Hot Singles ! - Pictures

**willabee** · 12-13-2006, 01:49 PM

Found this, sent to me by Molly Ballou. Can anyone ID the driver on the far right.....been racking my brain, but can't come up with a name. This was taken at the Provo 250 in 1973. That is his boat behind him and I think the man with his head down on the far left is part of this man's pit crew. A west coast driver ?????.......Irwin or Erwin maybe ????? I remember both of those faces and talking to them about the TII.

**willabee** · 12-15-2006, 02:09 PM

Had to laugh at myself on this one...... A while back, mbd29 posted a photo of Jim Merten's single engine kilo record setting boat and I asked him why they took the single pipe exhaust system that they used to set the record off of the powerhead and put a twin pipe system on. Well, I just came across an article about the record in Powerboat, and the record was set with a twin pipe system and I knew that.....hell, I was indirectly responsible for it being on there in the first place! Just goes to show that a picture can sometimes distort the facts rather than clear them up. I've seen that single pipe picture so many times that my mind must have finally said "OK, that's how the record was set"

......bet I'm not alone in that thinking

......definately a "Hot Single"

The picture mbd29 put up (those are not the pipes used for the record).....the picture used by Merc PR and most other articles.....the shot from Powerboat (not a good pic, you have to look hard to see both pipes).....

**Bob V** · 12-15-2006, 07:17 PM

Originally Posted by willabee

Found this, sent to me by Molly Ballou. Can anyone ID the driver on the far right.....been racking my brain, but can't come up with a name. This was taken at the Provo 250 in 1973. That is his boat behind him and I think the man with his head down on the far left is part of this man's pit crew. A west coast driver ?????.......Irwin or Erwin maybe ????? I remember both of those faces and talking to them about the TII.

Willabee...I believe that guy on the right is a young Rocky Aoki, the founder of Benihana Japanese Restaurants. He would have just been starting out in his racing about that time. Here are some pictures of him from that same time era:
http://www.benihana.com/hall_of_fame.asp

**willabee** · 12-19-2006, 03:26 PM

Originally Posted by Bob V

Willabee...I believe that guy on the right is a young Rocky Aoki, the founder of Benihana Japanese Restaurants.

Although I see where you get the resemblance, the man in the picture is not Aoki. This guy spoke perfect english, not a hint of Japanese and was bigger than Rocky. Rocky started offshore racing in 1975 as a 36 year old and this guy is much younger. I don't think that Rocky was in any other type of boat racing before offshore.

While talking about KT's on another thread, came across this picture of Dick Sherrer in Powerboat (same one I posted at the beginning of this thread), found out it was him winning the Redwood City race and that he built the Crusader boat that he is driving. Also found this shot of Bob Holloway winning the Walker Lake 100 and found a shot of Broadway Joe Habay in one of the early Ron Jones 17' singles....maybe 1970.

**willabee** · 12-20-2006, 03:42 PM

Found a picture of Mike Downard at Havasu in 1970. Noticed the boat has "ON" on the side and then remembered why...... it was the Renato Molinari/Jackie Wilson entry at the Paris 6 Hour that year running a Twister. It was flown back for Havasu where it ran a 1350 stacker. Then it ran a single pipe C6 in 1971 at Parker and after that race it became the Dick Sherrer entry you see in the Team picture from Miami, #148.....a very good boat.

**SCT** · 12-20-2006, 04:43 PM

How did Mike place? Next time I see him, I'll tell him he needs to post here on S&F.

**Bruce Washburn** · 12-21-2006, 06:45 AM

A little off the subject but Gordon Downard started racing again in SST 60 last year. It is always good to see some of the old names come back.

**willabee** · 12-21-2006, 10:30 AM

Originally Posted by SCT

How did Mike place? Next time I see him, I'll tell him he needs to post here on S&F.

He dropped out during the 6th hour, I don't recall what broke......he wasn't running in the top ten.

**willabee** · 01-15-2007, 04:15 PM

This was our first race in Memphis. I think Billy Don Pruett was driving a Marathon/TII for Arnie Haynes (think that was his name, he also had an inboard named Kilowatt) and had arranged for us to use one of his electrical shops for race headquarters. After we got all of our equipment put away that first night, we went back to the hotel to clean up. It was already late, but about six of us decided to go take a look at what Memphis had to offer in the way of night life. We stopped at a couple places and were on our way back to the motel when I eyeballed a TGI Fridays. Although it was closing time, a couple of us went in to see what it looked like in case we might want to come back another night.

Well, what we found resembled a high school dance. Lights were bright, two groups of people on the dance floor just standing there looking at each other and seperated by two police officers. I inquired as to what was happening and was informed that this very good looking (and very well endowed) young lady had decided to remove her top during the last dance. Apparently this upset some women from the other group and the police had been summoned to arrest this woman for doing something obscene. Remember, this was 1973, and things were different then.

After listening to the officers talk to the two groups, it was obvious to me that they didn't want to arrest anyone, they just wanted everyone to get along and to leave peacefully. I don't know why, but I walked onto the dance floor and looked at the officer in charge.....then the six pack of backbone I had consumed earlier caused me to say "I don't know what you think, but if someone has to be arrested, I think it should be the person that thinks that those things are obscene." as I pointed at the lady who had been the topless dancer. That officer looked at me, a smile came across his face and he raised his hand and gave me a high five as he said "right on brother!" Both groups broke into laughter and the evening ended without further incident. We went back that Friday night and the manager put us at the head table and we were treated like royality .....a fun time

. Not a racing story, just a story that happened at a race.....hope that is ok.

**T2x** · 01-16-2007, 10:41 AM

Originally Posted by willabee

This was our first race in Memphis. I think Billy Don Pruett was driving a Marathon/TII for Arnie Haynes (think that was his name, he also had an inboard named Kilowatt) and had arranged for us to use one of his electrical shops for race headquarters. After we got all of our equipment put away that first night, we went back to the hotel to clean up. It was already late, but about six of us decided to go take a look at what Memphis had to offer in the way of night life. We stopped at a couple places and were on our way back to the motel when I eyeballed a TGI Fridays. Although it was closing time, a couple of us went in to see what it looked like in case we might want to come back another night.

Well, what we found resembled a high school dance. Lights were bright, two groups of people on the dance floor just standing there looking at each other and seperated by two police officers. I inquired as to what was happening and was informed that this very good looking (and very well endowed) young lady had decided to remove her top during the last dance. Apparently this upset some women from the other group and the police had been summoned to arrest this woman for doing something obscene. Remember, this was 1973, and things were different then.

After listening to the officers talk to the two groups, it was obvious to me that they didn't want to arrest anyone, they just wanted everyone to get along and to leave peacefully. I don't know why, but I walked onto the dance floor and looked at the officer in charge.....then the six pack of backbone I had consumed earlier caused me to say "I don't know what you think, but if someone has to be arrested, I think it should be the person that thinks that those things are obscene." as I pointed at the lady who had been the topless dancer. That officer looked at me, a smile came across his face and he raised his hand and gave me a high five as he said "right on brother!" Both groups broke into laughter and the evening ended without further incident. We went back that Friday night and the manager put us at the head table and we were treated like royality .....a fun time

. Not a racing story, just a story that happened at a race.....hope that is ok.

Maybe I'm wrong but..........

Didn't Billy Don run Tony Rodriguez' boat, a Miles or Jones called "Sagres" at that race? My memory is shakey on the hull make, but it was on a fancy carpeted trailer and looked like it was on display rather than attending a race.

Rodriguez was a Portugese millionaire with a couple of like named 7 liter hydros that my partner, Don Lostumbo, was driving at the time. I think this was one of his few forays into OPC, and Marty O'neill wound up driving that hull later that year.

Bill: Feel free to tell all the stories you want ...regardless of topic, but , if possible, when police are involved....tell the parts where you or some one else...wound up in jail.

T2x

**gofish7070** · 01-17-2007, 09:37 AM

At that time was zone sale manager for Merc living in Memphis Remember the Race it was great fun,,,Due recall Pruitt running a Miles their remember he had a a squaw hand painted on the front of the boat,I think she was topless,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Pretty racy stuff for the times and Memphis

**willabee** · 01-17-2007, 12:48 PM

Originally Posted by gofish7070

Due recall Pruitt running a Miles their remember he had a a squaw hand painted on the front of the boat,I think she was topless,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Pretty racy stuff for the times and Memphis

I remember that painting on his boat also and I think this is the boat it was on..........sorry about the poor quality of the picture, tried to take a picture of a Merc ad and blow it up. I think this is a Tom Arnstad Marathon hull built in Loveland, Colorado.

**willabee** · 01-17-2007, 01:28 PM

Originally Posted by T2x

Didn't Billy Don run Tony Rodriguez' boat, a Miles or Jones called "Sagres" at that race? My memory is shakey on the hull make, but it was on a fancy carpeted trailer and looked like it was on display rather than attending a race.
Bill: Feel free to tell all the stories you want ...regardless of topic, but , if possible, when police are involved....tell the parts where you or some one else...wound up in jail.

T2x

I looked up the race in Powerboat and they say Tony Rodrigues finished 4th in the inboard KM event, it doesn't say anything about Billy Don. Like I mentioned earlier, Pruett was our conduit to Haynes and that was why we used his shop. However, I do remember something about Pruett and Rodrigues.....I just can't recall what it is

.

As far as stories about jail go, if I started that, we'd have to title it "They fought the law....the never ending story"......It would probably start with Denis Berghauer (his brother Duane may have been with him) and the story of him stealing a train! I think it was one that ran from Milwaukee to Chicago and to this day he still says "I can't figure out how in the heck they tracked me down, even I wasn't sure where I was going to take it"

.

Now you know why we affectionately referred to the big guy as "our portable hoist" during his racing days.....very big in the heart and arms, very small in ......well you know what I mean

Note to Boob Hetzel : I am trusting you to see that Denny reads this and, hopefully, gets on here to defend himself.

**willabee** · 01-19-2007, 04:08 PM

You guys were talking somewhere about Lil Red going to Dave Packer in Hawaii. I didn't remember that happening, but I did come across a photo in Powerboat showing him in a Twistercraft he drove to one of the six wins he took at the Hawaiian Water Carnival in 1973. This boat is a 17' marathon version, the 2nd one that Carl Stippich built and the one that Petty blew over at Morgan City. The 1st one was destroyed when it got hit by a chicken truck as Lee Sutter was towing it home from Oshkosh - "feathers everywhere" said Sutter. After this boat Stippich built Lil Red and Lil Blue, the sprints - 16' I think.

In the photo with Packer is a shot of a Kober Kat, Steve Soon winning the SU class at the same event (I included that because we were talking about them and what they look like on another thread). The third photo is Bob Hering winning the Seattle 225 in 1973. I didn't make that race because I was on the road with the KT boat, but I was told that he could do just about anything he wanted to in that stars & stripes Molinari. He decided to make a race out of it and led Johnny Sanders, Barry Woods, Billy Seebold and Tom Posey to the finish line.

**T2x** · 01-20-2007, 11:22 AM

Originally Posted by willabee

I remember that painting on his boat also and I think this is the boat it was on..........sorry about the poor quality of the picture, tried to take a picture of a Merc ad and blow it up. I think this is a Tom Arnstad Marathon hull built in Loveland, Colorado.

It sure looks like the twin to a Miles I ran a year later.......
Maybe Arnstad copied the hull and cowlings from Miles...?
T2x