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1959 Seattle
John Schidel (May be spelled wrong) won DU in 1959, from New Jersery, with a black,Sid Craft, beautifully lettered in gold leaf.
Keith won te first heat, but had missed the entrance bouy of turn two, on the last lap. I was passing Keith when I realized he was missing he bouy, I altered my course to go around the bouy and lost by about a boat length. Everyone had seen Keith cut the bouy and we assumed he was DQ'd for it.
I managed to get a poor start in the second heat and finished about sixth. My dad said Schidel had been seventh (legal sixth) the first heat but with Keith being DQ'd, he must have beaten me on time.
The next day, we got the paper and read where Keith HAD NOT been DQ'd and I'd lost on points, not time. I felt, at the time, and still do, had we known Keith was not DQ'd we'd have filed a protest. But, in those days, Don Guerrin, a Mercury Distributor, who was the Referrer and Stock VP, still held SERIOUS hard feelings toward my dad, because my dad had disqualified his son, for a cut down foot, at the 1952 Nationals...Guerrin also DQ'd me in 1960, in the scond heat at Beloit, after four restarts....when I was winning the second heat, each time. Dean Chenowith told me at the time, Ron, you didn't jump ONCE.....you got screwed. I won other D RUNABOUT NATIONALS....
So, with Guerrin's power, my protest might never have gone anywhere. That fall at the APBA National meeting, they raised the age limit fo 16 for DU. Had I won in Seattle, I would have been 15.
Seems to me, 1961 and 1962, at Guntersville, Alabama, that Don Pontius worked us all over pretty well in DU. Seems he won four straight heats in DU. (I got 2nd both years).
Seems "BONES" (Gary Stippich) may have been second in CU in '61, but I was second in CU in '62.
Larry Castaneto won CU IN '63 And Gary Stippich won Cu in 1964 with the DUCK BILL STIPPICH.
A little more history: In 1962, Ernie Dawe took the "TIGER" (A Clff Bedford built "Floater" to Alabama. The Tiger had won the Colorado River Marathon, in CU, everytime it ran.) Ernie could run about 5 mph faster than any Cu at Alabama, but he couldn't make the corners, as FLOATERS didn't turn)...(Had he had a John Puestow out rigger fin, as most runabouts now have, Dawe would have won the CU Nationals by a half lap).
I think it was 1962 that Carl got the idea for the Duck Bill... I know in 1964, I'd built a new CU with some "TIGER" in it, and I broke the Kilo Record in CU at 64.661. (A 10 per cent increase). Carl Stippich was just getting to Modesto when I was running the kilo, and he was so impressed by the way my boat was hanging, that he kept watching me go through the kilo. He actually walked out into the water, with his good shoes on, just to see me exit the kilo. I did win DU in '64, I lead CU for 3 1/2 laps, until the water got too rough, Gary Stippich passed me, with his Duck Billed CU. I broke a starter in the second heat, so Gary had any easy ride for the win.
Don't know if I answered your question, but these are the memories that fill my head...
I do remember my dad and Carl staying up almost all night after the Modesto Nationals, the two of them, drinking beer, happy as hell with their boys....Championships...Carl and my dad had a lot in common.
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