Karl Williams Does Rex Hall, Jr.

Tonight “a little history” will feature Rex Hall, Liberty, Missouri (9/2/43)

The first time I seen Rex Hall at a boat race was at DePue, Illinois. His boats were blue, he carried a tool belt and moved faster than anyone in the pits while preparing his boats. To make sure I was correct I contacted Rex and his reply is below.

I started in 1961 but did not run at Depue until later in about 1967 or 1968. Yes, my runabouts and hydros were blue with Y-51 on them, I did have a tool belt that I carried with me as I worked for Ford as a tool and die machinist and used the tool belt to repair stuff on the assembly line.

When did you start Racing?

AND WHAT MADE YOU START HYDROPLANE/RUNABOUT RACING
1961, My Dad raced when I was younger, and when he quit, I got his hydro and a Mercury KG-7 and played with it at the Lake of the Ozarks. There I met a boat racer that was running a Fillenger hydro and runablout with a Champion Hot Rod B Pro motor. He invited me to go to a race with him and I was hooked when I saw the Pro's race.

What Classes Did You Run? What Make Of Hydros/Runabouts
I started out with a "C" Mercury deflector and a Speedliner Typhoon runabout. The boat was fast, but you could not turn it as well as the Desilva runabouts. I then started driving for 2 boat owners that had a Speedliner Desilva copy runabout and a Hal Kelly Jupiter hydro with a 2 cylinder Konig A and a Champion Hot Rod B motor. I drove those boats until they retired a few years later and then started to drive for an owner that had an outboard speed shop and every class that the Pro series ran, A, B, C, D, and F runabout and hydro. He had a Doc Collins A/B runabout, a C, D, Desilva runabout and a F Desilva runabout with a 6 cylinder Mercury Pro motor, and a Dubinsky hydro. After 2 years, I bought my own equipment and drove and built Konig motors for myself from then on. I ran a Marchetti hydro and a Desilva runabout and a C, D, and F Konig motors.

WHO DID YOUR ENGINE WORK OR DID YOU DO YOUR OWN? PROPS?
I did my own engine work, including boring, honing and making my own pistons from Stan Leavendusky castings and Wiseco forgings. The best prop man I used was R. Allen Smith. I also ran Bill Seebold and Hopkins props, but in later years I have only been running Craig Dewald props. Right now, he is the best prop guy to use for the Pro motors as he knows how to make them work for the different classes, runabout and hydro.

BEST RACING ACHIEVEMENTS AND WINS
2 World Championships, 9 National Championships, 1 World High Point Championship 2 kilo records and 2 competition records and 1 UIM World competition record.

Becoming the U.S.A. distributor for the GRM racing motors by Giuseppe Rossi out of Italy. I have enjoyed very much the help and relationship that I share with him and his family.

BEST MEMORIES OF RACING AND FUN MOMENTS
Helping my sons, Mark and Doug, and my grandson Jackson Hall race and build the motors and set ups for them. Mark has been the 350 High Point Champion is the USTS, Doug has won a UIM World Championship and many National Championships, Jackson has won 2 National Championships in a very short time.