Tricks that old racers get up to after retirement

[willabee]

..... To this day, I am still convinced it was ahead of the Molinari!
Torrigia factory was miles ahead in the factory itself on the lake.
Afraid I can’t tell you how come Cetti lost his factory. Or how Molinari acquired it. .....

Why not give Renato a call? Surely he knows the answer, what could possibly go wrong?



Ring, Ring, Ring .....

"Ciao" ......

"Hi Renato, it's your old runnin'mate Jackie Wilson" .....

Click ..... (dial tone) ......

[Watermark]

Determined to get between four and five hundred pages for the finished article.
Maybe another five hundred for book two ! WILSONS bible of boating ???? I still have ambition in spades.!

Jackie, keep those creative juices flowing. Keep in mind that the Boat Bible theme /title has been used before. Earl Bentz, together with Don Wirth, wrote two books - "The Performance Boat Bible" and "The Bass Boat Bible". Earl touched on his racing career in both, but his focus was on performance and fishing.

[AZMIDLYF]

[peterse90]

Those are 2 of the BEST T4 pictures ever!!
Have never seen these before.
Notice how Bill always looks like he is getting way more 'air' off the dock than anyone else - even Bentz.

[FUJIMO]

Those are 2 of the BEST T4 pictures ever!!
Have never seen these before.

...could not agree with you more. that's why they were posted on mercury through the years last year.

[Watermark]

I believe Earl used that shot (of himself turning) on the cover of the Performance Boat Bible, published in the 80's. I only wish the photographers who captured all these incredible memories could be credited.. Professionals like Mercury's George ?... (Fuji, Peter, Willabee - can you help with his last name?)... Magazine journalist/ photographers such as Bob Brown and Mark Spencer who passionately covered and promoted our sport. So many to name... not to mention the thousands who snapped shots for the fun of it, and send us pictures out of the blue.

[jackiewilson]

Why not give Renato a call? Surely he knows the answer, what could possibly go wrong?



Ring, Ring, Ring .....

"Ciao" ......

"Hi Renato, it's your old runnin'mate Jackie Wilson" .....

Click ..... (dial tone) ......

Didnt end like that at all Willa! Very few people in the world know the true tale of my last meeting with Renato! Nothing to do with the ‘1970 Paris race.
OMC were fresh out of experienced drivers to jockey the V8. There were some big numbers in dollars being bandied around by the company. Leek and Garbrecht had convinced Mark that his future lay with OMC and the V8 series ! He no longer had to buy all his own kit if he joined up with them!
He was scraping the bottom of the barrel to buy his boat and engines each season in the FONDA series! Hodges had put a team together consisting of Tom, Bob and Peter Ericsson [[[[[[[[[[ and Mark was ripe for recruitment. Plus being a bloody good driver with four years experience in the ON class.
The deal was to run the second Martini Boat with Renato! First race was in Miilan, boat leaked like a sieve , took on massive amounts of water and had no power steering . Not even Renato could have driven the damn thing, As the boat was being lifted from the water both Phoo- Phoo valves were pewking water like a fire hose.
Nicolo San Germano made the remark—— well so much for the new hotshot pilot ! I was standing next to him at the time and so I gently pointed out the error of his remark. Told him he was a prick and couldn’t promote a donkey race ! Pointed at the twin fire hoses gushing out of the hull, I yelled at him
“ Do you recognise that stuff pissing out of the boat Dickhead” . Parkinson was trying to cool the situation without much success!
Next race was Casale, a fun place to race with the nicest people in the world running it, but the rescue left a lot to be desired? A canoe — two punts and a row boat! Perfectly adequate as long as there were no “Incidents” First practice and Mark had a half tidy rig and said he was pleased !
Practice was declared open and Mark took off, he didn’t come back—- after twenty seconds I knew he was in trouble. Yelled at Tom and Bob to get out there and see where Mark was! They both took off together down the course!
Turned out there was no rescue at all — Tom and bob saw Mark in the water, 100 yards before the bottom turn buoy, tangled up in the wreckage of the Martini Boat! Managed to pull him out and bring him back to the pits! He was conscious but a mess! Ambulance finally arrived and took him to the Convent hospital in Casale. Run by nuns and retired doctors.
Gearcase had seized -Acted as a brake —— Motor broke loose taking the transom up through the boat.
Steering cable had ripped through marks foot from just below the ankle, it sliced an inch thick track nearly to his toes. I got hold of Renato and asked for the use of the Martini Plane, . That request was Onever answered! Asked Leek to get him back home to a proper hospital, he was only interested in whether Mark would be fit for the next race!
In the end it was Fred Hauenstien and Parkinson who persuaded Mercury to book three seats on a regular flight back to London so the kid could lay down
Alberto Fioretta took him to the airport laid across the back seat of his Mercedes!
Back in England the doctors told us the boy had gangrene in his leg H’’’’’and would likely loose it! He didn’t,
But came within two hours of loosing his leg!
Maybe now you understand Bill, why I won’t be calling Renato any time soon, and OMC were never my favourite people!

[AZMIDLYF]

The Race of My Life by Jackie Wilson

[peterse90]

...could not agree with you more. that's why they were posted on mercury through the years last year.

Mercury Through The Years now has 1153 pages...guess that's the only page I've missed !!

[powerabout]

"I did it my way"
by Jackie Wilson

[jackiewilson]

"I did it my way"
by Jackie Wilson

I’m very honoured and flattered by folks interest in the title of the book Pilgrim .
I still have no idea what to call it, just never occurred to me that the title was that important, until I saw Gene’ s book, !
I’m on a roll at the moment, a thousand words a day minimum.
Aiming for 500 pages. 20/50 chapters. Stacks of pictures! Starts in the sixties and finishes in the nineties.
Somebody else can start where I leave off! Kevin Desmond has done the history. Just leaves the bit I was involved in.

My IPad needs replacing. Would dearly like the latest version with the bigger screen and a magic keyboard. Cost is prohibitive with all the ancillaries and a half decent spec at £1750 !!!
Means I have to sell a couple of Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost’s ??
So, if anyone out there has a loose grand floating about and needs a Roller, give me a shout! I’ll include a custom case and postage for that.

[powerabout]

I’m very honoured and flattered by folks interest in the title of the book Pilgrim .
I still have no idea what to call it, just never occurred to me that the title was that important, until I saw Gene’ s book, !
I’m on a roll at the moment, a thousand words a day minimum.
Aiming for 500 pages. 20/50 chapters. Stacks of pictures! Starts in the sixties and finishes in the nineties.
Somebody else can start where I leave off! Kevin Desmond has done the history. Just leaves the bit I was involved in.

My IPad needs replacing. Would dearly like the latest version with the bigger screen and a magic keyboard. Cost is prohibitive with all the ancillaries and a half decent spec at £1750 !!!
Means I have to sell a couple of Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost’s ??
So, if anyone out there has a loose grand floating about and needs a Roller, give me a shout! I’ll include a custom case and postage for that.

title also needs to tie in boating so you get all boaters interested

[jackiewilson]

title also needs to tie in boating so you get all boaters interested

The golden years of powerboating . LUCKILY, ITS A FAIR WAY OFF BEFORE IT BECOMES A MATTER OF URGENCY.

[Ronster43]

"Jackie Wilson: A Curmudgeon's (Rooster) Tale"

[jackiewilson]

"Jackie Wilson: A Curmudgeon's (Rooster) Tale"

Never was a curmudgeon —-Twas only Willabee extracting the urine .