Silent Engines

[properchopper]

We lost one of the great ones : Ed Hughey has passed away.

Sunshine and smooth water Bro...

[Fluid]

I am so sorry to hear this. I knew Ed well, talked on the phone a bunch and even raced against him once. We are diminished.

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[CraigP]

Holy Moley, he was fast! The sport lost a legend...

[fweasel]

I never met him, but know what he meant to this hobby. Those Indy guys were lucky to have him as a local.

[Peter A]

Sad news, even to those of us from far away, his name was well known amongst model boat racing circles.

[revoltrunner]

Sorry to hear about Ed.
I always made sure I stopped to see him and his
brother Dee at the Toledo show in the 70s and 80s
R.I.P. Ed

[ray schrauwen]

Thank you for the info Tony.

Sad day. Great memories.

I was very lucky and blessed to meet him and have great conversation.

[Doug Smock]

I never met Ed, always hoped to. I felt lucky just to speak with him on the phone a few years ago. Very nice gentleman that brought more to the hobby than most realize.

Fair winds and following seas Ed.

[Doug Smock]

Jay Ed's last record just fell in Valdosta. It did hurt to edit the file.

[rol243]

I didn,t know Ed but i did know how darn good his flex shafts were.

[TRUCKPULL]

Very sad news, I have met both Ed and Dee
Condolences to the family.

Larry

[H&YRACING]

Ed Hughey. What to say. Words like Icon, pioneer, and founding father come to mind.

Ed worked at Citizenship Radio back in the 60's. Evidence of this was always present by the enormous radios he always used. Large red transmitters, with antennas reaching 6 feet, and always a single stick (up and down throttle, left and right steering). Hughey Boats was started so Ed could sell model boat kits and hardware. The Hughey round nose became famous after winning many races including national events. The transition was made to outriggers when that era came. He produced all types of hardware including his famous flex shafts. In the later years, these became the mainstay all the way to the end of the company in 2014.

He was a founding member of the Indy Model Boat Club, which grew and produced many great model boaters. Just look at the IMBPA Hall of Fame to see several of them, including Ed himself. Ed's wife, Sandy, was IMPBA secretary for several years in the 70's. Wouldn't you know Ed met Sandy in a Hobby Shop! They had three daughters, and I have lost count how many grandchildren and great grand children.

Ed became fascinated with electric powered racing. He raced electric cars in the 70's and 80's, and was one of the first at making an electric powered boat go fast. I took the attached picture at the IMPBA Nationals in 1983. Obviously, there were no classes, but he took this boat for demonstrations. Notice the dual gear box with .05 motors and the yellow 1200 mah Sanyo batteries. The speed control was an early version of a switch type, that either used a resistance coil or switch between series and parallel. Ed showed us that electric powered boats could be made fast. Of course, his were always the fastest ones.

As fast electric boats grew, so did Ed, and holding many records at one time was common. I think the record sheet that Fluid posted earlier was one of the most dominate. Although Ed started out flying U-Control airplanes, progressed to the primitive radio controlled planes, and then raced and held Nitro records, the last chapters of his legacy were racing fast electrics and selling flex shafts. The Hughey Boats booth at the Toledo show was a staple for years, and at one point it had the most consecutive years at the show.

Ed was a fierce competitor, always prepared, and usually with many boats at each event. He liked to start out front in a race and never look back. If for some reason he was behind you, he'd be in front of you the first bobble you made. He had a great influence on me and the entire hobby. He will be missed.

Mike Yount
H&Y Racing

[T.S.Davis]

What a tremendous loss. This makes me sad.

Met Ed in 2005 and got to watch him race. He was competing against guys that were legends in their own right. Guys that should have been faster than him. They had the latest and greatest this, that, the other. Whatever............Ed would push them with his single stick radio and wood boats until they made a mistake. Wish I could find the old heat sheets. There was a heat, pretty sure, with Ed, Doug Junior, Dick Crowe, Alan Nayman, and Ray Fuller. Glorious battle of RC royalty in my opinion.

Ed's builds changed my entire line of thinking on RC boats. It was the first time I really thought of them as more than just toy boats. They were science. They were engineering. Most importantly though...............they were art. Although, with his boats the engineering was the art. It's a fine line. Think outside the box? Yeah, Ed didn't have any boxes.

Any of you that have seen my wood boats. It all started with Ed. I think of him every time I work on one.

[ray schrauwen]

You do Ed a great service. I love your mods and concoctions from the normal kits. I always feel I'm about 2 years behind you and other guys. Ed was light years ahead of most.

I'll try to dig up some 4x6 pics to post from 2005.

[T.S.Davis]

Somewhere I have a pic of Ed, Ray Fuller, and Tom Perzenka from Octura. Gotta sift through a thousand or more on the terra drive though.