Thread: Ron Hill Family: Hill Marine and Signature Propellers

  1. #131
    Administrator Ron Hill's Avatar
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    Default I Need To Finish This Story...

    It is Sunday, October 14, 2007. The Blue Water Resort and Casino 300 Enduro is next weekend.... We've got things to do, rather than write about stuff that happened in 1965.... My problem, every time I start to write about this I get to laughing like a CRAZY MAN!!!!

    My Mom, Dad and I headed for Ogallala, Nebraska on highway 80, because that is where the accident happened. As we neared Ogallala, we saw oil and parts of cars, and wood on the two lane road...(Interstate 80 wasn't four lanes all the way across the country in those days) and boat parts down in the ditch...

    We stopped at this bridge, outside of town....I found a piece of my DU's deck, about 24 X 24, I could tell pretty well that my DU that had won the 1964 Nationals and 56 straight heats was now "TOAST"... With a tear in my eye, I walked up to my dad and said, "Looks like my DU is gone...."

    We pulled into Ogallala, and found the trailer parked in a lot, bent and twisted, DU busted in half to the steering wheel, CU with big holes in the bottom, and the BU, "Whipper Snapper" hardly hurt....

    We said, "Let's go up to the hospital and see Carl and Mary Ann, then we'll take the trailer and head home...." I was thinking, (Always postive Ron), Well, I can see my girl friend in La Jolla in about a week, rather than three weeks!!!

    We went to the hospital, Carl was in bad shape, back broken, they had him medicated. His wife, Mary Ann, had a broke hip, pelvis, leg, knee, foot and angle. She was driving, when she hit the brakes, the other car hit them, broke most of her bones...

    As we walked out of the hospital. we all just kind of said, "We're going to the Natioanls, BE DAMNED..."

    We got up the next morning and hooked on to the trailer, tied the boats down a little and left for Beaver Falls....We didn't say much, we just drove. The Old Man's 56 Ford ran like a song....

    We'd stop for gas, and look at the mess...knocked the fenders off the trailer, racks were Twisted and bent. We'd get gas, then we'd drive...The Old Man liked to drive 200 miles and switch. He'd drive about 60....so it would take about three and a half hours....I'd run the mother as fast as she'd go, about 85....Take me about two and half hours....

    I'd USE four quarts of OIL, he wouldn't use any...The Old Man would say, "Damn, seems to burn a lot of oil when you drive..." My MOM was always fun, she'd sit next to me and kind of elbow me now and then...Not a lot of traffic back then, and for sure, no radar cops...

    My Mom drove my dad's boat before I was born, but she'd never driven a boat after I was born...I'll bet she'd have made a damn good racer!!!

    Somewhere about OHIO, may dad said, "Well, if we keep this pace up, we'll be in Beaver Falls about Tuesday........" He said, "We built the 'Whipper Snapper' in five days and YOU WEREN'T much help, maybe we could rebuilt your DU by Sunday!!!!

    I said, "Dad, there is SEVEN FEET MISSING FROM A 13 foot boat."
    Last edited by Ron Hill; 09-20-2023 at 02:10 PM.

  2. #132
    Administrator Ron Hill's Avatar
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    Default I Might Be Crazy, But I'm Not Insane....

    I'd talked to my girl friend in La Jolla....we were on the ROAD....Having a good time...My OLD MAN was always fun...so was my MOM...

    Back in 1960, when I first started driving, Jimbo, Ernie Dawe and I had left San Diego to go to Needles....For whatever reason, there seemed to be a lot of people with flat tires on Route 66...I was driving Ruben Dawe's 1958 in line six Ford, pulling Jimbo's and Ernie's boats. Jimbo and Ernie were sleeping and I'm driving... It's a hundred 130 degrees in the shade and it is dark....besides, there is no shade...

    Anyway, I see some "STIFF" changing a tire, so I turn the key off and coast until I get next to this "STIFF". I turn the key on when I'm next to this "STIFF" and CA BLEWEY...Fire shoots out from under Ruben's truck and it sounds like a cannon shot......Ernie and Jimbo sit up like they've been shot......The guy changing the tire throws his hands up and I see from the exhaust fire, the wrench go through the air...

    I'm laughing so damn hard I can't even tell Ernie or Jimbo what happened, but about this time, there's another guy changing a tire...I turn the key off, again, coast next to the guy...and turn the key on.....This time the muffler blows up in about 200 pieces. The sky is full of muffler parts and fire....

    Jimbo and Erine are still about half a sleep, they are trying to figure out what the hell is happening....I'm laughing like a CRAZY MAN, now the truck roars with open exhaust as it no longer have a muffler....

    The next day, Ruben asked, "What happened to my muffler...?" I said we were coming down that 26 mile hill too fast and I shut the key off...She must have back fired..."...

    As we got closer to Beaver, PA I started thinking of Bev Oller....I had tried to pick up on her in Boston, in 1963, Damn Bob Martin warned her mother about me...But was thinking she'd put in two years at Old Miss ...and maybe, I'd enjoy the Nationals after all!!!!

    We were rolling along the PA Turn Pike, up and down hills....I got this crazy idea.....I'd never turned the Old Man's Ford off while driving as it had an automatic transmission and was not sure what would happen. But I knew, The Old man had said, "If this Ford breaks down on the trip, we'll just buy a new one.."
    Last edited by Ron Hill; 09-20-2023 at 02:12 PM.

  3. #133
    Administrator Ron Hill's Avatar
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    Default It Must Have Been Monday Night....

    I'm driving and I'm bored....but in a pretty good mood. We'd called the hospital and Carl and Mary Ann were going to live, which we had not been sure about when we'd left a few days earlier...

    I'm heading down a long hill, straight road, with some guy changing a tire....FLASH BACK, NEEDLES 1960.....Hell with the automatic transmission, I turn the key off and hang on to the wheel for dear life.....When I get to the "DUDE" changing the tire, I turn the key on.... SIX Cherry Bombs.... and good by muffler....

    The OLD MAN, never thinking I'd turned the key off, thought I'd just gone down the long hill....and HE BLAMED the DAMN SMOG DEVICE..... He started ranting and raving about the DAMN SMOG DEVICE....I never had the BALLS to tell him I'd turned the key off...

    We roll in to the pits at Beaver Falls, about noon....Friggin muffler going Blat, blat, trailer completely screwed up and three busted up boats....No one looks at us...it is like we are from MARS....

    We stop by John Schubert and Stan Armstrong's trailer...and get out...Johnny Schubert goes, "It's Ronnie Hill.....then says, "What the hell happened?'" Old Man Armstrong and Stan, move their trailer, John's dad and John help us back in....

    In those days, Armstrong has a trailer that is NATURAL WOOD with like two new boats. Schubert has Sid Crafts that have maybe two races on them...We come in with boats that have oil, mud, blood and crap all over them....

    We start explaining what happened, and the NEWSPAPER is all over us....

    My dad ain't there five minutes and he'd found a guy that will let us use his garage and woodworking tools...He's found another guy that knows some people at the docks where we could find some thin plywood...

    That night, my dad and I are in the hotel bar....having a beer... I say, "Dad, this is the first time I've legally had a beer with you.....Thanks for all you always done for me, but I don't think we can fix the boat....It's too much work for you...and I'm really no help...".

    I went out that night with Bev Oller, Craig Bowman, Bobby Austin....and a few others. We drank some beer, I won most of it free from arm wrestling. I went to bed figuring....I'd talk my dad out of fixing the boat...

    Next morning, we were at this guys garage sawing and glassing on three boats...We fiber glassed up holes in my CU and we fixed the "Whipper Snapper"....Then, we went to work on my DU......Beaver Falls is hot and sweaty in the summer, but we worked and we worked...

    Friday was BU qualifying....I took the new Smith BU LLC (Long Long Course) prop that Pop Smith had made for Carl out of the box...and put it on. The prop was new, never been wet....I went out on the five minute gun and adjusted the carb, thinking, I have to run second to qualify!!!! (And there are 12 boats).....I knew too, that I was at least 100 pounds over weight!!!
    Last edited by Ron Hill; 09-20-2023 at 02:13 PM.

  4. #134
    Administrator Ron Hill's Avatar
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    Default Because We'd Been Working On The DU...

    We'd been working on the DU all week and I had not looked at the course. They said it was a mile and two thirds....While I was milling during the five minute gun, I noticed I could not see the first turn buoys.

    Just before the heat I'd decided to put my cowling on the BU from my CU (I felt a cowling was worth 2 miles per hour). As I was milling for the start I said to myself, "Look, you are only running BU for Carl because he's in the hospital, no one will care or remember where you finish...but don't get in a wreck and get hurt, as you have the fastest CU in America and you could STILL WIN CU....

    So, I started on the outside....I had designed the boat with about 50/50 lift, but had planned the cockpit to be much shorter than 5'6" long....To reach the steering wheel, I just laid down in the cockpit and headed for the first turn.....I'd stick my head up now and then to see what was happening, and I noticed everyone was getting farther behind me. After what seemed like five minutes I reached the first turn....I was there first and when I turned with no fin, or a very small fin, the boat went many directions that I had not planned for and Don Christy got by me....

    My "RON HILL JUICES" kicked in...I thought, wait, you got to the first turn first, this is YOUR race.....so down the back straightaway I go..."POPPING" my head up now and then to see where I'm going...I get to the second turn about d four boat lengths ahead. I crack the throttle and bam, no punch...Here goes Don Christy by me again.....

    Now, I'm pressing the floor with my chest, saying when I get the the first turn, I ain't backing this SUCKER OFF for nothing.....Anyway, I qualified Carl's BU for the finals...We call Carl at the hospital...He has full movement and will recover....

    Friday and Saturday Night I entertain the GROUP from New Jersey and PA in the local bars, I win maybe 50-60 beers arm wrestling

    Sunday morning, we add 25 pounds of lead to my DU...we add all of it to the transom...why not????

    The boat looks like a shipping crate from China....I start legally, at the back, and head to the front, in no real hurry.....As I pull between two DU's and pass them I'm leading heading to the first turn...I kind of say, "Well, hang on, we can win this..." and then I blow over.....I'd won 56 straight heats in that boat, but never had an extra 25 pounds in the *** end...the boat lands right side up. I swim back to the boat and finish the heat...

    Jeff Merlin from New York, and my dad's friend and water skier, Joe Templeton tell me, maybe I should park the boat for the second heat as my blow over looked really bad and they worried about the boat being OK....I said, "Screw it, the boat floats, and I'm OK..."

    I went out and won the second heat by almost 30 seconds.....I tried to crash. I went as fast as I could go...I wanted people to know that Ron Hill's DU was not only the Kilo record holder, it was also the fastest DU in the world...I got second place over all...

    BU came before CU, and I drove the crap out of the "THE WHIPPER SNAPPER" and ended up fourth...

    It was getting dark when CU came up, I lead to the first turn, then hit a barge's wake, knocked me almost out of the boat...I fought back to second, then ended up third....

    The sun was going down in inspection, when they weighed me for BU...Then, Edgar Rose called over to Charlie Strang and asked, "Ron Hill just weighed 260 pounds with his jacket, helmet.....Do you think we should weigh his BU boat????" Charlie said, "Well, I doubt that a 20-H and boat will weigh less than 105 pounds...Don't weigh his boat..."

    It had been a long week since I left my dorm in Flagstaff. At trophies I was tired and disappointed I did not defend my DU title....But Charlie Strang had a great way of making you feel like a KING... I don't really recall what he said, but it was something like, "Those Hills come to race......and they are pretty good at it...".

    Little did I know, that Charlie Strang and his Mother would be the ones that controlled Evinrude and Johnson's racing team for the next twenty years...

    That night I sold my repaired DU for $500 CASH. The next morning, my dad made a deal with Stan Armstrong's dad to buy Stan's Sid Craft for $500 cash.....We were heading for my grandpa's, in Arkansas, with a bent up trailer and a NEW, 11 foot "D" Sid Craft!!!!

    I called my girl friend in La Jolla and said I'd be there in a week if I had to hitch hike.........
    Last edited by Ron Hill; 09-20-2023 at 02:20 PM.

  5. #135
    Administrator Ron Hill's Avatar
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    Default Imboden, Arkansas

    My grandfather had lived most of his life in Chicago. A white Sox fan. When he moved to Arkansas he got into selling cattle ranches and actually made a good living...

    After we left Beaver Falls, PA, we drove straight to Imboden, Arkansas...I'm a lot like my grandfather, I see it more all the time....

    My grandfather had this new Cadillac, he took me outside of town and showed me some Black Angus steers and explained how much money I could make if I raised cattle, and sold those STUPID RACE BOATS.....I explained to my GRANDPA that BOAT RACING WAS ME and that in 1966 I'd win more than one National Championship.....I understood cows and I understood bulls....and that I was leaving that night on a bus for La Jolla....

    Trouble was, the damn bus didn't go to La Jolla, it went to Little Rock and I had to hitch hike to Needles to get may car....

    That fall I won the Needles Marathon for the 12th or 13th time, and I went back to college as a SENIOR....No one in my family had ever graduated from college and I was close....

    The Whipper Snapper didn't get run much while I was in college, Carl had a new DeSilva he liked it better. When I graduated from college, we decide to go to a race in Sparks, Nevada....I took one look at that BU and said, "Hell this thing needs a fin.."...

    I ran BRR, CRR, DRR, FRR, COH, DOH AND FOH at this race. I was high point for the weekend...96-C is me running a B Stock against the B alkies....

    Carl went with me to Sparks, Nevada, but was not sold on the idea that a fin would make the boat run....

    That fall, 1966, OMC (Evinrude and Johnson) asked me to drive at Havasu for them.... SCSC (Southern California Speedboat Club) always had kilo trials at Thanksgiving at Parker....I told Carl to bring the "Whipper Snapper" to the Kilos, we'd be there about noon and we'd break the ARR record...We went 70.490 MPH, 15 cubic inch Quincy Looper, for the record.

    We tested with OMC in the morning, then made the trip from Havasu to Parker, long before there was a road from Havasu to Parker....and broke the kilo record...

    ADD:

    I had the motor so high on the transom, that Ron and Gerry Hedlund asked me, at Beaver Falls, PA, if my motor would pump water...Most BU's ran a 6 3/4 X 12 Smith two blade in those days, with about a 14 and a quarter inch transom height... I ran a 7 3/8 X 14 (LLC) two blade Cary at 17 1/2 inches on the transom....Just and FYI!!! I am the one who helped pass the transom height rule in Stock Outboards....

    The picture is "SPARKS, NEVADA, 1966.
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    Last edited by Ron Hill; 09-20-2023 at 02:22 PM.

  6. #136
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    Default Broc is Related To Me!!!!

    The best picture I have of me, I'm like 20, and Broc thought it was a picture of himself!!!!

    Here are a few pictures of my granddaughters, who will also be J Hydro drivers soon!!!
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  7. #137
    Administrator Ron Hill's Avatar
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    Default Behind Seaboard Equipment Company

    In the OLD DAYS, Seaboard Equipment Company was where Mercury Outboards were distributed...Seaboard was behind Sam's Seafood Restaurant...in Surfside, California.

    When we tested there, there wasn't much but us...

    Here in 424-C is Danny Morehouse, and 184-C is Ronnie Hill. Spring of 1955.... 184-C was a Wade Terrill runabout. Wade was really known for building hydros...I got this boat from Ken Scoffield (Not Ken Scoville the 36 racer)....Ken gave me the boat and he'd gotten it from Mike Mehan...

    The other picture is Long Beach, Lee Morehouse to the right, Danny in the jacket and helmet, and my dad behinbd the motor...Morehouse could run with Ronnie Loomis's TOM NEWTON "C" Stock...But Loomis was National Champion...

    The tall guy, with the tie looks like Buck Parrish, but I never remember seeing Buck in anything but overalls, but maybe he'd been to church as this was a Sunday race at Long Beach!!!
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    Default Was it "That" Ken Scoffield?

    The Ken Scoffield I know of, and never met, was a motorcycle racer. My dad tells of him riding his motorcycle down the Grapevine. Seems he had a tire blow out, and as Ken used to say, I "Got Off". Ken slid on his butt for fifty or so yards and as you might expect, had quite a case of "Road Rash." So Ken hitch hiked home to LA and when he arrives at his destination his butt has scabbed over and is stuck to the back seat of his ride. The car owners, strangers to Ken, have to soak his butt free from their rear seat upholstery!
    So... Ken gets a new tire and tube, hitches back to his bike, does a roadside repair and rides home, BROKEN *** AND ALL!!
    All of this in a 24 hour period!
    Talk about a hard core biker!! He managed to take picture of his healing process and kept one picture inside toilet seat in his bar at home.

    Kenny was quite a Bike Racer, known as the Blond Terror of Hollywood.
    Last edited by Ron Hill; 10-09-2023 at 03:57 PM.

  9. #139
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    Default Scoville--Not Scofield

    I think the Ken Scoville Ron mentioned in this site is Ken's little boy. Old Ken raced 36 and later lived at Rainbo Beach in Needles and died probably 15 or 20 years ago. His YOUNG son, Kenny is probably 65 now and raced CU for quite a few years.

    The Scovilles got their original boat racing enthusiasm by sitting in their car at the Long Beach Marine watching me as a little kid trying to make a homemade Pumper A run while my dad bitched at me.

    The story about Kenny SCOFIELD you repeated above is positively true. He was a good old boy. I looked him up about ten years ago and had a long talk with him. He had cancer and died of a heart attack from the chemo about 2 weeks after we had met again.
    Last edited by Ron Hill; 04-06-2020 at 02:22 PM.

  10. #140
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    Default Kenny Scofield

    Mark 20-H With A Handle







    http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forum...Kenny+Scofield

    A guy named Kenny Scoffield, who raced motorcycles as a young man, once bought a Mark 20-H from my dad.... He had my dad install a handle on it like a Mark 25...and he had my dad extend the driveshaft 2 inches and add a spacer between the foot and mid section.

    Kenny had this Damn Dog, Skipper. He took Skipper everywhere. Skipper was Kenny's speedometer, the dog would hang his head out the window until Kenny was going 60, then he'd pull his head inside the cab of Kenny's truck....One time Kenny and his Dog were at the Needles Marathon and Kenny wasn't married, then, and never had kids. He and I were riding the Ferris Wheel and Skipper was sitting on the dirt watching us ride....Kenny made the guy stop the Ferris Wheel and let Skipper ride with us...

    Not long after that race, Kenny and Skipper were hauling down the river, not in the 20-H boat, he had a PO Johnson, and he hit a sand bar at the Topock (Golden Shores) bridge and he and Skipper both few out of the boat...He picked Skipper up to put him back in the boat, and the dog bit him....

    Kenny had raced motorcycles, and had many very bad scars on his chest and neck. When I was younger, , the scars scared me and I was afraid of him... As I got older, I realized he was one of the nicest guys in the world....He once broke a front axle on his motorcycle, and fell off, on the Grapevine, he skidded like 100 feet on his butt....He called his mom, from a gas station, to pick him up, when he got home he was stuck to the car seats. They had to turn a hose on him to get him out of the car...He got the parts he needed to fix his bike, his mom bandaged him up, and drove him back to the Grapevine...

    He took pictures of his (BUTT'S) recovery and had one picture framed, inside of a toilet seat, that hung on the wall of his bar in his house.


    He ran it on a flat bottom aluminum fishing boat and it hauled ***...BUT, many, many years ago someone stole this motor....Kenny has passed on now, but I thought some collector may have run across this motor and wonder what the hell....The motor disappeared in 1958..so, anything could have happened to it....
    ADD:
    Kenny was Known as "THE BLOND TERROR of HOLLYWOOD" when he raced motorcycles.

    A collector called me and said he had the motor, but did not want to sell it. He bought it in Blythe, California.
    Last edited by Ron Hill; 04-06-2020 at 02:27 PM.

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