MilesMaster Boat

[David Alaniz]

Once we found the secret she became very fast.

[tthibodaux]

What was the class name back then??

[Zonker1]

What was the class name back then??

Looks like "S" or "U" class Gotta luv the slacks! Polyester no doubt.
That was back when I had hair as well.

Was the Miles wood? Did it come from Mercury as well?

Zonker1

[David Alaniz]

Looks like "S" or "U" class Gotta luv the slacks! Polyester no doubt.
That was back when I had hair as well.

Was the Miles wood? Did it come from Mercury as well?

Zonker1

I remember the class as "U", unlimited. As for the slacks.....dig them! My coveralls were out of commision that day.

The Miles was wood. It did come from Mercury being shipped into the Port of Houston where it was picked up. Actually two came in....the other was for Freddy Bradshaw. Hiram Micke had recieved a white Molinari that won Havasu. We helped each other out in setting up the boats.

Freddy's was fast out of the box. Ours needed tweeking. But once we figured it out they were both evenly matched and out running the Molinari. Later some politics was involved and Freddy had to swap with Hiram. Both of those boats never ran the same again. After the Galveston race Mercury actually wanted Freddys Miles back. Oh yea, that didn't go over good.

[WharfRat]

dang David, probably met you back then, was always around Tommy & Flo Hathaway, Rick Clausen, Dave Pierce, Red Adair & Hiram as well...among others the cobwebs won't let me remember

[BrianSmith]

I drove with Cantek Racing in Toronto in the early 70's. Over the period we dad 4 \Miles boats and they were great....very fast as you know. Merc didn't like it much as they had their committment with Molinari.

[T2x]

Here's the "other" one, the Bradshaw boat that was pulled back by Mercury due to "politics"......( Me I guess).

It was the worst P.O.S. I ever drove. It had "Hard" chines ( perfect for barrel rolling in a choppy turn ( I did that at Picton)....and it had a "lope" that didn't go away until you reached about 95........ if you caught a gust on the "up" stroke....This happened.

T2x

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Wow! You gave those little boys on the bank quite a show. And look at the guy in the white T shirt with his arms in the air. I wouldn't have the guts to push a boat with a lope to that speed.

[T2x]

Wow! You gave those little boys on the bank quite a show. And look at the guy in the white T shirt with his arms in the air. I wouldn't have the guts to push a boat with a lope to that speed.

I'd like to say it was guts. In truth it was a combination of stubborness (I'm German/American and it comes with the territory) and my mediocre ,yet dramatic, driving style. By the way The flip occurred right at the finish line........ I actually got points for that mishap...

T2x

[T2x]

The Rest of the story.....

As you can see there was a bit of a steep bank alongside that course.....

The impact knocked me woozy....... and I wound up floating toward shore. One of the officials shouted out "Don't move until the medics take a look at you!". In my semi lucid state I studiously obeyed....... When the rescue boat arrived, a 16' aluminum, flatbottomed, john boat with about a 10 hp outboard on the back and 2 eager, panicky, volunteers on board, I had already floated into about 18" of water about 20 feet from shore. The guy in the bow pointed frantically in my direction and the guy in the stern, who apparently couldn't see me, followed his directions perfectly, and wound up placing the boat........right on top of my chest and legs. At that point they jumped in the water and one of them observes "He must be seriously hurt....he's not moving!" (see instruction from official above).

Finally I was placed in a stokes stretcher, and 4 or 5 emt's and volunteers started to carry me up the bank to an ambulance at the top. This wound up being a keystone cops adventure as they kept slipping and sliding and the stretcher, acting like a bobsled, repeatedly slipped back down the incline. At about this point, I snapped out of my daze, and asked them to unstrap me. I got out of the stretcher, led the group in getting it up the hill, got back into it......and got some oxygen and a trip to the hospital as a reward. Sprained shoulder, dislocated hip, and a broken coccix (which I have to this day...... plus a trophy for second place......

You can't make this stuff up.

T2x