September 15th, 2011
New Athens turned out to be a very challenging end of the season race. Randy already clinched the high points championship for the Kentucky Drag Boat Association. Yea!! However, even though in the lead for both the Lucas Oil and the St. Louis Drag Boat Association championships, it was mathematically possible for Randy to lose those top positions. On Saturday’s first qualifying pass, he put up a sold 9.05 time. The weekend however became more taxing than anyone had anticipated on the second qualifying attempt. Catastrophic engine failure as a rod and a whole lot of other broken metal ripped through the engine and oil pan. No spare parts could ever fix what was broken and if Randy didn’t attempt to make a pass during bracket elimination racing on Sunday, both championships would automatically be lost. Do you say, “Well, that’s racing. Pack it up…we’ve had a great season.” Not this team!! We exhausted all of our possible options and accepted the offer of Wade Wallace, Ashly Ruf’s team, to get one of his engines from a drag boat he was trying to sell which was located down in Kentucky. Our friend and valuable crew member, John Morris, made a 7 hour road trip to get this engine and bring it back to New Athens. The guys worked through the evening and eventually got the new engine to fire up in the Kwitchabitchin boat around 1:30 am. Randy was able to get the boat in the water and made the first pass on Sunday in order to hold onto and capture the St. Louis Drag Boat Association’s Point Championship. This also was the clincher to save a Lucas Oil runner-up position.
Here are some pictures from the race showing the Kwitchabitchin boat without its engine and then a new one going in. Two High Points Championships and one Runner-Up is a great accomplishment. So proud of Randy, Little John, and the entire team.
Diane Bicknese
August 12th, 2011
CBS Sports Spectacular will be broadcasting the Lucas Oil Drag Boat Racing Series from Wheatland MO. that Little Johns Motorsports placed 3rd in. The TV schedule is for it to be aired on Saturday, August 20th from Noon to 1 PM CT. Here's a link to the schedule page on CBS Sports: http://www.cbssports.com/cbssports/schedules/page/spectaculars
August 10th, 2011
Another great racing weekend for the Kwitchabitchin crew! It was a second place, runner up finish that puts Randy Bicknese way ahead of the competition for the KDBA (Kentucky Drag Boat Association) points championship. The most exciting and without a doubt the most important pass was the 2nd round of Sunday’s bracket elimination. Randy went head-to-head with one of the best reaction time racers in the business. Randy pulled out the win with his personal best 0.007 sec reaction time. The boat was very consistent all weekend as the times were all within 9.002 – 9.08 seconds in the 9.000 class. The next and final KDBA race of the season is August 27 – 28 in Livermore, KY. The season ends September 10 – 11 at the St. Louis Drag Boat Association’s New Athens, IL race.
August 2nd, 2011
Little John's Motor Sports at Wheatland, reposted from www.RiverBills.com
Hi Bill,
It was a great, and extremely hot weekend! Randy, Little John, and the whole crew did a fantastic job at the national race in Wheatland! There were 24 boats in the Top Eliminator, 9 second class. Randy qualified 3rd on Saturday with a 9.010 time. Sunday's elimination races were tough as the rounds went on, the drivers got better and better and the sun got hotter. Randy beat 3 boats and made it to the semifinal round. He lost to a past national champ who had a near perfect start with a reaction time of 0.01 sec. 3rd place was quite an accomplishment though and Randy picked up valuable division points as his main competion in the SLDBA and the KDBA all lost in the 1st round. Thanks to our family, friends, and crew for all of your hard work and efforts. Special thanks to Dutch for all of his support.
The next race is this coming weekend at Kentucky Lake. Friday will be a special $10,000 shoot out race. Good luck team!
Diane Bicknese
July 11, 2011
Kentucky Lake, July 9-10: Back to back wins for Randy! This time he beat last year’s Kentucky Drag Boat Association’s high points champion. In the finals, Randy had a great start with a reaction time of 0.1 seconds and his opponent was never able to catch up. He went on to win with a 9.06 in the Top Eliminator 9 second class. It was a hot weekend down in Kentucky but well worth all of the efforts of our race team. Thanks to all of our family and friends who made the trip to support us. Also, John Morris drove a licensing pass in Little John’s boat and made a very smooth 9.12 second run with a very solid reaction time.
We are all excited for our next Lucas Oil race which will be held July 29 – 31 in Wheatland, MO for the Inaugural Diamond Drag Boat Nationals. CBS Sports will be on hand as the fastest pilots on water try their hand on the World’s First Purpose-Built Drag Boat Lake located just south of the Lucas Oil Dirt Track in Wheatland, Missouri. For this nationally televised event, come out and show the CBS cameras that Little John and Randy have the best cheering section!!
Your support is greatly appreciated!
June, 2011 Lucas Oil Race Creve Coeur, Won TE ! Click on thumbnail to see full size picture.
June 11, 2011
HI ALL
Most of today was spent rebuilding our transmission properly.
It should take three hours, not thirty minutes.
All of our new parts came in, so we took out and cleaned all of the stuff that we begged, borrowed, and stole
from others that tried to help us at the time.
Our gear box is back and better than before.
Today we went through the whole boat and we are ready.
CREVE CUEUR SHOULD BE A BLAST
HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE
Little John
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