Is this a Karlsen Hydro like Dick O'Dea's?
Is this a Karlsen Hydro like Dick O'Dea's?
Last edited by Ron Hill; 02-24-2009 at 12:10 AM.
Here is a pic of Dick O'Dea and Bill McEvoy from the reunion at DePue.
I don't remember when Dick O'Dea stopped running stock outboard boats, or when he stopped racing "alkies"- it must have been some time in the 60's...maybe early 70's. It must have been at the Lowell, MA race site when I remember seeing him in his "awards jacket". As a kid, I looked up to many of those great racers who raced in Massachusetts- Larry Castagneto, Bill Giles, Ken Rosado..... Dick O'Dea was a great driver who occasionally drifted through our region. I was a young kid then, but Dick's jacket and what it represented left a lasting impression on me. His jacket, as I remember it, had the APBA "US" patches starting at the top of the sleeve (one below the other) and ran down to his wrist- on BOTH sleeves! You see, I would have done anything to win anything that was big! My realistic view of the world told me that I was destined to be one of the thousands of drivers over the years who would participate in outboard racing and never really accomplish anything. I wouldn't win even one of the items that Dick had so proudly displayed on his jacket!
Should I say DECADES later? Well eventually I was able to win a number of really special races and awards. I always remembered that jacket and all those patches.... then I made my own jacket! It was similar to Dicks jacket, only I have to admit not quite as "full" as Dick's jacket was. Isn't it funny how certian things in our childhood can continue to influence our thoughts when we get older? I have my jacket... and in practice I rarely wear it. It seems as though there is always something else to wear that is close at hand.
I was wondering if this is the same Dick O'Dea that was or neighbor on Greenwood Lake. I know that we had a Dick O'Dea about 7 houses down from us and that he too was a racer at the same time my dad was. My father knew him but I only met him twice. If so all our neighbors were in love with us!!!!! Between an SK boat and a race outboard we were far from quiet. Had to test the boats someplace right!!!!!!!!
I thought someone would answer this...But an O'Dea from Jersey that played with boats....Seems it would be RKO, Richard K. O'Dea as in RKO Radio!...
Dick O'Dea kilo boat wasa Karleson, I think...The other boat in question is a Ron Jones ....
Pretty sure this is Bob Piper of Garden Grove, California... I saw this boat in the Strawberry Festival Parade many times in GG. I doubt that Bob Holloway ever kneeled in this boat...If I run arcoss Bob, I'll ask him...But this is Bob Piper for sure!
Hi Ron,
I was thinking of you the other night while searching Google about old time unusual
boat racing sites. Maybe some of the readers would know about the 3 listed below.
1-A quarry of some type in PA where Hank Bowman and others ran night time boat races under lights. Alky hydros after WW2. I heard of this site, never saw it, Craig and Shannon may know about this?
2-Seekonk Speedway,MA . Speedway is bowl shaped (still is there), About 1950 speedway was flooded with 12ft. of water and stock outboard races were held there.
I went and watched 1 time, A driver by the name of Tommy Von Mello won some races as I remember. I also remember if you ran on the outer edge of the course you could knock your lower unit off on the track pavement.
3-Danbury Speedway, Danbury CONN. after WW2, built a moat around the race car track for boat racing. The speedway had a number of boats built using Crosley engines for very small inboard race boats. I never saw a boat race there, but heard from friend about the boat races. Also heard a midget race car ended up in the moat one evening?
Best,
Dick
Neshaminy Hydrodome ... near where the bowling alley is near Neshaminy Mall in PA, north of Philly. Was actually a gravel pit off the creek that they dug a trench in and flooded.
Since 1925, about 150 different racing outboards have been made.
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