UL-929 History
“The Little Boat That Could” is now the “All Black All The Time”
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 In the ULHRA world Brow made headlines driving “The Little Boat That Could”; the original UL-3 Bounty Hunter of owner John Hogan. This craft debuted in Unlimited Lights racing as the Miss Seafirst of original owner-driver Brian Reynolds in the mid 90′s and was built by Nate Brown. The Hogan-Brow team proved quite competitive, and as Brow noted, “driving that short little underpowered boat for John Hogan, once we got the bugs worked out of it that boat was probably one of the sweetest driving boats I have ever driven. I don’t think I will ever forget that day in San Diego when we had it dialed in and I don’t think I have ever driven harder knowing that I had a lot less under me then the guy’s that would eventually get by me”. In that race in 2002, Brow grabbed the lead at the start and held off eventual winner Jerry Hopp in the UL-15 Mike’s Hard Lemonade for nearly 2 full laps. On the last straightaway Brow, driving the boat which was aptly named “The Little Store” at Friday Harbor, was also edged at the line by second place finisher Cal Phipps in the UL-10 Frazee Paint. However, it was an amazing performance in front of tens of thousands of fans along both sides of Mission Bay in San Diego and matched Brow’s career best of 3rd place in Unlimited Lights competition set in Seattle in 2000. Today, that same hull continues as a strong Unlimited Lights entry, even winning at Evansville IN 2005, although we no longer refer to it as “The Little Boat That Could”. Today, it’s 2 feet longer and a foot wider with a bigger engine and we call it the “All Black, All the Time” UL-929 of owner/driver Vince “X-Man” Xaudaro. |
Naming of the UL929 in honor of Mr. Stefan Xaudaro
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 Many race fans often wonder how numbers are chosen for racing vessels. For Xaudaro Racing, the number of 929 has been synonymous with Vince Xaudaro’s hull through out his racing career. For this team the boat number represents the birth date of his father Stefan Xaudaro Sr, September 29th. Vince has always raced under this number as a way of honoring his father. Stefan Xaudaro’s life story is a very interesting one. Stefan Sr. is originally from Lodz, Poland where he was known as Stefan Opzarek. As a youth during WWII, he and his mother were moved to a displaced person’s camp in Aglasterhausen, Germany near the end of the conflict. While at Aglasterhausen, Stefan Sr. became separated from his mother and came to the US with the help of a US Army Captain. After a short stint in Connecticut as a youth, Stefan Sr. found his way out to Montana and the Flathead Valley. When the Korean War started, he enlisted in the Army to gain his US citizenship and found himself in the middle of the worst battle in the war – Pork Chop Hill. His injuries during the conflict were numerous and he earned 2 Purple Hearts for his courage. After returning to Montana in the early 1950s, Stefan met his long time friend Tony, who was a doctor. Tony and Stefan traveled around the world and Tony volunteered his time as a doctor in various Missionaries. One of those stops included a long stay with the Zulu tribe in Africa. As Stefan Sr. continued to travel, he made the decision to change his name to something that was unique to him. It was the last name of Xaudaro, which is named for the Basque region between Spain and France. Stefan Sr. eventually settled down and started a family with Diana Blievernicht, the mother of UL Drivers, Vince and Charles Xaudaro. Stefan Sr. worked various construction jobs around the country before ending up working at the Hanford Nuclear Area in 1974. It was that year that he took a youthful Vince Xaudaro and brother Stefan Jr. to their first Columbia Cup where they got hooked on the sport. As Long as I am in the cockpit of Hydro, it will always carry the 929 in honor of my dad!
With love to you Dad,
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