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Big Hobby Comes In Small Sizes
Ben Smith
Published: Today
Maybe this doesn't happen, if Bob Kensill's hearing isn't up to snuff. Maybe he never winds up with all these trophies, a lot of them of the national and international variety.
But one day 40 years ago, in Kankakee, Ill., Kensill heard this noise and went to investigate. The rest is, if not history, certainly a lifelong passion.
"I used to race full-size boats," Kensill says. "We were at a race one time, and we heard this noise and went looking for it, and found a kid who was running a model boat on a pond. It looked just like the full-sized ones.
"I've been hooked ever since."
He's also good at it. Since first racing model powerboats 35 years ago, Kensill, 55, of Fort Wayne, has become something of a superstar in what is admittedly a less-than-universal pursuit. He won his first national title 20 years ago, when he was 35; last month, he came home from the International Model Power Boat Association International Regatta in Seville, Ohio, with the Excellence of Performance Award, a traveling trophy that goes annually to the highest-scoring US-1 boat.
Kensill's international championship boat was his Hooter's/Lowe's B Outboard Tunnel, which is powered by a 3.5-cubic-centimeter modified engine. It finished first in oval time trials and straightaway time trials and first overall.
In addition, his two larger boats - the Hooter's/Lowe's E Outboard Tunnel (11 cubic centimeters) and F Outboard Tunnel (13 cubic centimeters) - got perfect heat scores with five first-place finishes each, making Kensill the national champ in both classes.
"When you start out in this, it's one of those things you do a little bit when you can afford it," says Kensill, who works at Lowe's and builds his own boats in his basement at home. "Unless you're rich, it's hard to do. Then of course there's the driving ability. That only comes with practice. You drive and drive and drive and drive some more.
"My first national championship was 1990. I'd been racing at that time probably about 7 or 8 years, and when it happened, it was quite an event."
And now?
"Now it's a passion for me," he says. "I kind of live to go to the races."
Always has, it seems. Growing up, his family owned a marina, and Kensill's grandfather raced full-size boats, his father raced, his uncles raced. And so when Bob was old enough, he climbed in a boat and raced, too.
"It was natural," he says. "Kind of a family tradition."
And then one day in Kankakee, he took it in a different direction.
"The attraction for me is the camaraderie of the guys I run with," says Kensill, whose wife of 15 years, Karen, is a champion model boat racer as well. "It's the guys I meet that I only see once or twice a year. The guys that are good and serious about it, we are kind of a tight-knit fraternity. We share a lot of secrets.
"Of course, we don't call 'em secrets, but other people call them secrets who haven't learned them yet. Me, I like to share everything I know as much as possible."
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i hope bob dont mind , but this is a neat story.
congratulations for all bob (and karen) have done for our driftwood club when they were members and for racing in general.
GOOD LUCK on your move and future racing.
good friends indeed.
dan
Ben Smith
Published: Today
Maybe this doesn't happen, if Bob Kensill's hearing isn't up to snuff. Maybe he never winds up with all these trophies, a lot of them of the national and international variety.
But one day 40 years ago, in Kankakee, Ill., Kensill heard this noise and went to investigate. The rest is, if not history, certainly a lifelong passion.
"I used to race full-size boats," Kensill says. "We were at a race one time, and we heard this noise and went looking for it, and found a kid who was running a model boat on a pond. It looked just like the full-sized ones.
"I've been hooked ever since."
He's also good at it. Since first racing model powerboats 35 years ago, Kensill, 55, of Fort Wayne, has become something of a superstar in what is admittedly a less-than-universal pursuit. He won his first national title 20 years ago, when he was 35; last month, he came home from the International Model Power Boat Association International Regatta in Seville, Ohio, with the Excellence of Performance Award, a traveling trophy that goes annually to the highest-scoring US-1 boat.
Kensill's international championship boat was his Hooter's/Lowe's B Outboard Tunnel, which is powered by a 3.5-cubic-centimeter modified engine. It finished first in oval time trials and straightaway time trials and first overall.
In addition, his two larger boats - the Hooter's/Lowe's E Outboard Tunnel (11 cubic centimeters) and F Outboard Tunnel (13 cubic centimeters) - got perfect heat scores with five first-place finishes each, making Kensill the national champ in both classes.
"When you start out in this, it's one of those things you do a little bit when you can afford it," says Kensill, who works at Lowe's and builds his own boats in his basement at home. "Unless you're rich, it's hard to do. Then of course there's the driving ability. That only comes with practice. You drive and drive and drive and drive some more.
"My first national championship was 1990. I'd been racing at that time probably about 7 or 8 years, and when it happened, it was quite an event."
And now?
"Now it's a passion for me," he says. "I kind of live to go to the races."
Always has, it seems. Growing up, his family owned a marina, and Kensill's grandfather raced full-size boats, his father raced, his uncles raced. And so when Bob was old enough, he climbed in a boat and raced, too.
"It was natural," he says. "Kind of a family tradition."
And then one day in Kankakee, he took it in a different direction.
"The attraction for me is the camaraderie of the guys I run with," says Kensill, whose wife of 15 years, Karen, is a champion model boat racer as well. "It's the guys I meet that I only see once or twice a year. The guys that are good and serious about it, we are kind of a tight-knit fraternity. We share a lot of secrets.
"Of course, we don't call 'em secrets, but other people call them secrets who haven't learned them yet. Me, I like to share everything I know as much as possible."
[email protected]
i hope bob dont mind , but this is a neat story.
congratulations for all bob (and karen) have done for our driftwood club when they were members and for racing in general.
GOOD LUCK on your move and future racing.
good friends indeed.
dan
