TUESDAY, JULY 20, 2010 - We have lots going on this week so I will use the blog space tonight to keep you up to date on what is happening in Herd Racing land.

First off, our Yeeeha Formula 3 boat was delivered today and it was much nicer than I had thought it would be.  I knew it was a pretty nice boat, but it is really in much better physical condition than I had hoped.  It will need a little body work, but overall, a coat of paint and some decals and it is ready for a motor and some testing.  We haven't torn into it yet, but the exterior and what I have seen of the interior so far look pretty promising.  It is about a foot shorter than our Pugh boat, right at 14 feet, which is the minimum length requirement for the SST-60 or F-3 class.

We also finalized the purchase of our first SST-120 or F-2 series boat today.  We will hopefully have it picked up next week.  It is an older boat that was ran under the Budweiser sponsorship back in early 2000s by Buck Thornton.  It was a very competitive boat in its day and was built by Seebold Racing in Missouri which is one of the pioneer families in F-2 powerboats.  It will take some work to get ready for the water, but the boat has the potential to be a front-runner in the 120 class with some work and a little sponsorship.

Our next step is finalizing sponsorship videos and presentations so we can begin selling the 2011 race seasons to potential sponsors.  Preliminary plans are for a two-boat team, racing in both the F-2 and F-3 series.  We still have another F-2 boat we hope to pick up this summer and then spend the winter months getting a primary boat and a backup boat ready for each class.

We hope to test our Pugh F-3 boat on Monday night on the Ohio River at Huntington.  It got swamped at Marietta and we blew a head gasket so we will get the motor up to temperature and run a few laps in calm water to make sure our power and acceleration are there before we head out to Memphis.

Speaking of Memphis, we hope to have a Hustler dolly trailer ready early next week so we can haul the boat in the hauler to Memphis.  Taking a second trailer to Marietta wasn't a big deal, but a 10-hour hike with two trailers just isn't in the budget.  Jeff at Hustler Trailers is working on the measurements and we should be able to pick it up next week in Knoxville, TN when we deliver our hood down for Gary Pugh to measure and build our new hood to help protect the motor from being swamped again.  We won't have the hood painted and on the boat for Memphis, but I suspect we will be sporting a new hood and motor cover for the Aurora race weekend in mid-August.

Crew Chief Jeramey is working on some sponsorship deals for next year and Eric and Bethany are working on hotel and catering sponsors for Memphis so things are progressing daily.  I'll post a shop photo one day when I can remember to take the camera to the shop and get a few shots of the new Yeeeha being worked on.

Also, Sam and Sherron Winer of the APR SuperLeague are visiting a potential site and meeting with possible promoters tomorrow in Huntington.  The hope is to bring SuperLeague racing back to the Ohio River at Huntington in 2011 like we used to enjoy back in the 90s.  I'll keep you posted on this as well as I learn more.

Dana Tomes