Life at Lake X in the '60s

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.

Attachment 243598Attachment 243599

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.

Attachment 243598Attachment 243599

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

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bobk

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

---

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.

Attachment 243828Attachment 243827

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