Hot Singles ! - Pictures

**Raceman** · 09-30-2006, 09:49 AM

I had a McCall that looked very similar. One difference was, it had an adjustable wing or spoiler of some kind mounted out at the front between the tips.

**terry taylor** · 09-30-2006, 02:16 PM

Originally Posted by T2x

Actually I watched two brand new full tunnel Kitson/Miles with Rookie drivers do exactly the same thing (snap flip).....my Miles "experience" was in a wooden pickle fork which I managed to back flip and later barrel roll, all in a 4 week period. I'm just not cut out to drive English tunnel boats.........

I believe you are correct about the boat in the picture becoming the "prototype" for the Zonker.

T2x

HI.Interesting i drove one in SJ 150 XS the boat was fast but would not turn a buoy barreled it once. on a short course i think i invented turning on rear of sponsons. That is slowing for turn then trim up and spin on its tail tricky yes gave some acceleration advantage coming off.B oat was fun but would not turn without hooking,first time i saw this boat i was a spectator yes you guessed it. It hooked 1st corner 1st lap. RATHER funny i thought it was the driver but oh no . I might mention this was in lake ONTARIO, TORONTO. thanks

**BrianSmith** · 09-30-2006, 09:39 PM

That wouldn't be the sprint that Freddy Fincham bought from us would it?

**willabee** · 10-02-2006, 02:22 PM

The OMC rotarys got their first win at this event, but the only factory stuff they beat were the OMC piston powered rigs. Merc did not have this race on their schedule and weren't about to add it with those rotarys running down there. There were two races, I think the one-hour marathon was a "run what ya brung" format, so the rotarys could run in it and there was a 100 miler for the "S" and "U" class boats.

Even though the win wasn't against Team Mercury, it still was a monumental step in the development of that engine. After all, it was only a month earlier that they couldn't run hard for 20 miles (the Parker Nine-Hour) and here they are running strong for an hour. In fact, they entered four and finished 1-2-3 and would have had 4th if Rich McKinley hadn't rolled his in a turn. The first Merc to finish was Hiram Muecke in a TII/Molinari, taking 5th place.

This win got some serious "jaw-jacking" going at Merc.....we were confident that our TII could beat their piston powered stuff but we were in deep do-do at events that would let that engine run.....the common thought was like that of Sheriff Brody in Jaws after he first saw the size of that shark....."we need a bigger boat"

(in our case we needed a bigger engine).

Here are Tom Posey, Jimbo McConnell and Bob Witt ....1-2-3

all in Scotticraft's.

**terry taylor** · 10-02-2006, 06:28 PM

Originally Posted by BrianSmith

That wouldn't be the sprint that Freddy Fincham bought from us would it?

HI.BrianSmith If your question was directed to me.I purchased complete outfit from Brian Rhodes,PICKERING ONTARIO . I don,t know how he obtained It boat #661 yellow and black thanks.

**BrianSmith** · 10-14-2006, 03:14 AM

That name kinda rings a bell...........was it pretty narrow and light? Check the pics I have posted to see if you recognize it.
Regards

**willabee** · 10-17-2006, 11:09 AM

Just a couple more shots from that race......Johnny Sanders who did finish 4th overall in the One-Hour due to McKinley's accident and was first piston in his Scotticraft...... Barry Woods, who won the 100 mile marathon, driving the same Scotticraft that he used to set a new "S" class kilo record of 116.538 in February...... and one more of that monster motor we were all talking about.

**willabee** · 10-17-2006, 12:41 PM

So I've mentioned that 1973 would bring us the rotary outboard and we've talked a little about that. I also said that Factory Racing would take on a new look....I'd turn in my resignation and get a promotion and Hi-Performance Products was born.

Somebody(s) decided that the Race Team was going to consist of four boats. At the beginning of this format, they would be two Molinari pickle forks and two full nose sprint boats. The pickle forks were to be driven by Bob Hering and Billy Seebold with Reggie Fountain and Bob Spalding driving the other two. These guys would run all the experimental hot stuff and when that equipment was deemed ready, it would start to appear on the team support boats which were also to be handled by the Race Team. I think that there were about a dozen guys with that type of equipment which included the Berghauers, Bob Holloway, Gary Peacock, Jerry Simison, Lee Sutter, Brett May, Dick Sherrer and a few others.

One of the things they wanted for the new concept was that all four Team boats would look alike. After a bunch of different designs were tossed around, they decided on the format shown below.....this is Hering's boat which made it's debut at Memphis in May and appeared on the cover of Powerboat in August.

To be continued.....(sorry about the lousy picture of the magazine, I changed the size so many times I ended up with a big blur.....on the other hand, that's exactly what that boat was on a race course, a big blur, so maybe it's a fitting shot after all

**willabee** · 10-18-2006, 11:23 AM

Maybe you won't find this interesting, but at the risk of boring you I'm going to tell you how that original "Team" paint scheme came about......I was talking to one of the guys (wish I could remember his name) responsible for coming up with new look, and during that chat we discussed a couple of schemes that we thought might work. I told him that I had a model of a pickle fork Molinari and offered to let him use it if he thought it might help to put the ideas on the model rather than paper to show the decision makers what the boats would really look like. He didn't know any models existed and asked me to show him what I was talking about.

What I had was a Christmas present from Renato Molinari. In 1972 he sent me a box that contained a very exotic looking bottle of wine (I still have it - unopened) and a wood model of his new 17' pickle fork design. This thing has little wooden stringers going through it, fiberglass cowling .....built just like the big boys. It was painted just like the boat he and Hering drove to win that years Paris Six Hour and he put the number he used when racing in the states on it - #554. I was totally surprised and delighted to receive such a gift. He also sent one to Jim Merten with Merten's #187 on it and one to Gary Garbrecht. I assume that Renato built one for himself, but am not aware of anyone else that has one of these.

When my oldest daughter Kelli moved to Florida with her family, she took my favorite little guy "Beanie Boy" with her. I wanted my grandson to have something special for his room so that when his friends came to visit, they would ask what that was and his answer would remind him of me

..... so I gave him my Molinari.

To be continued................

**blkmtrfan** · 10-18-2006, 01:25 PM

That is very cool (and interesting

)

Hope you also sent a glass case to put it in

**willabee** · 10-19-2006, 07:54 AM

Originally Posted by blkmtrfan

Hope you also sent a glass case to put it in

I wasn't smart enough to think of the glass case, but Kelli knew it meant something special to me and kept it high enough in his room that he couldn't get at it without help. He's 18 now, so it has managed to survive in great shape

.

**willabee** · 10-27-2006, 01:19 PM

I think the reason I got the model that had Renato's number on it and it was painted the same as his Paris winner is because of what happened at the 72 race. I talked about this race on another thread, but I'll tell the story here.

I'm pretty sure that the 1st Molinari pickle fork was what I called the "Koblenz" boat. I was sent to Koblenz, Germany in the summer of 72 for some kind of European Championship. I was to help Roy Ridgell, our European Team Manager, get the win with Renato (mission accomplished). That boat was the first one in the states and Bob Hering set a 118 kilo record in it, along with several other wins. It then went to Lee Sutter and I think he won at St. Louis with it - "Sutter's Gold". The next pickle fork was the one Renato and Hering ran in the Paris Six Hour. It was the only one entered in that race and there was a bunch of pre-race hoopla about the boat....pressure was on to win with that rig.

We were still running the C6, we had a "hot" spot at #3 cylinder and I was a little concerned about the fuel we may get at the race. We finished getting all of the Paris boats ready one day before we were scheduled to leave Lake Como for Paris so I told everyone except Rick Lamore to go sight seeing. He and I went back to Molinari's shop and practiced how to set the timing without using a dial indicator....I wanted to be able to call for a certain setting during the race if we started to have some trouble without spending too much time in the pits. It turned out that our time was well spent that day.

This is the "Koblenz" boat in the US with Hering at the controls and the Paris pits...the calm before the storm.

To be continued..................

**willabee** · 10-27-2006, 02:30 PM

Race day arrives and all of the Merc and OMC brass head for the VIP barge sitting against the seawall at the pit turn and we head for the pits. The engines roar, away they go under the first bridge and you wait to see how they come back....Renato and his pickle fork are flying. Our guys on the VIP barge are exercising their bragging rights and ordering champagne. Then, about an hour into the race , Renato comes limping down the backstretch. He pulls into the pits, I jump on board, pull the engine cowl and remove #3 plug.....sure enough, burndt piston. In disgust, I toss the plug to Bill Allen who, after a closer look hollers "It ain't that bad!". I look again and decide to try to fix this thing. Allen puts a new plug in while Lamore is retarding the timing and Jim Emerson is adding extra oil to the fuel tank he had already filled. I explain to Renato what we have done and ask him to give it a try....he's says he's ready.

As he leaves, the boat goes into a wicked porpoise and disappears under the bridge. I'm thinking that I went too far with the timing and that it will never lay down and run. However, when he comes down the backstretch, he is hauling the mail

..... but after making the pit turn, he starts to porpoise again

. While this is happening, Charles Alexander, Merc President, comes down to our pits and asked what was going on with Renato's boat. I told him what we had done, told him it was my call and said I would put it on the trailer if we couldn't make it run any better...he was not a happy camper.

Turned out that that retarded timing just didn't like a full fuel load, so we gave it one hour loads the rest of the way. They made up the (I think) two laps lost for that pit stop and won that race

. Everyone was very happy.....Alexander bought dinner at the Hilton that night. I didn't make it all the way to my steak....too much liquid with the boys before I found out he was taking us to dinner

. Renato was thrilled and I think giving me a model of the boat that won that event was his way of saying "thank you"

.....and that's the end of this story.

Found a photo of Angelo Molinari's ( Renato's father) home in Como, Italy.

**brichter** · 10-30-2006, 07:26 AM

Originally Posted by specboatops

S-36 - Art Kennedy,Jr. ( here's your picture Specboatops ) - 18' Molinari "rocker bottom" powered by one of the four 1350 powerheads running their 1st race at Havasu in 1968....he finished 6th overall and 3rd single. Those 4 boats were the last of the "good" 18'ers that came over from Italy. They were replaced by the 17' sprints and marathons

Thank you, Didn't Art later start driving for OMC ? seems I remember him at races with the white motor on the back. There use to be a guy who raced #13 do you remember who he was, I have a couple of pics of his old race boat think it was a seebold hull.....maybe not anyway he ran a 1500xs and had a very nice lookin boat.

Boat #13 was Ron Lambe and it was a Seebold.

**specboatops** · 10-31-2006, 06:44 AM

Yea That Name Sounds Right, It Was A Grey And Maroon Boat, And I Think It Had A Amsoil Logo On The Side, I Liked That Boat. Sorry for the misspell on your name, it should have read Brichter.

Chris