Minute Breakers Model Boat Club

The Minute Breakers Model Boat Club is the oldest RC Model Boat Club in The Chicagoland Area. We hold the largest race (in # of boats) here in District 4 every year in Mendota, Illinois. Most members test boats in Sundown Meadows forest preserve (Lake Ida) in LaGrange, Illinois, which to my knowledge, will be cleared of the cat tails and seaweed this year. We also test at Cricket Creek. We are a diverse club from a bunch of youngster teenagers to some well known senior racers such as Gary and Bob Pruesse. We have monthly club meetings with an annual banquet. We have a wealth of knowledge to help for racing, but most of all, we are a fun group of friends. For more information contact the Club President;

Larry Gempp Sr.

708-749-9017

We are always looking for new boaters who love the hobby!

Larry Gempp Jr.

Hey Larry, you said cricket creek, yes we can all share that body of water lol and help each other out, hope to see you at the races. I really hope lake Ida will be cleared out, has anyone contacted the forest preserve people to see if the tails have been cut and killed off yet?

Roy

Big roy said:

Hey Larry, you said cricket creek, yes we can all share that body of water lol and help each other out, hope to see you at the races. I really hope lake Ida will be cleared out, has anyone contacted the forest preserve people to see if the tails have been cut and killed off yet?
Roy

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Yes Roy, Mr. Ron Zaker Sr. has been in contact with the forest preserve rangers and had the cat tails treated while the pond was frozen. Looks like all systems go come spring..........Cricket Creek is really to small for anything more than a B hydro for me, so having lake Ida back is a huge boost. I pretty much grew up hanging out at that pond.

Larry Jr.

Larry,

I have never been there but have heard lots of good things about it and the huge body of water compared to cricket. Only drawback for me is the distance of the lake, probably a hour or so from Rolling Meadows. For my smaller .45 boats Cricket is ok, but for my sons .45 Coyote rigger and my .67 seaducer I want to run on bigger water. I know alot of the guys from Summer Thunder will go to lake Ida but I will more than likely spend some time on Cricket and buy that dern $35.00 forest preserve pass to run there.

Roy

Big roy said:

Larry,
I have never been there but have heard lots of good things about it and the huge body of water compared to cricket. Only drawback for me is the distance of the lake, probably a hour or so from Rolling Meadows. For my smaller .45 boats Cricket is ok, but for my sons .45 Coyote rigger and my .67 seaducer I want to run on bigger water. I know alot of the guys from Summer Thunder will go to lake Ida but I will more than likely spend some time on Cricket and buy that dern $35.00 forest preserve pass to run there.

Roy

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True. Yes, as Im sure you know, Lake Ida used to be Summer Thunder's Race site. Many years ago, we used to hold Time Trials there too. If my memory serves me right, the first sub 20 second 2-lap oval record was ran at Lake Ida. Wyatt York with a 60/80 eagle. Gee, I think I was 10 or 11 years old when I saw that and man, was that a sight to see........I also witnessed Gary Pruesse touch 100mph on radar with his 40 hawk back in 1996 at Lake Ida. Unreal........ Im really hoping that Summer Thunder goes back to that site once the weed issue is taken care of, cause Im contemplating not running any of my riggers in Shaumburg, its just not worth it.......

Larry Jr.

Will your club run any time trials there at Ida this year?

No, and we dont really plan on it. After we held the record trials at Lake Ida, a different boat club held record trials at Silver Springs State Park in Yorkville Illinois. Many records were set there since it was a long narrow lake. That boat club kind of fizzled out and we helped them the last few years until we called it quits, I beleive in 98 or 99. No record trials since.. <_< A shame too, my father would have easily had the Sport 20 SAW record when it was first introduced, before David Prusse pushed it up just three years ago. My father was running up near 60mph in heat racing trim in 2001, when we first started running the class. My father, Bob Pruesse, and Bill Coleman were the first guys to run Sport 20 at our Dist. 4 races........Would never have thought that it is one of the largest classes now. Im just hoping that the hydro class will be strong this year, I know some guys with some killer new riggers this year.

Larry Jr.

Larry jr,

The reason there are no time trials @ Silver Springs is that the State of Illinois requested that we find another lake to boat on. We would like to go back to Silver Springs!

John Kubitz Summer Thunder. Formally Fox Valley

John Kubitz said:

Larry jr,The reason there are no time trials @ Silver Springs is that the State of Illinois requested that we find another lake to boat on. We would like to go back to Silver Springs!

John Kubitz Summer Thunder. Formally Fox Valley

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Hey John! Didnt know you were on here! Yes, I always loved Yorkville. The first race I ever raced in was there. Brings back memories......The fox valley club was a great group of guys John.........Try and get Summer Thunder back to Lake Ida buddy......Those sea walls at Shaumburg scare the bjesus out of me and the waves never seem to settle.

Larry Jr.

Larry,

Remember it was Schaumburg or nothing. Ida is a possibility except for the Tod Stroger deep pocket fund. Marquette pays about $290 just for there race. Our cost is considerably less @ Schaumburg and we have a gas retreve boat. They Run a race @ GM with concrete walls!

I hear ya John. Sites are harder to come bye for sure.....Ill be at your race with the tunnel again for sure. Lookin forward to doin a lot of racing this year! See ya around buddy!

Larry Jr.

I will probably run a D Rigger

Some fun history.

Our dist sport 20 racing started out in the early to mid 90s with some of the Lacrosse RC boaters racing full body 20 powered hydros. I think a guy by the name of Laurel….. hum.. I cant remember his last name now.. made some boats and sold a few to some of the lacrosse boaters. Laurel was from Iowa from what I remember.. Older dude and a FANTASTIC builder.

Anyway.. I have a few pictures of the boat around someplace..

In the late mid to late 90s Bill Coleman and myself met to come up with a set of rules for building and racing these little guys.. The name for the class was called Scale Twenty and we formed the Scale Twenty Society. The boat were to built and painted to mimic a full scale hydroplane but with out the out matching paint colors to the T.

(I still have pictures of the members boats and all the paper work at home in a folder)

One of the first official Scale 20 races was on the fox river. I remember I had a cold and it was raining.. MISERABLE..

It all changed when a boat showed up that had a tunnel hull cowl on it and we let it run.. Heck it was a hydro so why not.. but it was the end of the intent of the class.. Not such a bad thing in the end.. Sport 20 was born in our area and its grown by leaps and bounds.

Fun stuff for sure.

Grimracer

So who was the idiot guy with the Tunnel Cowl on it Mike? :lol:

j/k, good stuff bud!

Larry Jr.

Hum........... hahahah

It caused some comments didn’t it..

Truth is we did not know what the class was going to become.. but we liked little hydros to away we went!

Grim

I think Sport 20 was the largest class in # of boats this past year at Mendota Mike. I do think it took away some of our B Hydro drivers though <_< You guys were sure on to something though......

Larry Jr.

Speed Jr. said:

The Minute Breakers Model Boat Club is the oldest RC Model Boat Club in The Chicagoland Area. We hold the largest race (in # of boats) here in District 4 every year in Mendota, Illinois. Most members test boats in Sundown Meadows forest preserve (Lake Ida) in LaGrange, Illinois, which to my knowledge, will be cleared of the cat tails and seaweed this year. We also test at Cricket Creek. We are a diverse club from a bunch of youngster teenagers to some well known senior racers such as Gary and Bob Pruesse. We have monthly club meetings with an annual banquet. We have a wealth of knowledge to help for racing, but most of all, we are a fun group of friends. For more information contact the Club President;
Larry Gempp Sr.

708-749-9017

We are always looking for new boaters who love the hobby!

Larry Gempp Jr.

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Mendota is definately a good time. On and off the water.

Has anyone confirmed Lake Ida has cut the cat tails down?

Big roy said:

Has anyone confirmed Lake Ida has cut the cat tails down?

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All indications are that Lake Ida will useable this season. It's a work in progress.

Ron Jr