Life at Lake X in the '60s

[seeroy]

Steve:
I was wondering if you might remember the situation as to why Bill was
in Long Beach California for the running of our Power Cat drag hydro back
in 1962. I know these motors were factory specials and some of the
very first black 100's off the line. I thought maybe Carl K. had him go with
the motors to be sure us west coast crazies knew what we were doing.
Danny Leger

Danny - I spent some time with Phil Schenk recently...He and Bill were in California together during that time. He told me that Bill actually worked for Powercat for the time period that the picture was taken. OR..maybe your theory about "west coast crazies" is true. I think that Bill might have stayed with Eddie's family for awhile. If anyone is in touch with Eddie, perhaps he can add more to this. Phil told me that Bill also worked on boats for Dan Blocker and Jack Elam during that stint. I need to listen to a recording that I made of our recent conversation and maybe I can find out more. Or...I could just call Phil. Best Regards - Steve Sirois

[seeroy]

Gene Lanham recently sent me this picture of Bill in "Redbird" which was Gene's red Switzer. One can clearly see that it is Bill in the boat. The name "Hot Toddy" is a little confusing to me. Maybe it had something to do with Lonnie Todd. I don't know when or where the picture was taken, but the scenery makes me think out West. Perhaps Gene will see this post and help me....OR I could just call him. It's sometimes kind of strange to me to see all of us posting and swapping e-mails when phone calls would be easier. But then everyone else couldn't have the fun of also pitching in. I guess it really is more fun this way. Best Regards to All - Steve Sirois

[velox]

thank you....I knew there were two canopied wooden wings, but Dave Switzer referred to only one in an "Extreme Boats" interview 2 years ago. This picture proves my memory cells are still ( a little) intact.

Next question......what year was that picture taken......? The cowls indicate 1966 motors on one of the boats. Also who drove them at the races? Dave Craig couldn't have been in two at the same time.

Dave Craig had two different wooden wings. The first one was similar to the fiberglass wings and was sold to a guy named Rees Schmidt's of Miami.
The second was smaller and the sponsons formed a V in the front.
Dave was in the Gold Coast Marathon when he had a problem, damaging the boat. The damage was repairable.
Both boats were in the GCM several times and also in the 1963 6 hour Grand national marathon held at Pelican Harbor. Butch Stokes got to test drive both of them, but I never got to drive either. I did drive the Powercat Drag Hydro shown in post 543. Mr K got pissed when I finished ahead of Bill S in the GSM in it!
BTW the wood Wings were faster than the FG ones by a good margin.

[seeroy]

Charlie..Glad you are here. Check this out sent to me today by Jeff. Note the Mercury inline 6 powerhead. There is a radiator in the cowling under the powerhead. - Steve

[T2x]

thank you....I knew there were two canopied wooden wings, but Dave Switzer referred to only one in an "Extreme Boats" interview 2 years ago. This picture proves my memory cells are still ( a little) intact.

Next question......what year was that picture taken......? The cowls indicate 1966 motors on one of the boats. Also who drove them at the races? Dave Craig couldn't have been in two at the same time.

Dave Craig had two different wooden wings. The first one was similar to the fiberglass wings and was sold to a guy named Rees Schmidt's of Miami.
The second was smaller and the sponsons formed a V in the front.
Dave was in the Gold Coast Marathon when he had a problem, damaging the boat. The damage was repairable.
Both boats were in the GCM several times and also in the 1963 6 hour Grand national marathon held at Pelican Harbor. Butch Stokes got to test drive both of them, but I never got to drive either. I did drive the Powercat Drag Hydro shown in post 543. Mr K got pissed when I finished ahead of Bill S in the GSM in it!
BTW the wood Wings were faster than the FG ones by a good margin.

I am sorry for confusing this issue with my question. I know about Dave's wooden wings... He actually had 3.... the original open cockpit with twin 800's....the "V" front...and the Miss Skyway shown in the picture at Lake X. My question is ...who drove 7000...and in what races?

I am also aware that the wood hulls were faster..... that is also true of the early wood versus glass tunnel hulls....... Sadly the wooden Wing variants seem to have all disappeared.

T2x

[seeroy]

Rich - Earlier I commented on the "Gulf Wind Marine" signage on the side of the #7000 boat. Odell Lewis often had that on his boats. I believe that is him holding onto the canopy post in the post #529 picture. However, I don't know if he ever raced that boat. I do know that he has a ?nephew? that reads this thread on occasion and tells Odell about it. I will send Odell's phone # to you in a PM. Perhaps he can provide some info to you. Best Regards - Steve P.S. Surely there worse pictures of you than the one I posted

[gofish7070]

Post #529 is just vintage Lake X, Thanks Digital Jeff, Your photos are simply awesome, so full of so many awesome memories,,,,,,, Again Steve Your thread is just kick a##,,,,,, With regards to the Imperial in the photo,I arrived at the Lake in 1964, in the fall of that year Mr. K gave me the keys to a new light blue Imperial and asked me to deliver the car to his wife Freida,who lived in Cypress Gardens, I think on Lake Eloise, Upon that delivery I picked up the black 2-door Imperial in the photo, I remember it had awesome taillights that mounted on the top of the fins.... That car stayed at the Lake for a long time and was used very little......... Yes they actually paid us to do that stuff, I think it was the healthy sum of $1.60 per hour, About the same as I'm making now but without the fun,,,,,,,,,,,, Hope everyone is following Miami Marine Stadium stuff,,, Looks like we may all go back their for a beer soon.......... Thanks

[seeroy]

Jim - I think I made less than $1.60 an hour. AND I was happy with it. But I did get a 10 cent raise when I moved off of the property. - Steve

[GENE LANHAM]

[quote=seeroy;1498277]Gene Lanham recently sent me this picture of Bill in "Redbird" which was Gene's red Switzer. One can clearly see that it is Bill in the boat. The name "Hot Toddy" is a little confusing to me. Maybe it had something to do with Lonnie Todd. I don't know when or where the picture was taken, but the scenery makes me think out West. Perhaps Gene will see this post and help me


Steve---Parker 1968. You are right, Lonnie Todd. Lonnie had 4 boats at that time--all 'Hot Toddy--'. Lonnie was in an offshore race in Florida that day, Bill and I drove the 9 hour at Parker. The record book says Lonnie Todd finished 6th overall at Parker that day.

I don't remember how he finished in the offshore race, but I do remember that Bob Donahue was his navigator. Unfortunately, Lonnie had a financial 'reversal' that year, and ended up as the bartender for Bob Donahue at his bar up on Biscayne Boulevard. Thanks to Bill (and a few others) I ended up with the Wing. I have lots of good 'Bill-Lonnie--Bob' stories----later

Gene

[seeroy]

Gene - I am sure we both have many Bob Donahue stories. Bob died within the last couple of years as a result of smoke inhalation during a fire. He was staying in a unit of an apartment building that Vida owns in Miami Beach. She had warned him many times not to use a portable heater. He did it anyway...left some clothing too close and went to sleep. according to someone that was with him at the end, his last words were, "Vida is really going to be pissed at me". - Steve

[Mark75H]

The photo would be even more dramatic if we could determine whether Imperial is the twin to Strang's grey one ... the 2 that were prepped for the Kiekhaefer entries for the "Road America" race that was never run.

[Powercat]

Steve:
Well Eddie is no longer with us either.. Just recently was contacted by a family member
of his and he indicated he had a lot of the Morenz family photos and all collected from
those years.. Waiting to see what turns up..
I knew that Chuck Mersereau was somehow on the payroll with us but never knew that
Bill was. The Morenz family were close friends of my parents all the way back to the late
40's when they worked together in the San Pedro ship yards during WWII. Eddie was
copilot with my dad in the Mississippi River Race when he was only 16 years old.. which
would have been around 1958. Yep, there were a lot of the hollywood people that would
frequent the SoCal plant. Never figured how these SoCal boys made it to Florida to work
for Mercury. I guess the lure of boat racing was all it took.
Danny Leger
Austin, Texas

Danny - I spent some time with Phil Schenk recently...He and Bill were in California together during that time. He told me that Bill actually worked for Powercat for the time period that the picture was taken. I think that Bill might have stayed with Eddie's family for awhile. If anyone is in touch with Eddie, perhaps he can add more to this. Phil told me that Bill also worked on boats for Dan Blocker and Jack Elam during that stint. I need to listen to a recording that I made of our recent conversation and maybe I can find out more. Or...I could just call Phil. Best Regards - Steve Sirois

[digital_jeff]

Here's one for the weekend. I really like this shot but you can tell they are really holding back on the throttles probably for the sake of the photographer on the deck.

jeff

[Mark75H]

His left hand looks pretty far down to me

This looks like the "Fast will last" ad set up.

[velox]

Charlie..Glad you are here. Check this out sent to me today by Jeff. Note the Mercury inline 6 powerhead. There is a radiator in the cowling under the powerhead. - Steve

I am sure the inline 6 had plenty of power for a gyro copter.
A group of fast outboards is getting together at River Ranch in a couple of weeks. I will be going over for at least one day.
All of you old racers in Florida should try and make it. Maybe we can get a group of greyhairs together. Steve, Gene, Butch and company lets get'er done!!
Charlie
BTW River Ranch is just west of Yehaw Junction