Tricks that old racers get up to after retirement

Gene That looks like the right hander at Havasu—- where all the timekeepers were located —-first time i met Molly and Kenny Ballou [lived in HIALEAH CAL.] YEAR WAS 1969. and Billy SEEBOLD .
Renato was racing „“MISS TITTY“. [i think].
Scotti won with a dually [ mike mullens owns it now]——-
Met Art Kennedy and his dad [Luther—i think] -he was racing a single RON JONES —ran very fast indeed until he blew it over.
Was there with DON ROSS. DEITER Schultze always ran pretty good at Havasu. Clive Curtis and James Beard ran there too.
I ran out of money very quickly and Don bankrolled the rest of the adventure.

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Benny Robertson asked me to make him a concept of his F1 JOHNSON powered craft —- reckon i can get it to him in time for Christmas ———
For a fair concept of your own boat —prices start at $500 using all metal [aluminum]
At the moment —turnaround time is four weeks —— from January 1st 2023.
do have a couple of dithering tyre kickers — who knows —they may come up good . Both are poker run boat owners , so its not as though dinero is the problem ?????

Back home in the fold — normal service will be resumed after the weekend . A tad pooped after a hectic two weeks in Florida .
Crammed a hell of a lot in —but of course its simply never enough time . Constant catch up—-all a tad BLUE ARSED FLY !!!!!!!!
Got to meet AMBERJACK —was touch and go but we got there in the end .
Another chapter for the book —hoping to get stuck into it today —been banned from SUPERSHED and machinery until after the weekend !!!!!! Thats the time i get stuck into the book .when all other avenues are closed !! Grandson BEN tells me i have enough literature —-too many pictures —- too much ambition without actually achieving much . Need thick skin and a mature nature just to survive after you wake up in the morning.

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Originally Posted by jackiewilson

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So the morning i was leaving , CADILLAC asks me if i still want to down toRIVIERA BEACH and meet up with CHARLIE ONEIL ?????
Turns out Caddie and Chalie‘s dads were friends [back in the day] they grew up together —been friends forever —yet HAVENT seen other for over thirty years.
Asked Charlie why he was limping ———
ABOVE IS THE X-RAY—— HE HAS MORE METAL THAN A CONCRETE MIXER . I would limp with that amount of hardware .

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Like a fish and sinker I never have to worry when I fall in the water I always float head up

Who wouldn’t have an orgasm when you start talking about Mike Gordon and all the racing that we did in Miami. Had some awfully good food at the restaurant great meetings in Mike’s house and what a character he was he attracted characters Jackie Wilson would’ve fit right in

A picture of an older Tommy Chandler he drove the GN 32 Boat when I owned it we chased Duff Dailey As hard as we could I think the only time we beat him was when he broke. Thanks to Doug Janish in the engines he built we were competitive most races. Tom Chandler was world champion and family J for a couple of years with a Hydro stream and a tower of power mercury. Thank you my good friend

I have to correct Jackie on one thing the black silk Mandela was owned by another character in GN boat racing named Bob Donahue who many people remember from South Florida racing. When I owned it it was re-painted red and ran under the name of mighty mouse because we ran small block Chevy‘s in it with either bud courier driving or Ralph Johnson. I did run the boat and a couple of local Caribbean Club races. The Rayson Craft GEN 32 as I explained was raced Bye Tom Chandler. Doug Janish built the engines for that boat. Joe Colt built the engines for the mighty mouse GEN 23. I just spent money.

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Originally Posted by Bob V

Brings back a lot of memories. Charlie must have run with a few GN friends of mine including Dave Stoller from Dave Stoller's Pass-a-grille Marine. Dave had the "Sorry 'bout that" and "Kinda sorry 'bout that" GN boats. On occasion his beautiful wife, Nancy, would drive one. Then there was Hugh James from Green Cove Springs and Gary King from King Marine Engineering in St. Pete. driving "Hot 'n Nasty." Wayne Dokken from Clearwater driving "The Magic Christian."

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Who could forget Mr. Stroller And the whole Saint Petersburg crew. Blackjack Withrow Gary King. Stoller‘s boat was named sorry about that because that was his favorite saying he was always telling Nancy sorry about that or when he show up at a race and he missed the drivers meeting sorry about that. Pass a grille Marina what is the West Coast headquarters Florida that is for the A.B. BA outlaw racing. David always came to the Caribbean Club for our boat races and we tried to reciprocate. Hugh James another GN Racer From the past good competitor built some fine boats I think he was involved with Ben Borden after Ben took over ownership of the GN 32. I remember the boat magic Christian and the driver Wayne. Gary King was like the Stan Erwin of the West Coast best engine builder around. So even though my memory may be a little off I do remember a long time ago

See what i mean about recording history !!!!!!!!!!
Most of what we did is not written in stone ——— gets forgotten——retold —embellishments added [its what we do] and if its not recorded ,it will be blown out of all proportion —-or scaled down to nothing !

30 minutes with Jackie Wilson

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Originally Posted by jackiewilson

See what i mean about recording history !!!!!!!!!!
Most of what we did is not written in stone ——— gets forgotten——retold —embellishments added [its what we do] and if its not recorded ,it will be blown out of all proportion —-or scaled down to nothing !

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It’s like being around the Kentucky derby winner !!! Straight up class I hope I’m alive When I get to be 91 and not a slobbering Old fool in a wheelchair. He and Cadillac McDaniel or a pair of jokers. Everybody in South Florida knows Cadillac Mcdaniels the best marine salvage engineer in the business. An old Miami boy From the beach. Jackies is also a super salesman I think I ordered four of his creations and ended up with a houseful. I’ve got some good ones😎

All i did Charlie was let you do the buying —- i simply showed you what i had and let you choose . All i brought back was an empty suitcase and a promise —-i can live with that.
Listening to you and Cadillac romancing the tale was far better than watching any movie .
Simply ran out of time — i was 200 miles from the airport and my flight was just six hours away , with Caddy who is about as reliable as a chocolate fireguard !!! But i made the flight home ok, thanks for a great time Charlie O Neal. [AMBERJACK] .

I LEFT YOU FIVE CONCEPTS CHARLIE——DONT TELL ME YOU LOST ONE ALREADY!!!!

Just counted

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Originally Posted by jackiewilson

All i did Charlie was let you do the buying —- i simply showed you what i had and let you choose . All i brought back was an empty suitcase and a promise —-i can live with that.
Listening to you and Cadillac romancing the tale was far better than watching any movie .
Simply ran out of time — i was 200 miles from the airport and my flight was just six hours away , with Caddy who is about as reliable as a chocolate fireguard !!! But i made the flight home ok, thanks for a great time Charlie O Neal. [AMBERJACK] .

I LEFT YOU FIVE CONCEPTS CHARLIE——DONT TELL ME YOU LOST ONE ALREADY!!!!

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I’ve actually got six Jackie the Karelsen 3 Wings and two metal tunnel boats. I’m going to try and get Some graphics for the skyway wing and the Kitson wing Been studying photos and YouTube four different pictures of the two. Second project may be after Christmas I’m trying to make a deal on a boat to go to Parker next year Or the year after as funds And time permit

...the 80's was a fun decade in florida...https://www.screamandfly.com/attachm...9&d=1668701347

Went to a celebratory dinner at AMBERLY CASTLE last night to commemorate ten years of wedded bliss between my eldest grand daughter LOUISE and her husband GARY STRAY>
Should you want to see what thins ancient fortress looks like —look it up on any of the dot-dot settings .
will post you some piccies later —— needless to say —like everything else this team does —its a winner .

Nostalgic sort of time from now until the end of november . My 27TH wedding anniversary— today.
tomorrow 22nd november would have been my eldest and firstborn daughters 68th birthday . She died some 26 yrs ago. .
29th would have been my young brother Geoffrey’s 87th birthday .
November was never my favourite month———-but a lot always happened in November.

Phill ROLLA once told me that propellors are not an exact science . When i asked him why— he said too many mitigating factors !!!!!!!!!
I have watched my son beat the crap out of a 30 inch diameter five bladed prop[off a 90 foot Pershing] for several days .
Asked him if it was even worth trying to get it back to the original. He said „“at 75 thousand dollars apiece its worth a shot .
so i found a brass sculpture that depicts a couple of days in the life of a PROPMEISTER which i will give him.Attachment 512594

...nice piece...https://www.screamandfly.com/attachm...4&d=1669104032

Hell of a lot more to making a prop work than people realise .
My son Mark has nearly fifty years of experience in the manufacture —creation —upkeep—repairing —reworking propellors than any other person in the world .
He has done props for every winning team there ever was from outboard and inboard hydros over in Italy and the continent .
Done props for Seebold ——Jones——CAPPOLINI—— Pruett—— Betty Cook —— Rocky Aoki—-Ballesteros ——-.
He was always the last resort —— when tracers had tried everyone else —- then they turned to Mark for help ———still the same today .
RIVA—- SUNSEEKER —PERSHING——. When it wont work they all send for my son MARK WILSON because at the end of the day there is no substitute for experience and a life spent with marine propulsion .
you know what —i almost forgot —— when it comes to surface drives — he is also the very best trouble-shooter in the world —NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT—- BUT I DO .

Propellers were always the hardest thing to get right in racing. In 12 years of racing I had only 2 real good ones. The first one was from Olegator for my McCall which he later improved after I tore it up in a race. We won Nationals with that one. The second was a Bobby Soles stainless one. This was my only successful effort in propeller work. I wisely left the blades just as Bobby had finished them. My contribution was fabrication of an exhaust tube for this prop which helped with blowout and also made it a little faster. We broke the 5 mile record in SE and set a 1 Hour record in SD with this one.

First got to know Phil ROLLA in the late 60‘s . Was MIKE BELLAMY who told me he was one of the few people who understood propellors . So i trotted over to Lugano to meet him . Struck up a lifelong friendship with him and his then girl friend RENATI who was my eldest daughters best friend . My son Mark worked with Phil for ten years so i have been around propulsion for some time .

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Wheeltappers and footstompers casting society !!!!!!! PUTETREBeen up to my fetlocks in snotty noses and sore throat—- copped it on the aircraft on the way home —- interfered badly with the running of events .
Promissed Benny Robertson he would have his F1 concept by Christmas .
Then i got involved in brass casting for Mark that then grew —- bit like TOPSY‘S DOLL . BUT THEN AGAIN LIFE IS FULL OF LITTLE SURPRISES .

Better get a wriggle on if i am going to get the stuff im working on finished in time for Christmas . What with time out to visit the usa and time out for good behaviour i might just still do it.
Will post a couple of progress piccies later [Benny‘s boat]

Fetlocks.??? What in the blue man hell is a fetlock? Jackie there you go murder in the English language again. I was trying to determine if that statue of your son was cast or if you had Hammered that there used to be a guy in the Bahamas over in the Abaco’s that did magnificent castings of fish and dolphins and people can’t quite remember his name but he was very famous. So looking forward to more chapters of your book.

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Originally Posted by jackiewilson

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Promissed Benny Robertson he would have his F1 concept by Christmas .
Then i got involved in brass casting for Mark that then grew.

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A Concept Artist in demand, is better than creating things no one will purchase and/or value. Christmas is a good-time to make your clients happy!

https://www.screamandfly.com/attachm...7&d=1669308602

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Originally Posted by jackiewilson

First got to know Phil ROLLA in the late 60‘s . Was MIKE BELLAMY who told me he was one of the few people who understood propellors . So i trotted over to Lugano to meet him . Struck up a lifelong friendship with him and his then girl friend RENATI who was my eldest daughters best friend . My son Mark worked with Phil for ten years so i have been around propulsion for some time .

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Phil Rolla.

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Phil in his phycological mood —— i have seen that picture before , but I’m damned if i can remember where .
Missed you at the OFF meeting Roy —kept expecting to see you walk through the door !!!

...some might not know that phil's first 10 years in business making propellers, his company was known as record propellers. from when he started in 1983, up until about 1993...

I raced with RECORD decals on all my boats —- was always record as far back as i can remember — would have to ask Mark when Record was dropped , if it ever was .
Ron Hill filled me in on Rolla’s early background [which i didn’t know] . He was racing an ALFA-ROMEO engined inboard hydro when i first met him .
one of those bouncy things —where the pilot sits on the transom holding a two foot diameter four spoke steering wheel. I declined the offer of a trial run .
Was through him i met Jeremiah CETTI [Torrigia boats] —Angelo Molinari——Fabio Buzzi——Tullio Abbatte and a host more Swiss and Italian pilots .
All my summer holidays were spent with a wife and five kids in some old camper van pulling a race boat across europe . There was a two week period in August, when you could compete in ten races along the COTE D AZUR . Starting in Cannes—Antibes—Nice —-and a final in Monte Carlo.
I once came home with 22 trophies ——- a boat full of free fuel and a bellyful of Caviar [which i had never tasted before BELUGA. ]. Plus friends i made for life .
This was early sixties —— when Scotti was just another driver —-Renato was just old enough to have a licence —-Velden was a Radio and electrical goods shop owner—— the DE-BOOMS Were a family just like mine . Russians travelled in a very ancient [long past its sell by date] bus with 4 0R 5 boats on top and three behind on a rickety device they claimed was a trailer .
I remember crossing the channel back home [very sunburnt] with a bunch of well happy kids —- telling all the drivers back home what a great time we had . Following year was when the English invaded France —- PINSON—Spalding—-Coulson —Don Ross— Was the start of the best time in power boat racing history —for me anyway.
Here i go again —still abed and reminiscing on the iPad on scream and fly—- why the hell do i do that ?????

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Originally Posted by jackiewilson

Here i go again —still abed and reminiscing on the iPad on scream and fly—- why the hell do i do that ?????

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WHY? To Educate and Entertain! You are THE WIKI of Boat Racing!

(The Wonderful Wiki of OZ, no less!) ... Fascinating stories and memories, Jackie - and more fodder for that BOOK you are writing! By the way, how's it coming?

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Originally Posted by Watermark

WHY? To Educate and Entertain! You are THE WIKI of Boat Racing!

(The Wonderful Wiki of OZ, no less!) ... Fascinating stories and memories, Jackie - and more fodder for that BOOK you are writing! By the way, how's it coming?

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About 12.000 words and fifty pictures —— 3 lawsuits ——and ive still got a bit of ambition !!!!! If i can find another couple of hours a day then i might get it finished this winter.

https://www.screamandfly.com/attachm...1&d=1669308668

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Originally Posted by Amberjack1234

Fetlocks.??? What in the blue man hell is a fetlock? Jackie there you go murder in the English language again. I was trying to determine if that statue of your son was cast or if you had Hammered that there used to be a guy in the Bahamas over in the Abaco’s that did magnificent castings of fish and dolphins and people can’t quite remember his name but he was very famous. So looking forward to more chapters of your book.

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Charlie ——FETLOCKS are above the ankle and below the knee—- term usually used in equestrian society and overworked humans.
Casting is actually a series of brass castings stitched together to create a village blacksmith scenario , beating the crap out of his product —be it a cart wheel rim —-horseshoe or the humble propellor . No, i found one at the caR boot sale —the other i rescued from the scrap bin at the recycling facility .
WAIT UNTIL IVE FINALLY GOT A FINISHED ARTICLE—— but i can promise you something well out of the ordinary———————why?????? Because its for someone really special————my son Mark.

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WELL that was effort number one on BENNY RONERTSONS F1 —— just fell a tad short so its up for grabs if anyone would like it —-$500 inc postage .
sorry Benny —just wasnt up to muster —new one in progress !!!!

...unique. but whats new? they're all unique...https://www.screamandfly.com/attachm...9&d=1669552818

https://www.screamandfly.com/attachm...0&d=1669552841

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Close encounters with a planer thicknesser yesterday . Something i never do is loose sleeves anywhere near the planer . Yesterday was the exception . Doing the fuselage for ARTHUR MOSTERTS Velden when I got caught up —- self preservation kicked in and i let the cashmere clog up the blades and switched it off with the left hand . Fortunate escape — maybe its time to stop using machines ???Wouldnt mind , but ive only had the damn thing three weeks ——[cashmere] Some would say it’s ARMLESS now anyway !!!!!

...once again...your one lucky s.o.b...:cheers:...

Better you are born lucky than beautiful——- did scare the crap out of me once i thought about it . Day before i lost a glove in the big drilling machine . Waiting for number three — but i am super careful and vigilant at all time . Been fernagling BENNY ROBERTSONS F1 BOAT . Number two is up to muster —number one fell flat on its face. As my learned pedagogue was heard to utter —-CAN DO BETTER WILSON !!!!!!!

Had a most hectic day——-got fitted with a new hearing aid . They couldn’t believe it was four years since i last threw the previous one into the log burner with a handful of orange peel—- nearly blew the bloody doors off the burner when the battery burned . I suppose they must be midget lithium batteries .turning cold-wet and miserable — really marrow chilling weather —- kind that kills off old timers without anyone noticing .