Watched Wayne Walgrave try a F Flathead on pickel tunnel but.
In 1981 at Detroit Lakes, Minnesota there was a mixed catagory and classes weekend race with Modifieds, Alkys and Inboards. Wayne Walgrave turned up with a pickelfork tunnel hull with an F Alky Quincy Flathead on it and after some ignition teething problems had it out on the water sorting it out but I gather not with the success they were looking for. Then the weather didn't cooperate fully the rest of that weekend either. That picture of that raceboat with the F Flathead on its trailer is on a historical thread here on one the BRF pages for view.
where did the burgers come from??
Hi Gene:
Where in the world did she find burgers that time of nite?? Best I remember about that time frame (year) in Alex, you could still find plenty of booze, but food was hard to come by. Maybe that was just an excuse to get rid of her for awhile.
One of the funniest (not at the time) and also the most memorable times Eileen and I ever had at a boat race occured in the mid 70's in Alex. We had been out fairly late partying with Ray Hardy and his wife or girlfriend at the time, and Butch Leavendusky and Tom Berry from Kansas City. We were in a little hole in the wall bar just down the street from the Holiday Inn where we always stayed. Eileen and I had our fill and I needed to test the next morning, so we left and went back to the Motel.
About two hours later I woke to a pounding on the door. It was about three in the morning by that time and knowing my "friends" like I did,I was very hesitant to open the door. I looked thru the security spyhole in the door, and Butch and Tom Berry were standing in the hall demanding I open the door because supposedly Ray Hardy had gotten drunk and "disturbed the peace" at the bar by not leaving when they were trying to close the place. Long story short (according to Butch) the cops hauled Ray off to the jail and they did not have enough money to get him out and needed more so they could go back and get him. Knowing Ray as I did ,ad knowing he was very capable of pulling this type of trick, I opened the door to give them the 50 bucks or whatever it was they said they needed. That is where I made the BIG mistake. Ray, who had been out of sight down the hall, and Butch and Tom all came running in my room with wastepaper baskets filled with ice water. They threw on me as I was standing in the room, and to keep from being drenched again, I jumped in bed, believing they would not throw ice water in the bed where Eileen was. WRONG. They emptied the two remaining containers and ran back out of the room, laughing and acting like drunk boat racers do sometimes. Well there we were, both of us and the bed also soaked with ice water. I called the desk and tried to get some dry sheets but at 3 in the morning the laundry room was locked and we could get no help. We ended up in the parking lot of the motel in our car and spent a very uncormfortable rest of the night.
The next morning about 10 or 11 o'clock, they finally showed up in the pits, not remembering just exactly what happened, but knowing that Eileen and I were probably a little unhappy with them for some reason or another. She and I had already discussed our revenge, and after they showed up, she left and went to the motel where Tom and Butch were staying. She conned the desk clerk by saying she was Tom's wife and got a key to their room. She went in their room and packed up all the clothes she could find and other stuff, and then went out to the airport in Alex. She went to the Delta counter and by showing her airline ID was able to get what is called an Interline bag tag that is used to check bags from one airline to another. It shows flight numbers and city codes on it. You wouldn't be able to do this in this day and time with all the security nowadays, but back then it was no problem. She had the suitcases hidden in our trunk and later on that morning came back out to the lake and very sweetly went to Butch and Tom and told them that she "never got mad, just always got even", and then gave them the bag tags showing their bags had been sent to Aukland, New Zealand. She let them stew for the better part of the day, and of course they went back to the motel and couldn't find the bags and with the bag tags from Delta they were sure that the bags were on the way half way around the world.
I know from personal experience since then,that she didn't break them of playing pratical jokes, but we never got ice water poured on in the middle of the nite again.
What about the Flathead Sixes?? LOL!
The stories are typical of the zany bunch boat racers can be. Thing is all one has to do is look at Joe Michilini's Flathead six with 9 carbs and still the question stares you in the face, just how fast did that thing or Bruce Summers flatheads go, they were on big hydros?? There were more than a couple of dozen of those things tearing up the water..........:)
Either that or one of Richard's recreations.
It would be nice to see and run for a record that is based on a class F - 60 cube 6 Flathead that goes like all the hi-tech V-6s and V-8s monsters it did take to break outboard records. Imagine, older, smaller technology (Richard's excepted recreations) going for a record. :)
Sounds like something that could be done and proven. There is just too much engine with the stories not to see an effort organized and done.
What about the Flathead 44 cube class F - 4 bangers? Where there any remarkable single runs that made peoples hair stand on edge?
Finally, were there any Quincy 4 cylinder Flatheads ever built that were the 60 cubic inch size that would have used Merc 650 - 4 cylinder crankand rods assemblies types? There were the Quincy 99s as shown parked on some stock fishing boat made to scare someone off the local lake....:)
Parker Kilos......Christmas Circa 1984
If anyone has noticed, here at BRF, I FREQENTLY have IDEAS....Sometime about 1984, I decided we should have KILO Trials between Christmas and New Years at Parker. I had several reasons for this HAIRBRAIN IDEA...One, I was selling a lot of MOD VP propellers and APBA didn't even have a class called MOD VP, nor did they want no stinking MODIFIED Fishing Motor Class...and I thought if I had the RECORD for MOD VP, I'd sell more props...and I did.
Two, Suzuki had given me a 65 HP Motor and Seperits Inflatables had given me a boat....So, I wanted to set two records...So, with my brain and other's work, we put on KILOS at Parker.
Jim McKean and Denny Henderson came from Texas, but most were California, Region 12 guys...
McKean and Henderson actually got UIM records, MY STARTER WIFE established an inflatable record...We registered her as an F Hydro...She went 48.352 in a Vee Hull with a 65 Suzuki.... She went 47 something with me riding behind her screaming all the way...
I went 89 something in my MOD VP and got bitched at by McKean for making the river rough...I reminded him, "I PUT THE F...ING KILOS ON and I'd make the water rough if I wanted to".....we weren't really angry....just sort of...
Anyway, Dean Wilson, Sr. who had just bought a Quincy Six Looper from, I think, Larry Latta...Dean fires this looper six off, he's got this parachute, Lifeline Jacket, on and he starts to head for the entrance of the kilo...This Quincy six, first one I'd seen on a hydro, just kept gaining RPM's and gaining.....Now, keep in mind, McKean had just gone like 115 in a 500 CC or something and 115 looked fast.........BUT Dean's LOOPER looked and sounded twice as fast, about the time he hit the kilo entrance, I figure he was doing 125 and I figured he was going to kill himself and leave his wife and four boys, (parachute or no parachute) he backed her down and turned to start another pass...I was praying for the engine to stop...
He made another run at it, gaining, gaining...both speed and RPM....I swear the boat was on the prop only and I knew he could never make the kilo...He shut her down again...Again I PRAYED for that Looper to quit and I don't pry often....but when I do I want ACTION....
He made one more attempt and parked it ( I gave Dean a lot of credit, the boat was way too small and I think it might have been a 14 footer)....when Dean shut that LOOPER down, I don't think one person at the KILOS made a sound. We'd seen something that SCARED US ALL. We were happy Dean was back in the pits and in one piece.......Seemed to me, if that LOOPER was put on Gray Garbrecht's Karlesen Kilo boat (Current World Record Holder...Lee Davies/Bob Wartinger)...That Looper would break the OUTBOARD Speed Record...
I don't think Dean ever ran the Looper again, if he did I don't recall..89 in a 21 foot Eliminator with a 235 Evinrude was easy...Dean doing over 125 on a piece of plywood was heart stopping....
The kilos were fun, weather was perfect...New Years in Havasu was wild...Club lost money... www.HillMarine.com covered the loses...we never did it again!!!!
So, how fast will a Quincy SIX Looper go??? Faster than anyone will believe....
