OLD SPORT-J PICS(anyone have any)

[C-C]

MY DAD RACED SPORT-J IN THE LATE 70'S AND EARLY 80'S,, HE HAD SEVERAL BOATS BUT ALL HAD THE #431,, IF ANYONE HAS ANY PICS PLEASE GET BACK TO ME OR POST HERE. THANKS CC

[MagicFloat]

I raced with your dad and uncle in the 70's. Are you Charlie or C.C.'s son? May hav a pic or two, will have to dig deep into the shoebox.E-mail me a snail mail address if I find any. Robert Nelems, Jasper,Al

[C-C]

charlie's son,, im at airportmarine now.. see if you can dig up some of those old pics,, thanks chris

[bglz42]

I've got a bunch of SJ pics from the early 70's. My dad, Earl Guidry, raced from 1969 until around 1975. His last boat was a green Checkmate #748. I'll try to scan some of the snapshots this weekend, and I'll post them. You guys may recognize some of the boats and numbers.

Jim

[delawarerick]

Jim would love to see pictures. Ron Hill put some on late one night and went to work the next day with 2 hours sleep. Look forward to seeing the pictures. Thanks Rick

[MN4V]

Here's one of Doug Pearl.
MN

[MN4V]

Sport J at St. Louis
Guess who in # 201?
MN

[KG4]

Man i love that old stuff.I cant take it anymore.Keep em coming.

[delawarerick]

More please are there any omcs line up was all merc is this an omen. Rick

[bglz42]

Here's a cool shot from around 1972. The red boat hd blown over, and everyone was looking for the driver.

[bglz42]

Dad in the 1973 Galveston Marathon. He bought this Checkmate from Corky Calahan. Dad led the SJ class for most of the race, but DNF's after Jimbo McConnell passed him close in a rotary. THe roostertail doused Dad real good, and the kill switch shorted. He spent the last half hour floating in the middle of the course...

[bglz42]

Another shot of the Checkmate. I was 13 at the time, so to me this boat was as exotic as a space shuttle. It had a new 135 Evinrude. I remember because we had to a lot of PB&J sandwiches that year to afford it!! Dad's previous boat had his old 125 Johnson with a jillion hours on it. We had run it on a center console fishing boat for a couple of seasons before Dad hooked up with Dick Sherrer and got the racing bug.

[bglz42]

Dad and Corky Calahan. Dad's old boat, on the left was a beautiful picklefork tunnel. The cowl is off because he'd blown over in practice (scary day for a twelve year old!), and lost it. A shrimper caught it in his net a week later, and returned it!!

[bglz42]

Pits at Galveston. Check out the rookie stripes! Delawarerick, here's your OMC's!!

[bglz42]

I don't know why, but Dad and Dick called this boat the TurkeyBoat. Something about prior sponsorship, had a big bird painted on it. I thought it was beautiful! I would LOVE to find either of Dad's old boats!

[brianT2]

I believe this was '76.
201-benny robertson-stinson
173-doug pearl-scorpion
284-john sherlock-seebold
189-david lee-leecraft
120-jim hunt-McCall
blue picklefork launching hard might be jim johnson
yellow boat peaking out underneath could be ron eisle?spelling?

[gemini]

Good job on the ID for this race in the prime of SJ racing. Now for the $64 question , who owned the #120 boat? Bet you know.

[brianT2]

louis collins owned the 120-just rite too-McCall.

[brianT2]

heres a shot of louis with my dad and some kid bk might be able to identify. the other shot is of brothers and sisters. these were at waco race in 75.

[gemini]

Looks like Jim Hunt in the background of Pic#2,behind Brad,Tracy,You and your sister,putting on his helmut for a pass in the T-2 powered black and blue Allison.

[BK]

Originally posted by brianT2
heres a shot of louis with my dad and some kid bk might be able to identify. the other shot is of brothers and sisters. these were at waco race in 75.


Gee, my little boy looks just like THAT little boy! I wonder why? :D


Wow. Louis still looks the same,....but the little boy beside him has changed quite a bit ;)

[brianT2]

actually gemini that is louis taking Just Rite for a trip around the pond. in the photo i have the life jacket is the yellow w/ stars that belonged to louis. good eye to spot one my all time favorite boats.

[MN4V]

St. Louis - Sport J Class. Year?
Mark N
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm315/MN392/SportJClass-St.jpg

[Kevin Carter]

It appears to be 1974 or 1975. I had a 1974 150, and I think that was the first year of the blue on the cowl. I ran FS for a few years in Miami.

[Bruster]

At least '77. The red XS motors weren't available in numbers 'till then.

[MercNuts]

It appears to be 1974 or 1975. I had a 1974 150, and I think that was the first year of the blue on the cowl. I ran FS for a few years in Miami.

It could have been 1976 or later but NOT 1975. All Mercury engines starting in 1972 had blue stickers until some time in the 80's. The dk blue boat with the mooneyes sticker appears to have '74 stickers but the picture isn't clear enough to say for sure. The front faceplates went black in 1975. The red XS stickers came on the 1500's starting in 1976 and continued for 1977 and 1978. They continued to be available from Mercury High Performance for at least another year after the end of dealer availability in 1978.

I disagree on 1976 availability. My local dealer at the time was able to order a pair of red 1500XS in 1976 and he was not well connected. I think that the dealer over in Columbus Ga. got several also even though he was running a T2 himself at the time. All of the racers at the top of the class ran them that year due to the new low water pickups and the ability of the new cleaver props to run higher than the older round ear designs. There was an immediate and drastic increase in the Sport J records when the new engines came out. Some people felt like the well connected racers like David Lee from here in Alabama and Doug Pearl had sudden magic under the cowls but actually they were only running the engines much higher due to the low water pickups and taking full advantage of the new prop technology. David and Doug put on some of the most exciting duals in the history of boat racing back then because they were both so evenly matched and fearless drivers. Both built their own boats. The green boat next to the poll in the picture was David's LeeCraft. Doug Pearl's Scorpion boats were always natural wood colored. I do not recall Doug building boats for any other racers or moving past the Sport J class himself, but David went on to build and race bigger and better things.

[milkdud]

MercNuts is correct. 1972 first blue Merc. 1976 first red XS motor is available. So this photo has to be taken 1976 or later. It could have been taken last week if the right boats were together for some reason :)

Conrad

[MercNuts]

Kevin, if you look at Milkdud's avatar above the two engines pictured are a 1975 J engine (in front) and a 1973 engine behind it, assuming all stickers are original. Conrad you should blow that picture up and post it to show how good the 1975 1500 J engine looked.

[oldschoolltv]

I love seeing all these old pics of the boats that were in the pits when I was a kid running around, it brings back some good memories, Matt

[milkdud]

1975 1500 short J. On my Carlson. I agree it is very nice to look at.
Conrad

[malexie]

I don't know why, but Dad and Dick called this boat the TurkeyBoat. Something about prior sponsorship, had a big bird painted on it. I thought it was beautiful! I would LOVE to find either of Dad's old boats!

I like the shrimp boats in the back ground.

[milkdud]

The chrome face 1500 long is a 1974. 1973 1500 is identical except it has dual fuel pumps. What is interesting about his 1974 long shaft is that it has the Circle C block which I heard was only available in the 1973 Long.
Conrad

[MercNuts]

The chrome face 1500 long is a 1974. 1973 1500 is identical except it has dual fuel pumps. What is interesting about his 1974 long shaft is that it has the Circle C block which I heard was only available in the 1973 Long.
Conrad

I labeled it as '73 because of the wraparound stickers. All '74's that I have seen had the black stripe containing "Mercury" broken at both ends with blue, similar to the '75 wraparound sticker. I cant keep the 1500 sticker on the front of the top cowl straight in my mind prior to the two big blue ones on the side in 75 only.

[Kevin Carter]

I remember seeing Doug Pearl with his pony tail hanging out of his helmet! What ever happened to him??

[Bruster]

The chrome face 1500 long is a 1974. 1973 1500 is identical except it has dual fuel pumps. What is interesting about his 1974 long shaft is that it has the Circle C block which I heard was only available in the 1973 Long.
Conrad

...and I just happen to have one of these complete powerheads if anyone is interested.

[milkdud]

I labeled it as '73 because of the wraparound stickers.

MercNuts your pointing out details that I never payed attention to before. And I try to keep my details straight.

Your correct I believe my center wrap on my 1974 1500 is from a 1973 1500. The font lettering is slightly different between the top numbers and the wrap.

The 1973 and 1974 1500 had "1500" on the front center of the top cowl. The font is slightly different between the two.

1975 had the 1500 on each side of the top cowl.

This 1974 1500 ser # is 3752917 . Block and trans match. 1974 started @ 3752620 so its early 1974. So the Circle C block may have been carried over into the early 1974 motors.

Conrad

[2us70]

Doug got hurt pretty badly testing one of his boats in a canal naer Ft. Lauderdale. His family owns a welding supply company " Uniweld".

[2us70]

Doug got hurt pretty badly testing one of his boats in a canal naer Ft. Lauderdale. His family owns a welding supply company " Uniweld".