Originally Posted by
RonHill
I talked to Jeff Fritz today. (1961 "B" Stock Hydro National Champion).Jeff has two KG-4s, two 20-Hs and and a 30-H. He also has an "A", "B" and "C-D" Hydro... He was hoping there was a REAL museum that might want these. I told him, I didn't really know of a REAL Museum only collectors. I'm I right in my statement to Jeff?
Seems Jeff remember's the square nose "Bull Nose" Sid. of Bob Todd. He seemed to think that Bob did pretty well in BSH in 1962, in Guntersville, but he didn't think he'd won. I told him, "No Vern Kargus won "B" Hydro in 1962 with Monty Gibson second. Now, I remember Monty's prop because it was my best CU wheel. It was a Louie Bauman Kamic, that had made its was to Smith. Gibson ran a 1:1....For several reasons.
Monty and his father, in the spring of '62, were in a deadly car crash on the way to a race in Arizona. The accident resulted in Monty's dad's death. Monty was broken up very badly and wasn't expected to live. He had no living family, when he was released from the hospital, he moved in with us.
The accident had happend after he'd ordered a new 1962 Sid, and I want to say "SHORT SPONSON". His old Sid, the one we ran at the Kilos in the fall of '61, was what I called a '59 Sid, as it had a tapered cockpit with the low cowling. The '59 Sid, had like a 1/2 tunnel in the bottom and the bottom was actually made out of four pieces of plywood...
The new, '62 Sid that Monty had was a flat bottom and PROBABLY should have used a sponson fin, but my dad had been selling Sids for Sid and Mickey, and he didn't think A-B hydros needed a fin, as Jeff Fritz had won "B" hydro in '61 without a fin. The air traps went full length, but the last 9-10 of trap was even with the bottom. (The rear corner acted as a fin and I added this corner to my old Sid, as my brother's new Sid had the same traps on a C-D hydro).
Only a "DUMB" kid, recovering from life threatening injuries, probably could have run a 1962 Sid, no fin, with 1:1 gears, and almost win the Nationals...when guys like Vern Kargus were at the top of their game...and defending "B" Hydro Champion, Jeff Fritz, was 4th with Bob Tod or Todd, maybe third...
Jeff Fritz finished third in "A" hydro with a 1962 SHORT SPONSON "A" only boat. I don't really know when Sid made SHORT SPONSON boats...But Jimbo's "D" Hydro was the first Short Sponson I ever saw, and his boat was new in late 1963 or early '64.
I bought my last Sid "D" hydro from Stan Armstrong at Beaver Falls, PA, at the 1965 Nationals, it was like Jimbo's (11 foot, not 10' 6") but had "LONG" sponsons...(about 3 inches longer)...
From what I remember, few could make the corners with a Short Sponson Sid..They were rockets off the corner, great up top...just the corners.
I had Ted may's 1961 Sid, and witha "D" it would go 72 MPH, my new 11 foot Armstrong Sid, would run 76...with a "D" Runabout wheel...until I blew that motor...
So, bottom Line ....With Monty living with us, we never really thought he'd be able to race at the Nationals...So, we never considered getting him gears and props.
ADD: Smittythewelder: "Including Mike Raich, who set a competition record, and Tom O'Neal". I may be wrong here. But Mike Raich and Tom O'Neal Sid were NOT short sponson Sids. Seems I saw them run at the 1960 Beloit Nationals. They are the ones that I Claim hurt CAB OVER RACING as their Sid Crafts were so much faster that any "MONKEY ON A STICK" Cabover...But cab over could get over rough water and they were fun and EASY, per se, to drive...
Seems, I have this memory in my mind of Mike Raich (Seemed they called him RASH in Beloit...) had a light blue decked Sid with the dark wood Sid used in the earier boats. Seems like he got a first turn wreck and ripped the inside sponson off but he ran the whole first heat with like no sponson fin and really no sponson, just a deck flapping in the wind...andIt seems he may have finsihed second tow Wild Bill Holloway from Michigan, running a Sid with no sponson fin...tunnel bottoms didn't need fins was the work on the steet...
Seems Tom O'Neal won the second heat....But Holloway won as Raich didn't make it back out for the second heat...The 1960 Nationals were the only time I saw Mike and Tom run, but I follwed them in the Proepller Magazine and knew they broke several "D" records which didn't surpise me.. My "facts" from Beloit, 1960, 46 years ago, may be anything but true...but I will bet, neither were short sponson Sid Carfts.....
ADD: Tom O'Neal and Mike Raich...They both had white 55-H's, call '58 55-H's and I was thinking at the time maybe they had something special in those blocks, as we had just built a "Three Screw" port cover block, same as the '58 55-H's had, and my dad was so "High" on this motor he sent it to Beloit without us ever testing it... I won the first heat, and lead the five restarts in "DU"... Once we got home, we realized these blocks were no real secret.....So, I don't know why O'Neal and Raich were so fast except they did have Sid Craft boats when few had them....
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