Thread: Ron Hill Family: Hill Marine and Signature Propellers

  1. #51
    Administrator Ron Hill's Avatar
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    Default My Souter Boat

    Think....
    Quote:
    Originally posted by Ron Hill
    T2X,

    As I recall, OMC had a 16' Souter, single, and 18' twin and a 21' twin.... Having won the 1967 Marathon with a Glastron, Bob West, Evinrude's Director of Marketing, wanted me to run the NEW 17 Glastron that OMC had...

    I got out of school on Wednesday and flew to Waukegan and started testing Thursday. I assumed that Lake Michigan was ROUGH when we raced there in '67....After Thursday's and Friday's testing....I realized that '67 way smooth....

    OMC had hired Paul Kalb, Father of APBA Mod Racing, and it was his son who was going to drive the 21 Souther. I had never seen one before but thought they had some bitchen cool lines, but didn't think they could be fast with that much V. Hell, seemed to me they had twice as much V as the Glastron....

    Denis Berghauer was going to driver the Schultz to Chicago and then OMC was going to gas it and Dewy was going to drive it back to Milwaukee....This was one of two Schultze Boats that had made it to Parker in the Spring of 1968....

    The other Schultz boat had been destroyed in a nose dive while being driven by Dewey Berghauer...

    Joe Haybay, was supposed to drive the 18' Souther, but he took one look at Lake Michigan and started crying to Chuck that he wanted the 21 footer....(Joe somehow had tested them both and knew the 21 was faster than the 18 and handled rough water like a dream...

    Chuck switched boat with Joe. Joe won the race, I was second, I never saw Chuckie Kalb again....

    I left Milwaukee after that race saying I'd never get back in a 17 foot Glastron again....The power we had, I was on the props part of the time, or flying out of the seat the rest of the time...

    After watching Joe drive that thing...I said, "I wanted it for Havasu and I got my wish....I was in the top five at Havasu when the coils melted..The stacks got them too hot, and the Souter wasn't flowing air because the engines were so well protected from the air flow.


    I flew home from Milwaukee, my parents picked me up at LAX and we drove to Seatle to the APBA Stock Nationals, from there we went to DePue, to the Alky Nationals, then over to Michigan to the Marathon Nationals...Then, home for part of September and then to OMC's plant in Belgium and on to Paris...

    I've got some good pictures (of Europe '68)on slides, I may shoot them, and post..

    ADD: The 16' Souter, with a 75 HP made a good ski boat. I got married in 1969 and my wife and I'd go skiing....Just the two of us, go way up river from Needles where is is smooth as glass... I'd have my wife drive...she'd never driven a boat, and I'd ski...I could "Whip" way to one side and with the rope tied to the other side, I could roll that Souter (We called it a Levi --Like the pants...Levy, it's nickname was the "Splinded Splinter"...... I pulled more than 50 teachers, in total behind her, the teacher's named her....)

    Anyway, I'd "whip" way out on a single ski and I could pull the prop out of the water and the boat would go sideways like hell...My wife would stop and yell and scream at me...tell me I was trying to kill her........I'd promise to NEVER do it again. We'd go up river about 2 miles and I'd do it again....Finally, my wife figured out what was happeneing, and everytime I'd "Whip" out, she'd just turn into me....

    That old Levi might still be at Schwarzenbach's Apple Valley Marine...where I left it in 1970.....

    Lou Eppel was given my father's 60-42 Evinrude Hex Head Racing C to be put into the Evinrude Museum....which never was constructed...I'm still looking for the motor...Eppel never had any kids racing at OMC that I knew about....

    Last Add: Denis Berghauer was first to Chicago, in the Schultz, after running the shoreline from Milwaukee to Chicago...Seems some swimmer were a little made when he came down the shoreline doing about 95.......and some sailboats were that way too...He got to Chicago, got as and the battery was dead...AND no one had a battery.....They had to drive down from Milwaukee to get him...OMC didn't plan the pit stop too well!!!!

    That wasn't as bad as what they'd done at Albany, NY....They tried to crank a counter rotating the wrong way...Not the Berghauers.....OMC....
    Last edited by Ron Hill; 09-20-2023 at 10:57 AM.

  2. #52
    Administrator Ron Hill's Avatar
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    Default Note To Dad: Thanks

    October 23, 2006

    Thanks Dad,

    You'd have loved to seen Chad and Pat win Parker...and they didn't even have a COWLING on the boat....(My dad refused to go testing with Pat and Chad, in the 45 unless they put the cowling on...some 15 years ago). THEY LED ALL 60 LAPS....

    Chad built the motor, just like you taught him to build his J and A Johnson 15's...He's like you dad, he loves to build motors...

    We only used one prop, but as you always said, "You only need one...one good one."


    http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forum...ead.php?t=3582


    Ron

    FYI: My dad died in 1996, the weekend of Parker...while we were at the races....I always felt he thought that was a good time to go!!!
    Last edited by Ron Hill; 01-02-2024 at 01:55 PM.

  3. #53
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    Default Parker

    Well Dad,

    Grandpa may have taught me to build motors, but it was your coaching over my lifetime that got me through the race. “One straightaway at a time.”

    Thanks Dad for all your support, I am lucky to share at least one page in the history books with you, both winners of the Parker Enduro.

  4. #54
    Administrator Ron Hill's Avatar
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    Default Jimbo and I

    Thanks Chad.... as Jimbo said today, I'm lucky I have a son who wants to race.....

    Jimbo and I planned out The Needles Outboard Racing Festival today......we were racing like the OLD DAYS, but with an eye on the FUTURE.

    Jimbo actually has some great ideas for an EVENT.... more later...

    He told this story about Ruben Dawe... I posted it under another heading....but wanted it here as Ruben Dawe is part of the Hill family History...

    As Jimbo and I were drinking a beer today, with Jimbo's "SECRET" Hot Pepper juice...we were discussing propellers and all..We decided we both knew a lot about props.........and that was this bit on knowledge...."If it is a good prop, don't tell anyone how fast it goes or tell them where you got it."

    As far as slippage....if anyone really knew the answers, there would probably be one prop to fit all...

    You ever look at the PROPS THAT ARE RUN ON "A" STOCK HYDROS??? Some look like they were made in a Metal Shop in High School as a project to get a "C"....Quincy claimed to be a WELDER...I claim to be a BLACK SMITH.....

    Jimbo told this story today and I hope I can retell it without offending anyone...

    In the old days, Ernie Dawe's family owned a gas station in Needles and they frequently went testing on the river.. Ruben Dawe, Ernie's dad, always went too...Ruben loved boat racing like he loved Jim Beam....Ruben would pound on Ernie's props...sometimes he actually helped them..Jeff Fritz won the 1961 B Stock Hydro nationals with a prop Ruben had pounded on...It was a PH1 Michigan, that my brother had bought from Merlyn Culver..for his D Stock Hydro, but my brother could never pull it, so, he sold it to Ruben....

    Back to Jimbo's story: He said, "Ruben had his hammer in one hand and the prop in the other...He'd get ready to hit the prop then stop..... Then, He'd get ready to hit the prop again and stop...After the third start and stop, Jimbo said, "Ruben, why don't you hit the damn thing?" Ruben said, "Well, I can't decide which blade to hit as I keep seeing four of them.".....We all miss Ruben...his stories and his love...

    I went to College in Flagstaff, Arizona, Ernie Dawe was my roommate...All the guys got letters and stuff from their moms....Ernie's dad was the only dad to ever write his son...

    Ernie and Ruben showed up at Blythe, about daylight one year...they'd had three or four flats on the way....Everyone was trying to sleep in the pits....Ruben got out of the car....and ANNOUNCED TO THE WORLD, "WELL WE'RE HERE." 45 years later, whenever I get somewhere...I get out and announce to no one in particular....maybe just to Ruben...Well, we're here!!!

    I may have told this before, but when I was in school, not much interested me but lunch, PE and girls...When I got elected Club Paper Editor, I'm not sure I could spell club, paper or editor.

    Ernie and I sold ads for the club paper and I wrote articles....Mrs. Dawe (Helen) would edit my articles and correct the spelling, as she typed them for the paper. I always felt so good when I saw my articles published in our club paper. I always felt, I'd have never graduated from college with out Mrs. Dawe's help, when I was the club paper editor...

    I was a good boat racer, and I knew that, but to be the Editor of the club (SCOA: Southern California Outboard Association) paper really meant something to me....

    ADD: Ruben Dawe would always say, "You know what I mean?" when he was a talking and especially when he was a drinking... On his tombstone, in Needles, it says, "Ruben 'You Know what I mean' Dawe"............A lot of my friends are in that cemetery, and that's where I'll end up!!!


    Last edited by Ron Hill; 01-02-2024 at 01:56 PM.

  5. #55
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    Default Dennis Johnson and I...

    When I was in Phoenix, Friday, 11/3/06, I could not think of the name Vic Pratt. Vic built many boats and built Freddy Miller's boats. He passed away with a heart attack getting ready for a race. I won the Vic Pratt Memorial Award, 1974, for the driver who made the most points in his Regionals, Divisionals and Nationals (1974)...as I won them all, I had the most points....I also won the Vic Pratt Memorial Award at the 1968 Marathon Nationals...the award was presented by Vic's mother, if I'm not mistaken...
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    Administrator Ron Hill's Avatar
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    Default Around 1974...

    Mel Zikes had written about me in Powerboat Magazine....He said I was from Garbage Grove... Well, the Mayor decided to ask me to help on some "Beautifican Projects", so being a "SUCKER" that I am..I helped. Next thing I know I'm Citizen of the Month in Garden Grove and The Marshall, along with Jack Youngblood of the Rams, of the Strawberry Festival Parade...

    Cool part, my Sixth graders had won the Orange County Flag Football Championships, so I threw them in the back of my El Camino, My Old Man pulled my boat down the parade route and threw candy to kids and waved...My 6th graders had a ball riding in the back of my El Camino TRANSPORTER!!!!!!!!

    Garden Grove was once the Strawberry Capital of the world..There are no strawberry farms in GG, now.... Lloyd Marschall, Miss Mai Tai, was a strawberry farmer in GG....I was his kids teacher, all three for three years each..4th,5th and 6th.... Missed Lloyd at Parker two weeks ago, hope his health is OK!!!
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    Last edited by Ron Hill; 11-04-2007 at 09:48 PM.

  7. #57
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    Default Jimbo and I were Talking

    Jimbo and I won Berlin Six Hour in 1970 and then he won it again in 1971 with Ted May.... We were both trying to remember why he didn't win it in 1972......When he and I had driven together in Paris, the week before...Then, we remembered, we didn't go to Berlin in 1972...

    My daughter was born on the day of the Six Hours of Paris, 1973.....I was home for the birth, with no regrets...Then, or now!!!

    Here is a picture of the Molinari that John Schubert and I drove from Jim Briggs in Paris, 1970...Then, the next week Jimbo and drove together, as Johnny had to go home and WORK......

    Jimbo has been doing my homework assignment, and that is to figure out what boats he ran a Parker, Havasu, Paris and Berlin and where he finished....He's made considerable progress on his chart...

    Berlin was a rough mother race...It only looks like I cut that guy off (I passed that guy like a freight train passes a tramp)....(Homeless person)...Hell, I always look where I've been, not where I'm going...

    The other picture I found, while looking for some Parker pictures, is of the Strawberry Festival Parade...with MY team in the back...I actually didn't coach the team, but all the players were in my 6th Grade class and the learned WINNING from me!!! This, may well have been the class when I had Nicole Simpson Brown.....as a student...
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    Last edited by Ron Hill; 11-12-2006 at 03:54 PM.

  8. #58
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    Default First Outboard to Ever Lead Parker

    Ron Hill
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    Join Date: Apr 2001
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    First Outboard to ever lead Parker

    I was reading about someone complaining about painting checkers on their boat. I remembered our DeSilva Wing that was red with black and white checks....

    Rod Zapf and my dad built the cowlings and painted this boat in our garage. I bolted all kinds of aluminum angles to the bottom ...not to make it turn, but to hold air on the straight aways...

    I had some of the first 100 cubic inch Evinrudes... OMC's team boats were running in the high 80's...Our DeSilva was running in the low 100's....103...

    Fred Hauenstein and I co drove and we picked up 8 laps, I think of lap money....After our Evinrude lead, the President of Mercury, Carl, himself, sent word he wanted that "GOD DAMN HILL BOAT"....

    Ann Strang, Charlie's mother negotiated a deal with Carl to buy the boat..actually owned by Jimbo McConnell's dad and my dad....My old man was heading down to get the check from Carl when OMC's Jack Leek...yelled at him and said, "Wait a minute Russ...I'll give you a check...."

    I could write several books on my dealing and my dad's dealing with OMC. Usually, we'd help them out of some dam thing....Then, they'd take the credit...

    Like the time my dad called Jack Leek, Director of High Performance at OMC and said, "Send me two sets of rings for two engines...." Jack said, "Why?" My dad said, "Well whoever is putting these engines together is breaking the rings at the factory." Leek said, "Under our agreement, you aren't to touch the engines" My dad said, "The hell with the agreement, I'm tired of blown up engines...send me some rings and hung up."

    Some heads rolled at OMC... But they quit putting engines together with broken rings....



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    Default National Circle Boat 1991

    My article of the 25 All time best drivers...
    1. Bill Sirois
    2. Dean Chenowith
    3. Chip Hanauer
    4. Bill Seebold, Jr.
    5. Jerry Waldman
    6. Renato Molinari
    7. Bob Nordskog
    8. Bill Cooper
    9. Johnny Sanders
    10. Chris Bush
    11. Bill Muncey
    12. Jimbo McConnell
    13. Dick O'Dea
    14. Bob Wartinger
    15. Ted Jones
    16. Skeeter Johnson
    17. Gordon Jennings, Jr.
    18. Julian Pettengill
    19. Bobby Switzer
    20. Dick Jones
    21. Hugh Entrop
    22. Al Stoker
    23. Rusty Chambell
    24. Orlando Torganti
    25. Homer Kincaid

    That was my list then, not sure I'd change it today...
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    Default Strawberry Festival: Why?

    Broc saw my plaque for being citizen of the month, 1973....I guess, I never got around to telling him about it... He asked how I got to be "Citizen of the Month"... I said, "Damn Mel Zikes always said I was from Garbage Grove in his articles....and the Major called me up to help beautify the city...So, I helped on a project or two...and I could see they had plans for ME...I moved to Irvine, in April of 1976.... but I told them earlier I wasn't going to run for Mayor....unless I moved to Needles...

    Last picture of the 1973 Strawberry Festival Parade....Everybody loves a parade...
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