sidewinder tunnel

[largecar91]

Fiberglassics is a cool site but they are missing a bunch of info. I guess I didn't read the fine print on who made the boat. It just caught my eye and was cool looking. I sent them some pics and info on some other cool old boats but it looks as though they need some help filling in a lot of the blanks.

[willabee]

I love your Pruett story, but it was even worse than that - let me share it with you.
THE REAL STORY - BILLY DON AT SMITH MOUNTAIN

Garbrecht has us get two triple Jones boats ready for the race, fresh engines, the works. Then, for some reason I'll never understand, he tells Pruett and Joe Habay to go ahead and take these rigs to Smith Mountain ahead of the team. He tells them to just get the boats cleaned up while they wait for our arrival.

Well, asking Billy Don and Joe to behave like adults when there is no one around to supervise them is just like asking a rabbit to go fetch a head of lettuce - hey rabbit, just bring the lettuce here, don't nibble on it.....yea, right.

When we arrive I discover that our two rocket scientists had decided to put on a show for their fans. They had gone to the local fuel station and fulled both boat tanks with white gas. Then they put their clean boats in the lake and promptly burned two engines on one boat and one on the other.

I was really pissed, at them and Garbrecht, and told Gary so. He then went to the boys and told them they only had three good powerheads left between them. He told them to decide which one of the Jones boats was going to get the powerheads and who was going to drive in the race.

That's why you saw Billy Don beating and banging, they were down to one boat and were told to change the engines themselves ( something factory drivers just didn't do ). I watched, but from a great distance, and really enjoyed the whole show.

And the legend of Billy Don continues

I don't know if Earl and Bucky were teamed up back then..... But they both came from South Carolina...seems to me that Earl didn't arrive on the scene for 3 or 4 more years.

In '68 at Smith Mountain Lake , George Linder and I ran a blue metalflake 16' vee Eltro (the first.. fiberglass Eltro made)....with twin 1250 BP's in SJJ. It delaminated on the starboard side about 1/2 way through the marathon ( not surprising..given it was the first attempt by two wooden boat builders, John Ives and Bob D'argagnon to craft something in glass....eh?)...and made great right turns for the rest of the day. The UU class Wings and Jones tunnels basically ate us for breakfast..but we hung pretty tough with the JJ Switzer vee "huggers".

I remember that Jon Culver was there with a twin engine Jones..... and after an apprehensive couple of laps....dropped out of the race... Cliff Reif (Stamper) owned it, but he had hung up his life jacket and helmet by then.

Kitson's Wing had three engines on it when he arrived...but he wisely stripped off the center motor before the race.

That was the year that Pruett ran a triple stacker Jones.... and wacked two blown powerheads off with a sledgehammer... because he was impatient about the team guys unbolting them...... and putting on fresh ones.

E.C. fired him on the spot...again. But Don went back out on the race course (with fresh powerheads..... one of which he pulled off of a race boat that was simply sitting nearby on a trailer). I was waiting to take a 1 or 2 hour shift (I forget) in the Eltro...when one of the powerheads hit the ground at my feet on the launching ramp..... (Pruett was always knocking things at my feet...powerheads, parts, people he disliked....people he liked..... people he simply cold cocked for fun....etc.)

Years later Billy Don became team manager for Chris Cats and finally for the Lavins in the Jesse James Offshore team..... and we worked very closely together during that period..... but he had lost a lot of steam by then..... Down to one explosion every month or so...rather than twice a day.

Rest in Peace ..big fella.

T2x

[willabee]

That's interesting - maybe Earl and Bucky teamed in a Geechee with factory OMC power at Havasu?

Do you remember Gary Ferguson?

Bill,
D F Jenkins Was The Owner, And I Think, Builder Of The Geechee's. Bucky Morris Was The First Driver I Encountered, As They Were Running The S I Class With An Omc. There Were Several Different Geechee Boats. I Ran Against Three Different Geechee Drivers. Earl Bentz Was The Second And Danny Piggott Was The Third. D F Was Earl's Uncle, If My Memory Isn't Scrambled.

[willabee]

You're right, I always called them 4 point tunnels. I don't remember what Kenny and Roy called them - except "fast".
Thats got to be a great poster, wish it was hanging in my house.

I thought that the Sidewinder tunnels (Stars & Stripes) weren't exaclty true tunnels. They had a full length air entrapment tunnel, but had "step" sponsons on the front, similar to a 3 point. They were run as "twins" (R class at Havasu). One of these hulls lay in a yard in Day Island / Tacoma WA for years, then disappeared (landfill victim?)I have a 1970-1971 Mercury factory poster in my office (Bill Sirois inset). It's an overview shot of the lineup front of the Nautical Inn beach. The (2) Sidewinder hulls are poised together waiting for the start. I've had this poster since I was a kid in high school. Selling Price: "Priceless"

[T2x]

I thought that the Sidewinder tunnels (Stars & Stripes) weren't exaclty true tunnels. They had a full length air entrapment tunnel, but had "step" sponsons on the front, similar to a 3 point. They were run as "twins" (R class at Havasu). One of these hulls lay in a yard in Day Island / Tacoma WA for years, then disappeared (landfill victim?)I have a 1970-1971 Mercury factory poster in my office (Bill Sirois inset). It's an overview shot of the lineup front of the Nautical Inn beach. The (2) Sidewinder hulls are poised together waiting for the start. I've had this poster since I was a kid in high school. Selling Price: "Priceless"

Both Sidewinder tunnels that I was around had full tunnels and no steps.... If they made a four point...as you are describing...I never saw one.

T2x

[willabee]

Both of the stars and stripes Sidewinders with the stackers had the stepped sponsons. They really weren't 4 points, they were tunnels with 4 point style sponsons. They were alot different than what you saw on the Molinari's and Jones boats. They were straightaway fast like a 4 point, but handled rougher water than a 4 point would because of the tunnel. However, they couldn't handle rough water as well as the full tunnel boats. They also didn't hook turn like a tunnel, but sort of slid, almost like a hydro. The early ones did not have the stepped sponsons.

Kind of a strange way to describe them, but that's the best I can do.

Both Sidewinder tunnels that I was around had full tunnels and no steps.... If they made a four point...as you are describing...I never saw one.

T2x

[T2x]

Rich,

You must be kidding, with all the Sidewinder's that Ken Baker built for me and Bob and Paul and Tom Stickle you didn't know Ken had a twin 4 point ???

I see all the pictures....I'm still not seeing a 4 point.......

I took two years off from racing when I lived in Texas and Arkansas..... '70 and '71... as I recall....... Maybe you guys had them during that period?

T2x

[T2x]

This poster of mine gets more valuable by the minute.......It's too big to scan (24 x 36 inch) otherwise I'd post it here. The shot taken overlooking the Nautical Inn beach clearly shows one of the Stars & Stripes tunnels popping up on a plane with the step showing. One of the (2) hulls ended up up in a yard in near Day Island, WA........it was stripped completely bare of its hardware and lay in the grass for 3-4 years.........then disappeared.

Find the boat...and you'll really have something. The sad thing is if each of us had only the boats and engines that we actually raced in or tested with...and nothing else....We'd have collections worth a fortune.

Unfortunately, Raceman has all of it

T2x

[Mark75H]

This poster of mine gets more valuable by the minute.......It's too big to scan (24 x 36 inch) otherwise I'd post it here. .....

How about taking a picture of it and posting the picture?

[T2x]

Does anyone know the whereabouts of Reggie Fountain's Glastron Molinari twin (Red/White)? That's the old hull I'd like to track down and get..........

Wasn't that the boat with the phone book in the driver's seat?

T2x

[T2x]

Do you think phone books are "standard equipment" on new Fountain off shore boats too?

Only on the ones he drives.

T2x

[willabee]

You had mentioned somewhere else about Pruett punching someone at a party at one of the St. Marys races. When you brought it up, I recalled that happening at Bill Petty's house in Wapakoneta, during the calcutta. I just couldn't recall who was on the receiving end until now - Tommy Sikes. Olegator will remember him because he used to race against Tommy's girlfriend

Hey..... I think I just did a blue box

(Pruett was always knocking things at my feet...powerheads, parts, people he disliked....people he liked..... people he simply cold cocked for fun....etc.)

[2us70]

Tommy was found shot to death in Hollywood a couple of years ago. I don't think they have made an arrest in the case.I keep forgetting to ask my son who is a Hollywood Police Officer about this.

[T2x]

You had mentioned somewhere else about Pruett punching someone at a party at one of the St. Marys races. When you brought it up, I recalled that happening at Bill Petty's house in Wapakoneta, during the calcutta. I just couldn't recall who was on the receiving end until now - Tommy Sikes. Olegator will remember him because he used to race against Tommy's girlfriend

Hey..... I think I just did a blue box

That was one of the "bookend punches".......

The rest of the story....is ...

I didn't see Pruett for a number of years after that...... until The Benihana in Point Pleasant in 1980 or so....... Whereupon...after some abrupt jostling at the bar at Jenkinson's Pavillion....another guy landed at my feet, basically out cold, and I looked up to see.....who else?.... Billy Don..... who, recognizing me and uncocking his right hand, grinned and said "Hey R-i-i-i-c-h"!.

The same thing, in the same position, he said to me at the St Mary's party after decking Sikes....

With Pruett...if you saw one punch....you saw them all.

T2x

[dmilford]

Does anyone know how I can get in touch with Ken Baker - past pres. of Sidewiwnder Marine?