Another...

Please note that the deck on Pennzoil was not original....It was put on after the boat basically burned to the sheer line in a race in Michigan....... I always shuddered when I saw that boat racing after the fire, as the original hull laminates had been subjected to searing heat..... with obvious structural integrity issues.

T2x

Rich,

I thought the boat only burned in the stern and the deck was only changed from the cockpit back? Am I mistaken? Even after he fixed it, the boat ran like a raped ape and really held its own in the rough water. A true testament to its design and hull construction. Note: prior to going to KW in 1996 Nicky removed I believe in excess of 150 lbs out of the bow in what he termed "excess weight". I voiced my concern but he said that it was in no way jeopardizing the structural inegrity of the boat. When we went to the Lake teh week prior to the worlds it ran faster than it ever had not surprisingly. However, it only ran one more time after that. As much as the deck was damaged after we stuffed, the bottom was virtually undamaged. Once again proving that the "obsolete" methods sure were strong. Also, in the rough water there was only ONE other boat in our class that anything for us...UNTIL we hit that blue wall of concrete.

TTT

Darren has video footage of that fire....

I remember flying over it and seeing the entire boat engulfed in flames and smoke.......and we spotted that smoke from at least 5 miles away...... The fire was HOT......... The new deck had to at least extend from the forward cockpit combing back as that is not the original shape...... From that point to the nose is only about 10 feet...or so. I can't imagine leaving that piece of deck untouched...but stranger things have happened.

The point is the hull was made in 1981......and burned probably 8 years later....... and then had the issue at Key West ........ possibly 5-7 years after that...... It is amazing the old girl held up at all after the blaze.

T2x

It was a blue boat owned by some guy named Denny.

Sean......

After George and I left and went on to work with Kenny Adams and the Conquest hulls..... There were a few cats made either by our original crew under Larry Wirtzberger....or later by a group in Jersey called "Team Shadow", who leased the molds....and, finally, one hull was built at a Sailboat maker's yard in Newport R.I.

I would get a laugh out of my encounters at races...... A middle aged couple wearing Team Shadow jackets.... All I'd hear would be "When we created this boat" blah, blah...and "our design team"...blah, blah, blah....until they saw me..... and started mumbling and moving away..... I'd shake my head ...and go about interviewing somebody for ESPN.....

Maybe this was one of the hulls they sold? I , personally, do not remember "Denny" and his blue OMC powered Shadow Cat. There was a "Sunkist" hull that had OMC's as I recall, but that was the original hull that had a wooden plug deck for a while..... Later we put a molded deck on it........It was very heavy...... but the guy wanted it more for show...than go.

T2x

Rich,

HMS Dea Won had Team Shadow stickers on it when I bought it...I thought you built that boat??

The Sunkist boat, was it built for a canadian?, as I am sure it is in Toronto........or at least was.

RT

No it was sold to Skip Ring...from New Jersey.

It was built as our prototype.

T2x