Hot Singles ! - Pictures

[GENE LANHAM]

Thats DAVE Biers between Pruett and SIROIS —-

Jackie--WILLABEE and I have been disagreeing about that for years-

-I took the picture--That is BOB DONAHUE!! Bob was also our scorekeeper 1970--

Bob raced a few Offshore racess with LONNIE TODD

Ater Lonnie got out of Jail--he was the bartender at DONAHUE'S---- Behind the bar was a huge picure of TRIPLE TROUBLE

I also know who thes guys are----

[willabee]

Jackie--WILLABEE and I have been disagreeing about that for years-

-I took the picture--That is BOB DONAHUE!! Bob was also our scorekeeper 1970-- .....

Sorry fella's, you're both mistaken!

The dude in the white pants/blue jacket looking at Sirois is definitely, beyond a shadow of a doubt, Dave Beier. I know Gene's been saying for years that it's Bob Donahue, he's just been wrong for years.

Jackie, there is no Pruett shooting the breeze with the boys in the picture above. I don't recognize the 'senior citizen' standing with Sirois & Beier, but it's not the handsome Billy Don Pruett.

[willabee]

I don't remember Merten being there in March 1970?? He was badly hurt at Galveston--came back an won Galveston in 1970--

That's right, hurt in Galveston in 69, came back and won it in 70. Mert was definitely there (Parker) in 1970, ran the yellow triple Jones.

I'm not sure of these dates, but I think the Galveston crash happened somewhere around April or May, 1969. The Elsinore 500 was run around September of 69. So, roughly a mere six months after nearly loosing his life, Mert was back, running a new 20' Jones twin. I've always said those were 'bad' boats, don't trust them. They will spit you out just as you think you've become friends. Well, that new 20'er didn't treat Mert any better than the older ones treated any driver that tried to max them out ..... he blew over testing on Saturday and ended up right back in the hospital!

Joe Habay in a 20' Jones at Havasu ..... "just when you think you're having fun"

BTW - look at the background in the triple Jones picture ..... VW could have made a great ad

[FUJIMO]

[FUJIMO]

[FUJIMO]

[FUJIMO]

[FUJIMO]

[FUJIMO]

[Lake X Kid]

Nashville 1976, in the F1 tunnel cockpit seats a champion. Not a boat racing champion, but a fast guitar finger picker. And he became a future Hollywood side-kick with Bandit’s Burt Reynolds.
Jerry Reed played music duets with the likes of legendary Chet Atkins. And now their talents have been requested in higher grounds.

“You look lost in there, do you know what your doing” was the banter that Roy Ridgell vocally taunted Jerry with, during his photo session in the pits. And Jerry with self-deprecation smiled and replied, that this was foreign territory and not of his wheelhouse. Roy personally knew Jerry because at that time, he was the Merc tech rep for Tennessee and adjacent states too. I was up there, from my duties twirling a wrench for Shelby Marine, a Merc dealership in Memphis. But I do not remember who won the race.

Cees vander Velden was there, and if my memories correct he was Team OMC then. And he had a Velden hull. On the aft section of the tunnel's belly surface (not on the sponsons) there were strakes. There were quantities of 2 or 4 strakes, I do not recall exactly.

I said what is that for? My assertion was he had them for biting into a corner, (or a chine for deflecting water off the tunnel’s belly coming out of a corner). But they would be minutely irrelevant compared to the sponsons digging into the corner. And this is the thing I always like about Cees. He would acknowledge my disagreement (right or wrong). I got him thinking about what I said, but I did not get his standard affirmation remark “for sure.” That was the last event I saw and spoke to the late Cees vander Velden. RIP.

[Lake X Kid]

Least we forget (referring to earlier posts) what the real Dave Beier looks like.
Will the real Dave raise your hands and wave.
Dave and Roy Ridgell in Amsterdam, early 1970's.

Boat# 12 is so fast, the numerical 1 is peeling off the cowling.

[willabee]

Least we forget (referring to earlier posts) what the real Dave Beier looks like.
Will the real Dave raise your hands and wave.
Dave and Roy Ridgell in Amsterdam, early 1970's.

Boat# 12 is so fast, the numerical 1 is peeling off the cowling.

Be prepared X Kid ..... Gene is going to come back at you and say that it's Bob Donahue in this picture with Roy. He will probably add that he doesn't know why Bob is wearing Dave Beier's jacket.

[SCT]

The triple Jones in post #4072 is using a lot of trim.....is that normal?

[willabee]

The triple Jones in post #4072 is using a lot of trim.....is that normal?

The rooster tail pictured above appears bigger than what I remember as normal. I don't think Mert had an opportunity to do much, if any, testing with this triple before things froze up in Oshkosh. It's possible that we were trying different transom heights and this setting probably was determined to be a tad too tall.
However, remember that the triple was a big boat, 9' x 22' and a little heavy. Add to that a full load of fuel, about 100 gallons and run it around a one buoy turn ..... it would need some serious trim to get back up and start running down the straight again.

[GENE LANHAM]

Be prepared X Kid ..... Gene is going to come back at you and say that it's Bob Donahue in this picture with Roy. He will probably add that he doesn't know why Bob is wearing Dave Beier's jacket.

Yeah---they do look a lot alike--I don't know why Dave would be standing next to Bill------

I do have a great Bob Donahue story--remember the Lonnie Todd story?--

All us old S Florida guys hung around DONAHUES--Lonnie got ou of jail and went to work at Bob's Bar and Grill--as a bartender---

A few years later--------Bob Donahue -----got out of Jail and went to work for Sirois-----------------as a mechanic--