Life at Lake X in the '60s

Attachment 240921Yes I know---it took me long enough to learn how to put picture on the thread (what year is this)...You all knew i was computer handycapped----Ha! and I can't spell either....Look at the smile on the face of that kid--You don't think that he wasn't riding cloud nine. Get a load of the racing jacket----Full racing jumpsuits?? -- no helmits..... You might also notice that the fuel had loosened the paint by the fill cap.....This is about the point where someone told us that we were third over all and first outboard...
Steve.... What happened to all the Lake "X" stories???? I know there are a lot more things happened there than have been told...Need to get Mona to read to Odell and Johnny needs to take a break and write.. I know they were there more than anyone else that's left. They were in on the building of the road. They were there when they took one of the Dodge 500's for a lap or two. (wasn't there for that just heard about it) Johnny would come out and wake me up in the am to take me back to the kitchen for breakfast--- I would stay out with the equipment each nite --no electricity--no running water--- i'm not sure they even gave me a flash lite---No gun or club--Not sure what i was to do if man or beast was to attack the equipment??? No cell phones back then...
The ole' man wanted to get rid of the gators in the slip ( I was night mech.) so I talked him in to letting me catch them and release them back into the many lakes between there and my place in St Cloud. I guess the he forgot to tell Joe Anderson or Joe forgot..Anyway I had pulled my personal truck back by the lift, covered the bed with a tarp and started catching gators.. I had about five or six and looked up to see Joe and George Thompson come sneaking down the driveway toward my truck. Now they had been down at the local Tavern and had one or two beers. I'm sure they thought i was loading something in my truck--and I was-- I eased back up in the shop out of sight to watch. George started looking around for me and Joe went for the truck. It was a step side so he stepped up and threw the tarp back only to be greeted by some not so happy gators.. When the hooping and hollering settled down they went on down to the "motel" and I never heard a word about it.
I know there are a million stories out there ........... how bout it Bakos......
BobbyR

Bobby - You do look happy in that photo. And I thought my brother was the only one crazy enough to get in a race boat with George Thompson. Is that one of the Jones Cats? Based on engine placement, it certainly looks like a cat. If so, I hope it was a calm day on the way to Nassau. Great story about the gators. I would love to have seen the look on Joe Anderson's face when he threw that tarp back. By the way, perhaps you could describe your gator catching method, or did you just send "Jet" into the water to catch them for you? The first time I saw "Jet", he was asleep on the shop floor...I thought he was a bear! You are certainly right about there being MANY Lake X stories to be told.....I pretty much emptied my brain out when I first started this thread. For sure Odell and Johnny could tell many stroies. Also, I would love to pick Chet Strickland's brain. He was always into some sort of hilarious mischief. - Steve Sirois

Chet is still mad at me because of the chicken run that I started while he was running endurance and i was doing a spot check with a Fliver and a 20hp spot check. He had a lap line Larson with a 110 Mercrusier. It was my doing and we both got a couple of days off with out pay - I had a couple of broken ribs so I needed the time. He was just doing his job and some dummy comes running right at him...They both turn the same way at the last moment and the Larson is launched over the fliver....Don't know how I missed the prop.... Chet told me I was out cold when he got back to me.... I would love to hear his side of the story.....
Chet!!!!!are you out there ?????????????????

Seeroy or lilabner!! I need some info on some old friends of yours. Not a bill collector or anything!! Looking for Mike Seay or his brother Mark!! Email me and I will give you the details please!! Years ago Mike(like almost 50 years) Mike was in Indiana. I dont want to post all info on this forum unless you want me to!! Please reply!!
Jeff Carpenter

I found this thread a couple of nights ago and have been trying to catch up before making any comments but decided what the heck!
My dad (Bob Kemmerling) and Rodney Thompson who owned T-Craft Boat manufacturing in Titusville, Fl, raced together in the late 50's and early 60's. That's when outboard dealers and every day run of the mill people raced each other for fun, guys like Haygood brothers from Orlando, Bill Critchfield and Gene Medows to name a few. I have a few stories about encounters with Old man K as we referred to him on the coast. Rodney wanted the Coast Guard sticker/seal of durability for finishing the Miami to Nassau race for his T-Craft. As mentioned in an earlier thread about the 19 footer.
So it was arranged for Rodney to have a 21 footer taken to Lake X and they would rig the boat with a pair of motors I don't remember the HP, and him and my dad would drive the boat. So one Saturday morning my dad and I pulled the boat over to Lake X with a 1960 Chevy wagon. When we got to the gate the guard checked his list of names and said yes we were on it and it was ok to enter. We had no idea where to put the boat so we ask him. Oh! just back it up in front of that garage door over there, pointing to a string of doors. (I will mention this now it was pouring rain like cats and dogs) So we did exactly as the guard said, while we waited for the rain to let up so we could disconnect the boat, someone started banging on the drivers side window. Dad rolled the window down enough to see who it was or at least what this drowned rat wanted. Well to our surprise it was Old Man K in a hooded rain coat, ball cap and cigar yelling who the h_ ll are you guys and why have you backed this d_ mn boat over my fresh concrete. You can imagine what a tandom axle trailer would do to fresh cement that only had plastic covering it. We said we put the boat where the guard said to and we were from T-Craft. He yelled that d_mn Thompson is going to be the death of me yet. He then processed to let us know that the guy at the gate takes care of the gate and is not a parking attendant. So if you want to leave here with your hide I suggest you move this d_mn boat off my new concrete.
The boat was rigged and they did finish the race got the seal. Rodney was in his late 30's my dad mid 40's and by the time they got to Nassau neither one had enough strength left in their legs to walk up the stairs at the hotel so they crawled on their hands and knees. Rodney flew home the next day and left the boat for dad drive back.
I do have other racing encounter with the old man don't if this is the thread.

Robert Kemmerling

Its the thread for it, DO IT HERE!

"I do have other racing encounter with the old man don't (know) if this is the thread.
Robert Kemmerling"

Hi Robert - Your story is exactly the kind we love to hear on this thread. Don't hold back anything.

Let it all hang out - Steve Sirois :thumbsup:

These pictures are of a 9 hour marathon race at Lake Kissimmee in Fl. I have a few more, if these work, then I'll add them. I have more of the start and a couple with a young Mr. K congratulating us of of our win. I will have to tell you how this very successful this boat was for us. Our boat is the #105. We finished rigging and kicking off the fiberglass on that boat around 2:00 am in the morning. We made a mold for it off an 18 ft Javlin Cat which came from Calif. We cut the sides down and the overall length ended up around 16 ft, notice the two points on the front the first pickle fork. (1961 or 1962 I think). Rodney use to sell them at the dealership. The hull was glass and deck was plywood with glass over it. The boat was equipped with two 800 direct reversing engines, two 50 gal alum gas tanks, which my dad made. He worked at Patric Air Force Base in the sheet metal shop. Sooo Uncle Sammy was sort of a silent partner. Dad designed and built the after plane mounted in the tunnel. The ram was made from a jet fighter airleron, the pump was a semi toggle pump for lowering the trailer wheels. The boat ran an honest 67-68 mph with driver in this configuration.

Attachment 243412Attachment 243413Attachment 243414

BobK
1984 Vking HydroStream original owner, 260 EFI Offshore.

How do I make the pictures larger? These are 8.5 x 11 and very close up, you can actually see some of the faces. If not I could email them to you BobK.

When we click on them they enlarge. I saw the faces and guys looking back and forth at each other in the pics

Mark75H

Most of the cats are power cats, but the 2nd most are Javlin's. This is real grass roots Racing. In those days there was guys who would strip down their family boat and bring it to the race. When I post some others I believe there is a Ron Jones cat off in the distance. We won this race when these pictures were taken from the space boat. We lost one of the 9 hr races at Lake Kissimmee when we ran out of gas on the last lap.

I'm not exactly sure anymore as to how long the race was, but we won one there the same year the new 800 merc's were being introduced. The only problem is we were running a factory 700 pacemaker engine. So when we pulled into the winners circle and the Old Man showed up with the news media and camera crew only to find out we beat his mighty new 800 merc with an old rebuilt 700, he was not happy. He wanted to know why we were not running an 800, (of coarse it was in a calm quite manner). Rodney told him that we couldn't afford to run new motors for racing, Carl in a loud voice said let me worry about that. The following Monday we had 2 brand new in the box 800 merc delivered to the dealership. The boat we won with, was single engine (700) on the back of a Javlin runabout flat bottom, similar in style to a flat bottom SK boat.

I to went to Lake X to an open house which was held for Mercury dealers families and friends, I'm not sure what year anymore it was but early 60's. I can't remember anymore what events were put on, but there was a large attendance as I remember. The next pictures will be after the race, well one snuck in there. The guy driving is Rodney Thompson owner of T-Craft, Thompson Crawlers and Dixie Cross Roads,
my dad is in the black T-shirt and other guys is a good friend Rosey Laudenslaughter.

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You have some great pictures there. I was at that 6 hour race running a Raveau with Craig DeWald as co-driver. There was a 4 Hour race a few months before the 6 Hour one I'm pretty sure..The boats ran 700's in that one..Olgator is the resident historian for those races..That had to be one of the best starts ever for cats..I remember Rodney Thompson..Jimmy Sewares brought back one of his boats one year. The deck was raw mahogany plywood..They were nailing it on in the parking lot before the race.. Here is a picture of it in Miami..Attachment 243530Richard Baiz and I later put a pair of Merc 500's on D longshaft Quickys on the boat..It was the most fun boat we ever raced with those motors..We named it Miss Carriage..
They used the start picture for the next two programs for 6 hour race at Lake X and Miami..

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In looking as closely as I can on the photos I can ID these as Power Cats..
Or at least made from a Power Cat hull..
#106, #40, #56, #9, #41
Butch: For some reason I had always thought the #9 Skyway Marine boat
was the same hull as Chuck's #40 just later in its life, but I see now that
they were two different boats since they are in a couple of these shots together.
Great photos of a great time in outboard racing history.
Danny Leger

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Originally Posted by bobk

Most of the cats are power cats, but the 2nd most are Javlin's. Attachment 243512Attachment 243513Attachment 243515

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To me heaven would be running in that race...... forever.....with an occasional stop for a drink and some female companionship..... :D

To me heaven is-----female companionship----with an occasional drink { CC7 } a lot of stops, and OOOH---YES------- chuck in a race, mustn"t forget that -----must we !!!!!!!!!!!!

Danny; The 9 boat was yellow, 40 was white, 41 was Art Des Rocher..Chuck and Dave were the fastest cats because they had the best stuff and were naturals in them..When Dave got the Switzer, he made the 9 boat into a four point cabover..We ran 800 Sportmasters on it with Quincy Stacks..When the back would kick up, you felt like you were being shot out of a cannon..The motors would rev to 7500, and start losing water..It would ride on the bottom of the gearcases..I did most of the testing with it, but don't ever remember racing it.
The JavCats were popular and very pretty but didn't hold up or last long.Power Cats took over till the Switzers came to be..My wife flipped Paul Saunders JavCat in a race with 700's on it around 1960..Attachment 243570

As Steve Sirois said in one of very first threads, my stories/recollections are from my memory and as I remember them being repeated over the years. Just a little update, my dad Bob Kemmerling died in 1986, heart attack, Rodney is still alive and lives just around the corner from me in Titusville, his health is not great. The other guys who was on the bow of the boat Rosey was a very good friend of my dad's and is still alive in his 80's.

In those days friends helped put the race boats together and also helped pitted the boats. I remember a race in Kissimmee the boats would come to the shore and we would haul gas in cans out to them up to our waist deep in the water. At the end of the day we would have a rash around our waist from the gas that had been spilled in the water. (EPA would have a field day now)

The reason dad and Rosey were riding on the bow is because after the race if you were running Merc's or the boat placed, the Old Man furnish you with gas. We always would refill them after a race, we never passed up a chance for good free tank of high octane fuel. That boat would not sit very well with a full load of fuel without sinking.

In the picture the legs you see of the kid sitting on the seawall holding the boat is me, around the age 11 - 13 years old. I helped rig that boat with by dad, setting the engines, glassing in the tank cradles even at that age. I turned 65 this past Sept 23. So as I always say, I've slept a lot since then. Things do get a little fussy. One good thing is I'm not hiding my own Easter Eggs yet.

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As Steve Sirois said in one of very first threads, my stories/recollections are from my memory and as I remember them being repeated over the years. Just a little update, my dad Bob Kemmerling died in 1986, heart attack, Rodney is still alive and lives just around the corner from me in Titusville, his health is not great. The other guys who was on the bow of the boat Rosey was a very good friend of my dad's and is still alive in his 80's.

In those days friends helped put the race boats together and also helped pitted the boats. I remember a race in Kissimmee the boats would come to the shore and we would haul gas in cans out to them up to our waist deep in the water. At the end of the day we would have a rash around our waist from the gas that had been spilled in the water. (EPA would have a field day now)

The reason dad and Rosey were riding on the bow is because after the race if you were running Merc's or the boat placed, the Old Man furnish you with gas. We always would refill them after a race, we never passed up a chance for good free tank of high octane fuel. That boat would not sit very well with a full load of fuel without sinking.

In the picture the legs you see of the kid sitting on the seawall holding the boat is me, around the age 11 - 13 years old. I helped rig that boat with by dad, setting the engines, glassing in the tank cradles even at that age. I turned 65 this past Sept 23. So as I always say, I've slept a lot since then. Things do get a little fussy. One good thing is I'm not hiding my own Easter Eggs yet.

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I don't know why it posted twice. If someone knows how to undo then have at it.

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Originally Posted by bobk

I don't know why it posted twice. If someone knows how to undo then have at it.

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simply hit "Edit Post"...and then delete.

Bob - These are some great photos and stories that you are posting. I don't know if you know about a gathering of old boat racers we have had the last 3 years in Jupiter Florida. The next one is in a scant 22 days from now. We would love to meet you there. Here are a few details. Best Regards - Steve Sirois

22 days until start of OFF2011!!!!! <O:p</O:p
An old friend once said, “Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get to the end, the faster it goes”. The same could be said as we approach the start of OFF2011. The next 22 days will pass in the blink of an eye. And then, in another blink, it will be over. If you still have not decided to attend, consider this. This is a one of those few opportunities in life to spend 3 or 4 days just enjoying the company of old friends, and meeting new ones in a completely relaxed and friendly gathering. It is also a once in a lifetime opportunity to see and place your hands on a collection of unique, old and new race boats. If you have any doubts, watch the short Youtube promo that is linked below. Each frame is only 1 second long but you can pause it and study the faces or even read name tags. Each and every photo in this promo was taken at “Legends of Offshore 2008”, “OFF2009”, or “OFF2010”. Also, pay attention to the smiles.

http://www.youtube.com/user/seeroy3#p/a/u/0/hPisvQI5-GE

So now you have decided, “Hey, I’m going. Where are the details?”. The next link will take you to a “Screamandfly” forum page with all the details. Posts #32 and #34 will give you everything you need.

http://www.screamandfly.com/showthre...Off-2011/page3

Here’s the most important part.
YOU, AND ANYONE THAT CAN EVEN SPELL FAST BOAT, ARE INVITED!!!!!

Warmest Regards – Cadillac McDaniel, Jim Hauser, Steve Sirois <O:p</O:p

Just my .02 again, as every person who was involved with the 50's-70's boat racing surfaces here, the stories get better and better and the holes in the history get filled. I wasn't there but I wish I was more every time I hear a new story. I was growing up within 20 miles of the Placida test facility and completely ignorant of what was going on.

I STILL insist that someone with some literary talent could clean up converting these threads into a book. Thanks Steve for getting the ball rolling and everyone who is contributing.

I guess I will talk a little bit now about the Mississippi River races. The first time that dad and Rodney went to a St Louis to New Orleans or I should say tried. We raced a champ Cat for that race, (Rodney also sold them), these boats were made of plywood no glass. We had a pair of Mark 78's on it, two blade props and as I remember stock lower units. Dad and 'Uncle Sammy' (Patric Air Force Base) made the fuel tanks, which were rectangular in shape 50 gal. When they showed up for inspection as my dad told the story, some jerk jumped up on top of the tank, then took a large hammer and started beating on them. He ask the guy what the hell are you doing, the reply was something like "you'll see why I'm doing this in a couple of days if you last".

They made it through the first day with only a few problems getting lost, steering tie bar coming loose, getting to the fuel stop before the fuel was there. The 2nd day is when the sh_t hit the fan, some time into the day and one of many, they came up on another barge wake this one seemed bigger then the others they had encountered up to this point. They made it over the 1st wave, came off the 2nd and stuffed the 3rd, upon which the left engine seized.

After they returned home and the engine was dismantled, a tooth pick was found in one of the cylinders.
Dad said that Rodney a tooth pick chewer, had thrown one out a couple of miles before the barge encounter. Guess it didn't make it all the way out. As every body knows, nobody left the face plate on the front of the engine.

The refueling was the adventure. Some places it was 30-40ft or more from the top of the river bank to the water and the boat below. Some cases you were responsible for your own fuel and if you couldn't find a local fuel truck, they would lower gas cans down with ropes. This is where all Rodney's and dad's friends would come in just guys supporting a friend for the fun and adventure of it all.

One of the neatest tricks they saw somewhere and incorporated into the boat was mounting the fuel tanks on skids/track and using a winch to move the tanks forward and aft in order to get the boat on plane and also to help the running attitude. This is before dad design the after plane for the tunnel on the next generation cat they ran the Javlin's.

The next post will be about the Javlin and a vast improvement in the FINISH, with pictures and newspaper clipping. Hope these posting are not boring.

Robert Kemmerling (BobK)

The next time we went to Mississippi (St. Louis) was with an 18ft Javlin, a pair of new round/baffled aluminum fuel tanks, a new designed hydraulic tunnel after plane, 800 Merc's with sportmasters, oh yes take note to the seats which were light weight aluminum out of an airplane care of yes uncle 'Sammy'. They had two vehicles in order to leap frog the fuel tops,(no more waiting) a better system to lower the fuel cans down. They even had some good maps of the river to help with the getting lost. The first photo is either the staging area on the first day before the start of the race or a finishing point on one of the other days. It was so competitive that you had to rotate shifts of guarding your boat at night to stop the sabotaging. There was rumors of sugar in the gas, cutting spark plug wires etc. The second photo speaks for itself, we were very proud that is a tough and demanding race.

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Bob:
What year was this one? I see my Dad was 5th behind your Dad's 4th place.. We ran that several years.
Be sure to check out the "Mississippi Saga" thread for more on this.
Danny Leger

Danny I don't know for sure but I believe it was 1961 or 1962. The 800's were 1961 if I'm not mistaken it has been a long time. I'll ask my mother she might remember. That was real, racing it would separate the men from the boys, and I'm sure your dad had a lot of stories.

Bob Kemmerling

This is a little story where we had another run in with Mr. K.

We entered a 9hr marathon race in Miami Marine Stadium, with the #105 16' Javlin as seen in my earlier post. The only difference is we now have a pair of speed master lower units on it. We obtained them through a friend Dave Tar, who had a friend at Lake X. If anyone knew Dave
speak up he was from the Miami area. Lets say the lowers were sort of covertly obtained.

We actually did very well in that race, I just can't remember exactly where we placed now. But when we pulled the boat out of the water after the race to our surprise the right hand lower unit was missing the whole side of the gear case. Dad, Rodney and myself were all trying to figure out how the hell it stayed together. Of coarse some of the other drivers over heard us and came over to see what was going on. Don't remember who the factory drivers were at the time, but one ask us what were we doing with those lower units? The reply was we got them from Lake X, the driver replied I don't know or care how you got them but they all have been recalled due to the fact they were blowing up and the engineers couldn't figure out why. Now we were drawing a crowd and low and behold Mr K. showed up. I remember him screaming who's boat is this and why are my lower units that I recalled on it. Very quietly Rodney replied it's mine. Thomspon how did you get these? wait! I don't care. Why are they on this boat? Rodney said we didn't know we weren't suppose to not run them. Mr K replied, well you would have been notified if you would have received them through proper channels and we knew that you had them. What I want to know is why you were able run these for 9 hours with one missing the whole side of the gear case and we're not able to keep them together running oil as a lubricate instead of salt water. He then order a couple of his guys to remove them and send them to the Lake. Promising we would get new ones when they figured out the problem. We actually got 4 of them.

Side note.. Rodney remembered about 4 hours into the race hitting a coconut floating in the water.

Bob,
I knew Dave Tarr pretty well. I worked on his boat, a single engine Carter Craft, at Dade Marine..Bob Waldo was the boss..This was during the Mark 78 era. In fact Dave and I went to see Psycho in 1960 when I was 18..I think he gave up racing around 61 or 62. He was a very likeable person, but I lost contact with him when I went to work for Dave Craig..I have a picture of his boat "Tarr Baby" somewhere..I will see if I can find it.
Butch

Bob'K
Was this race connected to the Orange Bowl Regatta and run in January of 1960? If it is, I ran this race at the request of Mr. K. with a Sid Craft DU and a KG9H.
Thanks.... Rusty

I have been pretty busy for awhile but I was looking through some stuff under the bed the other day and came across old Kiekhaefer Corp press releases. Photos with the release narative. Now I know that many of you have seen most of these photos, but few of you have seen the accompanying narratives.
The following were taken at 19 July 1970 Miami Marine Stadium "Invitational 225" and, leading up to Paris 6 Hour and 1970 Havasu "Outboard World Championships".

Take a look back and enjoy a bit of our history. My Best Regards To All Of You - Steve Sirois

http://i40.tinypic.com/34zm5j9.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/11bi0j8.jpg

http://i39.tinypic.com/34fnnu0.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/n1uyxu.jpg

http://i41.tinypic.com/15zm4vk.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/10fx6wx.jpg

By the way, that's Charlie Rush fueling Jim Merten.

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Here's a neat award that Kiekhaefer and OMC passed back and forth.

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And Finally, this well preserved full size poster from under the bed.
1970 Lake Havasu Outboard World Championships.

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Originally Posted by seeroy

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What is the U shape cutout in the lower cowl for? Guess I never noticed that before.
Mark N

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Originally Posted by seeroy

And Finally, this well preserved full size poster from under the bed.
1970 Lake Havasu Outboard World Championships.

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How good was Bill Sirois you ask?........ When you beat the guy who designed and built your boat, while he is driving a newer,faster model...... You're more than good.....You're the best.

Great stuff...... Steve you should check under the bed more often,,,,,

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Originally Posted by gofish7070

Great stuff...... Steve you should check under the bed more often,,,,,

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Well, it's not very often that I have to sleep there.

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Originally Posted by T2x

How good was Bill Sirois you ask?........ When you beat the guy who designed and built your boat, while he is driving a newer,faster model...... You're more than good.....You're the best.

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And I understand that you had a very nice fishing trip. Perhaps you will win another this October.
Tell Doreen that Iris and I wish her the best at Westminster next month.

Warmest Regards - Steve and Iris