F Runabout the "THUNDERING HERD", Always More Fun With Two in the Boat

My dad built a "Short Rod" F Motor for himself in 1953. My brother was racing C Racing Runabout and my dad thought he'd like an F Hydro. My dad bought a conventional Step Bottom DeSilva from Ray Harris who had bought a new C-D-F-X Swift Hydro. My dad saw his boat and ordered one like it.

Well, my brother wasn't doing well in the runabout so my dad decided to put him in C Hydro. George Peak was a patternmaker and also owned an aluminum foundry. He built my brother a copy of a Banjo Neal hydro. Built it out of one tree. Great boat, really!

My brother got drafted into the Army and my dad sold his F to Chuck Parsons.

Ernie Dawe and I raced F Runabout at Bakerfield, 1963. We raced may Marathon boat and a 44 cubic inch gas burner my dad had laying around. Erie road "Piggy Back" we got to the first turn first, with 11 4-60's behind hind us. We made it through the heat, but Ernie wouldn't go out the second heat.

I never raced F Runabout again til 1967 when I drove Harry Bartolomei's 75-H by Quincy to a competition record. I later ran my "D" Konig in F Runabout 6-8 times and won every race, but I was "KICKED OUT" because me motor was too small.