Early Cats--Flying Wings
 

Heh folks....new guy on the block here(sort of)...New to your forum, better stated...Richie and Darren Luhrs and Greg Bodenhammer all have said: "You 've got to get on this site!" Okkee Dokee, I'm here, now....

Let me PERK some of your interests..especially MagicFloat, AirPacker, Tx2, and anybody else that's REALLY into the old, cool, historic performance tunnels and cats...

Firstly, I'm the dude in Carolina who, by mere coincidence, has acquired the fasted Switzer Flying Wing ever built/raced/ campaigned--Kenny Kitson's "Miss Diablo 3". Richie and Darren recently acquired their 20' Wing from me and are(like myself) are indulging in a fun/momentous restoration our respective new boats. After reading some of the past couple of years' posts...there appeared to be a lot of interest in the "racer's of past"--Kenny Kitson, Jimbo McConnell, Ernie Threokold.......just to name a few....

Well, here's a couple of announcements to get you started....In preface, allow me to state: "I'm into old, cool history!!" and a lot is being either neglected/forgotten/tossed by/lost/etc....thus for each of my collectible raceboats, I try to document/preserve any and all history relevant to that given boat and enlighten any others that might take a liking to some old boating history.....Richie is far better at this than I, though, I have an uncanny ability to turn some old rocks and dislodge some old memories or artifacts.....(these boats are an attestment to that)...ANYWAY, Here's the FIRST little announcement:

I've located Kenny Kitson----He's alive and well and can't wait to shed some old memories and tales...He's especially proud of his racing accomplishments and his own-produced boats: the Kitsoncraft raceboats....He really would like to find some of his old boats and their owners(of which he's the most proud).

I've also found Jimbo McConnell, of whom, has some seriously funny,colorful stories to tell of the "old days".....

Hope I've sparked some interest..because these guys want to tell their stories and memories!!

If you ever want to call with other stories/contacts/such....drop a line....Jeff "Capt Nemo" Buckley, 803/980-3300

Welcome aboard,things are getting better all the time. Look forward to hearing some of your stories. Is Kenny still as fun loving and crazy after all these years? Ihope so,he was a riot in the early '70's when we raced his boats in Sport J. Magicfloat.

Welcome to the board:D
History lessons?where do I sign up?
All tales are appreciated,however tall:D

Jeff; Just caught this thread. Being a gearhead, I lurk mostly in the T-Q&A section. I have answered your PM, however. Boy, you do make me a bit sick remembering the great stuff I once had and either gave or thru away. The wing I had was GIVEN to me by Bob and Dave when I was their top Eastern OB dealer. Supposedly it was built for Kenny Kitson and was the one that they tried to run with THREE engines. (It ran lots better with two) As an interesting sidenote: I got upside down and backwards in a KitsonKraft tunnel at somewhere near 100 mph with a T2X doing the pushing and that will account for another great classic that's no longer around. Oh well; I'm getting a bit too old to get out and destroy much more good stuff. Later. --- Jer

I love the history lessons!

KitsonCraft............................. The original full tunnel was a near duplicate of Bill Sirois' Zonkercraft hulls.....and Doug Pearl's Scorpion. All of these were derived from the Englishman Ken Miles' (Milesmaster) hulls. Later Kitson built a pickle fork version which also paralleled Miles last designs. Having driven many variations of the above designs.....I can state from experience......They all "snap flipped".

Ken Miles was a fair designer....no match for Molinari....... His closest peer was a fellow named Beard........who later designed the World Champion Cougar offshore cats. The funny thing is Cougar never made a particularly competitive OPC tunnel and Molinari never made a particularly competitive offshore cat...although both tried. As a matter of fact Seebold hasn't had much success with offshore cats....but man can he build....and drive........... an outboard tunnel.

Different strokes.

T2x

Another history lesson
 

Leave it to Sir T2x....what a terrific chapter to the history of these old boats!!

Have the Sanders and the chemical strippers started up, yet??!!

Wings Away, Tonto!!:D

Jeff:

I'll see you in Clayton............22 months and counting.....until the "Wing shootout"........ I have a hunch we'll be giving a LOT of rides.

Rich

are you guys gonna talk about K-Ts? hey T2x,remember the pic i showed you at hotty totty? tripps

Tripps:

Nah KT's are too new fangled for Jeff and I............they raced in the 70's.

We like our boats from the 60's................like the SR-71 Blackbird.

T2x