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View Full Version : 1970's era comared to modern racing???



jeffbare
09-03-2005, 12:47 PM
I have read a lot of threads on racing history and the late 60's and 70's. That era of racing sounds like it was a lot of fun on and off the lake. I am curious to know what the differances of todays racing circuts compared to the early days of racing. S&F member, keep up the great work and stories.
Jeff

2us70
09-03-2005, 01:51 PM
The 60s and 70s was an era of growth in OPC racing. We went from flat bottom runabouts then to cats and hydros and eventually to v bottoms and tunnel hulls. There were a large number of classes and several were very affordable. I had less than 2 grand in the boat in which I won Nationals in SE in 70. The boat count at races was also quite large,in some classes full 12 boat fields were fairly routine. It was frequently nessary to get to a race site very early to secure a decent pit spot. Here in South Florida in those days it was not unusual to see race boats on trailers on almost any day of the week in your travels around town. Lastly there was the large number and variety of races that were being held. There were closed course races, closed course marathons ranging from 1 up to 9 hours as well as point to point marathons such as the Gold Coast. All of these conditions gave those of us who were lucky to have been there plenty of seat time as it was not hard to make 25 or 30 races a year with out going to far from home. Most of the time we did at least 2 races a month. I am glad to have been a small part of this era.

Checkmatenate
09-05-2005, 10:12 PM
I raelly wish we had teh same opportunities now as you did back then. Does anyone know anything about racing in the nw area?

Fish
09-06-2005, 07:09 AM
A couple of differences I noticed is that there was a lot more experimenting with different type hulls back then. In the marathon races 2US70 mentioned above, you could see a switzer wing, a tunnel with twins on it, v bottoms, tunnel hulls...etc., all racing together. At one time my dad tried a huber cotti with a cockpit adjustable wing between the forks in front (although it was too radical to leave it that way).

Also, the tunnels cornered extremely different. Back in the day a driver would "fly" it through the turns as opposed to the way the f1 boats do it now where they slow, the boats turn on a dime and then accelerate.

It also semed like it was a lot more like the old nascar back then--- trading paint in corners, and if you did not want to get run over, get out of the way of people like ole'gator and a few other folks cause they were heading to the front. :D

From what I remeber, there were not as many high dollar teams; it was a family event where you loaded everyone in the truck or car(we went in an old clunky lincoln continental) and drove to the race.

Fish
09-06-2005, 07:16 AM
2US70, you have mail.

Tim Bennecker
09-06-2005, 10:24 AM
OPC race boats will be at Spanaway Lake (Spanaway WA) on September 11th.
They will also be at Chelan WA on September 24th, followed by Issaquah WA (Lake Sammamish ) October 1st and 2nd. The Northwest "group" of OPC racers includes a few guys from Vancouver BC as well..............

Bruce Washburn
09-06-2005, 02:41 PM
From what I remember of going to the races whicle growing up in S. Fla. The courses were also bigger in the 60's and 70's. With wide turns you have to float the boats around. It was not uncommon to see 1 2/3 mile lap. The marathons were run on even longer laps. Most of the race courses today are 1 mile or less.
I think that there were also more places for someone to start racing.Not everyone wants to spend 10K + for a single purpose boat to see if they want to race or not. You could buy a 13 or 14 allison with a 85 go racing on Sunday and pactice in your local lake or river the rest of the time. It also did not seem to cost as much.
Today part of the challenge is finding a good test lake that you will not be thrown in jail if you try to run on .
The number of race sites has also decreased due to noise, Manatees, Turtles, etc.

jeffbare
09-06-2005, 10:48 PM
I love reading all the old stories of the old racing days. Anyone willing to share it is much appreciated.
Jeff

2us70
09-07-2005, 09:30 AM
The best thing about the era in which I raced was the greater opportunities available to afford the equipment, to be able to run and test the equipment and to race the equipment frequently.This gave us a lot more bang for the buck than you can get now.

largecar91
09-07-2005, 07:50 PM
One big difference with todays capsule boats is that in the old days, it took a lot of energy just to hold yourself in the seat. The steering wheel sure took a beating!

rnelems
09-07-2005, 08:09 PM
In OPC racing there was a maximum of 12 boats in each race,so we had elimination heats to get the fastest 12 boats,pretty exciting in the old days. I raced FG in a 13 foot Checkmate with 80/85 4 cylinder Merc,no power trim allowed. We had lots of fun,hard to run with the Allisons but as a Checkmate dealer I had to try. We had the KennedyCrafts, the WardCrafts,a few Streams, Action,and lots of other Florida built boats that I can't remember.It was a lot of fun and nobody got hurt.Our service manager raced SJ, tunnels with stock short shaft 150's. We had 2 Kitson's and a nice wood McCall,a work of art. The man to beat was Doug Pearl in his wood Scorpion,ponytail flapping in the breeze as he went by most of us. Those were the good days,wonder what happened to Doug?Lots of good memories that would be hard to duplicate today.Hey,all you old guys like me, share your stories,there are lots of them out there. We could make this a great thread for the young guys to read. Robert Nelems

rnelems
09-07-2005, 08:25 PM
Just rembered this story, we went to the Dayton,OH races in maybe 1972. Charlie Craig from Clanton,AL was running an FG Kennedy Craft and burned up a water pump. We were all at the same motel so we decided to launch the boat in the pool to make sure it was OK after we replaced the impeller. An FG boat was pretty light,we just pushed it off the trailer and fired it up!Motel management got pretty upset but we loaded it back on the trailer and raced the next day. Good days :)

Jeff_G
09-12-2005, 09:19 AM
As someone that has raced since the mid 70's there are some differences and some things that always stay the same.
Drivers are drivers, there are good and bad we have always had both. I can't tell you the drivers were any better 30 years ago than today. The stories just keep getting better with age!

We did drive differently. As previously posted we did "swap paint" more back then and the boats were made to take it. Rules were more relaxed as far as aggressive driving too. But alot of drivers were hurt by over agressive driving and I understand the safety aspect.
In the early days we raced usually with a clock start and on 1 1/4 or 1 2/3 mile courses with big sweeping turns. As time went on the professional classes went to leMans starts exclusively and smaller courses with turns designed for tunnels. This trickled down to today where virtually all the races are leMans starts and 4 pin courses, usually 3/4 to 1 mile or smaller.
I can remember some races with full fields in the 70's and some with only 3 or 4 boats. Only the big races always had large fields.
One big difference is local racing in most of the country has died. The number one reason is lack of boats showing for the local races. Racing as a percentage of income hasn't really changed, yes you could buy a good rig for $2,000 in the late 70's but you can also buy a good rig today for $8,000 in a comparable class. If you look at it that way racing is much cheaper.
Many of the classes ran production type boats and readily available production motors. Today with one or two exceptions all the classes use purpose built racing hulls and motors. Not condusive to entry level racing. What has gone up is the traveling and the time needed to travel.

C-C
09-12-2005, 03:55 PM
the pool story my dad told me was probably g-rated compared to some of the more interesting stories i have been told,,, growing up going to a race somewhere every weekend made for some great memories... we had a 25x50 shop we worked out of and i remember watching bill seebold, earl bentz, doug pearl, and others i cant remeber names now work on there boats before racing on lake mitchell in clanton, al.,,,, well, i think they drank more than they worked.. but all the memories are good to bring back up from time to time,, we have 100's of photos, 8mm tapes stored away..

i do remember that #431 taking alot of trophies home, i use to keep them in my bedroom untill it became to overcrowded ,, the trophies back then were big.


SJ #431

Jeff_G
09-12-2005, 05:01 PM
Alive and living in S. Fla. last I talked to him.

T2x
09-12-2005, 05:40 PM
Billy Martin, Bob Davis, and Dick Knarich, who had over filled there livers with booze, "launched" an FE Allison into a pool at an OPC race in upstate New York once..... trailer and all........ The following morning..... The boat was floating in the pool....and the trailer was right below it on the bottom.....

The owner , Bob Van Epps, (who made the mistake of coming back from dinner a little late)...... was not amused... but a few hundred other people were rolling on the lawn.....

The motel owner swore he would never allow another boat racer in his establishment......... I thought he had a poor sense of humor...... as well as some gas and oil in his pool filters.

T2x

rnelems
09-12-2005, 06:36 PM
Doug Pearl was always so fast that we always thought he was too light but he always made weight on the scales.In those days the driver stayed in the boat,the crane picked it up,an official would pull the drain plug to let out any water. But we always noticed he would linger near the crane for awhile in the water.The rumor was that he had a water tank under the seat that would fill thru the drain plug and a remote valve to close it so it would not drain. :D Funny thing was,he was such a good driver and his boat was so fast anyway,he really didn't need to do all that :p. After all these years I never knew if he actually did that,but it makes an interesting story.

2us70
09-12-2005, 07:06 PM
I have seen the water ballast trick tried but not by Doug Pearl. In most of the Sport class boats there was not enough room to hide a water tank and since water wont run uphillyou would have to also put in a pump. The Sport class weight limits were pretty close to as light as you could build a boat and not have it come apart. Remember you need about 6 gallons of water(8.33lb per gal.) to make 50 lbs. That is a pretty good sized tank to hide. The Production class v bottom boats with large under floor areas and the ability fill the double bottom by just pulling a plug and allowing a large weight gain in a short fill time were rigged this way by a few enterprising drivers. I watched a guy who shall remain nameless get caught at Nationals in 73 with a E Production boat with a very clever water ballast set up. Edgar Rose was not amused.

jeffbare
11-17-2005, 03:50 PM
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