What happened to White Lightning?
#441
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Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 1,273
Likes: 0
From: Rolla/LOTO MO
You can easily tell who the player haters are. I was with T and the girls the whole weekend and I can definitely tell you that NO ONE even came close to hanging with WL! He ran that baby very hard through some serious chit! Some of y'all need to stop getting hard ons about trashing WL. I have been around tons of badass boats and great boat drivers my whole life. White Lightning is one of the the most badass V bottoms I've ever been in and she got ridden hard this weekend. I can't even tell you how fast we were going because I was busy waving at every cigarette, fountain, or any other worthy vee as we were passing them at twice the speed they were going.
-Grasshopper
-Grasshopper
#443
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Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 39
Likes: 1
From: St. Louis, MO
The real truth is that Smith Power will take on anyone in smooth water (388 twin turbo) and smoke anyone in the rough (White Lightning). Then if you dare to come after us at the drag strip, Mark and Scott will take on anyone. It's a dominant motorsports group. And on top of that, we are only getting bigger. We only had 10 Smith Power boats on the lake this past weekend. Bigger, better, faster, stronger.
-Grasshopper
-Grasshopper
#445
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Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 39
Likes: 1
From: St. Louis, MO
It's not a freaking glass water boat!!! WTF?!?! Who gives a rats azz what it would do on a smooth course. Props out baby. That's how Travis rolls :-)
#446
Had a GREAT time running with WL after the Shootout in Saturday around the 22-23mm.
Comparatively speaking, we only had HP500's in a '99 42' Fountain, but we were all in and, from the 31mm to the 19mm, we only got passed by a canopied Outerlimits, a canopied Fountain race boat, and White Lightning. Obviously, doesn't mean other boats way ahead or behind us weren't going faster, but we were cooking pretty good for our hardware. Travis came up and ran side by side and the boat performed and sounded 100% badazz. Talked with Travis later at Shady's and he said whoever was driving that Fountain was doing it well. 
When you're running out there with it, it's painfully obvious how well that boat does in the rough and it sounds mean as hell. Too cool watching it run from that perspective. I enjoy talking boats and bs'ing with Travis. Others may make bold statements, but Travis has never told me he was better or faster than anyone else, it's just obvious he loves the boat. If I were that concerned about showing him up, I might pass him every chance I had, but it doesn't look like I'm gonna be able to do that any time soon! If I knew him better, I'd talk him into running that machine to Bimini and back.
Maybe I'll start working on that...
Comparatively speaking, we only had HP500's in a '99 42' Fountain, but we were all in and, from the 31mm to the 19mm, we only got passed by a canopied Outerlimits, a canopied Fountain race boat, and White Lightning. Obviously, doesn't mean other boats way ahead or behind us weren't going faster, but we were cooking pretty good for our hardware. Travis came up and ran side by side and the boat performed and sounded 100% badazz. Talked with Travis later at Shady's and he said whoever was driving that Fountain was doing it well. 
When you're running out there with it, it's painfully obvious how well that boat does in the rough and it sounds mean as hell. Too cool watching it run from that perspective. I enjoy talking boats and bs'ing with Travis. Others may make bold statements, but Travis has never told me he was better or faster than anyone else, it's just obvious he loves the boat. If I were that concerned about showing him up, I might pass him every chance I had, but it doesn't look like I'm gonna be able to do that any time soon! If I knew him better, I'd talk him into running that machine to Bimini and back.
Maybe I'll start working on that...
#447
I just love this thread. There's so much conjecture as it is, and then you suddenly have Brad Smith fanboys offering more blather...Travis himself gets on and is quite gentlemanly, then gets pissed of and goes nuts on someone for no good reason...its freakin' HILARIOUS.
Looks like Only Rumors was out as well...did somebody finally buy it? Stepped 41 Apache hull wit 900s...dialed in on Lake Michigan, where it REALLY gets rough...
Looks like Only Rumors was out as well...did somebody finally buy it? Stepped 41 Apache hull wit 900s...dialed in on Lake Michigan, where it REALLY gets rough...
#448
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 93
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Yea I dont doubt that Lake Michigan gets REALLY rough. But for the most part, all the waves are going the same way and are predictable. LOTO is so narrow that you have waves bouncing back and forth making it very unpredictable. There are TONS of large cruisers on LOTO and their waves criss cross across the lake and cause the boat to bounce in any direction potentially causing damage or injury. Thats why in 2006 LOTO was named the 3rd most dangerous waterway in the US according to the US Coast Guard data.
#450
I just love this thread. There's so much conjecture as it is, and then you suddenly have Brad Smith fanboys offering more blather...Travis himself gets on and is quite gentlemanly, then gets pissed of and goes nuts on someone for no good reason...its freakin' HILARIOUS.
Looks like Only Rumors was out as well...did somebody finally buy it? Stepped 41 Apache hull wit 900s...dialed in on Lake Michigan, where it REALLY gets rough...
Looks like Only Rumors was out as well...did somebody finally buy it? Stepped 41 Apache hull wit 900s...dialed in on Lake Michigan, where it REALLY gets rough...




