Waldman A Looper

[Original Looper 1]

This is the A Looper that won the A hydro championship in 1971 at Depue, IL. This engine originally belonged to Gerry Waldman, one of the finest drivers ever to race in professional outboard. This motor is unique because it is one of the 5 Quincy engines that Gerry Waldman successfully used to achieve 5 world championships at that 1971 event (an historic day in outboard racing).

Gerry always used special, extra thick factory drive housings and used a special factory adaptor plate to put an A-B engine bolt pattern on a C-D bolt patterned housing. His engines were also distinct in that he used custom red paint on the carburetor spray shield, which was also custom made. He also used Mercury Cloud White lacquer to paint the drive housings. Gerry's equipment was ALWAYS immaculate arriving at, during & after any race.

This engine now resides in a private collection near Atlanta, GA. I personally documented the authenticity of this engine for the current owner from the original Quincy Welding/Quincy Precision Machine shop records, which I still have. I have 2 original dyno cards for this engine from July of 1971 - before the race and also the post race dyno run. Gerry always had his engines run on our dyno both before AND after each major race event.

Stay tuned. More Quincy Welding history and Loopers to follow.

Thanks,
Paul A. Christner

PS: There are still a few more Waldman Loopers out there somewhere. Happy hunting.


Note: These pictures are for your enjoyment but are not to be reposted to any other web site without my written permission.

[Mike Schmidt]

Gerry was a hero of mine. Got to meet him at a COA meeting in the winter of 1971-1972. I bought an A Looper in 1972. I was the last person to qualify an A Looper at the Nationals. (1972) (on a hydro) Over the years I have raced many diffrent engine brands. In the 80's I ended up with a bunch of Looper parts. Most came from Bob and Fred Grover, some came from John Yale and Franny. My plan was to build a replica of Gerry's motor. In talking to the late Larry Latta, I found out he had Gerry's A. A lot of wheeling and dealing (Larry liked those 15:16 Mercury gears...) and I ended up with the parts to build the motor in the picture.

A ton of work went in to the restoration. One of the real neat things is the decal on the front of the spray shield was given to a 16 year old kid at a COA meeting years prior to this restoration. The inside is a nice as the outside.

Paul: It would pull as much power today as it did on 1971.

I had no plans on ever selling this, but a guy from Florida called several years ago right after I had come back from Depue. I had just my butt beat by one of the new Rossi 250 motors. I called up and got a price on a new motor and that is what I sold this motor for. My thinking was would Gerry want me to have this motor in my office or have a brand new motor and win races. Gerry was a RACER. I ran the Rossi in 25 heats of racing that first year. Won 23 of them and finished second the other 2 heats.

Gerry was one of, if not the BEST ever.

Michael D-1

[Original Looper 1]

Mike,

Thanks for adding your information about this Waldman A Looper. My dad thought highly of you and your racing outboard mechanical abilities. I'm glad Ron Hill gave us some space on this web site to share our experiences and memories of the Quincy Welding motors and heritage. It was people like you that helped make Quincy Welding/Quincy Racing the success that it was.

Thanks again,

Paul A. Christner

[Ron Hill]

Was there 15:16 gear for the A-B Quickie? I only knew of 1:1 and 13:16 or what ever the 20-H Kit gears were....

[Mike Schmidt]

Paul: That 250 "Z" motor of Dave Whitford's that I ran in RB was a great motor. I still have note from your dad on port designs for it. It was great fun pulling it off the rack, blowing the dust and chips off it and working over Kugler and Latta at Depue. One year, I won the first heat and your dad came over and gave me a big hug and told me that " that is the fastest A Quincy I have ever seen". Still means a lot to me. He was a great man.

Ron: When I was restoring Waldman's A, I wrote Charlie Strang for information. One of the things we talked about was the gears. The guy I sold the motor to got all the notes I had on it. Mercury built the gears (A-B-C and D sized) when the Hotrod was beating the unconverted 20-H's. Mercury part # was like R-1, R-2, R-3 an R-4. I even had prints from Mercury on how to machine the die cast cases so they would fit. I would bet a lot of $ that you were beat at least once by some of them. Rumor has it that they worked real well in Stock.....

Michael D-1

[Original Looper 1]

Michael,

Your comments about the success you had with the Z engine brings back memories. I wasn't there, but my dad told me about it. We got quite a chuckle at that time over your hustling of Kugler and Latta. You're also right about Mercury and their special alliance with Waldman.

Ron,

There still appears to be a significant number of people that don't and didn't realize that Mercury Racing was supplying Waldman with some super special, one off parts (contrary to what has been posted incorrectly on other sites).

As to gear ratios, most Merc racers ran in A-B, stock and pro, with either 16:21 or 1:1 standard gears. However, yes, there were special sets made for Waldman by Mercury. How about 15:16 A-B gears? I think the late Larry Latta still had some of those original specialty parts in his possession. He also had some of the extremely collectable and extremely rare Waldman only banjo AKA pizza cutter A-B and C-D gear housings. What was so unique about them -- they had a special factory R dimension and an extra long skag with the leading edge being somewhat rounded like a banjo or pizza cutter. That's where the name came from. Gerry used to run these units surfaced with a 1 1/2 to 2 degree tuck under. When the unit surfaced and the boat completely aired out, he was literally flying.

That's how Waldman set the D straight away record of 116.883 mph at Alexandria, LA on 10/18/71. I still have the original, certified record card signed by Claude Fox, Executive Director of NOA. I can remember Gerry calling my dad that evening to share the great news. Gerry told Chris he made 3 runs and the 116 mph record was an average of 2 lesser runs. The one run that couldn't be used, Gerry said he saw 126 mph on the speedometer, but the boat got so flighty he had to scuttle that run before it was completed. Gerry wasn't just a boat racer, he was a Quincy pilot!

The late Larry Latta had in his posession the last, original & untouched since 1971, Waldman C Looper. Yes, it is one of the 5 Quincy engines that Waldman won 5 championships with at Depue, IL in 1971. I'd like to have it, but whoever gets it should be someone that would take it to shows and share the heritage and history of this unique C Looper with others. Unfortunately, I don't have the time necessary to properly show and display this motor. I had a phone coversation recently with Art Pugh, and this particular C Looper had quite a reputation with the top fight Konigs. When it showed up at the races, they all knew they would be fighting for 2nd place. This engine probably has more championships under it's belt than any other Looper that we ever sold. I saw the engine at my Dad's memorial meet in Quincy, IL in 2003. It still had the original castrol remains from 1971, the original banjo lower unit, and the red fiberglass spray shield with the original dated AC sparkplug sticker. Wow!

Larry also had, last time I saw him, one of our extremely rare 1969 2.3 B engines. These engines are unique in that they are a larger version of the Merc Quincy Looper and they have their own 2.3 stroke crankshaft ground out of a solid billet of special alloy. This has to be one of the rarest engines we ever made. Who knows what it is worth.

When I talked to Francis, she wasn't ready to make any decisions about Larry's racing collection just yet.

thanks,
Paul A. Christner

[Jeff Lytle]

This the one Paul?

http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=290&stc=1&d=1102633040

[Original Looper 1]

Jeff,

Yes that is Waldman's D Looper. Mercury moved it to the museum shortly after Waldman's death. It has been there ever since.

Think about it Jeff -- what did Gerry weigh? 140 pounds soaking wet? I can remember when he used to race those fabric covered Marchetti boats, and they didn't weigh much either as Nick made them extremely light for Gerry.

Many times I watched Gerry Waldman go into the turns wide open in D hydro. There was always so much overspray from all of the boats that you couldn't tell anything until the 1st person pulled away from the pack out of the turn and headed down the back stretch. Gerry was usually that person leading the pack. It was definitely exciting times and pure enjoyment watching those D races.

thanks,
Paul A. Christner

[Stuboat97]

This is the one at the O.F Memorial Exhibit. The one on the right. What is the one on the left.

[Jeff Lytle]

Looks like a C Service engine..........Look at the lower unit, no pipes either.

[Stuboat97]

Here's the rear view of that motor. These looked to be in "as put up" condition.

[Mark40H]

The motor on the left is indeed a C-Service Merc-Quincy. It is a one-of-a-kind built by O.F. Christner for Larry Latta. If you will notice the clamp brackett is much wider than the stock Mercury and the powerhead is lower on the tower. Larry was the only one who had a tower like this.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

This photo was taken at Hot Springs the day before the race in 1972. It is one of the last photos taken of that D motor while underway. Gerry, as Captain of the North Team arrived early as did Marshall Grant, Captain of the East. There were not many boats on the water when I took this picture. Shortly after I took it, a camerman from a TV station in Little Rock rode behind Jerry in this boat with either the D or the F for some fantastic footage. He even leaned out over the deck on the left and got a full face closeup of Gerry's face with the throttle down low in the foreground while at speed.

[Ron Hill]

As I recall, Jerry Waldman really wasn't an OLD Evinrude man...or, as I posted somewhere, really a "FRIEND" of C Service. Jerry and a few others, maybe Larry Latta, got the ALKY Commission to allow the Merc to race in C Service. It started a C Service II, it could not run pipes "Horns" to some, and had to run the Evinrude Lower Unit...

The Mercury MAY have been good for the class, but it wasn't an Evinrude. At first, the Merc raced....Thn, the one pictures "CLEANED HOUSE". All the OLD IRON racers, voted the Merc out...

Funny part, in my mind, the open stacks sounded different and cool from the "TUNED" pipes. and Today, Steve Greaves has about a hundred sets of gears. This motor could be built for not a ton of money....and.....

Anyway, that's why that Merc has a C Service gearcase and no pipes...That was the rules...But as so often has happened in our history, win with thinking, hard work, talent and skill...Get ruled out...

ADD: Also, I think, the Merc block could no have "Pads" in the heat. Don't recall if you had to run "STOCK" pistons...

Last Add: I've been doing a SLOW BURN all week over those 15:16 gears. Not sure I've quite ready to vent, but I held the Kilo record in ARR and had to run my competition prop. but with 15:16 gears I could have run one of my CU Kamics...Oh well, 70 MPH was fast enough...BUT IT ISN'T MY KILO RECORD I'M BURNING ABOUT....

Wayne, I looked at the picture of Waldman, and could just hear that Looper backing down....I would stand and watch Jerry test.... Always, one pull, the motor always started, he never abused his motors getting on plane, as soon as he hit plane, he'd back them down, they'd bludder like they were about to load up and quit, at any second, then he'd squeeze his throttle and the engine would instantly clean out and then, they'd run like CRAZY. Then, when he'd back off after a fast run, his loopers would always almost "Free Wheel"...CAN'T PUT THE SOUND ON PAPER, BUT IT IS IN MY BRAIN. I once ran third in A Hydro, at Depue, to Waldman and Herring, though I won DRR and had several seconds...that third place trophy meant I'd beat everyone but the best two...


Last, Last Add: The wider clamps, I think, was so Jerry didn't have to carry another boat. He could change motors, on like a "B" Boat, and not cut the transom completely off...(The middle of the tansom was still high for the Merc tower), but wider clapms would be to the outside and lower..Just seems this is what I remember..as to why wider...

[Original Looper 1]

Wayne,

You sure made my day when I fired up the computer today and saw your picture of Waldman's D Looper at speed from Hot Springs. What a great picture and piece of racing history you added here.

thanks,

Paul A. Christner
Quincy Welding

PS: Hope Andrew fully recovers soon.