Recap of the Central Islip Invitational Drill on 07/30

by Dan Laverty

(This drill took place on July 30th at the Central Islip track. Full results of the drill can be found at www.NYSDrillTeams.com)

The 49th Annual Central Islip Invitational Tournament started off without a cloud in the sky. With the addition of temporary bleachers by the arch and larger than usual bleachers by "The Shack" the crowd seemed sparse. The addition of numerous bleachers in "The Bullpen" area had the opposite effect on the south side of the track. All of these improvements are in preparation for the New York State Championship Drill to be held at this track on Saturday August 20th. I am sure on that day all viewing areas will be at full capacity to watch the always impressive Hoboes defend their State Championship title on their home track.

3-Man Ladder started off with a bang. The host team of the drill led off the competition with a time of 6.20. This time also instantly became the fastest run in this contest for 2011. The Roslyn Highlanders were next to place, coming off their win at the TONH/TOB drill were also looking to make a mark on this day ran a 6.56. East Islip – with friend of the Drill Team Blog, Josh Kasin running third man – completed the event with a time of 6.46. The Islip Wolves who recently re-acquired their motorized climber and third man Billy Moon ran a 6.71. The Hempstead Yellow Hornets and their new line up of JoJo Simone, Kevin Rugg and Twan put up a time of 6.32 which put them in second place. The only Old Fashion Drill Team to participate was the Miller Place Extinguishers. The team co

nsisted of Chris Lall, Matt Muller and student of our sport Rob Bruccoleri. Rob grasped the top rung

to stop the clocks at 6.97 which at the time was fifth place. Their hopes of placing in this event were crushed when The North Lindenhurst Piston Knockers ran a 6.63 taking fifth place away from the Extunguishers. The North Baylon Taildraggers put up their best time of the year with the time of 6.71 and should definitely be proud of that run.

Results of the 3-Man Ladder contest:

1st - Central Islip

2nd - East Islip

3rd - Hempstead

4th - Roslyn

5th - North Lindenhurst

Motor Hook and Ladder Class-B did not begin as exciting as the 3-Man contest. The first team to run a 5 was the Sayville Blue Jays, who put up their best time of 2011 with a time of 5.77. The Copiague Yellowbirds, who had a disappointing 3-Man Ladder run put up a time of 5.13. It was said by the radio crew that Billy "Mr. Happy" Hothan is determined to get his team in the 5.0 time range. The East Islip Guzzlers who had 4 points coming into this event ran a 5.28. Glenwood was in the 5's with a 5.94 but did not place. The Bay Shore Redskins' thrower layed the ladder in nice and gentle and helped them achieve a time of 5.44. Islip had their veteran climber Billy Moon back on the rail and looked like he never skipped a beat helping the Wolves run a 5.21. Even with a very uncharacteristic slip on the ladder by 8-time state champion Michael Marra, The West Sayville Flying Dutchmen ran a 5.41.

Results of the Motor Hook and Ladder Class-B contest:

1st – Copiague

2nd – Islip

3rd – East Islip

4th – West Sayville

5th – Bay Shore

Motor Hook and Ladder Class-C was expected to be an event with some impressive times, but due to the misjudgments by some drivers on this newly paved track caused the C-Cars to slide under the arch. Central Islip ran first and put up a time of 9.19. The only 8 was run by the crack racing team from East Islip who put up a time of 8.89. You could almost hear the day’s competitors say “Uh-oh, boys” as they realized that they had better find their ‘A’ game come the hose events if they wanted to compete. Bay Shore put up a time of 9.61 while Islip added onto the 4 points from the previous contest, taking second place with a 9.11. Hempstead rounded out the top five with a 9.34. Copiague, Glenwood and North Babylon all had nice runs in the 9’s, barely missing out on scoring in the contest.

Results of the Motor Hook and Ladder Class-C contest:

1st – East Islip

2nd – Islip

3rd – Central Islip

4th – Hempstead

5th – Bay Shore

Motor Hose Class-C started out with the second uncharacteristic run of the day. This one was by the Hoboes who got an OT. St. James almost ran the same time as they did at The Suffolk County Drill but were off by 1/100ths of a second with a fifth place time of 13.04. The tournament leaders from East Islip and their nozzle-man Eric Flynn came down the track and took third place with a time of 12.40. This added to their 3-point lead over Islip and Central Islip. Bay Shore's always exciting Paul Susskind coupled the hydrant in an expeditious fashion and due to the quick work of the nozzle-man they scored second place with a time of 12.37. The Westerners from West Hempstead scored their only points of the day by running a 12.33 for first place. West Sayville rounded out the top five with a 12.56 for fourth place.

Results of the Motor Hose Class-C contest:

1st – West Hempstead

2nd – Bay Shore

3rd – East Islip

4th – West Sayville

5th – St. James

Motor Hose Class-B only had one run in the 7-second range. Once again East Islip took 5 points by running a 7.94 and giving them an even greater total point lead on the competition. West Sayville ran an 8.01 for second place and Hempstead – utilizing the skills of the experienced team of JoJo Simone, Ralph Fraile Jr., Billy Falk and Matt Spinelli – ran an 8.25 for second place and 3 more points. North Lindenhurst's 8.27 bested Copiague’s 8.30 and the Taildraggers, running last, ran an 8.28 pushing the Yellowbirds just out of the points.

Results of the Motor Hose Class-B contest:

1st – East Islip

2nd – West Sayville

3rd – Hempstead

4th – North Lindenhurst

5th – North Babylon

Always able to compete at the top level in the Efficiency contest, the ever-ready team from Central Islip ran a 9.05. Port Washington obtained their first points of the day by running a 9.42 for fifth place. Bay Shore, who are always on the hunt for more points, ran a 9.29 for third place. West Sayville – who have been competing in Firemen’s Tournaments since the 1800's - attempted to best Central Islip but came up short with a time of 9.16. North Lindenhurst rounded out the top five with an energetic run of 9.38 gaining the Piston Knockers fourth place. St. James, North Babylon, Hempstead and Copiague were all just outside the top five with runs that were only off by a few hundredths of a second.

Results of the Efficiency contest:

1st – Central Islip

2nd – West Sayville

3rd – Bay Shore

4th – North Lindenhurst

5th – Port Washington

Motor Pump was by far the most exciting contest of the day. Central Islip came through the timing lights, ran a 5.88 and kicked off the event with a fervor. A few teams received OT’s and a few 9's were run before tournament leader East Islip came to the line. Nozzle-man Eric Flynn came bolting off the back of the truck with his eyes fixed on the target. What else can I say but the truck revved, the water came out and the target tripped. A boisterous "TIME!" came out of announcer Bill Rowse's mouth and everyone in attendance perked up...

“Five! (dramatic pause) point EIGHT!! (even more dramatic pause) SIX!!!"

This gave them a .200ths of a second faster run than Central Islip. Bay Shore and their 71-year old Class-B truck performed like the day it began its racing career propelling the Redskins to first place with a time of 5.76. When West Sayville came up to the line they not only took first place in Motor Pump but they also put themselves in second place for the day. At this point, the tournament win was sealed for the East Islip Guzzlers. The Drill Team Radio crew of Artie Susskind, Pat Cooke and Scott Magin began to hand out congratulations to the team.

The top five for the day with one contest to go, looked like this:

East Islip – 22 pts.

West Sayville – 16.5 pts.

Central Islip – 15 pts.

Bay Shore – 13.5 pts.

Hempstead – 9 pts.

Now a battle for second through fifth place was “ON.” Central Islip ran a 21.96 to the delight of the “Hoboe Nation” who had set up shop in the new bleachers right next to the arch. Bay Shore ran their best Bucket time of the year with a 22.48. West Sayville ran a 21.47 while Hempstead ran a 21.28 and North Lindenhurst ran their third 21 of the season with a 21.34. These four 21's were just giving us a preview of what's to come at the State Drill where it is possible that a 22 in buckets will not be enough to secure any points.

Results of the Bucket contest:

1st – Hempstead

2nd – North Lindenhurst

3rd – West Sayville

4th – Central Islip

5th – Bay Shore

With 22 points, the East Islip Guzzlers became the third different team to win a Suffolk County Points Drill this year. It took the combination of three third-place and two first-place finishes to put the them in the overall top five for the fourth time this season. Rounding out the top five for the day were West Sayville (19.5), Central Islip (17), Bay Shore (14.5) and Hempstead (14.)

Photos courtesy of Mike Heller from Fire News

We are all looking forward to a return trip to the Central Islip track on August 20th for the State Drill. This drill further proved that there are plenty of teams with the potential to take over for a day and bring home the win. It’ll be exciting to see who brings their ‘A’ game when it’s time to battle for the top prize in the sport.

We’ll see you all there…can’t wait!

Interview with Willy McCarthy

On July 13th, Dan Laverty met up with 5-time State Champion Willy McCarthy from The Central Islip Hoboes. Here’s how it went.

Dan Laverty: How are you doing tonight? Thank you for taking the time to be interviewed.
Willy McCarthy: Ok.
DL: What year did you join the Fire Department?
WM: 1964
DL: Did you have family members in the department already when you joined?
WM: My brother
DL: Was he the reason you joined?
WM: Yeah, basically. That, and these racing trucks.
DL: For those who do not know, who is your brother?
WM: John Fagan McCarthy
DL: When you first joined who were some of the people you looked up to?
WM: I just watched everybody. Back in them days it was Harry Penny, Bobby Spillman, Wilbur Young…
DL: Did you grow up around/watching racing?
WM: I had a neighbor who was on the drill team and when I was around eleven or twelve I used to go to all their practices.
DL: This neighbor was on The Hoboes?
WM: Yes
DL: When you first joined what positions did you run?
WM: I started out running the discharge in Pump (suction), dragger in Efficiency, and back then we ran the big 12 on Labor Day and I got a chance to run. I ran a snap coupling in Motor Hose Replacement. That was the first time of getting off the back of the truck.
DL: As the years went on what positions did you come into running?
WM: Well, the second year I was running about five guys got drafted for the Vietnam War. We came down and we had like nine guys. I ended up spiking on the left side and I did that for 25 years.

DL: You knew this question was coming. When did the hats start?

WM: Really the kickoff of the hat to the way everyone knows it now is like 2001, 2000. Chris Murphy found this stupid looking, raggedy hat we call "Roadkill" now and he bet me I wouldn’t wear it. He bet me five dollars I wouldn’t wear it to start him in 3-Man and that was the start of it. And basically what it ended up doing is taking the pressure off my 3-Man team when they got to the line. They were more worried about the damn hat than their climbs.

DL: How many hats do you think you have?

WM: I still got about 35 or so and 95 made it to the garbage when we didn’t win those days.

DL: Who buys you the hats? The kids on the team or is it anybody and everybody.

WM: Everybody and anybody.

DL: Do you have a special room for the hats? Do you have hat keepers?

WM: Nah, they are just around the house, in one room. The wife won’t let them go anywhere else. The one that has the history is the sombrero. Part of the show here in C.I. is me and that stupid sombrero. Everybody looks forward to it now so…just having fun with it.

DL: You started in 1964 and you said you actively jumped for over 20 years. So in the mid-80’s is when you stopped jumping?

WM: 1993

DL: And the last time you jumped was in what event?

WM: C-Ladder

DL: You mentioned camaraderie…

WM: The thing that you have to love about this sport is the camaraderie of it. Basically, you cut each others’ hearts out from the first man on the line in 3-Man ladder till the last bucket is dumped. We’d cut out each others’ hearts for a point. And after the last bucket is dumped, we sit and drink a couple beers together. In the week between tournaments (Willie calls them TURN-a-ments) at a fire you are liable to lay your life on the line for this guy and next Saturday you wanna cut his heart out again for seven hours.

DL: Teams come and go in cycles. Have you seen a cycle with the Hoboes? Were there rebuilding years?

WM: Oh, we’ve had them for years. It took us 17 years between 1993 and 2010, with a couple rebuilding processes in there. Then we got this group of Murphy’s, Ricky McCarthy, (Jay) Newhoff, Justin Correira, Jason Correira and they stayed through it and took their lumps. They paid the price out here. They never quit. They kept working to get better and better and now we are reaping the benefits of it. But this team got together and got to the point of “stop the nitpicking, shut up and race.” That is the mentality right now.

DL: Who might you say resembles yourself on the current team?

WM: There are a couple of them who can walk the walk and talk the talk but they can’t last all night after it. Nah, basically these kids are in much better shape - better equipment, faster equipment - but we had to get off hotter. You know when you were young…you know I could live to be a hundred and these kids could never carry the boots of the guys I ran with. But I know deep in my heart they are actually better.

DL: Do you feel that what a team gives out good vibes and positivity comes back to them?

WM: Yes, the fact is you have to believe in yourself, but damn, you gotta go out on Saturday and put it on the line. It’s put up or shut up time, especially the State Tournament. Basically the two proudest things I got out of racing was my son being the captain of the 2010 team and having my number retired by the team.

DL: Your son is Ricky McCarthy?

WM: Yes

DL: And your number is?

WM: 14

DL: Your number is 14 and your brother’s number is 17 which is retired also. Would you like to

talk about your brother a little bit?

WM: I would be a little prejudiced you know, because the saying goes "Forever our Coach" and he was that. He could push you to the limit. Push you to almost want to kill him. All he was trying it do was get the best out of you possible. I was on the receiving end of a lot of ‘em. And when I had like 10 years spiking, he was telling me stuff I’m doing and how to correct it. And being the wise-ass I always was I said, “You tell me what I am doing wrong and I will know how to correct it." He said, "Fine, you got a week to correct it or I will get somebody to replace ya." This is love I say, there was only one person he loved between those lines and that was the winner. As far as my brother goes, he was hard-headed and thick but everybody who ever laced up a sneaker and got on that track was like one of his sons.

DL: What do you think your brother would have thought of all the new innovations that have happened in racing recently: the scoreboard, Drill Team Radio and now the Drill Team Blog?

WM: Chris (Murphy) was getting to him where he could understand Chris, because him and Chris could go at it but they had a mutual love and respect for each other. Chris Murphy, not only for Central Islip but for this whole sport of racing, has almost revived the whole thing - the whole interest in the sport. Basically what Chris did, whether he meant to do it or not, is put a lot more fun back into this game.

DL: Is there anything in particular that you want to talk about that we have not touched on?

WM: Well, I think one of the biggest things was that State Tournament in ’78 when we showed up without a C-Truck. We got a couple of breaks early and made a couple of breaks late. We ran all day long with no one ever mentioning a C-Truck. No one ever mentioned it…it was “shut up and race.”

DL: That tournament in ‘78 was where?

WM: In Hempstead

DL: With what team did you battle with during that day?

WM: The Hempstead Flukes

DL: So you guys ran the hardest you could that day with what you had?

WM: Well you figure after C-Hose was over and we were still around, we still had four contests to go. We weren’t in bad shape.

DL: How did you do in those last four events?

WM: Fourth in B-Hose, I believe, third in Pump, won Efficiency and won Buckets.

DL: Do you think that The Flukes thought that this was their day?

WM: They still think it was their day. Honestly and truly, we had a lot of fun with it and some of it was taken out of context but I love Albie Cooke because he went through a hell of a lot of abuse from not only us but from some other people. But Albie still has his head up high and smiles. He’s one of those guys I just loved racing with.

DL: Out of all the State Drills the Hoboes won that you were a part of, ‘78 is the one that sticks with you the most?

WM: Not really, each and everyone one of ‘em has a history of them own if you want to read into ‘em. You have whole years and the one thing I miss the most about this sport at all is…

(Points at photos on the wall of the Hoboes Shack)

Look back there at 1970 and 1976, and realize how many guys are not still here. That hurts. After 2010, we rode down the track and I went in the back of the truck, looked up and remember those guys and it hurt.
DL: That’s the one thing people can never understand: firemen are like brothers…

WM: Not like brothers…we are brothers.

The Drill Team Blog would like to thank Willy for taking the time to talk to us.

Recap of the Central Islip Junior Drill

by Jimmy Leggio

The Juniors raced in their second tournament of the year at Central Islip on Sunday, June 12th. There were 13 teams in attendance with The Jr. Hares from East Farmingdale making their first appearance of the year. They had a good showing for a second year team, and they look like they will be a force to be reckoned with, especially in the Intermediate Ladder contest. There was a great crowd on hand and the teams were looking forward to running on the brand new surface at the C.I. track. There were no complaints with the track conditions and many racers commented on how they enjoyed the “grippy” surface.

Junior ladder started out just like last week with Central Islip taking first place and five points. Intermediate Ladder followed with Islip Terrace taking first place with a nice run. Watch for this young Schlager to possibly break the state record at some point this season. The Jr. Hoboes added another five points by taking first place in Individual Ladder with the Lindenhurst Jr. Snails taking second. In Cart Ladder, Islip put up a fast run (8.67 seconds to some timing in the stands) but the climber did not grasp and hold the top rung which resulted in a No Time (N/T.) Bay Shore held first place in the contest with a run of 8.94 but they had to sweat it out at the end as the Jr. Snails got a re-run after an official’s error. The Snails’ second run was not pretty and the Jr. Redskins got the five points. Coming out of the ladder contests, the Jr. Hoboes led all teams with 14 points.

After a long water test the teams finally lined up for Jr. Cart Hose, which was won by the Jr. Snails. Cart Hose was next and there were a lot of delays in the contest due to a problem with the timing lights. The track has a big crown in it and some of the cart handles came into contact with the equipment. There is a restriction in the rule book preventing the officials from adjusting the height of the timing lights during the contest so it was a bit of a hassle. Once they got the contest going, Islip took first place with Islip Terrace and Bay Shore behind them. Islip followed that run up with another five points in the next contest, Cart Hose Replacement.

Junior Efficiency Replacement was next with Bay Shore taking first place. Islip Terrace took first place in the WYE contest and the Hagerman Jr. Gamblers took second. Heading into the final contest, the Gamblers were ahead of the pack with 24 points but there were five teams right behind them. Bay Shore, Islip, Islip Terrace, Central Islip and Lindenhurst were all within 7 points of the lead, setting the stage for an interesting finale.

The Gamblers were unable to put the tournament away with their run when their nozzle-man failed to have his foot on the starting line and the team received a N/T. This opened the door for the other teams to jump ahead and win the tournament. The Hoboes missed their chance when they missed the target. The Redskins and Wolves also came up empty. The Snails had a good run, but it wasn’t enough to pass the Gamblers who breathed a sigh of relief as team after team failed to capitalize on their mistake. The contest was won by the West Sayville Jr. Flying Dutchmen and Hagerman held on to win their first tournament of the year.

The final results of the drill were as follows:

1st Place – Hagerman Jr. Gamblers

2nd & 3rd Place (Tie) – Islip Jr. Wolves & Islip Terrace Jr. Schlagers

4th Place – Lindenhurst Jr. Snails

5th Place – Central Islip Jr. Hoboes

After the C.I. drill, it looks like we have a few more contenders in the mix so it should make for an exciting season. The Juniors will be back in action on June 26th at the Hagerman track beginning at 11:00 AM.