Z-Z-Zip F-4

Here is a picture of Joe Guess's Z-Z-Zip, driven by Sid Street. The photo was taken by Master Marine Photographer, Kent Hitchcock. My father, Bobby Sykes, Sr. built the Desoto hemi engine in the boat which broke dads own record in Guess's Guess Who. The interesting part of the picture is how Kent blacked out the backround. Apparantly he posed the picture after the sun went down and lit the boat up with plenty of lighting to get this masterpiece floating offshore on glassy water. 
Bobby Sykes, Jr.
 

 I’m a firm believer of giving credit where credit is due. The story here is Joe Guess. To say that Joe just built the boat is an under-statement. This truly is a work of perfection. Joe carefully planned his boats and the labor assumed the proportion of a career. One year, two years, whatever it took, time meant nothing. This is a masterpiece that equals anything seen at Indianapolis in the way of top quality craftsmanship. Joe Guess built five boats. His first boat, a 135 hydro, was built prior to the WWII. After the war, Joe built two hydros, both named Guess Who, which were 266 ci class hydroplanes. Bobby Sykes drove the second Guess Who to a world record of 121.703 mph in 1952. The fourth one of his creations, was the Copper Head, a 225 ci hydro. The final Joe Guess hull was the Z-Z-ZIP built for Sid Street.
Tom D'Eath
 


 

STRAIGHTAWAY SPEED RECORDS SET BY THIS HYDROPLANE
DATE RECORD PLACE OWNER/DRIVER BOAT NAME MPH
12/27/56 Mile Miami, FL Sid Street Z-Z-ZIP 132.600
12/29/58 Mile Hollywood, FL Sid Street Z-Z-ZIP 146.945
01/31/69 Kilo St. Petersburg, FL Gordie Reed Iroquois Chief 148.638
 "On December 29, 1958, along old HWY 84 in Hollywood, FL, I as a 14 year old boy, stood on the shoreline and watched in amazement as Sid Street’s 266 cubic inch hydro, Z-Z-ZIP, F-4 broke the World Mile-Straightaway Record to an unheard speed of 146.945 MPH. The records that this Joe Guess raceboat set still stand today as historical performances".
Tom D'Eath

 “It was a foggy morning, and we had trouble starting the Desoto using those injectors on methanol. So we borrowed a heavy duty battery out of a taxi cab. The engine was turning 7000 rpm with the 10% O.D. when Sid set that record in an irrigation ditch that wasn’t more than 50 feet wide. It was a sight I’ll never forget, seeing that boat go so fast.” The amazing thing, besides Street’s record shattering 146 mph run, was that “Sid was really disappointed that he didn’t go 150 mph! He was such a great competitor".
Bobby Sykes, Sr. remembering the Dec. 29, 1959 record attempt in Hollywood, FL.
 


The first hydroplane campaigning under the Z-Z-Zip name was a Rich Hallet built 225 class hull. We think the first appearance was in the 1948 National Sweepstakes Navesink River, Red Bank, NJ, August 21-22, 1948. Kansas native, Sid Street, in Z-Z-Zip was the 1949 High Point Champion, keeping the Belligero II, F-111 and Paul Sawyer from making a clean sweep of 266 laurels for 1949. The Hallet 266 cu. in. hull, Z-Z-Zip was powered by a Mercury Flathead motor. It won the Hi-Points in both 1948 and 1949. This same hull set the competition record in 1950 at 81.78 mph. Sid's first hydro, Sid's Ace in 1948 was a Wickens hull. Sid's 1949, 135ci Hi-Point champ Gee Whizz was a Hallett hull. Sid's 1949, 225ci Hi-Point champ Whizz was a Hallett hull. I do also know that in 51, 52, & 53, Sid Street was the Eastern distributor for Hallett hulls. In the1940's, the "F" class were called 225 division I and the "N" class was called 225 Division II 
Phil Kunz - APBA Inboard Historian

Other scorecards listed, had her racing at the ‘48 Calvert Trophy in Louisville and the ‘49 Red Bank Gold Cup. 
 
 

Sid Street leaving the pits.
Brent McLean took this photo, along with the the next 4, February 1959, at  St. Petersburg, FL. This was 2 months after Sid set a second straightaway speed record with this hull.


 
 
 


 
 
 


 
 
 


Does anybody know what year this Z-Z-Zip Guess hull was finished and started racing?
Sadly, the beloved Sid Street died while competing in the 7 Litre Nationals only eight months later.
After Sid died, the boat was purchased by Al Brinkman, Jr. of Grand Island, New York. He renamed her Seabiscuit VII.
 
 
 

Here's a For Sale ad that appeared in the January 1966 issue of Propeller Magazine:
FOR SALE - Seabiscuit, 266 Hydro, formerly Sid Street's Z-Z-Zip, 147 mph record holder. Driven 12 heats since I bought it. Faster now than when it set the record. Absolutely perfect and guaranteed to break any existing 266 record if you have the nerve to stay on it. Complete, with all the expensive extras. It cost $18,000 to build and set the record. No triflers; no offers, one price $6,000.. Albert Brinkman, Grand Island, NY.

Gordie Reed of Grand Island, New York then purchased her and renamed it Iroquois Chief F-4. This long time boat racer virtually duplicated and slightly bettered Sid’s run some eleven years later in the same boat at St. Petersburg, Florida on January 31, 1969 at a speed of 148.638 mph. This record held until 1971, but actually the class had changed at that point to 302 cubic inches then known as the 5 Litre Hydro Class. 
 
 


The above 2 photos were taken in 1964 in Morgan City, LA by Brent McLean.
 
 


A picture from the 1965 Nationals article in Boating News issue of October 1965.
Gordie Reed in Iroquois Chief and Jerry Silva in Plata Rey
wait for the 266 Hydro 5 minute gun. Reed took seventh overall.
Phil Kunz Photography

I witnessed the Kilo record of the Courtney Campbell Causeway here in St. Pete. 
She was the Iroquois Chief then. I remember it well, as it was my birthday.
Brent McLean


Thanks to Brent McLean and Bobby Sykes, Jr. for most of the above photos.
Phil Kunz and Tom & Judy D'Eath for supplying facts.

Z-Z-ZIP restored

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