Grembowski, McIntosh, Newton win ERCU gold cups

The 20th Annual ERCU Gold Cup, presented by Amain Hobbies, was a smashing success for Geoffry Grembowski, who went home with not just a Gold Cup, but also a Ted Jones Memorial — two race wins in one day!

David Newton won four Gold Cups for the second year in a row, and Mike McIntosh won one as well.

Gold Cup weekend kicked off on Saturday morning with time trials that included a total 32 boats. At the end, Mitch Dillard turned in the fastest time trial of the day with his 2016 Miss Ace Hardware. Dillard scored the fast average of two laps at 12.5 seconds, just faster than the 12.6 average by Paul Dunlap in Rick Evans’ 1973 Red Man Too.

Saturday afternoon featured the first flight of heats for all six classes and a club BBQ in one of the picnic sheds, enjoyed by a few members who chose to participate.

Sunday’s event started early as pit tents began popping up before the sun did. It was an exciting day!

At the end of our drivers meeting on Sunday, Evans shared a very thoughtful remembrance of long-time ERCU member, friend of the club and master boat builder, Craig Bradshaw who had passed away just 10 days earlier. The club also coordinated a photo of all of the Bradshaw-built boats in the pits with their owners and drivers. This photo will be shared with Craig’s daughter Stacy and his grandson Kyson.

Despite 45 boats having been registered for the race, when it came time for the Ted Jones Memorial first consolations, there were only two first connies to be run.

In the 1/10 scale modern Jones Memorial, driving his 2017 Spirit of Detroit, Grembowski outlasted Chuck Murray’s 2000 Miss Elam Plus to win and claim an official race win and earn the right to start the Gold Cup final as a trailer. Briana Burdsall’s 1988 Sutphen Spirit and Tom Markos’ 2015 Graham Trucking (driven by Nelson Holmberg) did not finish.

In the 1/10 scale classic Ted Jones Memorial, just one boat finished. That boat was Markos’ 1976 Atlas Van Lines, again with Holmberg at the helm. Burdsall’s 1979 Squire Shop, Murray’s 1983 Miss Houston and Evans’ 1972 Notre Dame (driven by Dunlap) did not finish. The Jones Memorial win marked Markos’ first-ever ERCU win as a boat owner, and put the boat in the Gold Cup final as the trailer.

The connies led into to a crazy 1/10 scale modern final heat that saw one boat scratch and allow the trailer to move up, and two boats not finish the heat. After Dillard scratched his Miss Ace Hardware due to a failed receiver, Grembowski moved to the front line to start. When boats tangled and started falling out, Grembowski did the best job of avoiding chaos and put his Spirit of Detroit out front. For three laps, he was under pressure from Holmberg in the 2023 Bucket List Racing, which was eventually passed by Mike Hughes in the 1991 Winston Eagle to take second place. Bucket List was third. DNFs went to Paxton Reunanen’s 2019 Graham Trucking American Dream and to David Heilbrunn’s 2021 Goodman Real Estate.

Three boats competed for the 1/7 scale modern ERCU Gold Cup, but “competed” is probably a term used too generously. In Saturday’s heat, no boat finished the modern heat. On Sunday, there were four DNFs in the three heats, and the final was run with just two boats when the 2021 Graham Trucking didn’t start due to bad batteries. David Heilbrunn’s 2021 Goodman Real Estate had an early lead on Mike McIntosh’s 1980 Pay ‘n Pak, but was penalized a lap for missing a buoy and the Pak cruised to the easy win.

In 1/10 scale classic, Newton literally lapped most of the field with Chuck Murray’s 1976 Olympia Beer. By the third lap, the race was more or less over. The only boats Newton didn’t lap – Reunanen’s 1983 Miss Rock KISW and Dillard’s 1975 Pay ‘n Pak – were second and third respectively. Holmberg drove Markos’ Atlas to fourth and Jerry Dunlap was fifth with the 1986 Boat while Paul Dunlap was sixth with the Red Man.

For the second time in two years, Bill Mowatt was a hired gun in 1/7 scale. Last year, Mowatt won his first ERCU race by claiming the 1/7 scale modern Gold Cup with John & Denise Sjostrom’s 1990 Oh Boy! Oberto. On Sunday afternoon, Mowatt struck gold again driving Newton’s 1970 Pride of Pay ‘n Pak (hemi). He held off a good race from Reunanen, who piloted Ron Hartley’s 1974 Lincoln Thrift once again. Rob Edwards’ 1982 Gilmore Special was unable to finish.

Tenth scale vintage was – surprise – dominated by Newton, who turned in a perfect weekend (fastest time trial and four heat wins, plus the final) with Kerry Kjos’ 1960 Miss Thriftway. Paul Dunlap made a race of it with his 1964 Miss Exide, but it wasn’t enough in the end. Third went to Mowatt and his 1968 Miss Bardahl. Fourth was the consistent John Earnest with his 1962 Dewey’s Lumberville. Renunanen (Coe-Z-Miss) and Grembowski ($ Bill) did not finish.

The final race of the day, the 1/7 scale vintage final heat was another one that Newton took command of and won with his 1958 Hawaii Kai III. Second went to McIntosh’s 1973 Miss Island Security Systems while third was Dennis Caines with his 1968 Eagle Electric. Terry Harmer’s 1986 Miss Bahia didn’t finish.

All in all, it was a terrific weekend of racing with lots of reports of people having fun.