8 cylinder Konig outboard

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I was wondering about those hills also, and I happened to luck upon the answer. I was going through and organizing a bunch of old magazines Johnny Dortch gave me and came upon the very photo Sam posted. It was at Moses Lake and I believe the year was 1957. It was Bob Carver who took the photo of Hu.

I also found in the pile the same program that Paul posted and additionally one from the 1963 NOA World also held at lake Spivey. The question is, which hear did the famous race take place? I'm thinking it was the 1964 race that Paul mentioned. Reason is, I saw the race on Wide World of Sports shortly before I started racing and that would put it in 1964. I will call Clayton and find out.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

The photo was the start of the race that the famous duel took place in 1963. It was aired on ABC in the spring of the following year. Now here's some bonus info. The 6 cyl merc on the cabover on the inside was driven by Raymond Jefferies. Clayton was driving Raymond's boat and they were both sponsored by Brady Marine out of San Antonio. Clayton had qualified everything but blew up all his motors and had only one boat that would float. Brady put Clayton in Raymond's boat and Raymond in the cabover. OF Christner loaned him a C which he finished second with in C hydro. In fact, Clayton had a good payday, but no championships---only seconds. After winning that first heat of F hydro, he jumped the gun in the second heat by about 6 inches.

ADD: Jeff....about the mystery driver--Joe wanted me to tell you that sometimes good detective work can do more than forensics. But I told him it was more like the Pink Panther....stumbling and bumbling onto the answer.

[Rog Dykehouse]

I just found this same picture Of Hu Entrop's spill in a June 1954 " Boat Sport" magazine where it stated that "He swam back to his boat, started the motor and came in third. He is from Seatle . The flip occured at Moses Lake, Wa."

The exact same picture was also published in the Summer of 1960 issue of
"Power Boat Quarterly" where their caption was: " The Hu of today doesn't do this, but the Hu Entrop of 1953 dug in his F hydro sponson. The boat spun, flinging Hu in upward arc of 40 feet before he hit the water. It seems unbelieveable , but Hu mangaged to swim back to the boat and finish third in the heat.

The pictures I have of Hu's rig during that time period show a modified four cylinder Mercury with open exhaust and no pipes. He was also using an additional rudder mounted on the transom and controlled by a tie rod from the rear of the motor.

I'll look for those pictures and post them. Rog Dykehouse

[Master Oil Racing Team]

You're right on the date Rog. It was 1963 that the spill took place on Moses Lake. I look forward to your other pics. BTW Rog, I found an article on the 1962 NOA Nationals at Michigan that you sent me the roster from. Maybe some future posts regarding that.

[oldalkydriver]

I remember receiving a letter from John Toprahanian while in Viet Nam late 1963. John explained the races as much as he could and sent a few pictures of my dad, Hu, Burt Ross and I think Glen Campbell. I don't believe my dad drove John's rig much after 1962. So it was either Glen or Craig Spencer.

I thought John told me it was Burt Ross on the inside in that photo, but is was most defenitly Mosses Lake, Washington. Everything else is a little fuzzy as that was not one of my best years.

Yes, Lake Spivey was a ball buster. My first out of California race where I didn't know anyone. I worked for Atlanta Dairies Ice Cream Divison and had just meant Ralph Donald. I believed he lived in Marrietta, Georgia at the time. I only raced 'A' Hydro one time as I blew my one and only engine. Sold the boat to someone from Alabama. I believe the race was late 65 or 66. The next time I saw Ralph Donald was at Alexandria in 1976. After Toprahanian had gone threw 3 drivers and engines, I told him about Ralph. Some place in my garage in Yuma, Arizona I have a picture of Ralph, whomever rode deck for him, John T. and myself just before the five minute gun for 'F' Runabout. When I return to the states, I'll find and post it.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

A Thanksgiving bonus for Mark Suter. I have gotten away with doing practically nothing so far today except chop some vegetables and make a pie crust. So Mark, here's some other angles of your 8 cylinder Konig. I happened to notice the unit when it was back lit and it appeared to be polished aluminum as all Konig units are instead of the blue that Dieter painted this one. I checked the date. All were FEB 74. So I went back to look at that one laying on the trailer. You can see after the test some of the blue also started coming off of the right side. These pics are of the first race for this motor.

[Mark Suter]

Wayne, these pics are great because they show so much detail. Thanks for finding and posting them. They will really help to make the motor more historically correct. The lower unit is currently black (not polished) but will be repainted blue along with the Fiat starters. The one pic clearly shows the coil pack and how it was mounted in the boat. Fortunately, they are the same coils and coil brackets that are still on the motor... they just have to be pulled off the top of the cylinder blocks and moved to the faux transom on the display stand. I already have decals for the sides of the top cover... they aren't an exact match for the ones in the pics but are very close. One thing that I did notice is that the original top cover was quite a bit bigger than the current cover (the current one had to be smaller to enable mounting the coils on top of the cylinder blocks). The cover shape has the same basic look as the original so I don't think I'll bother to remake that.

Many thanks again to you and all of the rest of the guys that have helped straighten me out on the history of this motor and what it should look like (and numerous other motors). If any of you are ever traveling through the Detroit area, be sure to look me up and stop in and see how this motor turned out and check out the rest of my collection.

[John (Taylor) Gabrowski]

I am just mesmerized at these monster engines turning up and being posted on this Outboard History section. I gather that there were quite a few out there that were tried in one configuration or another under different brands of powerhead manufacture. I am enjoying all the pictures and write ups. This is hopping to see more found and posted!

[Tomtall]

Well the Konig was restored to its original glory this past winter. Mark Suter appologized for having the wrong rotation prop on the engine for display during the fall AOMCI meet at his house. That's OK Mark it looks awesome!

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Great piece about Mark's Konig Tom. On the first pic you took it struck me that no serial number or model number was listed. No surprise...really, but I just never thought about that before. Two cylinder Konigs started with F, the fours with V...I never saw the serial number of the 6 three cylinder opposed (I never looked). I came across some info not long ago that I will send to Mark regarding the 8. His display is absolutely complete.