Aucoin, Lloyd
I ran in the 50's and stopped in 1964 when I went the army. I had a b hydro & b runnabout. The outlaw L7 & hydro L7. I ran champion hot & a and b class mercurys. I ran in louisiana and texas.

Austin, Tom
I raced A and B hydro and runabout in Sioux Falls, South Dakota from 1959 to 1965.  I was the president of the SDPBA for four years before going to Air Force Pilot Training. I liked the runabouts best but am looking for restorable Swift hydroplanes (like atomic a, big bee, big dee, etc). Those were the days.

Bailey, Butch
My dad and I began racing in 1957 with a 135 hydro A-250 Little Joe, we sunk it at Louisville, KY and purchased the Holliday, the 1958 National Champion boat. Renamed it Little Joe Too. Finished 3rd in the Nationals in 1959. Bought a 225 named Balleyhoo in 1960. We won every race in the country including the Calvert Cup and Ohio Governors Cup. Named the boat Trailblazer in 1961.

Baurer, Paul
Paul Bauer was a legend in the sport of hydroplane racing with the Kat-N-Nan Racing Team.  Inducted into the Gulf Marine Hall of Fame in 1956, 1958, and 1964 in the 48 cu. in. class. Campaigned Y-16 and Y-216 Kat-N-Nan I and II retired by the APBA in 1979. Paul passed away on April 23, 2005.  He will be missed. Posted by Paul's grandaughter, Patti Dorsey.

Bergen, Bernie
Although I'm from Wisconsin, I started racing in Region 4 while in the army in 1966-67.  Ran a short sponson Sid in A Stock Hydro. Raced an A Stock Hedlund in 1969 in Region 7, then on to a C Stock Marchetti in 1970.  Quit stock racing and bought a Switzer "wing" from Mercury, rebuilt it with a pair of 1250 BP's a a "toy".  After flying it 
higher than heck one time and coming down right side up, I sold it and bought a GW Invader tunnel with a 1350 Speedmaster Mercury.  Drove it through a wave and broke it in half.  After numerous pleasure boats, now I play with a A&H hydro with a Merc 800 stacker with a Speedmaster, and have just acquired a 1980's Butts laydown alky boat, 500cc Konig.

Bouffard, Ron
I was a member of Pierre Lavignes' Grand Prix Hydroplane team in the late seventies, early eighties. We raced among other things a Bob Delong design cabover GP-99, followed by a succession of Ron Jones hulls - GP-51, GP-52. Pierres' last hydro was a Jamie Auld design which is now racing down under.Pierre has since retired from racing, but we all get together at least once a year to remember old times.

Bradley, Charley
My Dad (Doc Bradley) established Bradley racing in 1929. Got me started racing stock outboards in 1961 with Pat Mulvany.  Graduated to A and B alky in 1965.  Quincy/Marchetti or Quincy/Rawson combinations.  Started running 700 hydro in 1971 Konig/Butts combination while I was working for Walt Blankenstein.  Retired the 700 in 1978.  Returned to racing in 1987.  National High points in 87 & 88 in 250 hydro.  Pugh/Yamato rig.  Out again in 1993.  Returned in 2002. Won only race ran with Konig/Pugh 350.  Wouldn't take much to get me going again.  Once its in your blood, it doesn't go away.

Bresette, Bob
Started racing OPC/I-Class 100HP Mercury in 1964 won the National Championship in 1965 I-Class (6 hour marathon in Pensacola, Florida) also won 1965-High Point Champion and inducted in the Marine Hall 
of Fame. Set a World Record in Lake George, N.Y. in 1965 with the 89 cubic engine/100HP.

Briggs (Howard), Becky
I'm the daughter of Dutch Howard (deceased) of Williamsburg, Virginia. My father let me help him when he built hydroplances. He built for Rodney Brogden, Curt Martens, and Homer Bland of the Wmsbg, Hampton area of Virginia in the late 50's early 60's. I have been contacted by someone who wants to restore the boats my father built. Rodney Brogdens, Kitty B is being restored in Jacksonville, Fla. The boat Homer Bland was killed in in Gloucester, Va. in 1964 or '65, I believe no longer exists. However, if anyone has information regarding Curt Martens or his boat, please contact me. I would also appreciate any photos of these boats.

Brown, Mason
Regards to everyone; I am looking for any information on my grandfather Claude Brown. He built and designed props and drivelines for hydroplanes ie; Guy Lombardo and others. He was set up in St. Thomas/Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada. He also had a hydroplane named the Silver Spray. Any info or pictures would really be appreciated. Thank you for your time in advance. p.s.-time era is late 50s early 60s or around the time rum running on the great lakes was at its peak. thanks again from Mason Brown.

Burgess, Bill
Born in Buffalo, NY and started racing in 1950 with E & F service, E-racing, Ski Racing, Super Stock. All boats were competitive, winners in all below classes, divisionals, national contenders, numerous course records, etc. Drove boats as follows:
E&F, Sleeper M-2 1932 (Chris-Craft) Owner - Harold Bauer Buffalo, NY
E&F, Seabiscuit, M-9, (Prowler) Owner - AL Brinkman, Grand Island, NY
E-Racing, Torgre (Patterson Hull) E-65 Owner - Ralph Barker Niagara Falls, NY
Ski Racing, Torgre (Patterson Hull) SK-165, Owner - Ralph Barker ,Niagara Falls, NY
Super Stock, Chartered (Schiada) SS-201, Owner/Driver - Bill Burgess, North Tonawanda, NY
webpage

Cameron, Don
Hi:  I raced 145 CI and 5 Litre Hydros from 1980 to 1991.  My 145's were Sweet Emotion (Fife Hull/Pinto Power) and Island Girl (Don Kelson Hydros/Pinto Power).  My 5 Litre was Miss McCord (Don Kelson Hydros/Chevy Power).  I raced mainly in Region 6, Tonawanda, Valleyfield, and a couple times in "the South".  Still love hydros and would 
love to hear from anyone.

Cashin, Mike
Hi guys ! I am back among the living !! I started out way back in 1964 when a super guy from the detroit area Bob Beuthane gave my dad and I an old 48 cu hull. That hull never saw the water and I think it is still in a garage somewhere in Taylor Michigan. In 1965-66 we bought a home made 135 which we named El Toro, ran in Celina, Ohio blew up the 144 cu Falcon then sold it. Next boat we had was a 150cu Hallett we purchased from Jim Mann, Sr. from Allen Park named it Crew Sader. Won my first Trophy with this boat at the Oakland County Boat Club race 3rd place. Ran this boat for several years it was a fast ride. I believe this boat has been burned. Next hull we purchased from Ray Weber it was built by his dad Harold "pop" Weber. Ran this for 5-6 years and at one time had a streak of 15 straight races where I finished no lower than 4th place, many seconds and thirds with this boat. Anyone knowing where this hull may be please let me know. My first cabover was a 150/2.5 Wiesman built hull from Ohio the Coors Light The Silver Bullet. This was far and away the fastest ride I aver had. I was fortunate enought to win back to back MACH championships and Marine Prop Rider awards with this hull. Had a saftey cell installed by Steve Balcer renamed it Valvoline and ran this boat until 1994 when I sold it to the Boulters from Canada, they made it a 5ltr and ran it successfully until Tod Boulter died from cancer. I bought the boat back from Bill Boulter in 2000 Never ran it again, I thought I Sold it to someone I thought was a friend ONLY PROBLEM THE GUY NEVER PAID FOR IT !!! Anyone out there who know where this boat is please let me know I want it back. I also owned a Ul back in 1995-96 it was a Auld kit boat built by The Boulter guys in Canada. I called it Miss KC after my daughter Karen who attended races since she was 1 month old Ran it a few times with Tony Staulder from Ohio at the wheel. Tony was the guy that did ALL the work on this if it were not for him this boat would have never hit the water.This project was one I should have never started and its this project that almost cost me my life in 1996. Have been pretty inactive since then but I did get a chance in 2001 to drive an Unlimited Light for the late great guy Doug McIntosh from Seattle. Got ran into at the start of the heat in Vallyfield and after they fished me out of St. Francis Bay, hung up the helmet. I am now looking into getting a vintage 266 / 7 ltr to play with. Anyone that knows of any laying around collecting dust let me know. Well I think I have taken enough space, so long hope to hear from anyone from the past.

Cook, Tyler
I have won several trophies here in the state of Washington. I currently hold the record on the Vashon Island 4th of July Race of 52 miles. I still have 3 of my vintage crafts and am in the process of remodeling a 4th.

Cousins, William (Billy)
I started with B-Outboards in the 1950's.  Also in the 1950's, I got into Hot Rods.  From '61-'64, I built engines for the late Marion Cooper who was first driver of the Miss Madison, and also was the owner of the Louisville Kid.  Acquired the Louisville Kid from Marion and ran her for quite some time.  I was also involved with the Louisville Kid II. In 1970, I drew up plans for my 7 Litre, River Rat.  In 1971, I was invited to drive the Myrs Sheet Metal, but was not able to devote the time, as I concentrated on my family. In 1971, I started building the River Rat.  She was completed in 1972.  In 1974, I was involved in a wreck with the River Rat in Louisville, KY. In 1976, the River Rat was repaired and again was back in competition. In 1984, I stopped racing actively. Myself and the River Rat were out of action for approximately 28 years.  I was approached by Joe Johnson about appearing at the Madison Regatta Vintage Event. On July 5, 2002, the River Rat and myself again, became active.  I hope to attend the Clayton Event in August. I would like to hear from old racing friends. 
(This information was compiled by Joe Johnson. Any correspondences to Billy can be directed through him).

Cowan, Errol
When I was 12, I lived in Chicago and a summer home in Bass Lake, IN, where every day I took the family's Sea King and 10 alum. boat out. It would plane for me. One weekend my Dad took us to see a alky race at Lake Maxinkukee, IN. I was so taken with it that I was promised a racing boat if I stopped beating up my brother. My first rig was a Van Plet B marathon runabout V222B purchased used from Johnny Diaz, a shop owner and racer in Chicago. Later I was given a Merc KG4H and before I could race it at Manteno, IL my family moved to Winnipeg Manitoba and I raced it there starting with the "outlaw" Manitoba Outboard Racing Association in 1958. They did not race "A" so I had to step up to "B" stock runabout. I always succeeded in beating the fellows with  Martin 200s and a Water Witch but could keep up with the KG7H, 20Hs or even the one KG&Q with open exhaust. I then acquired a 20H, a Wilson Hydro and a Kelly runabout. I raced it for 2 seasons and then moved to the SF Bay area. At that time my 20h had to be converted to "blewee" pipes to meet the Champion Hot Rod challenge. I often raced at Fremont Marine Stadium, built just for boat racing (now filled in and an industrial park.) The first race at Fremont was the last race staged with the PODH inboards on the schedule. Kind of of a single stepped hydro version of a Crackerbox. My favorite race was the primarily alky race at Lodi. The short course tight turns and numerous enthusiastic spectators every 4 July. I raced and spectated there for 30 years in a row (even after I moved to Virginia.) I also love watching FRRs race at Lake Merced in SF. Most exciting race I ever saw was one I raced at- Oakland Estuary. When F Racing Hydro came on, Billy Jack Rucker and Harry Barthowlomie were dueling neck to neck in cabovers with alky burning 75hs running in excess of 85mph with one bouy turns. There races were always good but this one was so close and so fast. Unfortunately, they never finished but bumped each other and flipped. When they were brought up on the beach next to my rig waiting for the next heat, they finished the contest with a fist fight in the pits. I was not a good mechanic so even though I was thrilled, I stayed away from running alky (except for some success in stepping up from stock at Lodi races) In No Ca I later raced C and D stock Runabout with a Castengento hull ( angled chine one side and rounded on the other) bearing the numers "O-O". The number was declared illegal by APBA 5 years after I first adopted it. For a while I served as a referee and VP of East Bay Boat Club. I raced at San Leandro, San Diego, Modesto, Stockton, Oakland, Red Rock (my first first place), Woodside ( I put together that race site), Watsonville, Bakersfield, Hansen Dam, Fresno, Lodi, Fremont, Roy Rogers Ranch in the desert and many other sites.  quit racing in '68 because of political disputes inside the club. I owed my many trophies to the assist of Steve and Kit Wilde and later to Bob Montoya, who I now live near in the Pac NW. I still own a factory stock 30H originally acquired from flying foireman Hale Yeary. One of the most exciting things of my life has always been watching the FRRs when the 6 cylinder Mercs were supreme. What a noise and spectacle! Years after quitting the sport I assembled a 75H with parts I purchased from Chuck Parsons and others but a barn fire melted it down and probably saved me from hurting myself with that stuff. I still attend 6 races a year even now. I am over 60 and have just acquired an original Phantom Runabout and am seeking a 4-60 to put on it for exhibition. I also plan to race again probably C stock run and/or Formula E. I have always loved the sport. It has always brightened my life even though others I know can't see the charm. I now live on Orcas Island in WA. During my racing career I drove mostly runabouts: Catengneto, Sid craft (the best, very fast) Dry Run, Foo-Ling, DeSilva anmked Titanic and of course it was struck by a D stock hydro testing at Fremont - it sunk!), Van Plet and Wilson and Marchetti Hydros. I can't wait to try out the old Phantom runabout (cigar shaped hull built by Shirely in  Oregon) I now have, once I get a 4-60! When I return to stock runabouts, I would like to find and run an old Rinker or Headlund. They were amazing in the turns, weren't they?

Curry, Jess
I am  looking for some history lessens if anyone can help my Father raced in Region 10 for 35 years in APBA he racer various crackerbox i was wandering if anyone could help me find articals pictures or anything else that would make a good tribute video slide show for the family i have boat names and number of the boats he raced here is some information i do know anything else anyone could help with would be greatful 
His name is JACK SHETLER
1) LEAPING LOU P-17 YR 1967-68
2) BOOMERANG ALSO P-17 69-71
3) BOUNCING LADY P-29 71-74
4) GANBUSTERS P-14 75-77
5) THE CONDOR P-45 (color YELLOW)76-80
6)THE LEMON CRATE P-40 81-82
7) THE CONDOR P-42 (#2 MAROON) 1983-87
I ALSO HAVE SOME PICTURES OF THE BOATS AS MY FATHER OWNED THEM IF THAT WILL JOG ANYONES MEMOREY I CAN ALSO COME UP WITH SOME NAMES OF THESE BOATS AFTER HE SOLD THEM IF THAT HELPS TO 
ORIGANAL OWNERS
1) LEAPING LOU P-17 ARCHIE PARKER SR 
2) BOOMERANG P-17 
3) BOUNCING LADY P-29
4) GANGBUSTERS P-14 ROBINSON CHAMMERS CHEVROLET
5) THE CONDOR P-45 (YELLOW) JACK SHETLER
6) THE LOEMON CRATE P-40 RUSS HAGG
7) THE CONDOR P-42 (MAROON) 
NAME CHANGES
P-14 GANGBUSTERS / ULISSY S / NUT CRACKER 
P-45 THE CONDOR (YELLOW) /THE EAGEL
I also could give you some ifomation on some of the competitors that he races against.

Dalton, Mike
I raced hydro C and D stock outboards, built in the 1960's by my Dad, George Dalton, in our basement in Buffalo, NY. My brother Dan Dalton also raced stock outboard hydro's. I raced Mr. Lucky and Dan raced Alley Ooop and Lil' Micky til the late 60's when we both got married.  My father passed away in 2002 but not before compiling a tape of all the races he saw. I would like correspond with anyone who knows about those three boats and our racing careers.

Davis, Frank
I currently live in Seattle, WA. Got into boat racing in 1965. My dad & I built our first boat with the help of Bob Balenger. The boat was a copy of the F-29 Baleyhoo. Which went down to the bottom in Lake Cumberland. Was part owner with Bob Meyers in the Glory Cat A-22, drove the Lucy Baby for Don Kemper. Drove for Dal Kramer after Derb King passed, drove a boat called the Gringo for George Cane, and for Paul Bower. When Annie was not available. I have recently bought Ed Sims 225 and plan to race it as a 2.5 Litre.

Davis, Tommy Jr.
Hello,terrific to see APBA started a vintage-historic divison.Tom DEath was at the 2002 Mt DORA, ACBS Show and told me about the APBA VINTAGE GROUP.I rejoined ,I was a Region 5 racing member 1960-1973, GREATER MIAMI OUTBOARD RACING ASSN, FLORIDA INBOARD RACING CLUB and Pelican Harbor Yacht Club. .Special thanks and prayers to the many people and friends that had such a positive influnce on my teen years growing up in the Cocoanut Grove and Miami area.F.C.Doc Moor my fathers co-pilot in WWII .Doc owned Southern Air Transport we found out many years later it was a front for the CIA from 1955-1990s.Doc and Sunny Jones were terrific teachers in helping me build Crosly 48 hydro motors in 1963 after I was region 5 high points 1-F in Skip Ritters old 1955 Sidcraft BU "TID-BIT". In 1960 Bill Hutchins sold my father,Thomas I Davis,Sr a Swift Atomic A and was very helpful along with Tommy Hooten and Bob Brown convincing my family that it was much easier to slow a racer down than to encourage one to take chances and go for it.I flipped so often that Dad sent me to Mercury Factory Outboard Mechanics Training School in Sarasota,Fl as he knew Mr E Carl Kiekhaefer who flew on my fathers small charter air service in the Bahamas.At that time I was the youngest person to attend the school. Butch Stokes, pleasure craft racer-factory mechanic has worked on my toys for the last 45 years mostly my vintage racing Ferraris, 250 SWB 1962,225S 1952,340 America,212,TDF,250 SWB CALIF,LWB CALIF,3 DAYTONA SPIDERS 365GTB4, vintage class winners SVRA,HSR Sebring 1982-2001 and old 911s that I drive to races, raced(mostly 3hr SVRA HSR}usually top three in class{60-80 starters}and drive back to Palm Beach where I lived the pass 29 years with no DNFs,accidents or FLIPS.Tommy Hotten,Tom Sheldon,Dave Craig,Ted Miller,Cal and Hal Wienges,Lou Nuta,jr,Pop Meekins,Jack and H C Wilcox,Stan Irwin, Jeff Titus,Lou Kohler,Charlie Dunn,Max Saylor,Steve Malone,Paul Fuzzy Furlong,S R ! Boswell,Del and Duff Daily,Bill Bourne,Pop Smith,Gail Jacoby,PHYC members,Henry and Larry Lauterbach,Ron Jones,Bud Meyers,Lauren Saywer,PBS Fiat,Jon Beith,Bud Widget plus many more that I hope to see at our FIRST ANNUAL GOLD COAST MARATHON, PALM BEACH "RICKTY RACERS" PARTY AT THE MT DORA ACBS SHOW MARCH 2007.(561) 655 5812 RSVP urbanland@msn.com  Peter Green, Tom Davis,jr,Jeff Rowe,Jon Beith OR Jess Pourret at 375 SOUTH COUNTY RD #201 PALM BEACH,FL.33480  or P.O.BOX 3447 PALM BEACH,FL 33480. LIST OF BOATS OWNED OR RACED BY TIDE MOTORSPORTS AND TOMMY DAVIS,jr 1960-1973. SWIFT BSH EX TOMMY HOTTEN, SWIFT ATOMIC A EX BILL HUTCHINS,  SIDCRAFT BU 1955 "TID BIT"[WE WERE REGION 5 HIGH POINTS CHAMP 1961, 1-F]EX SKIP RITTER,   HOLT CRAFT DU EX ALAN REESE 1958,4-F "DRAFT DODGER",   INBOARDS: EX DOC MOOR, LOEB HYDRO, POOR COPY OF A  LAUTERBACH 48 HYDRO,HENRY AND LARRY  LIKE ENZO FERRARI ARE RELENTLESLY COPIED BY ALMOST EVERY BUILDER IN THE COUNTRY.FERRARI THE BUILDER OF MY 24HRS  LEMANS 81 IMSA CLASS WINNER, 5TH O A [TIDE-CH POZZI FERRARI FRANCE] WI! TH DOCS OLD "DRIFTWOOD"WE WON THE ORANGE BOWL REGATTA IN 1965, THE ONLY RACE I FINSHED IN THIS HULL.DOC MOOR TRADED A CROSLY RACE MOTOR WITH LOEB TO BUILD THIS HULL.DOC WAS UNHAPPY AND SOLD THE BOAT TO ME FOR $200 DOLLARS. DOC WAS P O ED AND NAMED THE BOAT DRIFTWOOD. DOC AND SUNNY JONES HELPED ME BUILD A 48 MOTOR. WE AMBUSHED AND  SUPRISED EVERY ONE  WITH A FOURTH, AND A FIRST IN THE FINAL HEAT.DOC RAN HIS NEW JONES CAB OVER. RACE WAS COVERED BY ABCs WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS.  COLCOCK 280-225 1958 EX AL MIMS,DAVE CRAIG,JEFF HUNT, BRIGHT STEVENSON FINISHED SIXTH OVERALL OUT OF 190 STARTERS IN THE 1965 SAM GRIFFIN MEMORIAL GOLD COAST MARATHON,FINSHED  SECOND IN THE HYDRO CLASS.WE SUNK AT THE FINISH IN PALM BEACH AND TED MILLER BUILT NEW SPONSONS OVERNIGHT. SUNDAY WE SANK AGAIN AT THE FINISH LINE AT THE PELICAN HARBOR YACHT CLUB. THE COURSE WAS LITTERED WITH THE FLORIDA STATE FRUIT, THE WATER LOGGED COCONUT. OVER ONE MILLON SPECTORS ENJOYED  FREE THIS CLASSIC EVERY MID JULY.MANY ACCIDENTS, SO 1966 WAS  THE LAST, SORRY TO SAY.  E&F SERVICE RUNABOUTS;DROVE BILL BOURNES, DAILY BUILT OH-MONA TYPE FSR HULL "SECRET&SCANDAL" AROUND 1965-66.  RODE WITH S R BOSWELL IN "DINAH MIGHT" A CONN CRAFT IN 59-61.DROVE RAYSON CRAFT AND BESSMER SK BOATS FOR HOLMAN MOODY FORD.JEFF HUNT OWNED THE BOATS IN 1966. CO DRIVER, WAS  CALE YARBOUGH BUT HE DID NOT LIKE THE BOAT TESTING IN LAKE MURRY,SC. FIFTEEN YEARS LATER   CALE DROVE A FACTORY CHEVY CAMERO IN THE 24HRS LEMANS[1981] HE QUALFIED FOURTY FIRST BEHIND MY FERRARI 512BBLM[31589]TIDE-CH POZZI FERRARI FRANCE.NOW OWNED AND RACED BY TOMMY HILFINGERS PRES. LARRY STOL. I TOLD MY DRIVERS CLAUDE BALLOT-LENA AND JEAN ANDRUET TO LET HIM BY QUICKLY AS HE WANTED TO RUN HARD AT THE START AS CALE KNEW THE MOTOR WOULD NOT LAST.HE CRASHED IN THE FIRST TWO HOURS WITH NO BRAKES 22 HOURS SHORT OF THE CHAMPAGNE SPRAY.I DROVE THIS FERRARI ON THE STEET FOR A FEW YEARS,ENTERED DAYTONA 24HRS WITH RENT A RIDERS.BELGIUM DRIVER BERNARD DeDRIVER MISTED A SHIFT AND BLEW THE MOTOR ON THE FIRST LAP,SO MUCH FOR TEAM ORDERS PLUS HIS $40,000.00 CHECK ON HIS FROG BANK BOUNCED. 1956 LAUTERBACH 225 EX EMPTY POCKETS,ROB & TOM KAUFFMAN,TOM HINGLE. RACED 1966-1968,WON SIX RACES CO DRIVERS LOU NUTA,JACK WILCOX,LARRY LAUTERBACH,TOM HINGLE AND TOM KAUFFMANN WHILE I WAS RECOVERED FROM FLIPS AT LOUISVILLE,BUFFALO[NATIONALS] TESTING AT THE MIAMI YACHT CLUB AND 266/225 RACE AT THE MIAMI MARINE STADIUM. JONES 850 HYDRO BUILT FOR T I DAVIS ENT.[TIDE] IN 1971.POWERED BY PBS FIAT,WON PARKER,ARIZ 1972 WESTERN DIVISONALS SAN DIEGO. SOLD BOAT TO JIM APPLY AFTER THE MIAMI NATIONALS.JIM HAD GREAT SUCCES WITH THE "BLUE CHIP" HE AND HIS FRIENDS KEEP THE BOAT IN EXCELLENT CONDITION.   QUIT RACING IN 1972 AND STARTED PLAYING WITH SMOKY OLD V12 FERRARIS WITH ALLOY BODIES.OWNED 43 FERRARIS, RACED 15 EX RACE CARS THANKS TO MY FREND AND FRENCH NIEGHBOR, WRITER, HISTORIAN AND  FERRARI CLUB FRANCE FOUNDER, JESS POURRET.     PLEASE CONTACT ME IF I MAY HELP WITH ANY INFO ON OUR OLD BOATS.[561] 655 5812  P O BOX 3447 PALM BEACH,FL 33480  PLEASE DO NOT FORGET OUR GOLD COAST MARATHON AND"RICKTY RACERS" PARTY IN MT DORA AT THE ACBS CLASSIC BOAT SHOW MARCH 2007.

Dotseth, Stan
My name is Sharon and I am the daughter of Stan Dotseth. I am writing this on his behalf. He will be 84yrs young this year. He first joined Midwest Power Boat Association around 1947. He ran a Snyder runabout with a Merc KG9 motor a class D runabout. He raced with this club until about 1971. In those years he ran classes C,D,E and F Hydros and runabouts. A Speedliner, Ashburn and Wilson runabouts.  In the hydros he ran a Swift hydro and then a Wilson cabover style hydro.  He ran a Mark 55 4 cylinder, a Merc 44, and a big banging 650 Merc. The fuel mixture was alcohol and castor oil. In 1961 just to give an idea of how popular this sport and club was there were 35 registered drivers for A Hydro, 49 for B Hydro, 24 C Hydro 25 D Hydro and large numbers in the runabout classes. Drivers traveled from all over to race with the Midwest boys, some such as Dick Pond, Bill Siebold, Sandy Ball and Joe Malta. Those were truly the good old days. We had a lot of fun and good times back then. Sharing some memories of how it use to be. 

Dowty, Kevin
I am 15 years old and have been around hydroplane racing all of my life. I am really interested in vintage hydroplanes, and have a passion for it. My dad got in to hydroplane racing in the early 70's, because his friend's dad (Ralph Bornhorst of Piqua, OH) owned a A class boat. In 1979, when he was 19, he bought the boat from Ralph. He first called it Slow-Ride then changed it to A-71 Fascination. He then bought another boat, (which was at one time the wa-wa too) and went racing with it. At this time, he was running a Ford pinto motor. The first hull met it's death with a saw and some fire, but it was a junk hull anyhow. He ended up taking the trailer from the first boat and put the old wa-wa too on it. (The rebuilt wa-wa too still sits on this trailer as far as I know). He sold that boat to John Harding. Then bought a cabover and ended up getting thrown out of it at Eastwood Lake in Dayton, Ohio. He began running a 240z Datsun motor with this boat. Then he bought a boat from the Kennedy's, which was at one time called the Woopy. Then he bought his fifth boat which was the Coal Catat one time. (Now, a vintage boat called the Bluewater Special). The last boat he owned was original, called Cloud 9. This was probably the best hull he ever owned, he ran it as Fascination just like all of his other boats. This boat was competitive all over the mid west and east coast. He won a few MACH Series titles, ended up 2nd in national high points 1996, and 3rd in '97. Even after a rule change in the c.i. maximum, he kept running a 240z Datsun and still beat the people running 50,000 dollar engines. In 2000, he sold it and decided to give racing a break for a while. The boat ended up going to Chris Oliver and now has 3/4 of a new bottom, and a new deck, cell, and cowl on it. It is ran as Every-Penny now. That boat is going on 25 years old now so, it is really a vintage boat, and if anybody ever buys it with the intentions of restoring it, I would like to see it restored as it was when he had it. Because he never got quite the recognition he deserved as a boat racer.

Drucker, Steve
I'm 42 and married with a 3 month old in Red Bank, N.J. Always wanted to drive one of those boats that I marveled over going to the National Sweepstakes Regatta in Red Bank as a kid in the 70's and 80's. Bought an old 280 cabover Jones from behind a lawn mower shop close by in 1990 for 2 grand and rebuilt the thing with Dick Sooy. Ran it for 3 seasons until they ended open cockpit racing in 1994. Never won but, met some great people and drank a lot of beer and ate a lot of crabs at the drivers parties! Past names and owners of this boat: "Quick Silver/Paula's Pet/Ms. Purolator, Paul DeVeigh. Shinndig!, Bud Shinn. Quick Trick!, Bob Geekie. Encore!, Art Appy. Nervous Energy, Dave Hamm. and the way I raced it, "Don't Tell Mom!.

Erickson, Doug
It is great to find this site. Sure brings back some awesome memories. I drove a Speedliner A runabout and then moved up to a Swift Atomic A hydro # G-53 in the Midwest Power Boat Association.  I was just a teen at the time (Mid 50's) but had lots of help from fellow racers like Ralph Higgins, Floyd Harris, Del Compton and Stan Dotseth. I then went to work  for Kiekhaefer Marine in Beaver Dam,WS but was too young to go on the road as a tech. I ran a shop in  Decatur, Il for a year and then opened my own boat store. I owned Douglas Marine in Annandale, MN (now A1 Marine)for 30 years, but got burned out with retail service. Three years ago I missed the boat people so much that I started an online Marine Parts and Accessory Store called www.BoatingBuddy.com I now get to talk to boat people from all over the world and really love it. Not many start a new business at age 65. Boat racing was an important part of forming the rest of my life.

Farley, Fred
APBA member since 1963. APBA Unlimited Historian since 1973. Currently a board member of Madison Regatta, Inc. Author of more than 700 published article on hydroplane racing since 1962. Former owner of a vintage 280 Cubic Inch Class hydroplane.

Frisbee, Bill
I drove a "F" class, 266 cu.in. hydroplane in 1958, 1959 and 1960, owned by Jesse D. Collins of Buckroe Beach, VA.  We were sponsored by Cities Services Oil Company, thus explaining the hull name of 100 Plus, named after the Cities Services Premium Fuel.  According to the Newport News Paper, I am a member of the Gulf 100 Mile per Hour Club and was admitted into Marine Racing "Hall of Fame" at the Essex House in New York in 1959.  I retired from racing in 1960 because we lost sponsorship. I drove in competition with Henry Lauderbach of Norfolk, VA, Curt Martens of Hampton Virginia, Pop Widenhouse of Concord, NC; other hydros like the Gambler, etc. We had an old hull, I do not know the builder, but we would have liked a Henry Lauderbach hull but could not afford it at that time.

Freeman, John
Have enjoyed owning and using the following original raceboats:  F service runabout "Intruder", E racing runabouts "Little Lady" and "High Hopes", JSS's "Red Baron" and "Carbon Blackie", 7 Liters "Roughneck" and "Watership Down", unlimiteds "Tomyann" and "Atlas Van Lines", K racing runabouts "Zitoplanes IV and V", 151 class "Little One II", Unlimited Speed Garvey "Double Trouble". Have a collection of fiberglass runabouts, Century, Chris, Glastron, Magnum, Donzi, etc. Live in Mt Dora FL in the winter and the 1000 Islands during the summer.  Been messin' in boats for 30+ years.  Glad to hear from those with similar interests.

Foley, Bob
Currently own 2 vintage hydros, Y-116 Full House Mouse, built 1953 or 54 by De Silva (Ingram design). The hull was originally 99-Y Lou-Kay (Sonny Meyer), then 69-Y Full House Mouse (Mickey Remund and later John Lyle). The other is Y-55 Hang In There (owned and driven by Jack Schafer, Jr.) I also had the privilege of driving A-102 Wave Machine a few times, S-5 Miss SM twice, and A-17 Trample just long enough to blow up the engine, and Y-8 Good Grief Too (ditto).

Fox, Jerry
Jerry Fox  started helping Paul Bauer with his 48 Kat n Nan. Fred Wermes and I bought Charlie Breens 136 Misled. We put the falcon in it and rolled it in Celina, Ohio. The last 145 we had was Damifno. Jim Kropfield and Conley Snowden drove it for us. Conley was critically hurt while driving for us at Cincinnati's race. I was transferred to Orlando, Florida. Fred went on to race with his brother Joe Wermes in Super Hook. Would like to hear from those 145 that we raced with in Region 6.

Grassi, Robert
I owned an Ed Karelson hydroplane in 1980. I purchased the Banana Boat from Wayne Butler in 1980. The hull was F 78 and was earlier N 75. I was a member of the Florida Inboard Racing Club and also a member of APBA. This was a beautiful boat in flawless condition. I raced the boat at Miami Marine Stadium which was in Key Biscayne. I would be very interested in finding out what became of the boat after I sold it back to Wayne Butler.

Guetzlaff, David Sr.
I started racing in 1971 with a Sid-Craft Hornet in class "A" runabout and campained for three years. In the winter of 1974, I purchased Bill McKnight's Lloyd 145 class hydroplane, totally rebuilt it and raced it as the "Proud Mary"(S-50) for 3 years. In 1977 I bought Art Luken's Five Litre hydro "Restless" (F-717)did not have much luck. In 1982 I purchased Frank Hawks' famous Five Litre the "Jersey Lightning" (F-50) as he raced it. I had to change the number to (F-717 GPR) but it did remain the "Jersey Lightning".  In 1983 we gained 3rd place in Region 3 high points and managed a third place in the Red Bank Grand Prix. 1984 brought us a second place in the Region 3 high points and another 3rd place in the Red Bnk Grand Prix. I stopped racing in 1985 and was told that the "Jersey Lightning" was being restored in Florida for display, this is a great boat and a real part of inboard racing history, if anyone knows if the boat is being displayed I would like donate my trohpys to go with it. I now live in Point Pleasant, N.J.and work as an engineer with Brick Utilities and have a 205 Four Winns Sundowner just for cruising.

Hall Jr., Chris
I have been voted family historian so this includes all of the Halls. My grandfather had a Lauterbach 225 in the 50's named Thin Slice and then Miss Bonnie. My father Chris Hall, raced A stock runabout in the early 60's. His Carlsen Craft Sassy is now in the Mariner's Museum in Newport News, VA. (Coincidentally, we found his first boat in the rafters of a fertilizer store in Yorktown, VA., but the gentleman unfortunately will not sell it). My uncle, Earle Hall, built and raced B stock hydros in the early 70's, winning both heats at the 1976 Nationals (from a field of over 100), only to find out he had jumped the gun in the second heat! In November 1976 we purchased Chuck Kittel's 2.5 litre Lauterbach, Screamin' Meemie, A-55. We renamed it the Bluewater Special. We raced her for 2 years winning the 1978 Summer Nationals and 1978 National High Points. Earle blew her over in September 1978 in Red Bank New Jersey, destroying her, (although not completely). The remains were sold to Bruce Brooks in Penn. I understand someone has recently found her and is restoring her. Next we had a 2.5 litre that Jon Stadaucher built us in 1979. We raced her for 2 years as well, winning the 1978 and '79 High Points, as well as winning the Nationals in 1980. She was sold to Chris Clark from Iowa, who in turn sold it to her current owner, Doug Brogden. In 1981, we purchased Jon Staudacher's personal boat, the 7 Litre II, Special Edition. We ran that boat for two years as well, winning National High points in 1981 and 82, the 1982 Nationals and setting two world records. This earned Earle his place in the APBA Hall of Champions in 1982.  We sold the boat to Mike Mammano in 1983. I last saw her in Valleyfield in 1990. I have no idea where she is now.  Earle went on to drive the Unlimited Squire Shop in 1983 and won Rookie of the Year, finishing third in points. In 1984, he drove the Frank Kenney Toyota U-13. He continued driving the 7 Litre II Country Boy from 1983 to 1985. In 1990 I finally got my turn and raced a new Furnal Flyer SST-60 OPC boat. I ran her for 2 years.  Earle's interest returned and he bought a Seebold SST-120 boat that he raced for two years, winning the North American championship in 1991. In 1992, my father bought and raced a Hoffman SST-45. He started his first race in 30 years 22nd on the dock and finished fifth! In 1993 Earle moved up to  Formula one, winning the nationals in 1995. Then Earle and I both had kids.....but, we purchased the old A-21 Lauterbach Coal Cat and had Larry Lauterbach rebuild her in 2001, in the form of our 2.5 litre Bluewater Special. I have a funny feeling we aren't done yet....

Harrow, Al
Recently my wife got me to start writing my memoirs. She pointed out that my children and grand kids had no idea of some of the things which I had done. The following is a chapter from those writings. I was fifteen years old in the summer of 1946.   I would be 16 in November of that year.   I really loved to watch the unlimited class hydroplanes race on the Detroit River.   They raced along the river between Detroit and Belle Isle.   The length of the course was between the Detroit Edison Power Plant at Conner Street and then south, under the Belle Isle Bridge, then south for a quarter mile, make a turn and come back under the bridge again, finally completing a 1 mile oval.   One heat would be three times around.   There would be 1 hour for the boats to be serviced in the pits, then off they went again. A full race was 3 heats. I would take my bike from where I lived, near Cass Tech High School at Vernor and Second Street, and ride to the Belle Isle Bridge.  I took a lunch and soft drink because I intended to stay all day.  I knew exactly where the boats went under the bridge, so I chained my bike to the rail and settled down for a day of racing.   I recall that my favorite boat was the “Miss Canada”. It was long and low and black and it ran very quiet. It looked so smooth. It must have muffled the engines somehow.   All the other boats were very loud. They fairly screamed as they passed under me. The Belle Isle bridge is not a high bridge, so the rooster tails would spray up onto us on the bridge as the boats shot by. A few years later, they shortened the course so that the boats turned before they got to the bridge. Too many boats came too close to hitting the bridge abutments if they were running side by side as they passed thru the bridge openings. Another boat that impressed me was the “My Sweetie”. It was beautifully finished in shinny multicolored mahogany. The engine, a 16 cylinder Allison Aircraft Engine, was mounted a little to the rear of center. The drive shaft pointed forward and went into a gear box. The propeller shaft left the gear box and angled down so that it exited the boat midway. All the other boats had their props at the rear. The “My Sweetie” had its’ prop midway on the hull. The reason for this design was so that the boat could make tighter turns on an oval course, similar to a front wheel drive on a car, in that it would pull the boat around the turn instead of pushing it “out” around the turn, saving time in the turn. In the summer of 1951 I was 20 years old. I had a 12 foot long, flat bottomed row boat with an old 5 horse power Neptune outboard motor on it. It wasn’t fast enough so I bought a new 1951 Mercury KG4 outboard motor with a regular lower unit on it. The cost was $300.00. The KG4 Hurricane is rated at 7 1/2 H.P., but when it revs up it reaches about 14 H.P. and is very fast.  I decided to design and build my own 8 foot, 3 point hydroplane for this motor. I was influenced by the design of the “My Sweetie” Hydroplane so I designed my boat with the seat at the rear and the motor mounted in the center with the lower unit extending down thru a well in the center of the hull. The motor was mounted and locked stationary, only driving straight ahead, while the steering was done with a rudder at the rear. The rudder was turned by the use of a lever in my right hand as I sat in the rear seat, behind the motor. With the boat nearly finished, and only a coat of red lead (undercoating) on the plywood hull, I decided to take it for a trial run.  I had not installed the “Deadman’s throttle” on it yet, so had to reach around the front of the motor to operate the sliding throttle. (The “dead man’s throttle” is nothing more than a spring loaded hand throttle, usually mounted on the left side of the boat’s cockpit. You squeeze a pair of vertical handles together to go from slow to fast at your digression.  They are spring returned so that if you were to release your grip, they would return to “slow”. In case of a mishap, the engine would immediately slow or stop.)  All went well at first, at medium speed, but when I advanced the throttle it took off like a streak and then, disaster.  I had designed the rudder to resemble one like I had seen on a Chris-Craft speed boat, with a portion of the rudder blade forward of the rudder shaft. As the speed increased, that forward portion of the rudder started to seek “left, then right” too quickly  and I couldn't hold it steady. I couldn’t reach the throttle on the front of the motor so I couldn’t slow down. the rudder finally threw me hard right and it dumped me overboard and flipped the boat upside-down. The motor continued to run at high speed as it submerged on the upside down boat. I had been thrown clear. The water was only about 3 feet deep so I wasn’t hurt and I just stood up. I was soaked and my hip boots were full of water. The motor, by running submerged, sucked water into the hot cylinders and cracked the block. Of course, it stopped running.  After being rescued by my buddy, I decided to redesign the boat to the normal outboard racer configuration, that is, with the motor mounted on the stern transom and the driver in front of it, using a “Dead Man’s throttle”.  To have my Mercury repaired, it cost me $90.00 for a new block. The new design worked fine. I had a great deal of fun with it for a long time. The top speed was just over 34 miles per hour but when you’re leaning down low in the cockpit, it seems a lot faster.  At that time in my history I was the fastest guy on the St. Clair Flats. It was great fun to run wide open at a wave from a cabin cruiser and jump about 30 feet through the air. I still have that boat and motor and they still run like they did 50 years ago. I recall that my buddy, Bob Soulliere, and I would run up and down the South cannel of Harsens Island, jumping waves and having a good old time. Eventually some cottage owner on the channel bank would call the Coast Guard and we would spot them chugging down the channel toward us.  Off we would go into the channels or “cuts” through the marsh on the Canadian side. We would occasionally peek over the tops of the tall bull rushes and when the Coast Guard boat would leave, back we went. It was quite exciting to charge at an on coming cabin cruiser, one of us on each side of it, then both of us jump it’s following wave at the same time. I can still see my buddies boat flying thru the air, just 40 feet to my left, while mine did the same thing. If I saw my kids doing that, I’d have a heart attack. In 1956, at age 25, I was drafted into the Army. After two years of service in the 101s’t Airborne, I returned home, anxious to run my little racer that I hadn’t had for 3 years.  I tuned it up and off I went, out across the shallow bay in front of our cottage. Fast and smooth, but not exciting enough.  I ventured out into the South Channel for a more challenging ride.  Bad idea. Just as I zoomed out from the protection of the “Venice Cut” and entered the South Channel, two large freighters and several fast cruisers had passed and the result was that the waves were all bucking each other and forming 3 foot high pyramids about 6 feet apart.  Wow!  All I could do was hold that throttle wide open and jump from wave to wave, on their tops, and keep going in a great wide arc back to the safety of the “Venice Cut”.  If I had slowed down, my little craft would have dove right into one of those waves and under I’d have gone. Needless to say, it scared the crap out of me and I didn’t do that anymore.  It was time to grow up! Going back just a little, while I was in the army, I came home on leave and a friend of mine said that he’d seen something that he thought I’d be interested in.  He drove me to a boat house along the St. Clair River, near Algonac, Michigan, and we went into a boat house that contained a large cruiser that belonged to Gar Wood, the famous boat racer.  The boat was about 60 or 70 feet long and was suspended up, out of the boat well, on huge straps. I could see that the bottom of the hull had a “step” in it. Similar to Gar Wood’s famous race boat, the “Miss America”.   The upper part of the boat was elegant, but not modern or streamlined. It was more “Victorian” style. The power plant consisted of two 1600 hp Alison aircraft engines that made it about the fastest thing around. According to the boathouse custodian, Gar Wood, who was retired, would come up to Michigan from his home in Florida, and take the boat our for a run on the St. Clair River between Detroit and Port Huron. He’d wait for some “hot shot” to come along and then he’d open up those two Allisons and leave the “hot shot” in his spray. I’d have like to have seen that! I wonder where that boat is today? Not long after I got out of the army, about 1959 or 60, a duck hunting friend of mine told me he was working as a volunteer crew member for an unlimited class hydroplane, the “Miss U.S.”. Would I be interested in joining the crew?   WOW! you bet. Those were some great and interesting times. The boat was the “Miss U.S.” with the designation of “U2”. It was an unlimited class 3 point hydroplane, about 30 feet long.  All red, with a huge upright dorsal fin at the back. It was owned by Al Simon, who owned “U.S. Equipment Co.”, in Detroit, Michigan. The head mechanic and test driver was Roy Duby who had extensive experience with several other famous race boats.   For you information, the term “3 point race boat” refers to the design of the underside of the boat. About 1/3  back from the bow there are two extensions or sponsons, one on either side.  At high speeds the boat rides on these two extensions and the rear of the boat.  Actually, the body of the rear of the boat does not touch the water. The boat is traveling so fast that it scrapes along on the slanted propeller shaft. That means that only the  bottom half of the propeller is biting the water. As the prop spins, it throws water up into the air, thus the “Roostertail”. This impressive “Roostertail” can be as high as 50 feet and doesn’t settle
 down until the boat is about 1/4 mile down the course. The place that we worked on the “Miss U.S.” was in a section of the old Packard Auto Plant in Detroit. That was where Al Simon's U.S. Equipment Company was operating from. Roy Duby was the only full time crew member and the only paid one. The rest of us, the volunteers, would show up one night a week to do any or all catch up work. Of course we all showed up for race day. The race operation was really extensive and complicated. Our “Pit” area for race day was on the Detroit River font, next to the Whittier Hotel. That hotel is now a senior citizen’s apartment house. Our boat was hauled to the site on a special flat bed truck.  A crane was also employed for lifting the boat in and out of the water. Our driver was Don Wilson. He owned a car dealership in Florida and would fly to the site of the race to drive the boat. When it was race time, I’d jump up onto the boat while it was still on the trailer.  Another fellow would get on too. The crane would swing over us and lower a couple of cable slings which we would fasten to eye bolts on the boat, using clevises.  Don, the driver, would climb up and get into the cockpit and the crane would lift us up, swing us out, and lower us onto the water. As soon as we settled onto the water and the cable slings went slack, we disconnected them and jumped ashore.  Don started that big engine and off he went with a roar and much black exhaust smoke.  Whew! every body’s tense. That motor gonna keep running Good? It does and Don maneuvers the boat around the river and back up to the starting line. The boats can’t stop. They can only move around until they’re all pretty well lined up.   Finally - - - BANG, the starter cannon, and off they go. What a sight. Five or six huge Roostertails flashing in the sun like giant white shark fins. All those engines roaring and snarling. All drivers jockeying for
 position.  Don't go under another boats’ Roostertail or you’ll drown out. Careful when or if you pass another boat so you don’t lose control on his wake. Then, all around the first turn and into the far straight-away.   Three times around and into the pits for service and prepare for the next heat. Don would maneuver the boat up to the pit site. Two of us would jump out and onto the boat, reach up and grab the lowering cable slings and attach them to the boat on their eye bolts. A third man would jump onto the boat with a small tank of nitrogen with a short hose attached to an air drive ratchet and socket.  While the crane picked us up to set us onto the trailer cradle, the man with the ratchet took off the valve covers. Once onto the trailer, others went to work resetting the stretched valves and removing the front of the engine so as to replace the drive spline. Because of the constant “in and out” of the water of the prop, the spline couldn’t be depended on to last for more than one heat. I jockeyed the drums of fuel into position beside the trailer. After everything was buttoned up, I passed the fuel hose up to the top men and began turning a hand pump so as to fill the boat’s fuel tank. Everything was orchestrated by Roy Duby to the minute because we only had 60 minutes for this super tune-up. Once fueled up, Don Wilson climbed up onto the boat, the two of us cable connectors climbed up and connected the cable slings. Up and over and down. Disconnect. Jump off. Start engine and off again. We’ll have to do this one more time before the race is over. It seems that all the other boats would have three engines for the race and they would simply change engines between heats.  We only had one engine.  I guess we were considered the “Poor Boys”.  We usually ran with a Rolls Royce Merlin Engine. It was our fastest engine. It was the same engine used in the P-51 Mustang Fighter Plane of World War
 II. We were set up so that we could install an Allison engine of the type used in the P-38 Lightning Fighter Plane. The Rolls was a British product and the Allison was American. If we raced in the Harmsworth Trophy Race, it was international and we had to use an engine manufactured in our own country.  The Rolls was faster than the Allison, so we never won the Harmsworth.  Roy Duby tried installing a super charger onto the Allison, but when it kicked in it ran like a banshee for a few seconds and then blew the engine. He never could make it work and control it. Our driver, Don Wilson, was a great driver and a super nice guy. After each race, Al Simon would host a small party in a suite in the Whittier Hotel. We would all sit around and have pizza and beer and discuss the days happenings. Don would sit with us crew members and answer all of our questions about any and all the things he or the boat did during the race. This gave us an insight on anything that we might want to improve on. During one race, it may have been the “Silvercup” in1960, we lost an engine due to a thrown piston rod. Don was driving and just as he passed us, right in front of us, in the pit area, the rod went. It all happened so fast. The boat was traveling over 100 MPH and all of a sudden a big puff of white smoke came from all exhaust ports and the boat immediately slowed to a stop and drifted downstream with the current. Don stood up in the cockpit and waved. He was fine. His boat was out of the way so all the other boats could pass him and finish the race. Once it was over, we jumped into a launch and went down river to retrieve him. We towed him back to the pits and we were done for the day. The next evening I went down to the Packard Plant to see the engine after it had been removed from the boat. What a sight. I wish I’d had a camera. When the piston rod let loose, it flailed around so fast and with such power that it cut the engine in half. The rod was steel and the engine block was aluminum. The only thing holding the two halves together was the oil pan, which ran under the engine and acted like a splice plate. The failing rod was not long enough to reach it. Quite a sight. No, we couldn’t save that engine. It was a Rolls. Roy Duby almost bought it once. It was in the middle of a week and Roy was on a high speed test run on the Detroit River. He was heading north on the Belle Isle side of the course, doing 120 mph, and he went over a submerged log that was just under the surface of the water. It took off his rudder and he immediately lost steering. he hadn’t started his left turn yet, so was headed straight for the docks at the Bell Isle Yacht Club. Without the rudder in the water, Roy thought he might have a chance to kick the rear of the boat to the right by gunning the engine and hoping the turn of the prop would make the turn. He stood up, reached down and hit the gas with his foot. The trick didn’t work, so he jumped. The boat continued, glanced off the side of a large yacht, bounced over the road, and came to rest in a lagoon on the island. Roy bounced along the surface of the water and stopped 6 feet from the dock. A little old lady ran out onto the dock and helped him out of the water. I saw Roy the next day and, luckily, he had no broken bones but was sore in every muscle on his body. He said that when he jumped, bouncing along the water at that speed was like bouncing along Woodward Avenue, the main street in Detroit. I had hoped that I would possibly get a ride in that boat, but it never happened. Too many other things were going on in my life and I finally had to drop out of the program. Don Wilson was killed when his boat flipped during a race in Washington D.C. in June of 1966. Roy Duby retired to Key Largo, Florida and died in 1999 at the age of 87. My buddy, Walter Warbrook, who introduced me into the “Miss U.S.” team, was killed in 1970 by an angry employee that he had fired. Each time I see anything about hydroplane racing, these memories come rushing back, so I had to put them down on paper. The most noted accomplishment of Roy Duby and the “Miss U.S.” was in April of 1962. Roy and the crew (minus me) took the boat to Guntersville, Alabama and Roy drove the “Miss U.S.” to a new worlds record for a propeller driven boat. He broke the record at 200.419 miles per hour.  Like I said, I was not on that trip, so I didn’t get to see the event.   Recently I found a video tape entitled "Thunder Boats”. In it there is a segment on the “Miss U.S.” that shows the boat in the record breaking run. The event didn’t draw much attention here in Detroit because the Detroit newspapers were on strike at the time. A little known but very expensive facet of running these big aircraft engines is the exhaust system. When the boat is designed so that the driver sits to the rear of the engine, the hot gasses of the 16 cylinders coming back past the driver can cook or asphyxiate him. This same engine, when powering an airplane, has short exhaust pipes that extend out of the side of the aircraft and do not effect the pilot. Not so in the configuration of the forward mounted engine in a race boat. Special exhaust pipes must be fabricated that will direct the exhaust gasses out, then past, and to the rear of the driver while he sits in an open cockpit.   The forming of these pipes is quite a specialty. After the pipes have been formed, bent, and welded together, they have to be normalized.  If they were just installed, then were exposed to the terrific heat of the exhaust, they would warp and crack. To avoid this, they have to be preheated while being held to their shape, and then allowed to cool slowly. A very expensive process to have it done correctly. These pipes get so hot while running that they actually turn white. Did you ever wonder why those big, propeller driven, 3 point hydroplanes have that huge fin at the back? It’s to help to keep them running straight. As the boat runs at high speed, it is actually scraping along the top of the water with only the tips of the outboard sponsons and the angled prop shaft touching the water, while the bottom half of the prop bites into the water. The prop is turning so fast that it’s torque tends to walk the rear of the boat to one side as it drives it forward.  That huge fin, extending up above the rear of the boat has a preset angle built into it that counters the side ward pull of the prop, at high speed, and keeps the boat straight so that the driver can keep control with the movable rudder. The steering rudder is a long blade that extends down from the rear, or stern, of the boat. It is connected, mechanically, to the steering wheel . One of my jobs as crewmember, was to remove or fill in any nicks or damaged spots on that fin. It had to be dressed, smoothed, and repainted so as to be an attractive but functional part of the boat. The popular nickname for this type of hydroplane was “Prop Rider”.

Higgons, Richard
I ran 225's and some outboard classes when I was a kid and thought it would be fun to pick up one of the old Unlimiteds to make sure they don't disappear. All that I have in race boats at the moment is a replica of IMPSHI that won the Gold Cup in 1936. The boat was designed by George Crouch for Horace Dodge and was powered by  a Packard Gold Cup motor. The new boat was built by Bill Morgan and is powered by a 454 Chevy motor.  It ran in the high 60s back in the 30s and still does.

Holub, Bill
I was introduced to outboard hydro racing as a small boy going to races with my cousin Al Holub (V-64) during the late fifties after the war. Finally he got me into it with enough parts so that I could build up a class F Evinrude 4-60 which I raced on a conventional Owens hydro hull (V-68). We raced in IL, IN, WI, OH & MI. I raced in the fifties, he continued on well into the late eighties in FL. In the early days we mixed our own fuel, did all the engine work ourselves, worked until closing time on Saturday night, drove like the devil to get to the race, slept a few hours while waiting for churches to let out so we could start testing, then waited for class F or Free for all race at the end of the day to race. Then packed up and drove home. We started from Berwyn, IL. I am long now retired in Wilmington, NC. My cousin is retired and lives in Tampa, FL.

Jackson, Denny
Former owner/driver of Ride-On E-133 and Lil' Miss Madison E-147 both in the old 280 cu. inch class. The home port for both hulls was Madison, Indiana from 1976-1984. The E-133 hull was built by Walt Milosovich in 1971 and the E-147 was a Sooy hull built in 1976. Denny currently drives for Joe Marshall and The Tennessean Racing Team GNH/UL 33 in what MAY be his final season. He now lives in Milton, Kentucky.

Johnson, Dave
Current owner of Miss Close Shave II, a vintage 1957 225 Class Limited Hydro.  Restoration is just about completed.  I was a crew member of the Miss Madison from 1976-1979.  I also worked with the Coopers Unlimited from 1985-1987.  Worked with Bill Cantrell & Graham Heath at their shop here in Madison, IN. I have attended the Madison Regatta for as long as I can remember.  Worked on and appeared in the movie "Madison" which was filmed in Madison, IN. & Long Beach, CA.  While working on the Atlas became friends with Stunt Drive Ernie King, who was a riding mechanic on the La Hala in the 1950's.

Johnson, Joe
 I worked with Ed Cooper Sr. & Jr. Team in 1987 at Evansville and Madison. I am currently helping restore my brothers 225 Class Miss Close Shave II. I am also organizing a proposed vintage event for the 2002 Madison Regatta. I have attended the Madison Regatta for as long as I can remember. Hydroplane racing is in my blood. I have a favorite saying that goes like this. VINTAGE HYDROS FOREVER.

Jones, Jennifer
Hi!  I am looking for information on the former Miss Bee Bee E-4.  I have some information on it and maybe with what I can find out, might be able to find if it's still running.  My Grandfather and Father raced it in Virginia for a couple of years and prior, my Grandfather raced it with a friend of his. I would love to find out if this boat is still out there.  I know it changed hands and became the Miss Amy D and I know some direct information on it that maybe can be traced.  But if anyone out there knows any information, please let me know.

Jordan, Dianne Prentice
Dianne Jordan, widow of Mac Jordan, owner of Miss Sapphire: husband died in boat accident in August, 1970, Yorktown, Virginia. Hull designed and built by Henry Lauterbach from Portsmouth, VA, the BEST designer and builder from his era. The boat was heavily damaged in the accident and someone picked up the boat a few months later. The hull was recently restored and repaired, and I do not remember who picked it up, because there were so many people coming and going at that time. My children and I would appreciate any additional information, or photographs.

Julian, Joseph
Hi everyone! No vintage boats in current ownership, but I do build speed skiffs. My dad and myself have been racing from 1950 to the present. I am looking for a pictures, news clip's of my fathers boats from the '50's & 60's. The boats names were Jo-Ann, Mar-Jo, and the St. Patrick. All 3 hulls beared the JS-6 numbers. Any info would be great. Also our new hull is near complete and will be at the races soon. Drive like you hate it.

Kossow, Keith
I was a crewmember for my father, Frank Kossow, on the Miss Ottawa, in the 5-litre class, from 1966-1970.  Our home was Ottawa, Illinois. Ron Jones built the Miss Ottawa hull in late 1964. Miss Ottawa, driven exclusively by Frank Kossow, won many races during its competitive years, including the Orange Bowl Regatta in Miami in 1968, the Prime Minister's Cup in Valleyfield, Quebec, Canada, and the President's Cup in 1965. Paul Martin was the crew chief of Miss Ottawa, Swede Stromstedt was the mechanic, and Dick Cheli and I, Keith Kossow, were crewmembers. During its short career, Miss Ottawa was well-known throughout the Eastern and Southern United States. Frank Kossow was killed in the Nationals at Ann Arbor, Michigan, in July 1970. Paul Martin was killed in an auto racing accident in March 1973, Swede Stromstedt passed away in 1998(?), and Dick Cheli died in 1996. I still have a number of parts and Miss Ottawa memorabilia as well as hundreds of photos. I feel that, based upon the number of races won during 1966-1970, Miss Ottawa was one of the top 5-litres in the country in the late 1960s!

Kramer, Art
I am looking for information on CARL KRAMER, my grandfather, who raced on the rivers around Chicago in the early 1900's. His brother, JOHN, were a terrific pair. I remember seeing a lot of trophies around their houses while I was growing up!!  Their boats were mostly handmade, and they modified their own engines. The boats were carried on top of their cars to the races. Any info would be greatly appreciated, even if it's a clue to look somewhere else.

Lamontia, Anthony
Tony Lamontia raced C-Service Runabouts starting in 1949 in Jea-Ton and Jea-Ton II, and even appears in a C-Service race in the recent DVD by Aqua Productions called Hydro Racing, A Look Back. Tony was active in the Akron, Ohio Outboard Association and had friendships with Jack Force and Ron Musson, later the driver of the Miss Bardahl. By 1953, Tony was racing outboard hydros against notables like Dean Chenowith, Dick O'Dea, Jon Culver, and Stew Sill. In October 1953 at Syracuse NY, Tony won the B-Stock outboard hydro nationals in a Swift A-B, 545-S, Andiamo, quite an accomplishment as there were nearly 1000 registered drivers in B-Stock Hydroplane alone that year.  He was successful throughout the 1950s, from 1954 in his Swift “Big-Bee” 45-S Andiamo (currently being restored by Dick Tyndall, of Mechanicsville, Virginia).  In 1960, Tony switched to inboard hydroplanes in the 136 class, purchasing Wally Roland’s Hallet powered by a Ford V8-60 flathead, with the class number S-136.  Tony renamed the boat Andiamo (and later changed the number to S-146) and raced it from 1960 to 1966 out of Region 6, winning many times.  Tony re-entered inboards in 1979 and raced the blunt-nosed Jones 2.5L stock S-185 Andiamo (formerly 
Tor-gre from Greg Barker, Tonawanda, NY), again winning many times. The highlight was placing 2nd in the 1987 Nationals in Eugene, OR. Jeff Corrigan of Inman, South Carolina, now owns the boat. Mark’s two sons raced as well, Mark in 2.5L stock in S-54, and Scott in OPC-SFT45 and Offshore - Production 4. Tony passed away in August, 2003, and had fond memories of hydroplane racing until the end.  Please send e-mails to mark.a.lamontia@comcast.net.

Lavigne, Francois
Francois Lavigne passed away in March 1989 at the age of 75 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.  I don't remember much of his racing career. I think he raced the 244 Class.  The boat I remember was the Escapade built by Henry Lauterbach and owned by Docteur Latour.  My father got a world speed record in that boat with, I believe a DeSoto engine.  If anyone has records or memories of his racing days I would appreciate it a lot.  Most of the records of his accomplishments have been lost.

Lemay, Benoit
Crew member for Warren Wilhelm`s Golden Princess, Nory-Lyn GP-404 (1986-87-88). The Golden Princess is a Lauterbach (1985) and the Nory-Lyn a Staudacher (1987). Half way in the 1988 season I was "drafted" in the Lauterbach Special GP-200 owned and driven at the time by Claude Campeau. Before 1986, I was a big hydroplane fan, following the Canadian circuit since 1977. During those first years I was taking photos that you can see part of in the Hydroplane Photo Albums (see in the links page). I`m still keeping in touch with the hydroplane world by looking in the internet and by going to all races I can. St-Timothee, Quebec, Canada

Lesoine, Dave
I am the maternal great grandson of "pop" Carlsen, owner and founder of carlsen craft. I have found one entry here about one of his boats the SASSY, in Chris Hall JR.'s entry. If anyone has any information on him, or his boats please shoot me an e-mail.

Lockridge, Jerry
I live in 29Palms, Ca. Around 1980 I purchased a 1969 Aquacraft flatbottom that was originally owned by a brickyard in Long Beach.  The boat was called Mr. Bricker and carried #48.  There was a participants decal in the boat for the Tuborg Nationals at Marine Stadium.  One of the races they attended had another boat with 48 on it and after a coin toss Mr. Bricker became 481.  The boat originally ran a 427 Ford Hi Riser. The 427 was long gone when I bought it.  In 1982, good friend Tom Pecanic and I decided to race the GN class at the 1983 Parker 9 Hour Enduro (shortened to 7 to save gas or ?).  The GN class had no shortage of good boats and talent.  Bob and Norm Teague, Steve Goodman, Chuck Mull, Schiada, and Raysoncraft.  We ran a 429 Ford and had a game plan of "don't do anything stupid".  Keep the prop in the water.  I thought we were going to get waxed.  The Ford ran at 5500 for 7 hours, never missed a beat.  We won the GN class.  We finished 10 laps ahead of the second place boat.  Bob Nordskog in Powerboat Magazine called us "a disappointment".  We ran again 1984.  A broken motor mount put us on the trailer for awhile and a broken distributor put us back on the trailer. I got it running and Tom brought it home in fourth.

Long, Hugh
Born July 27, 1927. Raced A-13 Quicks Draw a Davies hull in the 60s. Later drove owned Bachelor One A-5 a  Lauterbach in the early 70s. In 1977 bought Big Chief A-11 a Lauterbach, which was 1982 thru 84 North American champ and won too many races to list. In 1991 bought Hank Lauterbach's Something Speacial. and renamed Big Chief  A-11. Which was Region 6 High Point Champ and won its share of races. Hugh was from Danville, Ky. He passed away in 1997 and is buried at Camp Nelson National Cemetary Ky. (Submitted by his son, Mark Long)

Madlock, Michael
My boating started as a 3 year old in my Dad's "Wickens" Crackerbox. It was on that boat we would go to Long Beach, my Dad made my uncle his first set of water ski's by bending a piece of plywood under steam. From there my Dad went on to an "E" boat Miss Guided and at the ripe age of 10 I drove her and all of the 283 Corvette rat moter that pushed her over 100 mph. I am in the market for a vintage E class boat
right now.

Mason, Mark
Started messing with antique inboards in 1963 as a kid and very soon got bitten by the old 1920's & 30's gentlemen's racers because of their capacity to carry passengers.. wives & friends for a days boating. Bought my first racer, SISTER SYN in 1969 followed by METEOR V in 1972, BABY BOOTLEGGER in 1976, IMP in 1984 and MISS FLORIDA in 1987. Built MISS COLUMBIA for Philip Sharples launched in 1986 and TYPHOON for Jay Keefe in 1992. Now building a trio of boats reproducing DELPHINE VI, HORNET, and IMPSHI. All Horace Dodge racers designed by George Crouch in 1925. Would be happy to hear from anyone interested in these ancient old boats. We live near Laconia, NH.

Mattson, Don
In the late 50's and early 60's Warren (Buddy ) Erickson and I  raced hydros and runabouts in northern Minnesota. Most of racers were from Duluth, the Iron Range and the Bemidji area. It was an "outlaw" circuit- the only rules were type of boat (hydro or runabout) and cubic inch displacement of engines. We wound up burning alky and castor oil in modified mercs - A KG4H and a 20H. When we began racing there were Martins, Mercs, and Champions, but the Martins and Champs eventually disappeared. There were runabout and hydro races for classes A and B and also D hydro. C service runabouts completed the classes raced at that time. The last race of each race day was a "free-for-all" in which any boat could enter . Sometimes there were upwards of 15 entries and it was affectionately called the "mad scramble". It delighted the large crowds that racing attracted in those days. We raced both hydros and runabouts in classes A and B. Our hydro was a Wilson and the runabout was homemade. Another friend , Bill Mattson (no relation) raced D hydro - modified 40H Merc on a Swift hydro. While our success varied the fun did not - it was always a blast, and exception perhaps being when Buddy Erickson's B-hydro blew over backwards on a straight stretch. Eventually interest waned in the north and we began to compete in Midwest Power Boat Association races. That club contained a number of national champions and other excellent competitors. As grad students having accumulated families, we were ultimately, but reluctantly, priced out of racing. Anzanis, Koenigs and Quincy Mercs had taken over and we dropped towards the back of the field. I still venture out to watch races when I can but at this age and having watched the now smaller and faster boats negotiate the race courses, I figure that I no longer possess the balance and reactions necessary to compete. But maybe .....

McKnight, Bill
Built, owned, and drove inboard hydros out of Red Bank, N.J. from 1966 to 1980. Competed in 44 hydro, 850cc hydro, 145 hydro, and began in JSS in 1965. I built my 44 from plans by Horace Burgard, my 850 was a 1967 Sooy, my 145 was a late 1950's Lloyd. I rebuilt a 1946 Morlan Visel 48ci in 1974 and raced it one time. Am retired and live in Ft. Lauderdale. See my photo webpage.

McKnight, Keith
I grew up in the Red Bank, NJ area and spent my summers at the races with my dad, Bill McKnight. My name is Keith McKnight and I have a late 70's Karelsen cabover 5L am rebuilding her to run currently. Some of the names that used to be my boat are, I'm told are, The Banana Boat and most recently the Old Timer owned and driven by Bill Densten, Sr.

Moore, Bob
I started racing outboards (ASH and AU) in 1956, ran these up until 1962 when I purchased the HI-Q, a 136 ci Lloyd hydro. This is the boat that I raced up until 1971, when due to family obligations, I got out of active driving. I have since restored the boat just as it appeared in 1964. I kept an "eye" on racing until 1983 when my wife, Marie and I became active with the National Sweepstakes Regatta in Red Bank. Between Marie and I, we headed the race Committee up until the last year of the regatta, 1996. During that time I also served as a Region 3 Inboard Chairman, Region 3 Chairman and served on the APBA Inboard Commission. Currently, I am an APBA Council Member at Large and served as the past Vintage Vice Chairman. It was in this capacity that I hoped to see the Vintage & Historic category grow from its current 230 members to over 500.

Moore, James H
I was part of the team that modified and built Moonshine Baby H-54 with Dal Kremer in Bellevue, KY and you can't imagine my surprise when I found out it had been rebuilt. Now retired and living in Butler, KY. Still can get away from the toys as I continue to build and race model planes on wire.  I am not internet interactive, but I can be reached through my baby sister's email.

Mulvany, Hap
I started racing for the old Champion Motors Co in 1951, when the company sold out in 1955, I continued to build and race the Hotrod "B" and developed the 15 cu.in. 'A' which is still manufactured by Tom Moulder. I retired from racing in 1971 and now reside in Titusville, FL. (R'cd a note that Hap passed away on May 16, 2005).

Mulvany, Patrick
I started out in A stock Hydro with an Atomic A Swift.....remember them? Got into Alky's in 69' with a Marchetti Hydro and a Flat Head Quincy Looper!! Set the record at Lakeland that year with a white X on my helmut. the thing I miss the most though is the scream of my old Six-Banger Merc wailing behind me. Dang, this brings back memories!!

Musson, Robert
Built first hydro when 8 years of age from plans in Popular Mechanics.  Went to Madison in middle 50's and first drove Dave Thomas's Scremen Deamon 135 after race in New Martinsville in 1960.  Bought 280 Miss Fire 280 in L. I., New York brought home and raced through summer getting 2nd place trophy in first race thanks to Clyde Fox.  Rebuilt 280 in winter and while sanding down learned that it was once Wa Wa that Tom D'Eath just sold.  Raced Jone's conventional 280 of own and partnered with Phil Kunz in 280 Wonder Wart Hog.  Later drove almost everything from 48 to 7L with exception of 266 for others.  Help found DMBRA, Pres. of Organization that built Dayton Hydroglobe and was Region 6 official at one time.  Now in process of building something like 15' E Racing Runabout with driver and 2 riders at transom. Also selling some old race boats and cars for others.

Nielson, Rudy
I began racing in 1962 at age 15. From our home in Cleveland OH. My first boat was a 145 class Wickens hull called RUDY TOOT. It was and antique even in those days. However, old as it was I did manage some second and third place trophys. It broke in half in 1964 and we scrapped the hull and built our own design. A wide transom, cabover boat taken from the lines of the Ron Jones hulls that were dominating the bigger classes at the time. This one called RUDY TOOT TOO. I did well with this boat once I stopped poking holes in it because we built it to light in some areas. And unfortunatly it was only in the last two years of racing that I discovered it would corner at full throttle. I raced this boat untill 1972. I guess my Personel Best would be passing up five boats in the first turn and coming within two tenths of a second of setting a coarse record in Tonawanda, NY. I am 55 now and living in Cape Coral FL. Since my hydro days I have raced in Offshore boats, and have restored a few Corvettes. However, racing hydroplanes is a sensation that only the privileged driver of one of these machines can relate to. And entering a turn at full throttle when your instincts tell you to let up, is a rarer treat still. 

Nesbitt, Carl
I am now in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Been here for 15 years. I am working with Jack Keen.  We are working on a 1 Ltr Staudacher and one of Charlie Fife's Thunder Chickens.

Norton, Billy
I grew up in a boat racing family. My dad started racing outboards in the late thirtys. He ran mostly in the N.O.A circuit. He won the 1954 N.O.A alky D hydro world chanpionship in an old Neil hydro that he had restored. The engine was a Merc kg9. Shortly after that race he had a Willis Hydro and a Willis comet runabout. Those were built by Willis boat works in FT. Worth. The hydros were very fast,but they had a tendancy to nose in if the water wasn't perfect. I ran my first race in 1956 in A runabout. Dad was running A Ashburn D runabout and the older style swift D hydro. With the linen deck. We later went to the newer style Swift hydros We had a Big Bee and a Big D. We also aqquired a Desilva runabout. That set the D runabout record in 1963 in Denver. I won a lot of local races with the Big Bee hydro and a Merc 30 against the D hydros. My Dad's name was Charlie Norton. His every spare moment was devoted to boat racing.

O'Gorman, Kerry
My name is Kerry O'Gorman. I am currently living in Denver, CO. I raced D Stock Hydro (17H) in Indiana and surrounding states from 1960-1965 with NOA and IOA. Also some B Utility in the early years. I raced with Mike Doran. Both of us were from Rochester Indiana on Lake Manitou. I was state champion in 1965. Some of the other competitors I raced against were Armin Schweir, Bob Keller, Don Dennis, Ed Smith...My
boat was a Coutts Craft built by Jim Coutts in N. Tonawanda NY. Jim raced mostly "alky" classes but also some DSH. I would be interested in contacting anyone who raced in the midwest in the 50's or 60's.

O'Hara, Anna
I grew up in hydroplane racing and was so lucky to have it as such a big part of my life.  My dad owned and drove the S-125O'Hara's Malarkey (built by Jim Davies) in 145 class. He didn't win any 1st place trophies, but we didn't care, he has plenty of 2nd and 3rd class along with the Crank Shaft award back in the early seventies.  It was just fun and everyone was family.  Sure wish it could be that way again!  Thanks to the DMBRA and the APBA for all the wonderful memories!

Oliphant, Mickey
I was born in West Palm Beach Florida, and my Dad Dix Oliphant was the first outborad boat and Johnson motor dealer in Palm Beach County, opening D & D Marine Supply in 1952. My Dad was boat racing before I was born in 1949. He raced with the Erneston Brothers, Chris & Jimmie Dan, who were both high point national champions in both A & B Utility and A & B Hydro for years. Chris was world champion for many years, and held many APBA records. All through the years, I spent weekends on the shores of lakes bays and rivers watching my Dad, Chris, Jimmie Dan, Dick Slaton, Ted Miller, Gordon Gentry, and others race the APBSA circuit throughout the southeast. My Dad also ran the unsanctioned marathons in south Florida,in non APBA qualfied boats. He raced in The Gold Coast Marathon, which was a two day race from Miami to West Palm Beach on Saturday, and return on Sunday; The Nine Hour Marathon, which circled McArthur Causeway in Miami for nine hours, The Sandy Shoes Marathon, which was a two day race from West Palm Beach to Ft. Pierce on Saturday, and return on Sunday; and the West Palm To Stuart Marathon which was a round trip from West Palm Beach to Stuart Inlet, and return the same day; a four hour marathon at The Jenson Causeway, and an hour marathon at Lantana Florida. My Older brother Doug Oliphant, and I began racing the marathon circuit in 1961. (I was 12 years old- He was 16.) We raced all of the above mentioned marathons, and others until the were outlawed in 1967. My Dad built up 22 CI 18HP Johnsons and we ran them on AB Utilities, in class 1. Because of the tremendous pounding of the intracoastal marathons, running with hundreds of other boats, including inboard hydro-planes, SK Ski boats and all classes of outboards at the same time, we were forced to modify our A/B utilties, or they would simply fall apart. My Dad also set up three of our school mates with similar rigs, and the five of us dominated Class 1 for six years. For the last five years of the South Florida marathon circuit, Doug, Myself, Danny Carlson, Steve Brown, and Larry Hatfield swept at least the first three places in all of the marathon races. Often we ran first through fifth. We were all charter members of the Original Outboard Racing Club of the Palm Beaches, who sponsored three of the marathons each year. Because our rigs were not APBA legal, when the Marathon Circuit died off, we were forced out of the sport. The demise of the Marathon circuit was an end to a unique Era of open boat racing. If my memory is correct, the last year we ran the Gold Coast Marathon, there were over 250 boats that started the race in Miami on Saturday. Less than 160 finished both ways. My Dad is still alive, but Chris Erneston and Jimmie Dan Erneston have both passed away. 

Passi, Jim
I used to be on the pitcrew of E-138 280 class hydro  lady bossworth owner was jan bossworth driver was bud  tomas we lived in edmonds/lynnwood  washington it was the old dough baby built buy chuck hickling when we got it it was in 7 race's it piched the driver out 7 times so we knew what the trouble was the steering fin was too big i was in hi school at the time & had use of all the machines hahahaha  so i cut it in about half it was just right we were in a lot of race's back in the mid 60s never won much but the boat did get the worlds record for week at 107 somthing I don't rember but the nat. beat it by 1/2 sec. if i rember right anyway it had a 264 buick engine in it we were allowed to balance the engines & could put .10" over size jets in the carb our # was E138  280 class i think that was a long time ago we were a low bugget bunch of guys hahahaha we did have a sponsor it was wynn's frication prooffing & lodge plug's they gave us oil & plug's we did all the rest on our own not like nowday if i rember right we had a 11x32 prop & 13x30 something thet was back in 1964-68 i was also in the pit of Mr Ps unlimited i cant rember the # it was owned by a guy we all called pint his last name was pintanisky or something like that it was the old WAHOO it it burnt in a fire in about 72 or 3 gave a chunk of miss bardahl's transom back of the boat to the hydro musum through a teacher i used to work with back about 10-15 years ago if i rember right it was from the patomic river 60s.

Patterson, John
My father raced outboard Hydroplanes in the 1930 with Mulford Scull and the Jacobys of New Jersey. The sound of a class C PR50 Johnson was music to my ears when I was 6 years old, so it was only fitting that I purchased an old 135 Hull from Billy Brown of Richmond, Va. in 1957, which formerly belonged to Jerry Powell, the boat was old and heavy and even with a good engine from Ralph Brogden in Rocky Mount, N.C. could not compete with the newer 136's. I bought a set of Hallet style frames from Will Farmer of Richmond, Va. and had a pretty decent 136. In the late 50's you could expect to go to most races in Region 4 and find 30 boats to compete with. Alton Pierson, Bob Baxter, and Stump Palmer were some of our top competitors then. A couple years later I tried a new Earl Kelly engine in my Hallet look alike but it was to much for the boat, so I bought Earl Kelly's Wildcat, a Hallet Hydo which he had great success with. (Kelley purchased a new Lauterbach hull). In my last eight races in 1960 I had five 1st., two 2nd., and one 3rd., not bad considering that you were running against the national high point champion Earl Kelly each race. I drove Homer Blands 266 Motorcraft Special at Elizabeth City, NC to join the Gulf 100 MPH Club. I retired in 1985 as Treasurer for the City of Newport News, Va. and moved to Waycross, Ga.

Pellerin, David
My dad owned a Farmer hull in the 60's call Intruder E-16. His nick name, as some of you may know, was POOCHIE.He passed away in 1980. I purchased my first boat from Marge Conley with the help of John and Ann Fitzgerald. It was a Sooy called QuickSilver. I won the 1984 uim championship at lake decatur. After a few years of 145's I moved up to 5-litre's. I drove Al Hassboler's Streaker for a while then had the chance to drive a world record holder that was owned by Richie Landiche called Hydrothearpy E-747, a Norberg . After a year they decided to give it up and then I started to drive the Chopper E-15, a Jones that Nick Manale and Jim Ransom owned.I had alot of good times before a good friend lost his life down in St Pete, Bobby Armbrewster. That is when I was asked to step down and let my lil brother drive. Today Nicky is doing very well with a 19 year old boat. He also is driving Don Mashburns new boat Mr. Bud and is doing well. I am still racing but it's on the dirt, but I would sure like to get back in the seat of a hydro.

Pelton, Fred
Fred Pelton received upon his death on July 31, 1954 the following: In Memory of Fred J. Pelton
The Members and Officers of Pelican Harbor Yacht Club were deeply grieved to hear of the passing of our good friend adn member Fred Pelton of July 31, 1954. Fred was one of the early member of Pelican Harbor Yacht Club and in his quiet, steady way did much to advance the welfare and improvement of our organizarion. Much of his time and energy went into the building of our club house and into the evolution and promotion of our racing committees on which he worked for many years and which he headed as fleet captain wnder two commodores. Fred Pelton will live forever in the hearts and minds of thoes who knew him well and the Fred J. Pelton Memorial Trophy donated by Charles Kettel shall perpetuate him in our club activities. 
I recall hearing about Uncle Fred installing a Crosley Engine in a wisp of a boat. He was my favorite Uncle. Email me here.

Place, Bill
Bill Place started his racing career in 1972 with a Hondo jet with a 392 Chrysler. By 1975 with Bobby Hall as his driver and Mike Kuhl tuning his Donovan, he earned his first High Points Championship, the boat was a Blown Fuel Jet, the name was Going Places 101. In 1976 Bill Place went to the drawing board and designed a hull 
similiar to that of Going Places. He designed 3 different versions of the 18 ft. 8 in hull,each would be made to accomodate different horsepower. This new hull would be named Placecraft. After years of blood, sweat & tears, testing and testing again, on April 9, 1978 Bill Place's Going Places established a new Kern County Club record with the official time of 146.57 mph with an e.t. of 8.89. On October 30, 1983 Bill Places clocked a record 176.39 mph at Phoenix, Arizona. Bill Place, a World Record Holder, Lifetime Achievement award winner and High Points Champion. I am proud to say...he's my dad!!

Polhamus, Sherman
see bio here.

Poindexter, Scott
J. Scott Poindexter  Birth date: March 15, 1951. Scott used to race boats.  He has a lot of boat racing pictures. Scott has a friend who was a boat racer named Jeff Kelly.  Jeff lives in Kent, Washington. Former boat racers can contact him at: Scott Poindexter 25620 109th Avenue SE  Kent, Washington  98031. Scott needs a regular mailing address to send photographs. Any pictures will be sent by regular mail through the Post Office.

Poliakoff, Alex
Started racing D stock hydros in 1963.  Ran a sid-craft first.  It was a 'blow-over' special.  Then, I bought a hydro built by a guy in Sanford Maine named Carlton Sawyer.  That sob ran REAL well, It was numbered 8A.  My engine was 55H #984719, it would tach 8 grand on a test wheel in an instant.  Draft got me in 1965 and I sold all my stuff.  Don't really know where it went - time was tite.  Anybody with any clues, give me a shout.   thx Alex

Radue, Alan
Born and raised in the northern suburbs of Detroit, Michigan which is a huge epi-center for hydroplane racing!  Can vividly remember as a youngster going to Belle-Isle and seeing Miss Pepsi in the infamous 'glass box'.  Remember passing the only pass we bought through the fence so my brother and I and my Grandfather could get in for one price at the races and still be able to afford to get a yearbook!  Been attending unlimited/limited hydroplane racing since the mid 70's and it is one of those passions I don't think I will ever grow out of.  Worked as a crew chief on the restoration of the 1972 U71 Atlas Van Lines. Went from there to racing stock outboards in the APBA where my greatest moment was winning the 1998 Nationals in the 'Top O' Michigan' Marathon. Finally working on my dream of a lifetime to own and run a 3-point U-front-ender, Agitator a 280 class Charles Lloyd hull. So far it has been an incredible experience of learning hydroplane craftsmanship, meeting great new friends and sharing good times with the newly formed 'Radue Pit Crew'.

Rankin, Pat
Owner and driver of a few 280 hydros, Miss Cindy Lu - Pandora's Box - Cavalier Too - unnamed farmer- Gimlet - Geronimo, Catch Drove a couple of 145's and a 7-liter several times. I am currently living in Virginia. Most of my driving career was spent in Washington DC and Florida area. I owned Farmer hulls and one Lauterbach 266. My Geronimo Farmer hull broke the Miami Stadium record in 1970 something. I understand it is almost rebuilt in PA.

Roberts, Jim
Drove S-45 Wild One to 2nd place at 1965 Nationals then drove S-151 Rif-Raf, also drove E class Shamrock year before Gene Whip drove it to a high point  championship. Involved in start up of Dayton Motor Boat Racing Ass. Presently live in Hattiesburg, MS . Retired since 1998.

Schnell, Boyd
I hail from Spokane Washington which used to be home for many hydro races in the past. Now, there is nothing but outboard hydroplanes which is what I started with in 1969. A four cylinder D Mercury powered my 9'8" Sid Craft over 70 mph. I was a total failure at boat racing in that I couldn't work on engines or drive worth beans! My only success was at the wheel of a blown alcohol dragster built by a veteran blind race mechanic named Richard Hand. Currently I am the proud father of the Nostalgic Circle Boats of Washington. My wife is the current ski class Champion and we race two SK Lavey-Craft Model C flatbottom v-drives each running vintage 396 chev power. My SK83 was Glen Stones' SS83 driven by Paul Grichar. Paul was Al Laveys test driver for some time until Al ceased production in 1977 of any more hand built hulls from the Pico Boat Shop, Pico Rivera California. They may have been the fastest of the fast flat bottoms having run 124 mph in 1974!  After my 1968 Marathon AquaCraft is finished, I would like to find an old 7 liter hydro just to see if my driving has improved any with age! 

Schulte, Joe John
Hey, everyone!! I went to my first boat race as an infant at the Parker Kilo trials. Dad set a record that day in c stock runabout. I grew up at stock outboard and limited inboard races all over the country. We raced all winter on the west coast and ran in the midwest from our summer place in Michigan. Dad was a racing fanatic and at one time in the 70's, we were racing boats, snowmobiles, motorcycles and airplanes simultaneously. My sister Sue and I cut our teeth in c stock hydro and then in 72/1200/1 liter stock hydro. We both won divisional championships and set comp and kilo records while supporting Dad in the 145/2.5 stock hydro, where he won both divisionals and the nationals all in the same year. All in all, we had a lot of fun and learned a lot and met some wonderful people along the way. After my father's death in 1986, I tried to run a couple of years, but my heart just wasn't in it. I still love the vintage hydros, though and all this interest in the old boats has really sparked my interest... maybe even enough to drag out the old equipment...that's right I still have the original Yaller Dawg a 1964 Jones cabover 145, Junkyard Dawg a 1976 Dick Sooy 72 and Alley Cat a 1965 piranha hull built by my father and Ted May ran as a 48 hydro. Anyone with tips or advice on where to begin restoring these boats, please feel free to email me.

Schulte, Sue
Wow! "Vintage" Hydroplanes, Does that make me ancient? Still miss my racing days, and all the wonderful people involved in racing too!......I drove T-44 Junkyard Dawg. My brother's blurp pretty much says it all. I would love to hear from anyone from the past!!

Shaffer, Al
My father Alvin Shaffer from Columbus, Ohio raced for Byers in the early 50's thru the 60's  I have several photos of him while driving H-33 and H-34 Miss Desoto I and II. I have a silver 1st place trophy he won in Charlston WV as well as a speed record certificate he set of 114 mph in Martinsville, WV in 1953. I would like to compile all the informaton on my father I can and hope your great web site may help. Hope to hear from anybody who can help me!

Simpson, Don
I began following the hydroplane circuit in the summer of 1967. I traveled to many races with my dad photographing many of the events we attended. I would later become a crew member for the Golden Princess, GP404 Driven by JP Lessard  (1984-85). I then became the photographer for the Grand Prix Hydroplane Club, winning the photography award in the years 1984,1986. From 1987 to 1989 I was a crewmember for the Orange Crush team, (GP151) driven by Jimmy King. I then crewed with the (GP 5) owned and driven by Steven Kew. Stumbling on this web site shore brings back a lot of good memories of day's gone-by. I do hope that the site continues. Don Simpson Ottawa, Canada

Skinner, Dave
In 1960 I won the New York State championship in C & D Stock Hydroplanes under the racing number of 3N. Lived at 2001 Sweet Home Rd in Williamsville, New York (Buffalo). Won the New york State Divisionals. Belonged to the Niagara Frontier Boat Racing Association in Tonawanda, New York and was entered into the  Courier Express Boating Hall of Fame in 1960. I raced two hulls which were one of the first cabover outboards raced. They were designed by Jim Coutts of Tonawanda, New York. I have scrap book photos and news articles.

Swindling, Tom
Hello to all my old Boat Racing friends from over the years! I'm living in Cincinnati, Ohio. I was one of the four founders of the MACH SERIES in 1984 along with Pat Powell (OVMBRA), Phil Kunz (DMBRA) and Ray Dong (Marine Prop Riders). I was President of the Northern Kentucky Boat Racing at the time. I'm the past owner of the 2.5L Mod. A-30 Old Style Special, formerly, Inchoots & Tommy D'Eath's Southern Style Lauterbach. Then sold it back to Tommy to acquire the Browning's Panchanga, formerly, Come To Play & Mr. Bud. My drivers were Jackie Meyers from Louisville, KY and Steve Jones from Myrtle Beach, SC. What am I doing now...Racing Go-Karts and trying to do the same thing we did for inboard hydroplane racing with the MACH SERIES to Kart racing. I'm currently Vice President of one of the oldest and largest Kart Clubs in the USA with over 300 Members. Visit our website at www.ovka.com.

Taylor,  John,  A
Exposed to stock and alky racing as a toddler back in the 1950s in Selkirk, Manitoba.  At that time the local association was the Manitoba Outboard Racing Association.  Loved the sound and action and grew with it as parents and the rest of the family found it a great sumer spectator sport at the Red River waterfront just hundreds of feet away from the family home. Enlisted as my neighors pitman at the age of 13 for the C-Service and C-Racing hydros and runabouts built by my neighbor E.J. Ted Coates, a commercial and bush pilot by profession. When Coatsie retired from racing I bought his nearly new self built Ogier C-D Stock hydro and with a Merc KG-9 at the age of 16 graduated from a pitman to a D Stock Hydro owner driver. Over the years accumulated Mercury racing equipment to race B, C and D Stock hydro and Runabout through out the province of Manitoba and ventured south and into the immediate Midwest area in the USA in Stock Outboard versus Alkys of the immediate Midwestern Area of the USA running 20H powered by haydros against B-Alkys and D Stocks against D Alkys under handicap rules. The late sixties were the interesting times with the emerence as Mercury as the force in 8 different classes of hydro and runabout racing.  The emergence of Konig, British Anzani, Quincy Deflector, Quincy Loop Falthead, Crescent and  Harrison made up the bulk of the Alky scenes of racing. The 1970s saw racing expand in our areas to the point where we had 8 scheduled race sites every summer plus some southward treks.  The late 1970s saw racing expand to MORA local memberships racing in Calgary area of Souther Alberta and Northward to Edmonton, Alberta with some forays into Montana's flathead lake country and with them reciprocating into Canada.  Fields of 20 over hydros for eliminations heats was not uncommon in many classes.  There was some Alky activity with Bs and Ds most notable were the Anzanis and Konigs in B and D Alky hydro though a very small near select group handled them. In the early 1980s with support declining in Stock Outboard by Mercury most clubs declined with it in Western Canada to the point that there was nearly no racing in Western Canada with some holdouts in Manitoba who quickly switched to Modified Outboard with membership affiliating southward and in 1996 the membership split from its USA club member affiliations in Modified Outbaord and became its local club again. Since 1990 a group of the stock racing Mercury H engines have been put away for posterity and the rest dispersed to other collectors for their collections around North America in both the USA and in Canada.  We have a Modified racing team affiliated with the Manitoba Racing Power Boat Association running C-Mod, D-Mod and Formula E Modified Mercurys.  During the period I started collecting and restoring engines I coud only dream of in my early formative years as in British Anzani, inheriting the remainder of engines and parts stocks from racing great Bill Tenney who I met as a teenage and pitman for Coatesie.   Next came the opportunity to obtain hard run and in pieces five  Quincy Loop Flathead 2 and 4 cylinder engines for rebuild/overhauls as well as some Quincy-Merc padded block Alky deflectors. Adding to all that came the Crescent Super C and even a Merc Twister 6 cylinder tunnel boat engine to do the same but no boat to run it on at this point. The future is Modiified Outboard in hydros and in the collection and rebuilding overhauls of these "in your dreams" classic Alkys.  Because of having a lot of parts of engines accumulated and on hand, unallocated parts have found themselves at new homes all over the world helping others complete classic outboard projects of their own from those spare parts. I write about my experiences some racing, some technical and some helpful on subject matters about vintage Merc racing engines in  Stock Outboard, Modified Outboard and classic Alkys specifically the British Anzani since I had them running though very limitedly since prior to 1980 and in the 1990s to date helping with the Quincy Flathead Looper and Quincy Deflector Padded Block Alkys. I am one of those convinced that Mercury has not been fully explored in C, D and Formula E Modified outboard yet because of how their development stopped abruptly when the Quincy Flathead Loopers came on sream in the latter half of the 1960s. Though running them as gas modifieds is not the Alky intent of the middle 1950s forward to the advent of the Quincy Flathead as a gasoline powered Modified there is still some undiscovered and undeveloped black maginc there that people are pursuing in racing Modified and I am one of those many looking for those developments. I like helping anmyone with anything they recognize I have some help I can offer them and I am always ready to learn some more from others offering their views and help in small outboard racing.  You can find me virtually daily at the Swamp Pit and CORE Internet sites and the same on hydroracer.net carrying on in the best interests of the sport with technical articles and at times, especially in winter getting wacky as a result of the cabin fever we develop here from too long a winter with virtually very little snow but very cold! I can be emailed at: anzani@mts.net or called by telephone here in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada at: (204) 667-3815.

Taylor, Dave
I started running race boats in the mid fifties including D utility runabouts cracker box (drags) Sanger flatbottom (K 91) and built and raced with partners a Ron Jones cabover 7 liter Hydroplane (J4 MR.CHET) which won the inboard division of the Parker Arizona 9 hour enduro race in 1971 am mostly retired from racing now but have managed to campaign a modified roadster at the Bonneville Salt Flats for the past dozen or more years It has been great fun over the years.

Taylor, Ron
Semi-retired Judge from Michigan with racing avocation. Primarily a car racer with experience in everything from karts to stocks to formula cars.  Part of Indy car team for awhile in the 80's and early 90's. Currently still heavily involved in vintage formula car racing through JERT Vintage Racing of St. Joseph, Mich.  Added vintage hydros to the mix during the mid-90's, driving the Yellow Streak, a 280 Tempte Cabover.  This boat continues to be run by JERT with Jack Engelhardt up. In 2003 JERT acquired Happy Buddha  a 1968 Lloyd 280 hydro which will be campaigned on the vintage circuit starting in 2004 season also driven by Ron.

Tepper, Robert I
Long Branch Regatta in the 50's was my first intro to hydroplane racing. Then (12 yrs old) I took hundreds of color slides mostly of outboard runabouts and hydros...many are razorharp. One good pix is of Y-56 with driver clearly portrayed. If you ran at Long Branch on those days I would love to match you up with my pictures. Dan Ardolino an early owner driver of JS-1 JO CAROL TOO took me to regattas at RED BANK, NEW MARTINSVILLE and CAMBRIDGE, MD.

Thompson, Calvert E. Sr.
Calvert "Callie" Thompson Sr. from (Dominion) Chester, MD raced the P.O.D. Wildcat from 1955 to 1960. He won the Eastern Championship in 1955 and was elected that year to The Gulf Marine Hall of Fame. In 1956 he received the High Point Plaque for region IV and was High Point champion in the nation.  He still resides in his Dominion home as does his boat Wildcat.

Timmins, David
Raced out of Syracuse, NY in the early 50s. Ran A and B hydro and utility. Had a spedliner, wagner step hydro and later a swift hydro. The swift was owned by Pat Ryan probably one of the best in the country who was killed in an auto accident on the way to defend his national title in Knoxville, Tenn. The hull was later destroyed at the 
nationals in Syracuse NY.

Tracey, Bruce
Joined the vintage family after 8 yrs rebuilding the Blide/Lauterbach SHOCKWAVE 1972.  The boat was raced in the late 70's and 80's as NO RESPECT. So far I have run at Pontiac 2005, Clayton and Wyandotte 2006.  Did a little racing in the 50's and 60's in B utility Sid Craft and D Raveua. I'm really strugling with the computer email and would love to hear from any Vintage folks around Region 6. Bruce Tracey  616.399.1709  1918 Poplar St. Holland, Mi

Trayford, Edward  Jr.
My name is Edward Trayford Jr. My father and I started racing 280 Hydro's in 1957. My father and I built our first two boats Hula Girl and Hula Girl II. In 1960 I had Will Farmer build a 280 Hula Girl III in 1962. I took first place at Ilse View, Tonawanda, NY, Buffalo Launch Club, Buffalo, NY, Port Indian, Norristown, Pa. where I also ran the straightaway Kilo at 104.6 mph. I was also Region 2 High Point winner in 1962 and also inducted into the Gulf 100 MPH Club. I don't remember who I sold the first boat to. The Hula Girl II was sold to Lenny Justa Of Tonawanda, NY. The Hula Girl III was sold to someone in Canada, the boat disintagrated at Vallyfield, Qubec. In 1963 I had Will Farmer build Hula Girl IV. I never got to race this boat because of military service. I sold the Hula Girl IV to Torby Barker of Niagara Falls, NY who sold it to Don Less of Grand Island, NY who I understand did not secure it on the trailer and lost it and was destroyed. You have a great web page, it bring's back many wounderful memories. I am now retired and live in Fort Worth, Texas. I do have pictures of all my boats.When I find them I will send them.

Van Sickle, Sandra
My father was Ernie (Earnest) Vallejo. He raced boats back in 1976-1979. He was killed in a circle boat race. The accident was at Castaic Lake, CA on Oct.14,1979. I am looking for any old pictures or articles on him. His boat was yellow w/blue, PC-33 was the boat number and it was called Resurrection. If anyone can help me with this search please e-mail me. Thank you.

Villella, Janet