Hot Singles ! - Pictures

[Old fiberglass]

Where is the aileron breaking.....where it attaches to the hull or at the bottom of the aileron ?? The originial one on mine had a 1/2" piece of plywood on the bottom. When I talked to Dave Switzer he indicated the ailerons took a pounding and needed to be strong. Also, he felt strongly the ailerons needed a spring system to relieve the pounding they took from the waves. In the early development of wings this was a big problem. Have a sketch he sent me some place. When I built a new aileron I balsa cored the bottom....not sure if that is strong enough. On the 18 I put ribs in it. Got picture of the carnage ?? Testing/set up sure is a bitch to get things right.

You are becoming the person with the most knowledge about the 20's and V-6's. I agree from what little I know the 20's want the big power to run.....they can certainly handle it. What sticks in my mind is Don who I bought the 20 I have from said they changed the bottom on mine. Before they did that it porpoised like a big dog....one of the reasons Bob never raced it. Anyway when they reworked the bottom it did not porpoise and was very stable. I have not seen another 20 bottom so I don't have anything to compare it to. I believe the thought was the bottom design was letting air escape and not build in the rear tunnel area. It would build up and escape causing the porposing issue. Just my .02 worth.

Good luck with your testing and be safe.

[willabee]

Heard from Pruett many years ago that "Kubes" caught the dreaded Big C. Must have been the early 80/s. Willabee will know for certain.
Ritchie Powers was the guy who always seemed to be working stackers. I know he did Sirois's motors for the old ' UP UP AND AWAY'. Bill got Ritch. to do my engine for Havasu. Nothing wrong with the engine, Just had dreams of grandeur and it was me that got carried up and away.
The doors open Willa------

Jimmy (Kubes or Kuba) Kubasta died 9/2/84, cancer. He started at Mercury at 16 years of age, it was the only place he ever worked. He was one of the early ones to Lake X with guys like Roy Ridgell. He could tell stories about being there when Mr. Kiekhaefer was drag racing his Chrysler against the boys. Stories about walking out of his trailer in the morning and having to throw rocks at the gators so they would clear a path so he could get to the shop. He was involved with all types of special projects and could talk about all kinds of interesting things that happened at Merc over the years.

Dave Beier was actually the man that built the engines for Up-Up and Away. Check out post 58 on page 4 and post 61 on page 5 of the Hot Multi's thread.

Jackie, since you brought it up, this might be the proper place to tell your version of the flip at Havasu. You told it once before and it was pretty damn funny, but I can't find it.

Wish I had a good picture of Jimmy on file, here he is working on the Cosworth KT in Miami. Also a shot of Jackie at Havasu before his flip and one of him during it .....

[willabee]

Blue Room activity in 1967 included Mike Goerlitz testing 1250 engines and props on a 16' Shooting Star. I was doing the same with the 1000 BP on a 16' Checkmate and Garbrecht was sneeking off to Fond du lac to test a secret tunnel boat. I was in one of the safety boats when Goerlitz hit a wake as he ran the kilo. He didn't get wet, but he had a pretty rough ride and hurt his back. He didn't want to drive the Shooting Stars anymore for fear that he might do more damage to his back and Garbrecht gave that job to me.

It wasn't much later when Garbrecht flipped a Molinari and hurt his back. He missed some work while mending and eventually was told by Mr. K that he wasn't to drive any race boats again! I remember I was working in the lab and Snyder came in and said "I hear you want to drive a Molinari". I said that was correct and he told me he needed some test data that day, so I should drop what I'm doing and get on this new project.

We had a stacked powerhead on the Molinari to be tested. I had no idea how well this was going to go, and I certainly didn't want to pull a "Garbrecht", so I decided to use a cautious approach to learning. I put a stock powerhead on, went out to the course and ran at something like 3000 rpm. As I felt more comfortable, I increased the rpm. Finally, I was running WOT and it felt great. I went back and put the stacker back on, made the test runs that Dick needed and put the boat away in one piece.....what a fun day that was!

My whole point to all this is to demonstrate how racing activity was now consuming much more time from the people in the Blue Room. As all of this is going on, Jimmy and Gary are attending more races.....both NOA and APBA. Some of us are beginnng to tag along depending on the event. There seemed to be a serious effort taking place to make sure that Merc ended up with the twin engine kilo record when the day was done. There was no talk about forming a Racing Team or department, at least none of us heard any. However, unbeknownst to us, there was a bunch of that kind of dialogue taking place between Bill Steele, Jimmy Kubasta and Gary Garbrecht at meetings in Fond du lac. Mr. K obvoiusly knew what was going on, I just don't know how many of these sessions he attended.

To be continued.....

[jackie wilson]

midnight here and i just got back from Barcelona, [ went down there for lunch ] so will have to think up the story i told you about 'THE FLIP' due to mitigating circumstances, as i remember it. Will do a Willabee ----- TO BE CONTINUED.
Always got on really well with Dave Biers, he had more purple hearts than John Wayne.

[Old fiberglass]

I hated TV episodes as a kid that were continued next week.....same bat station....same bat place. Willabee you can't have more than one "to be continued" episodes going on at once......


Jackie you are learning Willabee's bad habits......come to think of it he did teach you something

[GENE LANHAM]

[QUOTE=willabee;1680998]As I mentioned in the story, Jimmy Kubasta was building speedmasters for selected drivers and he had access to a few stacker kits. He was the only one I knew of that was working on that stuff. The kits were rare and treated like gold. I don't know who made the pipes for the kits.

July 1967: The Gold Coast Marathon was a two day watered down version of the original GCM, held in Biscayne Bay. Mr. Kiekhaefer was there. Owen L. 'Billy' Steele (thanks Willabee) was there. Jan was there with the 'Flying Dutchman'. I was working for a local Mercury dealer (Hewes), there was a rumor that Jan's stacker 1100's had phenolic reeds!! This was big---1967. Of course Jan finished first both days. A distant second was Ernie Threlkeld in his black wing, running stock 1100's,w/SSM. The next time I saw Ernie was about eight months later at Parker, his black wing had some kind of single pipe OMC's----

(What's this got to do with HOT SINGLES?) Sorry Willabee

[willabee]

midnight here and i just got back from Barcelona, [ went down there for lunch ] so will have to think up the story i told you about 'THE FLIP' due to mitigating circumstances, as i remember it. Will do a Willabee ----- TO BE CONTINUED.
Always got on really well with Dave Biers, he had more purple hearts than John Wayne.

11:42 PM here.....just got back from Bel Lago (went there to drink and flirt)..... if you can pronounce it the way Levio Prada would have, you'd think I just left Switzerland ).....find the story you told originally, I'm sure you won't do as well as you did the first time without some notes.

[jackie wilson]

I hated TV episodes as a kid that were continued next week.....same bat station....same bat place. Willabee you can't have more than one "to be continued" episodes going on at once......


Jackie you are learning Willabee's bad habits......come to think of it he did teach you something

Must apologise to all concerned with this wonderful thread, it's like stepping back in time----- anytime now the phone is going to start ringing and some old fart is going to ask me what time drivers meeting is---------how many heats are there on saturday---------is it a clock start------ is this a points race -------you know the sort of irrelevant stuff that made up the sport as a whole.
My mind is racing to try and tell you the next episode in some sort of semblance of order so Willabee doesn't light the blue touch paper 'neath my crotch. Was cream crackered last night, and sleep was the only antidote, but am bright eyed and bushy tailed now. In future will try and finish a tale instead of doing the "to be Cont" bit.
I seem to have interrupted some great stories without meaning to, i apologise once again and will try to get some continuity into my narrations
So here goes, will take 'em on one at a time

[jackie wilson]

11:42 PM here.....just got back from Bel Lago (went there to drink and flirt)..... if you can pronounce it the way Levio Prada would have, you'd think I just left Switzerland ).....find the story you told originally, I'm sure you won't do as well as you did the first time without some notes.

With an up and down lilt Levio would have pronounced it 'BELLA LARRGO' and 'BARTHELOANA'
Bet you had better luck with the drinking than you did with the flirting---even when you looked Like Don Ameche and Robert Taylor you were too well married to pull the birds. Kubes was the same,!!!!! i used to be ,and then i met Pruett.

[jackie wilson]

Jimmy (Kubes or Kuba) Kubasta died 9/2/84, cancer. He started at Mercury at 16 years of age, it was the only place he ever worked. He was one of the early ones to Lake X with guys like Roy Ridgell. He could tell stories about being there when Mr. Kiekhaefer was drag racing his Chrysler against the boys. Stories about walking out of his trailer in the morning and having to throw rocks at the gators so they would clear a path so he could get to the shop. He was involved with all types of special projects and could talk about all kinds of interesting things that happened at Merc over the years.

Dave Beier was actually the man that built the engines for Up-Up and Away. Check out post 58 on page 4 and post 61 on page 5 of the Hot Multi's thread.

Jackie, since you brought it up, this might be the proper place to tell your version of the flip at Havasu. You told it once before and it was pretty damn funny, but I can't find it.

Wish I had a good picture of Jimmy on file, here he is working on the Cosworth KT in Miami. Also a shot of Jackie at Havasu before his flip and one of him during it .....

Is that the KT boat Bill Petty had built for Earl to drive at the Miami Stadium ??? [ you were always close to Petty at that time ]. Duckworth and i went down to see the race , just in case Bentz needed my help. [he didn't]. Bentz then killed of KT's as the world knew them, and Mr. Rickey swore revenge on the whole Mercury fraternity. Bentz was supposed to get a bad start and trail until the last lap, then valiantly take the win. Didn't happen that way though did it ???????.
Bentz hit the starter and the boat hit the first turnbouy 200 yards in the lead-------- then by lap 3 had done the whole field------looked like a thoroughbred at a donkey derby--------That's when they put Mr Rickey in a straight jacket.
OK so that's little ole me in the 22 but who 's the upside down geezer ???
Met Dave Biers at Heathrow airport, We were both on our way to Como and i thought he had been at Torriggia working on engines all week. Said he had to take a trip to the "White House", thought he meant Mr.K.s summer residence !!!!!!!!! Think it was Willabee told me later he went to collect the PURPLE HEART, but he never mentioned that to me ever.

[jackie wilson]

If anyone wants to see the original version of the Havasu Flip it's on thread 411 of "HOT SINGLES" -------For them that don't-----FORGET IT

[willabee]

... Jan was there with the 'Flying Dutchman'...... there was a rumor that Jan's stacker 1100's had phenolic reeds!! This was big---1967. Of course Jan finished first both days. A distant second was Ernie Threlkeld in his black wing, running stock 1100's,w/SSM. The next time I saw Ernie was about eight months later at Parker, his black wing had some kind of single pipe OMC's----

(What's this got to do with HOT SINGLES?) Sorry Willabee

You may have just explained why Threlkeld put OMC's on his Wing. He's spends his hard earned money on Merc's and a race boat. He enters the GCM and then has to watch as Jan pulls in with some pretty exotic equipment and the top brass from Merc are fussing all over him. Then Jan hammers him in the race.....think that would probably upset most guys.

Merc was trying to buy or control all of the 18' Wings at the time, so OMC was having a hard time getting their stuff on one. Bet it wasn't too tough to make him an offer he couldn't refuse.

The answer to your question is "nothing".....

Earnie and his single pipers.....

[Old fiberglass]

Ernie and Jan were friends. Erine was the co-driver at Parker w/Jan in his Dutchman wing in 1968.

I "think" cost was a factor in Ernie moving to OMC's.....they smoozed him. Heard one story that Mr K was pissed Erine for going to OMC and he held back some race pictures.....giving him them when he moved back to Mercury. Ernie got ticked at OMC when he blew his boat over...wrecking the wing and severely injuring himself. The OMC crew made a big change to the setup that Ernie was unware of causing it to blow over.

As for the Key Largo 1967 I don't think Ernie was in the game on that one......see info.

I don't totally understand the relationship Jan had with Mercury. He was an independant and bought his own equipment. He was very sucessful and I think Mr K catered to Jan gaving him what he needed. One story was back in the early days when the Super Speedmaster was getting developed and not in production Mr K asked him why he didn't have one. Jan replied I don't have access to that kind of equipment. Mr K barked at someone to yank one or two off one of the team race boats and gave it to Jan. Told him send them back to Mercury for to be checked from time to time. In the development stage they were supposed to have cost 30K. He still raced with those lowers until he quit racing. Sold them with his 1100 stackers.....damn it !!

[Old fiberglass]

Blue Room activity in 1967 included Mike Goerlitz testing 1250 engines and props on a 16' Shooting Star.

Got one with a 150 speed master. They are fast, rough riding and pack a scary amount of air under them at speed. So far I have whimped out around 65 MPH. Also, don't turn well at all.....kind of like racing on a dirt track.

[willabee]

Got one with a 150 speed master. They are fast, rough riding and pack a scary amount of air under them at speed. So far I have whimped out around 65 MPH. Also, don't turn well at all.....kind of like racing on a dirt track.

I love em.....I bought a black/silver 16 from Merc ($100.00!) after the Blue Room received a pair of new red metalflake 16's. Cleaned it up. fixed the bottom, moved the steering to the side and installed two seats. I think it ran 79 with an 1100/ssm and just me in it.....fastest pleasure boat in town at the time! If my friends didn't beg to get out as it ran at speed in a straight line down the river, they were definately screaming when it started sliding through a high speed turn.