Panther

Here is a picture from the 77' Race in Freeport LI

Panther

Another one

Panther

one more

Panther

another

Panther

another

Fast Shafts

Is this Tony from the raceboat Panther? Anyway, great photos-keep them coming!!!
Bob G.

Panther

another

Panther

another

Panther

a few more to go

Panther

running hard

Panther

The last one, is a friend of my fathers, if anyone is from NY they know him. his name is Phill.

Panther

You can't see the name is the last pic, it is the Liquidator. And a better picture of the first one

Fast Shafts

"Liquidator" was a 27' Signature with a single Big Block and I think a "Stern Power" Drive.
"Diamond Don"- a 40' Cigarette
"Beep Beep"-the boat in tow-a 38'wood Cougar Cat

T2x

Panther:

Are you sure about the year.........? 1977 seems about three years early.

T2x

Panther

T2x, I think is was 77' because a few of the pictures have the year printed on the back of it. There are also a few picutres that were printed is post card form, and they all say August 77'

Robert G, Sorry, I am not the guy from the race boat Panther. Just a boater who happens to have a Panther.

Lucididee

Even though I was younger, I remeber those days. They were all crazy.

rtaylor

Panther,

Any pics of a boat called "Manhattan Express"? When I was about 10 I remember watching that boat go by every weekend as I floated motionless in my parent's sailboat, saying to myself "one day I'm gonna get one of those".

Panther

I will have to check on the pictures of the Manhattan express. I have a crap load of other older pictures at home, but I can't scan them at work.

Anyone else have some older pictures?

timucin

nice pics
wild turkey : cool name

Panther

From what I hear, Wild Turkey may still be around. I had an old friend of mine tell me that he saw it up in Long Island sound a few years ago.

Anyone know what happened to that boat?

Lucididee

The picture that you have titled running hard. Is that Rocky? It looks like Benihana on the side.

audacity

hummmmm...when racing was real???

cool pixs!

Shane

Great thread, thanks! I remember going to these events as a kid telling my mother I will have one of those boats some day. We were standing in front of teh Miss Boardwalk. 15-20 years later I was driving here re-named PENNZOIL! These pictures sure do bring back memories of days gone by. When offshore was ROUGH! Like Daytona, Cape Cod and Point Pleasant. Thanks for sharing.

Fast Shafts

Panther,

"WILD TURKEY" is still running around Barneget Bay NJ, I think it is out of Chadwick Island.
Hard Running is Joe Halpern's "BEEP BEEP"

Shane

Does Bob Bochinno have anything to do with Wild Turkey any more? He and my father were friends.

Panther

Wild Turkey is right here in Barnegat?? I would love to see that boat. I grew up looking pictures of that boat.

I just like the old days of racing were better. I have friends who race, one in particular that one an APBA championship last year.

Somehow over the years regulations got too strict? Now adays for a boater like myself to go see a race at Pt. Pleasant I have to park a quarter of a mile away from the race. Last year in NYC I had to anchor so far away I had to watch the race from behind a telephoto lens on my camera.

A majority of the races run today are run in calm water, or cancelled if it's too rough. Last year in Pt. Pleasant it was rough. The proof was in the pudding because two of the boats (Fountains) were both delaminated and cracked right down the side of the boat. One was Firewater, don't remember what the other one was. The boats were heavy yes, but they hull stayed together.

Don't get me wrong, racing nowadays is great, but it doesn't have the same meaning or feel that it did back then.

audacity

to each his own....

hummmm...calm water....daytona a lot of boats got busted up....cap cod!!! CRAZY water...savanah....boats don't stuff and pull drives off in calm water ....todays course layouts are way shorter, more turns, and closer to shore...the boats are w/o a doubt faster with less power....the racing in f1 this year has been better than i can EVER remember....i love the boats of yesteryear but not the race it self....

Panther

Audacity wrote:

todays course layouts are way shorter, more turns, and closer to shore...the boats are w/o a doubt faster with less power



There is no doubt that the boats are faster today with less power. The technology has come a long way, and it will get better as time goes on. That is what is supposed to happen.

There is a lot of lost Carma though. The last few races I went to I was totally dissapointed. I drive the boat 30 minutes, or an hour and get pushed a 1/4 mile away from the race course. I have decided not to take the boat to any more races because it has been made so hard to enjoy.

Panther

It seems the only good way to watch the race from the water these days is to sign up to be a corner boat, or go out on one of the chartered boats.

audacity

actually the place to be is in the VIP tent!......actually we will have a pleasure boat on hand to take our sponsors out after the race....no one wanted to pay 100k for a bad ass 2000 AT poker run boat,,,,so i'll keep it for others to use at that price!!!

SABER28

i hear you panther,

todays racing lacks something, i do not even watch anymore

maybe it's too corporation based.

maybe it's because there is (outside of factory class) very little that todays race boats have in common with pleasure boats. enclosed canopies, weird designs, etc. all make them more like a indy car than a nascar car. and who can even name three indy drivers?

brand identity is alot of what makes nascar popular and why nobody even cares about indy anymore.

i know audacity will chime in here, but i'm sorry, i know alot of fellow offshore boaters that have very little or no interest in todays racing. how can a sport become popular when even it's hardcore boaters dont really care?

as far as racing today and boats braking up, or course they do they are not built for extreme rough water duty like boats of yesterday.

audacity

"how can a sport become popular when even it's hardcore boaters dont really care? "......funny because they are really not trying to capture that group (hardcore) demographically




"as far as racing today and boats braking up, or course they do they are not built for extreme rough water duty like boats of yesterday"......
ok then ask the boat manufactures of yesterday then....like pantera, cigarette, skater, powerplay, DONZI....you get the idea....do you really think they would say their boats are weaker??? i think not....

cigarette1

I'm not so sure about that .... as far as raceboats go

audacity

really....so you think all of these companies would say....yes... are boats just arn't built like we used to build them!....compare them at the same speeds....fulll blown B boats were not even as fast as a 500 hp boat of today. today were really stress'n the **** out of thing by pusing them very hard in corners!

Panther

The technology still needs to be refined. All the poplular fast V-bottoms have stability problems in corners.

A good friend of mine and former APBA champion, purchased a Half million dollar pleasure boat last year, and when he turned the wheel at 95mph, he arm was yanked from the steering wheel by the company owner. He said and I quote "You can't do that!"

Whats up whith that????

Boats today are very strong, but they are also like Egg's. If you squeeze and egg the long way it is impossible to break. Squeeze it from the side and it cracks.

Panther

Yes the boats are faster, but they have suffered some ride quality, and rough water capabilities. The stepp is useless in rough weather, and acually hurts it. I haven't had the chance to ride in an Acitve Thunder yet though.

My experiences so far:

28 Skater: hung on for my life at 100mph, new kidneys anyone?
37 Outerlimits: Nice ride, smooth, not as good at Cig. or Apache
42 Outerlimits: Sweet ride, cost's a fortune, runs 8mph faster than an apache with same power.
38 Top Gun: Sippin Martinis
41 Apache: Incredible ride
42 Fountain: my boat ran better in rough water than that thing did.
38 Scarab: 8 people hanging out drinking in rough stuff.
30 Scarab: My boat, not the best rough water boat, its a slammer in the rough stuff, but it is very stable. Girlfiend hates snotty weather, time to move up!

I have a whole bunch others that I have rode in, but I don't care to list them. The only thing I haven't had a chance to ride in is a big cat, but that is a different story all toghether.

Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of going over 90mph with HP 500's. I have 550's and do about 75mph, but I have transmissions, and TRS drives. But my next boat won't be a light fast boat. My quality of ride is more important to me, and it is also more important that my passengers are comfortible.

audacity

thing is they have the potential to go through a turn a lot faster as well...turn a non stepped hull you instantly scrub speed!!...also with a conventional v you really don't have to settle the boat as much....v hulls today have their own unique characteristics....not all v's have the same feel!

audacity

"ride quality, and rough water capabilities"....are VERY different my friend....my parrents have a 38 flat deck with 900sc's and i'll put the smack down on that thing any day in rough water or calm with the F2-80 ...but ride quality!!...most of the time i stand on the blower hatch and hang on the arch while doing 70+ in 3's...or i'm in my normal seat.....bent over the engines with tools in hand

cigarette1

Are you saying the 38' Flatdeck w/900's is not fast enough to keep up with the F2-80 or that it cannot handle the rough water as well as the F2-80. These are also two very different things.

SABER28

todays race boats are definetely built lighter and less strong that boats of years ago, you cannot even question it. faster, yes i agree.

if apba isn't going after the diehards who are they going after? who spends the money of the products that the sponsors sell? do you think average joe who is more into football and nascar spends any money on boat related items?show him a race for free and he might watch, but charge people$25 and you couldn't sell a ticket to anybody but a true boater. so why go after the casual spectator, he's not spending any money.

how many apaches have you ever seen spin out like a step hull boat? these things are dangerous, in all but the most qualified hands.