Top Banana

Wasabe

This turns out to be a very interesting photo that you have.

This is a photo of the '71 Hennessy Key West race that this boat won. Second was Bob Magoon.

But the really interesting part of the story is that this was the first race for a young man by the name of Bob Saccenti. The other guy in the boat was Sonny Miller.

Bob, who worked for Cigarette at the time was asked by Don Aronow to help out and crew with this customer.

The photo you have was taken from an airplane and the phtographer was Sal Maugeri. Sal was later killed in another plane crash while shooting a boat race.

There are two more photos from this set, I hope to be able to get them and post them for you to compare with.

stinger312

I think this is one

Top Banana

Yes that's one of them...here's few more.

Cevert

Saw the announcement. Sounds ambitious. I'll be interested in the details.

T2x

Wasn't there a similar problem with the last Fayva Shoes Cougar Cat at The Fort Lauderdale race ....wherein the port sponson began to run faster than the starboard?........until they went in different directions?

T2x.............. Trying to be helpful

el indio

marc at bam has a nice 36 aero marine one i think it was.little danny at magnum had a nice yellowish one with side exhaust.great boat.same hull byngo used on the 37.7midight.used his own deck.real nice..phil at saltair marine had a gucci 36 nice..............

t2x you mention roger hanks.i was a kid in dons office and roger was there.he was eating little white pills and wearing red cowboy boots.......i now have my own red cowboy boots.cya m.m..

el indio

they also made a few 32s of those 36 molds. anybody remember those. m.m.

bryanspeedracer

Top Banana,

Those race pics are hard core! I hate to sound nieve, but do they still race when the water is like that?

I grew up on Lake Ontario and I have NEVER been in water like that.

Top Banana

Bryan

Todays racers are no different than racers of any past era.

They would race anywhere at anytime in any type of water. The situation as I see it....and this is only my poor opinion....the organizations today plan the race courses around sponsor and spectator desires. This keeps them in close to the safety of beaches and harbors.

I may be alone in this, but I do believe that if they started racing in real ocean conditions again, the sport would not get smaller....it would grow.... because even the smallest competitor would have a chance against the ocean.

There were races in the past that only one or two boats completed the course....and they were not the fastest by any means. The crews were tough and smart and knew how to make a boat last in very bad conditions.

One of the toughest guys was Sammy James. The race committe sent him to check the ocean conditions on the morning of a race..... he came back and said...no problem. They started the race and it continued in 8 to 10 foot seas with foam blowing off the top of the waves. Those guys loved it, the rougher the better.

The photos you refer to are of a 36 foot Cigarette. Those same waters were raced in by guys like Aronow, Brownie, Wishnick, Wynne etc in much smaller boats....20 and 23 footers. They were glorious days and in a sense much safer because the ocean didn't allow the outrageous speeds you see today.

Maybe somebody will bring the sport full circle again....it's up to the next generation now.

bryanspeedracer

I had no idea. I've seen pictures of 22-24 foot boats racing in the ocean but never guessed that they would run in those conditions.
Knowing nothing about offshore racers, I'd still have to guess that racing in water like that took alot more than white-knuckling the wheel as the throttle was wide open.
I'm just amazed.