Ron Hill Family: Hill Marine and Signature Propellers

[Ron Hill]

In the King and I, the new King said, "I'll have boat races..." The old King asked, "Why?" The new King said, "I like boat races..."

I had this V-8 Johnson on a 20 Lavey, I had a 20 foot Bahner ski boat and we had this GLASS "C" Runabout with a 40 Tohatsu on it...I like boats......and boat racing...

ADD:

I put this boat up for sale in front of my shop and John Vossmeyer came by the shop...He said, "My sister is looking for a boat like that..."...Two years ago, at Parker, I see John...his sister and her husband still have the boat..it looks brand new...THEY DID put in new seats...John has a place at Parker and has patrolled almost every Blue water Resort and Casino 300...He towed "Plan B" in, when he wasn't an "OFFICIAL" patrol boat...the year they won the Enduro...

Last add:

Dino Kotsonis ended up with the trailer that had the blue carpet...Dino now lives in "D" eeetroit (Detroit)...

[Ron Hill]

My dad had raced in Newport Harbor, California. Probably one of the few power boat races every held in Newport Harbor, the year was 1941 before the war we won...
The sponsoring club was SCOA.
After the war, my dad got involved with LASA (Los Angeles Speedboat Association)...My dad put on some the first APBA sanctioned boat races in Southern California.

When the Mercury Outboards came along, my dad loved these motor from the first time he saw them...
USA (United Speedboat Association) was spun off LASA and my dad went with USA. Later Valley Speedboat Association was formed and they had the TV series....
Around 1961, my brother, Russ Hill, Jr. decided we needed one strong STOCK Outboard club and he wrote by-laws for SCOA, as SCOA was long defunct by then...
SCOA is still an APBA club today, 2009. 49 years after it was reformed...
Just and FYI!

Club paper cover and letterhead...

[Ron Hill]

I went to a figure skating reunion the other day, I was the tallest person in the room. A lady asked if I still skated, I saidm, "No, I never skated except a little in college in Flagstaff, I always raced boats..." She said did I know Mr. Rickey? As she had lived next door to him... I said, "I've know of vapor Trails Magazine since I was five and been in it several times..."

Here is part of what Mr. Rickey wrote about the 1978 Parker Enduro...

The late Brad Miller owned the boat. Fred Hauenstein built the motor...Jim Nerstrom helped "DIAL IT IN", Don Henrich made the prop, and made it work...Fred and I drove it...I did little in this win...but always said, "I was the brains behind it...."

Brad was a great sponsor, He owned Crazy Horse Camp Grounds and Crazy Horse Steak House and 97 Del Taco fast food restaurants...

[Ron Hill]

http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forum...?t=1463&page=5

When I first went to Flagstaff in the Fall of 1964, I had one friend going there and that was Ernie Dawe. Ernie rolled his brother's VW on the way to school and broke his collarbone. He was in the hospital. I drove to Flagstaff to enroll knowing no one. I wasn't there five minutes when I met some guys that were really cool. They offered to let me sleep in their dorm until I could get settled. They were Sigs.

I graduated in May of 1966, I had spent the happiest two years of my life in Flagstaff. The Fraternity, Sigma Chi Omega, later to become National Sigma Chi was a big part of my happiness, not to mention all the great young ladies of NAU!

My fraternity brothers and I cut Christmas trees together and sold them to the city, we sold donuts, we raised money for low income kids, we partied, we cooked dinner as fund raiser, we put on school dances. We build this fence for the city. Being around the Sigs, I never had a dull moment, though I was frequently the topic of conversation.

The fence is in need of repair, and in 2010 we plan to rebuild it....

[Ron Hill]

Mike's dad was the head sports writer for the Arizona Republic for many years. He covered our boat races with style...Wayne is the alumni adviser helping me plan the fence rebuild...

Reading Mike's e-mail, I felt some might enjoy it...

Wayne,

MG checking in. I've seen Hilly Billy's email back and forth between the two of you. I think rebuilding the Sig split rail fence is a great idea. As you probably remember, the Sigs were always in hot water with Dean Rolle for our off campus extra curricular activities and the fence building project was one of many attempts by Carl Menke and myself to somehow rehabilitate our fraternity reputation as something other than party animals, sexual predators and jocks. The year I was president of the Sigs, I spent a lot of Monday mornings in the Dean's office, trying (with very little success) to explain Sig faux paux's.

I think the fence should be called the Sigma Chi fence. We were doing our best to achieve Sigma Chi national status while we were Omegas and fencebuilders. Virtually no one remembers the Omegas now. We're all men of Sigma Chi.

Keep me in the loop on your fence restoration venture and let me know if I can be of any assistance.

MG ZO -65

[Ron Hill]

My brother's "A" Pumper hangs in our shop today. This engine won the 1949 Hearst Regatta in A Hydro

[Ron Hill]

This is me, at Havasu, 1967. First in Twin Engine, Second Overall. $8,500 in CASH. $1,500 from the Calcutta, and a lot in Lake Havsu City.

19-C is me. This was Speed Boat Rodeo, live TV. Charlie Harter was ahead of "Silky Sullivan Hill" as Dick Lane called me.

Charlie INVITED the cart that all kneeldowners use today. Charlie raced alone and came alone. So, he had to launch his boat by himself. So, he "INVENTED" the cart...

[Ron Hill]

Mike Wallace is alive and well, the last time I saw him which was several years ago. Mike's dad owned the GN, Tiny Tim , number 7. Mike and Bill Cooper won the Parker Nine Hour at least once.

Mike and drove Mike's Schultz in the 1971 Paris Six Hour, we were leading when we broke a crank 20 minutes before the finish. Paris was a rough water race, about 90 boats started 20-30 finished. We did set the INDEX of Performance Time, that is for the fastest lap of the regatta compared to last year's time.

Jim Nerstrom sent me the original a 14 X 20 that had hung on Jack Leek's office wall until Jack retired.

[Ron Hill]

Bunker was born on the weekend of February 7, 1963. I was trying to recall what was happening then...

February 1963...

I was in my second year of Junior College at OCC (Orange Coast College) with no "REAL" plans except to teach something somewhere...I didn't really have a girl friend as boat racing was my first love. I worked as a night custodian for Garden Grove Schools and painted houses with my dad every Tuesday and Thursday and half day Firday.

Life was good, my '53 Chevy ran "like a song" and Jimbo McConnell lived with us. We went to races in Modesto and cruised with THE AMERICAN GRAFFITTI crowd. We raced in Kingsburg, Vallejo and Havasu Springs. We chased "CHICKS" but usually we only chased them.

We spent time watching Parnelli Jones and A.J. Foyt racing midget cars at Ascot Park. We watched Sammy Tanner, "THE FLYING FLEA" race motorcycles there also. We raced at Hansen Dam, Puddingstone, Carlsbad and Apple Valley where Roy Rogers came to our races and invited us for drinks at his famous Apple Valley Inn!

We ran "THE CHEATER'S SWEEPSTAKES" at Tin Can Beach every weekend we didn't really have a race. We frequently casued such a traffic jam on Coast Highway (Because we were racing our Cheater's Sweepstakes) that the Highway Patrol would issue tickets for people stopping to watch us race.

We had been racing on TV, we were "STARS". People honked at us as we drove down the street and waved. Boat Racing was good. We had three clubs in SoCal that put on races. The United Speedboat Association, The Valley Speedboat Association and The Los Angeles Speedboat Association. My brother, the boy that skipped second grade and also won the Hearst Regattat in 1949, with 32 A Hydros, decided we needed one club in SoCal so we could be stronger and maybe win some National High Points.

APBA came up with this new concept of TWO (2) races on a weekend. Actually, I don't know that APBA came up with the idea, but Paul Kalb had reportedly won national High Point by having five races in five days. Why not, said we, have two races in two days for double points???

So, it was decided, that the first race at Blythe Boat Club's landing would be our first "DOUBLE POINT" race. Well, no one really thought this out, but Bill Boyes and I said we'd go down and get things "SET UP" on Friday. We "TEAMED" up and ended up sleeping in Bill's El Camino Friday night.

Ernie Dawe and his dad showed up at 5 o'clock in the morning after having three flat tires...and to this day e quote Rubern Dawe....at 5 A.M. he got out of Ernie's '57 Plymouth and said, "Well, WE'RE HERE!!!" Great quote.. We had a great race. Herb Mayfield, Ted May, Lynn Buckles, Kenny Pyle and Jim Andres all CRASHED and ended up going to the hospital. But everyone generally thought the race was a success, double entry fees, double entries. All the crashes were Saturday, as no one had any test time. We raced and we raced.

I called the L.A. Times on the way home (Collect) and gave them the results. Ernie Dawe, Jimbo McConnell, Ronnie Hill, Ted May, A.J Foyt all made Monday's sport's page.

[Ron Hill]

We'll get you in a V-Bottom for the Mini Enduro, first...

In '68 a 20 foot boat was BIG, BIG with twin engines....and 80 MPH was fast. Now at Parker they have 24 footers going 120 MPH....times have changed...

Here is my "SNAPPER" that I ran in the Havasu World Championships, 1968. Funny thing is, this picture got in the program, and Freddy Hauesntein is driving it. I had Freddy take a "TEST" lap and he got in the picture, always made me mad!!!!