new guy...seeroy

[lilabner]

you old farts might want to join me in welcoming seeroy to the forums...brother of the greatest..Bill Sirois...I'm sure he has plenty of stories to tell about EC and the boys...he spent a lot of time at the lake...
Welcome Steve!!!

[Mark75H]

Oh, yes! Welcome, Steve! :)

[Dukeofchippewa]

Welcome Steve.:)

[Bruce Washburn]

Abner, I would agree Sirois was probably the best all around driver I have ever seen. If it would float he could drive it. As a kid growing up in Lauderdale, Bill was one of the people that got me into boat racing.
I am sure that Steve will be a great addition to the forum and has a ton of stories to tell about the old days, the Lake, etc.

Bruce Washburn

[PARKER RABE]

My Dad New Him Well , I Remember When He Had The Wooden Cougar With 6 V-6 Powerheads, Laying On There Sides !, With Arensons Hooked Up To It , Al Copeland Was In On It Too , Said Popyes On It...

[T2x]

My Dad New Him Well , I Remember When He Had The Wooden Cougar With 6 V-6 Powerheads, Laying On There Sides !, With Arensons Hooked Up To It , Al Copeland Was In On It Too , Said Popyes On It...

Not Arnesons.... Mercruiser #5's

Not 6 powerheads....8 powerheads.

T2x

[PARKER RABE]

i heard they only ran 6 powerheads but had room for 8 , i could be wrong , a friend of mine says he knows where that boat is today .

[lilabner]

They didn't race it much..I saw it with 6 and 8..knew the boys very well..their shop was behind mine..

Butch

[Trikki1010]

I'd welcome Seeroy, but we haven't seen him yet ;)

But it should be interesting when he does :D :D

[seeroy]

Okay, here I am. If I can just figure out how to work this forum thing. This is a test and then I will pass along a few stories. - Seeroy

[seeroy]

IRONIC STORY! As some of you may remember, the Gold Coast Marathon ran from the Pelican Harbor Yacht Club at the 79th Street Causway in Miami, through the ICW to West Palm Beach one day, and back the next day. Try to picture 200+ boats from flivvers to Del Daley in a 7 Liter hydro and Dave Craig in a wooden Switzer with stacked Mercs making a shotgun start. Everybody wants to be 1st through the center span of the Broad Causeway Bridge which is only 2 1/2 miles from the start. All along the 60+ mile run people line the bridges and some throw things at you. In the 1963 race, my brother (Bill Sirois) ran a small Rayson Craft (God Bless Rudy Ramos) with an Oska engine on a Mercruiser #1 sterndrive. The Oska was an Italian engine that Mr. Kiekhaefer was playing around with at the time. When the spray had settled after day 2, Bill had finished 1st in Class A Inboard & 10th overall. By the way, he was later disqualified on the pretense that the Rayson Craft was not a family runabout. Mr. K was livid and I think there was some sort of legal action taken. Anyway, fast forward one year to the 1964 Gold Coast Marathon. Little Brother (me) ran my 1st and only Gold Coast Marathon in a cut down Glastron with an open stack 4 banger on a Mercruiser #1 sterndrive. Bill ran a cut down S-22 with a 396 (?) Chevy on a Mercruiser #2 sterndrive. He finished 1st in Class D (?) inboard and 2nd overall. Here's the irony. Where did Little Brother (me) finish? If you guessed 1st in Class A Inboard & 10th overall, you got it right. The only difference is, I didn't get disqualified.

:cool: =Big Brother :rolleyes: =Little Brother

We miss you Bill! Stay tuned...Many stories to come. Some Funny, Some Sad, Some just Crazy! Also, I hope to figure out how to post pictures. Maybe somebody can help me with that.
Best Regards & Respectfully - Steve Sirois

[seeroy]

When we were kids in Laporte <FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com /><st1:State>Indiana,</st1:State> our Uncle George had a small fishing camp on the Kankakee River at Shelby Indiana. On or about 1950 (Bill would have been 9 and I would have been 6) Bill took one of George’s fishing boats with probably a 5-10 HP outboard and went for a cruise on the river. Shortly the local Game Warden showed up with Bill in tow. He told George, “You need to watch this kid. He was speeding up and down the river and terrorizing fishermen.” The seeds were sewn (or is it sown)!</FONT></FONT></P><P style=
Best Regards - Steve Sirois

[seeroy]

Let me try that again. Circa 1950. Bill would have been about 10 and I would have been about 7. Our uncle George had a small fish camp on the Kankakee River at Shelby, Indiana. Bill "borrowed" one of George's fishing boat with a 5-10hp outboard and went cruising on the Kankakee. Shortly, the local Game Warden showed up holding Bill by the ear and told George, "You better watch this kid. He was racing up and down the river terrorizing all the fishermen!"

Best Regards - Steve Sirois :rolleyes:

[2us70]

64 was my first Gold Coast also I ran 2 more gold Coasts 66 which was the last time from Miami to West Palm and the one time they ran it in the Marine Stadium. The first one still ranks up there as one of my all time great thrills.

[Trikki1010]

You had to make me eat my words THAT FAST ;)

WELCOME on board Steve :D :D

I knew this would get interesting :cool:

[seeroy]

Just a quick memory of secrecy at Lake X in the 1960's. Somtimes, when you think back, something new occurs to you. Mr. Kiekhaefer was an amazing man. He had an explosive temper, but we all loved him anyway. Bill once got fired and rehired 3 times in one day. Mr. K was absolutely fanatical about secrecy. There was a big banner on the wall in the shop that read "WHAT YOU SEE HERE, WHAT YOU DO HERE, MUST BE LEFT HERE, WHEN YOU LEAVE HERE". 42 years later, I just realized that it was posted directly over the entrance to the toilet room.

Best Regards - Steve Sirois

[T2x]

Welcome Steve:

Just a quick question........ where is "Up, UP...and Away"?

I know EC gave it to Bill....all painted up and polished....

Do you or Vida still have it?...... I hope so.

T2x

[Powercat]

I will add my welcome as well to you Steve, and post this
photo of the start of 1965 Gold Coast marathon that was
sent to me for my collection.
Danny Leger

[seeroy]

Thanks Danny - Great pictureof the GCM!

I went to one backyard race with Bill and Jim Stough. Jim ram a Powercat with twins and Bill ran a vee bottom (brand?) with twins. They put on a helluva show. I think Jim finally won. Unfortunately, some guy in a kneeldown perished after an impalement on his squeeze type "dead man" throttle. That certainly saddened all.
On another occasion, Stough was driving to Lake X late at night after enjoying some St Cloud nightlife. He had some difficulty negotiating the turnoff onto the Lake X road and left his Cadillac convertible upside down in 3 feet of water in the swamp. Somehow he managed to extricate himself and got to the lake and just went to bed. At sunrise a passing FHP saw the wheels in the water and dove in to investigate. Meanwhile, Jim was sleeping peacefully. I don't remember what happened next, but the FHP was not real happy about the event. The Cadillac was never the same.

My apology to all for constantly getting off on a tangent. Since entering this forum, soooo many memories just fly through my head. If I get too far off track, let me know.

Best Regards - Steve

[2us70]

This is the track.

[ssmith007]

Welcome Steve. I love hearing those stories. Not just about the boats and motors, but what gives them real character to me is hearing about the people who drove, designed, modified, cussed at, and loved them. (I hope that didn't sound too corney). That story about the Caddy in the swamp is just the kind we like to hear about. Man those guys were wild and cool. Great story. Keep them coming. ThanksSmitty :D

[seeroy]

Hey guys - I've been writing on the "Life at Lake X in the '60s" thread for a couple of days. Man, this is alot of fun.

-Steve:D

[willabee]

Don Pruett drove " Up, Up and Away" at the championships at Lake Havasu the year after Bill won with it - Pruett blew it over. I seem to recall that being the end of it.

[T2x]

You Are Right. He Did Blow It Over And Broke His Hip. I Flew With Him On Mccolluch's Falcon Jet To L.a. I Returned To Havasu And Towed The Rig Back To Lake X. The Damage Was Not Bad, I Think Mostly Nose Damage. I Was Thinking It Was Repaired And Taken On The Show Circuit, But I'm Not Sure What Happened After I Left It At The Lake.

It was restored...painted Gold an White...... had all the bare metal polished and was presented to Bill Sirois at a banquet....by the Old Man. That's why I asked Steve about it........ It seems like Bill must have done something with it?

Maybe Vida Knows?

T2x

[willabee]

Olegator

What color was the boat when you took it to Lake X? This is making me feel like I'm having a Senior Moment! I thought it was painted as T2X describes, dummy engines with chrome plated stacks were installed and it went on a dealer tour for one year after Bill won in 1970. It came back, we put real engines on it and that's what Pruett drove. Don't remember who would have repaired it at the Lake ( I seem to remember Garbrecht bringing John McCall there for wood work on a couple of occasions ). Don't recall a banquet, but probably wasn't invited.
Not trying to argue - Just trying to get it straight in my mind.

[T2x]

Olegator

What color was the boat when you took it to Lake X? This is making me feel like I'm having a Senior Moment! I thought it was painted as T2X describes, dummy engines with chrome plated stacks were installed and it went on a dealer tour for one year after Bill won in 1970. It came back, we put real engines on it and that's what Pruett drove. Don't remember who would have repaired it at the Lake ( I seem to remember Garbrecht bringing John McCall there for wood work on a couple of occasions ). Don't recall a banquet, but probably wasn't invited.
Not trying to argue - Just trying to get it straight in my mind.

I might be wrong ....but I believe 1970 was the last year Mercury supported dual/multi engine OPC race boats. I know that in 1972 "Billy Don" Pruett was running a Miles hull for Tony Rodriguez (Sagres) with a Twister II on it.

Maybe multi's ran one last hurrah at Havasu??

T2x

[willabee]

No, 1971 was the last of the factory sponsored multi's. The beautiful poster that Mercury made showing Bill as the winner of the 1970 Outboard World Championship also shows Jim Mertin behind him. Jim was driving the "reverse S" twin Molinari ( with a pair of "cowbells" for power ) that Bill drove to victory in 1971.

willabee

Sorry, I answered you improperly. Should have said "Yes", one more hurrah for the multi's at Havasu.

[Mark75H]

I'm still looking for pictures of cowbell Twisters :rolleyes:

[T2x]

No, 1971 was the last of the factory sponsored multi's. The beautiful poster that Mercury made showing Bill as the winner of the 1970 Outboard World Championship also shows Jim Mertin behind him. Jim was driving the "reverse S" twin Molinari ( with a pair of "cowbells" for power ) that Bill drove to victory in 1971.

willabee

Sorry, I answered you improperly. Should have said "Yes", one more hurrah for the multi's at Havasu.

That boat the "reverse S" was the one with the engines spaced outboard behind the sponsons ..................painted white....with Molinari "arrow" markings down the deck......correct? I wonder where that hull is....... Definitely a rare piece.

T2x

[T2x]

You Have Not Cornered The Market On Senior Moments. I Must Have Taken Over A Hundred Photos That Year As I Was Not Driving, Only Helping Pruett. I Will Have To Go Thru My Photos To Be Sure Of The Colors. I Was Thinking There Was Another Twin Molinari That Bill Petty Drove The Year Don Blew Over. I Thought The 's' Bottom That Bill Won With, Had The Engines In The Tunnel And The One Petty Drove Had The Engines Mounted On The Sponsons.

You know....It's funny...but I used to remember boats and dates like clockwork. I do recall Petty driving a twin Molinari..... He previously drove a twin Jones and one of his own Pettycrafts as well. The following year he drove a single Molinari at St Mary's and I don't think I ever saw him again at a race.

T2x

[willabee]

I'm not very good on this computer, but I'll try to cover all bases.
To MARK75h - I don't have any pictures of the cowbells either. Have you tried to contact Mike Butler at the PR dept. of Mercury High Performance. He wasn't around at that time, but he's a very nice guy and I'm sure he has access to all of this kind of stuff.

T2x and OLEGATOR - the "S" had red decks and flat black cowling. Here's how I believe the boats stack up:
1970 - Bill Sirois in the Black "UP,UP and AWay - Jim Merten in the "S" ( WET and WILD! ) - Renato Molinari in the white twin with the engines mounted over the sponsons - Bill Petty in the Blue and white triple Jones ( Petty's Passion ) - "Billy" Don Pruett in the yellow triple Jones
1971 - Bill Sirois in the "S" - Jim Merten mangaging the Mercury race team - Renato Molinari in a new green twin ( Miss Titti ) - Bill Petty in the twin with the engines over the sponsons ( Petty's Passion ) - "Billy" Don Pruett in "UP,UP and Away
1972 - No more factory multi's - these great boats go into storage

I think Speed Marine bought the "S" and converted it into a KT with some exotic power ( Jaguar possibly ) - Mercury Racing converted the engines over sponson Molinari into it's 350c.i. KT development boat. It debuted at Parker and was a "dog". After much work it won 3 of the next 4 races it entered - Redwood City, Walker Lake and Elsinor. It was leading at Provo when the engine let go. Gary Peacock was it's driver and he later arranged for it to be sold to some guy in Brazil, where he went to race it for the new owner.

Corrections welcome.

[T2x]

I'm not very good on this computer, but I'll try to cover all bases.
To MARK75h - I don't have any pictures of the cowbells either. Have you tried to contact Mike Butler at the PR dept. of Mercury High Performance. He wasn't around at that time, but he's a very nice guy and I'm sure he has access to all of this kind of stuff.

T2x and OLEGATOR - the "S" had red decks and flat black cowling. Here's how I believe the boats stack up:
1970 - Bill Sirois in the Black "UP,UP and AWay - Jim Merten in the "S" ( WET and WILD! ) - Renato Molinari in the white twin with the engines mounted over the sponsons - Bill Petty in the Blue and white triple Jones ( Petty's Passion ) - "Billy" Don Pruett in the yellow triple Jones
1971 - Bill Sirois in the "S" - Jim Merten mangaging the Mercury race team - Renato Molinari in a new green twin ( Miss Titti ) - Bill Petty in the twin with the engines over the sponsons ( Petty's Passion ) - "Billy" Don Pruett in "UP,UP and Away
1972 - No more factory multi's - these great boats go into storage

I think Speed Marine bought the "S" and converted it into a KT with some exotic power ( Jaguar possibly ) - Mercury Racing converted the engines over sponson Molinari into it's 350c.i. KT development boat. It debuted at Parker and was a "dog". After much work it won 3 of the next 4 races it entered - Redwood City, Walker Lake and Elsinor. It was leading at Provo when the engine let go. Gary Peacock was it's driver and he later arranged for it to be sold to some guy in Brazil, where he went to race it for the new owner.

Corrections welcome.


What happened to the spare trailer wheel on Miss Titti? :D :D :D

Wow!!!!!!!!

You win the T2x Precise Trivia Award for 2005....... I am very impressed.

T2x

[willabee]

WOW back to you - my turn to be impressed - I didn't realize anyone besides me even knew that the spare wheel was missing!!! :D :D :D

[T2x]

WOW back to you - my turn to be impressed - I didn't realize anyone besides me even knew that the spare wheel was missing!!! :D :D :D

Absolutely...... I've been able to recover one of the lug nuts and I believe Raceman has the valve stem cover........ :p

T2x

[T2x]

If you dig around here deep enough you can find anything.........

Photo courtesy...Ron Hill

T2x

[T2x]

Etc.....

Who is the guy in the background?

T2x

[seeroy]

T2X, Willabee, Olegator, Mark75H - I don't know if this will help you, this is a picture of Bill's 1970 boat #998, Up-Up and Away, w/stackers mounted in the tunnel. Feb 1971 Issue of Powerboat has a color picture of the boat on the cover and the atricle had pics of all top 10 boats including Renato Molinari with engines mounted on the sponsons. Merten's picture may be the "cowbells" picture you are looking for. Personally I thought "cowbells" belonged around a cow's neck. I will try to scan that picture and post it. Also, I will post a fuzzy picture of Bill's 1970 boat #998, also named Up-Up and Away, non-stacker. I took that picture. :cool: -Steve

[Mark75H]

I have that issue. The pic that may be cowbells is from the wrong side of the motor, you can't see anything. :o

[seeroy]

Merten Cowbells?:confused: -Steve

[seeroy]

Bill's 1971 Boat

[seeroy]

LilAbner - Sorry, I guess you were in this knifefight too:D -Steve

[seeroy]

Gary on the Dock at 1971 Havasu. Gone to the next life. God Bless Him.:( -Steve

[T2x]

shamelessly swiped from Outboard Bob

[lilabner]

No, wasn't in that one..I was trying to run a Mandella GN with Bobby Erra, and building Fino's with Bobby Rautbord at that time..couldnt keep the Mandella from breaking the steering though..

Butch

[willabee]

Hey Guys, thanks for all the great pictures!

The caption under Renato's boat isn't totally accurate. He wasn't a victim of a sand bar, his lefthand speedmaster blew. That boat lead for approx. 3.5 hours on Sat. and lead all day Sun., but couldn't make up the laps it lost due to the failure. Merten took the lead after Renato's mishap, but an electrical fire due to a chaffing power trim coil brought him into the pits after approx. 2.5 hours into the Sun. race. He was sent back out to finish the race with no power trim ( I can't imagine how much fun it must have been to try to keep the "S" upright without power trim ). Bill stayed on the lead lap both days, and ultimately brought the oldest multi in the fleet home to victory.

You guys might find it interesting to know that on Sat. night, during preparation for Sundays run, the only thing that was not replaced on Bill's boat was the left side driveshaft housing. The reeds had chipped in both powerheads, there was metal in the gearcase lube of both lower units, a power trim cylinder had blown a seal, etc. I don't think even Bill knew about all of the changes.

T2x, the boat in the background is Merten the "S". That's the picture Mercury used for the poster I mentioned the other day. It was "Wet and Wild" that year and "Up Up and Away" the next.

The last shot is what Bill's black "Up, Up and Away" looked like when "Billy" Don drove it.

[Mark75H]

You mean this one?

[willabee]

Yea, that's her. That photo makes it look good. I always thought it looked great in black.

[Mr.T]

Yea, that's her. That photo makes it look good. I always thought it looked great in black.
Anybody know who this new guy Willabee is? He sure has a good memory or been connected at one time. my bet is his initials are BW

[T2x]

Yea, that's her. That photo makes it look good. I always thought it looked great in black.


It didn't look bad here either......

T2x

[Mark75H]

But Bob is right, the last pic shows how really big she is.

[T2x]

But Bob is right, the last pic shows how really big she is.

At Havasu....... Big was a good thing.

I remember watching Billy drive her at St Mary's Lake in Ohio for a multi hour Marathon...... It was like a limousine compared to some of the other hulls.
The only problem was she drove "up hill" all day.

T2x

[willabee]

They called her a 21 footer, but she was closer to 22', just under 8' wide.



Bill told a funny story just after the St.Mary's race ( which I believe he won ). For some reason he ran that race dragging his pitot tube. He said that when he passed Kenny Kitson's wing, he looked at the speedometer and it read well over 100 - in panic he mashed the down side of his trim switchs because he thought it was going to blow over at that speed. He went on to say that he almost crushed his chest on the steering wheel because the boat slowed down so dramatically ( and Kitson went by him ). After the race he found some debris stuck in the tube which caused the false reading. He was laughing very hard as he ended his story with " There I was - driving like a superstar thinking about a big cigar "

[willabee]

Can anyone tell me how to find the posted photo of Berghauer's pit stop at Parker - saw it once , can't get back to it.



Thanks

[Mark75H]

http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=47781

I found it using the forum search function. Look for it on the right side of the light blue bar about 2 or 3 inches from the top of your screen, about under the word "Welcome" . Click on advanced search and type in the word or name you are looking for. Sometimes you will want to leave it on the "Thread" default, other times you will want to switch it to find exact posts.

[76baja18ft]

http://www.byuboyz.com/laketrash/ET%20Project/images/ET-1.jpg Can anyone tell me about this boat? it belongs to a friend that post over at the byuboyz site.. he goes by the name of Lake Trash.. A nicer person you will never meet...i'm sure he would love any information you can share with him..
there is an article here on it following his rebuilding it ET Boat (http://www.byuboyz.com/laketrash/ET%20Project/index.htm) ..............
as it looks now..... http://www.byuboyz.com/laketrash/ET%20Project/images/ET-116.jpg

[willabee]

Mark75H - thanks for finding the photo and the info on how to find

I forgot to mention ( and I know you guys will be thrilled ) that the handsome lad on the boat, putting the fuel in is me. Jim Emerson, out of Lake X always handled the refueling for us, but when it was decided we would refill Berghauer without shutting the engine off, Emery wanted no part of that stop. We were hopeful that we could put just enough fuel in to complete the race and stay in front of Jimbo ( I think it was Jimbo ), who did not have to make any more pit stops. Emery came to me and said he felt it was a no win situation for him. He said that he was concerned that he'd put too much in, slowing Berghauer down and Jimbo would pass him, or he might not put enough in to finish the race. I told Jim I'd take him off the "hot seat" and put the fuel in myself. Turned out just fine, Berghauer won.
The photo was placed in several mags, and soon after the rules were changed so that all engines had to be shut off during refueling.
Just sharing a fun memory :D :D :D