Mercury Racing Team - 1972 Picture

[willabee]

It was taken in the early morning hours (we got there about 5:30) on race day at the Miami Marine Stadium in 1972, the year the Miami 225 was cancelled due to high winds.

Can you name the drivers of all ten boats ( the first boat is #457, the last one is #199 )?

Can you name the guys hanging around boat #457?

This was the first race that the whole team ran C6's - Morgan 6 carb on 1400 block.

366191

[willabee]

No, it's a guy that we hired out of Texas - he drove a twin Jones for Shepherd Racing before he joined us.

You got the guy in the cockpit correct and you should definitely get the guy on the far left, in front of the boat and the guy on the far right, behind the boat:)
The Only Boat I'm Not Sure Of Is The #730. Seems Like Maybe California Driver, Tinker Coolidge? Looks Like Willabee In The Cockpit.

[willabee]

THE DRIVERS AND THEIR BOATS


#457 - Bobby Hering - 1971 17' Molinari sprint
#251 - Mike Downard - 1972 17' Molinari sprint ( first race for that boat )
#554 - Renato Molinari - 1972 17' Molinari sprint ( first race for that boat )
#730 - Bill Allen - 1971 17' Molinari marathon ( Renato's 1971 "cockpit forward"
Havasu boat )
#254 - Tom Stickle - 1971 17' Molinari marathon ( 1971 Paris boat )
#148 - Dick Sherrer - 1970 18'? Molinari marathon ( Renato's 1970 "extended
transom" Paris boat )
#190 - Billy Seebold - 1970 17' Molinari sprint
#998 - Bill Sirois - 1971 17' Molinari sprint
#22 - Gary Peacock - 1970 17' Molinari sprint
#199 - Bill Petty - 1971 17' Twistercraft

[willabee]

THE GUYS AROUND BOAT #457

Starting with the guy behind the boat on the far left and going clockwise:

Georgio Molinari ( Renato's younger brother )
Me
Dave Beier - powerhead mechanic
Greg Danfield - boat trailers, trucks, refueling rigs
Ken Ballou - marine owner Hemet, Ca. ( Molly's husband )
Rick Lamore - powerhead mechanic
Bob Geary - gearcase mechanic
Jim Emerson - Lake X offshore team ( in charge of our refueling )

[blkmtrfan]

Awsome photo, keep em coming:cool:

[T2x]

THE GUYS AROUND BOAT #457

Starting with the guy behind the boat on the far left and going clockwise:

Georgio Molinari ( Renato's younger brother )
Me
Dave Beier - powerhead mechanic
Greg Danfield - boat trailers, trucks, refueling rigs
Ken Ballou - marine owner Hemet, Ca. ( Molly's husband )
Rick Lamore - powerhead mechanic
Bob Geary - gearcase mechanic
Jim Emerson - Lake X offshore team ( in charge of our refueling )

You can't miss Rick Lamore..... Rest his soul....

But are you sure about JD?

T2x

[willabee]

Yea, Rick was one of the best - a great mechanic, 2 cycle or 4, and just one hell of a nice guy - really enjoyed working with him.

Ran into him and Dennis Mathis at a hi-performance show in Columbus somewhere around 1994. He had his own offshore engine business in Flordia at that time. He introduced me to Dennis as " the best boss he ever had" - that was a great compliment because it came from him.

Your question about JD must be a typo, who were you asking about?



You can't miss Rick Lamore..... Rest his soul....

But are you sure about JD?

T2x

[T2x]

Yea, Rick was one of the best - a great mechanic, 2 cycle or 4, and just one hell of a nice guy - really enjoyed working with him.

Ran into him and Dennis Mathis at a hi-performance show in Columbus somewhere around 1994. He had his own offshore engine business in Flordia at that time. He introduced me to Dennis as " the best boss he ever had" - that was a great compliment because it came from him.
Your question about JD must be a typo, who were you asking about?

Jim Emerson is/was known as "JD" at the Lake. He rigged the Jesse James Boats for us....... and is now semi-retired.... (he drives the Merc Offshore truck to races).... I last saw him in early August at St. Clair.

My question is about the guy you identified as him........ Is that a bad picture?..... He sure looks/looked different. By the way...He's Chuck Mercereau's nephew.

T2x....

P.S. George Linder sends his regards.

[T2x]

Yea, Rick was one of the best - a great mechanic, 2 cycle or 4, and just one hell of a nice guy - really enjoyed working with him.


LaMore Story......

1981 Offshore World's at Key West...... I had a pair of (the very rare)T-4's on one of our Shadow Cats... Rick and Mark Baier were "babysitting" them......This was when I kept insisiting on putting OPC hardware on our Offshore race boats (two T-4's on a Shadow Cat.... Four T-3's on a Conquest Cat) Rick was fascinated by this and worked closely with us.

During the week of racing.... and the inevitable boredom in the pits........I got into a stupid bet that I could lift Rick off the ground and walk 20 feet with him..... ( I was at about 160 lbs, soaking wet, back then...and Rick was pushing 300+) .This occurred on a wharf next to where the boat was floating. Somehow I pulled this off......... but strained various parts of my back, legs and shoulders in the effort...... A few minutes later I climbed below the front deck of the boat to stow a reflector antenna.... and suddenly had a fierce charlie horse in my calf ( hot day..... cramped bow area...you get the picture). As I flipped over grabbing my leg I fell against the inflatable life raft....got tangled in the co2 lanyard and ..... WHAM!...... the inflating raft shot me back out of the cabin door, I'd crawled through seconds before...... I continued sliding backwards across the cockpit sole beneath the race hatch and wound up in a sponson under the bailing well.... covered in talculm powder.... (preservative for the raft)....and some light blood.

When I emerged looking like a bad three stooges finale........ La More took one look at me and asked if I was finished for the day..... or was there some kind of encore..... because he didn't want to miss anything.

I chased him for probably 100 yards.....

He could really move when pursued by a powder coated madman.......

Rest in Peace, Big Guy

T2x

[willabee]

Positive, that's Jim - remember, that was 1972, he was a lot younger and "lighter" back then.
One thing that makes him look different is the fact that he is standing like a frozen turd. The wind was already blowing hard that morning and that made it kind of cool, but this was February, so us Wisconsin boys still thought we were in a tropical paradise. However, the Florida boys acted like it was a winter blizzard! In addition, he was not thrilled with the idea of getting up at " O dark thirty" on a Sunday morning just so I could get that photo - that smile was really forced.
I don't recall anyone refering to him as JD, must have been an offshore thing.
Jim Emerson is/was known as "JD" at the Lake.
My question is about the guy you identified as him........ Is that a bad picture?..... He sure looks/looked different. .

[willabee]

THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO


The 1972 Miami 225 was the first major race where I was in total charge of Mercury's effort. Garbrecht and Merten had some type of scheduling conflict, so I was told who they wanted in the event and to make it happen.

Normally, our procedure for a major race was to get all of the equipment and team members to the test site the weekend before the race. The balance of the drivers would try to arrive sometime that Monday. I didn't think that was the most efficient way to get the job done because we would go from no drivers to all of the drivers in a matter of hours, and everyone wanted something done at the same time. I decided to try something different for the 225.

The guys at Lake X installed a duplicate of the Miami course for us to test on. I sent " Day Tripper " with all of the race powerheads and props and Bobby Hering and his #457. Bob Hetzel and I joined Rick Lamore and a couple more of our guys and we started testing. We ran every powerhead we had across Herings boat until they all performed almost identical, Lamore doing all of the adjusting. We then ran all the props, Hetzel doing all of the filing and banging. In 2 or 3 days, we were ready for the rest of the drivers who were set up with staggered arrivals, about 3 per day.

When each driver arrived, we already had his boat ready for testing - just add water. After each driver ran a few props, they were ready for final inspection. Most of the drivers commented that that was as ready as they felt they had ever been for a boat race. When all boats were done, there was about 3.5 seconds in total lap time difference between the fastest and the slowest. Hering was fastest, but ran with about 5 gallons of fuel aboard. Sherrer was slowest, but carried about 25 gallons.

We went to Miami with very high expectations, that's one reason I wanted that photo. We got up early so that we could get the boats lined up on the ramp ( we had to saw the chain locking the stadium gates in order to get in ). Unfortunately, the wind just got worse until the event was finally cancelled. OMC has no idea how lucky they were that day;)


Awsome photo, keep em coming:cool:

[blkmtrfan]

Great story willabee, thanks :cool:

[Mark75H]

I found this version of the picture on Tim Seebold's site. You can see another Merc boat and 2 OMC boats

[willabee]

That's interesting, wonder where he got it. The photos were taken by a Merc PR guy ( can't remember his name ) and several were taken. This one makes me think that they cropped the vehicles and used it for some advertising. Maybe Mike Butler can find it in his files.
I found this version of the picture on Tim Seebold's site. You can see another Merc boat and 2 OMC boats

[willabee]

Mercury Racing Team - 1970


Found this shot in Powerboat, it was the one that gave me the idea to make the 1972 picture. Shown are:
#174 - Billy Don Pruett in "Mullet"
#998 - Bill Sirois in "Tuff Turkey"
#199 - Bill Petty
#177 - Don Clark
#251 - Mike Downard - in "High and Dry"
#457 - Bob Hering

#254 - Tom Stickle
#187 - Jim Merten

I don't think Bill Seebold was at this race.

The rules for this Miami 225 stated that a driver must be 21 to compete....Downard was not yet 21, so he was told that he could not race. He happened to be driving the boat that I had a ton of test hours in and up until about an hour before the race it looked like I was going to get the seat ( I was very excited ). Then, Gary changed his mind and put Duey Berghauer in the boat :( Since Gary didn't think that Duey could win ( he had never been in the boat and had just come down to help his brother Dennis ) we took the water-injection system off of his engine and put it on someone else's!........... If I would have run.....I would have won :rolleyes:

366192

[willabee]

If I would have run.....I would have won :rolleyes:

Sherlock, I had to phrase it that way because SOMEBODY on S & F has already cornered the market on the more popular " I would have won, but........" :D :D



:D ;)

[T2x]

I always felt that I would have won.....

.............if I came in first.

T2x

[HistoryBuff]

Hello,

New member introduction. Just found this site yesterday and have been intrigued. This has been a walk down memory lane. I recognize so many names from the past and enjoy the old photos. The stories of Lake X, Bill Sirois, Steve Sirois (we met many years ago), the infamous Lake Havasu accident that nearly killed my mentor, Don Pruett, etc. Bill Sirois sold me one of his older racing karts which I raced at the old Sarasota Kart track. Steve, I have always wanted to follow your aviation career. I also loved your brother Bill.

Our connection is, Billy "Don" Pruett is my father. I have many fond memories of him and his racing exploits.

I just wanted to say thanks.

[Fish]

Hello,

New member introduction. Just found this site yesterday and have been intrigued. This has been a walk down memory lane. I recognize so many names from the past and enjoy the old photos. The stories of Lake X, Bill Sirois, Steve Sirois (we met many years ago), the infamous Lake Havasu accident that nearly killed my mentor, Don Pruett, etc. Bill Sirois sold me one of his older racing karts which I raced at the old Sarasota Kart track. Steve, I have always wanted to follow your aviation career. I also loved your brother Bill.

Our connection is, Billy "Don" Pruett is my father. I have many fond memories of him and his racing exploits.

I just wanted to say thanks.

Hey Historybuff,
welcome to scream and fly. I remeber your dad, but I was pretty young. he raced at the same time as my dad, jack staples. I wish I had been a little older and could really appreciate how cool race weekends were. I too have fond memories and love this section of the site, especially boats and people from that time period. Anyway, enjoy the site.

fish

[2us70]

How were those drivers chosen for the factory team?

[willabee]

No one ever sat me down to explain their thinking, so all I can give you is my observations from the back of the room.

When it all started, Garbrecht got the manager of OPC racing title. He reported to Bill Steele, who reported to E.C. Initially, Gary spent a lot of time in meetings in Fond du lac and some overall direction had to come from there. What Gary started doing was to select people that were already having success with Mercury products in different APBA regions. The idea was to win local events across the country which would stop OMC from advertising race wins ( as opposed to Merc using the wins for advertising - I was told that ). Special people were picked for special events, like Bill Cooper for the 1st sterndrive tunnels and Don Pruett for the triple Jones project. These guys not only could drive a boat, they also had the ability to spend the time it required for the project and, very important at that time.......they were not Mercury Employees.

Some alignment with manufacturers such as Glastron, Checkmate and Switzer started to take shape for all of the obvious reasons.

It was a continually evolving process. As both engine builders got more and more into it, it changed from support equipment to complete rigs. We would get new boats all set and tested and deliver them to people who not only agreed to run them at their local events, but also agreed to race a certain "big event" schedule that year. That's when some pirating of drivers between the engine manufacturers took place. As things heated up, the next move was to sign boat builders like Molinari, which resulted in the expansion of the whole process to Europe. Then drivers were hired to be full time test pilots and race drivers. Gary seemed to have full authority to do this and he picked people he felt would do the best job. If they didn't come up to expectations, they were replaced.

Of course there was the typical amount of political bull**** involved, and not always were the best brought on or retained ( this is just my opinion ). You just can't run from the fact that people want to build their own empires.

When Gary got promoted and Merten took his seat, Jim wanted to build his own team. He looked at guys he had raced against and respected their abilities and started tweeking with people like Earl Bentz. That was how I saw the selection process work.

This is a very condensed version of how things happened, I hope that I have answered at least some part of your question.


How were those drivers chosen for the factory team?

[T2x]

Willabee:

As discussed......... it was a glorious day at the Lake.....

This thing surpassed the existing Modified class record by about 15 mph on its first run with its first set of props........with 4 people on board.

T2x

[jerry]

Rich ,is That You In The Black Hat ? We Can See George L

[T2x]

Rich ,is That You In The Black Hat ? We Can See George L

That's me.

T2x

[yellowboat]

Bill Allen #730 dick Sherrer #148

[lilracemore1]

that is sure fast
:p

[fountain1fan]

Willabee:

As discussed......... it was a glorious day at the Lake.....

This thing surpassed the existing Modified class record by about 15 mph on its first run with its first set of props........with 4 people on board.

T2x

t2x what was the other boat in that pic . it looks like a offshore racing hull . thanks robbie .:cool:

[T2x]

t2x what was the other boat in that pic . it looks like a offshore racing hull . thanks robbie .:cool:

Both of the boats in the picture are offshore racing hulls........

The boat on the left is a Chris Cat and the boat on the right is a Conquest Cat that we built later.........

T2x

[seeroy]

T2x - Looks like Lynwood Lupo with his right hand on the right motor. - Steve

[seeroy]

Bill (History Buff) - Your Dad was the greatest! Many people probably don't know what an aviation buff he was. We always talked airplanes and somewhere on this site I recounted an adventure that we had together at Havasu when he arranged for us to fly gyrocopters with the McColluch folks. My brother and your dad remained close friends right upto your dads death. Much is made on this site of the wild times we all (including your dad) had "back in the day". Let me assure you that, regardless of what is said on this site, everyone that knew your dad recognized his considerable talents, respected him, and knew that beneath the rugged exterior, was one incredibly good person. I know I did. Best Regards - Steve Sirois

[T2x]

Bill (History Buff) - Your Dad was the greatest! Many people probably don't know what an aviation buff he was. We always talked airplanes and somewhere on this site I recounted an adventure that we had together at Havasu when he arranged for us to fly gyrocopters with the McColluch folks. My brother and your dad remained close friends right upto your dads death. Much is made on this site of the wild times we all (including your dad) had "back in the day". Let me assure you that, regardless of what is said on this site, everyone that knew your dad recognized his considerable talents, respected him, and knew that beneath the rugged exterior, was one incredibly good person. I know I did. Best Regards - Steve Sirois

Amen......

T2x

[T2x]

T2x - Looks like Lynwood Lupo with his right hand on the right motor. - Steve

That's Lynwood next to a very young Craig Colabella (hands on lower unit), and Mark Baier (on the right, with George Linder (squatting) and me (Black Hat) .

T2x

[jackie wilson]

HIYA , Had more fun, got into more trouble, lost more money, got scared sh-tless, taught me how to smoke,drink, fight, charm ladies, eat alligator meat, buy a car when i couldn't afford it, and upset Merton quicker than anyone. I still loved that gangly, chisel faced reprobate more than anyone i ever met in my whole life. BILLY DON PRUETT. FBI. Crazy as a coon. I have so many true stories about that man and his exploits from Berlin to Bristol and Orlando and Sarasota. He knew so many world famous people personally, and the amazing thing is they were all glad to talk to him. If anyone ever set up a website or a thread for Pruett, i shudder to think the stories that could be told. Ollegator probably knew him better than most. People like Willa probably wished he would just go away and let the world go on turning without his help. He was right up there with SIROIS when it came to either offshore or circuit racing. He only ever frightened the life out of me whenever he took me flying, i always asked him if he took his steady pills, and where were his glasses, whenever he took me up. A legend and a half in one skin.

[T2x]

HIYA , Had more fun, got into more trouble, lost more money, got scared sh-tless, taught me how to smoke,drink, fight, charm ladies, eat alligator meat, buy a car when i couldn't afford it, and upset Merton quicker than anyone. I still loved that gangly, chisel faced reprobate more than anyone i ever met in my whole life. BILLY DON PRUETT. FBI. Crazy as a coon. I have so many true stories about that man and his exploits from Berlin to Bristol and Orlando and Sarasota. He knew so many world famous people personally, and the amazing thing is they were all glad to talk to him. If anyone ever set up a website or a thread for Pruett, i shudder to think the stories that could be told. Ollegator probably knew him better than most. People like Willa probably wished he would just go away and let the world go on turning without his help. He was right up there with SIROIS when it came to either offshore or circuit racing. He only ever frightened the life out of me whenever he took me flying, i always asked him if he took his steady pills, and where were his glasses, whenever he took me up. A legend and a half in one skin.

WE flew over a race in the Bahamas in '86 and I damn near killed Pruett when we landed.... He managed to make a 310 Cessna" Hover" in a near dead stall for what seemed like an eternity. There's nothing like hanging in a single engine plane at a 45 degree angle, with maybe 40 mph of air speed, 50 feet over the water to make you use up your entire vocabulary of profanity....!

He thought it was funny.........

T2x

[jackie wilson]

had managed to keep out of Pruetts way for a coupla years, then he said Disney is opening a new shop in Orlando, why don't you come on over. Gilbreath is here and we can see what sort of chaos we can create !!!!!!! i should have known better, He picked me up from Loma Linda and proceeded across country nice -n-easy and i gradually dozed off. He dropped that thing from 10,000' to zero, then laughed like a drain and said, "just a little old air pocket old buddy!!!!! go back to sleep." I swore then i would get even with that big, useless, ugly, idiotic piece of no good animal.
He must 'ave had an awful lot of profanity thrown at him over the years, 'cos i know damn well, he never ever changed.

[HistoryBuff]

Yep, the ole man was something else. Dad was quite the pilot too. I spent almost as much time in the cockpit of an airplane with him as I did in boats. Even in his later years, he was the same person I had known all my life. I have seen him do some things that made me just shake my head. We all have one or two people that we will remember the rest of our lives. Billy Don Pruett is my memorable person.

On one of the other threads, Steve was talking about some of his exploits at Lake X. I remember several. One time, I was there at the lake with Dad while he was testing. It must have been when he was racing the tunnel hulls. For some strange reason, we had brought my motorcycle. Dad took off on it like a bat out of hell. All I could see was he ample body on my new motorcycle taking off like he knew what he was doing. Never did wreck, but boy I thought he would.

Another time we were there Dad was taking a gentleman and his son from NJ on a fishing trip at the lake. During the trip, we caught lots of bass. We had so many fish we ended up throwing a bunch back. These two people from NJ never been to the outback of Florida so off we went on that 17 mile road around the property to view the wild life. We came upon a three legged alligator that was trying to go cross country. Dad was on crutches due to the Havasu accident years earlier. We got out of the truck and surrounded the gator. The boys from NJ did not want anything to do with that animal. The macho person Dad, decided he needed to show these two what gators are all about. Well, Dad tried to pin this poor gator down with one of his alum. crutches and of course the gator put several large dents in it. Dad finally managed to pin his jaws and he said, "Billy, grab his jaws and pick him up". Well, gesh, number one, I out grew Billy a long time ago, but Dad still called me Billy. Number two, I have wrestled with gators before and even though this one was only about 5 feet, I knew I would have my hands full if I picked him up. I think Dad was trying to prove how tough us Pruett's are. Dad egged me on and I finally jumped on that gator with all my might. Laying there on top of the gator, I knew I needed to somehow escape when it was time. Dad told me to pick him up and throw it in the back of the truck so we could take him to the nearest pond. When I finally picked that gator up, it took all the strength I could gather, even as I young man, to control that guy. We put him in the truck, found some water and now we had to get that guy out of the truck. We were finally able to lasso a rope around him to drag it out of the truck. I am sure those two from NJ still talks about the fishing trip to Lake X.

I remember one summer, Carl K. asked me if I wanted to work at the lake testing boats and living in one of the trailers. Boy I wanted to do that. I think the first time I met Steve was at Lake X, which I am sure he doesn't remember.

The Billy Don Pruett I know was the same you knew. He was the toughest man I have ever known in my life. He didn't take crap from anyone. Yet Dad had a heart of gold. I miss him to this day.

[jackie wilson]

Hiya Billy, I came over to your house nr Sarasota 2 weeks before we were due out at havasu. Pruett decided we would go off roading with those 2 green jap Kwackers he took in some kind of a deal. One was just a little old 250cc and the other a 450cc . We put them in the truck and headed into the middle of okie fennokie land. I spent all day falling off that damned thing and trying again, he just cleared off into the long distance and came back hours later. Any body smaller and i would have slapped him. Will tell you all about the trip to Havasu, where he blew the thing over and left it to Olegator and me to bring the bits back to Florida next time i have a month or so freetime. jw

[HistoryBuff]

I remember vividly his accident. I thought for sure he was gone. I was still in the Navy, stationed in NAS Glynco, outside of Brunswick, GA. I had just been with Dad at a race on the St. Johns river at NAS Jax.

Most people will not know how much he was in pain after the flip. Most of the time, he pretended to just take it like a man, but the pain was there.

I have so many pictures of his early days in off shore and tunnels. I will have to scan them for posting here sometime.

[jackie wilson]

BILL, Was it you or your brother who was hauling racecars for Hendricks ??
Pruett took me to the Daytona 500 for a most entertaining day.Damned if he didn't know every driver, mechanic, and owner in pit lane. He was made most welcome by them all. Later that evening he took me to dinner with Charlie and Anne Strang. That was when he got me to try alligator as a main course, i still haven't forgiven him for that .
He told me he was going to get a replacement hip, but it sounds like that didn't happen.

[HistoryBuff]

Thought some of you might like a stroll down memory lane with a link to the Tornado Offshore Champion team from the late sixties.

http://albaco.net/tornado/index.html

This was one of Dad's most successful years in offshore.

[FUJIMO]

...Bill Pruett! You still out there?! Can't believe we let Bill get away from us...:o Hope all is well... Need more memories! :thumbsup:lol

[tesnyde]

No, it's a guy that we hired out of Texas - he drove a twin Jones for Shepherd Racing before he joined us.

You got the guy in the cockpit correct and you should definitely get the guy on the far left, in front of the boat and the guy on the far right, behind the boat:)



His name is Bill Allan from Abilene. Bill is my father-in-law. Over the years he’s told me a lot of stories about Shepherd Racing, Mecury, Don Pruett, gators, etc. He’s 85 now and repeats many of the stories. We just smile like its the first time. Anyhow he had been living in Weatherford TX for 20 yrs after living in Scottsdale for 30 yrs. His wife Sondra passed last month and is moving up to Colorado to live with us. Kim is their only child and Bill was an only child so we are his remaining family. When he gets up here, I’ll have to show him this thread.

[willabee]

His name is Bill Allan from Abilene. Bill is my father-in-law. Over the years he’s told me a lot of stories about Shepherd Racing, Mecury, Don Pruett, gators, etc. He’s 85 now and repeats many of the stories. We just smile like its the first time. Anyhow he had been living in Weatherford TX for 20 yrs after living in Scottsdale for 30 yrs. His wife Sondra passed last month and is moving up to Colorado to live with us. Kim is their only child and Bill was an only child so we are his remaining family. When he gets up here, I’ll have to show him this thread.

You'd be hard pressed to meet a nicer guy, seemed he always had a smile on his face. Met Bill at their shop in Texas when he was driving a twin Jones for Shepherd, he could drive the nuts off of that boat. He was also an excellent mechanic and we hired him to build motors for the race team. He really missed driving and worked out an arrangement with Garbrecht to get back behind the wheel. The #730 boat in the Miami Team picture was going to be his first factory drive, but unfortunately for Bill it was cancelled due to high winds. The boat was the Molinari that had just finished first single, fourth overall at the 1971 Havasu championships.

Bill working with the record run crew in 73 .....
524899524900524901524902

[tesnyde]

Bill now lives with me. I shared your quote and pics. He asked if I could get your name.


You'd be hard pressed to meet a nicer guy, seemed he always had a smile on his face. Met Bill at their shop in Texas when he was driving a twin Jones for Shepherd, he could drive the nuts off of that boat. He was also an excellent mechanic and we hired him to build motors for the race team. He really missed driving and worked out an arrangement with Garbrecht to get back behind the wheel. The #730 boat in the Miami Team picture was going to be his first factory drive, but unfortunately for Bill it was cancelled due to high winds. The boat was the Molinari that had just finished first single, fourth overall at the 1971 Havasu championships.

Bill working with the record run crew in 73 .....
524899524900524901524902

[willabee]

Bill now lives with me. I shared your quote and pics. He asked if I could get your name.

Sure, it's Bill Welch. My office was in the engine shop where Bill worked. This is me back in 73 .....
524918

Give Bill my regards.

[tesnyde]

Sure, it's Bill Welch. My office was in the engine shop where Bill worked. This is me back in 73 .....

Give Bill my regards.

Mr Welch-

He recognized you right away. He said its ok to share is number with you. I’ll it in a private message if want to connect.

Troy

[Bob V]

Mr Welch-

He recognized you right away. He said its ok to share is number with you. I’ll it in a private message if want to connect.

Troy

A great story of two team mates reconnecting after all these years. :thumbsup: