Recap of the Joe Hunter Drill

by Dan Laverty

The drill began with Joe Hunter’s lifelong friend Matt Spinelli thanking everyone for coming and welcoming everyone in attendance. A lone bagpiper played at the bottom of the arch before the first team was called to the line.

Thirteen teams lined up for 3-Man Ladder. The first team on the line were the West Sayville Flying Dutchmen. The Dutchmen have won this drill two times in the past and were looking to win it again. In the below picture you will see the Dutchmen’s Mike Marra getting ready to make the first of his four climbs up the arch (3-Man, B-Ladder, C-Ladder & Buckets). With the Tenney Brothers running first and second in front of Mike, the Dutchmen ran a 6.50.

In the below picture you’ll see exactly what the first man is supposed to do. I guess Jake has been reading the blog because he did an excellent job of getting out of the way while not blocking the officials' view. David Miller and Dan Murphy followed Jake up the ladder for a time of 6.24.

With the Drill Team Radio crew: Lenny Gombert, Artie Susskind, Kevin Candido (also Chief Judge for the Drill), John Burke, Fred Bencivenga and myself watching the Yellowbirds ran a textbook shot.

The Roslyn Highlanders were called off by Stan Dybus Jr. Stan watched as Charlie Patino, Greg Brown and Ronnie Presti put up a time of 6.46. The Islip Wolves ended the contest with a time of 6.47. Heavy Kevy was chased up the ladder by Jake Moran and friend of the blog Josh Kasin. Josh has not been given the chance yet this year to defend his SIDE BY SIDE COMPETITION CHAMPIONSHIP but instead boogied up the ladder for a time of 6.47. The Copiague Yellowbirds rounded out the top five in 3-Man Ladder with a run of 6.76

3-MAN LADDER RESULTS

FINISHED	TEAM	TIME
First	Central Islip	6.24
Second	Roslyn	6.46
Third	Islip	6.47
Fourth	West Sayville	6.50
Fifth	Copiague	6.76

Lenny and I discussed the 3-Man Ladder event as "The hardest working man in racing" Anthony "A-Rock" Raccomandato looks down onto the course to make sure the lights are placed on the proper lines for B-Ladder.

Dave Banks seems to be standing at attention as he waits for the 1961 Ford that his team obtained from the Centereach Hose Jockeys many years ago to come to the starting line. If you look in the background of this picture you will see Matt Spinelli, Robert Scott Noonan and Matt’s son Joseph attempting to predict what the Dutchmen might run in B-Ladder.

The ladder team consisting of Richard Quenzer, Dave Banks, Ryan Huguenin and Mike Marra were driven to the patch by first year driver Frank Miller Jr. The Dutchmen were only 22/100ths of a second away from their State Record of 4.82 with a time of 5.14. Where else can 22/100ths of a second mean so much? It always amazes me the minute amount of time that separates a run from being a State Record and from being just another run.

Driver Brian "Mole" Butler shows us his game face.

The Ladder went into the ground a little crooked but Redskin veteran Paul Susskind straightened it out to help "Skippy" Lyman reach the top for a run of 5.54.

Westbury Turtles’ ladder team of Joe Knobbi, Matt Rodden and the Ingram brothers got together to put up a run of 5.49. The Westerners filled filled out the top five with a run of 5.60.

B-LADDER RESULTS

FINISHED	TEAM	TIME
First	West Sayville	5.14
Second	Hempstead	5.40
Third	Westbury	5.49
Fourth	Bay Shore	5.54
Fifth	West Hempstead	5.60

The Dutchmen ran an impressive time of 9.16 and The Piston Knockers followed that up with a 9.16 also. These two teams had to wait for eight other teams to go before they knew if they were going to be tied for first place or not.

Mike Marra grasps & holds as A-Rock stops the clock.

Bay Shore’s ladder went into the ground straight on this C-Ladder run to give them a time of 9.37. Westbury gave their all in an attempt to beat the 9.16 that was up on the Joe Hunter Memorial Scoreboard but came up a little short with a time of 9.24. Here's a shot of the Westerners on their way down the course. They finished with a time of 9.21, giving them third place in the contest.

The St. James Wildcats didn't fare as well as the received a No Time for digging outside the safety zone, Rule 13.03.

C-LADDER RESULTS

FINISHED	TEAM	TIME
First (Tie)	West Sayville	9.16
First (Tie)	North Lindenhurst	9.16
Third	West Hempstead	9.21
Fourth	Westbury	9.24
Fifth	Bay Shore	9.37

Heading into the hose contests the point totals were as follows:

• West Sayville - 11.5
• North Lindenhurst - 4.5
• Central Islip - 5
• Bay Shore – 3
• Hempstead – 4
• Copiague – 1
• Westbury – 5
• Roslyn – 4
• West Hempstead – 4
• Islip – 3

Ten out of thirteen teams had scored so far with St. James, Lindenhurst and North Babylon on the outside looking in.

Two teams who tied for first in C-Ladder contest found points a little harder to come by once the hoses got involved. West Sayville was not able to add to their point total with an uncharacteristic run of 19.18 while North Lindenhurst managed 2 points with a run of 12.69.

Bay Shore’s Paul Susskind coupled the hydrant with the capacity crowd looking and helped his team run a 12.72 for fifth place.

It was great to see the Yellow Hornets C-Truck out on the track and with the combined team of Hornets and Rascals they were able to put together a run of 12.62 for 3 points.

While going past the hydrant, the Wildcats’ hydrant-man was able to reach back and get water to the nozzle-man for a run of 12.60 which gave them the second place trophy for the event.

The Westbury Turtles came screaming down the course to drop of their crew for a first place run of 12.44 and first place in the C-Hose event.

West Hempstead wanted to show the crowd they had what it takes to take some points in C-Hose but the course took first place over the Westerners as evident in the below pic…OUCH!

As night descended on Wier St., West Sayville was first to run and they put up a time of 8.26. North Lindenhurst encountered some problems and their time was not competitive. The Hoboes' came down the track and ran the only 7 of the contest. Their run of 7.69 game them their second first-place trophy of the day.

The Hempstead Yellow Hornets again showed what practice can accomplish with a run of 8.85 and 3 points. The Lindenhurst Snails put up a time of 9.96 which gave them their only point on the night and the Westerners ran a 9.71 for 2 points.

Due to time constraints because of the inability to have motorized vehicles running after a certain time at the Hempstead track Motor Pump was run next.

West Sayville was not going to be outdone in this contest which was evident by their run of 6.55. This time was almost beaten by the next team to run but their time held up for 5 points.

North Lindenhurst took their turn and ran a time of 6.58, this gave them 4 more points.

The Hempstead Yellow Hornets combined team utilizing the South Hempstead Rascals B-Truck ran a time of 6.69 for 3 points.

The Westerners would not know it at the time, but his hand is signaling what place they would take in this event. The Westerners ran a 7.09 for another point and fifth place.

MOTOR PUMP RESULTS

FINISHED	TEAM	TIME
First	West Sayville	6.55
Second	North Lindenhurst	6.58
Third	Hempstead	6.69
Fourth	Central Islip	6.96
Fifth	West Hempstead	7.09

At the conclusion of the Motor Pump contest with Efficiency and Buckets to go the points total was as follows:

• West Sayvile – 20.5
• North Lindenhurst - 10.5
• Central Islip – 12
• Bay Shore – 4
• Hempstead – 13
• St. James – 4
• Copiague – 1
• Westbury – 10
• Roslyn – 5
• West Hempstead – 7
• Islip – 5

The Efficiency contest is totally different when run at night. The sun is not out to dry the course and teams are forced to take a slightly different approach. The one benefit of running Efficiency after Motor Pump is that some teams run the events in this order when they practice. Four teams completed runs under 9 seconds with West Hempstead at the top with an 8.62.

EFFICIENCY RESULTS

FINISHED	TEAM	TIME
First	West Hempstead	8.82
Second	Bay Shore	8.87
Third	Central Islip	8.90
Fourth	Islip	8.93
Fifth	Roslyn	9.54

The radio crew had a great view of the Buckets Contest

North Lindenhurst put up a time of 23.76 for first place. The Hoboes came pretty close with a time of 24.33. The Bay Shore Redskins were looking to place in this drill and almost did with a run of 23.78. The Copiague Yelllowbirds ran a 24.61 for fourth place and the Westerners ran a 25.04 for 1 more point on the night.

BUCKETS RESULTS

FINISHED	TEAM	TIME
First	North Lindenhurst	23.76
Second	Bay Shore	23.78
Third	Central Islip	24.33
Fourth	Copiague	24.61
Fifth	West Hempstead	25.04

Total points at the completion of the Drill:
Fourth Place (Tie) - Hempstead Yellow Hornets/South Hempstead Rascals with 13 points

Third Place - North Lindenhurst Piston Knockers with 15.5 points

Second Place - Central Islip Hoboes with 18 points

AND IN FIRST PLACE…WITH 20.5 POINTS…

THE FLYING DUTCHMEN FROM WEST SAYVILLE!!!!!!

The West Sayville Flying Dutchmen; Chad Leigh-Manuell, Ryan Tenney, Michael Marra, Frank Miller Jr., Richard Quenzer, David Banks, Ryan Hugenin, Robert Scott Noonan, Joe Quenzer, Kristy Banks, Doug Quenzer, Pat Garrett, Gary Schaum, Allen Newhouse, Bob Marra and Scott Schrader were joined in the above pic by Joe Hunter’s Family and Matt Spinelli.

All photos courtesy of Kim Versheck. See more photos from this drill and others over the Late Night Buff Network.

Recap of the Nassau County Drill held on 07/14/12

by Dan Laverty

After an excellently run Old Fashioned drill the night before by the Port Washington F.D., everyone rubbed their eyes at the beginning of the 2012 Motorized Nassau County Drill. Pulling onto Evergreen Avenue I was greeted by a professionally made sign directing me to where Spectator Parking was. As I approached the Spectator Parking area I was greeted by a member of the Port Washington F.D. who welcomed me and directed me on where to park. This drill was well staffed and well run by Port Washington. I would gladly attend a drill hosted by this department anytime. This is a department that could (and should) host a State Championship Drill in the future.

With an overcast sky everyone was welcomed and the drill began with 3-Man Ladder. The Carle Place Frogs were the first to run, first man Ricardo Freitas, second man Mike Geddish and third man Joe Alfaro were called off by Willie Geddish. The Frogs took their only point of the day with that run of 7.27. The New Hyde Park Termites’ Phil Athenias, Mike Sovar and Frankie Sonnenberg were called off by Mike Athenias. The Termites were coming off their win at the William St. George Drill and ran a time of 7.13. The Roslyn Highlanders, consisting of climbers Charlie Patino, Greg Brown and Ronnie Presti, were next to place with a time of 6.72. One of the only sub-7 runs on the day. Ronnie Presti previously ran with The Valley Stream Misfits and recently joined the Roslyn Highlands Fire Department. He has been a welcome addition to the team and was interviewed by this writer on Drill Team Radio after The Highlanders took first place in Efficiency. Ronnie is very excited to be a member of the Highlanders and they are very glad to have him. (Click here if you’d like to give a listen to the drill as well as the interview.) The Westbury Turtles’ climbers Matt Raithe, John Ingram and Dougy Ingram seemed determined and took first place with a run of 6.70. Ken Gass showed his excitement after the run as the Turtles left the course to prepare for B-Ladder. The Lakeview Sparks’ Freddy Senti, Peter Sherkel and Cody Marra took fourth place with a run of 7.20. Their time might have been better if the first man up the ladder got out of the officials way. I wrote about this previously and I hope all the first men up the ladder take heed and stay put once the reach the top of the arch.

The drill transitioned right into B-Ladder with no hiccups. Fans were still filing into the stands. I guess people wanted to have some breakfast before coming to the drill. Maybe running near the back of the pack does give a team an advantage? The Termites were first to place with a 6.23. Frankie Sonnenberg was the climber and was assisted by thrower Mike Sovar. The ladder was dug into the patch by Nick Tursi and Tim Nacewicz. Tim is no stranger to racing. His grandfather, John Nacewicz, was one of the founders of the New Hyde Park Termites back in the 1940’s. The host team Road Runners ran the first sub-6 run, a 5.80. "Doc" Reese and Chris Cuomo stabbed the patch while new to the crew Donald Smallwood layed the ladder into the arch for Kyle Lewis. Donald also did an excellent job on Drill Team Radio the previous night for the Nassau County Old Fashioned Drill. He will be on the air in the future I am sure. The Glenwood Greenhorns have not filled out a team line-up so I can’t tell you who was running for them but I can tell you they took 2 points in B-Ladder with a run of 5.94. North Bellmore’s Corcoran brothers, Joe and Sean, climbed and threw the ladder to give the Rinky Dinks their first points on the day with a time of 5.72. It wasn’t until the run of the second to last team, the Westbury Turtles, that the winner of this contest was known. Daryl Ranaldo dropped off his ladder team and Joe Knobbi, Matt Rodden, Dougy Ingram and John Ingram did the rest. John was given a great ladder to climb and cultivated it into a 5.39 run giving the Turtles another 5 points.

Of the fourteen teams in attendance only ten ran C-Ladder. Starting 475 feet from the arch and crossing the lights at the 450 feet mark (credit to GuardrailGeek for the info), the Road Runners were the first to place with a time of 9.39. Unfortunately for them they lost Donald "Doc" Reese for the rest of the day with a sprained ankle. When I interviewed Donald on Drill Team Radio he informed me that when he attempted to dig the ladder he put too much pressure on the outside of his foot and rolled his ankle. He was taken for X-rays and returned in an air cast to cheer on his team. Two teams later the West Hempstead Westerners were determined to place in this event and possibly top the time of 9.18 they ran in Selden on 6/23 and the 9.21 they ran at the Joe Hunter Drill. As hard as they tried they had to settle with a time of 9.28 and 5 points. North Bellmore ran a 9.55 despite a crooked ladder. The Manhasset Lakeville Minute Men ran a 10.30 bumping Carle Place into fifth place. Carle Place’s fate was altered again when the Turtles took second place with a run of 9.36 bumping the Frogs into sixth place.

The water test was conducted as teams prepared for C-Hose and fans took some time to grab refreshments and shade. As evidenced by my still sunburnt forehead, the sun was out and making freckles. Dan Salerno dropped Donald Smallwood and Chris Cuomo at the hydrant and Richie Cuomo and "Bones" Mahoney at the target. Their run netted them 3 points to add to the 6 points they earned in the ladder events. Roslyn’s Sean Brody drove his group of Highlanders down the course and dropped Vito Lippolis, Jr. and Greg Brown at the hydrant where the excelled in getting water into the hose. As Scott Gildea and Stan Dybus, Jr. jumped off the rig many of us were wondering if the nozzle was going to make it to the coupling in time. Sure enough Stan got the nozzle on and helped give his team 4 more points to add to the 4 points they obtained in 3-Man Ladder. Next to place were the Minute Men with a 15.34. The Levittown Rebels recently had the rear end of their truck redone by MI Performance in West Babylon. Utilizing the same motor and the newly refurbished rear end the Rebels ran a 14.92 for fourth place and their only points of the day. The last team to run their C-Truck had the benefit of knowing what times they had to beat. The Turtles did their call offs, revved their truck and took off from the starting line. Daryl Ranaldo took the duo of Ken Gass and Matt McVie and dropped them off at the hydrant where Ken superbly hit the hydrant and got water in the hose rather quickly. Matt Raithe and Dan Cornell got off at the nozzle and Dan hit the target stopping the clock. From beginning to end this run only took 12.65 seconds and gave them another 5 points bringing their total on the day to 19, 10 points ahead of the nearest competitor, the Road Runners with 9 points.

B-Hose did not see any "7’s" run, the closest was the first place run by West Hempstead with an 8.45. Westbury attempted to put up a faster time and came pretty close with an 8.48. The Lakeview Sparks’ Cody Marra coupled the hydrant (with no dragger) and Breaker Pete Sherkel helped out Freddy Senti and they took third place with a 9.41. Hicksville and Glenwood rounded out the top five with runs of 10.33 and 10.60 respectively.

At the end of the first five contests, the Westbury Turtles had an astounding 23 points. They hadn’t officially won the drill yet, but they were in great position to close this one out on top. The Westerners had 10 points could win the last three events and possibly overtake them. Port Washington had 9 points, Roslyn had 8, North Bellmore 6, and Lakeview had 5.

Efficiency began with the Termites running a 9.31 for 1.5 points. The Road Runners ran a 9.16 for 3 points and Glenwood ran a 9.31 to tie the Termites and receive 1.5 points. The Westerners ran a 9.14 besting the time of the Road Runners for 4 more points. Everyone was thinking that we were not going to see any runs in the 8-second range and the 9.14 by the Westerners was going to be hard to beat. But then Mike McCann hit the hydrant with fervor, Jordan McCann turned on the water, Malcolm Hunter, Tim Hunter, Greg Brown and Jeff Chen all coupled and pulled out the hose. Nozzle-man Ronnie Presti and his backup man Charlie Patino did an excellent job at the target. It looked like a great run and it was not until Donald "Woody" Wood from Spencerport announced the time of 8.73 that the Roslyn Highlanders knew they just did something special. They not only took first place and 5 points but they broke their old team record of 8.76 that was set on back in the early 2000’s at Merrick. When I went to interview someone from Roslyn for Drill Team Radio, Stan graciously offered up Nozzle-man Ronnie Presti. Ronnie said he was very excited to be running motorized and was even more excited about the shot they just ran. (Once again, Click here to give a listen.) Going into the Motor Pump contest the Westbury Turtles still had 23 points. The Westerners had 14, Roslyn was now even closer with 13. Port Washington had 12 and North Bellmore had 6 points.

Interestingly, the five teams that scored in Efficiency were the same five to score in Motor Pump. This time the Termites scored first place with a time of 6.31. Another second place followed for the Westerners with a time of 6.39. Roslyn added to their point count with a third place run with a time of 6.57. Port Washington and Glenwood rounded out the top five with times of 7.00 and 7.30 respectively. This would make it two events in a row that the Turtles did not score any points letting the Westerners get even closer.

Going into Buckets the Turtles still had 23 points. The Westerners were now hot on their heels with 18, followed by Roslyn with 16 and Port Washington with 14. The Termites were also in the top five with 10.5 points.

The Road Runners ran a 24.70 giving them 3 more points and a third place finish in the drill. West Hempstead ran a 23.67 which gave them 5 points tying the Turtles for total points. North Bellmore ran a 25.56 for third place in Buckets. Oyster Bay ran a 26.97 for their only point of the day. Now it was up to Westbury. They had to beat a time of 27.00 if they wanted to win this drill outright. The Turtles rose to the challenge and took fourth place in the contest, giving them 25 points on the day.

The Westbury Turtles had first place at the 2012 Nassau County Drill all to themselves. This is the first major motorized tournament win for them in 36 years. Their last win was on July 7th in 1976 at Hempstead. They also won the 9th Battalion Drill that year beating the Hicksville Hicks by 4 points.

At the end of the drill I interviewed the Cornell brothers from Westbury for Drill Team Radio and their smiles were as big as the 23 points they had coming out of B-Hose.

Congrats to the Westbury Turtles on their win. They did a fantastic job!

Here are your 2012 Nassau County Drill champs: Ken Gass, Matt Rathe, John Ingram, Dougy Ingram, Joe Gnobbi, Matt Rodden, Matt McVie, Dan Cornell, Jasper Skilbia, Rob Darocha, Billy Cornell, Daryl Ranaldo, Munch, Matt Buck, Larry Topel, Vin Abbetielo & Ken Gass, Sr.

Photo courtesy of Brian Olsen and Late Night Buff Network.
See more photos from the drill here.