Skip Talbot Dual Engine Dragster 1967

[lilabner]

[I just noticed in looking at the pages from this '67 Havasu race that there was a boat listed U-115 as a Powercat with 4-Chrysler motors on it... ]

I think I saw that boat at Galveston in 69 or 70..driven by a guy from Kansas I think.. last name something like Eies..he T-boned a Switzer cat that spun in front of him and flew completely over it taking the left pod with him..
bet Ron Hill knows who I mean...

Butch

[Mark75H]

Harold Eis? I think he won at Havasu..........twice

(in the years before tunnel hulls really took over).

I think his name was pronounced the same as "ice" so they nicknamed him "the iceman"

[lilabner]

that's him...it was a hell of a wreck and a fantastic race....I don't think anyone else ran 4 engine Chryslers

[Ron Hill]

It was Galveston all right...May, 1969. I have some slides of the Switzer.. Jimmy Mertens spun the Switzer and a four engine Chrysler did run over him...But, It was NOT Harold Eis....When I dig up the slides, I'll tell the rest of the story...

[clampon]

the race in galveston you are talking about the boat with the chryslers was driven by roy reeves from austin texas he ran powercats twin mercs also stylecraft with mercs and it was a stylecraft with three chryslers an offits bayou he is alive and well i saw him last week thanks clampon

[lilabner]

Thanks for the replys and setting the old memory bank straight..
I was working on our Mandella and heard the wack..looked up and saw the Chrysler boat in the air..Mertens was hanging out the side with his head in the water and the boat still moving slowly..I think some racers got to him before the crash boats did,,thankfully no one was hurt to badly..can't say the same for our race...5 boats flipped in 15 minutes time and they ran out of ambulances...the last guy didn't make it....they had to use someones van to transport him...should have called it a day when the ambulance supply was exhausted...

[clampon]

i stand to be corrected i stoped at roy reeves house this afternoon and looked at pictures of the wreck with mertin. roy said he was on the inside going to pass and the wing was on the left jim saw double r and turned the boat and it hooked roy said he saw jim face to face and pointed the stylecraft at his head to try to put him in the tunnel for some space the boat was a 21 stylr with 4 105 chryslers and had 80gal. of fuel reeves said the boat was a rocket from 40 to 100mph the number was u105 the boats were trash so roy and howard johnson who ran the hot cannery drag hydro bought a 20 molinar from joe fielder from austin joe was the glastron factory who went over at havasu in 70 at the start. roy was at lake travis testing the boat with 3 135 chryslers and blew it over and was down till the waters slick spot was gone he was under 2 of 3 min. then poped up the boat sat 7 daus on the bottom at 168ft and was found doubble r said in all the last races and testing somewhere he lost his rabbits foot and hung it up. i will post pictures of the wreck with the wing thanks clampon

[Ron Hill]

Galveston Bay seemed to be a cool place to race. In March, 1969, I had been the first outboard to ever lead the Parker Enduro. A broken crank had put me and Fred Hauenstein, Jr. out of the Enduro (The race was the first of March). Galveston was planned for mid May.

OMC promised us...Jimbo, Fredddy, Johnny Sanders...Bill Wiles that they had engines coming that would last and beat Mercury... Well, I flew to Galveston, and Jimbo had tested my WING on Friday and claimed it would go 89 MPH on the course....Which seemed slow to me, because I had seen 103 at Parker.... New engines??? and 89 MPH, hell, they should run all day... These new engine had REV Limiters on them to save the engine from over reving...

On Saturday morning, I kind of ROARED out of the pits and skidded her throught the first turn, then turned her on down the back stretch, I saw 95 at the bouy. I said to myself...that seems better than what Jimbo said, I come whistling through the corner and I get to the exit pin. I look down and I'm doing 92 MPH when the insdie motor stopped (hit the rev limiter)...I go ASS OVER TEA KETTLE so fast, I come out of that DeSilva wing like a "CORK OUT OF A POP GUN". I land belly first and do a summersault or two. As I'm tumbling, I see my watch leaving my wrist.... I say, "Oh ****, OMC said if I flipped again, they weren't paying for no $200 watch." I reach out with my right hand and grab my watch an pull it back on and I cut my middle finger with the band...


When the patrool boat comes over, I'm floating, holding my watch....my 20 foot wing is upside down...They say, "Hey, you OK?"... I say, "I'm fine but I cut myself putting my watch back on and this salt water is hurting like hell." I hear the radio guy say, "This guy must have been hit in the head, he's talking about not losing his watch." I laugh and get in the patrol boat.

It is hot as hell. We drain the tanks and go to the OMC truck to put two new motors on...We back down to the ramp just in time to see Johnny Sander crash, right where I did. HE totally destroyed a new black Switzer...Same thing, rev limiters... (You can see some pictures on www.babbittdesign.com.

The race starts, Bill Cooper kills us off the line and wins with no competition.......But I run about two laps, and I break a crank on the inside motor. I limp in, pissed off... put the boat on the trailer, just as Jimmy Mertens spins right where Sander and I had crashed....Mertens is backward and this big damn Chrysler four engine boats is right on his ass when he spins. He hits Mertens and launches like he was going in orbit. The boat looks 50 feet in the air. It did not blow over, it swapped ends in the air...and went in backwards and never slowed. Went right out of sight....for 3-4 minutes....

Mertens Switers in still running on one engine and Jimmy is hanging out the side with his head in the water..I was sure he was dead... He did come out of that without a major injury....

We went to the OMC truck..threw our motors in the truck and told them to go to hell...we were going t gets some Mercury motors...

[Old fiberglass]

Ron,

That is great story I enjoyed it.

Thanks for talking to me on the phone and giving me the info on the Switzer at Lake Elsinore. I really appreciate it. I just started fiberglassing on it tonight, it's a project.......

Also, many thanks to Danny for giving me the info and pointing me in your direction.

Many thanks again guys, Rick


P.S - My wife would like to talk to both of you about this.......

[lilabner]

Ron
Thanks for the Galveston report, enjoyed it..the crash happened just like I remember, only I had thought it was Eis..glad to have cleared that up...
This was the first major outboard race I had been to after getting out of the Marines and I was in awe of the equipment...didn't know a lot of the guys racing outboards..but my friends Bill Sirois and Gene Lanham were there running so I wasn't too lost..I wanted to race outboards again but the costs had soared so much I was stuck driving a GN boat and riding as mechanic on ocean boats..that was when you stood up and the fastest boats were going 75mph..but the water was usually rough...
thanks again..I enjoy your posts

Butch Stokes

[Ron Hill]

This is the DeSilva Wing that I crashed at Galveston...No one will restore it, as aftershe ran Parker the next year, I took her to the dump....becasue I'd sold the trailer....This was taken when we were leading Parker.the first outboard to ever lead the 9 Hour Enduro...

[Mike Jackson]

Ron,
The I-405 doesn't go that far. The lagoon lays from the east side of the I-5.

Dan,
Talbot did race there. My dad and him spent some evenings together in our shop along with Norm Phillips, Toprahanian and others.

[Lake X Kid]

[Instigator]

Some killer shots!

Thx for sharing.

[Powercat]

Found a better scan of Lactner's boat..

It is common knowledge that Schulze was the fastest single outboard and 4th overall in '66, but forgotten that Pete de Lactner was right on his tail with a US designed Mustang, based on the old Hickman Seasled bottom; 5th overall and 2nd fastest single engine ahead of all but 2 dual engine factory rigs. The time difference between them was negligble for 9 hours of competition.

But ... the refinements in tunnel hulls during the next 12 months put the seasled design solidly out of competition and into the history books.

Pete and his son still have the Mustang molds in storage and Pete says everytime he finishes what he says will be the last one (for himself) someone calls and begs him to make them one and he ends up selling "his" boat and building another.

The seasled bottom is sort of like a Carlson semi tunnel or old Switzer Shooting Star from the 50's or 60's.