Life at Lake X in the '60s

[RabidGatorFan]

Steve,

How did they "close" the midnight pass? Backfill? How would they "reopen" it? Dig a channel back? See the google earth pic below.

Oh, and I am only 36, but I surely miss the Florida I grew up in too. It just doesn't exist any more.

Thanks,

Steve.

[seeroy]

Steve,

How did they "close" the midnight pass? Backfill? How would they "reopen" it? Dig a channel back? See the google earth pic below.

Oh, and I am only 36, but I surely miss the Florida I grew up in too. It just doesn't exist any more.

Thanks,

Steve.

Rabid - Apparently the pass closed in 1983. There followed a significant decline in the Little Sarasota Bay ecosystem. The enclosed link to the Midnight Pass Society gives a pretty good history of what happened. Also, if you Google Midnight Pass, you will find a number of stories and opinions on the situation. During the late '50s and '60s I spent alot of time in the Little Sarasota Bay and Midnight Pass area. The area was pristine. When I was in Junior High School (Brookside), some of my friends and I would camp out on the small island just inside of the pass. Very early in the morning we would hear the fishing boats going out through the pass. One could walk amongst the mangrove trees around the edge of the island and look down into the roots which descended into the water. I would see multiple layers of different kinds of fish all the way to the bottom, which was 10+ feet beneath the surface. The water was crystal clear and, when it was quiet, I could hear a hissing sound coming from the water. I'm not sure what made the hissing sound, but many who have found themselves in that serene moment will remember it forever. One could walk the flats to the West of the island and easily catch stone crabs. We would have a metal hook on the end of a dowel. Walking in shallow water, one would stick the hook into holes in the sand and probe for the crabs. You could feel it when you hit their hard shell. If you were lucky, they would grab the hook with a claw and you would gently extract them. I would remove one claw and return them to the water. There were many areas where one could walk oyster beds at low tide. As long as the oysters were still beneath the surface at dead low tide, they were good. We always carried a screwdriver to open them. Sometimes we would just stand there in the water, open oysters and eat them on the spot. Other times we would gather a trash can full of them and throw them on a hot grill. When they steamed open, we would experience one of the best gastronomical delights imaginable. Sometimes we would spear snook form under the docks at the Happyland restaurant and trade them for beer from the staff. That evening the restaurant would have a sign out front that read "Rainbow Trout Tonight". Everybody knew that it was actually snook. On the rare occasion that the temperature got very cold, snook would come into the channel in the boat shop and just lay there. Midnight Pass was quite narrow, so when the tide changed, the flow was very strong and impressive. The following link will take you to the site I mentioned at the beginning of this post. Wistfully Looking Back - Steve Sirois
Oh By The Way; GO GATORS!!!

http://www.sarasota.wateratlas.usf.e...oc_Summary.pdf

[seeroy]

Here is another link which gives a pretty good account of what happened. BTW, the island he is on, would be the same island I camped on when in Junior High School. - Steve

http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2...6-19152754_ITM

[seeroy]

I recieved this article from Mike Ramsey yesterday. Story from Mike to follow soon. Synopsis: 1966 Paris 6 hour. Kiekhaefer took 14 boats. 2 turbine powered, the one below driven by Mike and a turbine powered Molinari driven by Odell Lewis. Mike said my brother was the only one of the 14 that finished. No doubt some of those that post here, were there. Stories please? - Steve Sirois

[seeroy]

Easier to read caption - Steve

[nianticgary]

Just goes to show how little time it takes people to screw up a good thing and especially nature. And it seems like the more $ you have the more you can screw up, like our economy. If we'd all learn to leave well enough alone, like the Everglades.

[lilabner]

I recieved this article from Mike Ramsey yesterday. Story from Mike to follow soon. Synopsis: 1966 Paris 6 hour. Kiekhaefer took 14 boats. 2 turbine powered, the one below driven by Mike and a turbine powered Molinari driven by Odell Lewis. Mike said my brother was the only one of the 14 that finished. No doubt some of those that post here, were there. Stories please? - Steve Sirois

The date on the newspaper is the day I left Vietnam..

Semper Fi

[jackie wilson]

Paris '66 The great confrontation---Brits Versus U.S OF A
.Pit allocations were always a tad contentious due to the very limited space, with 90 odd re-fuelling rigs clamouring for space. For the last 5 years we Brits had it sussed. get up at 6 am and be the first to claim your territory !!!!!!! problem was, the yanks had got wind we were early risers and the sneaky buggers got there before us.We arrived to find half of the total space was taken with monster refuelling rigs and cantilever cranes ,and 6'6" Texicanas guarding the territory. 50 gallon oil drums filled with fuel and a multitude of spares that made us weep with envy.
Chuck the bloody lot in the water i yelled at nobody in particular and moved to throw 'SOMETHING ' in the water, 2 bodies barred the way and a chap who i got to know quite well that day said to me in a very soft disarming sort of way, 'do you have a problem sir.? i just cracked up and stood there speechless. first , i had never in the whole of my life been called SIR. !!!!! I could not believe these Hill Billies.. I called for back up which duly arrived in the form of Shaky Bill [all five foot nothing] and proceeded to stick out my chin in a very belligerent manner to show these guys they were pushing the boundaries and playing with fire. Twenty minutes later after realising it was going to piss down heavily all day we moved our kit upstream by fifty yards, under the bridge, consoling ourselves with discretion being, and valour etc.
Lifelong friends were made that day, Roy Ridgell, Bill Sirois. Met Bill Steele for the first time. Never understood how he held that job, always seemed like a mouse to me. T'was a bad day for the Americans, they lost a lot of kit, but they helped the Brits all day. That was the day i grew to love "THE COLONIALS"
1966 was the year i won the British championship and i had a Carniti engine on the rear of a Bristol that was untouchable. Had the 6 hours in the bag, Index of performance, Class winner. All i had to do was wave as i took the chequered flag. Unfortunately, 200 yards after the start i ran over the top of an out of control inboard and spent a long time tasting the water of the Seine. Never again did i take anything as read.!!!!
We knew the Yanks would be back next year, But i got to know more of them earlier than that in the summer of '67 when Pruett and Ballesterros Went to a little island called Des EM Biez. That's another story/ jw

[bigshrimpin]

This is the same boat in both shots.

jeff

Jeff - do you have anymore seacraft pics!!! these are awesome shots.

[nianticgary]

Digital Jeff,
Since you have all these photos of Lake X etc, do you have photos of the yellow test boats that ran all over Florida. How about the 1960-80s motors and the Mercury collection. Did you or anyone photograph the collection. I'd love to see it.
Gary Larson

[seeroy]

Hopefully I mentioned somewhere earlier that I never raced in Europe, so I can only relay stories from those that did. With that in mind, let me relay '66 Paris 6 hour story from Mike Ramsey who was there. I talked to Mike for as long as my cell phone battery would hold out this AM. I will insert his story in 3 successive postings. Enjoy. Best Regards - Steve Sirois

In Mikes Ramsey’s words: PREPARING FOR THE ’66 <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com</st1:City>PARIS</ST1lace> 6 HOUR RACE. Prior to the ’66 <ST16 hour we were tasked to setup 2 Rover Turbine boats. I was assigned a Liuzzi with 145HP Rover turbine on #1 Mercruiser with speedmaster lower unit. Produced good power at 63,000 RPM. It ran 78mph light & 74mph full fuel. Performance was good in bumpy water. Odell Lewis had the same power package, but in a Molinari tunnel boat. We actually had production gasoline Rover/Mercruiser 60hp, 80hp & 90hp packages on the market. (Steve talking here. I actually ran the production package on endurance at Lake X. When running, it smelled like french fries cooking and always made me hungry) Back to Mike Talking: The Liuzzi/turbine was controversial from the beginning. Mr. Kiekhaefer looked at the dashboard and euphemistically said, “Why do we have a Rolls Royce dashboard in a Volkswagen?”. He then proceeded to bare handedly tear out the bulkhead between the driver and engine. He came back later and tried to bare handedly tear out the dashboard by hitting it with his fist. He had not realized that it was reinforced with aluminum. It sounded like the breaking of a baseball bat. At that point Jim Kubasta jumped up on the deck, yelled “Piss on this boat” and proceeded to thus christen said boat. The Rover Representative went to Mr. Kiekhaefer’s office and they talked. The result was that the boat was to go to <st1:City w:st="on"><ST1Paris</st1:City>. The other boats had proceeded to air shipping earlier. Mike and John Stenback then drove the boat to <st1:City w:st="on">Chicago</st1:City> to get it air shipped to <st1:City w:st="on">Paris</ST1,</st1:City> but were unsuccessful in that endeavor. Soooo, they hit the road for <st1:State w:st="on">New York</st1:State> where they were successful. On the way back to <st1:State w:st="on">Wisconsin</st1:State>, while driving along at their usual 90+MPH, one of <st1:State w:st="on"><ST1New York</ST1lace</st1:State>’s finest noticed said speed and chose to inquire. Naturally, Mike and John had no compunction about mentioning that they were race boat drivers. For an hour, they entertained the gentleman with grand stories of their exploits. With this information in mind, he allowed them to continue about their way with no further recourse.

[seeroy]

In Mikes Ramsey’s words: ON TO <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com</st1:City>PARIS. We worked out of the Paris Distributor’s shop. At first there were language difficulties with the French mechanics. No doubt some expletives were hurled back and forth until an interpreter arrived. After that, the French were magnificent and always, immediately and with great relish, accomplished any task. The French would arrive in suit and tie every morning. Deliver a hearty “Good Morning”, go to the locker room to change into work clothes, and commence with whatever task was at hand. At noon, someone would go to the corner deli for 10 loaves of bread, 10 pounds of spiced ham, and 10 bottles of wine. At quitting time the French would go back to the locker room, shower, change back into suit and tie, bid a hearty “Good Evening “ and go home. Following the race, when it came time for the Mercury guys to head home, they each gave up their Lake X jacket, with gold stripe down the sleeve, to the French guys. The only exception was Bill Steele. He refused to give up his jacket and one of the French did not yet have one. So the other Merc guys pounced on Steele, ripped off his jacket and gave it to the French guy. When we departed, the French mechanics were actually in tears as they bid Adieu to their new Yankee friends.

[seeroy]

In Mikes Ramsey’s words: THE RACE.. Unfortunately, I had a flameout at the start and immediately fell behind the fleet. Got it running again and rapidly gained on the fleet. By the 3<SUP>rd</SUP> lap I had passed half of the fleet and was running like a stripped ass ape. I caught a funny wave and stuffed the boat while passing under a bridge. The boat spun and hit the bridge abutment. When my head cleared, I jammed the throttle lever forward and was rewarded by some very nasty sounds coming from behind me. To my surprise, when I turned around, I noticed that the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com</st1:PlaceName>Seine <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">River</st1:PlaceType> had swallowed the back half of the boat and was gaining on the front half. If you have ever seen the <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Seine</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">River</st1:PlaceType> up close and personal, there is one thing you know for sure……You do not want to immerse your pink body in it’s lovely water. All manner of nasty things have taken up residence there from the effluence of the sewers. Therefore, I climbed up on the nose of the Liuzzi, which was the only portion still above the water. In their zeal to compete, oncoming drivers passed within mere inches, nearly causing me to add further effluence to the river. Fortunately, none of them hit me and their wakes eventually pushed the boat to the shore. I jumped ashore, tied the boat to a tree and began my trek to the pits. Unbeknownst to me Odell’s Turbine Molinari had rid itself of one of the required sponsons that allowed it to stay afloat. As I approached the pits, Mr. Kiekhaefer saw me and exhibited some of that temper he was famous for. He kindly inquired as to the whereabouts of his 2 turbine boats. I told him that mine was tied up to a tree and wasn’t going anywhere. This, of course, pleased him….NOT!! As I arrived in the pits, I was witness to some rather interesting European boat racing etiquette. It seems that a very excited Frenchman had hit a piece of debris in the Seine and knocked off the nose of his boat as if someone had cut it off with a saw. He had tasked the crane operator to pull the boat from the river, whereupon he promptly nailed a board across the gaping maw. He then engaged the crane operator to return the boat to the water. The crane operator refused to comply resulting in screaming expletives being hurled in both directions. Shortly, a Race Official came upon the scene and pointedly told the Driver, “You pulled your boat out of the water. You are disqualified”. To say the least, this did not sit well with the Frenchman. As he shouted, “VIVE LA <st1:country-region w:st="on">FRANCE</st1:country-region>!”, he leapt from the seawall to the dock and punched the Official in the nose. Someone pushed the driver into the water, which immediately either cooled him off, or heated up the river. The only Mercury Team driver to finish the race was Bill Sirois, and his engine was on it’s last legs at the end. Mr. Molinari very handily won the race. Somewhere, lurking back in the fleet, was the affable Jackie Wilson. Hopefully, he will add more to his previous posting about this event.

[jackie wilson]

Of all the race sites in the world, for me anyway, Paris is "THE MECCA". This is the place where friend and foe got together on the Sunday closest to November 7th and for 6 hectic hours threw might, main and sinew, hope guile and endeavour into winning a trophy that you could have bought for the price of 3 hours of fuel, but the winning was PRICELESS. That's the reason firms like Molinari, Scotti, Abatte. Shakespeare, Hodges, Cougar, MM LEVI, Bristol, Bluefin and a thousand more, backed by corporations like Mercury, OMC, Volvo, Ford, Ferrari, Jaguar and many many more were so anxious to taste the fruits of a victory in Paris. The generated publicity from this one event was beyond compare worldwide.
There were some very old scores to be settled between drivers. Ie. Shakespeare and Merryfield. Scotti and Molinari with Tullio Abatte added to spice it up a bit. And when the Americans came looking for glory, the europeans joined together to repel boarders.
Shakey Bill won in 1963 and midst much celebrating Carl K GAVE him the engine, that's when i started to race as opposed to circumnavigating . Paris entries were closed at 90, but if you were well known and a likely lad your entry would be accepted, so it was not uncommon to have a field of over 100.
Remember the Seine Traffic was only held up for 30 minutes before the off and was then allowed to start 15 minutes after that. Sunday morning in Paris at 10-15 am on the river was mayhem. The build of barges was let loose and convoys of these huge working craft filled with everything from coal and steel, to tomato plants, bicycles and french knickers. created oceanic conditions. The drivers were generally on their way downstream for Sunday lunch, and to be an hour late was a mortal sin. So the buggers just opened the taps wide and let rip. Fun to be there , i can tell you.
The rivalry went from fierce to almost mortal in Paris. you don't even have to look deep, OMC V MERCURY, Molinari V the World. Velden V Seebold. Amidst it all friendships were born that still hold fast today, and if the originals are gone the continuation still runs on with the families. I was lucky enough to have been born in a time when i could take part in that wonderful fraternity of men called powerboat racers. Done it again, went down memory lane and forgot the time, sorry 'bout your bad luck folks, promise i'll get back to some real Paris stories. The initiation of the boy Ridgell, The night Roy lost control of Mr K.s brand new NSU Wankel etc.

[digital_jeff]

OK Digital Jeff, now find me some shots of Doc. Magoon's Atlantic Ocean speed attempt boat - would have been in the '80's - it had 5 or maybe seven 3.4's on it - MGB29 was involved in that one, maybe he'll chime in. Think the reasoning was that if they had engine problems during the trip they would just unbolt the sick motor and deep six it. Don't ever want to know what Mercury spent on that one.
Turn the heat down and the lights off - BJB

Hi Bernie,
I found a film made, mainly about the preparations for the crossing. The boat was a Cigarette with 4 engines. The number on the cowl reads 200 in a vertical fashion inside a large 'V'. I thought that may have been a 2.4L. You older guys, sorry, more experienced guys may be able to identify these better than me.

jeff