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| George Walther's COUNTRY BOY  George Walther in his outboard Country Boy S-18  George Walther (left) smiling in 1951 with his Tommy Hill built inboard hydro at St Pete.  A-99 Country Boy St Pete 1951  Walther flying his A-99 Country Boy in 1952  George working on his Flathead  A-99 Country Boy at the Dayton race (Miami River) in 1955. Check out the size of the audience to see the races on both sides of the river.  George had Johnny Cramer build this hydro specifically for the Mile Straightaway record runs. It was hung up in the warehouse and never hit the water. It was eventually sold at auction after George's death.  George and H-77 Country Boy V This boat was built by Lauterbach.  George bought the H class Lauterbach (and a F class Lauterbach) from a gentleman from Pittsburgh. This extension to the bow was already built into the boat and that enabled it be campaigned as a legal 7-Litre class boat.  H-77 Country Boy V (Davey Thomas driving) running right along with Miss Crazy Thing (Billy Sterett)  H-77 Country Boy IX Davey Thomas at the helm in Ottawa, Illinois 1965  H-77 Country Boy IX George working on the motor and his son Jeff holding the funnel at Miami, Florida 1965  F-33 Country Boy VIII George's son, Dave "Salt" Walther is driving (he just turned 16) at Celina, Ohio 1967 George bought this Lauterbach at the same time he purchased Country Boy V. As soon as Salt was old enough to compete, the boat was ready for him.  F-33 Country Boy IX This is the 7-litre hull now with a different motor. They changed classes from H to F.  F-33 Country Boy IX Salt driving. Note they are not running that unique engine cowling.  H-78 Country Boy X 1969 Columbus, Ohio While awaiting for a new Ron Jones cabover hull to be built, George bought one of the Buddy Byers Miss DeSoto Lauterbach hulls to campaign in the interim.  H-77 Country Boy XI They make the switch to a Jones cabover hydro. Note the unique vertical wing on back with 2 horizontal spoilers built in.  Probably looked good on paper, but obviously that idea didn't work as the horizontal slats folded up.  The wing have been removed on the H-77 Country Boy XI Jones Louisville, Kentucky 1968 This boat was fast and Walther won 3 major events that summer with Salt now driving all the time.  H-77 Country Boy XI the next year in 1969 at St Pete and the hull is now wearing her new cowlings  H-77 Country Boy XI Dayton, Ohio 1971  H-77 Country Boy XII (or XIII) Walther purchased the former Tool Crib Special and only ran a few times that summer.  H-77 Country Boy XII (or XIII) Dayton 1974 Nationals The Unlimiteds   The Walthers move up to the unlimted class with a new boat built by Ron Jones. They brought the new hull to the Dayton race to display it. Note that the motor is not installed yet. In addition, Walther had purchased Bill Sterett's Miss Owensboro (former Lauterbach-built Chrysler Crew) to be used as Dave "Salt" Walther's backup boat. Sadly it was left outside at the Walther's yard and was eventually bulldozed.   U-77 in action at Detroit in 1972  In 1974, they bought one of the old Miss Budweiser hulls. Dayton, Ohio  Spirit of Dayton-Walther U-77 1976  Salt Walther driving U-77 Dayton 1976  F-23 Medicine Man Skip Walther's boat (Salt's older brother). It's the former Mai-Tai Jones hull. This photo was taken is 1976.  H-66 Country Boy This is the former GP-66 SUTPHEN SPIRIT Lauterbach hull and Salt is driving at Dayton 1989  Salt's last drive in competition in a hydro © Phil Kunz Back to the boats |