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Just letting everyone know, Funeral services for Russ Hill will be held on Sunday, January 5, at 2 pm at, 3821 Warner Avenue, Huntington Beach, California 92649, the Huntington Harbor Yacht Club. 714-724-1226. It's open for anyone to attend.
In lieu of flowers, please contribute to American Cancer Society.
Merry Christmas Ron. I'm truly sorry to hear about Russ Jr. My condolences to you and your family. Since it was Russ that grew up around as he was the early alky driver. Lost touch with him after the Long Beach race where he told all of us that he was going to Korea! Some 40 years later, I find out that he went to Germany instead. May he rest in peace.
Quote:
Originally Posted by oldalkydriver
President Eisenhower ended the Koran Conflict and hey send "JR." to Germany. One of my brother's favorite songs was from the movie "High Noon". Oldalkydriver's ad and race both raced C Hydro. In 1952, Bob Jackson beat my brother for LASA High Points in C Hydro. My brother wrote (added) in a line in that song that said, "Bob Jackson".
Bunker Hill thinks he has the words and plans to read it at the services for Russ!
Just letting everyone know, Funeral services for Russ Hill will be held on Sunday, January 5, at 2 pm at, 3821 Warner Avenue, Huntington Beach, California 92649, the Huntington Harbor Yacht Club. 714-724-1226. It's open for anyone to attend.
My thoughts and prayers are with all of the members of the Hill family. Fondly remembering our trip to Grass Lake Nationals.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ron Hill
Jean
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcCAkBRopec
Russell Hill, Jr.
by Ron Hill
I've known for months that my brother Russ's 25-year fight with prostate cancer was been winding down; it finally ended December 9th.
Russell A. Hill, Jr. of Huntington Beach, California was many things to many people, but he was always my big brother. He called me "the little monster". I believed that he loved me, but sometimes I wondered. When I was three, Russ was taking me to the market on his bicycle. My foot was caught in the spokes and I broke my ankle, but I never held it against him.
I was sick more often than not until I was 12, when I got my tonsils out. Because barbers looked like doctors in their white coats, I'd scream my brains out at the barbershop. Russ would take me along whenever he got a haircut so I'd get used to the barbers.
In 1935, my parents came to Bellflower, California from Denver with $5.00 and two kids. By the time I was born in 1944, my dad owned a duplex, a house and 22 acres in Lake Elsinore. California had been good to our family. My sister and brother (known as the "Bellflower Flash") used to race their bicycles in front of our house, until Russ crashed into the neighbor's car and put a big dent in the trunk with his head.
When Russ was about 12, he was sitting on my tricycle. Two ladies came by and looked at this big kid on a trike. Russ pretended to be mentally challenged and made some strange noises. The ladies patted him on the head and said, "Oh, so sweet."
Russ always ate Cheetos with a toothpick, and always ate one French fry at a time with ketchup on each one.
Russ had trouble in school. When he came home from kindergarten, he told my mom he and the teacher were the smartest two people in the room. Mom thought it was nice of him to include the teacher. The school must have thought Russ was pretty smart, too, as they skipped him two grades. He went from third grade to fifth in one day. When Russ graduated from high school, he was just 15.
Our family always thought that skipping two grades retarded his social skills, but I think he was just not a particularly social person. In fact, the word "nerd" might been created just for my brother. Russ was close to being a "Rain Man"; as a kid he could add up the numbers on boxcars at a railroad crossing.
When World War II ended, Russ was 14 AND HE WANTED TO RACE BOATS. There were no racing motors available, as all outboards had been sold to the government for the war effort. My dad happened to see a "war surplus" auction and stopped to see what was up. He noticed that some of the firefighting water pumps were powered by KR Johnson "A" motors. My dad bought 22 KRs at this auction. Russ's job for the next 22 days was to take them apart.
There were some midsections around, but no gearcases. To build a gearcase you needed gears. Russ and my dad figured out how to make gears and how to read the spec sheet. They figured if they made smaller gears, they could create a small gearcase and still make spec. My dad made some patterns, and George Peak cast the parts. Russ and my dad built a KR "A" motor. Until Russ's dying day, he said he could assemble that "A" motor blindfolded. Russ Jr. did things to the KR that were years ahead of his time, like putting a "squared" rotary valve on the crank. Russ drove this "A" to win the 1949 William Randolph Hearst Regatta, with 32 "A" Hydros in the race.
My dad made about 15 more gearcases from this pattern, then traded it to Pep Hubbell for my first bicycle. However, Russ was the actual designer of this pattern. Although much smaller than "Factory" gearcases, it was legal under the rules as it had to be measured in only one spot. Orlando Torgianti later won five straight APBA and NOA National Championships with Hill gearcases designed by Russ Hill, Jr.
After he finished high school, Russ went to work for Randolph "PEP" Hubbell, who made parts for outboard racing engines. Russ was the main machinist and probably the main engineer. Russ worked for Hubbell until he went into the Army in 1953.
Around this time, Russ, John Drake and Tom Gouldstone were the best of friends. They made plaques for their cars that said "Prop Nuts." John was given a new Mercury KG-7, as Mercury was one of the sponsors. Russ and John both dated Phyllis Winger, the only female in the movie "Island in the Sky."
Though John and Russ dated the same girl, they never seemed to be in competition about it. Wherever Russ and John went, they dragged me along, and Phyllis was often with us. John treated me like a brother.
When Russ was drafted into the Army in 1953, they said he'd be in Korea by Christmas. America voted in a new Republican President, Dwight Eisenhower, and Russ got shipped to Germany instead. In Germany, they had these new machines called computers. Russ had a job feeding punch cards into the computer. He worked the night shift, so he'd sleep on this "block-long" machine called a computer. When the machine quit shaking, Russ would wake up and add more cards.
When Russ returned from the Army, boat racing had changed and so had the world. He started college at Long Beach State and wanted to study computers, but they were unheard of. So, he dropped out and went to work for Rheem Manufacturing. After becoming the head computer person at Rheem, Russ went to work for Northrop to work on the Kennedy Space Program.
In 1959, Russ married Judy Cordes and they had two children, Georgie (named after our Las Vegas Aunt Georgie) and Russell Lawrence Hill III (Bunker). Russ lost his first wife to bone cancer 27 years ago. He married Carolyn 25 years ago this past September. Russ and Carolyn made a great couple. How she put up with Russ was always a topic of family conversation.
In the early 1960s, Russ was very active in the American Power Boat Association. He was a Commodore, Region Chairman, and Senior Vice President. Russ facilitated the merger of the Valley Speedboat Association and the United Speedboat Association into the SCOA (Southern California Outboard Association). SCOA is still a club today. Russ also started the Pacific Offshore Powerboat Association (POPBRA) along with Sandy Kemp. POPBRA established Offshore racing in California.
Russ used to get so many speeding tickets he used them as scratch paper, until he lost his driver's license.
Not long after Georgie was born, Russ went to work for Mattel Toys. Because Russ ran the computer system, he knew more about the Mattel company than the owners. He actually made a boatload of money working at Mattel and trading stock.
In 1973, when Russ ran for APBA President, he said computers could score everyone's High Points, but most people didn't know what a computer was.
After I won the 1978 Parker Enduro, my sponsor Brad Miller wanted to build a KT boat to beat Cosworth's KT. I stopped in to Drake Engineering, builders of the Indy "Offy" (Drake-Offenhauser) motors, to see what they had to offer. John was building the Drake Offy V-8 but having troubles. I asked John Drake if he wanted my brother's help. Two weeks later, Russ quit Mattel to go to work for his lifelong friend John.
For the next two years, Russ ran Drake Engineering. They applied for and got several government contracts. They build a drone engine that may still be flying today. Russ's main effort was with Chrysler. Lee Iaccoca wanted an Indy motor, but Chrysler was in bankruptcy and buying a race car motor wasn't in the cards. Though Goodyear worked closely with Russ, the Drake V-8 didn't make it as a race motor.
Russ closed Drake Engineering, and leased the building. John Drake later built water pumps for all the Indy Honda cars.
Years passed. Georgie and Bunker Hill both raced Stock Outboards. Six years ago, Russ's granddaughter Marlee Hill started racing. All of us have stayed active with APBA. Russ and I once went to a race, and all we ate for two days was licorice and Pepsi-Cola.
Russ never won a National Championship or set a world record. He raced in style, and took losing with a smile. I think everyone in Regions 11 and 12 felt Russ was a legend, however, because at every race he attended, he always worked hard to help anyone and everyone.
In his last years of racing he did win eight straight D Hydro races. (I was second in every race…) He quit at the end of that season, saying he had kids to raise.
After Russ retired from Northrop/Boeing where he had managed the computer system for the Stealth Bomber project, he commenced to build 68 houses. This housing "project" cost Russ a lot of money.
Though this was quite a blow, he continued to grow his telescope business and worked for TransAmerica where, between salary and stock options, his finances recovered. Russ's "Sea Scopes" business has 65 telescopes on piers and viewpoints nationwide. Bunker has now taken over the telescope business.
Russ Hill's memorial will be held January 5, 2014.