I think Mr Pearl's first name was Doug
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I think Mr Pearl's first name was Doug
Since 1925, about 150 different racing outboards have been made.
Yes that would be Doug Pearl - OPC SJ Class and Homer Green - SJ and other OPC classes, both from FL.Originally Posted by Master Oil Racing Team
Both ran Mercurys.
Mark N
Yes Mark...the name Homer Green clicks, and Doug Pearl is kind of fuzzy. I could kick myself for just scratching out partial notes for jogging the memory about things to take care of right then back at home, and not for recalling what may happen at some distant point in the future. At that particular point in APBA history there was some turmoil. A younger group (the" Young Turks " as they billed themselves) ran for and won the top posts, OMC and Mercury were starting to run separate events, offshore pretty much took over the headquarters, and membership overall dropped drastically. The Propeller went to a folded tabloid published every three weeks. PPA was formed because many of the OPC racers felt that they were being short changed and had more to offer than they were getting in return. They wanted boat racing to be more like NASCAR, USAC and FIA in racing, promotion, publicity, appearance and prize money.
While going back over my notes to check out the beginning of 1979 I left out the fact that we also got out of 500 hydro at that time. We blew the powerhead in testing and sold the motor "as is" to Bill Troyer from Florida. I don't know that we really intended to get completely out of that class as it was one I really enjoyed also. Fast with lots of competition. Some earlier notes I had mentioned the next 500cc Konig Deiter built would not have a complete rotory valve housing as currently existed. The front housing with the shaft and gear would be the same, and it would be bolted directly to the block which served as the backside housing the valve itself. We ended up never getting one, and I don't recall ever seeing one of those. In any case, after 1978 we were out of that class as well.
The Year 1979
1979 started off bad with the Dallas Cowboys Superbowl loss to the Steelers 35-31 and continued to get worse. In February, thanks to Jimmy Carter, the Shah of Iran was ousted, in March the meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor occurred, in May the Soviets invaded Afgahnistan and John Wayne died in 1979. That was also the year Jimmy Carter was attacked by a swamp rabbit and hip hop music had its first commercial song.The Ixtoc I blew out in the southern Gulf of Mexico and to date is the largest oil spill that has ever occurred. Our beaches a little over an hour away were covered with oil and of course, as reported in the news at the time, we have never recovered from that disaster. There has never been another tourist seen on the beaches, another fish caught and no birds. The "South Padre Island Spring Break" is all a hoax and "Big "Oil" filmed all the action on some other beach.
That same year we had a radioactive spill in the ditch between our company, "Alice Specialty", and our neighbor which had a ruptured radioactive logging tool. Those same guys from 3 Mile Island came to our place to clean it up. Because we didn't have to go outside for any help, no news of the spill ever got out, but the spokesman said there was actually a greater quantity of radioactive material released into the environment at Alice, Texas than at 3 mile Island. Their stuff was mostly contained within the reactor. Maybe some day I will post the photos of that incident.
Debbie and I were still living in Denton while she continued her studies. The first race I went to was a Professional Powerboat Association race at Lake Charles. For some reason I don't think I did an article for Powerboat.
For the first time since it started in 1969 we missed the Joe Bowdler race in Baytown, which always kicked off the Lone Star season. We also skipped the Neches River Festival in Beaumont which follows a few weeks later. We were in the middle of promoting our first race to be held in Laredo, Texas at Lake Casablance. Steve Jones and I had made several trips there, including one in February during the George Washington celebration.
I had never heard of this event, but it was one of the biggest get togethers between Mexico and Texas and had gone on for decades. Big parties, unbelievable banquets, all topped off with an extravaganza of beauties in their expensive gowns. These evening gowns cost 10 to 20 thousand dollars each and after the event, they are put on display around Texas and Mexico. I guess some may be found at places like Neiman Marcus in Dallas. All the top officials from the Governor of Texas on down, and Governors of several Mexican states, Generals from the U.S. and Mexico, Ambassadors, ...and the list goes on. We attended these functions as guest of the Mayor of Laredo.
.......to be continued.
I realized too much time was running off the clock and tried to take a time out, but I was flagged.
The first race of the year we headed out for was the Eastern Divisionals in Acworth, Georgia in early June. We never began racing at that late of a date before. We intended to start out at 8 am then discovered the license plate on our trailer had expired. After a quick run to Alice and back we took off, only to discover all the hydraulic fluid had leaked out of our surge brakes and the trailer would slam back and pull when we took off, and slam into the hitch and push when we slowed down. So we went back to the house and spot welded it. We weren't loaded with all the boats and motors like we used to be so we decided we could make it OK.
After our first stop, it took us 15 minutes to get the Suburban going. There were again gas shortages all around the country and we decided to turn back. There were too many potential problems facing us and we decided it wasn't worth the hassle. We had a new set up for the rotary valve advance on the "D" that was not tested and Harry Pasturczak had built us an experimental "crossover manifold" that was untested. I can't for the life of me remember what that looked like, or how it was supposed to work. I think I must have misnamed it in the notes because we never actually had a crossover system built that was supposed to work with the venturi my Dad had invented. In any case, whatever it was had not yet been tested and it was a long drive for finding out whether or not something worked and if not go back to the regular setup and still be competitive. At that point we turned around and went home....yet to make our first race of the season.
The Crossover was an aluminum casting between the base of the "small bore" Carbs and the Rotary Valve outer Housing. It was about 3" tall and connected the Carbs together. I had one for my late '60 500 Konig. The holes in the Rotary Valve where opened up and squared some to increase Air flow. Didn't work very well for me!
Kurps
Last edited by Mark75H; 01-17-2008 at 12:15 PM.
It didn't work for us either Bill. Thanks for refreshing my memory. The crossover had me going because I forgot the manifold had a passageway connecting both carbs. At that same time we were working on a different type of fuel system that would actually boost air intake without any mechanical moving devices or "canned air" and part of it was based on a crossover link. We were going to pipe crankcase pressure from the bottom cylinders to the top carb assembly and vice versa with checkvalves in between. There was more to it than that, but that was the crossover portion of it.
I think I still have the front section of the rotary valve housing that matches up with the squared off part of the manifold. Unfortunately I don't have any test sheets to show what results we got, but I know we never raced with it. It is a little longer than you remembered Bill, but your description is accurate.
Wayne,
You got mud dobbers! Bad for water cooled engines
Had I known 1984 was going to be my peak year, I would have tried harder
E Pugh, Where were you in DePue
Eric,
Had a great time visiting with your family. Your Mom and Dad are just the same, especially your Mom's voice. Where were you and Nina? It could have been like old times with us picking on you!
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