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  1. #46
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    Quicksilver

    Thanks Sam - I had forgotton that they were Quicksilver units earlier. As to Mabry, I had only heard that he had some kind of proto unit early on. When it comes to the really technical stuff, I could never hold a candle to any of you guys on this site. Some day soon, I will tell you just how mad Odell Lewis got at me one day over a technical issue. Also, I could never have held a candle to Bill when if came to detail in boats. I don't know if you ever had the opportunity to watch him rig one. He was like a very tempremental but very talented artist. The thing I do know is that I loved to run the boats and I love to tell the stories about those years. It is such a pleasure to be in touch with that part of my life again after all these years. I have sooooo many more events to write about but I can't write any more tonight. Later Gators -Steve

  2. #47
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    Cadillacs and Kneecaps

    As Officer Tooty would say, OOOH OOOH....I just remembered a couple of things I want to tell about, but I can't do it tonight. It involves John Flood's 7 cylinder Cadillac and Gene Berg's 14 piece kneecap, I promise that for next time...hopefully tomorrow.
    -Steve

  3. #48
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    Quote Originally Posted by PARKER RABE
    Man - I Have So Many Pics Of Me My Dad And Swebbie At Lake X , Wish I Had A Scanner
    I have a scanner.

    Seeroy, great post, thank you.

    96' STV Euro

    Smarta$$ of the
    Sunshine Syndicate,

    How to upload pics (click here)


    Quote Originally Posted by jphii View Post
    Well then, give her a $50 bottle of booze and don't let her know about the hookers, or what you spend on them
    Quote Originally Posted by 1BadAction View Post
    oh no. i just realized I am the voice of reason on a thread. i am so done, RIP 1Bad.

  4. #49
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    Cadillacs and Kneecaps

    Mr. Kiekhaefer had placed 6 or 8 house trailers on the North side of the boat slip. When I first got there three of them were occupied by families, (Wayne Meyer, Johnny Bakos, Dean Schallenberger). The rest were occupide by single men. I moved into the "Triple O" trailer with Chet Strickland and Phil Schenk. We each had a bedroom just large enough for a double bed. There might have been 1' beside the bed and there was a small closet. There was a small kitchen and living room that had two beds in it. Occasionally someone else would occupy those beds. For awhile John Flood did so. John was one of the many Wisconsin guys that would come to the lake to drive endurance. He had arrived with an old Cadillac V8 that was as old as dirt and closely related to it. Apparently he popped a piston or some such malfunction which caused an impressive loss of compression and poor performance. He didn't have any money for repairs so he came up with a rather unique solution. Now I have to tell you that I did not actually see this repair made with my own eyes. Anyway, he dropped the oil pan, removed the head from that bank and disconnected the piston from the crankshaft and removed it. Then somehow filled the vacant cylinder with concrete. Yes, I said concrete. He had created the first 7 cylinder Cadillac. I don't know what transpired next, but if he ever got it running, it must have been real smooth. ...............Gene Berg was also a Wisconsin guy (Appleton to be exact). Gene was another of those fun guys to be around. He and I ran an Offshore race together that would prove to be both the beginning and end of his career as a race driver. This was early in the '60s as the sophistication of our rigging was not very pretty. We were assigned a 19' T-craft with twin outboards to rig and run. The T-craft might have has a little vee in the bottom but it was without a doubt the hardest ride I have ever been in. Every bump would jar your teeth. All we had for protection was a series of aluminum stanchions and railings to hang onto. We had what was probably a 100 gallon gas tank held in place by aluminum angle and poured foam. Anyway the race was to run out of West Palm to Freeport and back (?). It was another of those days when small craft warnings should have been flying. We made it through the Lake Worth inlet and into these huge seas. Gene was driving and I was hanging on for dear life. The second or third bone jarring monster that we encountered sent us both to our knees (everybody ran Offshore standing up in those days). I managed to regain my feet and looked over at gene. The entire inside of his helmet visor was covered with blood. He managed to barely regain his feet. He raised his visor and spit out several teeth. At that point I thought he had just eaten the steering wheel. Unbeknownst to me he had also clobbered his left knee on the gas tank frame. I asked him if he was OK and he nodded yes and took off. The next wave was not quite as bad but it was still nasty. Gene came down off of a plane and told me I would have to take over. I asked him if he really wanted to continue in his condition. He said yes, so I got it back up and off we went. It only took one more monster before he screamed in pain and said that he just could not go any further. I headed back in at idle speed and radioed that I had an injured man on board. Mr. Kiekhaefer met us at the dock with an ambulance and Gene was lifted out of the boat. Later Mr. K visited him in the hospital and made sure that he had the best of care and that the bill was fully taken care. Several broken teeth had to be surgically removed and his left kneecap was removed in 14 pieces. Mr. Kiekhaefer asked him what he wanted to do and Gene replied that he had always wanted to be a truck driver. And so, from that point on he was a Kiekhaefer Corp. truck driver. I have no idea what ever became of Gene but I will always remember him standing there with blood all over his visor, spitting out teeth and saying to me, "Let's keep going". At that point we had only gone about 5 miles of a 200 mile race. We were all young then and we thought we were invincible. Somebody once aske me what it was like to race offshore in those days. I told them to place a ladder against their house, climb up on the roof, jump off, and continue to do that for several hours and they might understand what the physical part of it was like. I stand by that explanation to this day. But, damn, it sure was fun! -Steve

  5. #50
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    Smile Awesome Reading Fond Memories

    Wasn"t at the lake nearly as long as you seeroy,,,,,,But totally enjoy your humor and all the stories, your memory is awesome,,, Name is Jim Hauser,,was at X from "64-"66 than back to Wisconsin and back to the lake a couple of times,,,,,, Ran midnight shift with you and Gene Berg a couple of months,Think a big guy named George worked the tower,,,,,,,,, As I have remained in the marine business not a time goes buy when I am not gratefull and draw on my boating practical experiences learned while at X. As I was fresh out of high school and ready to whip the world,,,,,,My father ( an exec with Merc A.A. Hauser) along with Mr. K. sent me to Lake X, Will never forget getting out of the airplane and feeling my first blast of Florida Humidity I thought my God My father sent me to Hell,,,,,Repeated those same feelings a few years later however this time it was Southeast Asia and it was Hell,,,,,,,, With such fond memories Lake X everyone their was just special.........I was just so fortunate to be their with such a great group of guys,,, On a sad note I read your story regarding Jim Pray, I was standing on the dock when your boat bought him in he was a friend of mine and it was just a real sad sad day,,,,,,,,Keep the stories up I know their are amillion of them Thanks Go fish 7070

  6. #51
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    I rember you well

    Jim - I remember you very clearly. If I were an artist (which I am not) I could draw a picture of you right now. Thank you for your kind words about my stories. In the near future I will post a list of names that I remember from those years and ask that anyone that knows what became of them respond. Thanks again Jim and Best Regards - Steve

  7. #52
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    We didn't need that radiator anyway!

    Once again not sure of the date but the event was the 6 and 9 hour marathons in the Miami Marine Stadium. Anyway, one of the best boats to drive on endurance at the Lake was a 21' Ted Jones catamaran with twin outboards. It ran approximately 50mph and was a sweet ride. There were two tandem cockpits located in the center of the boat. The driver sat in the front cockpit. The 6 hour was an Outboard only event and the 9 hour was both outboard and inboard. Bill grabbed the Jones cat and installed extra fuel to allow enough to run 9 hours unrefueled. He also moved the drivers seat to the back cockpit which moved the center of gravity rearward. He ran this boat in the 6 hour. I don't remember how he did but I think John Culver won with a Duo. Anyway, I was to run the Jones cat in the 9 hour. Having run this boat comfortably for long hauls I felt totally able to run the whole event nonstop and have the advantage of not having to do a pit stop. Unfortunately I had never run the boat with a full fuel load. I left the pits and idled to the milling area on the North end of the course. There I tried unsuccesfully to get it up on a plane. The CG was just too far aft. As we sometimes did, I climbed out on the bow and jumped up and down trying to get it to fall over. No luck. Meanwhile the race had started and I was now approaching the grandstand pulling a monster wake trying to get on a plane. No doubt the huge wake created some spectacular sights as other boats launched off of it. I'm also quite certain that some rather spectacular oaths were hurled my way. Finally I pulled into the pits and picked another guy (don't remember who) to help jump up and down on the bow with the plan that, once we got on a plane, he would jump out of the boat and swim ashore. We were still not able to get it up and every time I pulled back on the throttles the following wake would wash over the transom slowly swamping the boat. At last all hope was lost and we idled back into the pits. Unable to get the boat onto the trailer someone hatched the plan to place a large round post under the bow, attach a rope to the bow eye, attach the other end to the front bumper of a truck and pull the boat up over the post which would roll under the boat. Sounded like a good plan. I advanced throttles to full as the truck driver gave it everything in reverse. It didn't take long for the bow eye to give up the ghost and depart the boat at an amazing rate of speed which propelled it completely through the trucks radiator. Oh, just in case I forgot to tell you, Mr. Kiekhaefer was standing on the fueling dock watching this comedy of errors. He just shook his head in disgust and walked away. Everyone else was laughing so hard they were crying. Once again, I managed to not get fired. To this day I do not know why Mr. Kiekhaefer never spoke a cross word to me. I certainly deserved it on numbr of occassions.
    -Steve

  8. #53
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    Steve is this the boat?
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails FastWillLast33%.JPG  

  9. #54
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    Johnny & Odell

    It's been a long time, but it looks like it? Also it looks like Johnny Bakos in the front and Odell Lewis in the back. -Steve

  10. #55
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    Not really sure?

    I don't know Sam? That boat looks smaller than I remember.

    -Steve

  11. #56
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    Steve, thank you so much for sharing your experiences with us, the stories are Great.

    fish

    96' STV Euro

    Smarta$$ of the
    Sunshine Syndicate,

    How to upload pics (click here)


    Quote Originally Posted by jphii View Post
    Well then, give her a $50 bottle of booze and don't let her know about the hookers, or what you spend on them
    Quote Originally Posted by 1BadAction View Post
    oh no. i just realized I am the voice of reason on a thread. i am so done, RIP 1Bad.

  12. #57
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    Powercat

    That's a Powercat Sam..I think it is this one..the Jones was (I'm pretty sure) the pace boat at the 6 hour at Lake X..These were taken in May 60 in Miami at my wife's house...

  13. #58
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    John Bakos

    heck the fins on the car hooked to the trailer..Johnny had a 59 and 60 Plymouth..both with big cross ram engines he got from EC...He swapped engines in them because he liked the 59 better.(I think that was how it went)..anyway he decided to go to the drags while he was here and turned something like 14.5 in his tow car...got that picture too just can't find it..here's a couple more shots

  14. #59
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    another one

  15. #60
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    Wheeeeeerrrre's Johnny?

    Butch - Do you know where Johnny is now? I saw something that was posted not too long ago about someone seeing him at the Reno Air races....I think.
    -Steve

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