NBRA is Paying $10,000 Tow Money: APBA Offers $200 Memberships

[Ketzer]

Well, having raced in the late 60s through late 70s and not since, I don't know much about all this, but, if you want kids interested, develop an E (electric) outboard that goes fast, as kids neither understand nor appreciate combustion engines and the smell of fossil fuel burning offends them, and alcohol offends them worse.

[Ron Hill]

I have worked with the solar racers for 20 years. They race one race a year and never show interest in a second race. Not one of the Solar Racers have ever asked to go to a boat race or where boat races are.

[Ron Hill]

Over the years, I've seen lots of people come and go. Many reasons people don't get into (OUTBOARD) boat racing now days.

1. People really don't want to get hurt.
2. Not one new motor available.
3. Racing format isn't very good, out dated.
4. Too much traveling for the average person.
5. Who helps people that are racing?
6. What do you get when you win?

Addressing each point:1-6

1. I look at O'Conner boat repair on Face Book. He does a beautiful job repairing boats that are busted up pretty well.
If the boat his busted and the driver was in the boat what happed to the driver? Grass Root Boat Drags from 40 HP to 500 HP has a lots of participants. Why? You don't get run over in the corners, there are no corners. You boat doesn't require duct tape after a heat. Your expansive paint job is good for the season or more.

No small outboard Boat Builder talks about Safety! But I do. A capsule in a "C" Hydro is cheaper to make than a cut suit.

2. 1976, Tom Ige brought us the Yamato 80. Great motor, some as still running today 3/31/2023 or 47 years later. Oh APBA has the 300 Class. A you run against guys that have raced for 40 years and you get to race two five lap heats a day.....Sit on the beach and watch 5 other Yamatoes race, with four oats in each class? That sure sounds like fun.

There isn't a current class with a current motor. Talk for a 4 stroke 20 for almost two years, 4 Strokes have been out and LAW since 2006....or 2008. Or around 15 years.

3. Clock starts and two 3-5 lap heats. How about One 12 lap heat, with shore start with a Yellow caution coming out at lap six, let them line up, a flag start them on SINGLE BOUY turns. Single bouy turns are required in Tri Hulls. Single pin turns are safer the three pin turns. Run three heats instead of buying a second boat. Race more laps so you get your money's worth.

How aout a Team race, where you count points by teams?

4. Change boat designs so you don't have to find a "PISS PUDDLE" to race in. Most current Outboards cancel races when there is a 2" chop on the water.

5. No one helps new people. New people are supposed to buy everyone's junk, so the old timers have someone to beat.

6. Charge higher entry fees, but give away NICE TROPHIES or watches or silver plates...My daughter was 4 when on Monday she asked me what we won at the races. I showed here four certificates. She never got interested in racing.

1941 Rus Hill rides again C Racing Runabout.....82 years ago, oat look the same, kneel down, hand throttle...

It ain't the kids faults they don't want to drive a Model T.

[tlpyamato]

Same here. I bought a Y80 when they first came out and got rid of my popper. I still have my Y80 and "shovel nose" hydro, but now only show them at a local yearly antique boat show so the kids can see what early (70's) boat racing looked like. Sadly, the kids have no interest in getting into boat racing..........and I live in an area surrounded by lakes.

I forgot to post a picture of my "old" (shovel nose / pumpkin seed) race boat now delegated to an antique boat show.

[Original Looper 1]

Boat on sale for 110 dollars , Free delivery !

Electric motor on sale for 232 dollars , free delivery !


Cheap and safe entry level boat racing fun for our youth !

Run them on super short course race sites, or huge swimming pools ! !

Have a minimum weight !

No sharp propellers to hurt Kids !


For 332+tax and life jacket cost, our next generation boat racers could be formed !

I think we could get lots of sponsors, mostly local small businesses !

Great prize money cause of low cost to race and support !

Let the future in safer and affordable boat racing be born again !

Just a thought !



Paul A Christner !

P.S.

The boats could be made out of recycled water bottles !

The motor housing and most of the motor and jet pump structure could also be made out of recycled water bottles
and plastic !

The solar panels on top of the event competitors tents could have their frames made out of recycled water bottles,. while the solar panels could be charging the event racers extra motor between heats batteries !

In theory if the sun shines all day at the event, the racers could supply the energy for the event for free !

Just some more thoughts about boat racing's future, as all past and present classes of boat racing in history are and were made up with a supposed level playing field rules for the competitors, but mostly fierce competition from the competitors carried the enthusiasm forward over time !.

I know there will be those that say this would be to boring and not exciting enough, ,however tell that to the kids on the water banging a competitors boat for a better position and higher finish in the ongoing race !

We need lots of new talent if we are to have any kind of future of boat racing !

We need a new and growing racing boat base, and I think this would be the way to have a affordable way to achieve that hopeful outcome and carry the sport we love into the future !

[Ron Hill]

Ted May built and named the first Pumpkin Seed Boats I saw. Fiber glass was very new in 1955. Ted made a carboard piece, round bottom and pointed. He laid fiber glass cloth and fiber glass resin on the cardboard. When the glass "Popped Off" as Ted called it (Hardened), he'd pull the bottom off the cardboard. He'd turn it over and make a very crude transom, and both side decks, a dash and a front deck. Nothing was straight, boat probably weighed 60 pounds.

He managed to get some old KG-7 long shaft Quickies from the Mercury Distributor, for free or he just stole them. No fin, no real steering wheel, had two hand airplane steering well from war surplus. and like a spark hand for a throttle, no return spring.

Ted made at least five of these Pumpkin Seeds and he made his own open stacks a with a hacksaw blade. He's sit on the motor and throttle with his foot. He could go sideway and fast as straight.

When we started racing on TV, he showed up with four boats and wanted to race. No life jackets, football helmets and football jerseys. (Ted had played quarterback in the Navy).

Nothing legal or safe. My dad and a few people decided to let them run around the lake between head to be like Rodeo Clowns. Someone gave them the name Mercury Maniacs. As the heats ended these four Pumpkin Seeds would come roaring out of the back stretch as we didn't want them near "Real" race boats.

To us "REAL" Racers we were surprised how the crowd cheered the Mercury Maniacs. People would park their cars on their side of the "PUDDLE". Ted being a show man that he was. Would have someone dump gas on the water and light it, Ted would come roar through the fire like EVIL KNIEVEL BEFORE THERE WAS AND EVIL.

Davey Corckett and Coon Skin has were popular. Ted would were a coon skin hat and one of the other Mercury Maniacs would pretend to shoot him with a rifle, Ted would jump out of the boat and let it run into the rocks on the first turn are where no one sat. He usually, had someone there to kill the motor.

That it the Pumpkin Seed Boats I know.

On Yamato motors because the are metric, the thumb screws can be taken out of the clamp bracket, Mercury "T" thumb screws can be used, There is enough aluminum to thread the metric clamps. Every Yamato were ever raced had Mercury thumps screws in the clamp brackets.

[tlpyamato]

Ted May built and named the first Pumpkin Seed Boats I saw. Fiber glass was very new in 1955. Ted made a carboard piece, round bottom and pointed. He laid fiber glass cloth and fiber glass resin on the cardboard. When the glass "Popped Off" as Ted called it (Hardened), he'd pull the bottom off the cardboard. He'd turn it over and make a very crude transom, and both side decks, a dash and a front deck. Nothing was straight, boat probably weighed 60 pounds.

He managed to get some old KG-7 long shaft Quickies from the Mercury Distributor, for free or he just stole them. No fin, no real steering wheel, had two hand airplane steering well from war surplus. and like a spark hand for a throttle, no return spring.

Ted made at least five of these Pumpkin Seeds and he made his own open stacks a with a hacksaw blade. He's sit on the motor and throttle with his foot. He could go sideway and fast as straight.

When we started racing on TV, he showed up with four boats and wanted to race. No life jackets, football helmets and football jerseys. (Ted had played quarterback in the Navy).

Nothing legal or safe. My dad and a few people decided to let them run around the lake between head to be like Rodeo Clowns. Someone gave them the name Mercury Maniacs. As the heats ended these four Pumpkin Seeds would come roaring out of the back stretch as we didn't want them near "Real" race boats.

To us "REAL" Racers we were surprised how the crowd cheered the Mercury Maniacs. People would park their cars on their side of the "PUDDLE". Ted being a show man that he was. Would have someone dump gas on the water and light it, Ted would come roar through the fire like EVIL KNIEVEL BEFORE THERE WAS AND EVIL.

Davey Corckett and Coon Skin has were popular. Ted would were a coon skin hat and one of the other Mercury Maniacs would pretend to shoot him with a rifle, Ted would jump out of the boat and let it run into the rocks on the first turn are where no one sat. He usually, had someone there to kill the motor.

That it the Pumpkin Seed Boats I know.

On Yamato motors because the are metric, the thumb screws can be taken out of the clamp bracket, Mercury "T" thumb screws can be used, There is enough aluminum to thread the metric clamps. Every Yamato were ever raced had Mercury thumps screws in the clamp brackets.

Thanks Ron for clearing that up. I've heard some refer to mine as a "pumpkin seed" on occasion, but that now seems inappropriate...........so I will stick to just using "shovel nose" I should have also said "relegated" instead of "delegated".

[John Schubert T*A*R*T]

Ted May built and named the first Pumpkin Seed Boats I saw. Fiber glass was very new in 1955. Ted made a carboard piece, round bottom and pointed. He laid fiber glass cloth and fiber glass resin on the cardboard. When the glass "Popped Off" as Ted called it (Hardened), he'd pull the bottom off the cardboard. He'd turn it over and make a very crude transom, and both side decks, a dash and a front deck. Nothing was straight, boat probably weighed 60 pounds.

He managed to get some old KG-7 long shaft Quickies from the Mercury Distributor, for free or he just stole them. No fin, no real steering wheel, had two hand airplane steering well from war surplus. and like a spark hand for a throttle, no return spring.

Ted made at least five of these Pumpkin Seeds and he made his own open stacks a with a hacksaw blade. He's sit on the motor and throttle with his foot. He could go sideway and fast as straight.

When we started racing on TV, he showed up with four boats and wanted to race. No life jackets, football helmets and football jerseys. (Ted had played quarterback in the Navy).

Nothing legal or safe. My dad and a few people decided to let them run around the lake between head to be like Rodeo Clowns. Someone gave them the name Mercury Maniacs. As the heats ended these four Pumpkin Seeds would come roaring out of the back stretch as we didn't want them near "Real" race boats.

To us "REAL" Racers we were surprised how the crowd cheered the Mercury Maniacs. People would park their cars on their side of the "PUDDLE". Ted being a show man that he was. Would have someone dump gas on the water and light it, Ted would come roar through the fire like EVIL KNIEVEL BEFORE THERE WAS AND EVIL.

Davey Corckett and Coon Skin has were popular. Ted would were a coon skin hat and one of the other Mercury Maniacs would pretend to shoot him with a rifle, Ted would jump out of the boat and let it run into the rocks on the first turn are where no one sat. He usually, had someone there to kill the motor.

That it the Pumpkin Seed Boats I know.

On Yamato motors because the are metric, the thumb screws can be taken out of the clamp bracket, Mercury "T" thumb screws can be used, There is enough aluminum to thread the metric clamps. Every Yamato were ever raced had Mercury thumps screws in the clamp brackets.

Not to start any controversy, but the terminology Pumpkin Seed first appeared in the Media on the cover of the Sunday newspaper supplement, The Parade Magazine in 1955. The article itself was Titled "Pumpkin Seeds".I will attach a picture of the cover below, but unfortunately I clipped it for my scarp book & after many inquiries can not get The Parade administration to search in their archives even though they go back in to the early 50's. The actual picture that appeared on the cover was also printed in Mercury Marine's 1956 full line up catalog & on a metal lunch box, albeit, doctored up somewhat I guess because of usage rights. I have both.

The picture was a staged start event at Snipes Marine & Yacht Club in Secaucus, NJ on the Hackensack River. There were 3 Jacoby hydroplanes & 2 Swifts. The Jacobys being built in Northe Bergen, NJ were very popular with area owners/drivers. They also were built considerably better then the Swifts, sorry Swift supporters.
80-J 1954 Jacoby 3 point hydro Owner Chain it Down Charlie. Don't recall his last name but he did chain the clamps to the transom Knee that pop Jacoby had in all his boats. 76-J 1954/55 Swift 3 point hydro.Bob Usiak. 94-J Jacoby owner/driver un-kown, don't remember. 108-J 1954 Swift. Owner/Driver Tom Smith. 19-J, me, John Schubert. My 3 point Jacoby was built in 1952, with planked mahogany bottom. Pop started using mahogany plywood in 1953/54. The cockpit was actually not as log as they raced that model with Johnson KRs, Mercury KG4s & KG7s. I did with a KG4 in 1953. Knowing that the 20H would be the motor to have in 1954, we took my boat to Pop & had the cockpit lengthened as the 3 1/2 gallon tank would be at the transom taking up cockpit space, The 80-J & 94-J have the longer cockpit. After the 1954 season, Hal Kelley, yes of the Kelley boat designs & plans, a family friend, installed full mahogany decks. King if tricky up front with compound bends, but he wrt it to conform to the deck stringers. My father then had an airbrush artist paint the large shark on the deck. The shark had mean blood shot eyes & a cigar stoogy in the corner of his mouth.

[Mark40H]

John is that the same photo they used on the tin lunch box.

[John Schubert T*A*R*T]

John is that the same photo they used on the tin lunch box.

Yup, I mentioned that in my post & how they changed it up a bit probably to avoid legal issues with The Parade Magazine. If you look at the picture then the sillouete on the lunch box, it’s clearly me in the bottom boat on the lunchbox