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  1. #616
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    Quote Originally Posted by SonOfLegend84 View Post
    .... 1983 Mercury built some new T4's with real EFI ..... but never got to race because when they showed up at Chattanooga they got escorted out of the pits by the police. All the testing and development was done at a private test lake in Jim Merten's back yard for these engines...... Mercury also built and tested a 2 speed shifting gearcase for the new T4 but never raced it due to an fatal accident that I was just told NOT to post any info about.
    What's the story about the police escort.....I don't think I have heard that one?????

    Mert lived on a little bay off Lake Winnebago. He set up Merten Marine there and did some testing for Merc.....I was long gone by then and don't know too much about the arrangement. I seem to recall that someone told me he was testing with an OZ boat in the bay when he had the accident.

  2. #617
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    Quote Originally Posted by willabee View Post
    What's the story about the police escort.....I don't think I have heard that one?????

    Mert lived on a little bay off Lake Winnebago. He set up Merten Marine there and did some testing for Merc.....I was long gone by then and don't know too much about the arrangement. I seem to recall that someone told me he was testing with an OZ boat in the bay when he had the accident.
    Willabee:

    Can you verify the story about Mert running the record hydro at speed under the RR bridge on the Fox River in Oshkosh?
    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

  3. #618
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    LAKE X TESTING, 1970.....con't

    Here's the last of the boats on the contact sheets. This is Denis Berghauer in another 17' Jones. It's hard to decide which of the two to talk about, the boat or the driver.....they were both high flying characters .

    You have heard me talk about Denny before, our "portable hoist" at a race site. We take the nuts off the powerhead and he picks it off of the housing, looks at you, and then in his "The Hulk" voice says "where do you want it?" This is the man that possesses that great criminal mind..... once stole a train and still can't figure out how the police were able to "track" him down . Well, here's another Denny incident that I never forgot.

    We finished testing in Oshkosh early one Saturday afternoon. A bunch of us decide to go to Judy's Gin Mill, including Denny's girlfriend at that time, Evy, and Joe Habay. Evy was a good looking woman and Habay, who was no small man, was always looking for an opportunity (if you know what I mean). At the bar, Denny took the stool immediately to my right because he wanted to talk more about his boat. To my left was someone, then Evy, then Habay and then the rest of the troops. We all had a few beers and things were going just fine. Then I noticed something as I overheard Habay talking to Evy.....Joe wasn't stuttering. Believe it or not, Habay always stuttered when he spoke except for when he was turning on the charm. Don't know why, but when he got to making his move the stuttering just vanished!

    As Denny continues to talk boats with me, I can hear more and more coming from Habay and I am just praying that Denny can't hear the same thing. Another five or ten minutes goes by and then Denny stops in mid-sentence, gets off of his bar stool and walks up behind Habay. Joe doesn't realize that Denny is behind him and he just keeps on chatting away at Evy. I'm thinking, man oh man, something bad is going to happen. These two big lugs are going to square off and this ain't gonna be pretty.

    Then the sight I'll never forget. The "portable hoist" puts his hands on Habay's sides, just below his armpits.....locks his knees, and then picks him up out of that barstool like he was a feather. He lifts Joe until his arms are fully extended and then in that "The Hulk" voice says "do I have to say anymore?". Habay, definitely back to stuttering, replys "no, no.....just a -just a -just let me me me back down". With that done, the rest of us took a deep breath and then proceeded to have a very enjoyable evening.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails BERGHAUER 17 JONES.jpg   BERGHAUER LAKE X JONES.jpg   BERHHAUER 1.jpg  
    Last edited by willabee; 03-14-2008 at 03:53 PM.

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  5. #619
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    Hey Willa, Time to congratulate you on what has surely been one of the most interesting threads ever on the scream and fly web. Young Thibodaux got me to look here originally, thank god he did, otherwise i might have missed all the slanging matches we've had. Made me realize your not just the dumb assed crew chief we all loved and hated , but there's a bit of memory and knowledge in the old headbox . 52 and a half thousand people can't be wrong, [or can they] Just kidding Willa----just kidding. And i promise to send you another set of pictures and clippings,'cos you make the best use of them. Keep it up you old goat , maybe you'll reach 100,000. JW.

  6. #620
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    I, as well as many others I'm sure, certainly have enjoyed the exchanges as well.
    I recall the Berghauers (Denis and Dwayne wasn't it? C & D) from our stock outboard days.............amazing how such big guys were so very fast! I am thinking now that maybe their advantage was their size.................kinda like the ballast tanks in the original ON boats I guess.........

    Jackie; although we never met, I did hear some stories of you from Dick and Freddy............here you are the "Character" they both described to me.

  7. #621
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    Quote Originally Posted by BrianSmith View Post
    I, as well as many others I'm sure, certainly have enjoyed the exchanges as well.
    I recall the Berghauers (Denis and Dwayne wasn't it? C & D) from our stock outboard days.............amazing how such big guys were so very fast! I am thinking now that maybe their advantage was their size.................kinda like the ballast tanks in the original ON boats I guess.........

    Jackie; although we never met, I did hear some stories of you from Dick and Freddy............here you are the "Character" they both described to me.
    Hiya Brian, The sport itself attracted "characters". Almost everysingle person i ever met in the sport was a live wire, and glad to be alive.Happy to be part of a sport thatacceptsevrything and everybody on a level playing field.
    Color, religion, politics, it doesn't matter-------this is boat racing. A friend made in this sport is a friend for life.Bloody hooray, even Willa had a friend or two!!!!!!! I just know i'm gonna get sh-t chucked at me from U know Who. Why did i have to say that.??????
    I remember the first time i met Pruett. I had waited overnight in a little port called Toulon in the South of France, ready to load My Ford transit Van with a 15' Bristol on the back. I was 1st in line so i drove the rig onto the ferryto take us to LES ISLE DES 'EMBIEZ. PARKED IT NICE AND NEAT and waited for the next boat to be loaded.
    On the dock was total chaos. There was a huge semi, with a tri-axle trailer and a 36' cigarette boat on it, trying to reverse on to the ferryin a space a motorcycle would have found hard to turn in. Work stopped in the port for the next hour, as this pratt tried every approach known to man, to line the boat up and put in the ferry. I walked onto the dock and paced the length of the rig and told this gangly dark skinned guy, "there is no way that rig is going to fit in that space on the ferry". He looked down at me and said, "You sure about that". I said "you pace it out". He did just that and came back scratching his chin and said "goldarn it your right, what we gonna do about it. I took pity on this poor unfortunate creature and told him the only solution was if i took my boat off and caught the next ferry some hours later, he could then back on.With a shake of his hand he said "thank's buddy, i owe you one". the ferry left with me on the dock. Finally i reached the island and later that evening all the english were in the bar when "the guy" walks in , comes over to me and says Thanks for this morning, the drinks are on me" and plonks a $100 bill at the bar. By the way he says "MY NAME IS PRUETT---BILLY DON PRUETT" . A lifelong friendship was born JW.

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  9. #622
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    Jackie,

    This is one of the 'who is this?' pictures that i was talking about on the 'Don Ross' thread but i thought it might be of more interest to the poeple on this thread. The man with the walking stick is Michael Willcocks but who is the other person? ( i can just about make out Rod ......verstock on his jacket above the Mercury Marine Factory Racing Team badge)
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails who is this (reduced2).jpg  

  10. #623
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    Looks like Rod Baverstock, he was editor of Powerboat & Waterskiing magazine back in the mid 1970's.

  11. #624
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    Yeah, That's "Bavers". Editor of POWERBOAT,under the leadership of ROZ KNOTT, who later married Chris Hodges. Baverstock retired, to run a pub somewhere down in the west country. ROZ used to run the annual powerboat party, held during the London Boat Show period, and usually held at the Chelsea F.C. ground , Anybody who had anything to do with boats was at the party, and tickets were hard to come by. The awards for offshore,hydro, circuit,records etc. were all presented there. I had some great times in the USA with Bavers , especially in California when he was covering some attempts on the world outboard speed record.

  12. #625
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    Quote Originally Posted by T2x View Post
    Willabee: Can you verify the story about Mert running the record hydro at speed under the RR bridge on the Fox River in Oshkosh?
    There's only one driver I know of that could pull off that stunt, and that would be that ol' racing rascal Renato Switzer Jones.....you know, the greatest tunnel drivin', Wing Flyin', pickle fork pokin' driver ever to hit the water! I doubt that anyone else would even attempt a bold manuever such as the one you describe.

    I remember years ago talking to Boob Hetzel and I mentioned to him that I noticed that he was was building a bald place on the top of his noggin. He said that it was because, as head of Merc props, he had so much stuff to remember, that the remembering part of his brain was getting bigger and was forcing some hair to leave the site. Well, these days, the remembering part of his brain must be HUGE.....I'm sure you get the picture. Anyway, I checked with Mr. Memory and he confirmed that that story is part of the legend, not part of the fact. He went on to say that Mert had never driven that boat on the river....only at Parker and then at Kaukauna. Hope that didn't burst any bubbles, I still have to deal with the first 100 mph Molinari .

    PS: I just remembered a guy at Merc, I think is name is Bob Dumbroski. Merc was holding the Dealer Congress in Oshburg, 1967 or 68, and most of the boats got rigged and tested at the Plt.#33 boathouse.....the place where all of the static engine testing was done. The dealers were staying at the Pioneer Lodge on Lake Winnebago and we had to drive past the railroad bridge to get to the Pioneer. The practice sessions went off just fine, but the day of the show we arrived at the railroad bridge to find it closed. The little kicker boats just went under it, but the rest started honking horns and waving and shouting to get the bridgekeepers attention.....no one dared be late for this when we all knew Mr. K was standing right there!

    Well, Mr. Dumb-broski decided he was going to see if his boat could make it under. He approached carefully enough, checked clearance in two or three locations and idled back to inform others that he could make it. Then with the grin you can imagine on his mug, he headed for the bridge .....he was going just a tad faster than he should have been, didn't actually go back to the same place he had been at when he decided he could make it and definitely didn't consider that some wakes might be there just as he made his attempt. What a mess.....cracked the windshield just after he entered, panicked and jammed it into reverse. The boats nose went down but came back up just in time to catch the main beam and now the windshield was gone completely along with some pieces of the deck. He banged against the side of the structure a few times before he finally got back out from underneath that thing, his brand-new boat looking like it was one hundred years old and had never seen a day of maintenance! That's the only boat I know of that tried to run under the RR bridge .
    Last edited by willabee; 03-19-2008 at 12:21 PM.

  13. #626
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    A picture of the boat would be priceless....

  14. #627
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    Willa There you go again, i could send a limo to fetch you to the dance from the farm, but no you'd still sooner walk through the chicken sh-t in your best patent leather sneakers than risk a lift from a meek and mild well meaning friend.!!!!!!!!!

  15. #628
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    Quote Originally Posted by jackie wilson View Post
    Hey Willa, Time to congratulate you on what has surely been one of the most interesting threads ever on the scream and fly web. Young Thibodaux got me to look here originally, thank god he did, otherwise i might have missed all the slanging matches we've had. Made me realize your not just the dumb assed crew chief we all loved and hated , but there's a bit of memory and knowledge in the old headbox . 52 and a half thousand people can't be wrong,
    Jackie.....with all this hay and horse poop, there has got to be a pony in here some place .
    Last edited by willabee; 04-10-2008 at 02:12 PM.

  16. #629
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    Quote Originally Posted by jackie wilson View Post
    Willa There you go again, i could send a limo to fetch you to the dance from the farm, but no you'd still sooner walk through the chicken sh-t in your best patent leather sneakers than risk a lift from a meek and mild well meaning friend.!!!!!!!!!
    Man you're quick.....I deleted my "horse poop" post so that Old fiberglasses comment could follow directly behind the boat story. You started crabing before I got it reposted, which took about 30 seconds! Now your post is out of order.....it looks like you are complaining before I said anything .

    Now that I think about it, that wouldn't really be all that unusual .
    Last edited by willabee; 03-19-2008 at 12:24 PM.

  17. #630
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    ME------COMPLAIN-------- BEEN KNOWN AS "HAPPY JACK" ALL MY LIFE IN SPITE OF MY GOOD LOOKS, MODESTY AND CHARM. TAKE A BOW WILLA-YOUR "HOT SINGLES" WAS INSPIRED. sincerely. jw.

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