Ron Hill's December Newsletter and Comments From Members
Good to hear from you about your adventures.
My new 1958 wood Mandella is near finished. The 1958 Oldsmobile engine is almost finished. It has '62 heads and crank, Engle cam, Moon front cover . It is bored and stroked to 470". I have taken this boat to 4 shows this year.
I took my 1955 Joe Mandella speed ski boat, built for Rozzie Barton, to the Speed Ski Racers Reunion at the Long Beach Marine Stadium. The hull is ready for paint. I had the engine in the back of my truck on a stand. I also had the 4 shaft Marbet v-drive and a mockup of the twin rudder steering.
Harlan & Mary
Thank you Ron, always a fun and nostalgic read.
Randy
Ron..
Don't know if I ever mentioned it or not, but my dad was Austin Sides. He used to race A Pop Willis Rocket amateur stock utility in the later 40's and early 50's on several Texas lakes, including White Rock. He won several and was one of the top amateurs around for a couple of years. Love to hear anything from anyone who knew or raced with him during those days.
Hi !! My name is Mike Homfeld. I got your Newsletter today and I was wondering if you make props for a 44 Merc. I hooked up with an old family friend (boatracer) from Terre Haute Ind. and ran a couple of races with the NBRA this year. My friend Randy Avaline has put a couple of Merc 44`s togather and they are really strong, however we have more motor than the props we currently run can handle. We need more prop and can`t seem to get anyone to build a bigger one for us. Can you help???? I live in the St. Louis area and its only a 2 1/2 drive to TerreHaute so if you can help I, would be extremely happy. Thank You for letting me bend your ear a little.. Mike...
Ron,
You know, when you come to the Brickyard next year you'll be 13 miles from my house. I grew up 5 blocks from the Speedway and somewhere around 1974 John Toperhanian came and stayed with us and walked to the track to watch the race. If you have time, when you are in Speedway call me up and we'll meet. At the Hall of Champions dinner last year in Chicago J.J. and I met Marlee and her Dad.
Jay Walls
Ron - I loved the newsletter. Please keep them coming. Have you ever heard anything about Marion Beaver who used to race over on the river around Parker. I believe in the 60's and 70's he was tops in a couple hydro classes on the river. And if my memory serves me, didn't he own the Parker, AZ Ford Dealership? I just wondered what ever happened to him.
Please take care of that lovely lady of yours and hopefully we will meet up one of these days at the races. We attended the Ontario race in the spring and will go to the Sonoma NASCAR race this coming year.
Terry Nichols
Ron,
You should stop in at Cliff Johnson's race shop when you are in Indy for the Brickyard. It's just off of the fourth turn at Georgetown & 30th. Mitch Meyer and Bob Koschka park at his shop and just walk over to the track when Mitch comes in for the Moto GP.
Brent Simmons
Hi Ron,
Glad to hear that your a NASCAR fan. When I left Boat racing I decided to get my 2 boys into kart racing, which turned out to a career path for one. He is Clint Boyer's Race Engineer, he sits in the pit box and makes the decisions on the car and changes to be make along with Brian Paddy. His cars have won several Cup races, but he also worked with Montoya at Ganassi's shop for several years. Prior to that he interned with Nationwide with Reed Sorenson, they won a few of those too. His wife runs a Nascar Truck Team, Dennett Racing, with Ron Hornaday as their Driver.
Regards, Mike O'Brien ( 34H )
Hello, Ron:
Amidst the wide, wide world of boat racing, you might want to
take a peek at the web site for the UNLIMITED NEWSJOURNAL.
It is without a doubt the very best source of news for Unlimited hydroplane
racing. Visit www.unlimitednewsjournal.net
Sincerely,
Bob Senior
Good reading Ron...always nice to hear real stories about life and boats...
Since I did not race the 300, I videoed it from shore, the sky, and in between...trying to edit it together to make a watchable video for the racers and fans.
Im not going back to Afghanistan, I must live my life around my family, and being away for 6 years has taken its toll..
Best Regards,
Darcy Wingo
Thanks Ron !!!! Been patiently waiting for the news update !!! Keep up the good work !! I admire your love and addiction to our sport !! Hopefully one of these days I will get the opportunity to shake your hand and thank you in person !!
Thanks
Joe
Ron, great letter and congrats on your Marriage. It's also nice to see that a New "Old" class is starting to emerge...A very similar class is emerging out of Minnesota with those type of motors running them on the old Vampire Boat that Jack Lewis use to build in Minooka Illinois back in the 60's & 70's,only instead of the 13 footer(FE) from years ago they are using the 15 foot FJ hull from the old days... .Are the boats on the east coast running in the OPC?
That 3 Cylinder class sure sounds a lot like the old FE Class I raced as a kid when OPC stood for "Outboard Pleasure Craft" and the "Great Lakes Boat Club" was a fledgeling group trying to get the outboards away from the Inboards....LOL I remember those days, the inboarders look at us outboarders as the "bastard children" of the APBA....
Hope to see you someday, and if you're up here on Saturday July 13 the 11th Annual Switzercraft Reunion Regatta & Hot Boat Rally
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will be held that day at The Big Basin Marina in Channahon Illinois....Tom Arambasich
Congrats on your marriage. I'll be taking pics at April's race in Paker if i can. maybe I'll take some notes, too. in the mean time i posted a link to pics from thanksgivings race. I'm glad you sent this e-mail. now i have a place where folks can enjoy may photos. Hotboat ate about 30 pics and lost them in cyber space. at RDP the only people that where interested are my friends lol. seasons greetings to you and yours. -J.Becker.
Hi Ron
Thanks for your letter, I drove a lot of wooden cats but Velden ON- OZ and F1 with the OMC V8's
It was a different time, we had 5 killed out of 21 in one season
More safe now
best regards
Arthur Mostert
Nice letter Ron,
I didn't know many things you mentioned. Great to hear about your happy times with Laurie. Also what happened with Tammy Dawe? Ever hear from Fred Hauenstein? I am completely out of boat racing touch.
You probably know a bunch about me and the family from Facebook (if you still use it). So won't go much into what is happening to me. I am just now selling my Hydrostream (30 years old now). Even though I live next to a lake, I found I just don't use it much. Not into fishing and getting too old to water ski. Mike has said that the best times of his early life was the times with the boat. So he is planning to purchase his own ski boat next year.
With this letter you got my interest, so went to the boat racing web site: http://www.gosee.tv/boatracing/2011/...hip-1986-.html I found great video 1986 Havasu Classic, but it is wrong. Either it is not 1986 (1985??) or they have the results incorrect as Brian won in 1986. The 525 Yamaha boat looks like the one we won with, but not sure if it was used in 1985 or 1987. I was always busy in the pits to really watch the complete race, so not sure what race it is of. The 525 is not the Hodges, with the wing, or the capsule Burges (which Brian flipped early in the race).
All for now.
Ted Zahorski
Thanks for the update, Ron. I'll get some stuff from cal-ore river racers for brf- seems like it would be easy except for keeping my hydro going, handling secretary position for the club AND trying to find the money to pay for all this luxury. You may remember me from my visit last Dec. . My brother and I got a great tour of the operation- you were pouring that day- and for me , it was better than Disneyland. I told everyone who would listen about it when i got home. You also sold me a 44block which i used to take 5th in the us cal-ore championship. woulda done better except for that little blow over in Gold Beach and a case of 'disintegrating mag syndrome' at Hoopa. I'm building a new motor for next year with vertex pistons (innit 2 win it) I NEED a couple of decent wheels. 2-blade , in the 7 3/8 X 13 range for my 14/14 gearcase and a couple a little pitchier (15?) for the big Konny 14/15. Cheers and a great holiday Robert
On Nov 30, 2012, at 5:30 PM, ronhill@hillmarine.com wrote:
Thanks for the update....
I never had a chance to drive a wood Molinari, BUT I did have a chance to drive a fibreglas one...
Also, I loved a Crusader Hull (Dick Sherrer) and what got me started (my first 'race' boat) was a Glastron/Carlson flat pad tunnel.
As a kid I remember watching Bob Massey race the old Schultz Craft 'Wing boat with twin Mercury outboards that sounded like a live batch of bees on steroids from their open stacks..... at Lake Elsinore.
Oh the outboard days and then the start of the short lived KT (inboard tunnel boats)
Chuck Guilliams
Hey Ron, I don't know if you remember me. I was MERCMAN @ Screamandfly and I was heavy into the engine mods, boat setup, etc. from everything from river racers to offshore outboard boats. I had 4 very successful restaurants and was enjoying the boats as a hobby turned business. I have been eating, sleeping, and drinking the Mercs since I was about 7 yrs old. I bought quite a few props from you back in the day when you were dealing with legal B.S. from the old business and doing the chad propeller thing. Needless to say I disappeared because of major lower back issues and a shattered pelvic bone. I have spent years battling the ups and downs of dealing with these problems you know pain, mental anguish and bla, bla, bla. We had very good conversations involving your career with boating and more importantly the props. I used several different variations of your props on different rigs over the years and you actually helped me out working on some older inline style choppers for my personal rig. It has always been a pleasure to deal with you and discuss the boats and props. I was away for quite sometime and I have just kind of "dipped" back into things occasionally and to help out old friends. I ran across your site awhile back and immediately signed up for the forums. I caught a little heat from your moderator? For being vague with info because I really didn't want to expose myself back into the scene not knowing what I plan to due in the future from now. I did want you to know that I would love to help out the fellow boaters from time to time without necessarily getting into detail as to who I am etc. what I really wanted to say is that I am so happy that you are doing well and that you are still able to enjoy what you have always had a passion for like myself. I can't really say what but if you ever need anything please don't hesitate to drop me an email. It's great to see that you have been so successful doing what you do best. I look forward to hopefully enjoying discussion with you once again on props and setup etc. and wish you the best.
Thank you for your commitment to this sport and all of the great things you have done/accomplished to make it better. This Website is incredible and my personal opinion is that it is the most informative and straight to the point site out there period. I hope it develops into much greater things in the future.
John Weatherly, AKA (MERCMAN)
Savannah, Ga. USA
It's Joey Logano you dumb ***. You can take the guy out of the boat but you can't take the boat out of the guy. LOL
Jay Kerchelich
U forgot our rookies of the year.
Hi Ron-thanks for keeping me in your thoughts. Sounds as if you are doing fine. Going to our South Shore outboard banquet next saturday and see some of us "old Farts". Been going to the races for several years now--how things have changed. Hope that you and your crew have some great holidays--Merry Christmas. Larry
Ron,
Thanks for the update.. hope all is well
have a great holiday look forward to seeing you and Laurie next season some time.
Carl Lewis
Great to hear from you Ron!
Dan
Friday, November 30, 2012 4:05 PM
Dear Ron,
We, you and I never got to know each other very well what with the distance we
love apart.
My introduction to the Hill name came from you dad inspecting my DU 'Stock outboard
back in 1952. I had a borrowed engine from Milt Anderson out of the
Jack Maypole racing camp. My Merc 25 was faltering from a cracked
filter stone that was sucking air and causing my engine to sputter during
my elimination heat where I was not pre-qualified from my Region 7 race
because the engine was sputtering during that race too. I took it to Mercury
and they called me a week later and said there is nothing wrong with it.
So I took a chance and ran in the qualifying DU heat, to come in 5th place
and that was all I needed to qualify to be in the finals. And when the guys
from the Jack Maypole racing group saw that I was in first place at the start
of that qualifying heat and heard the motor sputtering along falling back 1 place
each lap, they offered me one of their spare power heads to use in the finals.
I'll never forget, I had to run about 800 ft to the judges tent to change the
serial number on my entry fee to match the borrowed engine, then run back
to jump into my Switzer Craft DU Bullet. I made the finals and came in first
place much to the dismay of the guy " Jiggs Jerson" from Neenha 'Wis who
won the Region 7 race where I first experienced the sputtering problem.
Now, to the good part of the name Hill. Your dad inspected my borrowed
engine and questioned its configuration because it had 8 reeds instead of
the usual 4 on the reed cage on the crank. Some of the inspectors wanted
to disqualify me for the 8 reed cage. Then your dad, Russ Hill, came to my
rescue by pulling out some Mercury factory spec sheet to learn that it was
one of the only 50 made (to make it a legal engine) and only a selected few
had... not me, since as you know I borrowed it from the Jack Maypole camp
and he and Carl Kiekahfer were more than close friends.. Jack Maypole was
one of the largest Johnson Outboard Dealers in the Chicagoland area. and
stored Merc engines for Chet Todd the Mercury Distributor for IL;.
Your dad told all the inspectors in the tent that my motor was a KG-9- HD
I guess the HD was the symbol for the 50 made with the 8 reed cage.
Any, while others were quick to disqualify me, your dad said: "Wait a minute"
This could be one of those 50 HD's and it is a legal engine.
What a great dad you had..
I'll never forget him!
Yours truly,
Bob Switzer
Dear BRF Friends,
This is my September Boat Racing Facts Newsletter. (It is a little late…) I started writing this in August. Seems you learn to go with the flow. Eight years ago, when I retired from teaching, I planned to work on BRF full-time, play with my boats and fool with propellers. Well, fooling with propellers has taken most of my time. We closed escrow on our shop building on November 16, 2012. Eight years ago I was working out of my garage. Now we have ten full-time employees. Hill Marine Products LLC has become a "REAL" business. Chad quit boat racing and teaching the same day to build Hill Marine propellers. This year we will make more than 4,000 propellers and several thousand "Mud Props".
In the meantime, I met Dr. Laurie Stern and fell in serious love with her. We have been married for two and half years. The five years I have known Laurie have been the happiest years of my life. Laurie was a National Champion figure skater who owns her own business. She had never seen a NASCAR race until she met me. She has grown to love NASCAR. We have gone to Sonoma, Fontana and, in October, to Phoenix for NASCAR races. Next year, we plan to see the Brickyard 400. She has loved Joey Logano from day one; when Joey is out of the race, she seldom watches the rest of the race on TV.
In Phoenix, we met up with Steve DeSouza, who runs Joe Gibbs Nationwide Series Cars. (Steve used to drive for Interstate Batteries in boat racing's Formula One. He retired 25 years ago, after giving a kidney to his sister. Steve told us that Joey had been with Joe Gibbs since he was 15 and hated to see him going to Penske. Of course, I love Roger "GOD" Penske and am glad to see Roger get Joey on his team. Interestingly, Steve told my wife that Joey's sister was a figure skater until she got hurt, just as my wife was National Champion when she got hurt and retired from skating.
My long story here is that I have NOT been paying proper attention to BRF. However, with Mike Quindazzi's help, BRF is making over $100 a month from Google Ads. I plan to offer $25 to anyone willing to cover an event with three paragraphs and ten pictures. Anyone interested in covering an event, let me know; and while the money lasts, I will spend it.
Just because I haven't been writing for BRF, doesn't mean I don't read ever word you all write. Bottom line really is that BRF is OUR website, not mine. The bathtub racers, K-Boat racers, Smack Boat racers, Ecuador River Racers, Brunei Tunnel Boats, COR 2.0, Stock Outboards, USTS, APR, or ANY BOAT THAT RACES IS WELCOME ON BRF. I WANT YOU ALL TO KEEP POSTING THREADS ON BRF.
SOME NEWS:
COR Racers had 6 boats at the Parker Thanksgiving Regatta and John Soares, Rod Zapf, The Carranzas, and Ron Hill's boats weren't there. COR's Winternationals will be at Bakersfield March 4-5, 2013. Boatracfacts.com will buy the trophies for 1-5 places.
Many are planning on attending the APBA Convention in Dallas, Texas in January. I hope APBA realizes that California is part of APBA. We elected Marlee Hill as Stock Commissioner to take the place of the late Tammy Dawe.
Several years ago, on our way to Cullaby, Oregon, Tammy said she'd known me all her life. At the time, I think I said, "You will have known me for the rest of my life." I'm not sure what we said, at three o'clock in the morning, but the gist was that she'd be around long after I was gone. Who knew? Tammy was dedicated to racing, win or lose. Her dad Ernie and brother Steven were at the Thanksgiving Parker race. Steven won SST 45. I always tell Ernie to "CARRY ON". You can't forget, but you can carry on. We all need to "CARRY ON" to keep boat racing alive.
My brother Russ and his wife Carolyn went to Italy with Laurie and me August 31 to September 12th. We had a great two weeks. We had a rental car and hotels lined up, but no real plans other than being AMERICAN TOURISTS. We planned to spend a couple of days in Lake Como, and as much as I'd wanted to see Massimo Scotti and Renato Molinari, I didn't try to look them up. The Internet has brought Massimo and me together, but Renato is still in the pre-computer age. For those of you on BRF, Scotti built boats for OMC in the 1970 Outboard Wars years. Scotti won Havasu in 1969 when we had 125 boats racing in three classes. Cesare Scotti was killed in the 1974 Six Hours of Paris Enduro.
The Six Hour of Paris was on live TV and viewed by more than 1 million people during the Six Hour Enduro.
Probably few people ever loved driving a Molinari or a Scotti more than I did. These boats were wood, and they seemed to love speed as much as a Stradivari violin loves music. If you ever drove one of their boats, you'd think you were the greatest driver ever. Every Molinari and Scotti seems to have a living breath part of them.
Anyway, we enjoyed Como, but didn't look up any racing legends in Italy.
The following FYI is from Jay Youngs:
Hi Ron.
Jay A Youngs from Barnegat Bay, New Jersey here.Yesterday I raced in a new class set up here which is 3 cylinder inline outboards on old Hydrostream Vector Viking Viper and V-king hulls. I ran a 75hp Merc with one of your props and spanked the field at a blazing 42 miles an hour. We also have two 'Bullet' boats with 70hp Johnson and a Frankie Verga hull with a 40hp Yamaha. Talk about "run what ya bring" racing. Too much fun on a shoestring budget. The smaller boats are faster, but the longer boats handle better. It is always whitecap ruff here, and getting around consistently wins the race. All the Jersey Speed Skiff guys are putting their girlfriends and teenage kids in anything they have lying around as long as it is 3 cylinder fishing motor powered. I hope to get 10 years out of my motor without even taking the hood off.
October opens up with the Isleton Race... This is the fourth annual race and I can't believe I have never been to one.
Six years ago, when I met with Bill and Kaye Boyes, Jim Corsaut, Frank Banducci, Gloria Crim and Mr. Finkbohner to discuss a race, I had no idea where this race was headed. At that time, we met with a construction company that was building a marina in Isleton and building houses. The marina developers told us they'd give us $20,000 to put on a boat race in Isleton.
Speaking of which, Mike Quindazzi has just helped BRF to upgrade to the newest v-Bulletin software. As of this moment, I don't know what that means. We have picked up around 320 new members in the last four months. We had 4 million robots trying to sign up, but Mike figured out how to discourage the robots. (Why robots would want to be members of BRF is anyone's guess.)
In closing, I wish you all a Happy Holiday Season. A toast to good health, good racing and a good 2013.
On a personal note, Chad, Corey, Laurie and I purchased the building that the Hill Marine Propeller Factory operated out of. This is another step in making Hill Marine a "REAL" business. Hill Marine made more than 4,000 propellers this year. We look forward to making more in 2013. Racing has taken a "back seat" with us, but that doesn't mean we don't support ALL BOAT RACING. We, with the management of Mike Quindazzi, will have an excellent display of race Boats at the 2013 LA Boat Show.
Remember, post often and post PICTURES on BRF, this is YOUR web page as much as it is mine and Ted's.
An early, Happy New Year....
Ron Hill
