We plan to have interview with famous drivers of past and present... I found this Kitson ad...
See More Wings and Switzer Wings here: http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forum...ead.php?t=2301
We plan to have interview with famous drivers of past and present... I found this Kitson ad...
See More Wings and Switzer Wings here: http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forum...ead.php?t=2301
Last edited by Ron Hill; 11-12-2006 at 11:10 AM.
1964 Switzer, picture from Ted March!!!
The rev limiters caused many spins in Galveston. Jimmy's Switzer spun in front of a four
Jimmy Merten's Galveston.....The Boat's name was Wet and Wild...
I've lost track where I told the story about this accident, but finally found the picture.
Jimmy spun in front of this BIG FOUR ENGINE CHRYSLER, and the Chrysler hit him head on, and flew, I'd say fifty feet in the air, while in the air, the engines passed the boat , and when she hit, it was engine's first....the mother never slowed down, just went out of sight under the water like a rock....
Merten's was knocked out and was hanging in the water with an arm draggin and one motor still running... Luckily, no one was hurt bad...but, if you look closely, you can see where FOUR gearcases went right up, over and through this Switzer Wing...
The Galveston 250 Speed Classic, 1969...spring, I think. engined Chrysler rig...this is what the wing looked like after the wreck.
Last edited by Ron Hill; 01-02-2005 at 05:54 PM.
Still the best of the best
and certainly one of the most beautiful.
1963 wooden Star owned by Ed Sprigman.
1965 NOA Staightaway record holder - Unlimited III Single Engine - 81.081 - 1000 Speedmaster with stacks - Knoxville TN.
1965 APBA SI Kilo record holder - 70.57 - 1000 club foot - Norristown, Pa.
1968 APBA SH Kilo record holder - 72.53 - 800 DR Speedmaster - Toano, VA.
Ted March has attached this image:
Last edited by Ted March on 08-04-2004 at 06:43 AM
Last edited by Ted March; 11-30-2004 at 03:53 PM. Reason: can't picture
1960 Switzer 80hp Merc DR
Look how extra long the deck is and how far back the driver sits!
Hey, Mark 75-H, Ted's and my goal is to interview Bobby Switzer...maybe, his brother too... (Dave Switzer).... I feel the long deck had a ton of lift designed into it....and in those days big boat, most anyway, were still thinking like I still think, and that was FLAT BOTTOMS to carry the weight....
The BIG WINGS had FLAT PADS....on both sides of the tunnel...
This is Kenny Kitson and me in my Snapper... We ran very close to each other for the first hour or so...(Kenny won), but what I'm showing is the how different the styles of the two boats were... Scotti finished second, overall I think, with a SINGLE MOLINARI.....the hand writing was on the wall about designs of the future...
Enjoyed drving the wings, but you had to plan ahead for a turn...by plan ahead, I mean like start turning about 200 yards from the corner..the V hull turn like a RINKER runabout!!!
This one actually turned on one sponson oposed sliding around the corners as most of them did...
Scott March
The gun had fired.. Ted May was boat 80... Ron Hill was boat 70...The boats were waxed and damp in the morning, walking on them to get to your seat wasn't easy!!! You can see my big butt in the white tee shirt! Ted is on the wing section crawling to the cockpit...
Last edited by Ron Hill; 11-27-2004 at 10:57 PM.
The last picture number 80, was Ted May at the 1967 Parker Endruo. Ted was the first day leader of Havasu in 1966, but the first day was only two hours. On the second day, (Four hours of racing) after two hours the gearcases came loose and caused the driveshafts to break. 1966 was early in OMC's Racing effort, and this was the frist race with these new Charlie Strang gearcases. The gearcases had been installed with a gasket between the gearcase and the midsection. When the gasket got hot, it burned away enough to allow the gearcase (S) to come loose...After Havasu, 1966, we never ran a gasket between the gearcase and the midsection..
At Havasu, 1967, Ted ran the same wing and was doing well, when a hole opeed up in the center wing section and the boat went down.... Well, not really, both pickle forks were in the air, and when I came by Ted was sitting between the two forks, watching the race... He never got wet, when the patrol boat picked him up he was dry.
OMC sold the wing to Bobby Massey or gave it to him thinking it wasn't worth repairing. California glassmen and Bobby fixed it and by Parker 1968, Bob won the outboard Division at Parker. He wasn't the fastest, but it was a 9 Hour Race.
In the 1969 Parker Enduro, Bobby blew a Triple Jones over backwards and had serious injuries. I saw the accident, he didn't really blow it over, it started to blow over and stalled out, cork screwing and throwing Bobby through the side of the Jones cockpit.
Bobby recoverd in time for the 1969 Havasu Classic, but blew his new Molinari twin over, testing for Havasu, at Lake Elsinore and was killed. Bobby was a fine guy...
Here is a picture of his Switzer number T 40 (T for twin)..
Last edited by Ron Hill; 11-28-2004 at 08:18 PM.
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