My friend and old racing partner Clayton Elmer sent me these photos last week . I was telling Joe about them and he said that one photo needed to go on this thread. It was similar, but much more famous and spectacular about the battle Dan Kirts and I had between the 4 and 8 cylinder Konigs.
It was the NOA Nationals Championships at Lake Spivey near Atlanta in 1963. This photo is the start of F Hydro. The numbers are too faded to tell who is in the cabover on the inside. Next to the inside and the lead boat in this photo is Clayton Elmer in no. T-60. In the middle of the three boats is Jim Schoch in V-5. Outside of the three is Hu Entrop in R-12.
Clayton was in and out of the first turn and began to outstrip the other competitors. When he got to the next turn, Hu Entrop had come up alongside the outside of Clayton. Clayton's boat had superior manueverability and accelleration over Entrop's 6 cylinder cabover. On every straightaway Entrop would get his cabover flying and running at trememdous speed, but always catching Elmer at the turns. He could not get around. It was a great race remembered by many. It was captured by Jim McKay on ABC's WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS. To me it is THE most famous and historic duel in the history of PRO racing. The crowd was on its feet watching as each lap Entrop pulled up to Elmer, but was unable to get around as Clayton blew down the corners and was off again. Hu knew that Clayton would cross the finish and get the checkered flag if he didn't do something. The start finish line was before the point where he could catch Clayton.
On the final lap, Entrop held the throttle down and was determined to keep the speed up until the last second before turning. It has been a long time since I talked to Clayton about this and don't remember, but he may have actually pulled ahead of Clayton at this point when they got to the turn. What happened next was most spectacular. Just imagine how this beautiful cabover was flying at top speed, clear of the water. Then Entrop makes the turn, but his cabover is not set yet. When the sponsons fully set in the water he is sideways. The water explodes and the boat does a specacular barrel roll. Clayton said there was a point sticking out in the water where a photographer was laying down shooting pictures of Clayton and Hu each time they raced down one straightaway.
Clayton tried to track down that photographer and get some pictures, but he was never able to find out who he was. Those would be photos for a boat racing museum.
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