Molinari Racing Boat History and Information

[Lake X Kid]

I am so much better looking than Dave (it's Beier, not Brier) that I can't see how anyone could have thought that was him in the photo! Actually, I don't think Dave ever went on the European Tour with us. He was a leadman in the engine shop and when I was away for the six weeks or so it took to do Europe, he had to stay back in Oshkosh to conduct the engine build for Havasu.

That photo is 1971 and we had a couple of the C6's to run in Paris. The guy standing next to Rick LaMore with the headband is probably Jim Acheson. He was the lead tech on the C6 for Dr. Ted Morgan's group and that sure looks like they are working on a C6 , not a Twister I as you see on the other boats.

I cannot contest the notion that Bill Welch is not better looking than Dave Brier.
But Dave did come over from the States to the European circuit. See the attached photo taken in Europe with Dave hitching a boat ride with Roy Ridgell. It looks like they are wearing the blue racing jackets (maybe the year1973).

One year (maybe 1973) I believe Dave was the fuel man at the Paris 6 Hour. Rick LaMore and I were the catch guys on the refueling dock. With the catch-pole, I was slowing the race boats to a secure stop, and one time as I am holding one of the boats, by the engine steering bracket, against the dock, I looked toward the race course and saw another race boat coming-in for refueling. So what do I do, but yell (or speak loud enough) to Dave as he is straddled over the gas-tank-cowling refueling, that we have another one coming. It’s not like Dave could have been any faster, but it was a heads-up to everybody on the team. That fuel nozzle and hose had to be a least 2.5 inch diameter, if not 3 inches. This was the year that Gary Garbretch and Roy Ridgell were standing on the elevated platform behind us and looking down at the pit action.

Previous to that year, I do not remember with accuracy if Jim Emerson (from Lake X) was coming over for the Paris 6 Hour to do the race refueling.

Permit me an anecdotal that relates to Dave. We are caravanning to –or from- a race (maybe Paris). We stop at an Italian eatery for breakfast, and Dave wants eggs. So Dave starts flapping his arms like a bird, and makes a chicken clucking noise, then stands up from his chair and imaginarily pretends that he laid an egg (you can see where this is going). Then Dave does, the universal pantomime language, of cracking open the egg over a fraying pan, and then demonstrates flipping the egg over with a spatula. Dave can be a character when he wants to be.