Sad news, Shanon Bowman passed this week 11/25/17

**Mark75H** · 11-26-2017, 03:59 PM

His brother Craig announced it today on Facebook.

Shanon apprenticed at the Sidcraft hydro shop in NJ and went on to build his on Bezoates hydros that won many races and championships. Shanon was fully involved in Stock Outboard racing as an official and racer for decades. His father was Hank Bowman who was the main cheerleader for all forms of boat racing in the late 50's and early 60's. Shanon started in J runabout and raced lots of classes, but his favorite was C Stock Hydro.

I met him when I started racing about 20 years ago and he was always friendly and helpful to everyone in racing. I will always have happy memories of our friendship over the years.

My condolences to the Bowman family

**Instigator** · 11-26-2017, 07:15 PM

That family were legends to me and the Bezaots hydros flew! Didnt they build runabouts too?
I thought I raced one??

RIP Shannon. Thanks for all you did for our sport.

**Mark75H** · 11-26-2017, 08:51 PM

Craig built "Broccoli" runabouts and one single Broccoli hydro.

**afterplane** · 11-28-2017, 08:13 AM

Sorry to hear this. RIP Shanon. Very talented national champion driver and builder. Genuinely nice person. The iconic photo of Shanon in Rusty Rae and Reid Blackburn's Speed and Spray (1974) is a classic.

**specboatops** · 11-28-2017, 08:21 AM

Thoughts and prayers outbound to the family and friends.

**Instigator** · 11-28-2017, 08:51 AM

Originally Posted by Mark75H

Craig built "Broccoli" runabouts and one single Broccoli hydro.

There yah go,

Thanks Sam.

**Instigator** · 11-28-2017, 09:46 AM

Originally Posted by afterplane

Sorry to hear this. RIP Shanon. Very talented national champion driver and builder. Genuinely nice person. The iconic photo of Shanon in Rusty Rae and Reid Blackburn's Speed and Spray (1974) is a classic.

This one?

In my world, anyone with 1US or US 1 on their boat was a God to me.

**afterplane** · 11-28-2017, 12:03 PM

That's the one! Thanks much for posting that pic, Instigator. I always thought that Bezoats had good lines. That picture proves it. That was taken at Dayton in '74. The next year at Dayton there were 98 B Stock Hydros entered. They made the mistake of letting all 98 of us on the course for testing at the same time. It got rough quickly.

**Superbender** · 11-28-2017, 12:27 PM

Sorry to hear,in my prayers

**Instigator** · 11-28-2017, 01:33 PM

Originally Posted by afterplane

That's the one! Thanks much for posting that pic, Instigator. I always thought that Bezoats had good lines. That picture proves it. That was taken at Dayton in '74. The next year at Dayton there were 98 B Stock Hydros entered. They made the mistake of letting all 98 of us on the course for testing at the same time. It got rough quickly.

98 B hydros ��

Rusty Rae was my mentor when I started racing A hydro in '76 while he lived here in Ohio.
Probably the only guy on the planet to ride his bike to Rustys house to pick up his copy of that book ��
Soon after, Rusty moved back west.

I spent 9 yrs being broke and pissed off while trying to design/build my own boats and motors.
I bought all of Rustys 20H stuff right when the class was ending.
Ran A, B, 20 stock hydro, B and 20 runabout, and played a Yamato 80 w/a chamber in RB Pro runabout and 20 Mod.

I consider myself lucky to have raced with all those legends.

**afterplane** · 11-28-2017, 07:04 PM

Very cool. I did not know that Rusty raced in the midwest. I could be wrong but I think he was one of the first stock racers to have a picklefork hydro. Reid Blackburn died while photographing the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. I heard the eruption from 160 miles away in Bellingham. Still have my worn copy of Speed and Spray.
That era was a great time to be racing. Tough local competition and big fields at the nationals and a chance to see the legends race. 1975 Dayton nationals had 104 A Stock Hydros and the boats lined up seemed to stretch for a mile. The wind delayed the elim races that year and they struggled with the schedule. I woke up in my van at 7:00 AM to the sound of twelve D Stock Hydros heading down to the start. With something like 998 entries in all classes the drivers meeting took forever. Fun times.

**Instigator** · 11-28-2017, 08:09 PM

Yeah Rusty had one of the very first Butts Aerowing pickleforks built by Tim Butts.
Rusty never had much luck w/it but I bought it from him and it was scary fast!
Loved that boat. When the BSH kilo record was 72, I saw 68 in it on a Keller speedo w/Rustys set up.

When I was 19 or 20 I moved to Houston Tx to work for Tim Butts and build those boats. In that era ('80) Tims boats held virtually every Pro Hydro record there was.
We built a new lay down 500/700 cc hydro and spent a weekend testing at the Baldwins in Corpus Cristi while Wayne was world champion.

I ran one race for Tim (part of our deal was me as hired gun to go after the stock hydro biz) in Laredo Tx.
Formula 350 in Pro w/Tims Yamato 80 motor. Trying to impress my new boss while testing, I went into the first turn WFO to put on a show. In the excitement I forgot to tie the motor down.
When I let off at the turn pin, the motor kicked up and the boat barrel rolled.
Right in front of our pits w/Timmy watching ��

Dried it out and took 2nd in a full field that day. First time I ever drove that class.
Timed the motor and tied for 2nd in first heat Sunday. Stole the start in the 2nd heat and a 1/2 lap lead by the start of the 3rd lap.
Hit a beer can entering the back stretch and the boat started filling w/water so fast the boat was slowing down from the weight. Rules said I couldn't pit until last boat finished. He was a full lap behind me!
Barely hung onto 1st as the boat dropped off plane and barely stayed above water even w/motor WFO!
Tim was standing in chest deep water in front of our pits going crazy.
The final boat finished, I let off the throttle and the boat instantly sank right in front of our pits!

Coolest part I remember is the race being on the Mexican border, there were a ton of them there as spectators and somehow ended up in our pits. There was a huge crowd of them screaming (in Spanish) their heads off jumping up and down watching my big finish.

I thought I was Elvis for 10 mins ��

Wayne Baldwin shot this of me (79) in an epic battle for 1st on Saturday

Huge fun.

**afterplane** · 11-28-2017, 09:18 PM

Cool story. That aerowing looks nicely aired out. Nothing like a 20 year old's reflexes.
We had a few aerowings in region 10. One was a 500 Konig that flew the sponsons high but was rock solid stable. While Tim was active they were the boat. Enjoyed reading Wayne Baldwins account of aerowing history. One thing the winners all seemed to have in common; they did a lot of testing.