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Thread: Life at Lake X in the '60s
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02-01-2005, 10:04 PM #61
Too small
That last picture is definately not the boat I ran. Too small-Steve
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02-01-2005, 10:05 PM #62
gettin on a plane!!!!
This is what Steve means..
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02-01-2005, 10:13 PM #63
Goin Bassackward
Good God do I ever remember that tactic
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02-01-2005, 10:13 PM #64
Johnny
Spoke to him about 5? years ago at a Miami boat show..still worked for Mercury and still had the same tough body he always had..hair just slightly gray..he said he was working for the Mercruiser unit and I think living in Wisconson..I heard he was retired now...somebody has to know..maybe T2X...
Butch
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02-01-2005, 10:23 PM #65
TTFN (Ta Ta for now)
Thanks Butch - I know I say this about lots of guys, but Johnny really was a nice guy. I think his wife's name was (or is) Helen. Gotta go walk the dogs and then put my pink body in bed. I'm thinking about what to write about next. Sometimes when I do that (think) it hurts my brain,
-Steve
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02-01-2005, 10:23 PM #66
Jones Cat
I know EC had a couple Jones cats, but I only remember one race cat back then..this could be taps for it and maybe the one you ran..remember Bill riding the deck on it with George Thompson driving? Lucky Bill wasn't on it in this shot..
Butch
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02-01-2005, 10:36 PM #67
BTW..the last picture was taken by Linda Lovelace's boyfriend..Chuck Trainor...(back then)
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02-02-2005, 07:37 AM #68
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John Bakos
John is doing fine living in Fond du lac. I see him once a month at QB meetings. I've been trying to get him to log on the the site.
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02-02-2005, 02:00 PM #69
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I an sure enjoying this thread. In those days I was a small time local privateer and was only exposed to the "Factory" race operation at the big races like the Gold Coast Marathon and the Orange Bowl 6 and 9 Hour events. It was something to see when the Mercury Factory boats came in force and I am enjoying reading the inside stories from those days. My one drive in a "Factory" connected boat was in the 66 9 Hour in Brooke Russel's Miami to New York boat wich had some factory backing. I had the misfortune to be in my first stint and struggling with a boat in which I had almost no seat time when Hank Bowman's fatal accident stopped the race. It is fun to hear that you guys didn't always have it all figured out either.
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02-02-2005, 02:40 PM #70
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more memories
Hey Steve,,,,Jim H. here again, nice to be remembered,,,,,when I first arrived at X was assigned trailer with your brother never forget walking in and in our kitchen spread eveywhere was a completely tore down 50 horse merc,,,,,,,,,I mean we had parts in the refrigerator, cabinets, bathroom everywhere. Asked Bill about it one day he said I think it was four his father he was rebuilding it... Yeah right,,,,,,,,,,,, Anyway thought you might enjoy a Gold Coast marathon story,I think it was "64 Had the pleasure of flying with Izzy, Fred K, Mr. K. and a couple of others on board the grumman goose while following the race,,It was spectacular as well as thrilling,,,,,,,,,Apologies to eveyone if I get the names wrong (over 40 years ago) Willnever forget the return leg from WPB to Miami everyone was off like a bullet I think a fellow name Lou Nuta,Boats named Roman Candle took the early lead ( an inboard hydroplane do not know what class) and he was really movin,,,,,,,,,,Mr K. was furious I swear if we would have had a bomb on board we would hace figured out a way to drop it,,,,,,,He just kept repeating Its over 400 cubes,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Well all of sudden Dave Craig gets that old wooden Switzer flying Izzy had that goose flying as fast as the thing would go and Craig is pulling away (I think the darn plane cruised at about 95 land speed) It was truly spectacular to watch from the air,,,, At last he caught that hydro (which I think afterward did break down) and that airplane was just bouncing up and down Mr K was just beaming and I mean it was sweeet,,,,, He than instructed Izzy to circle back to find out where the rest of his boys are. Was a grat day for everyone ,,,Little did I know as lowly endurance drivers out at Lake X we were helping to shape outboard history,,,,,Hay Steve if you feel like it e-mail me hauserj7070@yahoo.com Thanks go fish7070
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02-02-2005, 03:23 PM #71
Third Bahamas 500
I had the fun of running in the first three Bahamas 500's. In the first one I rode with Wayne Vickers, and in the second with Jim Tebo. The third one evolved rather interestingly. While preparing a Lake X, I had drawn a 32' Cary with 4 BP's (BluePrint engines rated at approx 140hp) which ran about 67mph. This was a tried and true boat that Chet Strickland had previously run. I had run the boat out of Sarasota to do some rough water testing on the BP's. Ralph Seavey had drawn an exact copy of the boat but it was brand new. His boat clocked out at 65mph. About a week before we were to leave the lake we were called into the office for some interesting news. It seemed that Jerry Langer wanted to run Mercs in the 500. Jerry was an OMC dealer in the Miami area and had run that brand pretty succesfully. In fact, in probably one of the roughest offshore races ever run, only the Turbine Maritime boat and Langer had finished. There was an incredible photo in the paper of the Turbine standing nearly vertical at the Fowey Rocks light. Anyway, Langer had contacted somebody (I guess Mr. Kiekhaefer) and said he wanted to run one of our boats in the 500. As this was quite a PR coup it was approved. So Ralph and I were told that we would have to team up in one of our boats and Langer would get the other. Fortunately they let us decide which boat we wanted. Ralph's boat (#808) was new and slightly heavier and probably would do better in rough water. Mine (#909) was not new but was faster. We chose mine and I was the Driver of Record. The Bahamas 500 started at Freeport and ran 500 Nautical Miles (thats 560 statute miles) through the islands ending back at Freeport. I will tell some more about the race in a future post. Dale Thayer (Also Factory Team) was running 4 BP's on a 28' Memco which ran approx 68mph. We ran side by side and in the Outboard lead for all but the last ten miles. I'll get to that in a minute. From the very beginning we slowly pulled away from Langer, and we were not about to give him a break. Let me interject something here! I only raced on the Kiekhaefer Factory team for 4 or 5 years, but in that entire time I was never told, prior to a race, to hold back for anybody . Even if I had been directed to do so, I wouldn't have done it. Even though we all helped each other prepare, once the flag dropped, it was every man for himself. That is not to say that we did not stop to help out if the other guy needed it. As you will see in a minute, we did. Anyway, by the time we got to Nassau, which was the half way refueling point, Langer was probably 5 miles behind us. Mr. Kiekhaefer was on the dock and was visibly unhappy that we had run away from Langer. He said something like, "Why don't you guys give him a little break?". I replied, "OK" and put the hammers down. I'll be damned if I was going to hold back for an OMC dealer that had turned coat, or anybody else for that matter. Unfortunately, I got a short gas load and ran out 10 miles from the finish. Dale Thayer stopped with me and asked what was wrong. I told him to go on which he did. We raidoed our situation in and Mr. Kiekhaefer, who had flown on to Freeport, sent a helicopter out to us with just enough gas to finish. However it was not quick enough to stay ahead of Langer and he managed to eke out second place outboard behind Dale. Those were the days of REAL Offshore.
-Steve
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02-02-2005, 03:50 PM #72
Thank you Mr. Sirois. This is an amzing read packed full off some good wisdom too.
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02-02-2005, 05:24 PM #73
Merc sent out a ton of publicty photos of those boats
Here's #909, I'll have to dig a little to find #808, but I'm sure I have it somewhere. Pictures are great, but knowing the story behind the picture is incredible.
Thanks, Steve!
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02-02-2005, 05:31 PM #74
That's Me
Sam - I'm the short on, Ralph's the tall one.....Looking back at Jerry Langer.
-Steve
Last edited by seeroy; 02-02-2005 at 08:23 PM.
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02-02-2005, 08:50 PM #75
Johnny Bakos' influence on Bill Sirois
Bill was very detail oriented. But alot of that he learned from Johnny Bakos. They were teamed up for the 9 hour (Miami) one year. Johnny had latched onto a 20'-21'(?) Rayson Craft which I think was mostly rigged in California. He took Bill under his wing on this project. The boat was powered by a turbo-charged Chevy 427(I think). They did some of the work ar Plant 9(?) in St Cloud, so most of us did not see the boat until it was nearly ready. I had never seen such an immaculate craft. It was absolutely beautiful and I think if ran pretty good. I remember seeing it run at the Lake and at Miami but I don't remember how they did. The point is that I believe this was a defining point in Bill's racing career and Johhny was a great influence. Most of our boats ran well and fast but, in the beginning, they did not always look good. Whereas, Johnny's always did. Attention to detail, Attention to detail, Attention to detail! I wish that I had learned that lesson a little earlier in life. If you see Johnny out there, ask him about that boat. I'm not sure I got the details of this story correct, but Johnny can correct them.
-Steve