I Got Disqualified But I Wasn't Really Cheating

[Ron Hill]

Dick O'Dea and I have been writing emails back and forth.

My father inspected the 1954 DePere Wisconsin Nationals. Dick O'Dea had just gotten out of the Navy and had some good running boats. He had heard from local Jersey guys, like Johnny Colvals, NOT to try to pull any fast ones on old man Hill. So, Dick asked my dad to measure his A-B Quickie ahead of the race. My dad said it passed. Dick did not tell may dad he was going to run it on a 20-H, as it had a bushing tail cone, which my dad didn't look at.

Anyway, Dickie won his heat with his 20-H and was protested. The commission decided that the bushing cone never came on a 20-H and was therefore illegal. My dad carried Dickie's DQ's at DePere on his conscience until he died. Dick O'Dea the gentleman he was and is, never held it against my dad.

I was telling Dick that someone was looking for information about Jane Smith. Dick remembered disqualifying her for being under weight.

Here is our emails...

There was a time we all had fun racing...legal or not. I was 11 when I started, had to be 12....They beached my dad after I became High Point Champion in Region 12.

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Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2011 6:20 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Boat Racing Facts Forums Contact Us Form - Why Banned

In what I believe was 1951 I ran second in AU class in the Albany to New York marathon, 130 miles in an AU was a killer, I was young and having fun, I was told to go to inspection, well there went 2nd place, seems you could not polish the ports in stock racing. We raced outlaw races, and only joined APBA to run the marathon.
Guess I learned the hard way.

In a message dated 11/30/2011 8:27:16 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, ronhill@hillmarine.com writes:

One time my niece was racing A Runabout. Her brother, Bunker, ran the boat in 20...He was probably still growing only weighing 220 and 6'3"...He topped out at 6'7"....It was a Saturday race in December, a little cold here. Georgie never beat anyone anyway, so we didn't put lead the boat. Seems there was a bunch of gun jumpers...and they called her down to weigh...I said, "**** she's going to get DQ'd....So, I grabbed all the lead in the trailer and tossed it under the pad.....We could hardly get the boat on the scales....She was still about 30 pounds light....


When the Alkies changed the rules to keep us Stocker out...Ted May and I would tie a five gallon gas IN OUR D HYDROS....THEN, FILL the cans BETWEEN HEATS.....I WATCHED AS THEY THREW TED OUT FOR BEING LIGHT. SO, I PULLED MY SPONSON CORKS. THEN, PUT THEM BACK. I MADE WEIGHT. TED WAS SO PISSED...HE ASKED , "HOW DID YOU MAKE WEIGHT AND I DIDN'T?" Ted would get mad at me for years if I brought that up... ...

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Jane Smith was only about 30 pounds light.

I'm sure some of you have stories about being disqualifed when you really we're cheating...

[hydroplay]

Cool! The 54 Stock Nationals was my very first boat race. It was maybe 12 blocks from our house so I could ride my bike there and watch as a 6 year old kid. (Also learned to go perpendicular across railroad tracks from the train tracks there) One day my dad got us out in the course in a neighbor's cabin cruiser. A couple years ago, I was at Mike Helm's house and he pulled out a large stack of 8x10 pics of the event that his dad, Sterling, had taken there as a Merc PR guy. I still have a pennant on the wall in the basement that I got there.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I can't remember the specifics on this, but I have it all in files, but this is the way we intentionlally cheated. Or maybe not.

Dieter Konig built a new slimmer split case 12:15 lower unit, and I believe it was in 1974. Somehow the specs were lost in the process of approval by the racing commission. I have a letter somewhere that shows that Walt Blankenstein had later found them. I suppose he was the one handling the tech side and misplaced them. In the meantime, without the specs available to be published, there was a question of whether or not this unit was legal. The critical dimension was the width. Maybe Ralph Donald might remember some more of the story.

The new A's were being shipped with them and many racers had purchased the new units. People began building up the sides with epoxy to be legal. We took some four inch lengths of stainless steel wire and epoxyed one to each side of the unit. There was no one on the Pro Commission or at APBA that could say one way or another whether the units were legal, and there were no inspectors measuring them. It wouldn't be until the divisionals or nationals until the matter would come to a head. My Dad thought this was a bunch of bull, and he wanted it settled before then.

Jack Chance ground down the wire and expoxy build up from our unit and we raced it at Baytown, Texas. My Dad Baldy then gave Artie Lund twenty five dollars to file the protest. Jack Chance was the Lone Star Boat Racing Association inspector and he measured the unit and filed the paperwork. I do not remember whether I was thrown out, or whether the question was put to the technical committee on how to rule, or what happened. Homer Kincaid was PRO Chairman at the time, and eventually the units were deemed legal, but I can't remember the process. When Walt eventually found the original specifications from Dieter, it all became a mute point, but the issue was resolved before that happened. Maybe at a commission meeting.

[Ron Hill]

Cool! The 54 Stock Nationals was my very first boat race. It was maybe 12 blocks from our house so I could ride my bike there and watch as a 6 year old kid. (Also learned to go perpendicular across railroad tracks from the train tracks there) One day my dad got us out in the course in a neighbor's cabin cruiser. A couple years ago, I was at Mike Helm's house and he pulled out a large stack of 8x10 pics of the event that his dad, Sterling, had taken there as a Merc PR guy. I still have a pennant on the wall in the basement that I got there.

Hydroplay,

Check out the badge from 1954. My dad was the motor inspector for the 1954 Nationals. http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forum...nsin+Nationals

Somewhere in the Hill Family Thread I posted my DePere Nationals banner.

Funny about bike riding, at about 8 I learned to never turn a corner when going through water, especially if the water has been there long enough for moss to grow on the cement. Talk about going *** over teakettle!!!

Could you post some of those DePere pictures?

[Steve Litzell]

I can't remember the specifics on this, but I have it all in files, but this is the way we intentionlally cheated. Or maybe not.

Dieter Konig built a new slimmer split case 12:15 lower unit, and I believe it was in 1974. Somehow the specs were lost in the process of approval by the racing commission. I have a letter somewhere that shows that Walt Blankenstein had later found them. I suppose he was the one handling the tech side and misplaced them. In the meantime, without the specs available to be published, there was a question of whether or not this unit was legal. The critical dimension was the width. Maybe Ralph Donald might remember some more of the story.

The new A's were being shipped with them and many racers had purchased the new units. People began building up the sides with epoxy to be legal. We took some four inch lengths of stainless steel wire and epoxyed one to each side of the unit. There was no one on the Pro Commission or at APBA that could say one way or another whether the units were legal, and there were no inspectors measuring them. It wouldn't be until the divisionals or nationals until the matter would come to a head. My Dad thought this was a bunch of bull, and he wanted it settled before then.

Jack Chance ground down the wire and expoxy build up from our unit and we raced it at Baytown, Texas. My Dad Baldy then gave Artie Lund twenty five dollars to file the protest. Jack Chance was the Lone Star Boat Racing Association inspector and he measured the unit and filed the paperwork. I do not remember whether I was thrown out, or whether the question was put to the technical committee on how to rule, or what happened. Homer Kincaid was PRO Chairman at the time, and eventually the units were deemed legal, but I can't remember the process. When Walt eventually found the original specifications from Dieter, it all became a mute point, but the issue was resolved before that happened. Maybe at a commission meeting.

Just before this time was the hoop la about the new cast Iron cylinder FA. Ralph had come to Lakeland with one of these and missing a not running clean, he set the A hydro record up some 5 to 6 MPH. The win and record were protested and off to the commission it went. I cannot remember who the chairman was at the time, but people present were, OF Christner, Jerry Waldman, and Dieter Konig among others. The protest was about the new iron cylinders and that they have not been approved. After hearing from those involved, OF and Jerry from Quincy and listening to all the reasons why this motor was not legal, it was Dieters turn to have his say, He said that this motor was legal because these new cylinders were only an allowed replacement part and that any customers with older model motors could buy these cylinders and exhaust parts and have a up dated motor. If this was not allowed then all records that Quincy have set were also null and void. When asked why, Dieter said do the Qunicy motors have new exhaust and different port specifications than one year ago? These parts did not need to be approved because they were replacement / superseded parts and did not need to be approved as they were factory replacement parts. My cylinders too are factory replacement / superseded parts and do not need to be approved as per your rule!. It was decided that Konig was correct and battle was won. Ralph never did get his record back and in my opinion he should have. Later the approval process was taken out of our rules and for the better I think as this allowed also home built motors and units to be used. These were fun days to watch and listen about these "problems" for a very young Steve as I think I was 17 at the time. The unit thing was also a lot of Bull as Baldy said, and it too went away. And for the good of our sport. Steve

[David Weaver]

My dad and my uncle Tommy met Jane and Ralph at the Depere nationals. Dad said that Ralph had placed bags of sand in Jane's C or D stock hydro so that she would make weight. Unfortunately, it rained, the bags absorbed all the water they could and Jane could not get on plane!! Same weekend, my uncle Tommy won the first heat of BSR, only to flip coming out the last turn in heat two while leading.....

[John Schubert T*A*R*T]

My dad and my uncle Tommy met Jane and Ralph at the Depere nationals. Dad said that Ralph had placed bags of sand in Jane's C or D stock hydro so that she would make weight. Unfortunately, it rained, the bags absorbed all the water they could and Jane could not get on plane!! Same weekend, my uncle Tommy won the first heat of BSR, only to flip coming out the last turn in heat two while leading.....

Dave,

I was 15 & raced BSH at Depere & finished 4th. I don't recall if Jane & Ralph were there, but that doesn't mean they weren't. Being from Region 3 as Ralph & Jane were, I actually can't recall when they started racing but Ralph did first racing B Runabout. Jane's first calss was ASH which she raced into 1957 or even later so if she did race at Depere it would have been ASH.

[Tim Chance]

In 1961 I bought a new A Konig, HRA model, the one with one pipe pointing up at about 2:00 o'clock and the other down at about 8:00 o'clock. I couldn't make it run and bought an old outdated KG-4 Mercury, no pipes just a Quincy open exhaust and the cast aluminum fuel tank on top with Quincy in script across the back. Anyhow, the first time I ran the KG-4 I won. Second place was a good Anzani and there was a lot of real good equipment behind me. Later,I got the Konig sorted out and sold the KG-4; the guy that bought it came to me and said it wasn't a KG-4 at all, it was a KG-7. So in hindsight I cheated and won my first A race with a B.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

That's funny Tim. We did the same thing in 1967 (our team, that is). It was the final race of the year, and it was late October I think at the State Park on Lake Corpus Christi. It was very cold and overcast.

Jack Chance still had his team then and Clayton Elmer was driving for him We had partnered up and my Dad had bought several new rotary valve Konigs that had just come out. We had been having ignition troubles and Jack had found some high output coils, but they wouldn't fit the Konig mounts on the exhaust side. Jack made his own brackets and mounted them on the front casting boss. The back half had a stud screwed in the bottom to anchor the back of the powerhead to the tower housing, and the top front boss was where Dieter stamped the serial number. Unfortunately, Jack mounted the ignitions on a C Konig, and a D Konig before he restamped the motors.

He had a much bigger stamp than Konig---maybe 3/8ths inch and stamped the C motor as a D and vice versa. The D was to be my motor and the C went to Clayton. The first time we ran the motors was at that race in the State Park. It was a local race so there were no motor inspections. It was so cold and drizzly, I think we skipped weighing also. Just ran the heats as quick as possible to get the races over and pack up.

Clayton blew everybody away with his "C", but I struggled with my "D" to keep up. We couldn't pull the prop very well and it did not accellerate good at all. After the races were over my Dad to Jack, "That D of Wayne's is a dog. You're gonna have to go through it, but don't do a damn thing to Clayton's C" It was when Jack tore down my "D" to make a good motor out of it that he discovered the mistake. We got a good laugh out of that over the years.

[hydroplay]

Back when my son was racing AXS and J in both hydro and runabout, things got rushed between the classes and I accidentally sent him in J runabout without the J restrictor plate. He knew just getting up on plane what was happening so he was careful to just run fast enough to win by a boat length. He came in and said we need to change jets- something we often did anyways- so I pulled off the carb and played with it a bit and put it back together for the second heat with the restrictor plate. He won that heat as well so I figured we could have won the first heat legally.