UIM World Championship Results

[Miss BK]

Does anyone know how to contact Bill Rucker Jr. to find out what Bill Sr. ran in OF?

Bill Jr.'s son-in-law is a member of this board. I'll PM him, as I know Bill's daughter Kim will probably know the answer.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

That would be another piece of the puzzle for Mike's soon to be completed project. Val, I don't know if you saw an earlier request from Mike for some results of a UIM race in the OPC classes that took place in the U.S. Maybe you might help dig up that info for him.

[carl lewis]

Wayne,
From my memories of that race Bill Sr. was running his usual F boat, my guess would be a Marchetti with the 6 merc on the back. it could have been a Sid but my $ would be on Marchetti.
Another memory of that race was the German F boat with the 6 Konig started in the water,I remember him shutting down on the front chute waiting for the clock to start down and then making a run to the clock.

I dont know where all my pics are of that race but I remember the swede's having a new boat, maybe a yale or Butts. they had a flag from their country on the cowling.
That was many years ago now and ill try to find my pics for you

Carl 94-R

[Master Oil Racing Team]

...then I looked at my B&W pics. I had color photos of Bill testing what I think is a DeSilva with an OMC on it, but I have B & W photos of the race with him chasing Hans, but with a different boat and motor. The pits were set too far back from the race course to get decent shots, but with this computer I can enlarge a negative with much better clarity than on my enlarger. Maybe I'll try that. I hope you can find your pictures. It would be good if you could find one of the boat that Leif Ahlborg ran.

You're right about Hans' starting procedure. They lift and start the motor in the pits, Then Hans would drive to a spot he selected, kill the engine and wait until so many seconds were left on the clock. Then he would fire up his Konig and make the start. It came in handy at Phoenix where milling is tough.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

1977 UIM World Championships class OD were held at Eastwood Lake
Dayton, Ohio July 16 & 17, 1977. Participating countries were
USA Canada Belgium West Germany Austria. The safety committee decided they would allow 14-16 boats.

14 started

1 Tim Butts Romeo, Michigan Konig/Butts 1025pts

2 Wayne Baldwin Sandia, Texas Konig/Butts 925

3 Jerry Kirts Elkhart, Indiana Konig/Butts 900

[Master Oil Racing Team]

....by the time I get through I'm logged out. So please excuse the handwriting.

Note: The Konig hull listed in OB results is probably a private labe boat built by Bernie Danisch in East Berlin. He built the top of the line "Propriders", and I know he built boats for Dieter. I never saw anyplace where Konig built boats. This is my opinion only, but I think it is a Danisch with a Konig sticker. Maybe Ralph Donald or Steve Litzel can clarify this.

[Donald]

Wayne, I sure am glad you kept all of this information. Yes, Dieter did build boats for awhile. I should say he hired someone to build them for him. I had one in my basement that I stored for Dieter's nephew along with Hans Krage's boat that they used at Phoenix. I drove it one time, and that was my first time laying down. I did't like it then, but after I drove a Dannish at Oberhafel with a 500 I was hooked. I could't believe how it went over that rough water. I have recently brought my Dannish to Naples that Dieter bought for me in 1984 to run at Nottingham. I used it for eight years, the last time at the 500WC in Brandenburg. Hope to see you get active again.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I didn't have anything to save about Dieter's boats, so I am grateful you had the knowledge to add.

The Oberhavel is tough. Barges and other traffic passes off to the side during races. I had raced at Spandau twice before and had Tim build me a boat that could run there. We tested it several times during the winter when northers blew through. It was amazing how the sponson design would hit the waves with a pounding force and soften the blows without any tendency for the transom to bound off the waves.

We shipped that boat to Berlin for the 1978 OD World Championships, but we never raced it. The swells were huge. That was my only experience on the Havel. How was it when you raced there? The Danisch propriders are great boats for those courses. Deep sponsons and angles that will kill the waves, and when you are ready to back off for a turn you can charge in, dump the throttle and it will slow very quickly. Then with the light weight you can be back up flying down the straightaway in short order.

I will post some of the photos of racing in Germany and Austria one of these days. I hope you will dig out some of your photos too Ralph.

One other thing---Ron....I've been wondering,...when you won in Berlin did you race on the Oberhavel or where?

[Jeff Lytle]

I remember seeing a story somewhere about you racing in Germany. The photo I remember was showinh you guys uncrating the shipping crate the boat was shipped in.

What was that from? Powerboat?

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Yeah Jeff. That was the September 1978 issue of Powerboat. We tested that boat and it worked good in the rough water on our lake, but not in Berlin. I made a mistake on the place we raced. It was on the Tegel, not Oberhavel. We paid to ship the boat to Berlin and when we arrived at Berlin Dieter told us how much the freight cost him. The freight company collected from both ends. My Dad told Dieter he should have called us first, we would never ship anything to him COD. Anyway, my Dad reimbursed Dieter and figured it shouldn't be any problem to straighten it out when we got back. Unfortunately, we got home to find out that the company filed bankruptcy while we were in Berlin.