Raceboat and Switzer Wings

[Ron Hill]

The second sing says, "Billy 'Don' Pruett is a cold blooded reptile..."

pulled by airplanes...July 1971...

They loved Bill "Don" Pruett..

[Ron Hill]

Switzer Wing..Gene Lanham...

September 1978...Boat News.

[Ron Hill]

There was a time when all boat racers were "FAMILY"....then, they PROFESSIONALIZED IT....

Maybe, a return to "AM and Pro" would be worth a try...

Jim Fox...damn, that names rings a bell!!!A Runabouts... 1971...Hmmm.

Marathon Nationals...Max Mc Peek from Grand Ledge, Michigan...had a Summer Cottage on Gun Lake....I wonder if a man could still read the sign Jim Hauenstein and I painted on the side of that cottage? It started with the letter "F"... we thought the second coat would cover it...but, when the sun was just right..the sign showed very clear....

The neighbors weren't ready for Californians...but their daughters were!!!!

[Ron Hill]

Someone in Offshore had said they didn't think John Crouse was a Journalist..... That is funny, seems he graduated with a degree in Journalism, wrote a boat racing boat and covered hundreds of races...Sounds like a REAL JOURNALIST to me...

Heavy hitters in this picture...Charlie Alexander, was President of Mercury, I think, and well, ralph Evinrude sort of says it all...

[John Schubert T*A*R*T]

Fred Hauenstein and Me...Who is the OMC Team Mechanic?

Ron,

His first name Mike, can't recall his last name. Had a motorcycle or snowmobile accident and during the post accident process they learned that he had leukemia, and later left us. Great guy, fed a lot of OMC 25/22 c.i. stuff to me when we were developing the 25SS class until Merc managed to regulate us out of the class. His widow later married Mike Gwaltney, and they are happily living in Kenosha, WI.

[Ron Hill]

Seemed "MIKE" was the name, but I thought Mike Gwaltney, as I recall had curley hair...so, I was confused, which seems to happen more often, now days..

Thanks for filling in the blanks...

Funny, how that 25 class went. Guys were having fun finding A-B Quickies and mid sections and "OLD" Merc and OMC Powerheads, and building motors and "RACING". Then, "BIG BROTHER" "HELPED" us....

Now, everyone sits around waiting for "BIG BROTHER" to help. or for someone to "SPONSOR" them......except me.....and everyone here on BRF, "We have a sport to save" and we know it!!! ....Keep doing your part.

[Michael J Gwaltney]

Ron,

His first name Mike, can't recall his last name. Had a motorcycle or snowmobile accident and during the post accident process they learned that he had leukemia, and later left us. Great guy, fed a lot of OMC 25/22 c.i. stuff to me when we were developing the 25SS class until Merc managed to regulate us out of the class. His widow later married Mike Gwaltney, and they are happily living in Kenosha, WI.

Mike Kukla built and raced modified stock cars in Illinois and Wisconsin. Harold "Mouse" Wade told Jack Leek about him and was hired as a technician on the OMC race team in 1968.

Mike was an excellent fabricator and welder and did most of the developement on V-4 "downstacker" motors. He also did a lot of developement work on the 4-Rotor race engines and traveled to most every race they competed.

I was fortunate to work with him for several years on the race team. He was severly injured in a snowmobile accident and later contracted leukemia. I married his widow Joanne and fortunate to raise his son Geoffrey who was named after Geoff Briggs. Geoff is now a successful research scientist.

When Mike Kukla and I worked together I became Michael "J". Guess it stuck!
Michael J Gwaltney

[John Schubert T*A*R*T]

Mike Kukla built and raced modified stock cars in Illinois and Wisconsin. Harold "Mouse" Wade told Jack Leek about him and was hired as a technician on the OMC race team in 1968.

Mike was an excellent fabricator and welder and did most of the developement on V-4 "downstacker" motors. He also did a lot of developement work on the 4-Rotor race engines and traveled to most every race they competed.

I was fortunate to work with him for several years on the race team. He was severly injured in a snowmobile accident and later contracted leukemia. I married his widow Joanne and fortunate to raise his son Geoffrey who was named after Geoff Briggs. Geoff is now a successful research scientist.

When Mike Kukla and I worked together I became Michael "J". Guess it stuck!
Michael J Gwaltney

Soon as I saw the name, it immediately flashed back. Thanks, Mike. Din't know that his son was named after Geoff Briggs.

[Ron Hill]

When I wrote about MOUSE the other day.... I hope everyone ,l ike Kenny, Wade, Burt, Harold, Mac, Michael, and Michael "J", Ziggy, Goat....all realize that I knew then, as I know now, they didn't work on the OMC Race Team for the money, they loved their jobs.

Then, as now, I may not show how much I cared for all the Crew, but they were and are a great bunch of people...

I loved racing for OMC at the time, it is still a very real memory with me!!!!

I tell two stories about racing for OMC...I've told both at APBA Conventions...

One was when Ziggy was driving me back to the hotel in Morgan City, Louisiana. Ziggy asked me why OMC hired me to drive? (I'm sure he fgured I'd give him a SONG AND DANCE about what a great driver I was....) but, I just said in simple terms, "Ann Strang likes me." Ziggy never asked again...

The other story I tell, was after the first time Ted May and I ran Paris...The Berghauers had sunk early, Mac and Tom McCune had ended up second and Ted and I got third...(After losing a lap because of barge traffic)... But like 97 boats started the race, and 25 finished...I was dog tired, Renato had won by like 8 laps...and I was was thirsty and the only thing I could find to buy to drink was a bottle of wine...

Ann walks up and asked if I was celerating? Hell, I said, Celebrating? Maybe, ..Those guys with the Vee hulls drive like they are drunk...nose diving and backing out of the water in front of you...Renato wins by about 20 laps..the water is so dirty you can walk on it...No, Ann, I'm not celebrating running third...I'm celebrating I'm alive....Ann said, "Give me a drink."


That was the Ann Strang I knew and loved...Charlie's mother...The same Charlie Strang that hands out fines for NASCAR.....

[B VALACHOVIC]

Charlie Strang at the 1963 Albany to New York Marathon.