Arkansas Crystal Cup Origins

How the Dream Got Started

RCOur friend Frantz has commented on the post about F1 boats queued up for the Arkansas Crystal Cup.  I decided to raise the level of that comment to a separate post for two very important reasons:

  • He is congratulating Doug in Idaho for a “job well done” and,
  • He is providing us with a great perspective into how his dream of an Arkansas Race came to be.

It still amazes all of us just how far Frantz has come in his quest to bring a race to Arkansas’ Lake Dardanelle.

This is also a great opportunity to pat Doug Miller on the back.  As the President of the Coeur d’ Alene Diamond Cup Regatta, he has orchestrated a wonderful return of racing to the Lake. (By the way, if you have not visited their site recently, they have a great new look!)  UnlimitedHydroplaneRacing.com, along with the entire sport is grateful for this expansion of our sport and we should all turn toward Idaho and smile.

Frantz’s work is continuing, he has a long race to run, but we are all pulling for him.  Here’s his comment, along with some of his RC boats:

 

First I would like to give a “BIG” congratulations to Doug in Idaho for a job well done. I am so happy for him and his efforts that now offer us a new race site. Dave here at UHR has been asking me how this all came about. Well, now that a have a bit of a lull, I can take a moment to explain.

I used to watch the boats on TV, and loved them. I absolutely love the hydroplane design, the rooster-tails, the sound, and everything that goes with this sport.

Then they seem to have gone away when the Bud quit racing, away from TV that is. I haven’t thought of the boats for years. They might have been on certain programming that I was unaware of, or I didn’t have that particular tier with my TV package.

I went to a local hobby shop one day looking for a particular item I thought they might carry. While there, I asked if they carried RC boats? They answered no, but it just so happened there was a nitro Formula Boat 1/12 scale replica hydroplane, sitting on the floor, in a corner. The owner of the store picked it up, and informed me it was there on consignment.

I probably looked like a kid in a candy store, this thing was just beautiful. I asked him what he thought was a fair price because I thought the one on it was a little steep, considering I didn’t know squat about the boat or price. He suggested a price, and I thought it was fair. He said he would make the offer to the owners, and let me know the outcome.

After a few days, I got a call and they accepted the offer. After picking the boat up, and running it a few times, I decided I didn’t want my boat looking like everyone’s, so I went to a graphics designer, and had some new decals of a Miss Arkansas, and Razorback themes done for the boat. It turned out great (a real eye catcher). Being most in the state are Razorback fans, the new decals are a real hit.

During all of this, I was trying to finish up my “man cave.” So, just for the heck of it, I thought I would contact Formula Boats to try and get some posters etc. from them. I explained to them I had one of the replicas of their boat, and could I get some posters or pictures from them to dress up the man cave. They were very helpful to send me some cool pics to dress up the walls.

I can’t say for sure what happened next but I remember saying something to the wife about how cool it would be to have a race here. One morning while in the shower, the Lord asked me if I wanted to do this (get a race for Arkansas.) I said “yes, sir I would.” He told me, “let’s do it then!”


I remember calling Formula Boats back and asked them who I needed to contact for such information. With that information I contacted H1. They sent me some info, and I poked around on the web some, and “bada-bing” I was off and running.

Never had I done anything like this before, and didn’t have a clue of where to start, so I just winged it. If you have kept up with my adventure on this site, you can see it has been a daunting one. I encourage anyone who would like to have their own race, too, to just get out there and start the process.

For me, it has been a very rewarding experience so far. Thanks to the Lord, Dave at UnlimitedHydroplaneRacing.com, and a multitude of wonderful people, my heart’s desire and dream is coming true.

So, as Paul Harvey use to say, “that’s the rest of the story.”

We can blame all of this on an RC boat.

Frantz

Where to place blame:

new pic 15 new pic 14 new pic 13

new pic 12 new pic 11 new pic 10

new pic 8 new pic 7 new pic 6 new pic 5 new pic 4

Thanks to both Frantz and Doug for their efforts!

Dave


Share with your friends!

One thought on “Arkansas Crystal Cup Origins

  • March 18, 2013 at 2:16 PM
    Permalink

    I didn’t know the boat pics were going to post, so I feel I need to give some history on the other boats. I bought the orange boat, AKA, Miss Elam, used off E-Bay for myself. The boat finally came in, and the original decals were in sad shape, and after checking around, new ones weren’t available anymore.

    I had to come up with something new to deck it out. I mentioned to my brother-in-law (in a joke) I had bought a boat for him. He had seen the Miss Arkansas, and mentioned he would like to have one named after his longtime companion Schnauser named Natasha. No one seemed to have ever done much for that brother, and him being my favorite, I decided I really wanted him to have it.

    He use to be an avid RC pilot. I worked up the Miss Natasha, Snarlin’Schnauser, Mad Dog Racing theme for his boat. I had to lay out the theme to cover up the fade on the finish from the old factory decals I had taken off. So, the finished Bad To Da Bone dog theme boat came out lookin’ really sweet. 61 is his age, so I thought that would be a good number for it.

    He didn’t have a clue that I really had done a boat in that personalized theme for him. The boat was a real surprise for his Christmas. Now the wife informs me, she being from southern Louisiana, she needs a Miss Louisiana. We have been having fun up to this point anyway with the Arkansas Razorbacks, and the LSU Tiger football rivalry. So, I needed a yellow boat to do that theme, AKA Miss Llumar.

    I liked to have never found one that wasn’t ragged out. Finally I found one in Florida. I had the same problem with the fade under the factory decals on this boat also. With a lot of thought, I created the Ragin’ Cajun Racing, LSU Tiger, Miss Louisiana (05 being the year we married) boat for the wife.

    She had no idea I was doing this for her.

    So, when I surprised her with it, she was shocked. Now talk about having fun at the lake, these boats catch a lot of attention. Hope you enjoyed the story, and the pictures. You can tell more about them by clicking on them to enlarge them.

    Frantz

Comments are closed.