1970 Inland International Grand Lake St. Marys (Ohio)

[Auglaize99]

I believe this was the first year for this event. Bill Sirois was the big winner driving a Mercury twin engine Molinari. I only have a few pictures from this year.

[John Schubert T*A*R*T]

I believe this was the first year for this event. Bill Sirois was the big winner driving a Mercury twin engine Molinari. I only have a few pictures from this year.

The Allison in the foreground of picture 1 was I believe Burt Ross. The Molinari sprint #177 I believe was Jim Merten withe the 1st Sprint Molinari we saw & he one the single engine category going away. I was in the race with a Glastron Molinari/Johnson. with a very slow electric power trim system.

[peterse90]

The Allison in the foreground of picture 1 was I believe Burt Ross. The Molinari sprint #177 I believe was Jim Merten withe the 1st Sprint Molinari we saw & he one the single engine category going away. I was in the race with a Glastron Molinari/Johnson. with a very slow electric power trim system.

I think #177 was Don Clark.
Jim Merton was usually #187.
In 1971 that actual boat (or one identical to it?) was in the Mercury display at the Toronto Boat Show and then was driven that summer here in Canada by Barry Taylor.
I think Don Clark was hurt very badly in the Paris 6-hour.

[Zonker1]

Hi John....Molinari 177 was Don Clark with a 17ft. Jim Merten was 187 with a 16ft sprint. Yes, it was one of the first ones into the US, and yes he did win it by a big margin. I want to say he won the single engine S class ...but also finished 3rd or 4th OVERALL. Ran S with the twin engine T class...that's how fast Jim was.

[Zonker1]

I think #177 was Don Clark.
Jim Merton was usually #187.
In 1971 that actual boat (or one identical to it?) was in the Mercury display at the Toronto Boat Show and then was driven that summer here in Canada by Barry Taylor.
I think Don Clark was hurt very badly in the Paris 6-hour.

Don was indeed very badly hurt in Paris that year ( 1970 ) he would have been much worse had he stayed in the paris hospital any longer than he did. Seems the French doctors didn't seem to understand how badly the river was polluted or the correct amount of antibiotic to use....among other things.

Thanks for jogging my memory Mr. Petersen

[John Schubert T*A*R*T]

Hi John....Molinari 177 was Don Clark with a 17ft. Jim Merten was 187 with a 16ft sprint. Yes, it was one of the first ones into the US, and yes he did win it by a big margin. I want to say he won the single engine S class ...but also finished 3rd or 4th OVERALL. Ran S with the twin engine T class...that's how fast Jim was.

Yup, now I recall. Jim was awesome fast with the sprint Moli.

[John Schubert T*A*R*T]

Don was indeed very badly hurt in Paris that year ( 1970 ) he would have been much worse had he stayed in the paris hospital any longer than he did. Seems the French doctors didn't seem to understand how badly the river was polluted or the correct amount of antibiotic to use....among other things.
Thanks for jogging my memory Mr. Petersen

I was in that race when Don got hurt, and true about the medicine as Merc flew him home for proper treatment. Unfortunately the leg didn't survive. Several years later I visited with him at the family dealership in Alton, IL I believe. They told me he normally never left the house next door. It was no doubt after his second accident in the Kitson I believe. Anyway, we did visit for awhile, but he was depressed , as we can all understand.

[Auglaize99]

The nice thing about slides is that the processing date is often printed on them, but unfortunately not always so I am trying to figure what year some of the pictures are from. Would 1970 have been the last year for twin engines at this event?

[Ron Hill]

Seems they ran Singles and multi engines. Jimbo had won Galveston in Single engine, in May (Same weekend as the Kentucky Derby). Saint Mary's was "KIND OF" tossed together. I remember meeting Freddy Hauenstein in Chicago to fly to Dayton (?)...somewhere in Ohio.

I remember several things about this race:

1. My wife worked for TWA and we calculated that she would fly over Saint Marys... (I looked up just before the race started and say a plane fly over.)...

2. Singles ran first, they took off and made the first turn, I expected Jimbo to be leading. But there were two red Molinari's leading, one was Bobby Hering, the other I don't recall. But as they headed toward on on the shore they both blew over backwards together. It was very spectacular.

Why it had to be 1971: I finished 2nd at parker, 1970 (First year the outboards ran). I ran my Jones at Havasu, 1970. I had my Jones at Saint Marys. So, it had to be 1971.

3. Freddy and I got to the airport late and I parked the rent car in front of TWA. I gave the key to the ticket agent. Then, I jumped on the plane. Wednesday, that next week, Hertz called and asked me how much longer I was going to keep the car....I said, "I left it at the curb in front of TWA."....

4. The raced had just got started and a thunderstorm came up. I was in 4th when the thunderstorm came up. I had A BIG WINDSHIELD AND I COULD SEE FINE. I WAS LEADING WHEN THEY STOPPED THE RACE.

5. They advertised $25,000 in prizes. I ended up third and got two gas cans.

These are my memories of Saint Marys, Ohio!

No, last add, had to be 1970 as I never ran my Jones after Havasu, 1970.

[Ron Hill]

I was in that race when Don got hurt, and true about the medicine as Merc flew him home for proper treatment. Unfortunately the leg didn't survive. Several years later I visited with him at the family dealership in Alton, IL I believe. They told me he normally never left the house next door. It was no doubt after his second accident in the Kitson I believe. Anyway, we did visit for awhile, but he was depressed , as we can all understand.

I really didn't know Don. I knew he owned a boat shop in Alton, Illinois, I think. From what I heard, he pretty much stuffed a "HIGH RIDER" Molinari, and was tossed in front of the boat. Then, the boat managed to run over him. Hurt him real baD. SEEMS, HE LOST A LEG OVER THIS.

Somewhat like Dick Summerfeldt: Dick got tossed out of his Molinari and the steering cable broke some blood veins in his leg. By the time the French doctors figured that out, they had to remove Dick's leg.