Grand Slam of Outboard Tunnel Hull Racing

**willabee** · 03-11-2010, 11:42 AM

Originally Posted by mark benson

..... At this point, I have Sanders winning Parker 9 Hour in '71, Paris 6 Hour in '70 & '72, & Havasu OWC in '72. Now we need to find out the results of Berlin 6 Hour in the early '70's to get to the bottom of this "Sanders Slam"

In the years you are talking about, Sanders/Posey won Paris in 1970. They won Parker in 1971 and Sanders won Havasu in 1972. No Grand Slams, no Sanders Slams but a win at a "Major" three years in a row.....that's still pretty damn impressive.

When you look at the results below, you will see that the team of McConnell/May wasn't too shabby either!

Parker
1970 - Stinson/Wallin
1971 - Sanders/Posey
1972 - McConnell/May

Paris
1970 - Sanders/Posey
1971 - Downard/Pellolio
1972 - Molinari/Hering

Berlin
1970 - McConnell/May
1971 - McConnell/May
1972 - Dieter Schwartz *

Havasu
1970 - Sirois
1971 - Sirois
1972 - Sanders

* In 1972 Berlin was on the Factory Teams schedule, but after the Paris race both Merc & OMC pulled out. I believe they stated that neither had enough good equipment left to support the full Team and put on a good show.

Here is Sanders at Paris in 70, Parker in 71 & Havasu in 72.....also Stinson at Parker in 70 and a shot of the boats Sirois used to win Havasu in 70 & 71

**gofish7070** · 03-11-2010, 11:58 AM

Great thread,,,,,, Went fishing with Serra yesterday (Caught a nice Sailfish) Told him how many times his name was mentioned in Havasu video, he swelled up so much we were able to remove the booster seat from the captains chair,,,,,,,,

**willabee** · 03-11-2010, 12:37 PM

Originally Posted by gofish7070

..... he swelled up so much we were able to remove the booster seat from the captains chair,,,,,,,,

**mark benson** · 03-11-2010, 07:16 PM

# 501 Bert Serra is definitely a guy that should make a $50.00 donation for a GoSeeTV/boatracing DVD containing 5 races. The races are- the Havasu '72 OMC Promotional Video,Parker '75 Testing, Havasu '71, Havasu '69-Day 1, & In Memory of # 226 Dave Potter. There is footage of Bert in at least 3 of those races. Nick Springate & myself used to hang with Bert, Dave Potter, Brett May,Lee Davies,Kenny Stevenson etc. at the Parker 7 Hour Enduro in the mid '70's.Those were the days my friend!

**gofish7070** · 03-12-2010, 12:40 PM

Have poker game with Bert next week,, will shame him into coughing up the $$$,,,,,, Remember well the words of Lynne Seebold,,,,,, "Bert will never grow up", Bless his tiny little heart,,,,,,,

**mark benson** · 04-09-2010, 04:43 PM

We at GoSeeTv/boatracing received some footage from Travis Martin In Texas. "Title Drive" is an OMC promotional video from the 1969 racing season. In it Scotti wins Havasu, Scotti wins 225 Gold Coast Marathon, Paris-Scotti breaks down in last 1/2 hour & Molnari wins for Mercury.Lake Elisinore-Don Pruett wins, & last but not least, Johnnie Sanders & Rich McKinley won the Berlin 6 Hour that season. Willabe is correct (is he ever wrong?) Johnnie Sanders did not win Havasu,Parker,Paris & Berlin in the same year. He did accomplish the "Sanders Slam" in 4 seasons of racing, a great accomplishment never the less.

**jackie wilson** · 04-10-2010, 01:59 AM

Originally Posted by mark benson

We at GoSeeTv/boatracing received some footage from Travis Martin In Texas. "Title Drive" is an OMC promotional video from the 1969 racing season. In it Scotti wins Havasu, Scotti wins 225 Gold Coast Marathon, Paris-Scotti breaks down in last 1/2 hour & Molnari wins for Mercury.Lake Elisinore-Don Pruett wins, & last but not least, Johnnie Sanders & Rich McKinley won the Berlin 6 Hour that season. Willabe is correct (is he ever wrong?) Johnnie Sanders did not win Havasu,Parker,Paris & Berlin in the same year. He did accomplish the "Sanders Slam" in 4 seasons of racing, a great accomplishment never the less.

Hiya Mark, Not wanting to take anything away from Big John, you might take a look at some other achievements of a few well known "oldies".
Cees Velden--------11 times World Champion + a bunch
Renato Molinari over 500 Trophies. Neither of them were my favourite people, but it didn't stop them being brilliant drivers.
And of course the top 2
William Sirois.
William Seebold.
These are 2 of my favourite people.

**mark benson** · 04-10-2010, 11:32 AM

Jackie-Received some great footage from Travis Martin in Texas called "Flat Out-Mercury Marine-1978. In it is a lot of your buddy GG along with # 76 Reggie Fountain. It also shows the building of the Seebold tunnel hulls

& some real nice footage of Billy Seebold winning Bristol, England.Perhaps you could fill a few of our followers in on the Bristol race.

**jackie wilson** · 04-11-2010, 02:35 AM

Bristol is the hardest course in Europe. You race deep down in the bowels of Bristol docks, surrounded by high stone walls. The wind eddy's in from The Bristol Channel and every part of the course has a different water pattern on every lap. I refused to race there the first 3 years it was held . Scotti took me on one side and asked why i would not race there, i told him the bloody race scared me sh-tless, he explained it was not as bad as it appeared and told me how he handled it. I still did not race there until '78 and even then with great intrepidation .
Seebold tamed that mother -big time, in fact he won it 7 times in 8 years, and but for his own stupidity when he inadvertently pulled the jack plug just before he crossed the finish line whilst celebrating prematurely he would have won all 8.
NOW----THAT'S A GRAND SLAM. !!!!!!!
IT ALSO HAS THE DUBIOUS HONOUR OF CLAIMING THE LIVES OF 4 DRIVERS INCLUDING THE GREAT FRENCH CHAMPION FRANCOIS SALABAR

**mark benson** · 04-11-2010, 12:40 PM

Isn't Francois Salabert from France the only European to win the Parker 7 Hour Enduro in 1990? Didn't you venture to Parker USA in the late 70's to try to be the 1st European to win the Parker 7 hour Enduro with the Cosworth Tunnel? Maybe you could share some of the details of that bid!

**jackie wilson** · 04-11-2010, 04:34 PM

Originally Posted by mark benson

Isn't Francois Salabert from France the only European to win the Parker 7 Hour Enduro in 1990? Didn't you venture to Parker USA in the late 70's to try to be the 1st European to win the Parker 7 hour Enduro with the Cosworth Tunnel? Maybe you could share some of the details of that bid!

Hey Mark---------Italy is in Europe you know, like Scotti and Molinari both lived there.

**mark benson** · 04-12-2010, 02:29 AM

Jackie- I see what you mean about an Italian ( Molinari co-driving with Bob Herring.) Who was Francois Salabert's co-driver at Parker & who was your co-driver at Havasu WOC & Parker 7 Hour Enduro? It must be important to have a break from driving to go to the "little boys room" & have something to eat & drink during those 9 Hour Parker Enduros or 4 hours at Havasu. Remember the guy in the 55hp twin OMC on the whaler that that entered the Parker Enduro in the '70's? Had a cooler with refreshments & sandwiches for the Enduro. Stayed out of the "Big Boys" way.Those were the days!

**mark benson** · 04-27-2010, 06:34 PM

The Bill Muncey Wide World Marine Invitational took place on November 29th 1975 at the legendary Miami Marine Stadium. 15 drivers representing, 6 categories of power boat racing, drove identically prepared SE Class 15 ft. Seebold tunnel hulls with 75 hp Evinrudes (What ever happened to Johnson?) for the World Champion Crown! Drivers included Billy Schumacher, Cees Van der Velden, Johnie Sanders, Jimbo McConnell, Barry Woods, TommY Posey, Roger Jenkins,Angelo Vassena, Mickey Remund,Andre Dierckx & Wally Frans. Two Time Unlimited Hydro-plane driver Billy Schumacher of Seattle, Washington won the 10 Lap Final. Geoff Briggs from New York was 2nd & Britains' Roger Jenkins was 3rd. This video comes from the studio of GoSeeTV in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. The footage contained in this video was donated from the collection of Travis "Skeeter " Martin in Houston, Texas.

**PropHydro** · 04-28-2010, 08:52 AM

Is video up for viewing???????

**jackie wilson** · 04-28-2010, 09:44 AM

Originally Posted by mark benson

Jackie- I see what you mean about an Italian ( Molinari co-driving with Bob Herring.) Who was Francois Salabert's co-driver at Parker & who was your co-driver at Havasu WOC & Parker 7 Hour Enduro? It must be important to have a break from driving to go to the "little boys room" & have something to eat & drink during those 9 Hour Parker Enduros or 4 hours at Havasu. Remember the guy in the 55hp twin OMC on the whaler that that entered the Parker Enduro in the '70's? Had a cooler with refreshments & sandwiches for the Enduro. Stayed out of the "Big Boys" way.Those were the days!

When you drive for Mercury, " life is like a box of chocolates " you never knew who was your co driver was till you got out of the boat after your first stint. I flipped in my one and only Havasu so i had no idea who the other driver might have been.
For the Parker Race i had a guy you all know---Brett May, he towed the boat from L A to Parker and brought 'THE COSWORTH' back after each stint. We had a 20 minute layover trying to change the gearcase at the halfway point which screwed any chance we might have had, we finished a poor 6th overall which was disappointing knowing how quick and reliable the rig was. Pissed all over the inboards of the day, but that was no consolation, and to add insult to injury we were not eligible for the inboard prize as we were running QUOTE : AN UNAMERICAN ENGINE. unquote----well what the hell it was a V8 Ford. I know, i know, it beats the crap out of me too.
Twas many years later that i learned the real reason for Cosworths wanting to race that particular motor with FORD rocker boxes, but that's another complicated story.