Byers' race boats

[jimmy robb]

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A photo I took at Dayton this year of struts on a FE.

THe Struts on my 2007 Giles FEH are there to make the rear of boat stronger. This is the rig that Eric Vanover won FEH Champingship this year at Zanssville. Funny thing about my boat being included in this thread about Byers Hydros is the name of this boat is Mean Red 6 My dad had Dick byers bulid him a DMH/EMH in 1967 and he raced for the next 15 years and it was first Mean Red boat. My dad alway loved his Byers.

Bud Parker won his last race in DMH in that same Byers at Lake Odeasa MI around 1982.

Jim
7-M

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Those struts look just about exactly like the first ones Tim Butts put on our boats Jimmy. I can't tell exactly, but the way the highlights and shading are, it appears to have curvature on the upper surface. The apparent thinning of the mount on the cockpit toward the trailing surface make it look like an airfoil. It may not be, but it sure looks like one from the photo. In any case, they do give strength, especially with a heavy motor pushing hard through the turns.

One thing to be clear about is that the rear airfoils that Tim built were in no way like that over the transom of the unlimiteds. Before the rules were changed Tim Chance built a boat with one one each side of his transom that were like the unlimiteds. They lifted straight up. There is a thread somewhere around here where he described what happened. The vertical lift was like making the back end of the boat running on ball bearings. He backed off and came back to the pits and removed them from his boat. The ones Tim Butts made had very little vertical lift. Mounted at a 45 degree angle, they lifted perpendicular to the wing surface and the object was to get a little tail lift, but more than that....stability due to both airfoils pulling in opposite directions. It is similar to the Bonanza airplanes that had two v shaped stabilizers at the tail and no vertical stabilzer (rudder) to control left and right. The V shaped design allowed to raise and lower the tail as well as steer left and right.

I must say Jimmy that that is a really cool looking rig.

[jimmy robb]

Wayne,

Bill Giles has put struts on the last 3 FEH that he has bulit for me. But for this boat I wanted larger Struts/Wings than what he did for the other boats. Than saw on this web site a photo of one of your Butts boats and I e mailed it to bill and said thats what I wanted and yes it does look like a wing front to rear.

My dad was one of the first guys to get a Butts Pickle Fork Hydro to run modified division DMH/EMH in 1972 or 1973 back when Tim lived back in MT Clemens MI. It was real fast boat but he could not get it to control very well. It was one of best looking wood finished boats that I have ever seen. If I can find a photo of it I will post it.

Thanks for the complement on Mean Red 6 I will try to photo of the whole boat.

Jim
7-M

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Tim's boats were beautiful Jimmy. We learned during the days of runabouts that those furniture quality wood finishes of the DeSilva's would not stand up to the sun and heat of South Texas. We did run the first Butts Aerowing for a year though before we had to do a solid top coat of paint. You guys up North could race with fantastic 3D ribbons of wood grain finishes.

I would be very interested to know what the handling characteristics of your Dad's boat were. At that time, Tim was just starting to build boats for classes other than those he ran and there was probably a lot of back and forth input, plus guesswork on where to go with the design. I would appreciate any comments you may have on what you remember the handling problem was and I will run it past Tim. I haven't talked to him in a while anyway and he was fired up after the reunion. So I will probably have to sharpen my pencil.

Post as pic of Mean Red 6, and if you by any chance have one of your Dad's old Butts, post that as well.

[Allen J. Lang]

Jim- Isn't the Byers your Dad had built and Bud ran his last race with now in the collection of Mark Suter with a Parker Modified D? Bud told me he liked the boat. I was glad to see Bud and Tim at the Constantine meet before Bud's passing.

[Tomtall]

Al - If your talking about this one your standing beside at Marks meet it is a "Yale" Hull.

[jimmy robb]

Allen,

The Yale you saw at Mark Sutters was Buds boat that I used to race when I was in high school Bud bought the boat from John Yale it was one of his own race boats as I rember it was built to run Super C hydro with a Cresent. Bud and my dad drove out east in the middle of winter to pick it up in like 1978 maybe. I rember it getting damaged at the 1979 Mod Nats. in Ravenswoods WV. The yale was not raced again untill Dale Ropp repaired it and took it to Ceader Rapids IA Nats. in 1980 for Bud to run. When the Boat there it needed to rigged it was a mess, Bud and I rigged it and Bud tested and like it alot my dad took it out with Dmod (40ci) and liked so well he asked Bud if he could run it in EMH and of course Bud let him.

Jim
7-M

[Allen J. Lang]

Tom and Jim- Just remember that the older you get, THE MIND is the first to go!!!! Jim, haven't seen you in many years since the AOMC meet in Pikney,MI meet in the middle of winter. You, young Jim and Rich Welch showed up. Young Jim was getting started in racing. He sure has moved up through the classes over the years. Miss those MI days and miss talking with Bud.
Tom, look what you have to look forward to with Adam as he just might move up through the stock ranks. I understand that Rich Welsh moved into the 45SS class for cockpit time.
Ye Olde Desert Geezer Al

[Danny Pigott]

Jimmy In 1973 At The APBA Mod Nats. In Ala. The Bottom Failed In My D/E Boat. Here I Was With No Boat To Run EMH That I Had Made The Field. In.I Saw That Your Dad Had Two Byers EMH Boats. I Ask Him If He Would Sell One,He Said I Could Have Them Both He Was Mad At Both Of Them. I Did Not Take 7M Which Was His Reg. Boat I Took 78M I Had Never Seen It Before.I Finished 3nd In That Race With That Boat. I Later Won Three APBA Nats Championships With This Byers Hydro It Was A Great Boat I Stll Have It Today. In 1977 I Bought A New Butts I Still Have It Also.That Is Another Story. Your Dad Was One Of The Great People That I Meet In Racing. I Would Love To Talk To Him . He Always Wanted That Boat Back.

[jimmy robb]

Danny,

My dad has told that story some many times about how you got that Byers. I rember that boat very well. Send me a e-mail with you phone # and I will get it to my dad he would love to talk to you Iam sure. He now lives in Elpaso TX. My email is meanred4@msn.com

Jim
7-M