Monday July 30th- The team is back home getting the water out of the boat and preparing for Seattle. Everything is looking good with the equipment and Jean Theoret is ready to defend his back to back Chevy Cup wins. We hope to see you all at Seafair wearing your checkerboard gear. If you don’t have checkerboard gear make sure your first stop is at the U37 merchandise trailer. There you can get a T Shirt for $15 a hat for $15 OR a T Shirt and hat combo for $25. If it’s a hot Seattle day pick up a U37 floating raft for $20 and enjoy the water. We’ve even got the ever poplular inflatable hydro hat and you don’t have to buy a car to get one. Show your spirit and join the sea of yellow and black along the shores of Lake Washington.
Thursday Aug 2nd- Scott Raney checked in today to let me know that everything is going fine at the shop and the crew is on schedule. The boat will head to the pits Thursday morning. We’ll be back online for live web updates starting Friday. Hopefully the internet connection will be a little more reliable.
The Blue Angels have arrived in Seattle and for a Seattle native like myself, the Blues flying in means Seafair weekend has begun. Friday we’ll have jets in the air and turbines on the water. If you have never experienced Seafair from the Genesee park and Stan Sayres pit areas, pack up your family and get them down here. Convenient shuttles are running from Boeing near the mueum of flight. Hop on one and come on down. Access to the park is free on Friday and reasonably priced over the weekend.
Friday Aug 3rd – Scott Raney and the crew had the boat in the water early and often today on Lake Washington. They were able to test some different set ups to get a feel for what is going to be right for Seattle. Speed right now is dialed in at around 150mph. The second test session was cut short due to gusty winds but Theoret had a solid qualifying session and things are looking good for the weekend.
Saturday Aug 4th- Jean Theoret Did Not Finish (DNF) heat 1A. As you might imagine, the pits are crazy right now so getting information is a challenge. Here’s what we know at u-37.com. Steve David was leading lap 2 by about a rooster tail. Going in to the South turn Theoret as well as the U10 caught up. The S turn was out of our view so what I personally saw was the U6 pulling the U10 out of the turn and the U37 dead on the back stretch. We know for sure that the U37 and the U10 came together in the turn. We’re not sure who hit who however. When the boat came back to the dock the Seattle Fire Dept boarded the boat and tended to a fire inside the engine. After some time the boat was put back on the trailer. SFD continued to give the engine some attention and once they were done, it was time to go to work. We know that there was a strike point at the back right corner of the boat. The right sponson also appeared to be damaged but don’t quote us on that. We are processing our pictures and we will get you some photos as soon as we can. Please bear with us.
As for the U9, Chris Bertram flipped the boat going in to the S turn in heat 1B. It happened outside of our view so we have no footage. However, Chris appears to be just fine and like a true racer, is upset that the boat is damaged.
We’re not sure at this point what this means for the U37. We assume that this will force us to race the provisional tomorrow but that’s about 4 steps beyond where we need to be by morning. As it stands the crew will be working under the lights in the pits tonight until the wee hours of the morning. More to come as soon as we can get some more information. For now we have left the pits so that the team can have all the room that they need to get their jobs done.
8pm- Ok, according to what we’ve learned from discussions we’ve had, footage we’ve seen and the heat standings, it appears as though the tail end of the boat got loose in the turn and the boat drifted in to the U10. At this time we do not know if it was due to a steering component failure or water conditions. We also do not yet know the cause of the engine fire and whether it was related to the accident. We will plan to update you on that sometime Sunday as we do not plan to disturb the crew while they work in to the night preparing for tomorrow.
9pm- The heat draws are in. We’re in 2C at 11:10am PT on Sunday. Full heat draw info can be found on the ABRA site by clicking HERE This is good news for the crew. They might actually get to take a nap tonight.
**UPDATE** 9:31pm PT- I literally just hung up the phone with Scott Raney and I can tell you that this team is ready to ROCK! The boat is done, painted and ready to hit the water in the morning. I’ve told you all season and off season how amazing this team is and you’re seeing it right in front of your eyes. Nice work guys!
Sunday Aug 5th- The U37 team had a great day today but came up short. Needing 2 heat wins to get in to the final Jean Theoret pulled away from Villwock early in 2C. After the first lap it was clear Theoret would go on to win. In heat 3B Theoret continued dominate the U16 giving Villwock only his 3rd heat loss this season.
In the final all boats were early. WAY early. So everyone had to practically stop on the course going in to the N turn. When they did this and the water came up over the canopy, Jean Theoret lost all visibility and the boat crossed lane 1 hitting a bouy. This disqualified him for the final paving the way for Steve David in the U6 to break our win streak in Seattle and take the Chevy Cup trophy. Congratulations to the U6 Miss Madison/Oh Boy! Oberto team who has been knocking on the door of a win all season long. Seattle was a great place to break out and get the new boat its first win.
In other news Jean Theoret set a new 2 mile track record with a 150mph competition lap in 2C. This beat the old record of 149 held for 13 years by the Elam Plus.
We would also like to congratulate our own Ryan Mallow who piloted his UL 19 to a heat victory in Seattle. Unfortunately the boat suffered some damage that prevented them from making a run at a win in Seattle. Keep your eye on this guy. There is an unlimited driving career in his future.