Hot Singles ! - Pictures

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Originally Posted by willabee

Here's a couple more...


#457 - Bobby Hering - 17' Molinari sprint - 1350 stacker - Havasu - on Sunday he set a record for distance covered by a single over a 4 hour period, breaking the one Tom Stickle had set the day before in an identical setup

#187 - Jim Merten - 16' Molinari sprint - 1250 - Miami Nationals - I might not have this exactly right because this was a strange deal, but here's the story.
We took two of these 16' sprints to Lake X, one for Merten and the other for Bill Sirois. The idea was to run the standard version of the engine for what was "U" class and then put the stacked powerhead on to run "S". Sirois hadn't arrived yet, so Merten set up both "U" boats. We started on the stacker setups and found that the engines were cutting out on both boats on top end only. We pulled carbs apart, changed electrical components and changed complete powerheads, all with no success. I called engineers back in Wisconsin, but they all drew blanks also. To make matters worse, while a bunch of us were in the shop working on Merten's boat, he and Richie Powers were testing Sirois's boat. Merten told Powers to take it for a run in hopes that might give Richie a better idea of what was happening........Richie blew it over. Looking at the bright side of things, that did cut our problem in half :)

We finally figured out the problem and went down to Miami. If memory serves, Merten was feeling bad about Sirois not having a boat, so they agreed that one of them would run "U" and the other "S". I'm not sure which one is in this picture, maybe Seeroy can tell us.

By the way, any of you guys got an idea on why those engines were cutting out ?:confused:

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Looks like Bill...Distinctive white pattern on helmet was his - Steve

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Originally Posted by BrianSmith

This all came to an abrupt halt one day when they burst upon a flock...Bert swung the net at them .............and instead of a Duck he got a Pelican!!!!!!!!
Bert said...(He is a little guy) "It took me clean off the deck; over the windshield and into the water! Scared us to death!"

If someone is in contact with Bert please say hello for me.

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Love the story, I can see the little sh-t telling it......right hand cupped around his chin, left hand grabbing his right elbow, leaning back but looking at the ground and laughing as he speaks with little tears coming out of the corner of his eyes....I remember that sight well :).

Check post #148, Pyro says he will be with Bert at Bay City Champ boat race - I don't know when that is scheduled.

I didn't know it when the year started, but 1973 was going to be different. OMC introduced the rotary outboard - factory racing was to take on a new look - I was to get so fed-up that I turn in my resignation (and end up with a promotion) - the Mercury Hi-Performance department was born and KT racing became a reality.... for me, those were some of the highlights from that year.

The race calendar looked kind of bleak....no February 225 in Miami, Merc is not going to Parker (that's what I was told), 225's in Miami,Seattle and St. Louis were on the books for July and August. I'm thinking, "what the hell are we going to do for six months", but I didn't get to think that way for long. At Merc Racing, when you came to work the day after the big planning meeting, you generally found that "THE PLAN" had already changed.

So, with that being said, when I continue this, I'll start with the first race we went to, the Parker Nine Hour ......you know, the one we weren't going to attend.

Found a picture that brought back some fun memories. It showed up in one of the magazines, I think it was taken at Parker.....it's Gary Garbrecht and me standing on top of the parts truck "Daytripper". I don't remember what the article said, but I do recall that most people that did see it said that the caption should have read...."Those guys - customer service - you've got to be kidding" :)

So the plan was we were not going, then we are going, but not really! I guess we were disguising our effort to make it look like we weren't there with the exception of the Bill Seebold entry, which we tried to disguise with Bert Serra as his co-driver (his reward for that stellar Havasu drive). Of course we hauled our big refueling trailer to the site and when we got there we happened to find Dennis and Duey Berghauer, Gary Peacock and Chick Gagen, Bob Holloway and Jock Horner and a few others including Billy Don Pruett driving an experimental Molinari KT (wonder where he got that?), so we invited them to refuel with us since we only had one boat using the rig. Bob Hering and Bob Spalding (who now worked for Merc Racing in Oshkosh) were not there, so I guess that Merc was not really attending this event :rolleyes:. I have been racking my brain to remember why we took this silly approach, but just can't recall the stated reasoning behind it......it may have had something to do with the fact that the OMC rotarys were going to be present.

As BK perfectly described the first lap drama at Parker on the Five Top Tunnell Driver thread, this one rates right up there with the best of them. The gun...the roar... the smoke and with the exception of Bill Onley in his Molinari/KT colliding with Mike Wallace in his Evinrude/Scotti, everyone disappears and the water settles down. Then about 6/7 minutes later the first rooster tail appears, but this time there are two of them. Jimbo McConnell and Tommy Posey come screaming down the backstretch in those rotarys with no one even close to them! When they make the pit turn, they slow down to get side by side and cruise by the pits.... both with their right arms raised, displaying the "victory" sign ( I think they had also lifted their face shields so that we could see their big smiles).....that was really cool :cool:.

Here's the first lap leader, Jimbo and one of Berghauer, who led the most important lap....the last one :).

To be continued.........

So the rotarys had put on a great show for the first lap and it was fortunate for them that they did because when the boats came back to complete lap two, Posey wasn't among them. Turns out he had mechanical problems just after passing the pits to complete lap one and was put on the trailer for the day. In addition, Jimbo obviously had a problem because he was going much slower and boats were starting to pass him with ease. He only completed a couple more laps and then joined his teammate on the trailer.....the rotary show was over almost as quickly as it started, but I sure was impressed with that first lap performance.

The Seebold/Serra C6/Molinari had taken the lead from Jimbo and was pulling steadily away from the pack. The first hour ended with Seebold leading, followed by the OMC's of Bill Muncey, Billy Schumacher and Barry Woods and the C6/Molinari of the Berghauer brothers in fifth. By mid race, the Seebold and Berghauer boats had a comfortable lead on Reggie Fountain driving his 21' Glastron/Molinari and the OMC's of Alan Stinson and John Gibbs....Johnny Sanders and James Beard had pushed their Johnson/Scotti into seventh. Schumacher was gone with mechanical problems and Woods had punched a hole in his rig. Billy Don Pruett in the Merc /Molinari KT went out early also, but it really didn't matter that it broke because it was a dog anyway. By this time the wind had picked up and some of the singles started flipping....this included Kenny Kitson. Chuck Rear and Geoff Briggs.

Right at the six hour mark, Seebold broke :mad:. Powerboat said it lost the flywheel, but I seem to remember that it broke the crank at the top end cap and that was why the flywheel wasn't where it was supposed to be when the engine cowl was removed.

Here's a shot of the Sanders entry which finished second, Fountain's twin which finished tenth, seven laps or 91 miles behind the winner! and Pruett's KT.

To be continued.......

Bert will be in St. Louis on Aug. 19th and 20th for the Champ Race at Creve Coure Lake.

So with about three hours left, Berghauer has a lap on Stinson and Sanders and two or more laps on the rest of the remaining field (about half of the roughly 80 boats that started). However, the boat now running the fastest laps is Sanders. With about two hours left, Stinson breaks and Berghauer comes in for fuel. While pitting, Sanders goes past , putting him on the same lap with Berghauer. The buzz word we get is Sanders does not have to pit the rest of the way, and we know Berghauer will need a splash and go.

Jim Merten calls me and Denny Berghauer off to the side and wants to know if we think we can perform the last fuel stop without shutting the engine off :eek:. His concern was the starter motor trouble we had experienced on a couple of the other boats and if we had to do a rope start, that would definitely give the lead to Sanders. Denny was sure that he could communicate what was needed to Duane when he came in for the driver exchange and I said that as long as he knew it wasn't illegal, I would find enough volunteers to get it done. Bill Allan was the only Merc employee that would have anything to do with this idea, the rest of the help (about nine guys) came from other pit crews! Well, we did pull it off.....my memory bank says we had a lead of about two minutes when he came in and had about a minute on Sanders when he left....I think he actually won the nine hour race by about 39 seconds :).

When the single photo of the fuel stop showed up in a few magazines, the rules were changed so that all engines had to be dead when refueling ( Merc gave me the large version of it that used to hang in the main lobby at headquarters in Fond du Lac, now it hangs in my garage).....the three shot photo was in Powerboat.......I'm the good looking guy putting the fuel in the boat ;) .....another fun memory :D.

Here's a little more on those engines that put on the first lap show at Parker (Mark75H..for your notes). An article in Powerboat, May 1973 said that they were first introduced to members of the boating press on February 23rd in Miami Marine stadium. They ran one boat with a Johnson and one with an Evinrude against two "conventionally" powered outboard race boats and "trounced them soundly". I wonder if the other two boats had Mercury power.....when E.C. Kiekhaefer introduced the 1250 BP, we bought two new 16' red metalflaked Switzer Shooting Stars and put the BP on one and a new 115 Evinrude on the other. He invited dealers to Plt. #5 to watch the two boats accelerate from on-plane to max speed as they went past the audience and the BP managed to whip the Evinrude every time :rolleyes:.

The article went on to say that the rotors are stackable and that these engines had a stack of four. They were 122 cu.in. and Si Metcalf, Director of Marine Engineering claimed the horsepower to be over 300! OMC said because of the brute horsepower, their boats could run flatter (not needing much trim) and therefore, safer from the danger of blowing over.

Here's a shot of one on the dyno, one of Jimbo during the demonstration and one of him next to his boat......they were truly "Hot Singles".

Hi i just bought a 1972 pickle fork that looks identical to the pictures you posted im trying to find as many pictures on the internet and what the actual title of the boat is called. Im hopeing to get a new paint job on it within the month so iv been trying to find other pictures of it just to get some ideas. If you know of any web sites or other pictures of yours please send them. There are about six pictures of mine if you go to cheapoldboats.com then look in unique boats. im also buying a new motor for it, id like to only top out at about 70mph any suggestions would be much help. Thank you for your time. If you do have any info on the above please email me at [email protected] Thanks again...

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Originally Posted by pinkrabbit

Hi i just bought a 1972 pickle fork that looks identical to the pictures you posted im trying to find as many pictures on the internet and what the actual title of the boat is called.

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My best guess is that your boat is a Kobercat

http://www.cheapoldboats.com/images/Hydro_3.jpg

That looks like a Scat Craft.....check post #41 on this thread. I recall the Kobercats having a projectile about a foot long hanging in front of each sponson, but I don't remember them being actual pickle forks......just a full nose with pointers. I know I have some pictures of them, I'll do some digging when I have some time.

I think you are right, Scat Craft, not Kober

I will agree...........I saw a few of these in the early days and still caqn't imagine what a ride it must have been! Even coming from the kneel down Alky world they always looked frightening!

In early '73 we went to Johanasburg (Africa) on an invitation from the Merc distributor. We took our twin Moly and a "Newer" Miles single (that was "too long and flat") for the twisters, and Oshokosh sent a C-6 for me for the single. Awesome on this boat!
Jimbo showed with a rotary and Dick with our twin pressed him for two hours and got second!
Someone "borrowed" my kill switch cover. so I started one lap down, and in 5 laps was pressing Dick. A rough tower housing casting cut the timing belt so I was "done" shortly after...sitting on the deck being waryof the alligators in the Transval.......

It looks like a Scat Craft to me. I have never seen one with a seat in it before. All the Scat Crafts that were running back in the day were kneeldown rigs. The best running Chysler powered boat I can remember was Bobby Soles "Prop Job" Scat Craft.