by Chris Rodenbaugh
The Isle of Capri and Budweiser not only threw a great party at the Lava Bar, but also held a drawing for six $100 certificates for gas at Gorenflo’s!
Every team registered for Nationals was on a slip in the big drum. When the slip was drawn, someone from the team had to be present to win and had three minutes to make it to the stage to collect the prize. The lucky recipients are: Terry McCray-All in, Leon Wilcox-Native Premonitions, Jim Inman-Deal King, Timothy Wooten-Never Satisfied, Hank Jesson-Game Runner, and Chad Branch-Team Charter Lakes. Congratulations to the winners and thanks to the Isle of Capri and Budweiser!
The following teams were drawn but were not present to collect: Rawhide, Penny Wise, Top Producer, High Definition, Team Donzi, Salt Shaker, Reel Hard, NC Sportsman, and Holden On. Just goes to show that you can’t win if you don’t show up.
Apparently we have several teams this year that went the extra mile just to travel here. Yesterday I reported on Rugman who had their boat come off the trailer outside of Atlanta. The other team in that story that had their 31 Contender come off the trailer at the same spot was Michael Kennedy’s Simply Storage team. They had a wrecker put the boat back on the trailer, rebuilt the tongue and were back on the road to Nationals in three hours. The team arrived in Biloxi Sunday about 11:00 and had her in the water about 1:00. Aside from the cosmetic damage, the boat is running fine.
Sunday, the On The Brink team had truck trouble just outside of Savannah. Kelley Clements told me, “I didn’t make it 30 minutes from home on I-95 and the engine redlined. I finally got it stopped on the side of the road. We hooked the boat up to Steve Fischer’s truck and they continued on while we waited for the wrecker. I had just installed a new toolbox in the truck with rodholders, so while we waited we pulled all the stuff off the truck, as well as the luggage. The wrecker came and hauled off the truck and there we were sitting on a toolbox, on the side of I-95, with all of our luggage. We got a few looks.” Tracy Shaw came to pick them up and they continued to Biloxi. “That’s all outta the way; let’s go win the tournament.”
Well, only time will tell whether or not they can take the top spot in the tournament, but one thing’s for sure—they definitely couldn’t win if they didn’t show up.