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  1. #16
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    Charlie - Great stories. I'm glad somebody else is writing about those good old days. My brain pretty much emptied out. However, if I can find it, I will send you a short thing I wrote about getting scrambled in the F-106 in the middle of the night. It's nice to hear from somebody else that did both boats and airplanes. keep up the good stories. Best Regards - Steve Sirois

  2. #17
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    Hi Steve,
    I remember you, but your older brother a little better.
    We need to get together in Florida some time.
    Odell will be in Florida in November and Butch still lives about 1.5 hours from My hometown Stuart. I have some great photos and scrap book from those days.
    I would even volunteer to put on a get together in Stuart,
    Charlie
    Charlie

  3. #18
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    Memories

    Velox do you remember any more stories about the little guy who stood up to the high dollar teams that had them scratching their heads and maybe walking to the little guys pits after it was over with their tail between their legs wondering "how did you guys do that"? Keep them coming. Thanks. Smitty.

  4. #19
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    Hi Smitty and all,
    Thanks for your input.
    Back in the early to mid sixties not any of the really young guys had much money. Back then a new 14 foot Raveau cost about $400 brand new from Marcel Raveau. None of the young guns could afford to buy a new boat, engine , trailer and all the equipment. Most of us were either in school or working for 75 to 100 per week. In order to get to race, alot of us helped one of the rich guys like George Grilley, Phil Young, or Dave Craig and ect. If you were lucky you got to drive the boat for testing or to just relocate it . If you got real lucky, they would be too busy to make a race and would let you take their boat to a race.
    Also in the endurance events you could sometimes get to be a co-driver. This was a long and difficult process and took a lot of jockeying for position!
    I was a very little guy and looked about 15 years old when I was twenty. Jimmy Sewares and I got to be friends and one day we were just BS'ing about going to Greenville, Mississippi to a river marathon.
    Jimmy was best friends with George and called him on the phone and borrowed an old wooden Cat with two Merc 1000's. From the time we decided to go, it was only several hours to get the cat, pack some clothes and start driving.
    We drove almost night, slept in Jimmies El Camino truck and arrived in Greenville the next day.
    Boy, was Greenville different from Miami. We were in a foreign country!
    Once there, everyone treated us like rock stars.
    We were the big guns from the City and came to cleanup the town.
    Jimmie was well known, as he not only raced boats he was a cropduster and had done some dusting in that area.
    Once there ,we met a crazy guy from Bosier City that brought a 13 foot long Speedliner with a Shorty Speedmaster powered by a Merc 1000. The guy was too scared to drive the thing, so since there was prize money, I signed on to drive it. It was so over powered you could flip it by giving it too much throttle. It was an accident waiting to happen!
    The night before the Big race they had a big party on a Mississippi River Paddle boat. Every cotton farmer within twenty miles showed up. The next thing I knew Jimmie and I were up on the stage being auctioned off. I had never seen anything like it and asked Jimmie, "what the hell is going on, are we going into forced servitude?"
    He explained that all the money was going into a pool and we would get half if we won.
    There was so much money flying around I could not believe it. Jimmie and I went for about 3 thousand dollars and I went for about 2 thousand driving the Speedliner!
    Damn, this was more money than I had ever seen.
    The next day each class raced at different times , so I would drive the Speedliner and then drive the cat for half of its race. There was a local top gun named Skeeter. He worked for the local Merc Dealer and usually won every race he drove in that area. Skeeter always got the start next to the pace boat. Nobody else would challange him for that position. Nobody thay is until I got there. I knew if I got the prefered start position that it would piss him off and he would drive over his head. I also knew that the boat I was driving was at least 20 MPH faster top speed than anything else in the race. When the pace boat pulled out, Skeeter was right on its side so I went around the pace boat and justed backed into position between the Pace boat and Skeeter. I looked over at him and knew right away I did not have a new friend. When the flag dropped I was gone. I pulled out to about a quarter mile lead and slowed to the same speed Skeeter and the field.
    The race was 10 laps of a 2.5 mile course. It had one a pin turn at each end. By jumping out front I had smooth water and just cruised to stay in front without flipping. With about one mile to go I was counting my money! Like every racer the last lap is the one where you hear everything.
    Ithink the last lap is twice as long as any other and the boat always starts to run rough! Well this was not any different. The engine that had run great for the whole race started cutting out. I had such a good lead I was not worried , all I had to do was finish. On the last turn with about 200 yards to go the engine stumbled very badly,
    I gave it some throttle and all of a sudden the engine caught full power. While going about 15 miles an hour the torque simply flipped the boat over! I floated to the top of the water to watch Skeeter pass by and wave.
    Like most boat racers, I have more loses, than wins!
    But as Jackson Brown said in a song. "We forget about our loses and exagerate our wins"
    Charlie

  5. #20
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    Great story!

    Same thing happened at my son's first WKA National event.
    4th turn last lap, right rear tire came off!

    We were setting track records at the time with every lap.
    Broke the wheels studs.

    We were happy and sad.

    Guy who won was mad, everyone was talking to us instead of him.

    Al
    “The bitterness of poor quality & service remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten”

  6. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Big Al
    Great story!

    Same thing happened at my son's first WKA National event.
    4th turn last lap, right rear tire came off!

    We were setting track records at the time with every lap.
    Broke the wheels studs.

    We were happy and sad.

    Guy who won was mad, everyone was talking to us instead of him.

    Al
    Like I said the last lap is the toughest!
    How many times have you seen a guy winning easily to have some weird thing go wrong right before the finish!
    I always envy some guys that always seem to find a way to win.
    Its almost never the best car, boat, airplane or golfer that wins, but the one that gets to the finish first.
    Every once in a while, someone comes along that just seems to win. ( Like Tiger Woods) Part of it is just a mental ability to be able to concentrate all the way to the finish and accept winning.
    After a winning period, almost everyone quits winning everything in sight.
    Like Jeff Gordon, Richard Petty, The Yankees, and so on.
    Back in the sixties we had a father/son team, the Malones that won almost everything in OPC unlimited for about a year. They had a good steady boat and came prepared.
    They were never the fastest, but Steve, a 19 year old knew how to win. I think their cat was a North American. It was big, stable and just fast enough! They finished every race and usually won.
    Of course, I personally would rather have the wildest, fastest and coolest boat. Drive it like hell and try not to flip. Than was then. Now, I would settle on smooth and steady and not too loud! I won some, flipped some and lost alot, but Damn it was fun!
    Charlie

  7. #22
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    Hey Velox..Stuart is my home town...small world

  8. #23
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    Flippper

    What happened after the race? Tell us about some more of the races you drove in. Thanks. Smitty
    P.S. that's what they should have named that boat. Flipper.

  9. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by ssmith007
    What happened after the race? Tell us about some more of the races you drove in. Thanks. Smitty
    P.S. that's what they should have named that boat. Flipper.
    After the race all of the locals came over and were very excited that someone had been ahead of the local hero.
    Like everyone that wins everything, people start to like it when they finally get beat.
    One of the locals said something like " Its finally time someone out drove Skeeter"! Skeeter was standing about 10 feet away and gave me a very dirty look, as I am sure in his mind it tarnished his image. To be honest I didn't out drive him, I had a boat that was much faster than his and he drove a great race. To say the least he won! I didn't.
    The next race that day was for twin engine unlimited.
    Jimmy could not get on a plane without me on the boat, so we both had to be in it to start.
    The plan was for Jimmy to drive the first half and then jump out! When the time came to jump he said hell no you jump! I said "I am not jumping" so we both rode in the boat for the complete 100 miles.
    The local Merc dealer had a powercat with twin speedmaster equipped 800's. In marathons the speedmasters had about a 40% chance of holding up for the whole race. On this day they lasted so we got second overall. Back then Greenville Miss was really the deep south. I was born in the south, but some of the stuff I saw while there, I will never forget. It was like going back to the 1800's. 20 years Later I lived in Vicksburg Miss and the progress and change was remarkable to the good.
    Charlie

  10. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark1
    Hey Velox..Stuart is my home town...small world
    Hi Mark,
    Did you ever drive the Sandy Shoes Marathon from West Palm Beach to Ft Pierce and return.
    I drove it about 3 times and won first overall in 1965.
    Bill Critchfield gave me a 17 foot long V Hull.
    Richie Baiz and I cut it down , decked it with 1/8 inch ply and covered it with a brand new material called Kevlar.
    George Griley provided twin speedmaster equipped Mercs.
    I drove to Ft Pierce on Saturday and won by a large margin. George in his usual way, took a wrong turn at the crossroads and ended going back up the St Lucie river for several miles before he realized he was lost and turned around.
    He was beat by several boats, but the 2 day combined time was the fastest.
    The twin engine class was 8U. The number on our boat was 69. That made our race number on that day 8U69.
    Of course the photo of the boat made all of the local papers . I have some photos of that day and boy I look like a little kid! I guess I was.
    Charlie

  11. #26
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    Smile Stuff

    This is really good stuff,Keep it up,,,,,,,,,,Read with interest your piece about Greenville Miss.,In th 70's was the Merc sales rep that covered that territory out of Memphis Tenn. Very well remember that dealer named Roy Fulton very savvy guy who could read the waters of the Mississippi river like the back of his hand,,,,,, I think he went on to do a little politics for a while after his boat racing days,,,,,,,,,,

  12. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by gofish7070
    This is really good stuff,Keep it up,,,,,,,,,,Read with interest your piece about Greenville Miss.,In th 70's was the Merc sales rep that covered that territory out of Memphis Tenn. Very well remember that dealer named Roy Fulton very savvy guy who could read the waters of the Mississippi river like the back of his hand,,,,,, I think he went on to do a little politics for a while after his boat racing days,,,,,,,,,,
    You are right the Dealers name was Fulton.
    I think the other race driver, "Skeeter" worked for him as a mechanic.
    I will never forget that trip. So many things different from South Florida.
    The big levy, big tow boats and barges, casino paddle boat, both races I was, in and the hospitality.
    Being from so far away made them think we were special, so the locals treated Jimmie and I like rock stars.
    That happened over 40 yeqrs ago!
    Last edited by velox; 10-19-2006 at 07:22 PM.
    Charlie

  13. #28
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    http://powercatboat.com/71.html
    Above link shows Roy Fulton early in racing career
    Danny

    Quote Originally Posted by gofish7070
    This is really good stuff,Keep it up,,,,,,,,,,Read with interest your piece about Greenville Miss.,In th 70's was the Merc sales rep that covered that territory out of Memphis Tenn. Very well remember that dealer named Roy Fulton very savvy guy who could read the waters of the Mississippi river like the back of his hand,,,,,, I think he went on to do a little politics for a while after his boat racing days,,,,,,,,,,

  14. #29
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    Velox,

    No that was a liitle before my time, was born in 77 and spent most of my early years in the islands. My old man was in stuart since the early 60s and before that was a regular int he long island marathon race. JJ81 as a matter of fact.

    Great to hear that someone remembers Stuart's glory days. I don't liver there anymore and miss it like hell.

    Take Care

    mark

  15. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by Powercat
    http://powercatboat.com/71.html
    Above link shows Roy Fulton early in racing career
    Danny
    Yep! That's the boat that kicked our ass in the twin engine unlimited race.
    We had 100's with stock lower units. We gambled that the speedmasters on Roy's boat would break. We lost the bet.
    How about it GOfish7070 is the co driver in the photo "Skeeter" ? I think he was Roy Fultons Mechanic in the Merc shop.
    This photo was taken around 1962
    Charlie

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