silent engines

[RonShaw]

Ron,

It was the NAMBA NATS where he did that. I remember sitting down to dinner with Steve and Al Hobbs and it was the first time we had met Al. I was embarrassed that Steve told Al he was going to win all 4 mono classes. Wow! What a statement! He was determined that week and must have had some help from above because one heat I launched his boat and the plug spit out of the engine. I grabbed the boat, we put a new plug in it, started it, and launched before time ran out. He won the heat and all 4 classes as he predicted. He was not a shy guy. His most prized win was the IMPBA excellence of performance trophy, which was on display at the funeral.

John

that was the best nats i ever went to,and the only time i ever met him.met alot of great people that week.can't believe it's been that many years.

Thanks for the correction John. Yes it was the NAMBA Nationals. I never knew about the statement Steve made but he did it, swept the mono classes. You are right Mike, that was a great time. I think Steve and I both got our Island Patches that week after willing, that was given for circling the huge island located at the back of the lake. You lose sight of your boat for about 15 sec. That was a long pause!!!!

hey ron,i was too afraid to do the around the island deal.i just built my 1/8 scale and took 3rd place that day and did not want to wreck it. fun times indeed..

LOL Mike. When I lost sight of my tunnel for that long 10-15 sec, I thought I had made a big mistake LOL.

 

[RonShaw]

Ron,

It was the NAMBA NATS where he did that. I remember sitting down to dinner with Steve and Al Hobbs and it was the first time we had met Al. I was embarrassed that Steve told Al he was going to win all 4 mono classes. Wow! What a statement! He was determined that week and must have had some help from above because one heat I launched his boat and the plug spit out of the engine. I grabbed the boat, we put a new plug in it, started it, and launched before time ran out. He won the heat and all 4 classes as he predicted. He was not a shy guy. His most prized win was the IMPBA excellence of performance trophy, which was on display at the funeral.

John

that was the best nats i ever went to,and the only time i ever met him.met alot of great people that week.can't believe it's been that many years.

Thanks for the correction John. Yes it was the NAMBA Nationals. I never knew about the statement Steve made but he did it, swept the mono classes. You are right Mike, that was a great time. I think Steve and I both got our Island Patches that week after willing, that was given for circling the huge island located at the back of the lake. You lose sight of your boat for about 15 sec. That was a long pause!!!!

hey ron,i was too afraid to do the around the island deal.i just built my 1/8 scale and took 3rd place that day and did not want to wreck it. fun times indeed..

LOL Mike. When I lost sight of my tunnel for that long 10-15 sec, I thought I had made a big mistake LOL. John, did you or Steve circle the island that week???

 

[RonShaw]

Ron,

It was the NAMBA NATS where he did that. I remember sitting down to dinner with Steve and Al Hobbs and it was the first time we had met Al. I was embarrassed that Steve told Al he was going to win all 4 mono classes. Wow! What a statement! He was determined that week and must have had some help from above because one heat I launched his boat and the plug spit out of the engine. I grabbed the boat, we put a new plug in it, started it, and launched before time ran out. He won the heat and all 4 classes as he predicted. He was not a shy guy. His most prized win was the IMPBA excellence of performance trophy, which was on display at the funeral.

John

that was the best nats i ever went to,and the only time i ever met him.met alot of great people that week.can't believe it's been that many years.

Thanks for the correction John. Yes it was the NAMBA Nationals. I never knew about the statement Steve made but he did it, swept the mono classes. You are right Mike, that was a great time. I think Steve and I both got our Island Patches that week after willing, that was given for circling the huge island located at the back of the lake. You lose sight of your boat for about 15 sec. That was a long pause!!!!

hey ron,i was too afraid to do the around the island deal.i just built my 1/8 scale and took 3rd place that day and did not want to wreck it. fun times indeed..

LOL Mike. When I lost sight of my tunnel for that long 10-15 sec, I thought I had made a big mistake LOL.

John, did you or Steve circle the island that week? I will have to try to find that patch!!!

 

[Tom Foley]

Steve Speas passed away unexpectedly last night. He was a good friend for 37 years. I remember the first outing we had with his model boat. He started up his boat on a dock and the u-joints flew apart and went down the cracks between the boards on the dock. I introduced him to flex cable and who would have known we would be running a model boat business together years down the road. He made a lot of boating friends through the Twin Craft boat business and we had a lot of good times learning new things about boats and racing together. I will miss him greatly.

John

Sorry to hear this , rest in peace Steve .

 

[John Finch]

I don't think either Steve or I circled the island Ron. You might have been a bit more crazy than us back then. LOL Steve and I were actually tied for first place in two of the 4 classes he won, but the tie breaker was lap times and he had faster lap times. He kept telling me to run full speed but I didn't listen. Once out front I just went fast enough to keep ahead of the competition. It cost me, but seeing him win all four classes was epic. He taught me a lot about racing. Building and experimenting was not his thing. His thing was RACING!

John

 

[moparbarn]

Just picked up a Twincraft 20 mono. Gonna race it this season in D-12 in Steve's memory.

 

[Ray Sametz]

Never was a mono guy, had fun with a Wild Thing for a few years. I salvaged my buddy Carl's twin craft which had more holes then Carter has liver pills. LOL

 

[El Zorro]

That's pretty cool, Robin. Steve won't be forgotten anytime soon. There will be plenty of Steve stories going around at the Ft. Richie race, I promise you.

Dick Tyndall

 

[Blaise Recca]

Wow, just saw this post. Steve was a big guy and had a big presence but was a little boy at heart. He was always around but I only got to know him better in the last few years. He was a racer for sure and a nice guy. I will miss our talks at the races and time trials. It seems like everyone I know is going away more frequently. May your afterlife always be in lane one. Godspeed Steve.

 

[RonShaw]

I don't think either Steve or I circled the island Ron. You might have been a bit more crazy than us back then. LOL Steve and I were actually tied for first place in two of the 4 classes he won, but the tie breaker was lap times and he had faster lap times. He kept telling me to run full speed but I didn't listen. Once out front I just went fast enough to keep ahead of the competition. It cost me, but seeing him win all four classes was epic. He taught me a lot about racing. Building and experimenting was not his thing. His thing was RACING!

John

Yes John, Steve loved to race. The biggest smile he would have on his face was on the drivers stand. He used to love giving ole Mike Saleeby a hard time back in the day lol. I must have been crazy back then thinking about it now. After winning that final 40 tunnel heat and knowing I won first overall, I made a hard left on the back stretch and didnt look back lol. Here is a pic of Steve with his American Flag Twin Craft.

 

[John Finch]

Good picture Ron. I just uploaded it to my computer and will make copies to bring to FT Richie next weekend for the race. I will be running his tide cat next weekend at the Ft Richie race in his memory and also at the Gas nats in the offshore class. Jim Squires will be running his stock mono at Ft Richie as well. Steve and I had just purchased new stock motors so we could run the super stock class and bump sides like we used to do in the 80s and 90s. I just got through putting his mono together with the new stock motor.

John

 

[RonShaw]

John,

Here is another pic showing Steve with the Tide Cat before stickers.

http://s199.photobucket.com/user/impba6442/media/100_0434.jpg.html