Hot Multi's - Pictures

[2us70]

That is almost certainly Bill Malone in the Chysler powered cat behind Gene. He had a driving posture that was easily recognizable. Looks like picture taken on the Pelican Harbor long marathon course.

Post# 1283

[Ronster43]

Thanks Ron--Say Hi to Sally and Jeff!!

The Names--The History---goes back more than fifty years--

Bill Malone--Steve Malone --American Marc--Chryslers--names we were familiar with in the early 60's--and Jeff driving a Mitchell with a Scott????

and a couple pics--

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Attachment 464967

They say hello right back Gene. I didn't know about the Mitchell. It was green and he ran it in the GC Marathon with a 44ci Merc. Mom said they furnished their first house via the GCM. Apparently there was furniture offered as prizes??

[Ronster43]

Thank you guys very much for taking the time to put that history back together, it is an interesting read.

To the best of my knowledge, the McCall was a copy of the 1970 Havasu winning Molinari. I tried to put a picture of it running at Long Beach in 1969 next to the picture you posted to show how similar the two look. I think that boat came over in 68, was sent to the Glastron people to serve as the mold for the 21' Glastron/Molinari and went to the Lake to get measured. I don't remember us rigging the McCall in Oshkosh, so that must have happened at the Lake. Garbrecht was promoted to OPC Race Mgr. in late 68, not sure why Odell made the initial contact. Maybe it was because he was already at Lake X, running the show with the offshore group?
Don Schwebs, aka Schwebby was the Foreman of the prop development dept in Oshkosh. If memory serves, either he or his wife wanted to move to a warmer climate (imagine that ), so when a opening came up at Lake X, Don put in for the transfer. As a side note, Boob Hetzel was the man that replaced Don in Oshkosh!
The BP lower units had interchangeable gear ratios. The 1250 came standard with a 1.5:1 and the 1000 came with a 1.75:1. Somehow someone put a 1.75 on one of the motors. Either that or someone put a 1000 BP on the boat dressed in 1250 clothes ..... stranger things have happened?
When they were at Havasu, did they bring the boat to the house we rented as our headquarters for work? Did we help with the repairs during the race ..... I don't remember.

Thanks Willabee. Jeff says that sounds correct about Odell. They were definitely both 1250's as he put the stacks on himself. One simply had the incorrect gearcase. When I asked Jeff if they went to the "Merc House" and had help from the Factory, he laughed and said "Noooo". "They gave us one or maybe two gearcases and we did the work". Jeff drove all day Saturday and thinks they were fairly highly placed (6th?) even with the mechanical problems. He (selfishly) started Sunday too, and drove until the crank broke. So...Jock never got to drive. Probably made for an interesting drive back to Florida. ;-)

[FUJIMO]

...Mom said they furnished their first house via the GCM. Apparently there was furniture offered as prizes??

...lol...back in the day, this what a real man's piece of furniture looked like...maybe that's what she meant?

[GENE LANHAM]

They say hello right back Gene. I didn't know about the Mitchell. It was green and he ran it in the GC Marathon with a 44ci Merc. Mom said they furnished their first house via the GCM. Apparently there was furniture offered as prizes??

I remember the Mitchell at the closed course races at PHYC--and I remember an unusual white motor--for sure E Class??

PHYC struggled to provide prizes for all the entrants (finishers?) I remember I got a beautiful rod and reel in 1953--and it was presented with a hand shake ---from ---GAR WOOD!!

[GENE LANHAM]

Post# 1283

The hand painted '6'---indicates it was one of PHYC's--Biscayne Bay Gold Coast Marathon's--1968??

[GENE LANHAM]

-----The boat---the number----

----- Bobby Massey--Long Beach 1969????

[FUJIMO]

...yeah...his prior boat...

[2us70]

Might be 1968. That was the year I got married. That summer I did not have a boat suitable for that race so I did not run in it.

The hand painted '6'---indicates it was one of PHYC's--Biscayne Bay Gold Coast Marathon's--1968??

[FUJIMO]

[willabee]

Thanks Willabee. Jeff says that sounds correct about Odell. They were definitely both 1250's as he put the stacks on himself. One simply had the incorrect gearcase. When I asked Jeff if they went to the "Merc House" and had help from the Factory, he laughed and said "Noooo". "They gave us one or maybe two gearcases and we did the work". Jeff drove all day Saturday and thinks they were fairly highly placed (6th?) even with the mechanical problems. He (selfishly) started Sunday too, and drove until the crank broke. So...Jock never got to drive. Probably made for an interesting drive back to Florida. ;-)

That really seems strange. All the money and effort that was put into that project only to have the boat arrive at the OWC and to tell the drivers they were basically on their own! I do remember we were really busy at Havasu. We not only had a slew of boats to take care of, we had to deal with those wonderful BP gearcases ..... talk about a mess!

I checked Powerboat, they didn't list the standings after the first 4 hours of racing Saturday. They did list the top 30 finishers and showed how many laps they completed each day. From that group, here is their Saturday result:

69 laps - Scotti, Sanders, Sirois, George
68 laps - Sherrer
66 laps - Hauenstein
65 laps - McConnell, Hill,
64 laps - Eis, Burnette, Quale, Witt
62 laps - Craig, Allan, Kitson, Eagerton
61 laps - Lanham, Posey

Another thing I remember doing is driving around Havasu Saturday night looking for the triple engine Fellercraft that Robert George had driven into a tie for first place with 69 laps. This wasn't a factory supported boat at all, but Merc wanted to check it out to make sure it was ready for Sunday. I did find it, we did go through it but I don't recall if we repaired or changed anything. Wonder why we didn't go through the McCall?

Bet that was kind of a 'cold' ride back to Florida.

[FUJIMO]

[willabee]

...yeah...his prior boat...

Probably Parker 68 ..... yes Massey drove the 21' Molinari at Long Beach in 69, it wasn't much of a course for Wings.

[Lake X Kid]

Miss Titti in 1969 triumphs over all at the Paris 6 Hour. Renato Molinari and Pellolio win the big the race. But the following month at Lake Havasu,wind and wave lifted Miss Titti, not up onto the winner’s podium, but on her backside.


The year 1969, the best and worst for Miss Titti, albeit was the last time Renato Molinari had the insignia Miss Titti on one of his race boats. It would be speculation on my part, to imply why … maybe he concluded the name no longer has the lucky charm attached to it.

I do not ever remember Renato putting names on his race boats since. However in 1971, I did met Miss Titti, who was then Renato’s girlfriend. And in 1973 when I last saw her in Como Italy, she and Renato were still together. Titti helped do some interior design inside Renato’s new home on Lake Como.

[willabee]

When you look at the photo below, you can see that this boat was named Miss Titti. Although it doesn't look like it, that name is pronunced "teetee". It was the name of Renato's girlfriend at that time and he was generally quick to correct an American that he overheard mispronounce her name. There were the usual smirks and such from competitors as they stopped to look at this boat in the pits (because of the name), but those sarcastic grins faded quickly when they saw that thing on the water .

On one of the trips for the European races, we stayed at the Villa d'Este on Lake Como while we were working on the boats at his shop. One evening Renato, Titti, Georgio and a couple others came to our hotel and we meet in the lounge. A neat place, pretty much Americanized in terms of decor and music. At some point that evening, after I had consumed a six-pack of backbone, the DJ played T Rex"s Bang A Gong.....a good fast dance number. I asked Ms. Titti if she wanted to trip the light fantastic with me on the dance floor. She looked at Renato to see if it would be okay, he smiled at her and wiggled his shoulders as if to say "let it all hang out" . We were out there lookin' like John Travolta & Beautiful Date and when we finished I reluctantly returned her to Renato. He had this huge grin on his mug as he leaned over and whispered "As a dancer, you make a great boat rigger!".....remember, on the previous post I told you what he thought of my boat rigging skills .

From Gene Lanham's collection, here are a couple more shots of the boat before and after the flip. I also added a shot of the Villa d'Este, at the time I think it was ranked one of the ten most beautiful hotels in the world.....these days, a Lake view room runs around $1700 per day .

I posted the above back in 2007. I think the mispronouncing of her name really upset Renato, could be the reason he stopped using it? She was one cute young lady.