old race pics

[OceanmarineB]

what's up guys, here some pics that i posted in general discussion, There of my dad Paul Balabus racing some checkmates back in the day. heres one from a race in New London Cennecticut...

[OceanmarineB]

heres one of him in he thin Clearwater, Florida in a 3 hour marathon race.

[OceanmarineB]

heres one of his old checkmates...

[OceanmarineB]

same boat as above blown over in the state channel out on eastern long island N.Y. i gues around the massapequa area, maybe Greg might recognize the area...

[OceanmarineB]

heres one of his freinds that past away some years back in his checkmate tunnel

[OceanmarineB]

heres one my dads old tunnels

[Scream And Fly]

Great photos - keep them coming!

Greg

[Mark75H]

Great Stuff. Thanks :)

[PARKER RABE]

man great pics !

[harley_davidson]

HERES ONE FROM AUSTRALIA

1975 DRAGINLADY A 16FT TUNNEL HULL POWERED BY AN EVINRUDE SUPER STRANGLER

http://members.dcsi.net.au/bindy/images/m_reg_sorensen_yarr_1975.JPG

[dale robertson]

Eufaula 74

[Dukeofchippewa]

More, more, more.

[luvgoing fast]

keep em comeing!!

[TNT]

is that a triad?

[bridges]

Allison/1350 Merc v. Switzer/OMC 235 V-6

[bridges]

Doug Pearl in his Scorpion, '77 or '78.

[bridges]

Here comes Joe Burgess, Lake Barkley 1974.

[bridges]

Buck Thornton 78 or 79?

[bridges]

Seebold -- St Louis '77 or '78

[PARKER RABE]

thats sweet..... is that OZ class?

[bridges]

thats sweet..... is that OZ class?

I'm pretty sure it's OZ class in 1977. It may be Mod U in 1978, but I don't think so. Either way, it's back when they had a 3 turn course on the Meramec at George Winter Park.

[Raceman]

Doesn't the yellow boat have a T4 on it?

[Laker]

WOW WOW
Im crapin my pants!
Awsome pics.
Love that StingerGP on the Allison Vbottom.
A combo not seen very much!
:D

[bridges]

Doesn't the yellow boat have a T4 on it?

I think it does, the cowl looks like it's got the big bulbous "merc" lettering that the Formula 1 engines had. Said "class OZ" to the rear of the cowl.

[bridges]

WOW WOW

Love that StingerGP on the Allison Vbottom.
A combo not seen very much!
:D

According to my dad, Burgess was lapping the field on the outside in that race... He was the 1973 champ, and the pic of the trophy presentation has been posted here before.

[bridges]

Duane Lyons #95. I wish helmetguru could've seen these...

[bridges]

was a pretty boat

[bridges]

Evinrude CCC

[bridges]

V6 Johnson

[bridges]

Tight 2nd turn at St Louis

[bridges]

Bob Hering

[bridges]

Lee Sutter

[bridges]

Earl Bentz, hisself

[Scream And Fly]

Great photos! Please keep them coming!

[dale robertson]

Burgess was lapping the field on the outside in that race... He was the 1973 champ
What class was he running with the Stinger?

[bridges]

[QUOTE=
What class was he running with the Stinger?[/QUOTE]


Not sure. I heard he was lapping on the outside against tunnels and winning. I still have the race program for that year and I can't find any mixed classes though. All the classes were divided by horsepower, either vee or tunnel. They may have mixed the open 30 minute marathon race (most laps). I'd bet he was moving on with that 14 footer and a Stinger.

[bridges]

This picture has been posted before, but here it is again anyway: Ally tunnel and Stinger, 1974

[bridges]

Also, these Stingers shown are not 3 cylinders, they are 4 cyl. Here is a little info on that subject from Raceman on another thread:

Checkmate, OMC used the "Stinger" designation not only on their race stuff, but production stuff as well on their Johnson engines. As far as I know (and my OMC knowledge is weak) the first time it was used was on the 4 cyl race motor of the early 70's. Their hottest V4 race motor ever was the Stinger GP, which was the second design 4 cyl Stinger and featured 8 carb venturi's (also nicknamed 8 barrel Stinger), a mid with above water exhaust, a small, non shifftable race gearcase (1:1???????) The 4 cyl Stinger and Stinger GP race motors and Evinrude equivalents of Strangler and Super Strangler. Although Johnson continued to use the Stinger name on later engines from full race to production stuff, as far as I know Evinrude didn't use the Strangler name again after the V4's, calling thier later stuff Hustler and CC, CCC etc.

The 3 cyl looper engines of the 70's also carried the Stinger designation in both production and full race configurations.

[omc-v4]

I wonder if Joe had a R/H unit? The lefts were hard to turn left with.

[Raceman]

Scott, since I made the above reply, Mark75H posted some pics of early V6 Johnson race motors with the Stinger designation and color scheme also (colored exactly like the 8 barrel Stinger GP). I've never seen one of those engines myself so I don't know if they ever went past the prototype stage.

[Mark75H]

They did not go beyond 4 prototype "Stinger GP" type V-6's. 2 were badged as Evinrude Super Strangler V-6's and 2 as Johnson Stingers.

In fact, they were simply the product of an engineering study. 5 powerheads were produced and tested according to OMC prototype protocol. Also in accordance with OMC prototype protocol, one under went destructive dyno cell testing .... they ran it until it busted. The other 4 under went less rigorous testing and when R & D was done with them, because they had survived, they were used for racing.

There is the story that Charlie Strang tossed a busted piston from a Stinger GP V-6 to a Merc tech or engineer at a race in France and asked "What do you think caused this?" knowing that the guy would run back and measure it every way possible before returning it to OMC's junk pile. A red herring for Merc to chase on a motor OMC had no intention of producing in quantity.

[luvgoing fast]

so great pictures!!!! :D :D

[dale robertson]

MK-75, were these V-6 Stinger's the 2 liter looper's ?

[fgbiv]

Old Boat Race Pic & UIM Outboard Record

[Mark75H]

MK-75, were these V-6 Stinger's the 2 liter looper's ?

Yes

An alternate story on them is that Strang could not get permission to have them made under the R & D budget, that he had Leek build them from scratch so they could race them as show pieces to prove interest in motors that large.

[gstorr]

My dad at Trenton, 1972 I believe

[gstorr]

This time at Lambertville, '74 or '75

[gstorr]

Old checkmate with the 1350 - July 4th 1970 at lambertville

[gstorr]

On the trailer, with Sonny Werner's old FI boat in the background.

[Mark75H]

:) :) :) :)

[2us70]

I don't know who posted the picture of Frank Brown but it sure brought back memories of racing against him in the Orange Bowl 9 Hour race. I was in Brooke Russel's Miami to New York boat and we raced Frank and Mark all day for position.

[Raceman]

Sam, are you sure those early V6 prototypes were loopers? I don't have any information to the contrary, but given the fact that all of the OMC V4 race motors of that era, as well as the early V6 race motors like the CCC and RS were crossflows, I can't understand how they'd tool up to do some prototype V6 loopers, then go back to the obsolete crossflow technology for their first V6 race motors. I ain't sayin' it didn't happen that way, just can't figure what they were thinkin' if it did.

[dale robertson]

One of my friends ( Dick Wlezien) is a retired O.M.C. engineer and former F-1 Tech. Inspector. He tells me they did make a few 2 liter loopers and the project got shut down as soon as it started.

[Bruce Washburn]

I thought that the loopers team omc ran in the late 70's early 80's were 165 to 183 cu in motors. I had heard that second effort built a couple of 2.0L motors inthe 90's out of the current stlye 3l motors. They were suppose to have had the rods and bearings similar to the V8 F1 motors so that they could turn the R's needed. I think that they were too heavy to be competitive with the last version 2l F1 merc and were never raced.

[Mark75H]

Here's the skinny:

The time frame was early 1970's ---- same time as the Wankel.

They were loopers.

They were 2 liter.

The project was not "given up on" it was just a very small project. There was never any intention of going farther with that exact project.

I've never heard of any bigger OMC loopers

[Raceman]

I've always been curious about OMC's thinking on introducing the V6's as crossflows, given their success with the 3 cyl loopers which outperformed the Mercs in the same sizes in every way. Also, they knew that the Merc V6's were loopers and therefore an inherently superior design.

[Hot Shot Merc]

Why arent there any old pics of you racing?Didnt you race boats all your life?I dont know your history but it would seem to me that with all your knoledge there would be a bunch of pics on this thread of you. :)

[Raceman]

Several reasons Rob. First, all the stuff I did was backyard. Second, I had a wife back then who was completely disinterested in my hobbies, so I went alone usually, ALWAYS without her, hence no photographer. When it was motorcycles the track had photographers so I've got a few of those, but seemed to never have any for sale at the boat races. I've got a couple of old drag pictures, but you can't even tell who or what the boats are. One other detail, when I was a kid my mother always had a camera in her hand. As I got older I truly hated to have my picture taken................. still do. I've got a few pics of the old 15 Ally with a short inline and a few of the decked over 16 with the T3, but that's about it. I DO have a video of the 16' foot boat when it was blown over and me gettin' hauled out and loaded in the ambulance after the dumbass in the rescue boat had said I was dead. I've been gonna send Greg a copy to edit and post for a year since I found it, but haven't gotten around to it. Hell, I don't have any pics much of the STV's I've got now......................... still don't have a photographer in the family.

[Hot Shot Merc]

There would have been some good shots I'll bet throughout the years.

[harley_davidson]

Wow some good photos of old race boats, all we need to see is some pictures of some old 150HP racing Chryslers and BP Mercury's on tunnel boats. They used to howl with those megaphones poking out of the powerhead. My old man raced one of the 150 HP chrylslers here in Australia in the early 1970s. If my memory serves me well, the BP Mercury's, were a 135 hp motor with 3 megaphones coming out the powerhead. Chrysler had a 135 HP and a 150 HP with 2 megaphones coming out the powerhead. He also raced an Evinrude Super Strangler as well and still has it sitting round the garage. HERES MY OLD 15FT TENNESSEE POWERED BY A 1974 V4 JOHNSON 135 HORSE POWER. THESES BOATS WERE A COPY OF YOUR AMERICAN ALLISONS. A FEW GUYS RACED THEM HERE IN AUSTRALIA IN THE 1970s WITH SHORT SHAFT 150 HP MERCURY'S. BUT THEY HAD A HABBIT OF TAKING OFF TRYING TO BE AREOPLANES AT AROUND 85 MPH.

http://www.xsorbit3.com/users/Panhead/Attachment/speed_boat_1987.jpg

[Mark75H]

Harley, there are plenty of pictures of those here on Screamandfly. I'll poke around and see if it can link you to some ... or maybe a few dozen :)

The first base motor for the stacker Mercs is the 125 from 1968; the first base motor for the Chrysler stackers is the 105

http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=29469&stc=1 http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=30790&stc=1 http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=26903&stc=1 http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=27658&stc=1
http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=45794&stc=1
http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=67931&stc=1
http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=68088&stc=1
http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=68278&stc=1

[Raceman]

Rob, what's really sad is that I don't even have trailer shots of some of my favorite old boats. My decked over Vector is one that I wish I had at least on pic of, but far as I remember I never took one. I've done a little better with cars over the years, but that could be better too. I guess as you get older that kind of stuff becomes more important.

[Raceman]

Sam, what d'ya mean by "first base motor"? Were those old 6 stack white motors owner or aftermarket built?

[Mark75H]

Yes.

There were no factory racing 6's from 1958 until 1968. The 1958 motors had an open to the air exhaust available, but no factory stacks.


Any white motors with stacks would have been made by Quincy, Hubbell, Parker or homemade. I suspect even the factory would have used Quincy, Hubbell or Parker stacks on motors they tested and/or loaned for racing. Why build what you can buy off the shelf?

[lilabner]

Sam..you are gonna get me and Olegator riled up here..the old man made his own stacks on the 800's back in 60 or 61..they were not Quincy's I am positive because we had to buy Quincy's if we wanted stacks..Mercs were made in pieces with springs holding them on..Quincy's in one piece..don't know about the others but Mersereau told me Mercury made them..and he was head of the race team..the only ones I ever saw made like that were on Mercury rigs..from the Lake..the old man got or made anything he wanted...in the Miami Nassau race before the 63 Daytona 500, Johnny Bakos showed up with 2 427 Chevy mystery engines in a Bertram..how did EC score 2 of the rarest Chevy's ever made?..Chevy only made 13 engines and most of them went through Smokey Yunick..that left 11 engines..the Daytona 500 had 5 cars with them..Junior Johnson, Bubba Farr,Johnny Rutherford, I think Rex White and someone else..it's foggy out..point is the old man didn't need anybody else to make stacks..he got anything he wanted..and I saw at least 6 Powercats with the same stacks at races and the Lake..

[fgbiv]

I don't know who posted the picture of Frank Brown but it sure brought back memories of racing against him in the Orange Bowl 9 Hour race. I was in Brooke Russel's Miami to New York boat and we raced Frank and Mark all day for position.

2us70, You might be interested in this Forum

http://www.********************/forums/showthread.php?t=113

[Mark75H]

we had to buy Quincy's if we wanted stacks

That's the main point I wanted to make. I should have said "the factory had stacks from somewhere ..... but didn't sell them".

More existing pics here on SnF:

http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=68276&stc=1
http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=72620&stc=1
http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=14910&stc=1
http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=14951&stc=1
http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=15975&stc=1
http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=52525&stc=1
http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=49349&stc=1
http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=44988&stc=1

[Mark75H]

And some more:

http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=41420&stc=1
http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=41422&stc=1
http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=41466&stc=1
http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=41468&stc=1
http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=41517&stc=1
http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=43897&stc=1

[Mark75H]

I've found a lot of redundant posting of pictures. I'm surprized that Greg hasn't clicked on the
"you can't do that" button, seeing as how the cost of hosting pictures is one of the biggest
costs of the website. If you'd like to help Greg out with this, try to use "insert image" to link
an existing image to your post instead of uploading your image every time you want to show it. :)

I know I've been guilty of it from time to time as well, but it is most often because I just
can't find the original image. :rolleyes:

[harley_davidson]

wow some good old photos there

[PARKER RABE]

Killer Pics!

[Dave S]

Hey Sam, what kind of boat do you think that is in the last pix?? Looks like a glass boat with a round top transom?? On the other page in New Jersey that has a old Checkmate racing, in the background you can see an old Eltro #999 who is driving that boat? T2X migth know.I like all the old pixs Sam. :cool: :)

[lilabner]

Love=stacks

[Hot Shot Merc]

Didnt you and Parkers daddy boat together?maybe they have some shots of you guy's.This thread is cool.I wish there were some of these old inlines still around with the tune pipes. :eek: :D

[bridges]

I wish there were some of these old inlines still around with the tune pipes. :eek: :D

There are some still around. Here are 2 threads showing some newly rebuilt ones:

1350 stacker--click here (http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47060&highlight=1350+stacker)

1250 Stacker--click here (http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67663&highlight=stacker)

[Hot Shot Merc]

Gator,I bett that was cool.I hope somebody post's when they come around again.I would love to see them race like old times.Mount Dora maybe :) Gator,how's it beeen going?I'd like to see ya again,maybe at the Suwannee in March.Stop by the Holiday Inn and say hello.Rob

[harley_davidson]

**** noise laws the louder the better

[T2x]

Rob,
Seems Like Some Of The Newcomers In The Fl Chapter Aomci Don't Like The Sound Of A Stacker, As They Have Been Outlawed At Future Meets. I Feel Sure They Would Be Alright At Mt Dora, As That Is Not A Aomci Meet. Looking Forward To Seeing You Again. Maybe On The Suwannee. Hope You Have A Merry Christmas.

We need to get a stacker or three to Clayton......... The Inboard guys make enough noise there that I can't see how anyone could try and put clamps on the O/B's....on the other hand...you'd probably hear the Stacker 50 miles away........ ;)

T2x

[Dukeofchippewa]

Since I can't be there, I hope you tape it.:D

[lilabner]

Let's just git rid of them newcomers!!

[seeroy]

Butch - The first time I arrived at Lake X (Late '62 or early '63) I walked into the parts room and, low and behold, there were seven (7) Chevy 427's (porcupines) sitting on the floor. As I remember Johhny Bakos did indeed run them in Miami-Nassau. Odell Lewis also ran one in a Mandella SK boat in a marathon (probably GCM or Miami 9 hour). It really looked weird because it still had the wet stacks for through hull application attached. Odell had a little cartoon Indian on the stern and the words "Woo Woo". He once told me that he was half Italian and half Indian, therefore he was a "Wopahoo".
-Steve Sirois

[seeroy]

Sam - Nothing sounded better than a stacked Merc. Sounded like a 1000 pound hornet. -Steve Sirois

[lilabner]

Sam - Nothing sounded better than a stacked Merc. Sounded like a 1000 pound hornet. -Steve Sirois

perfect..absolutely perfect...

[gofish7070]

Nearly 40 years ago while working R&D out of Oshkosh was assigned the enviable task of rough water testing stacked outboards, Ironically my boss at the Oshkosh boat house was Gary Garbrecht,,,While hooking up the engine to the transom of a low profile hydrodyne (the roughest riding boat in the entire world,,,,,,,,,,,) we than towed the boat out to mighty Lake Winnebago so we would not disturb the town,,,,,,,,,,,Upon firing up that sweeeeet sounding Merc proceeded to get my body totally beat up but had no problem at all with the engine,,,,,,,,While starting to run low on fuel headed back to the river where their is a low railroad bridge at the entrance to the fox river, upon backing off of the engine in anticipation of being towed, turned around to look at that mighty 6-cylinder just in time to see the transom fall completely off the damn boat,nothing is as sickening as hearing those pipes getting submerged,,,,,,,looked over at my pick up boat toc catch everyone just laying on the deck laughing so hard,,,,,,,,,,,,Just to bring a couple of those days back,,,,,,,,,,go fish 7070

[Laker]

GoFish
THAT Is a great story!!

[Dukeofchippewa]

Great story, glad it was you and not me.:eek:

[seeroy]

GoFish.....Jim, I'm glad I'm not the only one that did things like that....:D -Steve

[T2x]

I've posted this story before on here.

1967- Milwaukee-Chicago-Milwaukee marathon.

Race starts in absolute calm water on Lake Michigan..... early-mid morning...summer saturday.

B-I-G Ore boat has just exited the harbor 5 miles south of the start line.

I'm alone in a twin 115 Evinrude/ Eltro Vee...great rough water boat ...in my only season running OMC's....

Chet Strickland goes by me in an aluminum Petty Craft/twin Stacker (copy of a Shultze).... Engines are screaming....He's got 8-10 mph on me.....

There is a black line on the water dead ahead.......which begins to take shape...and grow....... it comes directly out of the stern of the ore boat and extends back to the break water at the harbor entrance...... there is no way around it without going a couple of miles out and around the ore boat.

Strickland...and I...charge ahead..... I believe we were the first two boats at that point.... He backs off slightly as the wave looms in front of us...but not much....engines are still screaming...... he approaches the wave at over 65 mph......

His bow arrives at the face of the wave....... and never lifts an inch...... bow inserts....... driver inserts.......engines insert....and all I heard was ....... SCREEEEEEEEEEEEurp......followed by immediate and total silence....the last I saw of the boat was 6 megaphones dissolving into a wall of water. I hit the wave at 50 or so sailed over the middle wave and looked down to see a bedraggled and swamped Strickland and Pettycraft, with engines akimbo, tank sideways, and a soaked and forlorn wave as he signaled he was okay.....half drowned but okay.

No way to treat an engine.

T2x

[seeroy]

T2X - That was a great story about Chet. One evening at Lake X in the triple 0 trailer, Chet was in the shower getting ready for a big date with Kathy. Several of us Threw a gallon of ice water in on him and then showered him with talcum powder. I think he must have inhaled the powder because he puked all over the shower. On another occassion in the triple 0, we (Chet, Phil Schenk, Ralph Seavey and I) were all enjoying some adult beverages when things got a little out of hand. It seems that if you make martinis by pouring a liberal dose of gin into a glass, add several olives and then simply take a little smell of vermouth, that things get a little crazy and knives begin to fly. We painted a target on the door leading to the back and started throwings knives at it to see who was the champion thrower. The knives soon evolved into a large pipe wrench, followed by several other things and lastly by large chairs. It was at this point that the door finally gave up the ghost and ceased to be a door. After a few hours of sleep, this whole episode did not seem like it had been such a good idea. Late that night, under cover of darkness, we snuck into the boat shop and fabricated a rather good semblance of a door and attached it where the former door no longer resided. I have known Chet Strickland for 40+ years and he was always one of the funniest human beings I have ever known. When you teamed him up with Phil Schenk, who was the funniest human being I have ever know, it was hilarious. I guess, I should have posted this under "Lake X in the 60's", but your story about Lake Michigan and Chet was so vivid, I could almost see Chet in the water waving you on.
:D :D :D -Steve Sirois

[thaw ripper]

I'm not so Nut's After all!:D

[thaw ripper]

Good Old Days

[drdave]

That wouldn't be Stevie driving that #9999 would it ??

[T2x]

Those were the days my friend.......

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[T2x]

We thought they'd never end............


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[T2x]

Those were the days..........


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[T2x]

Oh Yes those were the days.........

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[T2x]

La La La La La La........

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[Dukeofchippewa]

I remember them.

[T2x]

La La La La La La.........


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[T2x]

But in our hearts.......


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[T2x]

The dreams...........



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[T2x]

Are still the same.......


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[shadowcat]

Rich- great photos!!!!! love the photos of the shadowcat in my unbias opinion !:)

[T2x]

Rich- great photos!!!!! love the photos of the shadowcat in my unbias opinion !:)


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