Besides the wings, there is a BIG Jones with no motors...a Molinari with piped SBP(s) hooked to the fork truck...Checkmate v bottom in the water...more boats lined up in the corner of the yard...near what became the burn pile, I think.
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Besides the wings, there is a BIG Jones with no motors...a Molinari with piped SBP(s) hooked to the fork truck...Checkmate v bottom in the water...more boats lined up in the corner of the yard...near what became the burn pile, I think.
Did you find waldo???
Looks like a lineup of several Switzer Wings[/QUOTE]Quote:
Originally Posted by RogerH
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Yes, you guys all got what I was referring to ..... the lineup of Switzer Wings. Just amazes me how we went from not having one to work with when they were in their glory, to this sight ..... rows of these machines just sitting there doing nothing!
Zonkercraft has done a good job of identifying other boats in the yard, his eyes are better than mine.
After the Havasu OWC in 1968, I was driving home from the race and made my daily check-in call to the office. I was told to hold on, Garbrecht had some exciting news that he wanted to share. Gary informed me that Mr. Kiekhaefer had made the decision to establish an official OPC Racing Department. They would set up shop at what was called the Pipkorn Coal Company property, located at the corner of Wisconsin & Marion Streets, on the river. Merc had just purchased this property. Gary said he was promoted to be the Manager of this new department and asked if I would like to join him as Foreman of Racing (you can probably guess how I answered :)).
The picture shows the portion of the property purchased that was allocated the the Race crew. It went from the river on the south to the fence behind the rows of boats on the east to Marion Street (about center in the picture south of the railroad cars) on the north to the Wisconsin Street bridge on the west.
Across Wisconsin street, on the very far left you can see some signage on the roof of a building. The sign says 'Deltox Rug Company'. That is where Merc High Performance was born. 1n 1973 I was promoted to Manager of Hi Perf. and we rented space from Deltox to start this new department. We set up a two cycle shop, I think the 25SS was the first build we did. We set up a central stockroom for all high performance parts. We acquired more space to set up a four cycle department and started building the Tempest offshore package. Believe it or not, this humble beginning is what altimately became the multi million dollar Mercury Racing you know today!!
The building on the far left with the cars parked around it was the office and original stockroom. The window above the Caprice station wagon was Garbrecht's office. The open overhead door with the VW bus parked in front of it was our original prop shop. Keith 'Stoney' Hurst did his thing with props in there until we lost him to cancer ..... great guy, very sad. The building to the right of the office with the round windows was new, it was our engine shop. My office was the window just above the transom of the Jones boat. If you look really close, you can see me in there just a grinding away on the details of the next race! :D The L shaped building in the lower right was the rigging shop. Soon after this picture was taken, another new building would go up in the area where you see the Molinari and the fork lift. The west side of that building would become the Twistercraft boat builders room, Carl Stippich & Jack Ferris. The rest of the building would be used for race boat cold storage.
As they used to say, "there are a million stories in the naked city, this is just one of them" ..... :thumbsup:
[QUOTE=willabee;3194113][QUOTE=willabee;3193440]Prior to the triple Jones becoming the object of my affection, the toughest kid on the block was definitely the Switzer Wing. If most folks are like me, the first time they saw one up close their jaw dropped and they uttered something like "Wow, what the hell is that?" . Didn't matter if they were on the trailer, idling past the pits or running at full song, the Wing was one impressive, macho machine.
In their heyday, we didn't have any sitting in the yard at Merc Racing in Oshkosh. All that the company had ownership of were in the possession of the driver to which they were assigned. As a result I had almost no opportunity to drive one. .......Here is boat 802 at Lake X, and in action at the Gold Coast Marathon.Quote:
The Switzer Wing enjoyed a 'Top Gun' status for a few years, with 67, 68 & 69 probably being it's best. During that time it was a poorly kept secret Mercury was trying to acquire as many of those 18'ers as possible. As I mentioned, there were none sitting idle in the boatyard in Oshkosh, the only one we had everyday access to for testing was #802 down at Lake X. However, the tunnels became more dominant and that situation changed dramatically as Merc began retiring the Wings.
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That year Odell Lewis in wing boat 804 was 4th overall, and Roy Ridgell in 802 was 5th overall.
Odell and Roy were first & second consecutively in class 8. Maybe that is why there boat numbers started with the number 8, or it was just coincidentally.
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Wing U-22 looks like it got a cosmetic change to U-220. Did someone else have the rights to U-22?
It looks like U-220 might of had 3 drivers, with the three flags (USA, England, and maybe France, Italy or Germany) displayed near the Mercury logo.
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Attachment 460689Quote:
Originally Posted by FUJIMO
I know that the Wet and wild was Jim Mertens boat, but in this pic that helmet looks like the one that Boots Spellmen wore, was he co driving or something??Quote:
Originally Posted by Lake X Kid
Boots was listed as co-driver--69Quote:
Originally Posted by wogi
Wayne Vickers co-drove in 68!
Thanks
[QUOTE=Lake X Kid;3194263]804 ane 802 became 'Test' boats at the LakeQuote:
Originally Posted by willabee
First Wing I drove was 'Odell's Boat' at the Lake in 67--
Mr. K wanted as many boats as possible running at Parker 68--witth his new baby--the 1250 BP-
'Odell's' boat was rerigged as a race boat and trailered to Parker
Never came back--------------------
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and why is 804 on the trailer upside down?? Just asking if its some kinda speed secret I understand you not telling
Speaking of co-driving, here's a pic of Rick LaMore co-driving the rig that was put together for Merten to use in the boatyard after announcing his retirement from racing. Twin TII's, cable steering ..... he just needed to slip on his helmet and he was right at home :DQuote:
Originally Posted by wogi
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....
Meanwhile---
Up on the Ledge----------
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Ok been wanting to ask all youall this one question: Working on the racing side of Merc, was it better to work for MR K or the Brunswick corp?????Quote:
Originally Posted by GENE LANHAM
Quote:
Originally Posted by wogi
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