twocents
06-17-2008, 11:40 AM
Just received some sad news. Those who have been around the high performance boat racing industry for a very long time have undoubtedly crossed paths with Mr. Ricky DeMontrand, publisher of Vapor Trails magazine. After several months of failing health at his Huntington Beach home, Mr. Ricky passed on June 12. I know that opinions about Mr. Ricky varied widely among those of us in the industry but there's no denying that he was always one of the most colorful and interesting characters to grace our sport. And there was never a question about his love and devotion to high performance boat racing and the people that participated. Vapor Trails wasn't the slick, upscale type of publication we have become accustomed to seeing today with cover to cover four-color images and tightly written articles. What it was, however, was a sprawling pictorial presentation of the people who make this sport great. And it didn't matter whether you were a multi-millionaire race celebrity or just the behind-the-scenes guy who washed the boat and drove the truck, you still got your picture in print, and sometimes full page size. Ricky will probably be best remembered for his annual Caesar's Award Banquets. If you never attended one there's no sense in trying to explain it here -- it was surreal. What it did do was give a lot of well deserved recognition to a lot of boat racers and support people who normally never got much public thanks for doing jobs well done. And maybe the 8-foot tall trophies were a little over-the-top, but I like to think that Ricky was always well intended. I'm going to miss him. I hope others out there feel the same.