Hot Singles ! - Pictures

[Mark75H]

and..
OMC glued 2, 3 cyl loopers together for an easy 200+hp 99cui V6

Why not make a Y shaped motor with 3 3's? It was a rumor at one time ...

[powerabout]

round sound?
3 row radial..
Hard to get a straight in induction i would have thought?

[willabee]

Spent a little time trying to get some decent photos from the 1970 Havasu race. You didn't complain too much about the fuzzy ones I posted from Europe, so I figured I'd give these a shot.

As you know, OMC pulled out it's first win of the Havasu World Championships in 1969 with Caesar Scotti in a 21' Molinari. Mercs had won all five previous races. As we prepared for the 1970 event, I don't remember the work load being different, but it must have been a hell of a lot heavier! As I was looking at the race, I noticed that we not only had our normal group of about a half dozen singles and the same number of multi's, but there were about another dozen entrys we were supporting in some fashion. Sidewinders, Glastrons, Checkmates, additional drivers from Europe.....we had a major effort taking place to win that event.

Taking care of that many boats isn't just the building of engines, it is also planning the little things. How many people do we need and who are they, how much fuel and oil, how many of what spare parts and props will we need, scheduling pit stops. Testing, making repairs and adjustments.....just keeping everything going smoothly for a week before the two day race is a big job and it takes a bunch of good people to pull it off.

The star of the entire event wasn't a person, it was a powerhead.....the 1350 water injected stacker. Love those things.....they look mean, sound meaner and do run run! Those engines ran hard and fast and gave us almost no problems. Tom Stickle set a course record on Saturday with one and Bob Hering used another to break the same record Sunday.....I think they were both faster than Scotti's twin the year before. Other than a pair of "throw-aways" we had built for Bill Sirois, they held up well. We changed a bunch of them Saturday night, but mainly because we had fresh ones in the truck and thought why take the chance.

Anyway, have a bunch of fuzzy's to show. Will start with the calm before the storm. The "Star", the 1350.....Ken Ballou working with Jim Emerson getting the refueling equipment set up and a couple of the people that helped make our effort successful.....Jimmy Kubasta & Keith "Stoney" Hurst in their waders.

[Mike Bruton]

Spent a little time trying to get some decent photos from the 1970 Havasu race. You didn't complain too much about the fuzzy ones I posted from Europe, so I figured I'd give these a shot.

As you know, OMC pulled out it's first win of the Havasu World Championships in 1969 with Caesar Scotti in a 21' Molinari. Mercs had won all five previous races. As we prepared for the 1970 event, I don't remember the work load being different, but it must have been a hell of a lot heavier! As I was looking at the race, I noticed that we not only had our normal group of about a half dozen singles and the same number of multi's, but there were about another dozen entrys we were supporting in some fashion. Sidewinders, Glastrons, Checkmates, additional drivers from Europe.....we had a major effort taking place to win that event.

Taking care of that many boats isn't just the building of engines, it is also planning the little things. How many people do we need and who are they, how much fuel and oil, how many of what spare parts and props will we need, scheduling pit stops. Testing, making repairs and adjustments.....just keeping everything going smoothly for a week before the two day race is a big job and it takes a bunch of good people to pull it off.

The star of the entire event wasn't a person, it was a powerhead.....the 1350 water injected stacker. Love those things.....they look mean, sound meaner and do run run! Those engines ran hard and fast and gave us almost no problems. Tom Stickle set a course record on Saturday with one and Bob Hering used another to break the same record Sunday.....I think they were both faster than Scotti's twin the year before. Other than a pair of "throw-aways" we had built for Bill Sirois, they held up well. We changed a bunch of them Saturday night, but mainly because we had fresh ones in the truck and thought why take the chance.

Anyway, have a bunch of fuzzy's to show. Will start with the calm before the storm. The "Star", the 1350.....Ken Ballou working with Jim Emerson getting the refueling equipment set up and a couple of the people that helped make our effort successful.....Jimmy Kubasta & Keith "Stoney" Hurst in their waders.

Willabee,
Whose twin Ron Jones was that in the 1st picture? Itwasn't Bill Allen's was it?

[willabee]

Willabee,
Whose twin Ron Jones was that in the 1st picture? Itwasn't Bill Allen's was it?

The Jones, #174, is our favorite guy.....Billy Don Pruett. I was thinking that Bill Allen had left Shepherd Racing and joined us by this time, but maybe not. I didn't see him in any of the film I was looking at so maybe he moved to Oshkosh after this race.

Continuing with the fuzzy stuff from Havasu 1970, here are a few shots of the Merc refueling rig and some of the celebrities that were in attendance.

I don't remember how much that refueling rig weighed, but it sure could slow a truck down as you tried to pull it across country.....what a chore. It had four of those fuel tanks, I think they were about 200 gallons each. Emerson would mix the fuel in the two lower tanks and keep transferring to the upper tanks in order to maintain maximum head pressure for the gravity feed. I think the fuel lines were 4" and we usually had one short and one longer one coming from each upper tank. That pressure in those big lines dumped fuel pretty quick and we could handle four boats at a time if necessary.

Keep in mind that we never scheduled the pit stops to have four show up at the same time. However, when you have guys like Jackie Wilson (who couldn't tell time) and Pruett (who couldn't follow directions) on your team, you just always have to be prepared! Jackie would be racing past our pits and look over to see if there was any unusual activity. Sometimes he'd see we had the engine cowl off of someone like Renato or Freddy Miles and he'd just make a hard right hand turn and come to the fuel dock. I'd ask why he was there and he'd say something like " Bloody Hooray, don't want to miss out on no specials ya know"!

There was a platform at the top of the rig where we could take lap times and record info and monitor activity on the course and in the pits. Garbrecht would spend most of each race up there and call his shots for any changes in the pre-race plan. It was a bear to move around, but it sure worked great during the race. We finally got smart and made arrangements to leave it out west rather than haul it back and forth from Wisconsin. It is probably still sitting at the branch in Corona just rusting away.

Speaking of a Jones boat, here's a shot of Ron (on the left) talking with Dick Snyder, an engineer from Oshkosh. Also, Ralph Evinrude was on hand to write the big winners check to Bill Sirois and some guy from Wisconsin was there, totally helpless to stop any of the trouble caused by the comedy team of Pruett & Wilson.

[Mike Bruton]

The Jones, #174, is our favorite guy.....Billy Don Pruett. I was thinking that Bill Allen had left Shepherd Racing and joined us by this time, but maybe not. I didn't see him in any of the film I was looking at so maybe he moved to Oshkosh after this race.

Continuing with the fuzzy stuff from Havasu 1970, here are a few shots of the Merc refueling rig and some of the celebrities that were in attendance.

I don't remember how much that refueling rig weighed, but it sure could slow a truck down as you tried to pull it across country.....what a chore. It had four of those fuel tanks, I think they were about 200 gallons each. Emerson would mix the fuel in the two lower tanks and keep transferring to the upper tanks in order to maintain maximum head pressure for the gravity feed. I think the fuel lines were 4" and we usually had one short and one longer one coming from each upper tank. That pressure in those big lines dumped fuel pretty quick and we could handle four boats at a time if necessary.

Keep in mind that we never scheduled the pit stops to have four show up at the same time. However, when you have guys like Jackie Wilson (who can't tell time), you just always have to be prepared! Jackie would be racing past our pits and look over to see if there was any unusual activity. Sometimes he'd see we had the engine cowl off of someone like Renato or Freddy Miles and he'd just make a hard right hand turn and come to the fuel dock. I'd ask why he was there and he'd say something like " Just wanted to see if you guys were adding some horsepower to their rigs, don't want to miss out on no specials ya know"!

There was a platform at the top of the rig where we could take lap times and record info and monitor activity on the course and in the pits. Garbrecht would spend most of each race up there and call his shots for any changes in the pre-race plan. It was a bear to move around, but it sure worked great during the race. We finally got smart and made arrangements to leave it out west rather than haul it back and forth from Wisconsin. It is probably still sitting at the branch in Corona just rusting away.

Speaking of a Jones boat, here's a shot of Ron (on the left) talking with Dick Snyder, an engineer from Oshkosh. Also, Ralph Evinrude was on hand to write the big winners check to Bill Sirois and some stud was there to try to at least somewhat contol the antics of Pruett & Wilson.

You have some great pics. It brings back great memories. I couldn't remember Bill Allen's number, but he pitted next to us. The only reason I was brought along was that Lee Richter's twin moly had a habit of dipping the 2 bottom stacks underwater when he'd shut the engines down to pit. My job was to jump on the nose of the boat just before he killed the engines to put weight on the nose. I only weighed about 175 but it was enough. Plus I was probably the only one stupid enough to jump out of waist deep water onto a running boat.
That was the last race Bill Allen ran before coming to Mercury. Don Shepard had been seriously injured at a race in Houston a few weeks earlier and was also having problems with the IRS. He disbanded the team right before Havasu & Bill paid his way there with money he had won at the Houston race. So did Fred Bradshaw.
Keep the good stuff coming.

[willabee]

We always rented a home for this race that had a very large yard. It was headquarters for working on the boats as well as keeping them all in one place when unattended. We hired the sheriff from Parker, Walt Rigsby, to keep an eye on things while we slept. Just looking at Walt would discourage any sane human being from messing with our equipment....even Berghauer commented that he wouldn't like to get into a tussle with that man!

Here is the house, you can see the 21' McCall with the stars & stripes paint resting in the yard. That is the Molinari copy Odd Job we were discussing a while back. Jeff Titus drove it at Havasu in 69, in 70 it was owned and driven by John Henry Price. There is a shot of Bill Sirois putting props on the Winner Up, Up and Away while Tom "Becky" Wyrobeck (center) watches. Wyrobeck had spent a year in Italy serving Merc interests at Molinari's shop.

Renato Molinari coasting up to the fuel dock in the fastest boat at the event. If he doesn't blow a lower unit with a 1/2 hour to go on Saturday, no one touches him. Kenny Kitson getting ready to launch his Kitsoncraft with two of those white anchors hanging on the transom , never thought he looked right driving on OMC powered rig. Also a shot of the lightweight 21' Glastron/Molinari that didn't make like submarine during the race!

[seeroy]

Great stuff Bill. Fun reading and I am sure Jackie will enjoy it. I just found out recently that "Becky" passed awhile back. Thanks for the great stories - Steve

[mark benson]

# 117 John Henry Price 18ft Jones 2 Merc 140's
# 73 Bill Allen 18ft Jones 2 Merc 140's
# 51 Fred Bradshaw 17ft Jones Merc 155
# 68 Renato Molinari 21ft Molinari 2 Merc 155's
# 7 Jeff Titis 22ft McCall 2 Merc 140's

[willabee]

# 117 John Henry Price 18ft Jones 2 Merc 140's
# 73 Bill Allen 18ft Jones 2 Merc 140's
# 51 Fred Bradshaw 17ft Jones 2 Merc 155's
# 68 Renato Molinari 21ft Glastron/Molinari 2 Merc 155's
# 7 Jeff Titis 22ft McCall 2 Merc 140's

Mark, you may want to change your records for the #68 entry. Renato pretty much stuck to driving just plain ol' Molinari's.

Here is his 1969 entry.....

[Mark Poole ModVP]

Hey Willabee,

How close did Molinari come to catching back up to the lead on Sunday? If he blew a gearcase with 1/2 hour to go on Saturday and limped back to the pits on one engine he should not have lost too much time?

[Mike Bruton]

Mark, you may want to change your records for the #68 entry. Renato pretty much stuck to driving just plain ol' Molinari's.

Here is his 1969 entry.....

Also Fred bradshaw #51 drove a single Ron Jones.

[willabee]

.....How close did Molinari come to catching back up to the lead on Sunday? If he blew a gearcase with 1/2 hour to go on Saturday and limped back to the pits on one engine he should not have lost too much time?

I dug out Powerboat to see what they said about the lap count. Merten finished Saturday in 1st completeing 80 laps. Sirois 2nd with 78 laps and Renato 3rd with 76. So he went from the lead to 4 laps down due to the gearcase failure. It was changed and he went back out but not in time to get credit for a completed lap.

My memory banks say he lead all day Sunday, however Powerboat says Sirois completed 82 laps, Merten 77 and Renato 81. I think Renato ran in front of everyone all day Sunday. Even if Powerboat is correct, give Renato the 4 laps he lost Saturday and his total is 161.....Sirois won by completeing 160. Renato finished 3rd, just a few seconds behind Merten.

[Mike Bruton]

I dug out Powerboat to see what they said about the lap count. Merten finished Saturday in 1st completeing 80 laps. Sirois 2nd with 78 laps and Renato 3rd with 76. So he went from the lead to 4 laps down due to the gearcase failure. It was changed and he went back out but not in time to get credit for a completed lap.

My memory banks say he lead all day Sunday, however Powerboat says Sirois completed 82 laps, Merten 77 and Renato 81. I think Renato ran in front of everyone all day Sunday. Even if Powerboatis correct, give Renato the 4 laps he lost Saturday and his total is 161.....Sirois won by completeing 160. Renato finished 3rd, just a few seconds behind Merten.

If I remember it took about 4minutes to replace Renato's l.u. This calculates to 8 minutes for him to limp to the pits & put the boat on the trailer. That may work out depending where on the course he was when the l.u. went out. I seem to remember that time (4 minutes) because it astonished me at the time that you could change one that fast. I do agree with you about his boat. It was the fastest one there.

[willabee]

A number of Billy Don Pruett stories have been told on S&F, here are a few fuzzy shots of the legend.

One thing he loved for sure was a multi engine tunnel boat, especially if it was powered by stackers. He would make sure it was bright and shiny and then take it out to test. I'm not sure if he picked his test time more on who was out there running or on how many people were around the launch platform. I was always amused at the contrast between Pruett and Bill Sirois when it came to testing.

Sirois would start his engines, let them idle to warm. Make a few passes and come back for whatever change he needed. When he was satisfied, he parked the boat until race time. He didn't put much time on his equipment testing. Pruett was just the opposite. He'd fire his up and they would instantly be singing and throwing a big beautiful wall of water. He'd rev them up and down, have a very serious look on his face and glance around at the audience. I remember asking him not to do that, but he'd just laugh. What he didn't know was that we learned to build his a little more bullet proof than we did for the others.

He liked the 20' Jones he ran at Havasu. He named it Fast Buck, and had set a closed course T Class record with it in Miami. Many times I heard him tell others about what was going on during a particular race and he'd break into his "I was out there driving like a Superstar, just a smokin' that big cigar"..... it always got a big laugh.

Here's the man at Havasu, showing that stern look and making lots of noise, preparing to shoot that big wall of water. In the last two he is pulling a typical Pruett.....he is lined up for the Saturday start and decides he wants to top off. I was on his boat at the time and said I'd get it, but he said just hand me the hose. You can see the fuel starting to spit at him in the first shot and you can see where it's going to hit him in the second. Poor guy, that had to be damn uncomfortable to sit in that stuff for the next four hours, but that was the Billy Don Pruett we all knew and loved.