As I said before priceless stuff in this thread,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, After seeing a couple shots of Odell and Mel Riggs,,,,, It just reminds about how damn tuff those guys were,,,,,,,,, Afriaid of nothing and if MrK. said run the boat through a brick wall they would be warming up the engines,,,,,,,,,, A couple cold winter nights in FDL actually went bowling with Riggs Have never,ever seen a bowling ball go so fast,, That dog also explained that every frame was a beer frame,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Who would argue with the guy????????????
Let me step back to a year before the 1st Bahama 500 and a race that was won by Brownie in the Big Broad Jumper, 32’ Maritime at the blazing speed of 37.8mph through monster seas. It was the 1966 Gateway Marathon which ran from West Palm Beach to Freeport (Grand Bahama) and return for a total of 194 miles, and it was my first ride in an offshore race. Gene Berg was a Wisconsin guy (Appleton to be exact) and another of those fun guys to be around. He and I were teamed together for what would prove to be both the beginning and end of his career as a race driver. This was the '60s and the sophistication of our rigging was not very pretty. We were assigned a 19' T-craft with twin outboards to rig and run that was much like the picture below that I shamelessly snatched from HORBA. The T-craft might have had a little vee in the bottom but it was without a doubt the hardest ride I have ever experienced. Every bump would jar your teeth. All we had for protection was a series of aluminum stanchions and railings to hang onto. We had what was probably a 100 gallon gas tank held in place by aluminum angle and poured foam. It was another of those days when small craft warnings should have been flying. We made it through the Lake Worth inlet and into these huge seas. Gene was driving and I was hanging on for dear life. The second or third bone jarring monster that we encountered sent us both to our knees (everybody ran Offshore standing up in those days). I managed to regain my feet and looked over at gene. The entire inside of his helmet visor was covered with blood. He managed to barely regain his feet. He raised his visor and spit out several teeth. At that point I thought he had just eaten the steering wheel and would be OK. Unbeknownst to me he had also clobbered his left knee on the gas tank frame. I asked him if he was OK and he nodded yes and slammed the throttles forward. The next wave was not quite as bad but it was still nasty. Gene came down off of a plane and told me I would have to take over. I asked him if he really wanted to continue in his condition. He said yes, so we changed places and I got it back up on a plane and off we went. It only took one more monster before he screamed in pain and went to his knees again. It was obvious that he just could not go any further. I headed back in at idle speed and radioed that I had an injured man on board. Mr. Kiekhaefer met us at the dock with an ambulance and Gene was lifted out of the boat. Later Mr. K visited him in the hospital and made sure that he had the best of care and that the bill was fully taken care. Several broken teeth had to be surgically removed and his left kneecap was removed in 14 pieces. Mr. Kiekhaefer asked him what he wanted to do and Gene replied that he had always wanted to be a truck driver. And so, from that point on he was a Kiekhaefer Corp. truck driver. I have no idea what ever became of Gene but I will always remember him standing there with blood all over his visor, spitting out teeth and saying to me, "Let's keep going". At that point we had only gone about 5 miles of a 194 mile race. We were all young then and we thought we were invincible. Somebody once asked me what it was like to race offshore in those days. I told them to place a ladder against their house, climb up on the roof, jump off, and continue to do that for several hours and they might understand what the physical part of it was like. I stand by that explanation to this day. But, damn, it sure was fun! -Steve Sirois
Seeroy, that 1966 Gateway was a monster. We had 427 turbo Daytonas in the Big Broad Jumper, and it took me an hour to get the rhythm of anticipating the throttle setting in time for the turbos to spool up to get over some of the waves. Odell carried some poor SOB in a tiny boat, and made it all the way. When he reached the dock in Lucaya, Aronow and I jumped down to the boat and picked the kid up. The dock was tall, and I had one hand on one cheek, and Don had the other. We pushed him up to Odell, and it was like he didn't have any bones. 24 guys went to the hospital for one thing or the other after that race. That was the last race not called for Small Craft Warnings. Later, I was having a beer with Odell, and he said "Hell, every time he came by, I put my foot on him"! On another matter, I guess I have told everyone but you that I consider your brother, Bill, to be the greatest overall boat racer in history. His accomplishments in all forms of racing are legendary.......
On another matter, I guess I have told everyone but you that I consider your brother, Bill, to be the greatest overall boat racer in history. His accomplishments in all forms of racing are legendary.......
Amen to that........... This is one where Brownie and I are in total agreement.
I have often wondered that with the thousands of boat racers in the world, over all the years and years of the sport we love.
The two best boat racers of all time both shared the name Bill S............
Agree with T2x and brownie,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Bill was a machine and very easy on equipment,,,,,,,,,,,,,Kudos to Johnny Bakos and Odell Lewis and of course Mr. K Seeroy was right, it sure was fun,, BTW who would take a 19 foot boat out to a ocean race today?????????????????
Gentlemen - Thanks for the kind words about Bill. While he may not have shown it, he would have appreciated them. I'm not sure that you realize how much he respected many of you and how much he learned from you. Attention to detail, have a plan, have backup plans, and as someone in this forum always says, "Never Give Up". That was true to the very end. I talked to Bill on the telephone the night before he died. In a raspy voice, his last words to me were, "I'm going to beat this thing"..........Sorry if I get a little emotional at times, but I usually tend to say what I am thinking at the moment. Sometimes that tendancy is good...sometimes not. 37 Years ago I left boat racing to do other things. Unfortunately, I didn't keep in touch. As I look back, writing about those days, and more importantly the people, it is an incredible release for me. As I told Richie in a recent post, sometimes I ask myself, "Did I (We) really do those things?". The answer always comes back to me..."Yes". I don't want to take anything away from the current crop of offshore racers. Doing 160+mph in an Offshore Boat has got to take balls of steel, but so did doing 60+mph in 12' seas with no land in sight. "Back in the Day" you did that, and you "Never Gave Up". Respectfully - Steve Sirois
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