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Thread: Hot Singles ! - Pictures
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02-29-2008, 06:28 PM #586
Bob had a pretty good career in Stock hydro racing before coming to tunnels ... just like Mr. Bill, Ron Hill & Jimbo. None of these guys just showed up at the door one day and asked for a seat in a race boat; most were former National Champions, High Point Champions or runners up in other categories.
Last edited by Mark75H; 02-29-2008 at 06:37 PM.
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03-01-2008, 03:45 AM #5876000 RPM
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03-03-2008, 04:30 PM #588
LAKE X TESTING, 1970.....con't
I sure didn't mean to imply that they did.....There was some dialogue about Hering's racing before we headed for the Molinari. I just don't recall what came first, the chicken or the egg.....did Garbrecht call Bob or was it the other way around. Seebold was driving the 7 litre hydro Long Gone when Gary approached him. Stickle was running a FJ Checkmate, Habay a twin OMC Souter in the Chicago to Milwaukee marathon and Pruett was in Offshore. They all raced in one catagory or another before joining the Race Team.
Here are a few shots of Mike Downard in the 18' Molinari marathon he named High and Dry. I think Mike was with Mercury racing about three years... 1970, 71 and 72. Could be wrong, but I think his first big win was Paris in 1971. I'll never forget a Mercury drivers meeting prior to the Parker 9 Hour, probably 1971. Garbrecht was laying out his strategy and made a statement about something the boats would do under race conditions. Downard decided to comment and said "How would you know?" There was some muffled laughter, but mostly just surprised eyes looking at Garbrecht and waiting for the reaction. Garbrecht was obviously not pleased, but let the remark slide and continued with the meeting. I figured that Mike was in more trouble than he knew and would probably pay for that comment somewhere down the road.Last edited by willabee; 03-04-2008 at 03:56 PM.
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03-04-2008, 04:11 PM #589
LAKE X TESTING, 1970.....con't
Here are a couple of pictures of Don Clark in another 18' Molinari. Don went on to finish 2nd in the 225. I think it was his best finish at a major event before the accident in Paris.
The contact sheets only had one shot of Tom Stickle.....maybe he was going so fast the camera just couldn't catch him. It looks like Tom is driving what was the next generation of 18' Molinari's, no more rocker bottom. Apparently, Tom had decided he wanted a sprint boat instead because he blew this boat over and when Jack Ferris finished repairing the nose it was at least a foot shorter..... Tom aptly named it Stubby .Last edited by willabee; 03-05-2008 at 10:23 AM.
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03-04-2008, 05:13 PM #590
LAKE X TESTING, 1970.....con't
A couple shots of our main man, Billy Don Pruett . He is driving yet another of those 18" rockers..... man we had a bunch of those boats. This one was named Mullet, and there is a little story behind that name.
I had just finished showing the painter what to put on each of the boats when Merten and Garbrecht happened to walk by. One of them asked if I had given Pruett's boat a name and I informed them that I had not. They said that Pruett would get a kick out of the name Mullet.....you know, that fish in Florida that is so dumb that it jumps into your boat, you don't need anything to catch one. They told me some story about why Pruett would enjoy that name and I said I had some doubt about this idea. They claimed to be shooting straight and said that " I didn't have a hair on my a--" if I didn't put it on his boat. Well, apparently I'm not any smarter than that fish because I went ahead and instructed the painter to put it on .
A couple of days later Pruett came to the plant. After meeting with Garbrecht, he came out to my office to shoot the breeze. I was in a different building than Gary and we used intercoms to talk to each other. Pruett asked if we could go see his boat for the 225 and I just told him where it was, said I was too busy at the moment to go with him to that building. He was gone about fifteen minutes and came back to my office just a ranting and a raving. Yelling so that everyone in the engine shop could hear him.....angry about that name on his boat! Asked me if I thought he was as dumb as that fish and just went on and on .
He finally put me in a position that I really didn't want to be with him, but he gave me no choice. I either stand my ground or whimp out in front of the troops. I (very reluctantly) yelled back.....told him it was the companys boat, not his.....said a couple more things and finished by saying he couldn't come into my office and talk to me like that, get the hell out!!!!! He glared at me, took one step towards me and then broke into one of the biggest laughs I have ever seen him do.
Turns out that all of the folks that worked in the office building had their intercoms on and were really enjoying the "orchestrated" confrontation. Turns out I was the only one that didn't know Billy Don was going to scare the living stuff out of me that afternoon. Man those guys had a strange sense of humor. We went to Judy's Gin Mill that evening and I stayed out of range of Pruett's right hand.....just in case .
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03-04-2008, 05:48 PM #5915000 RPM
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Willabee, when the Molinaris started coming over during testing did you measure top speed? Do you remember the first one to break 100mph; 110mph and then 120mph??
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03-05-2008, 05:02 AM #5926000 RPM
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Hey Willa,
'THE COMPANY' may have picked up the tab for the purchase of the boat, but the minute a driver got hold of it, tested,tuned, and fell in love with it, it became ------HIS BOAT-!!!!!!!!!! or did i get it all wrong AGAIN.
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03-05-2008, 07:46 AM #593
There has to be some technical truth in that, since a company such as Merc was not allowed to be the owner of record on race entries; on the other hand, if a racer treated a team boat completely as his own, selling it to "the enemy" for example, I'm sure that would have been the end of that racer's association with "The Company"
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03-05-2008, 08:37 AM #594
Amen to that. In those days the drivers played a lot of head games and Bobby was naturally good at it because he was almost awkwardly retiring in public settings making him seem distant and reserved. Add to that the fact that he was one of the few guys (and I think the only race driver in the later years) who was blessed with being at Oshkosh full time, and therefore had access to just about all of the testing info. To me he was the best set up guy of the bunch and had a natural affinity for prop tuning (go figure.... ). Anyway, I may have previously mentioned how I finagled a sprint pickle fork Molinari out from under Reggie's clutches (NY street kid versus North Carolina BS artist). The boat in question was one of the last two T2x boats that came across the pond and featured inward "canted sponsons". Reggie had one ( Named, like his other hulls, "The Spirit of 76"...a reference to his hat size I think) and Bobby had the other. I was told that Hering had no time for the boat (as we was deeply immersed in the T3 stuff by then) and ran it only once. What I later found out was that the boat, because of the sponson design, wanted to bite and hook as you set it for a turn. I ran it in a couple of races in Canada and it was so damn fast that I forgave it for its bad manners in turns, but I knew eventually something had to give. At St. Louis that year I really struggled with the devil as the course was short and turns are constant. Finally I turned to Bobby, who was the only other guy to ever drive the hull to my knowledge. In a conversation with Garbrecht and me, Hering, characteristically, listened quietly, shrugged his shoulders and walked away. I figured he wanted no part of somebody else's problems.
Later at a party, he quietly came up to me and said he was sorry for walking away earlier but he wanted to talk to me in complete privacy.......???? He proceeded to break down the boat's bottom design and explain that it needed a little shaving on the inside forward edge and told me precisely where. He also suggested a minor C/G change since I was about 20 lbs heavier than him. Finally, since it was very late, and the race was the following day, he acknowledged that I had no time to make the bottom changes, so he spent about 20 minutes telling me exactly how to race the hull by "settling" it well ahead of turning the wheel and changing my approach angle for the tightest turn on the course...... It was the single most informative event in my mediocre tunnel boat career and I never forgot it. I found that even when backing off early the boat carried speed well enough to overcome chopping the throttle at what seemed far too early at the end of the straights.
In the years following, our paths crossed a few times. I watched his rise from building Unlimited props to dominating Offshore and understood clearly the reasons why. I always tried to be complementary and informative when I described him and his products on the telecasts over the years. I was a fan back in the day....and I still am.
T2xLast edited by T2x; 03-05-2008 at 01:54 PM.
20 Foot Switzer Wing 2 X S3000 (Dust'n the Wind II)
!6 foot Wood Eltro Vee (2X Merc 1500's) (Dust'n the Wind IV)
15 foot Powercat 15C (2 X Merc 1500) (Dust'n the Wind III)
(Single engine boats are lacking something)
15’ Wooden Switzer Shooting Star...
16 foot Lee Craft Merc S 3000-(Gold Dust II)
(The exception proves the rule)
Obsolete and Proud of it
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03-05-2008, 01:14 PM #595
No, I don't remember which one hit each of those speeds first. I'd have to do some serious thinking and then throw in a guess or two to give any kind of response to your question. I'd probably work backwards from the Koblentz boat that set the 118 record in 73 with a TII....it would have to be the 120 Molinari. I do think that the Twistercraft Lil Red, also new in 73,was faster than the Koblentz boat.
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03-05-2008, 01:26 PM #596
Now you're making me feel bad . I understand and respect the concept of "it's the drivers boat". This just happens to one of the things that rolled off of my lower lip as I was trying to defend my actions. You know, kind of like what gets said to a Grandpa in the heat of the moment when he puts his special lube in a gearcase that just happens to be blowing up all over the race course!
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03-05-2008, 01:54 PM #597
Many entry forms that were completed by the person racing the Company boat listed that person as the owner. However, I don't remember a rule against the Company being the boats owner. It seems I've seen several race programs that listed the respective Companys as the boats owner. I also remember Garbrecht filling out some of those entry forms and for owner he would insert the drivers name at 20 Wisconsin Street, Oshkosh.
If a driver would have sold a Company boat to anyone, I don't think that "the racers association with the Company" would be the only thing that ended. I'd guess that his ability to breathe would have ended at about the same time .Last edited by willabee; 03-17-2008 at 09:06 AM.
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03-05-2008, 02:08 PM #5986000 RPM
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Willa ---------your forgiven and i don't want you to feel bad, there were -er---'mitigating circumstances' here, Pruett was involved. If you weren't on top form with all your faculties tuned to perfection, that wily old git would have you over. Grandpas are another test of the tolerances.
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03-05-2008, 06:04 PM #599Member
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First Molly to hit 100 MPH
Willabee;
As i posted on another thread, the spring of '70 on Lake Travis, Austin Tx. Richie Powers & Keith Hurst had come from the Galveston 250 as per GG's instruction to help us (Glastron T-74) get up to speed with the rest of the Merc team boats. After two days testing ssm 1 to 1 props I finally got to 101 MPH.(Keller Blue Face) When I told Kieth & Richie that, they did a dance and hugged each other. Harold & I ask what was the deal??? They said that we were the first Molly to hit a hundred. Were they kidding me or not??? The next race we went to St Mary's and I know you remember T-74 lapped the field. Kittson complained at the trophy presentation because I got 5 th (Ithink) and he got 7 th. The presenter told him, next time keep better count of how many times Fielder laps you. We blew a lower unit anout 6 or 7 laps before the finish. Harold was really good at "tweaking" the engines we received from Gary. That was the St. Mary's race that Pruitt burned his eyes welding the night before the race. He said he just followed the rooster tails.
Joe
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03-06-2008, 04:59 AM #6006000 RPM
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Hiya Willa,
Had a thought about selling the boat to "the enemy" don't suppose anyone ever did it but, if it was ever GOING to be done 5 will get you 10 it would have been PRUETT-----Palms raised to the sky-------" one minute it was there ,---the next, it wasn't. I KNOW NOTHING.!!!!!!!!
Y'know we were talking LOYALTY !!!!!!!! from where i stood, there didn't seem to be an abundance of that particular commodity, either at Mercury or O.M.C. Top folk like Alex and Leek and Freddy H. and even old ugly himself [G.G.] swopped sides on a regular basis. And when the V8 raised its head for inspection, O.M.C. were a few cents short of a dollar in the driver line up [there were a couple of notable exceptions]. They recruited some wanabees from the lower classes who had never driven anything above 75 h.p. but none of them ever looked like doing anything except make up the numbers. So that's when the big bucks started to change hands, and the exodus from Mercury commenced. Molli, Velden, Percy, Spalding, Jenks, and of all people Bobby Hering. It was a short lived carnival [3years] before it bit the dust.
Like i always said, you can't race without a formula and regulations. that series was open ended and if anyone was daft enough he could have had 2-3-4-5-6- of those lumps on the back of his boat and still been eligible to run.
Let battle commence.!!!!!!!!!