Join us as we continue our riveting conversation with Jerry Schoenith (part 2 of 3), the former owner of the Miss Renault Racing Team. Jerry reflects on the highs and lows of owning a racing team, including the unforgettable World Championship. Jerry also takes us on a journey back to the 1980s, sharing his firsthand experience with the rise of turbine engines and his innovative proposal for a separate class dedicated to traditional piston engines. Discover how Jerry's brainchild, the Automotive Hydroplane Class (ATA), could have captivated thousands of fans and added a new dimension to race day festivities. From the challenges faced to the triumphs celebrated, Jerry's stories paint a vivid picture of a transformative era in hydroplane racing.
Join us as we continue our riveting conversation with Jerry Schoenith (part 2 of 3), the former owner of the Miss Renault Racing Team. Jerry reflects on the highs and lows of owning a racing team, including the unforgettable World Championship. Jerry also takes us on a journey back to the 1980s, sharing his firsthand experience with the rise of turbine engines and his innovative proposal for a separate class dedicated to traditional piston engines. Discover how Jerry's brainchild, the Automotive Hydroplane Class (ATA), could have captivated thousands of fans and added a new dimension to race day festivities. From the challenges faced to the triumphs celebrated, Jerry's stories paint a vivid picture of a transformative era in hydroplane racing.
Ruchetel Talk, the podcast dedicated to everything about the sport that we all love. Hi, drew Blain-Reason. I am your host, david Newton, and it's time once again, so sit back, relax and welcome to Rooster Tail Talk. Hello race fans, welcome back. It's episode 120, and this is part two of my three-part interview with Jerry Shaneth.
Speaker 1:Last week we talked a little bit about the Gale racing with him, what it meant to be growing up around racing, and got into a little bit of his time with Renault, as he owned a hydroplane racing team in the early 80s, the Mr Renault Racing Team.
Speaker 1:And today he's going to continue to talk about his experience in the 80s with Renault, his racing team, winning the world championship, with Renault, his racing team, winning the world championship, and he will also go into some detail about the ATA, the automotive hydroplane class that he invented and created in the 1980s after his time with H1 and what successes and what challenges he faced with that. But also he's going to talk more about his thoughts on the sport and what place Detroit has in H1 hydroplane racing. Still to this day. Some of what he talks about can be deemed as controversial in the sport, but he does, like I said, bring up some points that should be brought up and should be talked about. So let's get back to my interview with Jerry Shaneth, as last week he left us on a cliffhanger on why he left the sport as an owner in the early 1980s people wonder why I got out of it.
Speaker 2:Well, it was because of uh, the turbines came out and you know I can see the future. You know I I was trying to talk him into having a second class with the uh, you know Alice's and the roles in one class and the other, but they didn't want to do that, you know. So I just said the heck with it.
Speaker 1:Well now, it's too bad that that didn't come out. I'm pretty sure Bob Stiles was in favor of that as well, if I'm not mistaken?
Speaker 2:I don't know. To be honest, no worries, he was in another world, which he still is, I think. But yeah, yeah, no, there was—see. In those days, our goal was to get as many boats. If you recall, the Gold Cup was the 12 fastest boats.
Speaker 2:Well because, the way it's got now, you know there's six boats in the public and I can see why there's six boats it's costly, it's costly for the site, it's, you know, costly, you know, for everyone. But the problem with six boats is that they got a lot of holes to fill and you know that's the one reason I started the ATA, which the owners didn't understand. I probably should have tried to talk to them a little more, but they didn't want to listen. But the ATA was only started as an opening act, that's all it was we needed something to keep the racing busy.
Speaker 2:Because I knew, being in the entertainment business all my life, I said the people. I talked to the public all year, thousands and thousands of people a week, and everyone would say, oh God, but there's two hours between the hates, it's so boring. Well, finally, I said, well, why don't we come up with something? And because the automotive companies you know are here in.
Speaker 2:Detroit. We, you know, said let's go. And I had a big party as a kickoff and had everyone from Oldsmobile, buick, Ford, you name it there and it seemed to be good. They needed a test deal and I was lucky to know the history of the sport and I said, well, when you look back at the history, the reason the boats even started was they had to prove that car engines would last.
Speaker 2:And they couldn't prove it anyway because there wasn't the big media. They had to do it where there was hundreds of thousands of people and they decided on doing car engines and boats just to prove the engines work. And I was sort of the same way. It would have been nice if it worked. But like everything else, that was a long time ago and if I did anything now I'd probably want to work on electric Not that I like it, but it'd be fun to try it.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, I mean that's starting to take off E1 series in Europe. Quite interesting. What was the initial reception that you had for the ATA? How did that go over with fans and people?
Speaker 2:Well, the people loved it because there was noise, you know, and the turbines had got a reputation which was not very good because the owners didn't understand that. They had a whole new concept and they have got to come up with a reason. There isn't the noise and they never did that. So the public, the old-timers, went bizarre oh, there's no more thunder, you know, and all that stuff.
Speaker 2:And that was the thing that the public loved with the ATA boats. I personally, they were so loud I could barely hear. I joke now that there's a lot of the cities. Probably Seattle wouldn't even want to allow them because they're so noisy. Now, Probably.
Speaker 1:I think there's a lot.
Speaker 2:And you know so, but it would have been good for those days because we needed a filler and that's all I wanted.
Speaker 2:For some unknown reason, the owners thought I was going to take over. I didn't want to take over anything. We started with our own series, with our own series. The reason we did was because we didn't get any help. None of the race sites wanted us because the owners were saying no. So we went to three different race sites and drew a lot of people. One we drew and that's really what pissed them off. But when I drew 100,000 people and they drew half that at another race the same day, it wasn't my fault, but I was smart. I always tied it into a festival the city was having.
Speaker 1:If you're going to have a river days?
Speaker 2:well, that's the time to have a boat race, right, I mean, but those were the days.
Speaker 1:Well, it was short-lived. What obstacles prevented it from?
Speaker 2:continuing. Well, it was short-lived because I got a letter from the unlimited owners saying that I must disband the boats because we didn't have 20. Now, even in the late 80s, or whatever, they didn't have 20. But we could have the following year because we had people building boats getting ready for it and all but they were afraid it was going to take over, and you know I don't blame them.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's sort of. What they do now is that they don't welcome anything new. I mean, my God, the hall is the same hall that I won the world championship against. The Atlas van line is basically the same design. There's nothing new. My God, what would Harrisburg and Lee and my father do if we couldn't have something really different and unique? And that's part of the problem, you know. But I fully understand why they got to do what they do and I understood their fear, and you know they were praying.
Speaker 1:Oh, they're going to get all the sponsors.
Speaker 2:Well, I'd get all the sponsors if I raced a bathtub. You know that's me. I know how to do that. I still know how to do it today. You've got to start in advance and you've got to work on them and wine and dine them and get them to trust you first of all, and I always went in that there's nothing to sell attitude and you always pick what they thought they wanted.
Speaker 2:And with Renault, when I got them to say yes was at a race in Detroit and I invited all the president and CEO and all down to the roost tail. And I said hey, I'm going to rent that helicopter over there. I didn't have any money on me so I had to borrow $350 from 50 here, 20 there. I took the two of them up. Jose Deda was there and Joe Cappy brought them up in the helicopter, were there and Joe Cappy brought them up in the helicopter, and it was that famous one with the butt in the Atlas racing here, and as we're going around, I just kept saying look at all the people, Look at all the people there trying to watch a race, and in those days we were really crowded.
Speaker 1:I mean, it was jammed.
Speaker 2:And that's what really got them.
Speaker 2:When I went in first to Renault to present races, they thought I was nuts. They said, well, what are we doing this for? You don't even have a Renault engine. I said, yeah, but it'll work. And I told him. I said but we're here to sell cars. If we want to beat them, then we're going to have to spend some money. Now we did go to France. I didn't, but we had our people go to France to check out various turbines back then because they used them for their and remember in those days salt water was the enemy of a turbine. Well, renault used them on their oil rigs and there was constantly salt and they had a couple engines that we could have used. But again, h1 wanted only one engine and all this stuff. So that was part of the reason I got out of racing was because if I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it with somebody that really has the technology, and Renault had it in the turbine business in France.
Speaker 1:Okay, wow, I didn't know about that. That's interesting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh yeah. We would have gone with a turbine, but without you know, I figure the turbines are costly. So if I can get all these free turbines piled up in a pile, like I did with Allison's, then I might have a chance you know, we can experiment and all. And again we were looking to sell cars, not, you know, blowing doors off and you know.
Speaker 1:I know people. Oh, he's not a racer?
Speaker 2:Well, no, I never. When I drove, I wasn't a racer, I was a promoter. I promoted the sport, I promoted the Rooster, I promoted the city of Detroit. I was a promoter and the only way I could do it in those days was drive the boat.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then I look back at the video. What the hell was I doing? I mean I was so small. I mean it just didn't make any sense. Now I show the videos. The best one I like is the 1964 harris cup uh race and I show that to people. Is that really you? I said yeah. The announcer even mentioned my name and number here. I ended up taking a third and Budweiser Barno was first, budweiser and me, and the best thing about that is the trophy I got. Liberace gave it to us on stage, oh wow.
Speaker 2:Bill Herrick closed down his showroom, and for entertainment he had Liberace. And then when they gave out trophies, liberace gave them and I still have that one. That's the only one, I really haven't given away or done something with. It's just memory. I'm the only one that I tell the stories to anyway. I enjoyed it.
Speaker 1:All right, that's a big moment there. Jumping back to the World Championships race, I heard a rumor. I just want to confirm this. Did you get cars for your entire crew from winning that?
Speaker 2:World.
Speaker 1:Championship.
Speaker 2:Well, at the beginning of the race, a few days before, I said you know when we won the World Championship. I'm buying everybody cars, and that's when, at the end, you hear the crew, where are our cars. And yeah, they all got a Renault Fuego. It was a sports car and Jim Kerf got a.
Speaker 1:Wagoneer and yeah why not?
Speaker 2:I remember going over to the president's house of Renault and I said gee I promised them all cars. He says what did you promise them for second place? I said sorry. He said okay.
Speaker 1:Well, that's probably the best bonus check there you could ask for.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. Well yeah, it was. Yeah, I've always had a pretty decent sense of humor, so I always loved giving up at the banquets they used to have and giving my talks and, yeah, I'd roast him a little bit, which was fun, but as long as they were laughing. I remember Peter Stroh from Strohbury was at the World Championship race and he was literally falling down. He was falling down and I'm going oh, it can't be that bad you know.
Speaker 1:Well good times then. Well, those years as the owner. What would you say? Well, obviously the World Championship was your highlight, but what was probably your most frustrating part, you think?
Speaker 2:Well, the. Thing that I had mentioned was I was always experimenting with stuff. I mean, I was the first one with this, the first one with laughing gas.
Speaker 1:I get out there.
Speaker 2:I press the button, I'm pressing the button. I come back and I said nothing's happening. I thought they were supposed to do something. They found out they had it turned on the wrong way. So then I went out and pressed it and the whole bar went under. I thought that's working. You know, I was always the guy experimenting with things and I knew my job was to do that and all, but that was the way it was.
Speaker 1:Since your time as an owner, the sport really hasn't had many owners from the Detroit area, and they never will. Yeah, why is that? It was such a huge part of Detroit.
Speaker 2:Well, I tell people, walk into any Kroger's and get anybody, and don't get anyone under 50, because I'll guarantee they won't know what the hell you're talking about. Anyone 50 and over you can even ask them what about the Gold Cup? What is an unlimited hydroplane? They have no idea. No idea Now. When you go to the Facebook and go under my photos, you'll see thousands and thousands of photos of everything.
Speaker 2:Well when I was executive director I came up with a couple of logos and one, the URC logo they used for some time and the other one was just called Unlimited Hydroplanes. I said we have got to get a name. I said in those days we were the Gold Cuppers.
Speaker 1:We were the.
Speaker 2:Lunderbos. We had more different names. I said no one knows who we are. We don't even promote our name and they still don't do that. They've got to pick a name and go with it and whatever they are. I don't care what they're called, but they've got to stick with the name and completely re-educate all the old people. Let's be honest. And completely re-educate all the old people. Let's be honest, you know my age are all dead.
Speaker 2:And the young, the 50 and up, don't sit out in the sun anymore because of skin cancer. So you got to go for a younger group.
Speaker 1:Well, younger people they don't get it.
Speaker 2:You know I joke that I shouldn't say this, but I joke when the five-minute gun is two minutes longer than the race. You have a problem. Maybe they should have a three-minute gun and a five-minute race. You know the public. In the old days I used to sell. I remember one year 2,000 seats at the Roost Hill. People don't have the time to sit from 8 in the morning to 4.
Speaker 1:Now they have got better at it.
Speaker 2:They're trying to condense it but there's still too much downtime and you know. As for air shows, I love air shows but there's so many people in other areas having air shows that unless you have the Blue Angels, you know it's going to be hard to. You know, have fun with an air show. And now we had a guy here that has passed but he used to bring in a stunt air. Actually he got fined because he flew under the Bill Albridge with it, oh my God.
Speaker 2:But oh my God, he come by and I said he's so close to the roost now he couldn't crash into. And I said he's so close to the rooster he could crash into it, you know, but nowadays you can't do those things. But back then, you know, you could get away with it. But you know, even the air show in Tri-Cities is getting a little boring to the public because they can't afford to bring in what they'd like to. You know, tri-cities was always and that's where our boat shop was for years was always my second home and that's one race that always made money, and you know all that Well, I hear that they're having money problems Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know that's shocking. I mean, if Tri-C is having money problems, what are these other races going to do? You know that's scary. And here's another thing that with this broadcasting, their deal is good but they don't tell anyone. They should be everything you see, should be promoting the races that are going to come up and watch it on TV or watch it on your computer or whatever. I watch it on my big 50-inch screen. But you know those are the things that they have to do now, not wait until a week before the race and say, well, we're going to simulcast or whatever they want to call it.
Speaker 2:You know, they've got to start getting the following now, and if I was involved, that's exactly what I'd do.
Speaker 2:I remember the second year or the first year I was in the sport, bernie got mad at me because I said, of course in those days it was three-quarter-inch tape. But every time I came into town I gave every TV station a tape and all it was was half Renault race cars and then the other half was the boat testing. It didn't look very good, but it was something. Why didn't you tell me you did that? I said well, I honestly thought Budweiser had already done it. You know I was always ahead of my time on things and you know I've been fortunate.
Speaker 2:But that comes from the entertainment business that's used to playing 2,000-seat Vegas rooms without having a plan, a reason to get them in and always booked the acts that would be most famous. The one was when Dick Clark did his worthy action, his live race week and he had all the Motown acts, the temps, and you know you name it Marvin Gaye and four tops, and that was broadcast all over the world.
Speaker 2:And still is, you can see some of it. And still is, you can see some of it. And of course you know, I know a lot of the people in the audience that's so ford and um and uh of the stro family and I mean we were smart enough to really pack it with some fairly big people so they got a kick out of it. But even then I mean if I, if somebody else was doing that, I I would have hogged in somehow, I would have come up with some time to get involved.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I mean, yeah, you talk about the younger generations. I'm a middle school teacher and I have probably 120, 130 students.
Speaker 2:And I have post-graduates in hydroclinic. What grade is middle school?
Speaker 1:So it's 6th through 8th grade, so there are about 12, 14 people. Oh you're a lucky guy. Yes, I can imagine. Yeah, the stories I can tell you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can imagine.
Speaker 1:But I try to talk about hydroclinics because it's a passion of mine and I very rarely get anyone that know knows what I'm talking about. Yeah, um, and I I'm trying to push because this year they're doing some kind of like clubs on fridays for students that they can choose from and we each have to post one. So I tried to do something about hydroplane racing and out of the 980 students we had in the school, four students signed up for it.
Speaker 2:You've got to make it. See, I never go after young people because of boat racing. I remember I got so much national publicity when I got involved with the Arthritis Foundation Because they would bring all these poor kids that have arthritis down.
Speaker 2:Well, that would really get a lot of ink. It would help them out. We raised money for them and it brought in a younger group. And, of course, at the Rooster Tail we always I remember the one race. It's shaking my head, but they brought in 50 cents at the Rooster for the race. You know and you know you've got to do those things. And you know Seattle one time, of course, when they had what I call the grunge or whatever it is they had a lot of stars there, but they never played it up.
Speaker 2:You know I look at the owners now. A friend of mine in the entertainment business once told me if you want to be a millionaire, hang out with millionaires. And if you want young people, hang out with people they hang out with and not try to push what you're doing.
Speaker 2:All the goal is to get young people down there and you know again, I don't want to sound like it in my day but in my day I'm trying to say this clean In my day you would go to a boat race to get a suntan, get drunk and then have your time with the ladies.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I lost all that I mean it's no fun anymore.
Speaker 2:You know, they ban drinking. The only race that's really great on drinking is Madison. They allow everybody to do everything and they bring in the Rockettes. I've given them permission to use the Rooster Tail name in their Rooster Tail concert series and they do a good job that way and I would go and talk. I constantly go talk to the younger people, but even Madison I found out that way up over the hill you're going to where you know Target is and Costco's or whatever People had no idea what a boat race was Wow.
Speaker 2:And that's Madison. Well, that's why you bring in younger acts. Even if they don't know what bowl race, you've got to figure a way to get them in.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:You know we were lucky to get John Mellencamp involved in the Madison movie or whatever. But we never followed through on making darn sure. I remember Paul Rivera the Raider would constantly be involved in the races. I'd even book him at the races At the one time I had scheduled, but then the committee didn't like the idea here but where? Our 5,000-seat grandstands were. I wanted to float in a barge and bring in some big-name young ass.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think a little jealousy came up or some darn thing. And you know you just can't fight it constantly because they're always afraid. You know, I think I'm going to take over. I've already done this 10 times. What do I want to do it?
Speaker 1:11 times, for you know, that's the way I look at it. Well, I mean, do you have any other thoughts on kind?
Speaker 2:of what's going on with the state of hydroplanes today. Well, I have a lot of thoughts. If I had a put it this way, if I had a boat, I would make darn sure my driver looked fabulous. Now, you don't have to be gorgeous to look fabulous, you just have to know how to walk, talk, what to wear. I mean, look at Lewis Hamilton.
Speaker 1:My God.
Speaker 2:I mean he has his own clothesline now I mean the guy's a star clothesline, now I mean the guy's a star. You look at LeClaire and these people and some of these new young drivers, my God. How old do you have to be to drive an Unlimited 21?
Speaker 1:I don't know what the age limit is, but I would assume 21 sounds about right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, you look at the truck series, NASCAR 18-year-olds. The one kid tested last year because he was 17 and couldn't drive until he was 18. I didn't have my license to drive until I was 19. You know, I think the drivers have to become very. I think the drivers have to become very first of all, they've got to live all year as who they are as a driver. You know I love Jimmy Shane. He's a great guy.
Speaker 1:But how many stories did we ever have about him shooting up rockets? Yeah, I don't recall that at all.
Speaker 2:I mean, here's a guy that put people in space or whatever. To me that would have got a whole new group of people involved. And you know, some of these other drivers have stories to tell and they don't tell their story.
Speaker 1:So if I had a driver, I would be darn sure to make a story, and I always have pilot tests on things.
Speaker 2:I always work the story first so I can assure if it's right. But boy, that's what I'd do. I, I'd make sure that they dressed the part that even at the boat shop you see pictures at at the boat shops.
Speaker 1:Um, I, I, I do like the 11 team.
Speaker 2:At least you know they have a sense of humor. That one video they did with all of them I thought was very, very clever. I would love to work with them because I think there's a lot there. There's a lot more there than even they know.
Speaker 2:And you know the driver's good, you know the crew the owners, you know, and all that, but there's no personality, there's just nothing. You know. I know that some of the guys golf, I know some play bocce ball or what the hell it is, but you know we've got to see them do other things. I mean you go on Facebook now and all I see is NASCAR, formula One and what these drivers are doing and their sense of humor and playing tricks on each other and all Well, that takes somebody coordinating it.
Speaker 2:You need a producer, a director to do that and I don't expect the owners to do it, because they got real businesses to run and they got boats. But you know there's a look that they have to get and you know, like I have said, it's got to be personable, it's got to be homey.
Speaker 1:Let's say they're going to all hate me after this one. They already do.
Speaker 2:That is right.
Speaker 1:I do enjoy seeing some of the videos. I can't remember the driver for one of the Formula One teams. They're showing him some of his reflex challenges he does in the off-season or between races. He's just juggling balls and bouncing different colored balls to different areas, just trying to test his reflexes.
Speaker 2:So just one of the the limitless driver used to run all the time. I don't know which one, but boy.
Speaker 1:I was involved.
Speaker 2:Yeah, now there's a guy that had personality. Oh yeah, and he knew how to work the crowd. Yes, he did. I was lucky to be brought up with the Munsees, you know even my brother Lee, which could be grouchy most of the time, but at least he knew his character and he stuck in the character. He never got out of it, you know. He never got out of it. You know and you know these guys, you know Rex Manchester, and they all had their own personality, bill Cantrell, I mean. He played his part very well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, in some ways it kind of reminds me a little bit of wrestling or other sports. Yeah, you know, everyone has their own personality and how they mesh and don't mesh together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but again, you need a producer, you need somebody that can take who they are and just squeak out their real personality and who they are. Cagwell was certainly not the press hog or anything, but he was an excellent person of knowing how to be in a spot to get a unique picture and you know a lot of the drivers were very, very good at that in those days. Again, there are so many problems with racing that you know you've got to have lots of money nowadays to do any racing. I don't even know where well, I know where it starts, but you know there's just so many problems that they've got to pick a couple and go with it.
Speaker 1:Well, listeners, that's all the time we have for today. Hope you enjoyed part two of my interview. Don't forget, next week is the thrilling conclusion of my trilogy of interviews with Jerry Shaneth. It'll be posted at the same time next week, on Tuesday 5 am, pacific Standard Coast time. Don't forget, we're on social media. We're on Facebook, instagram. Check us out at Rooster Tail Talk. We're online. We have our own website, roostertailtalkcom. There you can check out. I have all of my old podcast episodes posted. You have other news resources and a link that you can sign up for our email list and get early admission to our episodes. I usually email those the night before they are released to the public. But until next time, I hope to see you at the races.