Jimbo McConnell--The Wizard of OZ

[tthibodaux]

Man this looks like fun.

[Ron Hill]

Funny, I only raced in Miami Marine Stadium twice, though I was there three times.

In February, 1972, there was a 225 Mile Marathon scheduled in the Miami Marine Stadium. My wife worked for TWA, at the time and when OMC asked me to drive, we flew down on another airlines, that I can't remember its name, but has long gone broke, but we flew for free...

My wife's parents wintered in Florida, so they came up to the race...As I recall, it was one of those three or four day weekends that teachers get because of dead presidents... So, on Thursday.....I had learned...ask John Schbert, that the guys who got there early, got the good stuff....The later you got to the races, the more junk you got....

Anyway, the boat I WAS ASSIGNED by ANN STRANG...I mean Jack Leek, was Jimbo's Havasu Scotti (black and white)....I went out in this Scotti, and having never been in it before (Oh...I carried my own Keller with me in those days...as the guys now carry a GPS)...And after a lap or two, I saw speeds I'd never seen...Of course, I came in and lied to Leek at what I saw, but I loved the BOAT....

Of course, I never tell anyone what I'm thinking.....So I make it clear to Jimbo that I will win this race.....no questions asked....

Well about Friday the wind starts to blow....We put the boat in and I make a lap or two....I tell Mouse, this boat and I will win this weekend...Trust me, Mouse, I say...

In the bar, Billy Seebold tells me he's putting on a race in St. Louis (First St.Louis Gran Prix) and he wants to pay $25 a lap for the leader, like Indy and Parker....(In those days they paid lap money for lap leaders at Parker)...

I tell Seebold I'll take $200 worth of lap money, because I told him I was going to win this weekend....that this Scotti "KICKED ***"...

Funny, I had never realized that Coconuts grew on trees in Florida...(California has tons of palm trees, but never any coconuts) I assumed they grew somewhere else. My father-in-law and I went to the Miami Boat Show and we were crossing the street to go back to our car...and this coconut falls off a tree and hits the ground with a "THUNK"....I mean it missed his head by about six inches....

My father-in-law looked at me....We both said, "Hell, if it hit you, it would have killed you..." No bull here!!!


Anyway, the damn storm came through and they never ran the race....


Three weeks later is Parker...I called Freddy Hauenstein and tell him we'll win Parker...Oh, I forgot to add, Jimbo was going to run a black and yellow Molinari at Miami...See my Avaitar....As that Scotti "ROCKS"....I tell Freddy...


Well, when I get to Parker.....The Black and White Scotti had number 191 on it...OMC did run 1st and second....but Freddy and I drove the YELLOW and Black Molinari (We got second)........Damn near makes up for me selling Jimbo's Indian Head Nichols...

[Ron Hill]

I called Jimbo and told him I wanted to come over, Saturday morning, and talk about Jack Leek....We started at 9 A.M. and talked until 9 P.M. John Stoker stopped by and we talked other stuff besides Jack for awhile, but Jimbo and I decides we'd leave Thursday and drive up and go to Jack Leeks's Memorial Services...

Here are some pictures I took at Jimbo and Cathy's house...Cathy didn't yell at me this time...Jimbo did get a briefcase or two out and showed me some pictures I'd die to post, but he's still holding out...

Jimbo's wall. John Stoker... and some pictures of Jimbo...

[Ron Hill]

Jimbo and I spent last Saturday talking about Jack Leek (March 17, 2007)...Jimbo is half Irish and half Cherokee Indian...We came close to missing one of the Irish's favorite day... Lucky for us, we could talk and celebrate St. Patrick's Day...at the same time!

Jimbo's voice isn't as strong as it used to be, he speaks in a loud whisper..he is able to breath pretty well...something the doctors worried about for many years after his accident...in 1985.

Jimbo would start a story about Jack, then get to laughing so hard, and before he finished the first story, like Ronnie Hill, he was off to the next story....I will try to tell his stories as he told them to me...as I laughed all day...

1967: (fourty years ago, this November)...Unlike me, where Jack Leek was a house hold word....of which was held in high esteem. Jimbo had never heard the word "Jack Leek" and when he was told to go to Havasu, to find Mr. Leek, he didn't know Jack's first name, as he'd forgotten what it was...

Jimbo said he showed up at Havasu on Wednesday before Thanksgiving Thursday, and saw what looked like some race boats... Jimbo was driving a milk truck in those days, and had had to make a milk delivery to Claypools in Havasu, so he figured he could meet Mr. Leek, test the boat and get back to work...

Jimbo said he left the diesel milk truck running as to not let the milk spoil, he was wearing cowboy boots, Levi's with milker's chaps (Leather things that keep milk off your Levi's)..flannel shirt (It was November, and the desert can get cold)...a cowboy hat, with a big Indian feather sticking out of the band...

He walks up with his Mrs. Hill blue and white life jacket, Bell helmet with his "BUBBLE" shield in his hand and says, "Is there a Mr. Leek here?" Everyone looked at each other trying to figure where this "COWBOY came from...and who did he want to see??? Jack Leek???

Mr. Leek said, "I'm Jack Leek." Jimbo says, "I'm here to drive your boat." Jimbo says Jacks looked him, like ONLY JACK LEEK could and he didn't say anything, but it was like, as Jimbo said, "What the hell did Russ Hill send me??"

Anyway, Jimbo starts to get the boat, and Leek won't let him in with cowboy boots...They argue, Jack finally said, "Just don't step on the decks with them, or you'll fall through"... Jack says, "Now go out and get use to the boat, take it easy, drive as long as you want....but don't put too much time on the motor"A line Jimbo will hear many times in the next 18 years...

Jimbo came back and said he'd gotten almost 70 MPH, which he figured later, Ray Nydahl had gotten and told Jack...They changed gearcase and prop. The rig would only go 67, but Jimbo told Jack he really liked that gearcase and prop and the way it handled...(The boat was a Schultz, and Dieter had raced it in Paris, and had actully pulled out of Paris because he said the water was too rough)....... Jack then explained that in four hours, 3 MPH would be 12 miles or three laps.....Jimbo explained he still liked the 67 mph set up best...Jack said, "Well I respect the driver's opinion...but ARE you sure you want to give up 3 MPH?"

118 boats started the race...Twins and triples started ahead of the singles....Jimbo said he never saw 55 MPH the first day and was leading Single Engine...Jimbo nose dived this boat later on Sunday and Ted May finished off the driving....But Jimbo had won the 1967 Single Engine World Championships...Single Engine... Jack Leek figured, Jimbo could drive....cowboy boots, Indian feather and all!!!!

ADD; Jack had come up with the idea of using a left foot gas pedal, thinking that when you went around the corner you could brace yourself in the boat and use your left foot as a gas pedal.... This Schultz had a left foot gas pedal.....

As Jimbo is getting out of the boat, after the first test run...He says, "Who was the dumb S%^T would put the gas pedal on the left?" Jack says, "Well that was my idea." Jimbo said, he learned right then and there to keep his mouth shut until he knew more details...

[Ron Hill]

Jimbo said this is about his favorite Jack Leek story, though he got side tracked about four times before he finished it...

[Jeff Lytle]

There is another story developing on the S + F Board about a Canadain driver who had a boat built on the same laydown principals. Spencer Dunn was a great guy, and a fantastic driver too.........gone long before his time.
The thread has been started by his Son Jeremy, who was about 8 the last time I saw him.

http://forums.screamandfly.com/forum...d.php?t=127074

[Ron Hill]

I wanted to talk to Jack, this summer when we went to the Stock Nationals in Moses Lake, Washington....

Anyway, Jimbo said this Lay down was actually a good design, but when he laid down to drive it all he could see was SKY...

If you look at the pictures I posted of the Lay Down, you'll see a DUCT TAPED Burger King Cup on the nose. Jack taped this to the nose so Jimbo could see the horizon when he was driving.

Jimbo came in after the race,and on the launch ramp he told Jack, "This is the first time I ever got TRIPLE OVER TIME to lay down on the job."

Jimbo didn't say what place he got in the race...but he didn't win, and this was Jack Leek's last race boat that he ever designed...

[Ron Hill]

When Jimbo starts thinking back, he reflect that Jack Leek had a LOT of PRESSURE on him.

Checking my notes, Jimbo mentions Spencer Dunn. Jimbo said, that OMC sold the plans to Spencer Dunn.

The lay down of OMC's was the last boat the Wilbur McDonald ever built for OMC...

Bob Nagode and Walt Graham built boats, later, that Jimbo drove and OMC owned....

Jimbo didn't see Jack on a daily basis. Jack usually gave Jimbo a PROJECT and let Jimbo work on it... One time, Jimbo said Jack came by the "BOAT HOUSE" and he and Bob Nagode were sanding a boat.....Jack said, "I want the boat PAINTED, not restored..." It was quarter to five, quitting time...So, Jack left and Bob and Jimbo said, "Well, he wants the DAMN boat painted, not restored. So, let's paint it..." They sprayed it white and at 5, they went hoime...Boat didn't look too bad from 30 or 40 feet....

[Ron Hill]

Jimbo and Jack went to Provo, Utah to test the rotary before the Provo 250....

Jimbo took the first rotary out and made a lap and she blew... So, they put the second one on and Jack told Jimbo to take it easy. He did, and she blew in about four laps...

Well, they thought, maybe it was a "FLUKE", so they put the third one on and out Jimbo went...only to stick it on the first lap...

They put the last one one, and Jimbo made about four laps and it locked up tight...

Jack was pulling Jimbo back to the shore in a "Kicker Boat"...He said to Jimbo, "We've just blown up a million dollars worth of Wankels." Jimbo says, "Does this mean I'm fired?" Jack says, "No, it but probably it means I'm fired."

[Ron Hill]

When you live day to day, you never really think about things being funny, or cool or historic....When Jimbo and I went to Jack Leek's memorial, we got to laughing about my dad.


My dad was a natural teacher, but Jimbo and I weren't natural learners...The Old Man seldom got mad at us...when we did stupid things, which was all the time....

If you notice, my dad is changing spark plugs in my 55-H. The wrench is very short. My dad got mad at Jimbo and me for striping plugs. Jimbo and I would always tighten plugs tell they got loose, then back them off a half turn.

My dad, just sawed the plug wrench off and said, "Go ahead and tighten them as much as you guys want to..." We never striped another plug...

I was and still am a THRASHER with tools...I guess that is why I liked working on props becasue the bigger the hammer the easier the job...But my dad (And now Chad) really loved their tools and took great pride and respect in keeping their tools good...

Jimbo and I were halping my dad cut a door between a kitchen and a garage....My dad said, "Now you guys, be careful with my hollowground blade....when you cut the hole.....I started sawing with Jimb's help...I hit an electrical wire and I kept sawing melted all the teeth off the Old Man's saw blade.

My dad took one look at that blade and just got that look that my Old Man could get....Jimbo and I knew we'd screwed up for sure...That was the last job we worked for my dad!!!

Pictures are from Green Lake, Washington, 1968 Nationals. 19-C on the trailer is my new DeSilva CRR/DRR boat, the hydros next to me is Jimbo's trailer. Jimbo had three new Hill Runabouts, (B-C-D) and Three Sid-Hydros...

The kid in the Golden Shores Winternationals shirt is a YOUNG RICK MINER..(Roy's son)...