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  1. #496
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    Yes they were.....

    Quote Originally Posted by mark benson View Post
    In # 1 - you see # 13 Bill Cooper dual Mercury Ron Jones - # 2 - # 152 Joe Habay dual Mercury (missing a port side cowling). # 3 - # 112 Don Pruett (dual Mercury) racing # 15 Bill Cooper KT Class 22 foot Ron Jones pickle-fork. Those were the days, my friend!
    They certainly were the days my friend, but not exactly the way you commented above. Just for grins, can you find two errors made in your obsevations?

  2. #497
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    Quote Originally Posted by willabee View Post
    They certainly were the days my friend, but not exactly the way you commented above. Just for grins, can you find two errors made in your obsevations?
    1. Habay was missing a starboard side cowling ...not port

    2. Pruett was running triple mercs...not dual

    This is the problem with posting directly from old magazine articles and race circulars.

    oh and Willabee....you spelled observations incorrectly...

    T2x
    20 Foot Switzer Wing 2 X S3000 (Dust'n the Wind II)
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    15’ Wooden Switzer Shooting Star...
    16 foot Lee Craft Merc S 3000-(Gold Dust II)
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  3. #498
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    I sure did.....

    Quote Originally Posted by T2x View Post
    1. Habay was missing a starboard side cowling ...not port

    2. Pruett was running triple mercs...not dual

    This is the problem with posting directly from old magazine articles and race circulars.

    oh and Willabee....you spelled observations incorrectly...

    T2x
    Darn it, I just hate it when that happens!

    Good job on the two corrections, but it would have been even funnier if Mark had caught my error and tossed it right back at me!

  4. #499
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    T2X- thought you were in Florida?

  5. #500
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    Quote Originally Posted by shadowcat View Post
    T2X- thought you were in Florida?

    Leaving tonight......
    20 Foot Switzer Wing 2 X S3000 (Dust'n the Wind II)
    !6 foot Wood Eltro Vee (2X Merc 1500's) (Dust'n the Wind IV)
    15 foot Powercat 15C (2 X Merc 1500) (Dust'n the Wind III)
    (Single engine boats are lacking something)
    15’ Wooden Switzer Shooting Star...
    16 foot Lee Craft Merc S 3000-(Gold Dust II)
    (The exception proves the rule)
    Obsolete and Proud of it

  6. #501
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    I'm already there. But looking around, I don't see anybody? Where is everyone? Screw it, I'm going home...lol.
    Last edited by FUJIMO; 10-12-2010 at 06:56 PM.

  7. #502
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    Fastest Jones.....

    Quote Originally Posted by T2x View Post
    So which was faster around a race course....Cooper's 18 or the triples?
    Well, two courses were mentioned.....Cooper won at Long Beach and Galveston. A decent single would probably whip the triple at Long Beach. That course is just too tight for that big ol' lumber wagon. However, the triple would prevail at Galveston and other course's like Smith Mountain Lake, Parker and Havasu.

    They are big boats....
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Triple Jones - B.Valachovic photo.JPG   B.Valachovic photo - triple Jones.JPG   Parker's triple Jones.jpg   Triple Jones Parker 70.jpg   PB7374 053.jpg  

    Last edited by willabee; 10-07-2010 at 02:07 PM.

  8. #503
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    Gene. Thanks for posting the picture from the 70 Gold Coast Marathon. In the background of that picture on the ramp is boat #24, my SE marathon boat.I think the only other picture I have ever seen of that boat was taken while I was rolling an unconscious Johnny Reed over in front of the stands at the start that day. Johnny blew over and destroyed a red Carlson and by the time I arrived there just some wreckage and Johnny face down. I didn't even know it was him until I rolled him over. I got back in and finished 2nd which was my best finish in a Gold Coast. The following year I think you won the Roaring 100 race that replaced the Gold Coast and I won the SE class with that same boat.

  9. #504
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    Quote Originally Posted by 2us70 View Post
    Gene. Thanks for posting the picture from the 70 Gold Coast Marathon. In the background of that picture on the ramp is boat #24, my SE marathon boat.I think the only other picture I have ever seen of that boat was taken while I was rolling an unconscious Johnny Reed over in front of the stands at the start that day. Johnny blew over and destroyed a red Carlson and by the time I arrived there just some wreckage and Johnny face down. I didn't even know it was him until I rolled him over. I got back in and finished 2nd which was my best finish in a Gold Coast. The following year I think you won the Roaring 100 race that replaced the Gold Coast and I won the SE class with that same boat.
    Hey Jim---Where were you at OFF??? Johnny had his beautiful Allison at Cadillac's---offered me a ride---

  10. #505
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    Quote Originally Posted by willabee View Post
    Sorry about the multiple posts , my thingy was stuck and I just kept clicking until something happened!

    The first Ron Jones tunnel for OPC was the 18' that Bill Cooper just cleaned everyone's clock with at Long Beach. He could outturn, outaccelerate and simply outrun eveyone on that course. Ron didn't build many 18's, but they never seemed to get into any trouble. Seems like the 18's and the 22's had a symmetry that didn't occur with the 20's. The 20's always had a different, sort of a 'out of spec' look about them. It didn't seem to matter who the driver was, if they ran that boat near the 105 mark, they were really running on the edge.

    Cooper in 18', Habay in 20' & a couple of 22's.....
    Willabe- I see # 15 ,Bill Cooper, ran a 22' Ron Jones with Mercury IB/OB power, at the 1969 Lake Elsinore 500! Are there any other examples of KT Class boats running previous to the spring of '69?

  11. #506
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    Quote Originally Posted by mark benson View Post
    Willabe- I see # 15 ,Bill Cooper, ran a 22' Ron Jones with Mercury IB/OB power, at the 1969 Lake Elsinore 500! Are there any other examples of KT Class boats running previous to the spring of '69?
    I found this pic. Parker, March 1969, I think. Could this be the IO Bill Cooper ran at Elsinore???? I have no idea how the boat got busteed up. Does Willabee know?


  12. #507
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    To the best of my recollection.....

    Quote Originally Posted by mark benson View Post
    Willabe- I see # 15 ,Bill Cooper, ran a 22' Ron Jones with Mercury IB/OB power, at the 1969 Lake Elsinore 500! Are there any other examples of KT Class boats running previous to the spring of '69?
    The boat that started it all was unveiled at the Parker 9 Hour in 1968. I wasn't privy to any of the events behind the scenes that put this package together, but I was at the race to witness the results. I believe the boys at Merc's Fond du lac boathouse (Wayne Meyers 4 cycle plant for offshore) put together a hopped up 265" engine, married it to a MC1 SSM and shipped the package to Lake X. The offshore guys installed that package in a new, about 19' Molinari and, presto, there was the beginning of what was to become the KT class.

    The combination they put together was absolute dynamite, far superior to the racing inboards of the day. Parker had always been ruled by the conventional GN or SKI inboard hulls. This boat ran faster than them, could turn on a dime and run over bigger water at speed! It was driven by, who else, Bill Cooper. When he showed up with that thing it caught everyones attention. Even more interesting was when he put it in the water, I don't think any other boats stayed on the course. They all just watched this thing run, and Cooper knew how to put on a show. He didn't run it down the river and out of sight. Instead, he ran it in full view of the pits. He would come down the backstretch and perform a fast, tight one bouy turn, accelerate to top speed and then blast into another power turn. Jaws dropped and eyes bulged as people watched in utter amazement! It sounded better, ran better and looked better than anything any of us had ever seen before.

    Cooper mounted a rear facing camera on the nose and took pictures of himself at the wheel. One of his pictures ended up on the cover of Powerboat. However, he didn't fair well in the race itself. He hit some debris and punched a big hole in the sponson and was forced to retire very early.

    Bill Olney bought the boat but didn't have much time to be the dominate guy on the course. The first thing that happened was the 22' Ron Jones tunnels with the big blocks started to appear. They were much faster than the little 265 Molinari. Then, after Coopers truly superior showing at Elsinore in 69, that type of boat was written out of competition by new rules approved by the builders and owners of the conventional inboard hulls. The class didn't really get going again until Merc put their KT package together in 73.

    Inboards at Parker, the big Jones and Cooper in the Molinari.

    I almost forgot.....one of Coopers cool moves was the driver listing he had painted on the Molinari:

    Driver: Bill Cooper
    Co-Driver: "Fear"
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Parker Beauty 1975.jpg   PB7374 048.jpg   Picture 012.jpg   PB68&69 017.jpg  
    Last edited by willabee; 10-13-2010 at 10:28 AM.

  13. #508
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    Parker, 1969.....

    Quote Originally Posted by GENE LANHAM View Post
    I found this pic. Parker, March 1969, I think. Could this be the IO Bill Cooper ran at Elsinore???? I have no idea how the boat got busteed up. Does Willabee know?

    Yep, that pic is from Parker 69. It's another 9'x22' Jones driven by Bill Cooper, but it is not the Elsinore 500 Jones he raced later that same year. I don't know much of anything about the boat in your picture. First time I saw it was when he pulled into the pits. Don't remember him having much to do with any of us, just pulled in and prepared to launch. My opinion was that it was another secret Merc project, but I sure don't know that to be a fact. If anyone told me whether it was or wasn't, I have since forgotten.

    Some of the damage was the result of it blowing over during testing. Most of the damage was the result of how it was handled when it was pulled out of the water. Cooper was directing the procedure.....as I recall, they dragged it on shore upside down (damage). Then they got it up on it's tail (more damage) and just pushed it over. Ka-Boom.....more stuff broke, it was sad to watch. I do remember thinking at the time, "bet you wouldn't have treated it that way if you had paid for it!", but again, I don't really know who it belonged to. Also, don't have any idea of what ever happened to it, but it probably made it back to KT racing a few years later.

    Here is a shot of Cooper and the Jones he ran at the Elsinore 500. That course was 5 miles long and Cooper had a five lap lead.....25 miles.....at the half-way point in the race!!!!! He had completed 250 miles, 2nd place had only completed 225 and was a lap or two in front of third!!!!! That's just unreal, especially when the boat running in 2nd was another 22' Jones, but had three 1350 Merc's strapped to the transon and was driven by none other than Billy Don Pruett!

    Cooper would pull along side of the inboard drivers and slow to their speed and mimic the beating they were taking, then hit the gas pedal and just roar away. The helicopter flying over the race and broadcasting live on radio would report him teasing the inboard drivers every now and then. His power steering failed and it took the safety boats almost an hour to find him and tow him back to the pits for repairs. They were in no hurry to see that boat get back into the race.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Cooper&Pruett Elsinore 69.jpg   Power Boat Mag 002.jpg   Power Boat Mag 002.jpg   PB68&69 019.jpg  
    Last edited by willabee; 11-02-2010 at 09:59 AM.

  14. #509
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    More photos from the collection of Molly Ballou.

    The first is a great action shot she has labeled "Havasu 1968" and says the driver of T188 is Don Hartman. I can't add anything to the shot, don't know the boats or drivers involved in this accident. Kind of looks like the Wing spun and was struck by the single flying through the air. Can't tell what the single is, but the two small points remind me of the Kober Kat.

    The second is a really sharp shot of the Mercury Team lining up at their refueling dock for the Sunday start at Havasu 1970. Pictured is a new 21' Glastron/Molinari twin Petty/Collinge, a 21' Molinari twin Bill Sirois, a 17' Jones Denny & Duey Berghauer, a new 17' Molinari sprint Tom Stickle, a 17' Molinari marathon Mike Downard, a new 17' Molinari sprint Bob Hering, a new 21' Molinari twin Renato Molinari, a new 20' Molinari twin Jim Merten and what looks like Bobby Massey's 18' Switzer Wing. OMC won the race for the first time the year before and Merc has put in an all out effort to get the title back. Everything is clean and shiney and, more importantly, ready to rumble!

    The people on the dock include Dave Beier, me, Dennis Robbins, Duey Berghauer, Jim Acheson, Jerry Kohnke, and Chuck Mettner. Gary Garbrecht is in the yelllow jacket on the top of the rig.

    The third picture is Reggie Fountain in his 21' Glastron/Molinari. This must be Havasu 1971 because he isn't running stackers, those have to be Twister I's. He finished 2nd a few laps back of Bill Sirois. I will say this.....you can not run that boat any prettier than Reggie is running in that picture. That is the real definition of "Picture Perfect!"
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Havasu 1968.jpg   Havasu 1970 - The start.jpg   Reggie Fountain - 21' GlastronMolinari.jpg  
    Last edited by willabee; 10-16-2010 at 09:34 AM.

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  16. #510
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    Massey's #140 Wing from Fred Kiekhaefer's collection
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Masseys Wing #140.jpg  

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