son.

SPEAKER_02 23:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

He lived at the top floor of the big apartment building right on the Detroit River. And so that's why he loved Hydroplane Racer. And then so when Bill was hired for Atlas, they wanted him to so he would go travel all the time. Go to different agent cities and go on TV, go to all the service clubs, speak, show his little uh his movie. I think it was 16 minutes. Just just enough so that it'd be exciting for him. And then have a question and answer period afterwards. But he'd go to pla places like they'd never heard of hydroplane.

SPEAKER_01 24:28

Oh, okay.

Stories From The Pits And Nerves Of Steel

SPEAKER_00 24:28

But then he just would talk and he just made it so exciting and tell about how he uh first person since the Spanish-American War to sink a Coast Guard boat in Seattle, things like that. And what he'd say went down Glub Glub in six 16 seconds and went to the bottom. He just had these great stories.

SPEAKER_03 24:52

He always did a such a good job of still and also including Atlas Van Lines in that somehow, along with side boat racing to make sure, and that's how we got there was Atlas Van Lines truck, or make sure Atlas Van Lines truck is pulling you there. Yeah. Whatever a different scenario, he'd fit find a way to fit it in.

SPEAKER_00 25:07

He would never say my boat, he'd always say the Atlas Van Lines. Yes, okay. Or smoking today.

SPEAKER_01 25:13

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:14

Well, I feel like Edward, I think you you kind of inherited some of that uh persona in your life, correct, as a as a spokesperson for many things.

SPEAKER_03 25:23

Well, thank you, but if I if even one percent, I'd be happy. He was so articulate, and I look at some now that we're here in San Diego, it's my YouTube feed is all about hydroplane racing without me doing it at search. So it's funny to hear hear him talk and I see hear him a lot more. And he he was uh certainly amazing, but also obviously I grew up with my mom, so I have that side of me that was hopefully probably more endearing uh side of me that is when I talk to people and dad was just knew exactly what he wanted to say. He had a met he was strategic in his messaging, I think what my mom was trying to say. Yeah. Uh where mom, I'm probably more thoughtful about what I say when I talk to people.

SPEAKER_00 25:59

No, I just shouldn't talk.

SPEAKER_03 26:01

Just growing up with you, I think, I think is the point. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:06

Well, funny, funny.

SPEAKER_03 26:08

No, but she was taught, and I'm sure you have some questions about her, but I love I love talking about mom and embarrassing her because she's still the funniest thing. She's we call her the Hall of Famer, and even behind her back, that we talk talk about her that way, and she just doesn't understand it. She doesn't get, doesn't seem like she deserves it, but we obviously we all know she absolutely deserves it.

SPEAKER_02 26:27

Yeah, yeah, no, you absolutely do. I mean, sounds very humble of you, but I mean you continue the legacy on for for Muncie and continue the promotions of the sport and continue to uh uh help the sport in many ways by continuing a program. And I know it was had to have been hard for you in 1981, um after Bill's death.

SPEAKER_00 26:47

Well, so many people, radio TV, wanted to talk to me. So by the time uh between November when he was killed and the start of the next season, I'd been through everything, you know, talking to people, doing interviews. And so then it was so it and so I remember going to the first banquet and I had to get up and say something, and I I was kinda it was so hard to be in person in front of all these people. And so I would be kind of crying, and they thought, oh poor thing, she's so sad, but I I wasn't. I'd gotten over that, the shock of Bill's death. It's that I was so afraid being in front of people.

SPEAKER_02 27:28

Yeah, yeah. So it's intimidating, and it's uh it's I think the biggest fear of anyone, or the most common fear of anyone is to talk in public in front of other people. So I fully understand that.

SPEAKER_00 27:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:40

Yeah. Good thing we don't have any people in this room, or it's just us right now.

After Acapulco And Finding A Voice

SPEAKER_03 27:44

Yeah. No, you were but you learned a lot, and you even after throughout the fan lines and then Miller Miller brewing with all that training and such, and you were you really started stepping up more, and he they did more interviews, it seemed like we also had a great team with us, John Love, who was with us in Seattle, and he was so great at giving her information to work with. Obviously, that was his job, and she would do it, retain it perfectly, say all the bullet points, and John said, My job's done. I remember so deep because you know you hope, whatever from his perspective, that the person he's working with will listen. And sure enough, she nailed it. But that's when she okay, now I'm done now. I don't I know more of it. Anyways, she was really had a great relationship.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

Some of the funny stories, though, if we would lose a race in the next race just to get the attention to to get the column in the paper, uh, we'd have to come up with some hook. And so the chip came up with the idea, the first blind hydroplane racer, Chip Hanauer. So we didn't, I don't think we use it though. And then what was the other one? The first uh I won't even say that one. But it was the first gay uh hydroplane. Gay blind hydroplane racer. But anyway, it was just uh inside joke.

SPEAKER_02 28:59

Yeah, yeah. Well, uh it sounds like you had a crash course and you you took to it right away.

SPEAKER_00 29:04

No, I didn't really. Well he's being kind.

Media, Messaging, And Humor

Part Two Tease And The Jazz Answer

SPEAKER_02 29:07

From the interviews and everything I've seen, I would say I would agree with your son that you've you've done a great job publicly speaking. Give yourself some some more credit for that. But that's all the time we have for this week, Knuckleheads. Come back next week as we'll have part two of my interview with Fran and Edward Muncie. Again, I have to thank them so much for their time. They took time out of their weekend to spend an afternoon with me talking about boats of all things. I really appreciate their time. Two of the sweetest and nicest people you'll ever meet. Such a lovely experience. Really, really appreciated that time I shared with them. And I also have to thank uh Chip Hanower for getting me in touch with Fran and Edward and making sure this thing could happen. Long overdue. Something I've been trying to get in the books for some time, and without Chip's efforts, I don't know if this would have happened. So thank you, Chip, and thank you, Fran and Edward, for a great afternoon on Mission Bay. Well, I look forward to next week as we're on part two, we're gonna talk more about how Bill Muncie uh became his own owner, sorry, his own team, and how that transition went after his unfortunate passing in 1881 uh down at Acapulco, Mexico, when Fran decided to return and can keep the team alive and keep racing unlimited hydroplanes. Well, please make sure check us out on social media. We're on Instagram and Facebook. We're also online with our website, RouchotellTalk.com. And while you're on our site, don't forget to check out our Ruchatel Talk Plus subscription service. Lots of bonuses and extras that you get as becoming a member of Richardel Talk Plus, early access to episodes, lots of funds and goodies along the way. Check us out and you can see all the information on our website. Now we're gonna I'm gonna take you out a little bit differently today. In that interview, Edward mentioned how Bill always had a song that he would sing in his mind and keep his tempo. But he would use this song to help him with a five-minute starting procedure before each and every heat. Now, when talking with a friend in Edward, they couldn't remember the name of that song. But thankfully they knew someone that did. I reached out to David Williams who knew that answer. I guess this is a a really hard deep for all those trivia buffs. So if you know the answer, go ahead and sing it out now and see if you have it right. But the correct answer was a scrapple from the apple by Charlie Parker. You're not gonna hear this on any mainstream radio right now. It's an old jazz tune. And I'm gonna play this as our outro for the day. And I just want you, if you're able to see if you can keep your own tempo and just imagine yourself in that blue blast of your late 70s with this song in mind as you're going around the course trying to get the best start you can to win a heat of racing. So here it is, our five-minute gun has started, and you're gonna listen to Scrabble from the Apple by Charlie Parker. So until next time, I hope to see you at the races.