IMPBA D1 - Northern Lights MBC - 2017 "THE CAN-AM" Aug 12 & 13.

[T.S.Davis]

Team Canada's three year reign over the "Can-Am Challenge" has been broken as Team USA prevailed this year with a combined total of 14,082 to Team Canada's 11,350. The "Can-Am Cup" was presented to Team USA who got a little wet in the process!

I finally got drawn form the team hat! Great timing for me. Doesn't hurt at all to have a hall of fame racer Steve Ball (on the end there) on yer team. Vince Amore and Tom Baffer were like forces of nature this year. The only way they lost ever was of their pwn doing.

Good times Terry. We appreciate all the hard work and more importantly the patience it takes to pull these races together.

[Doug Smock]

Good stuff! oh and

[longballlumber]

I would like to send out a huge THANK YOU to the entire NLMBC members for giving us a great location and event to race at! Beyond the location and organization of this event; their open arms for ANY power source is what stands out to me. The NLMBC is leading the way when it comes to hosting a “mixed” event. Lots of very fair calls from the CD tower, heck; I was even called over on a start! Ha ha!

The men handling the retrieve boat were very helpful during open water while I was working out some issues and trying to break in in my new .21 hydro.

Thanks to Oliver and Rissa for being such great hosts and allowing us to spend the weekend at the pond with them.

Thanks to Mr. Keeley for a few a few parts, some suggestions, and encouragement on Friday night allowing me to get the new .21 boat sorted out enough to race all weekend AND finish my heats (all but one). Not bad for a brand new ride!

Thanks to Tom Baffer Jr. for a couple parts and pieces on Sunday allowing me to fix my .40 hydro so I could keep racing!

Thanks to Tom Castellani for being my nitro pit guy over the weekend.

Lastly all of the help and fun I had with my Dad. He is always there to answer questions, offer suggestions, and we had lots of fun racing against each other. A little more tuning on my boats and hopefully I can put a little more “heat” on him!

What a fun weekend; wrenching and all!

[T.S.Davis]

The NLMBC is leading the way when it comes to hosting a “mixed” event.

North of the Mason Dixon for sure but south of the line it's Atlanta. I think Terry said FE made up 45% of the entries. The atmosphere is similar between the Spring Nats and the CanAm in that nobody gives a rats a$$ what you use to power your boats. We're all just model boaters. I even pit for Vince in some gas heats. It didn't suck. What the heck is the world coming to?

[ray schrauwen]

It's nice to see. Even though I can't stand the racket.

NLMBC did a great job as always, kudos guys, gals and the families involved.

[CraigP]

I raced a nitro boat in California back in the 80's. I got out of it because they really make a mess of the water! I was living in Santa Cruz and we had to travel to ponds and lakes away from town, because people were giving us trouble for the oil pollution. At first, it pissed me off! But over time, I had to agree, it's a mess! So when the opportunity came to re-engage in model boating, FE was just the ticket! I think you will see FE become the dominant entries in the future. Fuel boats are cheaper right now. Nothing cheap about FE's! Are you guys getting any pushback now for oil in the water?

[Tom Baffer Jr]

I had a great time this weekend, can't wait for next year.

Here's a link for some pics my dad took.

http://img.gg/TUP98Xl

[Doug Smock]

North of the Mason Dixon for sure but south of the line it's Atlanta. I think Terry said FE made up 45% of the entries. The atmosphere is similar between the Spring Nats and the CanAm in that nobody gives a rats a$$ what you use to power your boats. We're all just model boaters. I even pit for Vince in some gas heats. It didn't suck. What the heck is the world coming to?

We started running FE in "mixed" events starting with the Grand Prix Series 2007. If nothing else we proved that it works! When you have a group of guys & gals (in this case a whole district) that knows like you said "we're all just model boaters" it's easy to pull off. Kudos to the NLMBC!

Craig, There have been more sites lost to noise than anything else. FE may be the future but unless something drastic happens it's way down the road. Nitro is still strong, and it seems gas is still the fastest growing segment of the hobby.

Cool pics Tom, thanks for sharing!

Terry, is that our old clock??

[Randy Rapedius]

Great pics! Thanks Tom Sr.

[CraigP]

Yes, noise, I have forgotten about that! The smell too... My garage would wreak from the fuel! I love the advantages of my FE! Thanks for the update Doug.

[T.S.Davis]

Wow. Great pics. I say we officially invite tom Sr. to every race hence forth. If Jr behaves himself he can come too.

[Randy Rapedius]

Wow. Great pics. I say we officially invite tom Sr. to every race hence forth. If Jr behaves himself he can come too.

We have already tipped off Canada Border Security not to let Tom Jr back in. [emoji4]

[madmikepags]

Yea I just won't bring him next year, or maybe something will "happen" to his boats on the way up.
Hey guys I had a great time at the race, some of my own mishaps and mistakes, made me get down on myself a lil bit and caused myself a little bit of undue stress, but when I saw Ray and Wendy my weekend got a whole lot better and got myself in a much better place. Really seeing Ray and Wendy made my whole weekend, I don't even know if I had a chance to say goodbye to them in the ruckus of cleaning and packing up!!!
This race, like all big races I attend makes me learn a lot. Firstly I learned that I really can race 8 classes, except for one heat that I missed because I was too busy yukking it up in the pits, my boats were ready for every heat and I believe I had to call for 1 mercy minute the whole weekend. Next I learned not to give your best buddy all your tips tricks and setups or he'll beat you with them!!!!! Great Job Tommy I'm really proud of you, you raced well and copied, or ahh, ahem, built some great boats!!!! All kidding aside, you had your boats dialed, drove well and raced smart, well done my friend. I learned that FE and Fuel guys "can" get along and actually become friends!!! I met Vinny and I'm damn glad I did, he's a great racer, a funny dude, and a large mammal just like myself!!! I Think I might be getting a Gas kitty!!!!! Also I learn at every race that I'm not really as good as I "Think" I am. And lastly I learned not to drive home 8 hours with a guy that just won EVERYTHING!!!

[Terry Keeley]

North of the Mason Dixon for sure but south of the line it's Atlanta. I think Terry said FE made up 45% of the entries. The atmosphere is similar between the Spring Nats and the CanAm in that nobody gives a rats a$$ what you use to power your boats. We're all just model boaters. I even pit for Vince in some gas heats. It didn't suck. What the heck is the world coming to?

Pit for a gasser, oh the shame! Almost as bad as Tom pitting for me in 20 mono!

We were actually down in numbers this year with 124 boats, last year we had about 150. The Quebec guys didn't come en-mass as they did last year, we also didn't get some fuel guys out of D2 that came last year. FE was 42% of the entries, LSG 38%, nitro 24% and Open 8%.

We never seem to know what will make up the numbers so we offer a "shotgun" effect of classes and let the market decide. A perfect example is last year we had nine Cracker Box's, this year only two. This year FE was the strongest, thanks to you guys!

And yes, we are all just model boaters. I think FE might finally be shedding the stigma LSG had when they first started. They ain't 'yer grandpa's geared 05's on nicads, nor are they air cooled Homelite's with clutches...

[Terry Keeley]

Terry, is that our old clock??

Yes, thanks again very much. A club member (Rudy P.) has a homegrown CNC in his basement and made all new brackets that hold the flip segments. I installed them moving all the little coils and segments over. Also put in a couple of fuses and insulated the bottom, it's working flawlessly!