Scotti`s racing accident in the Paris race.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Ron Hill
Scotti carried his prop with him at the Miami 225 that he won, and the 1970 Havasu Outboard World Championships when he finished third, I think with a single engine. The night before the 1970 and 1971 I had dinner with Scotti, at Havasu, and he had his prop with him. 20:20 hind sight, I should have kept my OMC props in my hands...
Scotti "Spoke" boat race, and so did I. I didn't speak Italian. Life was good for Scotti, none of us expected that he'd be killed racing in Paris. In the early days when we raced Paris, we ran 70 MPH, when Scotti was killed 100 plus MPH was the norm.
It was a new world in those days...hard to blame anyone for the deaths and destruction.
I was in that race and new where the accident had taken place when I finished driving my boat and returned to the pits I was told it was Scottis outfit that had hit the wall at high speed I can`t remember if we had been told he had been killed at that time I remember being told about the accident by Freddi Miles who happened to be spectating on the Isle of Swans down the centre of the circuit he was with another british driver Peter Inwood who was a Harley st dentist they managed to get to Scotti who had been thrown out of his boat and had landed high up on a wall they went to help him. Freddi said he was alive but was struggling to breath so they removed his helmet and made sure he didn`t choke they waited for the ambulance to arrive after 15 minutes Freddi was worried no medical help had arrived so he had a movie camera with him and took pictures of the scene showing the time on his wristwatch Freddi was very upset it took such a long time for any help to arrive.I think they later said they could not get near because of the crowds I never new what the inquest said or how bad he was injured.
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We bought a new trailer for our pro buggie
OUR NEW PRO BUGGIE RACE TRAILER... We have been having fun racing our Pro Buggie. She'll haul three cars.
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The Tail Lights Went Down the Road
Well we sold our old trailer...and the tail lights went down the road.
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Glen Helen Saturday Night, July 9th at 5 P.M. Signature Propeller's Pro Buggy
Well, Lucas Regional Races will be on TV, Saturday night and I will try to remember what the name is...Lucas Oil Regional Off Road races. 12 classes, races start at 5:00.
Gunner Kenndy will driving our Mod Kart and Chad will be driving our Funco Pro Buggy.
Pro Buggy at Glen Helen July 22-23, 2016
A Note from Ken Boyd in Hawaii
Hi Ron,
This is Ken Boyd in Hawaii. I don't know if you remember me. I sent
you a video of my modified class C tunnel hull, powered by a stock 70hp
Evinrude, with you four blade clever (a beautiful prop).
In 2011 I had a moped accident, resulting in a compound fracture of my
right tibia and fibula. I am finally (after several botched surgeries,
and two and a half years of pain, misery, disillusion, and the
introduction of various forms and shapes of metal into my body), I am
85% healed.
My boat has been out of the water from 2010 till now. More than six
years! It pains me to realize that. I also haven't been to the BRF
website in some years now.
On a good note, while I was convalescing, I located and bought a 75hp
Johnson Stinger. The plan is to replace the Evinrude with this engine.
What is holding me up now is a lack of knowledge, on my part, of how to
replace the Teleflex steering system with a conventional and racing
style cable steering system. I have all of the parts except for the
helm. I don't know how to make a helm or how to set the system up
properly. Any help would be appreciated. I'm a Porsche mechanic, so
building that should be no big deal, but the fear of the unknown is
holding me in check.
We (my wife and myself) have moved to a house, that is less than a
mile from a boat ramp. I'm wasting a great opportunity.
If you had not sent this email, it might have been more years before I
got back into this project. Thanks for the inadvertent wake up call! I'm
going to visit the BRF website as soon as I finish this email. I reached
70 years of life in May this year. I appreciate the happy birthday
emails from BRF.
Thanks Ron. Hopefully we will meet in person one day.
PS. I'm also still hang gliding.
Ken, I'm 72 3/4 (11/12/2016). Like my dad said, "Flying is for the birds." Or like I say, "I don't care how high I get as long as I can keep one foot on the ground."
January 1, 1961: Valley Speedboat Association Presents Boat Races at Long Beach, CA
Because January 1st came on Sunday, my brother had the idea to put on a boat race that day, as the Rose Bowl, Rose Parade and other events were scheduled for Monday.
Valley Speedboat Association had come about because when Lenny Newman and his partner Frank Priess got the contract for TV races they didn't want to go through the expense of using the United Speedboat Association (1955-56). With 39 weeks of TV racing the VSA had a pretty large bank account. Even though, boat racing in SoCal continued to draw many boats at each race after 1956, 1956 was the high in boat counts.
By 1960, VSA was kind of down on their luck. The USA, with Bob Martin as Race Chairman, was working with Salton City and getting sponsored races.
Other than the fact my brother wrote the VSA's By-Laws, I'm not sure why he ran for Commodore.
So, he VSA scheduled a race January 1, 1961 and most people thought he was crazy. But SoCal weather has funny ways, especially in the winter and the weather turned out to be in the 80's, like the Rose Parade usually is. In those days, races didn't start til noon for noise. Many racers who hadn't really planned to race, woke up to a sunny day and hauled out to the race.
VSA had 1961 club cards ready, and everyone that raced had to be a member of an APBA club. The VSA made money on the race and they got almost every racer in SoCal to join VSA.
Well, this race was fun, Jimbo, Ernie Dawe, maybe Ted Hartley and myself went to Disneyland for New Year's Eve, we bought red top hats and wore them at the race. We thought we were COOL.
But the USA wasn't happy, because when they put on their first race, everyone was a VSA member.
So, my brother suggested a merger between the VSA and the USA. He suggested the name Southern California Outboard Association. My brother also, suggested electing Danny Schwarzenbach as Commodore. Danny was popular with all the drivers. With Danny as Commodore, "The Hills" wouldn't be running the races.