?? About Wings.

[Gene East]

There weren't many 6 pipe Wings, so I'm pretty sure I know the boat you are talking about. Rick, you may recall quite some time ago we were talking about who ran Wings back in the day and I mentioned Earl and his friend with a black 18', both having six pipe stackers ..... Ray Block is the name I couldn't come up with. Ray's Wing was indeed black, but as I recall it, they both ran glass 18'ers.

I think those guys ran 1000's. I saw them at a few races including the Parker 9 Hour. They always pitted next to each other, seemed to go out to test together. I think I recall Earl having all grey hair and this was 68ish, don't remember if Ray had any or not. Point is it seemed that they were a little older than most guys putting on a helmet and that they really came to these events just to have fun. They made one hell of a lot of noise, and were very entertaining, but didn't seem to race very hard. Matter of fact, at a race in St. Louis, they ran their Wings on a short course and got lapped, but still had a good time and the fans seemed to love those big ol' noisey boats.

Just my opinion, but back in that 67/68 time period, if you were going to a boat race for the first time, nothing got your attention like a Wing with stacks or a triple engine Powercat ..... mean, very mean looking machines!

I think this is Earl's Wing, Boots Spellman bought it from Merc and ran a couple of club races still dressed in it's original colors.

I'm more and more convinced that the man who I talked to about Ray was Earl. I think you are correct in your statement that neither driver pushed too hard.

I was involved with promoting some OPC races in Quincy in those days. One race we promoted for 3 years was a two lap race from Quincy,IL to La Grange, MO, a distance of about 40 miles. Ray was always among the leaders in the first lap, but never finished the second lap. Always some minor problem such as a broken wire etc. The 6 pipe engines were a big crowd pleaser. They also may be part of the reason I wear hearing aides.

As far as whether the boats were wood or glass; I don't know about Earl's boat, but Ray's looked and felt like wood to me. If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck.......

[Willabee]

I'm more and more convinced that the man who I talked to about Ray was Earl. I think you are correct in your statement that neither driver pushed too hard.

As far as whether the boats were wood or glass; I don't know about Earl's boat, but Ray's looked and felt like wood to me. If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck.......

Gene, I received a photo from mbd29 of the black Wing with the six pipe powerheads that I was talking about. This is the boat that seemed to always pit and test with[IMG]http://i39.tinypic.com/333zimu.jpg[/ the gold & white six piper owned and driven by Earl Welch. I believe this Wing was owned and driven by Ray Block, is it the Wing you were talking about?

Picture didn't print, I'll try again.