Life at Lake X in the '60s

[seeroy]

Find it hard to believe that you did not help Renato sort out one of his legendary raceboats.
.
The average speed for this event is over 100 mph and has been for many years.

Obviously that was not you speed attempting to get to the race
I'll go back to sleep now.

[jackie wilson]

Obviously that was not you speed attempting to get to the race
I'll go back to sleep now.

Funnily enough Stavros you hit the nail on the head !!!!!! 'twas me again that failed in the attempt to get the boat to the line in time.BUT THERE WERE ----'MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCES' INVOLVED YET AGAIN.
Flew out of Berlin Monday and got back to Sussex late afternoon, drove the1200 miles to Como arriving late tuesday evening. Put the hydro on top of the station wagon, [which had a 2 litre BDF 200+ hp engine stitched in front-----120+on a good day ,downhill, with a tail wind].
Left Wednesday midday----like all things boating, nothing ever went as fast as you wanted it to. 1300 miles to Poole to SWMF where Dennis Stacey and Ron Masterman installed the motor. It's now 21-00 hrs Thursday and 350 miles to Windermere and i have not put my head down since Sunday--------for the first time in my life i felt "TIRED", something i never did. So i slept for 6 hours and took off for Windermere at 3 am. Got as far as Nottingham when i was stopped by a policecar-----it was raining datsun cogs and this copper stuck his face in the window and yelled YOU JACKIE WILSON????? i said COURSE I AM !!!!!! he then uttered those unforgettable words i shall remember for the rest of my life---------------------You can turn round and go home-------WINDERMERE'S BEEN CALLED OFF DUE TO STORMS !!!!!!!!
Don't remember ever feeling more miserable in my life------------all that effort by so many people pulling together to get a result and it all turned to worms.
Renato lending me the rig-------Mercury providing the motor-------SWMF for dropping everything to get the rig prepared------doubt if it could happen again !!!!!!
Anyway there you have it "THE MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCES"

[seeroy]

Well MY Funny Talking Friend, once again you have given me the best laugh I have had in a few days. Seems like "Mitigating Circumstances" have a way of popping into the hum drum of life more often for some than others. - Old Seeroy

When I wrote this, I meant your story was hilarious. How the heck did that cop get sent out to find you? And then, how did he find you? I'm trying to visualize him standing there with water pouring off of his hat? All the time you thinking, "What the hell did I do know, when the lights came on behind you.
great story Jackie.

[GrewuponLakeX]

Remember you all lived in that massive great house next to the factory in Torriggia with a huge great balcony that jutted out into lake Como.
Roy and the kids and your mum who used to have gallons of coca cola shipped in with the parts truck.
Remember brother Bobby being over there---but i don't know in what capacity he was there.
Wyrabeck [Becky] lived in an apartment on the other side of the road.
We used to go to JOHN'S for breakfast-----i had to show him how to do eggs "over easy", after a coupla weeks he managed to get the hang of it.
My kids used to think it was utopia playing with real live american kids who talked "funny" and had gum and coke !!!!!
Wasn't all harmony though, remember my middle daughter aged about 10 getting into a rumble with one of Bobby's boys and Angelo grabbing them both and shaking them down in his best Italian/English.

That house was the best, having lived in a company trailer for the first twelve years of my life, it was a castle. My little sister and I accompanied our parents to Italy in March of ’71. Dad could not get me into the American Community School of Milan or some boy’s boarding school in Switzerland, so I was sent back to St. Cloud to finish the seventh grade. I remember when mom came back to get all of us in June after school ended, she told us about you and your family staying with them. Terri Ann picked up you alls accent, and I remember eating these tins of meat and potatoes from England. Thanks for tapping my memories.

[velox]

Well MY Funny Talking Friend, once again you have given me the best laugh I have had in a few days. Seems like "Mitigating Circumstances" have a way of popping into the hum drum of life more often for some than others. - Old Seeroy

When I wrote this, I meant your story was hilarious. How the heck did that cop get sent out to find you? And then, how did he find you? I'm trying to visualize him standing there with water pouring off of his hat? All the time you thinking, "What the hell did I do know, when the lights came on behind you.
great story Jackie.

This reminds me of Mr K having the Florida Turnpike tool booth officer turn the Lake X guys back from a race in S Florida because he got pissed at the race director. Don't know if its a true story, but from the little contact I had with him, I don't doubt it.

[seeroy]

Charlie - That sounds vaguely familiar and certainly within the realm of possibility. - Steve

[GrewuponLakeX]

There was a wonderful race in Italy called 'THE RIVER PO RACE'-----you run what you brung.rules were simple-----there weren't any --no biting,spitting or gauging, if it floats-------you could run. The Italians and Swiss used to bring the most exotic machinery in the world to take part.
Renato used to run some very strange equipment indeed in this event, am pretty sure willabee would have been involved somewhere along the line.

don't remember it being in '71 but I did witness Renato building a boat to handle triples for Roger Hanks -The owner of The Blonde Offshore Racing Team. To test it, they rigged it with two engines and Mr. Rassini ran it in the River Po Race. Dad had some pictures of the start and he loved showing them off. All the boats puttered around about 200 yards from the starting line. You could tell in the pictures when the gun went off because all the hydros' rooster tails fly up. Mr. Rassini was behind all of them by the time they crossed the starting line, Mr. Rassini was in front. Unfortunately the Po river dumps into the Adriatic Sea just south of Venice. The water rough up that Mr. Rassini flipped. He was ok and Renato was very happy that his boat did so well.
I am going to look for those pictures - hopefully mom got them.

[jackie wilson]

don't remember it being in '71 but I did witness Renato building a boat to handle triples for Roger Hanks -The owner of The Blonde Offshore Racing Team. To test it, they rigged it with two engines and Mr. Rassini ran it in the River Po Race. Dad had some pictures of the start and he loved showing them off. All the boats puttered around about 200 yards from the starting line. You could tell in the pictures when the gun went off because all the hydros' rooster tails fly up. Mr. Rassini was behind all of them by the time they crossed the starting line, Mr. Rassini was in front. Unfortunately the Po river dumps into the Adriatic Sea just south of Venice. The water rough up that Mr. Rassini flipped. He was ok and Renato was very happy that his boat did so well.
I am going to look for those pictures - hopefully mom got them.

Hey Willa the infallible ??? Seems KINDA weird don't you think, that it takes Ridgells boy to tell us that the boat you are standing in front of, that you knew was for two or maybe 3 motors and was actually run in the River Po race by Carlo Rassini----------------and YOU DON'T REMEMBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jesus wept------there's hope for the Democrats yet--------McDonalds may stop putting dill pickle and iceberg lettuce in a Big Mac-----and french fries will be called freedom fries for real one day----------and eating with just a fork could be banned world wide---- V8 engines outlawed--------Starbucks paying taxes-------and the NFL changed to FIFA---------these are MINOR encumbrances of piddling importance compared to the devastating news that his right royal majesty "WILLABEE" the great,----- did not know about the RIVER PO RACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ho, Ho HO, and a bottle of rum------thank you willa----thank you-------for not being INFALLIBLE --------as Sinatra said to the mike----YOU MAKE ME FEEL SO YOUNG------YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE SPRING HAS SPRUNG ETC: ETC: ETC: Have a great day Y'all.

[STEVERINO]

Unless I've got this totally screwed up, that article is 1971 and the boat you are referring to is one that Renato had built for himself to run in special events as a dual or triple. It was being rigged to run in Paris as a single!

There's a little more info about it and the race on Hot Singles, page 7.

I can remember this race well i was now driving with Bill Shakepeares team running OMC power and for this race he built and entered 2 19ft cats`he did this because we ran 2 15ft shakespeare cats the year before and they couldn`t handle the rough conditions and we had Pruitt over telling jokes and looking these large cats over and he said he had the same idea and had entered a very large Molinari cat we looked it over must have been 20ft but that was the year they held the barge traffic back`another thing i remember this was the race that Georgio Molinari ran that special small displacment engine based on 1000SBP with silo i believe someone said Roy Ridgell had built it.I do think this would be the same engine Jackie used at Windemere on his 16ft sprint Molinari?

[willabee]

Hey Willa the infallible ??? Seems KINDA weird don't you think, that it takes Ridgells boy to tell us that the boat you are standing in front of, that you knew was for two or maybe 3 motors and was actually run in the River Po race by Carlo Rassini----------------and YOU DON'T REMEMBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
----YOU MAKE ME FEEL SO YOUNG------YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE SPRING HAS SPRUNG ETC: ETC: ETC: Have a great day Y'all.

Stop the music, spring has not sprung yet!

I still don't recall anthing about the River Po race, but I can tell you that the boat in the picture is not the Rodger Hanks boat. The boat that Grewupon is talking about is a completely different animal. It was much bigger than the one in the photo, about 27' I think. Renato tried to run in in an offshore race, but it wasn't enough boat for big water. I believe Garbrecht was involved in that project and I think he was also behind having it brought to Hi Performance in Oshkosh to have it converted into a KT for Hanks. Turned out it was too big to be competitive in KT so it became a big flower pot somewhere in Texas.

Now lets crank that sterio (think Sonny & Cher) .....

They say I'm old and I don't know
What happened back then is comin' to me slow .....
da, Da, DA
But I got you Babe

[Lake X Kid]

<!>
As a youth in the 1960s, I was summoned over to the Lake X shop. The family skipper told me to commence washing boat# B-300. This was not something I relished, but performed my duty as required. I did enjoy identifying with the camaraderie of the other drivers & mechanics, in the shop, setting-up their raceboats.

If memory serves me right, Dad race this boat at the Miami Marine Stadium.

[Lake X Kid]

[Lake X Kid]

1967 Mercury Ad of firsts...
100 HP production engine = 100 mph.

[seeroy]

Ah yes, the #1 boat, 21' Ted Jones Cat. You would not believe how many hours I had in that boat going round, and round, and round ad infinitum. But it was a sweet ride :-). - Steve Sirois

[willabee]

I can remember this race well ... entered 2 19ft cats`... and we had Pruitt had entered a very large Molinari cat we looked it over must have been 20ft but that was the year they held the barge traffic back`another thing i remember this was the race that Georgio Molinari ran that special small displacment engine based on 1000SBP with silo i believe someone said Roy Ridgell had built it.I do think this would be the same engine Jackie used at Windemere on his 16ft sprint Molinari?

Don't know about Jackie running the 1000 Silo, but you have all the rest correct. We put a C6 on the tail of the big boat thinking it just might get the job done in that rough water. Even with the holding of the barge traffic, that rig still could have finished in the top three or five if some rookie hadn't ground the coil mounting bracket so thin that it broke and fell from the ignition panel, promptly shutting the engine down! Oh well, that's another story.