Love of racing Hydroplanes

Ed Barko getting out of his S-4 The Vagabond in 1962 at Celina. Ed lost his arm/hand driving Moonshine Baby E-54 in 1960.
Kenny Ingram driving a boat he built, owned and drove – Y-13 Ranger’s Pup. Note the custom hand throttle. Kenny was also building and selling Y-class hydro plans at the time.
Both of these drivers had unfortunate racing accidents, however they kept on racing.

From Jay Marshall: It is my understanding that the 48 cu. In. hydro Ranger’s Pup was built by Kenny along the same plans as his 225 Ranger.  An interesting side note is that the Ranger’s Pup was bought by a gentleman from the New Orleans area named Earl Bridges.  Earl kept the name but painted the boat orange with a black engine cowl.  I remember the boat very well because my uncle, who raced 48s for 12 years (1958-1970) never beat that boat.  Earl later had another 48 called Whose Excited, Y-44 that was orange and white.  Earl was always testing this boat before the races, and it looked good on the water, but somehow seemed to fizzle out come race time.  Earl was kind of the nervous sort and a perfectionist, thus the name Whose Excited.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *