Mercury Through The Years...

[Ronster43]

Hi Gene. Maybe I'm mistaken...thought this was the Charles Keating of the Savings and Loan scandal from the 80's. Hence my "Stock's Down" reference.

Hi Ron--I built him a 'replacement' -- Stock's Up II--A 40' with staggered Big Blocks, Speedmasters--it was so fast none of his family would even ride in it --- called it the 'Cat Cay Taxi'--50 minutes to his home in the Bahamas---

-Yikes!! that was over 40 years ago!!!

[GENE LANHAM]

Hi Gene. Maybe I'm mistaken...thought this was the Charles Keating of the Savings and Loan scandal from the 80's. Hence my "Stock's Down" reference.

You are right on--Ron

Jr. passed away a couple years ago--

III served as our navigator on the Aeromarine--

IV served his Country--and died an American Hero--

[rckid74]

Too bad this doesn't include audio

Looks like the cone fell off the top pipe!!

[BUZZIN' DOZEN]

Looks like the cone fell off the top pipe!!

Welcome back!, Sir

[FUJIMO]

[moparbarn]

I have this pic as wallpaper for the home screen on my laptop. It's the avatar pic for Sparks, a member here. It's his father's old boat, with his father driving. My favorite wing pic of all time! Look at the water, nice & flat - no waves to launch off, roost is even not porpoising either, he's FLYING that bitch. Look up Sparks content, some good reading about his father & that boat. I'm both old enough & lucky enough to have seen wings with stackers race in S. Fl., I remember the audio, Capt.

[2us70]

As I have said before. I raced in a much slower class back in those days. Many endurance races back then included boats from 50+ mph E class boats on up to the twin unlimited class boats. This situation caused me to get up close and personal with these boats. You never forget being passed by an aired out wing with stacks especially when it happens a couple of times a lap.

[moparbarn]

One of my fondest memories of racing in Miami was the Gold Coast Marathon when it ran up the Intracoastal to West Palm & back the following day. We lived on 105 st. on the Biscayne Canal, just west of Biscayne Blvd. The neighbors included Ronnie & Brooke Russell, Ricky Lindheimer & Allan Revell (sp?). My dad & I would go out to spoil island off the end of the canal & watch the show. Try to imagine over 100 boats lined up side by side across the bay charging off together in a shotgun start, racing for a lane into a narrow channel about 3 miles away. There was a class for ANYTHING that floated. You could have an 18' Thunderbird trihull with a 65 hp Evinrude lined up next to Lou Nuta's ib F hydro, next to a 13' Boston Whaler with a 20 hp Merc, next to Dave Craig in a Wing, next to Mike Gordon's RaysonCraft SK flattie - you get the idea. One helluva show for a 12 year old, I can assure you of that!! A few years later I was working for Dave Craig at Skyway Marine & sharing an apartment with Ronnie Russell. Awesome memories I will NEVER forget - which is good 'cuz we will never see anything even close to this ever again..........

[2us70]

Ronnie and I went to High School together and he introduced me to boat racing. Brooke taught me a great deal of what I needed to know in order to compete. I was fortunate to run the Gold Coast several times and it was even more intense from the inside. It was a time when we took risks and took the responsibility for those risks. I think that stuff helper me grow up to be a responsible adult. And yes it was a RUSH!!
The long marathon course at Pelican Harbor was my favorite endurance race course. I liked it better than the long course at the Marine Stadium.

[moparbarn]

We probably met back then, I lived 3 doors west of the Russells. But I was just a youngster on a bicycle hanging around the "cool guys", not worthy of your attention - LOL! I don't mean that in a bad/resentful way, thought it was cool as all getout ya'll didn't run me off.......I loved every minute of it! If I wasn't there, I had probably ducked under the bridge to go to Ted Swing's house to run screws into Swingers. If I was gonna hang around, he wasn't shy about putting me to good use.

[2us70]

The boat in the background is one of Ted's Swingers. Johnny Reed is in it at Lake Maggorie in 1969. I think he beat me that heat.

[2us70]

Ted couldn't see all that well. The way he would start a race was to pick out a competitor who he thought would get the start right and stick to him like glue. When Ted ran E class he was always right on Johnny or me coming down to the start.

[2us70]

One last bit of Ted Swing trivia. He built a race boat for the grandson of Gar Wood.

[moparbarn]

I went to Miami Country Day School with Gar's grandson, Gary Wood. Funny story about that boat - it wasn't a brand new hull, Ted had run it in just a couple of races. Ted always sanded/blueprinted the running surfaces of his boats, even the 13' Whaler with the ScottAtwater 50 HP. He wasn't shy about handing me a sanding block, either . He told Gary the bottom was scarfed up, so he would paint it for him. Probably took 2-3 mph away........he wasn't giving all his tricks away .

[FUJIMO]

Nice photo of South Florida raceboat design history...