Roostertail Talk
A show dedicated for preserving the history, breaking down the racing and looking to the future of the incredible sport of Unlimited Hydroplane racing. My name is David Newton, and I will be bringing you a weekly show in which we will discuss the boats, drivers, owners, crew members, legends, fans and anything that is involved with the sport that I love; hydroplane racing.
Fans you can now sign up for a subscription service for the podcast! As you can imagine, running a podcast can be pricey (from hosting fees, website fees, travel, equipment, etc.). You can help the podcast by subscribing to our new service, Roostertail Talk+. The podcast is still free to all on our website and through all major podcast platforms (such as Apple Podcast, Spotify, Castbox, etc) but with Roostertail Talk+ there is more you can enjoy ! With this service you will get early links to new episodes, enjoy access to extra content, raffle prizes and more. This is a new service that we will be adding to as we move along. As always your support to make this show grow is very appreciated! TOMORROW, there will be an announcement for the first prize for subscribing to Roostertail Talk+.
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Roostertail Talk
Episode 128: Gregg Mansfield
What does it take to bring the prestigious Gold Cup back to San Diego's Mission Bay after three decades? Join us as we uncover the behind-the-scenes efforts and challenges with Greg Mansfield, a key member of the Board of Directors for Bayfair. Fans of hydroplane racing are in for a treat as Greg delves into the collaboration with the H1 Unlimited group, the legacy of Mission Bay as a Gold Cup venue, and what to expect from this year's race on the saltwater course.
Roostertail Talk+
Help the podcast by subscribing to our new service, Roostertail Talk+. The podcast is still free to all on our website and through all major podcast platforms (such as Apple Podcast, Spotify, Castbox, etc) but with Roostertail Talk+ there is more you can enjoy ! With this service you will get early links to new episodes, enjoy access to extra content, raffle prizes and more. This is a new service that we will be adding to as we move along. As always your support to make this show grow is very appreciated! https://www.buzzsprout.com/434851/supporters/new
Rooster Tail Talk, the podcast dedicated to everything about the sport that we all love, hydroplane racing. I am your host, david Newton, and it's time once again. So sit back, relax and welcome to Rooster Tail Talk talk. Hello race fans, welcome back to the podcast. It's episode 128 and it's August 27th 2024.
Speaker 1:Well, I know everyone that's a fan of H1 Unlimited Racing is excited for the Gold Cup which is only a few weeks away. It's going to be held this year in San Diego. It hasn't been held there since 1989. And the sport looks different than it did back then. The 1989 had a great Gold Cup on Mission Bay. A lot of people could have won it and actually almost had a surprise victory from George Woods driving Jim Harvey's old boy, alberto, who almost won the race but ran out of fuel in the last lap, giving the victory to Tom DeEth driving the Miss Budweiser. Not going to have those names present at this year's Gold Cup, but it's going to have a lot of great, fast boats on the water and it's going to be a fast course because it's on saltwater and it's a two and a half mile race course. Fortunately, I had the chance to talk to Greg Mansfield, the Board of Directors for Bayfair and we chatted about what was new and how he was able to get racing back on Mission Bay and how he got the Gold Cup to be on Mission Bay once again to celebrate 60th anniversary of the first running of the Bayfair Regatta on Mission Bay. So let's listen in as we talk more about what we can expect for Unlimited's other boat racing classes and what else to expect at the event for this year's Gold Cup on Mission Bay.
Speaker 1:Joining me today on the podcast, I'm talking with Greg Mansfield, board of Governor for San Diego Bay Fair. How are you doing, greg? David? Thanks for having me on. Yeah, I appreciate it. I know it's a busy time right now for you and many others down in San Diego and trying to get this event going, and it's the last time we talked. Last year we had canceled in 2023 and we're hoping to be back on the on the books for 2024. And here we are a couple of weeks away and it's going to happen, so that must be exciting for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like we said, we promised last year when we we canceled that we had to regroup and, you know, get our finances back in order and it on the event itself and get it back into a place that we know could be financially successful. And so I think we've done that. We've made a lot of efforts to keep costs down and then also made sure that we want to make sure that we got a lot more action on the water for folks and give people a reason to come to our event. But probably the best thing of it is is that we got the Gold Cup here this year and it's been. I think the last time we had it was 1989. So it's been a lot of years. I think it was just a young college student at that point the last time the Gold Cup was in San Diego.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's been a couple of years. I don, yeah, it's. Uh, it's been a couple years.
Speaker 2:I don't want to do the math, I was only a few years old then and uh, were you there back in 1989? I'll be honest, I'm kind of late bloomer and I I've been on the sport for about 25 years now, so I feel like I'm young, I'm still the young whippersnapper of it. Um, you know, I started out basically 2000. Um, I don't know if you know my background, but it was with the, the Powerboat magazine at that point and Maynard gave me a choice of covering the unlimited hydroplanes with the tunnel boats and I went you know what these hydroplanes seem pretty cool, and so I think my very first race was in Evansville and we actually back then would cover the tour pretty aggressively and then went off to Detroit and then obviously, the way the timing went was San Diego was always kind of the closer for us as far as the magazine goes. So I was able to kind of see the sport, obviously the Budweiser days and with it up. I feel like that there's that similar spirit that's kind of coming back within the trio.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, that's big news for San Diego to have the Gold Cup this year, biggest race for Unlimited Hydroplane Racing. It's changed a little bit since 1989. Some different boats, some different faces and just different class of racing. I think altogether. But how did you get the Gold Cup to be held this year at Bayfair?
Speaker 2:You know, the first thing I want to say is that you know the, the h1 group that's coming out of the hickory town group, it's just coming together. Um, we've had a good relationship with them. We've had a lot of talks, a lot more than we have with other, with the organization, with past um, and it was one of those things that, having talked to them and they recognized it was our 60th anniversary, but they thought it would be a great opportunity, kind of of like a, you know, reverse of the Daytona 500, so to speak. Right, and so it was your best race of the year in San Diego. And so, after talking to them, they decided to work with us and award us the Gold Cup for this year.
Speaker 2:And, as you know, or you may know the history, but obviously Mission Bay was designed as a Gold Cup course, you know, course for two and a half miles, and it's actually within the city municipal code. That allows us, or grants us, four extra days to run a Gold Cup event if we wanted to. We don't need to, but it's just so. It does have a long history in San Diego because of Bill Muncy and his efforts, and so we're excited, you know, we've had Fran Muncy on our conference calls. We've had her son, you know, has come in to talk about, you know, the Gold Cup and some of the other things, and so we love that.
Speaker 2:We have a lot of history there in San Diego and then we want to make sure that we can introduce it to everybody and understand the importance of the Gold Cup within the sport. You know, I think a lot of people aren't aware of what hydroplane racing is in San Diego and I think when you can tell them or go show them a trophy that's older than the Indianapolis 500 trophy, I think people understand there is some history here and some value to it. I think people understand that there is some history here and some value to it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and the last time I was down there the Bayfair you had that on display just outside the pits, I believe, and I took a lot of shots and kind of marveled at the at the Bayfair trophy. But you're going to have the gold cup trophy there, which is over a hundred years old, started 1904. And just some some legends for for names on that trophy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and obviously he brought up a great point. The winner will get two trophies. This year They'll receive the Bill Muncy Cup and then they'll also receive the Gold Cup, and so we're excited to hand out. We always like to hand out trophies because, in a way, for us it means it's the end of the weekend and we can relax.
Speaker 1:Well, who's your odds-on favorite to win, do you think? Yeah, you know, it's such a unique course down there. It's a fast course around saltwater. It's a bigger course, two and a half miles. Who do you think is going to win this year?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got to be honest. I think, you know, just seeing it it's obviously I think it's going to be a pretty. You know, I think there's legitimately four to five teams that have a shot this year. I know that there'll probably be six to seven boats coming, likely will be six, but I think that there's probably four to five that would be legitimate. You know, if I were to pick one, you know it's really hard to go against the Madison team, the Goodman team. They just, you know, they just seem like a well-oiled machine. But that's not to dismiss the strong team, you know, and the other teams are out there. But I would honestly have to probably just pick the madison team well, that's a.
Speaker 1:That's a pretty good good shot there that they won two races this year it's been top qualifier, so yeah, that's good. So you said at least six boats. Maybe seven will be there in attendance for each one yeah, I think ultimately it'll be six.
Speaker 2:Um, you know, I know there's been talk of seven, but I think it ultimately will be six boats and honestly, they, they're all strong boats, which is perfect for us. You know, that's what we want is just to put on a good show for folks.
Speaker 1:Well, there's also going to be other boats that are racing as well, other classes. Can you talk about what else is going to be offered on the water?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, especially on the water. So the other, probably the biggest, or you water the Grand Prix America, has always been part of our event. We're hearing reports and having talked to them, they're talking anywhere from 12 to 14 Grand Prixs will be coming down. There's a couple teams that are reportedly from New Zealand that are going to be running and then a couple teams are coming from the East Coast. They're going to have a huge presence in San Diego. As you know, they're loud, they attract a lot of attention and you know, having watched you can see once they go out a lot of people go to the shore to catch them. You know there's a lot of that folks that love that horsepower, that kind of, you know, hits your chest, type of thing, you know, the hydroplanes, like I said with the turbines, is probably my favorite boat.
Speaker 2:You can still see there's a gearhead crowd that enjoys that loud sound and then so the other thing is that we also are working with this year is Ross Wall with RPM Racing and I think it's called Southern California Sorry, I'm going to miss this one, but I just know with RPM Racing and they'll bring a lot of the key boats. They're going to bring a lot of those EQBA classes that you know for folks out here, the boats that run on the Parker Colorado River and Parker, arizona or in Havasu, that sort of thing, and they tend to be really fast, that sort of thing. What we're excited is that it's going to continually keep action on the water. That's one of the criticisms that we've had from people in the past is that once the hydroplanes go off for the Grand Prix, is that there's not enough going on in the water. Well, I think this year they're going to be really surprised to see that it's going to be wall-to-wall action. We're going to condense our schedule down a little bit. It's not going to be like the old days of 20 years ago or 30 years ago where people show up at seven in the morning and have to wait till five o'clock.
Speaker 2:We want to make it like nine to four and keep the action going so that people have a reason to stay tuned to the water I think as much as anything and not to hold it up. It's the phone. We've just become very mature. We don't have that patience anymore to sit there and wait for an event, and so that action will be great. And then other things that we have going is we have our hydro games that will be going over on Crown Point. This tends to be like jet ski racing. It also tends to be water acrobatics and other things that are kind of a aim at a younger crowd and that's something exciting. So if they don't really like what's going on on the water on the main shore, they can go over and see some of these smaller events and then, if you don't mind, I'll talk about what we've got going on off the water too.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I'd love to hear it. I was going to ask.
Speaker 2:The two biggest things that we're doing this year is we are doing the low-rider regionals and this is going to be about 100 to 150 classic cars, low rider cars, and it's going to draw folks from all the way up to la to I think we've heard some people coming out of the phoenix area will come over for it.
Speaker 2:Now I'm sure we're not twisting arms because it's 100 degrees over in phoenix. You know, coming to san diego for a weekend where it's probably going to be 75, 80 yeah, I don't see a problem with that. And then also this year we're launching our first cornhole tournament over there and we expect about 50 teams to compete. It's going to be a one-day tournament that's going to be playing on Saturday and our hope is to grow that where we can get some sizable prize money and bring some real professionals in to be part of it. So we're really trying to throw a lot of different things at folks and give them an opportunity, just a little more reason to show up. You know, you may not be a boat racing fan but you're a car fan, or you may not be a car fan but you kind of like these boats. So any reason we can get people to show up and spend the weekend on mission bay, all the better.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, I mean it's not hard to convince many just to go to mission bay to start off with. It's a beautiful place down there. I love to hear so much racing going to be happening on the water there's. I know some other race sites try to put a focus on it this year and that's proven to be more successful to having different classes and more racing on the water and it's glad to hear that synergy that's going on. So you have cars, car show, cornhole competition. So a lot, a lot of things still look forward to a day for this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm sorry, I was going to say David. One other thing that I forgot to mention is that we're going to have a demonstration by the Coast Guard.
Speaker 2:They're going to come out and do some simulated rescues. During our summer, for example, we have to take the rescue kids off the water. They need a lunch break and so while they're doing it, the Coast Guard is going to come out and do some simulated rescues and other things, and so, again, this is kind of like I said, is our commitment to trying to keep the action going on in the water. We've recognized in the past we haven't been super successful with it. I think with some of these partnerships that we're doing, it's going to give people reason to come back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, hopefully come back and make it bigger next year, right?
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:I think it's too early to know for next year, right, but I'm hopeful things will be prosperous this year and we can look forward to another great event next year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think, like every event, you know they're always I shouldn't say they're year to year but they're challenging to run, you know. I think you know you've seen these huge concert tours are canceled. You know there's a lot of competition for the entertainment dollar out there. Our effort, like I said, we want to give people a reason. We're keeping our ticket prices affordable while we raise them. You can get into our event for $30 for a day or $60 for a weekend. Really, there's not a lot of places you can do that.
Speaker 1:No, Seafair was a couple weekends ago and it was over $100 per person for a weekend to enter. No, yeah, like seafair was a couple weekends ago and it was, I think, over a hundred dollars per person for a weekend to enter and and parking was like fifty dollars a day and yeah, it was. It was pretty spendy. So I'm glad to hear you're keeping ticket prices affordable for the fans yeah, you know we could.
Speaker 2:You can park over on fiesta bayonne for 10 bucks. You know, or you know a lot of people. We do have a lot of people that will ride bikes in. You know that. Come over from the hotels and just ride a bike around. I mean that's the greatest way to do it. And so, like we were very conscientious, we knew we had raised prices, but we didn't want to scare people when they would see the prices going up and let's not say the prices will be the same this year as next year. But again, it's one of those things where it's one of those that we felt was fair, a number that we could work with, but also you know not what do I say impact too hard our customers who have been loyal to us for over the years.
Speaker 1:Well, getting back to the H1 side of things, is there going to be four rounds of racing before the final heat with the Gold Cup, or what's the format going to look like, do you think?
Speaker 2:We don't know yet. You know, when we heard the numbers of possibly seven or eight, we were talking about, you know, like a 1A, 1b, that type of thing. It looks like it may be more of a round robin format to keep them out on the water, but so each time there will be at least four boats running out there, and so that's. You know. We've had match racing before and that people really do, because it's such a big force, people really do appreciate having four or five boats across and I, you know, you know, fingers crossed, that, um, you know, come sunday, everything's held together. You know our dream is to have five boats in the trailer. That you know, come Sunday, everything's held together. You know our dream is to have five boats in the trailer. That's, you know. That's what ultimately is the pinnacle of the sport in San Diego is to have that many boats on the water.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, let's, yeah, let's hope. Knock on wood, cross our fingers. They're all safe and secure for the final heat. So we have a full field for that final on Sunday.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. And at the same point too, david is, we are. You know, like I said, we'll have two heats of racing on Saturday, I believe. Two heats of racing on Sunday, meaning full heats you know what I mean, not just that and then a final. So there'll be a lot of racing and then on Friday there'll be some qualifying in the afternoon. So people have a good chance to get get to see the boats and, more importantly, when they're not running, get into the pits and go check them out in person. I think probably one of the few race sites that doesn't charge for people to get into the pits. It's just part of your ticket to be there.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's fantastic. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Everywhere else I've been on the circuit, it's an additional fee to enter the pit. So again, that's another plus for San Diego. Yeah, we just, you know, our belief is you get in. You know there shouldn't be. You should be able to go where you want and do what you want to want. Because I think at the end of the day, you know, our goal is, like I said, with the car show and the Cornhole tournament and see these things, we're trying to get younger and bring in a younger audience in. You know, with some music and other things, so that we can give people and we think if they can go check out the boats and see them, we can create. You know that next generation of hydroplanes and boat racing definitely needs. You know we look at them as a bunch of ambassadors because they go back, whether it's say back to college, fraternity, or you know they go back to high school and say, hey, they're really cool. You know word of mouth is a lot to get folks coming back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, well, anything we can do to get the younger generations involved with boat racing and get out to the events. We need that, so thank you. Yeah, well, it looks like a great event.
Speaker 2:Is there anything else that we're looking forward to this year with Bayfair? Well, I mean, I think the same. You know, like I said, same thing we're going to. We have a packed house I don't know if we mentioned this before which is. This tells you how things are going for us this year. It's been really upbeat.
Speaker 2:You know, obviously, one of the biggest things that we have is RV spaces that we sell. We're effectively sold out on East Victoria Island and we are in Fiesta Island. My understanding is that Fiesta Island we still probably have about 20 to 30 spots left over there, but you've got to remember we have RVs going a mile down that course, and my understanding is the last time that's been sold out is probably in the 80s or maybe early 90s. Wow, so the nice thing is either marketing or word of mouth or something that's gotten into a lot of people that have been willing to come out. And then the second part of that, too, is that we have the San Diego Tourism Marketing District, which represents hotels that have more than 70 rooms. They're one of our major sponsors too, and what we've found is that people get an RV, they bring their friends, they make that as a base camp and then they go stay in a hotel room and we're seeing good numbers as far as room night generation, which is important because, again, they're one of our major sponsors and one of the reasons that we're able to continue this event.
Speaker 2:I can't stress enough how important the San Diego Tourism Marketing District has been for this event. Their contribution this year is almost $200,000 that they're going to put on the event Because of that. That's the reason why we can continue this event. That's why we hope that people that do come to the event they don't stay in Airbnbs, that they get the hotel rooms and then let them know at the front counter thank you for supporting the event. And I'm sure the people at the front counter go what the heck are you talking about? But just relaying that. Hey, we know that. You know, because everybody who stays in San Diego at a certain size pays a tax that goes to the tourism marketing district and then they will. They disperse those funds for events, whether it's concerts or like, say, a major tennis tournament or other things, and, you know, to help generate as far as reunions that happen, and this typically happens during the off season that's not summer, and obviously our event falls just outside of summer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, yeah, make make sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you got a hotel room down there, make sure you tell the front desk you're down there for san diego, for bay fair and uh yeah yeah, please get spread that word so, but other than that, you know, like I said, david, you know, like everybody else, you know, I kind of always keep an eye on the forums and and the boards and things like that. I, I, I just you know there are critics obviously all the time on events and other things. I just wish those folks would go run an event or be part of an event or volunteer for an event and understand that. You know you hear people go well, why don't you go to Red Bull and go to the sponsorship for Red Bull? I think we all have called Red Bull and understand those types of things.
Speaker 2:And I think that you know, once you kind of get into the sausage making, you understand that how difficult these events are because you have to recruit.
Speaker 2:You know we have three to 400 volunteers that handle everything from trash to, you know, security, to you know, working with the cranes to get boats into the water, to other things like that, and it's just you're counting a lot of people to come through and do well, and these people are putting in long hours. They're getting maybe a free meal, a t-shirt, maybe a hat or something like that, and we're incredibly thankful that they're willing to come and support us. You know I'm a volunteer, we're all volunteer and it's just. It's one of those things where you know we're fearful, if you don't keep this event going, what it might mean for the future of boat racing on San Diego. And you know, between COVID and last year this allowed, I think, just keeps the event in the forefront of whether it's government officials, the community, that sort of thing, and recognize that the history of this area was created specifically. You know, I think they call it power bay right, so run your power boats and racing and everything of that sort, and so that's. I think that's worth noting, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, you mentioned that there's three to 400 volunteers that make it happen, and that's not easy to get that many people together, I'm sure, for the event. So you're probably always looking for volunteers. And you mentioned, like, go out to Red Bull. Well, red Bull can't sponsor everything under the sun, right, and all companies can't do that. I know there's a lot to make this event happen, it just doesn't happen overnight. Was there anything? Fans that can't attend Can they do anything to show their support for the event?
Speaker 2:No, Well, I think you know, certainly. You know there are some T-shirts that will be for sale. I'm not sure if the apparel manufacturer will have that stuff online. We are, you know, if people are so inclined. We're a nonprofit. You know ways down there. You know that's another way that can support us. You know, again, it's one of those things. We we just felt that if people can talk it up and, you know, keep the event growing, it's perfect. We have, we have great attendance in 2022. And so I think you know this team, the numbers that come through, we're snatching some of those numbers and so we're really excited. I think we're gonna have a good crowd again.
Speaker 2:I don't know, until friday rolls around, what's gonna happen. You know, it's one of those things. I'm like everybody else, I'm on my crystal ball and the numbers look good, but you know, we don't know. It's same thing with the boat count. Right until they all smoke in the pits, we could have 14 grand prixs or six grand prixs off. It's just, unfortunately, the nature of racing sometimes, and so you know, we'll keep our fingers crossed. I think the grand prixs have another race here in the next week or so, um, and then we'll know our final count. Yeah, you know, you know I never wish ill upon any other event, but it'd be awful if thunderstorms came through and it just weren't able to race that weekend. With that being said, we just hoped all the boats were in good shape and we won't come out to San Diego and close it out.
Speaker 2:A lot of people look forward. A lot of the teams look forward to coming out. They bring their families, they make a little bit of a mini vacation. I'm trying to think that it's not really. We go up to Disneyland on Monday. In the past we've had folks that do a ballpark tour. They'll go up to Anaheim Stadium and then they'll go see the Padres or they'll go to Dodger Stadium. They look neat.
Speaker 2:We love the fact that people are bolting on and making while we're a little bit of the orbit. Then they go out and go do these other things, which we think it's great. You know, we love to. We love to show off our community because, uh, like, I think a lot of um how do I say it liberal states. We get bashed by a bit and there's a lot of fun things that are going on. Our state we're not, you know, we're not always um crazies or other things like that. It's just, you know, like everybody else, we're just trying to get through the week yeah, yeah, and don't forget, there's a beach not too far from you either.
Speaker 1:You can go to yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:And you know that's the beauty of our, our event too, is that you know when the boats are off the water, you can hop back. You can go into the bay. You know you can play in the sand, but you, you're right, the beaches, you know, oh gosh, you know 10 minute bike ride right there. And, uh, you know you can't beat the bag.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah Well, so much fun to look forward to. Really wish I could make it this year, but I appreciate you and everyone else that's down there doing their best to make this event happen and and be back on the water again. Well, I wish you the best of luck, greg, and I hope it's a great event.
Speaker 2:It helps to feel.
Speaker 1:That's all the time we have for this week. Hopefully you enjoyed my conversation with Greg, as he talked all about the Gold Cup being back on Mission Bay and, unlike me, hopefully you get to experience this race this year in person on Mission Bay, because that is such a beautiful landscape and place to race unlimited hydroplanes and it's a great way to send off the season because this is going to be the premier event of 2024. And if you don't have a ticket yet, you can win a ticket with the Roostertail Talk Plus subscription. You still have time to sign up for the Roostertail Talk Plus subscription this week and on September 1st all of the subscribers will be entered into a drawing to win a weekend pass at this year's San Diego Bay Fair APBA Gold Cup event.
Speaker 1:I'll have a video drawing on Sunday, september 1st, to show who wins a weekend pass to this year's Bay Fair event. For more information on how to subscribe to Roostertail Talk Plus, you can find a link on our website at roostertailtalkcom, and I also have some other posts on our social media channels on Instagram and Facebook. I'll also include a link on the bio so you can go straight to the subscription page, which you can choose your level once you get there. But that's all I have for today. So until next time, I hope to see you at the racing.