"Letters from Heaven" Miami 1960's

[jackie wilson]

Jackie- What do you think about the Bill Muncey Race Of Champions ( that Travis Martin from Texas is sending us at GoSeeTV/boatracing) - where they had those 12 identically rigged SE Class tunnel hulls with 3 Cyl. OMC (75 hp) with the same props & drew lots for boats & heats- to see who is the best driver! Sanders, McConnell, Woods, & a host of Mercury Factory Drivers I would imagine. Any comments?

You would imagine wrong Marc. Now if you think about it logically-----this event would be for celebrities and OMC drivers. 'Twould be unthinkable for someone like Seebold to come along , or any Mercury driver and win. OMC never did encourage Mercury drivers to come and play with them unless they had an edge. You only have to look back at past events to see that. Equality was never open to all comers, only "The Chosen".

[lottactionracing]

hay jole i had the best chase of all. two boats were comming to me real slow.next light came on,and chase was on .you rember my 21 action with the 235,that i bought from robby.it ran 75 mph.no cop boats could run that fast. before i made it past rickenbacker,i had every cop boat from every agency on my ass.when we looked backed and saw 9 blue lights chaseing us .it was funny as hell.i at one point slowed so they thought , they were going,to get me. so i waved by by made it skyway marine.we pulled ole,lottaction out of the water ,and put a cover over it.15 min.later here comes the trops.looking for us.ask if we saw a yellow boat we said yes.the guys went down the caneal.well that was the end . when to 79 st boat ramp,to get my trailer we still saw blue lights.running around like lost sheep.

[Jeff_G]

Seebold built the boats, didn't drive. Had a bunch of US drivers 7 or 8 and about the same number of drivers from Europe and SA. None of them were Merc drivers that I remember. OMC sold the boats afterwards.

[Jeff_G]

lottaaction that must have been when Thunderbird was supplying Miami and the FMP as well as the Coasties with those tri-hulls.

[jackie wilson]

Seebold built the boats, didn't drive. Had a bunch of US drivers 7 or 8 and about the same number of drivers from Europe and SA. None of them were Merc drivers that I remember. OMC sold the boats afterwards.

Mark Bensons film of the event should give us some idea of the drivers, but i'll give a pound to a pinch of snuff there aren't any Mercury drivers competing for "THE WORLDS BEST DRIVER" title.

[Ronster43]

I recall that there were drivers from several categories...inboard, offshore, unlimited, endurance. Seems like there was a bad accident at the Marine Stadium...maybe a double blow-over??? I think someone was hurt. Power trim can be interesting in the hands of an inboarder! I was a young kid at the time, but I remember some of those boats running SE for years after the ROC series. Each boat was a different color, but with the same paint scheme.

[T2x]

Power trim can be interesting in the hands of an inboarder!

Amen to that...... back in 1977 or so Dick O'Dea took a 21 foot Ron Jones triple engine outboard tunnel hull and converted it to run in 7 litre hydro class with a 427 Chevy/Mercruiser SSM package. It's first race was in Valleyfield, Quebec back when I was running with Mercury in Canada. The boat had an enormous transitional "lope". The driver , an outboard hydro driver named Johnny Yale (I think) had never been in any kind of a tunnel hull or run in any kind of inboard race.... The boat porpoised up the back stretch after the start and the driver was clearly trying to settle it down......as it turned for the front straight the lope got progressively higher, and the driver gave it more and more throttle until I said to Dick "she's going over"..... he looked at me and then we both watched helplessly as the boat went into the biggest, highest and furthest flip I have ever seen. I will never forget the whooshing sound (shish-shish-shish)coming off that hull as it went by seemingly endlessly in an end over end flip that stretched at least 200 yards before touching the water....... The driver was hospitalized but recovered only to be fatally injured in a race shortly after.

T2x

[jackie wilson]

Only went to Valleyfield once, that was 1976, [ olympic year ] Took a 17' Hodges with a 2 liter Cosworth, around 300 hp. There wasn't a class for me to run in so the organisers put me in with the GP's . Guys like Larry Laudabach and Joe Bonomi, wettest race i ever had in my life. I know that at any one time those mothers have 7 tons of water in the air, and a 50' rooster. They also had the best post race party i ever attended.

[T2x]

Only went to Valleyfield once, that was 1976, [ olympic year ] Took a 17' Hodges with a 2 liter Cosworth, around 300 hp. There wasn't a class for me to run in so the organisers put me in with the GP's . Guys like Larry Laudabach and Joe Bonomi, wettest race i ever had in my life. I know that at any one time those mothers have 7 tons of water in the air, and a 50' rooster. They also had the best post race party i ever attended.

Valleyfield had this fast food delivery service with lighted Chickens on top of little sedans. These things were seemingly everywhere and no matter what hour of the night (or wee hours of the morning) one of these things was always available to guide you to the pits to drop your boat and trailer....and then to your motel of choice. Canadians always turned a boat race into a major event...and people would, give you food and treats, ask for autographs or even have you kiss their babies.....Strangely only a few miles away in northern NY State....you couldn't draw flies to a similar event.

T2x

[Jeff_G]

Won by Billy Schumacher unlimited driver
Geoff Briggs second
Roger Jenkins third

Wally Franz and Barry Woods collided but went to back up boats
Micky Remund blew over was ok another Unlimited driver
Bill Badsey
Jorge Regnicoh
Johnny Sanders

[T2x]

Won by Billy Schumacher unlimited driver
Geoff Briggs second
Roger Jenkins third

Wally Franz and Barry Woods collided but went to back up boats
Micky Remund blew over was ok another Unlimited driver
Bill Badsey
Jorge Regnicoh
Johnny Sanders

Actually Billy Schumacher (one of the 3 greatest race drivers all of whom are named "Billy S")...had driven Mod U tunnel hulls for OMC after his Unlimited hydro career.

and who the h*ll was Jorge Regnicoh?

[T2x]

Let's give this thread back to the Florida guys.....

T2x

[velox]

Let's give this thread back to the Florida guys.....

T2x

Hell no!
You guys are great! I am learning a lot of stuff that came along after my short time.
After meeting you and Jackie at OFF it even means more to me.
Florida Guy

[Jeff_G]

I WAS a Florida Guy. Grew up in Miami. Left in 1988. Didn't know better to leave sooner.

[T2x]

I WAS a Florida Guy. Grew up in Miami. Left in 1988. Didn't know better to leave sooner.

I knew that..........

By the way.....do any of you guys remember an OPC racer named Bob Van Epps? He raced out of NJ in the 60's and early 70's and then moved to Fort Lauderdale (Sunrise?). He was a dealer for our Shadow boats for a short while in the early 80's and then sort of disappeared.

T2x