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Thread: Jimbo McConnell--The Wizard of OZ

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  1. #1
    Team Member Jeff Lytle's Avatar
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    Thumbs up Jimbo McConnell--The Wizard of OZ

    I only had the priviledge of meeting him a few times when he came to race (Dominate!) in Canada. He always took the time to speak to me, and never seemed rushed to finish our long conversations. I was in my teens, and am ever impressed by this man, and his racing ability.
    I took this picture in Picton, Ontario, Canada after Jimbo had single handedly whipped Team Mercury's best by a full straightaway. He had the race clearly won, but never lifted untill the checkered, and when it did, he pulled out an American flag from his boot and flew it proudly in front of the croud, judges stand and pits upon his return.
    I had a pic of that--It was so good I sent it to Propeller and they printed it. Wish I could find it now!!
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    Last edited by Ron Hill; 01-27-2019 at 10:52 PM.

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    Administrator Ron Hill's Avatar
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    Default I could write a book about Jimbo....

    I could write a 500 page book and never cover half of the things people would be interested in about Jimbo McConnell.

    Few would know that we were having a race in Needles, my brother's late wife, Judy, was Chief Scorer. This kid came up to her and said, "He's just sold his motorcycle for $25 and he thought he'd try boat racing."

    Well, Judy was a school teacher, and taught me a lot about many things, besides how to be a good teacher....She looked at Jimbo and said, "You're in luck because it will cost you $25.00 to race." (Which even in those days wasn't that cheap...but Judy knew a smile when she saw one and figured this kid Jim might like to race)..

    Jimbo had an AU, a Kean Craft (No relationship to McKean in Texas, Ray McKean in fact was the builder...)..lime green same as his El Camino. Jimbo wasn't called JIMBO by anyone, in fact, he was called Jim...His brother's name was Bubba, and still is...called Bubba by everyone...

    Jimbo ran last I think, but was determined to run the Colorado River Marathon that October...

    Jimbo's mom was full blooded Cherokee Indian and his dad was full blooded Irish... Sue McConnell and Mac McConnell....How they ever got together, I don't know, but they had been divorced for many years, when I met Jimbo in '59.

    Mac had had several drinks the night before the Marathon and was going to paint something like Jim's boat on the side...But he didn't plan ahead...and only got JIMBO on the side, big red letters with big drips...Lime '59 Chevy green boat, red letters is how I remember it...it wasn't pretty and didn't run fast...but eveyone loved JIMBO and he's been JIMBO ever since...

    I spent a lot of time at Jimbo's house on Route 66. His brother, Bubba "Pete", had a "T" Roadster which was loud and fast, we seemed to always have girl friends when we drove that Roadster...

    Mac owned a couple of MOTELS in town and people would leave cars there....Jimbo and me, well, were figured that someone left them because something was wrong with them...

    Usually, we'd figure out what was wrong the hard way...like we'd jump the battery, and get one started only to find out she didn't have any brakes...

    Jimbo's mom owned the Shamrock Cafe and she had a new Cadillac Eldorado, and Jimbo had the El Camino, but wasn't supposed to drive it much...so our favorite car was a '52 Chevy with Powerglide...because we could get her stopped by throwing her in reverse.....and the emergency brake worked GREAT!!!

    Jimbo had this Indian Motorcycle, why I decided to paint it white, I have no clue, but I did, tires and all...I was only 16 and didn't drink or do drugs...just seemed like I should paint it...didn't run anyway...Jimbo was mad at me for painting his motorcycle. I told him, "Hell it don't run anyway." He said, "It'll run." Well, for the next two or three days we tried to get it running.

    Finally, (Jimbo and me could have been BRAIN SURGEONS, if we didn't race boats)...we decided, it has gas, it has compression and it has fire, the SOB HAS to run. We decide to pull it with the '52 Chevy. We take Bubba's ski rope out of his boat...(We didn't ask because he'd have said NO!!!)...

    So, Jimbo gets on the INDIAN and ties a knot that only kneel down boat racers could understand...(One that is huge and takes 15 minutes to untie...)...I pull Jimbo about block and all of a sudden that MOTHER lets out a huge BANG and a cloud of smoke that covered Jimbo and the sky....I see Jimbo coming for the car, so I floor it, it is clear to me we are in real trouble, because he is going a lot faster than the Chevy and the ski rope ain't THAT LONG, he passes me like Jack the Bear and he's trying to untie the rope while he'd driving. I'm gaining speed but he coming to the end of the rope fast....I figure, when he gets to the end of the rope he's going down, I'm trying to figure how I'll miss him...All of a sudden the rope goes slack and Jimbo disappears down the street, the smoke is still coming out of the exhaust....

    I lose him, so I go back to the house...The motorcycle is there, not running, not sure if it ever ran again....Jimbo just said, "See I told you it would run." Both of us knew, we were about as lucky as anyone can get, without getting killed...

    We got in the Chevy to go get an A and W Root Beer, Jimbo asked if we're still dragging the Bubba's ski rope, rope...I say I don't think so...Jimbo stops the car and gets out to see, the car starts rolling (no brakes remember)...Jimbo had left the door open, he starts running for the car, I don't see him running, I pull the emergency brake and Jimbo is running with his head down trying to catch the car and his head goes through the closed window...we still laugh about the day Jimbo rode his motorcycle...glass went everywhere.

    In '65 when Jimbo went into the Army and was heading for Vietnam, the weekend before he left, we rode motorcycles all day Saturday and Sunday with just our bathing suits on, we went almost to Havasu on the old dirt road... we drove like crazy guys, racing by laying down and pointing our toes...Jimbo and I figured if he got killed here, at least he wouldn't die in Vietnam... Monday, he on the bus...it was a sad day for me...I wondered if we were doing right in Vietnam... and was it fair that COLLEGE students, like me didn't have to got...

    Jimbo enjoyed Vietnam, actually..he drove trucks loaded with bombs... He turned a truck over once, said he "Dug a sponson" another time some Viet Cong were shooting at him, so he hid behind some bombs...all in all it wasn't that bad, he did want to get back to the USA to race!!!

    JIMBO's 1959 ElCamino, and a Armstrong BSH, with full length aluminum air traps, my trailer and 1-C Morehouse, A-B Sid on top!!!

    Jimbo told me this is the only picture he has of his mother's house in Needles....Christmas, 1960.
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    Last edited by Ron Hill; 12-12-2019 at 08:34 PM.

  3. #3
    Administrator Ron Hill's Avatar
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    Default Jimbo had a lot of boats...

    Jimbo bought my brother's Big Bee Swift...He bought the Pearly Gates, a BU. When he was living at my parent's house, Jimbo won the Needles Marathon in BU and I won in DU, 1962, that was...

    This is a picture I always like of Jimbo, I'm pretty sure I took it myself. This is a Ted May, May Craft boat, and the last race we ran this cowling on our Evinrudes... We had a HYDRO marathon this weekend...I had just gotten back from the Hudson River Marathon where I'd spend about three days with the Berghauer Boys (Denny and Dewey)...They told me what they did to their Sid Crafts to make them fast....didn't believe them, but went home and did it to my Sid, didn't test it, just put a six gallon tank in the boat and raced. I won the D Hydro marathon... Jimmy Dawe was second, Jimbo or Ted was third...only D hydro race I ran with that boat after I changed it to what the Berghauers told me...

    This picture was of Jimbo after he won the OPC part, 1968. Pretty sure this was the race I promoted, where Ed Lane got his arm hurt driving Jim Johnson's Carlson..
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    Last edited by Ron Hill; 11-21-2022 at 03:08 PM.

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    Team Member Miss BK's Avatar
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    Lauren getting advice from Jimbo..wow, how cool is that!

    I'm so glad to see Jimbo and Cathy are getting back into boat racing. The boat racing world sure has missed them. A few years back I got to write up a story for Hot Boat mag on Jimbo McConnell. Unfortunately, I didnt get to do the interview, but Hot Boat sent me the tapes and I got to transcribe them. What a rush it was to turn on the recorder and hear Jimbo's voice after all these years, telling a funny story about when he asked Bill Seebold to give him his belt at a drivers meeting... And then, Bill actually gave it to him!

    Jimbo wore that belt for years....was even wearing it at what would be his final race.

    The emotions flowed when Cathy retold the nightmare story of that horrible, horrible day in Sacramento.

    But then an even bigger surprise came at the annual Bowden pit party at the San Diego Unlimited/Champboat races in 2003. I saw Jimbo and Cathy strolling through the crowd! That was way too cool! Glad I had my camera with me
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    Last edited by Miss BK; 12-12-2004 at 10:51 AM.
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  5. #5
    Team Member Miss BK's Avatar
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    Last year, the OMC racing fraternity had a get-together in St. Louis on the same weekend as the Champ Boat races. The event was called "OMC LEGENDS". And sure enough, Jimbo McConnell was there along with a flood of OMC celebrities (but where the heck was Ron Hill and Ted May?)

    Here's a couple of those "Legends" who will be remembered for eternity: Jimbo McConnell and Mike Downard, August 2004
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  6. #6
    AeroMarine Research Jimboat's Avatar
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    Default Jimbo - a true boatracing gentleman

    I too, had the wonderful opportunity to meet Jimbo on several of his many visits to race with us in Canada. I can honestly say, that I have never met a man that is more of a gentleman than Jimbo. He certainly did what ever was necessary to win on the race course - but always had time to spend with anyone and everyone on the shore. He is a legitimate hero. Here is a pic that Massimo Scotti (Cesare's son) gave me of Jimbo driving the Scotti with the Rotary in Paris 1974.
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    Administrator Ron Hill's Avatar
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    Default Jimbo McConnell Talks About Jack Leek....

    Jimbo and I spent last Saturday talking about Jack Leek (March 17, 2007)...Jimbo is half Irish and half Cherokee Indian...We came close to missing one of the Irish's favorite day... Lucky for us, we could talk and celebrate St. Patrick's Day...at the same time!

    Jimbo's voice isn't as strong as it used to be, he speaks in a loud whisper..he is able to breath pretty well...something the doctors worried about for many years after his accident...in 1985.

    Jimbo would start a story about Jack, then get to laughing so hard, and before he finished the first story, like Ronnie Hill, he was off to the next story....I will try to tell his stories as he told them to me...as I laughed all day...

    1967: (fourty years ago, this November)...Unlike me, where Jack Leek was a house hold word....of which was held in high esteem. Jimbo had never heard the word "Jack Leek" and when he was told to go to Havasu, to find Mr. Leek, he didn't know Jack's first name, as he'd forgotten what it was...

    Jimbo said he showed up at Havasu on Wednesday before Thanksgiving Thursday, and saw what looked like some race boats... Jimbo was driving a milk truck in those days, and had had to make a milk delivery to Claypools in Havasu, so he figured he could meet Mr. Leek, test the boat and get back to work...

    Jimbo said he left the diesel milk truck running as to not let the milk spoil, he was wearing cowboy boots, Levi's with milker's chaps (Leather things that keep milk off your Levi's)..flannel shirt (It was November, and the desert can get cold)...a cowboy hat, with a big Indian feather sticking out of the band...

    He walks up with his Mrs. Hill blue and white life jacket, Bell helmet with his "BUBBLE" shield in his hand and says, "Is there a Mr. Leek here?" Everyone looked at each other trying to figure where this "COWBOY came from...and who did he want to see??? Jack Leek???

    Mr. Leek said, "I'm Jack Leek." Jimbo says, "I'm here to drive your boat." Jimbo says Jacks looked him, like ONLY JACK LEEK could and he didn't say anything, but it was like, as Jimbo said, "What the hell did Russ Hill send me??"

    Anyway, Jimbo starts to get the boat, and Leek won't let him in with cowboy boots...They argue, Jack finally said, "Just don't step on the decks with them, or you'll fall through"... Jack says, "Now go out and get use to the boat, take it easy, drive as long as you want....but don't put too much time on the motor"A line Jimbo will hear many times in the next 18 years...

    Jimbo came back and said he'd gotten almost 70 MPH, which he figured later, Ray Nydahl had gotten and told Jack...They changed gearcase and prop. The rig would only go 67, but Jimbo told Jack he really liked that gearcase and prop and the way it handled...(The boat was a Schultz, and Dieter had raced it in Paris, and had actully pulled out of Paris because he said the water was too rough)....... Jack then explained that in four hours, 3 MPH would be 12 miles or three laps.....Jimbo explained he still liked the 67 mph set up best...Jack said, "Well I respect the driver's opinion...but ARE you sure you want to give up 3 MPH?"

    118 boats started the race...Twins and triples started ahead of the singles....Jimbo said he never saw 55 MPH the first day and was leading Single Engine...Jimbo nose dived this boat later on Sunday and Ted May finished off the driving....But Jimbo had won the 1967 Single Engine World Championships...Single Engine... Jack Leek figured, Jimbo could drive....cowboy boots, Indian feather and all!!!!

    ADD; Jack had come up with the idea of using a left foot gas pedal, thinking that when you went around the corner you could brace yourself in the boat and use your left foot as a gas pedal.... This Schultz had a left foot gas pedal.....

    As Jimbo is getting out of the boat, after the first test run...He says, "Who was the dumb S%^T would put the gas pedal on the left?" Jack says, "Well that was my idea." Jimbo said, he learned right then and there to keep his mouth shut until he knew more details...
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    Last edited by Ron Hill; 10-19-2023 at 02:20 PM.

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    Administrator Ron Hill's Avatar
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    Default Beloit World Championships...

    Jimbo said this is about his favorite Jack Leek story, though he got side tracked about four times before he finished it...
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    Team Member Jeff Lytle's Avatar
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    There is another story developing on the S + F Board about a Canadain driver who had a boat built on the same laydown principals. Spencer Dunn was a great guy, and a fantastic driver too.........gone long before his time.
    The thread has been started by his Son Jeremy, who was about 8 the last time I saw him.

    http://forums.screamandfly.com/forum...d.php?t=127074

  10. #10
    Administrator Ron Hill's Avatar
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    Default WELL, Time Is Short...

    I wanted to talk to Jack, this summer when we went to the Stock Nationals in Moses Lake, Washington....

    Anyway, Jimbo said this Lay down was actually a good design, but when he laid down to drive it all he could see was SKY...

    If you look at the pictures I posted of the Lay Down, you'll see a DUCT TAPED Burger King Cup on the nose. Jack taped this to the nose so Jimbo could see the horizon when he was driving.

    Jimbo came in after the race,and on the launch ramp he told Jack, "This is the first time I ever got TRIPLE OVER TIME to lay down on the job."

    Jimbo didn't say what place he got in the race...but he didn't win, and this was Jack Leek's last race boat that he ever designed...
    Last edited by Ron Hill; 03-20-2007 at 11:15 PM.

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