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Thread: Salton Sea 1967

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    Salton Sea 1967

    interested in any info, brochure, memories regarding this event, exact date it was held, results, etc.

    Thanks

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    Is that the one that Rudy Ramos and a couple of friends sat round a pot belly stove and decided to put a Ford lump into a Mandella and give it a try, damned if they didn't just go out and win the thing outright!,,,,,,,,
    Had a copy of "SPEED-N-SPRAY" for over twenty five years that featured the event, it was the inspiration to one day get me to California and see if these legends were for real or just figments of somebody's imagination. Found out two years later those characters were and still are far greater than the spoken word can ever paint them!

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    1967 Salton Sea

    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Smyth View Post
    interested in any info, brochure, memories regarding this event, exact date it was held, results, etc.

    Thanks
    I can't help much, never attended that event. However, if the memory bank is still working, I think it was called the Salton Sea 500 and 1967 was the last year for that race. Pretty sure it was a Parker Nine Hour, Elsinore 500 type race. Inboards, outboards .... a run what ya brung event.

    Mercury did not have an official OPC Racing Team at that time. High performance work with powerheads, gearcases and props was primarily performed by the engineering group out of what was called the Blue Room located in the Oshkosh boathouse building. This group was headed by Dick Snyder and included a half dozen engineers and six or eight mechanics. Gary Garbrecht served as shop Foreman for this group.

    I recall that a big time effort was being put into the new 1250 that was to be released in 1968. The first versions of that powerplant were terrible, lots of internal failures. About a dozen complete motors were put together, loaded into the parts truck and taken to the 1967 Salton Sea 500. I think Jimmy Kubasta drove them out with Garbrect or Bob Hetzel riding with him.

    They were loaned to selected guys at the race running Merc 1100's on their Stylecrafts, Powercats and Switzer Wings. The idea was to see if all of the reliability issues had been resolved. I don't remember who ran them, I just remember that most of the motors came back wet and damaged. They didn't get much time on them as the selected "pilots" ended up flipping and barrel rolling. Maybe it was rough and windy, I don't know. But, for the most part, the test was a failure and the 1250 still had plenty of problems.

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    Thanks Willabee.Great info. I heard th efirst run of 1250's was a pain in the ass, and Jan Schoonover ran 1100's instead which Mr.K did not approve of.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Smyth View Post
    Thanks Willabee.Great info. I heard th efirst run of 1250's was a pain in the ass, and Jan Schoonover ran 1100's instead which Mr.K did not approve of.
    ----A few months later, Parker '68, the problems continued. Mr. Kiekhaefer was still in charge, and not very happy with Jan. The rest of us were running the new engine---even Kenny was running the 1250, no stacks---and not the BP.----


  6. Thanks Bob V thanked for this post
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    Click image for larger version. 

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ID:	322307Click image for larger version. 

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    1964
    Last edited by Powercat; 06-26-2015 at 07:52 AM. Reason: Add Photo

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    I was there. Jan led the first lap, maybe two, then he broke. Refuel rigs were 50 yards from shore. This is what I saw pulling into the pit area.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Salton Sea 1967  (4).jpg   Salton Sea 1967  (5).jpg   Salton Sea 1967  (6).jpg  

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    This is Jan's demise. I think Rudy won, but i have CRS.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Salton Sea 1967  (2).jpg   Salton Sea 1967  (3).jpg   jan s1 - Copy.jpg  

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    Quote Originally Posted by jackiewilson View Post
    Is that the one that Rudy Ramos and a couple of friends sat round a pot belly stove and decided to put a Ford lump into a Mandella and give it a try, damned if they didn't just go out and win the thing outright!,,,,,,,,
    Had a copy of "SPEED-N-SPRAY" for over twenty five years that featured the event, it was the inspiration to one day get me to California and see if these legends were for real or just figments of somebody's imagination. Found out two years later those characters were and still are far greater than the spoken word can ever paint them!
    I never saw Rudy run a Mandella, but Ford was king in the 60's. I think Rudy won the Salton 500 around 61, 62 or 63 with an Allison in a Rayson Craft.

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    Kitson ....

    Quote Originally Posted by GENE LANHAM View Post
    ----A few months later, Parker '68, the problems continued. Mr. Kiekhaefer was still in charge, and not very happy with Jan. The rest of us were running the new engine---even Kenny was running the 1250, no stacks---and not the BP.----

    I remember taking new 1250 BP's to Parker in 68. Two of them were for Kenny Kitson. I also remember Garbrecht doing his best "smooth talk" to get Kenny to run them, but Kitson held his ground. He said he didn't want anything to do with running a new concept motor in a 9 hour marathon ..... and he was right!

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    perfect .....

    Quote Originally Posted by lilabner View Post
    I was there. Jan led the first lap, maybe two, then he broke. Refuel rigs were 50 yards from shore. This is what I saw pulling into the pit area.
    The pictures are exactly what I was talking about ..... 1250's damaged and wet, and that was probably from testing before the race even started!

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    Click image for larger version. 

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    Quote Originally Posted by willabee View Post
    I remember taking new 1250 BP's to Parker in 68. Two of them were for Kenny Kitson. I also remember Garbrecht doing his best "smooth talk" to get Kenny to run them, but Kitson held his ground. He said he didn't want anything to do with running a new concept motor in a 9 hour marathon ..... and he was right!
    Hi Willa I ran a 1250 Mercury in the Chasewater marathon 24hr race in 1968 in the UK and we had Bob Spalding using a 1250bp for this race I think it lasted 10 or 12 hrs and John Merryfields team also ran a 1250bp they went on to win this 24hr race.The engines went back to Mercury after this event.

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    1250's .....

    Quote Originally Posted by STEVERINO View Post
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	002.jpg 
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ID:	322306 Hi Willa I ran a 1250 Mercury in the Chasewater marathon 24hr race in 1968 in the UK and we had Bob Spalding using a 1250bp for this race I think it lasted 10 or 12 hrs and John Merryfields team also ran a 1250bp they went on to win this 24hr race.The engines went back to Mercury after this event.
    All I can say is that if someone won a 24 hour race in 1968 with a 1250 BP, they must have either changed lower units every 6 hours or were in first place when the event was cancelled because they ran out of daylight! I don't remember ever meeting a BP that could hold it's bottom end together for 24 long, long hours!

    The hull in the picture looks like it would have been a handful in rough water. Kind of looks like one of those needle nose Souter's.

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    Quote Originally Posted by willabee View Post
    The pictures are exactly what I was talking about ..... 1250's damaged and wet, and that was probably from testing before the race even started!
    So right you are. The race hadn't started yet, and I never found out who it was. Only thing left was the throttles.

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    1250's .....

    Quote Originally Posted by STEVERINO View Post
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	002.jpg 
Views:	33 
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ID:	322306 Hi Willa I ran a 1250 Mercury in the Chasewater marathon 24hr race in 1968 in the UK and we had Bob Spalding using a 1250bp for this race I think it lasted 10 or 12 hrs and John Merryfields team also ran a 1250bp they went on to win this 24hr race.The engines went back to Mercury after this event.
    All BS aside, it's not at all surprising that the 1250 won the 24 hours of Chasewater. Once the internal problems with that powerhead were resolved, some of the bolt on stuff started failing. When those problems were eliminated that thing was just about bulletproof. Seems like you could do about anything you wanted to with it and, like a good Timex, it just kept on ticking. Kitson's 1250's were converted to stackers and had well over 100 hours on them when he won Havasu in 1968. For something that started out so badly, it sure turned into a damn good motor.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails The Wingmaster - Kenny Litson.jpg   Power Boat Mag 107.jpg  
    Last edited by willabee; 06-26-2015 at 01:25 PM.

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