Blowover

[2us70]

Does anyone out there have a copy of the 3 boat blowover at the start of the single engine U class at the 70 OPC Nationals? I rember 2 of the drivers names, Danny Piggot & Harry Kerslake. It is a classic & I cant find the newspaper pictures I saved of it since I last moved.

[Mark75H]

Excellent recall on Mr Kerslake's name. It took me years to find out who that was. But I think you have the year wrong, more like 72 or 73.

[Mark75H]

The one you were thinking of

[Mark75H]

#3

[Mark75H]

The last one I have. There were a few more, but I've never seen them.

[Boz]

How did those boys turn out??

[Raceman]

Actually it was 1975, the first year I ever went to Miami Marine Stadium. I was sittin' in the stands right in front of it and lookin' straight at em when it happened.

[Raceman]

I believe that's Reggie in the 76 boat and Buck Thornton in the 295 that didn't go over. The other two driver's names you mentioned are unfamiliar to me, but I wouldn't say that they're incorrect.

[Raceman]

Notice that Buck & Reggie's boats have T2X's on em, one of the others has a Stinger GP. I can't remember the quantities, but there were some T3's at this same race. I've got a Poloroid somewhere of Buck's boat with the T3 powerhead installed, but still the high rear boat canopy, dewarfing the engine. I can't remember if it was at this race or somewhere else.

Again, my memory's a little weak after over 25 years, but I don't think these were Mod U boats, because everything in the picture is 100 cu. in. and the factory boats had the V6 Mercs by then.

All the "who ran what at each race" are gettin' to be a blurr now, but seems like Earl Bentz and Billy ran V6's, but that's really not much more than a guess.

[2us70]

You guys are amazing. The year was 75 & I must be getting old or something to not remember Reggie Fountain being in that one. I also was standing right at the rail when Kerslake's Baja lifted off and took Piggot & Fountian with him. That Baja was a J boat and had way too much lift with that U motor on it.

[Raceman]

It ain't amazin' at all. The only way I can remember the year was that it was my first trip to a big time boat race and I've still got the program..........otherwise it'd be a several year spread in my mind.

That was the year I first met Jim Hunt. He had the "Ragged but Rite" Hydrostream Viper there with a 1500J. I thought "what a junker". It had rusty wood screws holding some turnin' hardware under the bottom that looked like it came from a hardware store. I was makin' a comment to the guys I was with about how it looked. They had a lot of experience around boat racing, having deep ties to Mercury themselves. One of em said, "you just wait until you see it run". If there was ever a boat perfectly named, that was it. Jim proceeded to stick it in the water and drive away from the rest of the pack. I was an instant fan.

[2us70]

I remember that Hydrostream with the big slab of a turn fin bolted to the left side. Everybody else ran that boat in G class Jim was the only one I ever saw run it in J. I am still amazed that anyone still has all this material from the period and that you guys can find this stuff so quickly

[Oclassracer]

#76 is Reggie Fountain. #295 is Buck"from Duck" Thornton. Are they both in Molinari boats or are they early Seebold/Lowerey? Also, is #486 Bob Hering? The boat #575 is a Stinson Eagle built by Alan Stinson of Oak Ridge, TN. He was a "OMC" guy as was Ernie Threlkeld. Could it be either Ernie or Alan driving? Danny Piggot was/is a stock/mod/pro racer from SC. He frequents another board. If he was involved, we should be able to find out.

[Mark75H]

#575 is Harry Kerslake as 2us70 mentioned in the first post of this thread.

[Jay R.]

everytime i see this stuff in here i save it. hopefully i can pass it one like we are getting it now!! i have a ton of pics from this stie on my hard drive!!

[Oclassracer]

Sorry, didnt associate names with numbers, especially ones I dont know. PS, tunnell boats deck to deck are a volitile combination. One or two get high, and as they try to correct, they upset the air around them and as one goes, the others will follow.

[2us70]

I am pretty sure Fountain& Piggot were in Molinaris. The boat Kerslake was driving was as I remember a Baja which was intended to be a SJ boat. If you notice the wide tunnel and the flaps in the nose added to try to keep the thing on the water at much higher speeds that the U motor ran. Didnt Work in this case. Harry was also running SD class at this time in his own boat so I got to know him a little that season.

[T2x]

That was the SST class back then................

T2x

[Raceman]

So y'all are saying it was Fountain, Herring, and Threlkeld???????

I'm still looking for the original newspaper article that one of those pics was in. I ran across it a couple of years ago lookin' for something else and put it up so it wouldn't deteriorate any more than it already was. Now if I could just remember where I put it.

[Backfire]

This is the boat Alan Stinson built and drove for Bob Thompson's Just Add Water Boats in Indianapolis. +-'72, '73, '74, '75. At some point Alan quit driving and Ken Stevenson took over with another boat and V-6. I think Alan said the best this would run with the 1 to 1 unit was 114. Kenny was killed in an accident at the Nassau race. Paint scheme doen't match in the blow over boats and is that a Johnson shroud?
Backfire ;)

[Oclassracer]

After seeing pictures of both the Stinson and #575, I know that #575 was not a Stinson. As stated, it must be a Baja. I was only 10 to 12 years old then and thought that Baja only built V bottoms.

[Raceman]

I don't think the SST boats had 110+ MPH capability in that time period. Back then the J Sport boats were only running low 90's, although they did jump about 10 MPH in the late 70's with the low water pickups, cleavers, and better boat design, allowing the engine height to be MUCH higher. I can't find old Kilo's without a lot of diggin', maybe Sam has em at his fingertips, but I'd have guessed low 100's for SST's in the early 70's.

[2us70]

Raceman. I first ran across Jim Hunt in 65 at the Around Miami Beach Race. It was my first drive in a "real race boat". Jim was driving a little gold V bottom and I am pretty sure he won. I was in a flat bottom Curtis Craft and I survived.

[2us70]

Two more blowover pictures that I lost over the years. 1 the start of the Gold Coast Marathon at Miami Marine Stadium I think in 70 Johnny Reed destroying one of Carlson tunnels. 2 the start of one of the final heats of SJ at the 73 nationals at Eufala AL . Bonus points for drivers names in that one,cause I forgot.

[Backfire]

Raceman
In regards to that speed, I'd have to ask Jim Booe (Precision Prop)
what he and Joe did- they tuned on the engine, (the same two that built a 240hp turbo V-4). Jim did all the prop work and had worked for Switzer Turbocharging in Indy. I think it ran 103-105 with the short course gearcase. They had a dyno back in those days and did all their work, kinda like them against the factory.
Backfire ;)

[gemini]

Howard Pipkorn sent the 15' Stream to Jim after someone had raged it out. I sent him a 150 XS Merc and with some work on the turning fin "Ragged but Rite" was born. You had to be careful about turning fins in those days because Edgar Rose declared everything bolted on a boat an air entrapment device. The only problem at the Nationals was Benny Robertson who actually split heats with Jim and apparantly won on time. However it seems Benny was using water as a balast and was DQ'D giving Jim a well deserved win. Jim went on to the Hall of Champions for his success in 1975/6. Strange, but 4 years later Stevie Robertson(Benny's little brother) and I split heats wins at the Nationals. He didn't make it through inspection because of ambitious port work and I won. Just like Jim I went into the Hall of Champions after that season. As for SST and SJ speeds they would only run about 105mph and 86mph between the bouys.

[2us70]

Benny should have known better. Mike Osborne got caught in 73 with a very clever water weight device in EP at nationals.

[MagicFloat]

In those days a lot of the racers did the water trick for weight.All the inspectors originally did was pull the drain plug and let the water run out. With another drain inside remotely activated you could let in as much water as you needed while you were waiting for the scales.I believe Doug Pearl was one of the first to get caught in SJ, but he was hard to beat when he was legal. Anybody know what happened to Doug?

[2us70]

Doug got hurt testing one of those Scorpoins. I think the boat got away from him and turned left in the 84 canal and that put him over the bank and onto the road. He now works in the family welding supply buisness. I saw him on TV a few years ago when they had a big fire in their warehouse

[2us70]

Guy Radiano in a Magnum Missle at Miami Marine Stadium.

[brianT2]

dad drove the boat reggie blew over that day. jere james and bobby rogers bought the boat from bob thompson "just add water". dad said it seemed like it had about 50 different paint jobs before they got to wood. don't have a color photo but it was a beautiful maroon and silver paint scheme they put on it this time.

[brianT2]

thanks for the compliments on dad, i think this is the gold boat you were talking about.
i think piggot's boat might have been a geechee(sp?)
gemini good call on the water ballast i remember benny getting hopping mad about being busted for that one. he was a good racer and didn't need to cheat to win, but dad was tough to beat in that old viper:D

[2us70]

Brian thanks for that picture. I got to see a lot of that boat up close when Felix Poppel ran it before he got his McCall. It sure does bring back memories.

[helmetguru]

i remember jim hunt in a white seebold #120...i guess that was in the late 70's early 80's...

the #25 in the Miami Blow over picture is a Cougar with a Super Strangler on it, any idea who is driving that boat?

Jim's boat sure looks like one of the boats that Ken Stevenson built...which were only a few but he did build some before he died..

[Raceman]

HG, I don't know for sure, but I don't recall Jim having a white Seebold. I do remember a white Broughton with a CCC about that time.

When we were havin' lunch and reminiscin' the other day, he reminded me that he was at the race I got hurt with that boat. I'd forgotten it, but he wouldn't run that day because the water was so shallow with the river down. I wish I'd followed his lead.

[MN4V]

Danny Piggets boat was a Carl Stippich built boat.
Super workmanship. Carl built lots of stock outboards
Oh yes Carl also built the Merc Twister Crafts.
MN

[php]

The Stippich tunnel I had at Miami in 75 was only about there weeks old. I had just picked it up from Carl. It had great workmanship in it, too pretty to drill a hole in. Merc. did Carl Stippich very wrong on the Twister Craft project, He never got to see the boat run. D.F. had the boat on film an we watched it at D.F.'s house when Carl came down to make a change on the Stippich, he was like a kid, watching the Twister Craft run for the first time on flim. Danny Pigott

[mark benson]

Thread # 34- # 25 in Miami Blowover is Larry Everitt

[T2x]

I don't think the SST boats had 110+ MPH capability in that time period. Back then the J Sport boats were only running low 90's, although they did jump about 10 MPH in the late 70's with the low water pickups, cleavers, and better boat design, allowing the engine height to be MUCH higher. I can't find old Kilo's without a lot of diggin', maybe Sam has em at his fingertips, but I'd have guessed low 100's for SST's in the early 70's.

For the record

One of the sprint Molinari's that I drove -and the best by far- (pictured with the very first 1750xs) came over at the same time as Reggie's........ this hull ran 115 with a Canadian factory T2x that same year (8-10 mph faster with a highly modified powerhead). These were the last two T2x boats that Molinari built......

There was a considerable speed difference between SST and Sport J hulls which necessitated completely different hull designs and attack angles.

T2x

[T2x]

Thread # 34- # 25 in Miami Blowover is Larry Everitt

I believe that is incorrect. That hull was raced by a guy out of Jersey and, while I can't remember his name, it wasn't Larry Everitt.

T2x

[php]

Boat # 25 on the inside was Stewart Magard (sp) from NJ

[T2x]

Boat # 25 on the inside was Stewart Magard (sp) from NJ

That's him..... I raced against him for a few years and totally forgot his name.

There was also a guy named "Smitty" (Bill Smith ?) from Willingboro, NJ who had a smaller Bowerman hull with the same OMC power....real good racer.

T2x