Albany to New York

[Beale Tilton]

John,
Was the Albany to NYC race your Dad ran in '65 by chance. I was there three times and that was the worse. When we rounded West Point I wondered if we had missed Ft. Lee and headed into the Atlantic. We finished second in FE running a flat bottom 13' Allision. If I had been smarter we could have won. Earlier in the race we passed the class winners Mike Quale and the late Herman Haggerman.
That's the only race I ever ran that I received a certificate from the state for completion.
What year did a certain college boy from Califorina brag the night before how fast he was going to run the river in a flat bottom DeSilva?

[Beale Tilton]

1964 I believe was calm. I wasn't there, but I believe that was the year Ted March won FH and Bob Halstead won FI both in flat bottom Allisons.

[Ted March]

1964 Al Wood, 1st FI
Bob Halstead 2nd FI
Ted March DNF FH broke at Poughkeepie while leading

1965 Ted March 1st FH

1966 Ted March 2nd FH

All flat Bottom Allisons

[Ted March]

We ran Albany - New York 1964, 1965 & 1966.

In 1964 we lead everyone just before Poughkeepsie (halfway) They used a staggered start. E, F & H 1st wave, I second wave, JJ last wave). I don’t remember the handicaps. Smooth as glass the whole trip. Broke down right at Poughkeepsie, DNF. Al Wood won I with Alex Clark and Bob Halstead was second in I. Forget who rode with him, maybe Jack Fournier. We ran a 15'2" Allison. Al and Bob ran the new 15'6" Allisons Paul introduced at the 1964 Orange Bowl. 15"2 with a 4" add on nose to make 15"6' legal length.

In 1965 the Hudson was the roughest water I've ever seen, anywhere. Smooth at the beginning, but somewhere before West Point it became an ocean. We fell off a wave coming around West Point that felt like it was two stories high. The boat twisted so hard that the side cracked vertically in two places. We won FH that year in the same 1964 flat bottom Allison. Al Wood ran a new 16' JJ Allison and smoked all of them till he ran a ground on a sandbar. Don Rabay (sp) won JJ and overall. To quote Don in the NY Times "like roller skating on a railroad track".

In 1966 the Hudson was I guess, typical. Smooth at the top and rough from West Point to the finish, although not near as rough as 1965. We lead FH until Haverstraw Bay which was the roughest par of the race. This is where Bill Combs passed us with his new 16' V Bottom Checkmate and won FJ. We ran second in FH with thee same old 1964 flat bottom Allison.

In 1967 Allison built 2 new V bottoms. A 14 footer was outstanding with everything from 65 through a GT115. And a 16 footer for FI & FJ. I bought a 16 footer to run the Hudson in FH in 1967 and they cancelled the race. They ran the race one more time. New York (Ft. Lee, NJ) to Albany and back to New York. We missed that one.

Best race on the East Coast.

[Beale Tilton]

Here's my story
The 1965 Hudson River Marathon was only my second APBA race. Ran a flat bottom Allison 13 footer in FE. The water was calm at the beginning except for the wake we kept running into from the TV boat recording the race. Finally I figured where the waves were coming from and ran straight up his wake almost to his stern and peeled off to the right. That airborne shot made the final cut and was part of the show they broadcast. Can't remember which network ran the show. Somewhere prior to West Point we made a stop to throw our fire extinguisher to I believe a H boat that had an engine fire. After that we passed Mike Quayle and Herman Haggerman in Mike's Norris Craft. Herman signaled we were running first in class.
After West Point it became super rough. I remember we were catching Reese DeLoranzo's FF Glasstron Jetflight and sometimes he would disappear between waves. After being severely beat up and figuring we were last we stopped in a floating dry dock on the Jersey side. Here we emptied our spare gas into the tank, had a smoke. While there two guys walked up, we asked how far to NYC. Their reaction was"in that".
When we exited the dry dock we saw Bill and Mike Downard still racing so we decided it wasn't over yet. Made it to Ft.Lee second in class. Inexperience cost us the race.

!966 took the same Allison to Albany. This was to be our last race in the boat because it was supposed to be sold. When we arrived in Albany and found that Mercury was awarding a 3hp engine to the E class winner instead of the 50 hp as the preceding year we elected not to run. Bummer.

The next time I ran the Hudson was the year the race was from Ft. Lee to Albany and return. (wasn't this '67) This was my first and only time I ran as a co-driver. I was riding with Bill Cochran in his 13 ft. E & T FE boat. For what ever reason we were junk heading north. On the return everything hooked up and we were picking up boats one after the other. Bill took the bungee cord and wrapped it around the control box locking us at full throttle. At one point we were eating apples and laughing as we tossed the cores to a FI Sportcraft on one side and a FJ Sportcraft on the other side. A FE running with a FI and FJ. The fun stopped when we encountered a 14 foot trough. Filled the boat to the point water was running out over the transom. Luckily the engine kept running and the boat bailed out. Again Bill tied the throttle down. Not too long after that we went through another wave, the engine stopped, we filled with water. A nice couple on the way to Canada in their cruiser came to our rescue and towed us in to ???. We pulled the boat up onto a railway walked across the street, called race headquarters to report our position and ordered pizza. My first and last time as co-driver.

I miss that race.

[T2x]

Hey Beale:

Were your Allisons called "Super Pickle" or was that someone else?

The Hudson River Marathon was probably the greatest OPC race of all time. It had everything as John said. How fast were you at the start.... How big were your cojones at the finish...... How much linament and fiberglass mat did you need the following day??

T2x

[Beale Tilton]

The 13 footer Allison was owned by Bob Magee and named after his wife,"Miss Liz". Had the FE Kilo record with that in '65.
The 14 foot (?) Allison, Super Pickle, was mine. Bill Edwards ran it in U Class. Super Pickle II was my 15" Sport J E & T tunnel. Followed by a long line of Super Pickle RC boats.

[Ron Hill]

Beale and others...

I ran the Hudson River race in 1967, and it was in my 17 foot Glastron, with two in the boat....

I started out leading, the Berghauers came "blowing by" in a Style Craft Cat....Hanging quite cool in the GLASS WATER.... I looked at my co-driver, who, I don't know if I ever knew his name, and gave him an order to get in the back, by pointing my thumb, like I was hitch hiking...

He jumped out of the seat, and put his *** right on the transom between my two X-115 Evinrudes....we picked up speed and we blew past Dewey and Deny....Dewey's EYES got about as big as saucers, as he was riding and he knew Deny was going to tell him to MOVE BACK, and they were alreadying riding on the last 6 inches of bottoms, of course, no power trim....

Dewey and Deny coming rolling back by us....Dewey's got this BIG BERGHAUER GRIN, saying, "Like, OK, what you going to do now, Hill?" About then, the power pack went out on one motor and that was the end of my race....

That same year, I drove a DeSilva Runabout at Canton, OHIO at the OPC Nationals, but never recall telling anyone anything except, this thing is faster than I want to go and it won't turn in a 40 acre field...

As far as 1965...Freddy Hauenstein and I were the only two COLLEGE kids from California....AND knowing Freddy as I know Fred, he'd never brag....Now, me, I always liked to BRAG after the fact....

So....No "HOT SHOTS" from California with a DeSilvas were ever at the 1965 Hudson River race...As Freddy's first OPC race was Havasu 1967...And my first OPC race was Havasu, 1966....

Here is a picture, dater Sept 1967, of the 1967 Hudson River Marathon Winner, DiPetro-Kay..on an Eltro hull...

Here is Freddy Hauenstein, at Havasu 1968, though the boat has my name and they say it is me...This Souther would be my first choice for a Hudson River Marathon boat...NO FLAT BOTTOMS for me!!!

It's OK, I'm not mad!!!!

[T2x]

Here is a picture, dater Sept 1967, of the 1967 Hudson River Marathon Winner, DiPetro-Kay..on an Eltro hull...

That's not an Eltro.... John De Pietra, from Covington, KY ran a cut down fibreglass Vee hull, a Glassmaster or Duo or something like that.... called "The Blazer"...... It had a custom wood deck from the factory and I only saw one other like it a few years ago on Long Island.

The boat had nothing to do with Eltro.....

T2x

[Ron Hill]

Did Freddy Hartman have an Eltro???

Keep me honest here!

ADD: I watched the finish of the race and thought,'This is a cool boat...No wonder she won..." That was why I took that picture...