Origin of KAAMA - Page 2

Top Banana · 04-29-2005, 02:43 PM

Sorry to say that Betty passed on a few years back. I believe it was cancer.

John Conner was living in Florida the last time I saw him.

Bulldog · 04-29-2005, 09:08 PM

Betty Cook passed away in 1990 I think.
John Connor owns Connor Marine in Ft.Lauderdale.

I have some original and a bunch of hi-res pictures of Betty Cook, John Connor and others. I have a couple of pics of her with the towel on her mouth. Mr. Connor told me her face slammed into the console and was knocked out, bleeding. He shook her and she came to, jabbing her finger forward...

In the picture she has a championship medal hanging around her neck.

Top Bannana, would you please leave me some of your contact info? I am trying to establish a time line for the history of this boat and every little bit helps.

Ronnie
1-985-893-3831
1-228-688-3414
rcbyrdX@Xbellsouth.net (Delete the X's, they are antispam devices- seriously)

FountainCS · 06-19-2005, 04:07 PM

Hey Ernie, I just saw your post and thought I would add a little. Betty went with the "Kamma" name because, according to her, it was a very graceful and sleek animal that was very fast and hard to keep up with...go figure. She was not into all the flashy graphics at the time and came up with what you see now. The model you have sounds pretty neat. Can you post pictures of it when you get it done?

Here's a good website with quite a bit of history. http://www.njppc.com/librarypreface.htm
She was also inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1996, was a member of the APBA Hall of Champions 3 times and is also a member of the APBA Honor Squadron. She stopped racing in 82.

She did pass away from brain cancer a couple of days before Christmas in 1990. If you have any other questions or anything, please feel free to let me know.

I was lucky enough to have Betty as my Aunt. Here's a picture of me in my first boat. It's a Mini Hawk she got me when I was a teenager. You can imagine the hours I put on that thing.

Hey Bulldog, I would love to see any other pictures you have. I have been trying to get as much info together on her as possible. You can email me at sw_christensen@xyahoo.com. (remove the x) If you have time it would be great.

Shawn

ernie davis · 06-20-2005, 03:30 PM

HI Shawn,
Thanks for throwing in on the conversation. I'm sure you posses a unique insight into racing past. How fortunate to have had an aunt who was such a sportsman and fine person by all accounts. The sport is less for her passing. Okay, enough of the grim.
I'll post a few pictures as the project comes along. Eventually I'm thinking of having Glass Dave do a variation of Ms. Cooke's original KAAMA scheme

. Old school rules (for those of us on a budget any way).

ps. Thanks for the NJPP link....nice historical record.

FountainCS · 06-21-2005, 04:25 PM

You're welcome Ernie. Looks like a fun project can't wait to see pics. Good luck with it and like I said any other questions, let me know. She was a very special person I am very fortunate to have been able to spend so much time with here. Just so you know, there's no "e" on the end of Cook.

Shawn

ernie davis · 06-21-2005, 05:15 PM

Hey Shawn,
Still have the Mini-Hawk KAAMA?

Always thought those were pretty cool.
I need one for my mom/dad's inland lake as the ramps there are to steep for the 38'.

Uncle Ernie

FountainCS · 06-22-2005, 10:03 AM

Acutally, it's still on the Lake my parents live on back East. The owner is going to sell it back to us when his kids out grow it. Would be nice to get it back in the family!

kaamapart · 06-29-2005, 11:16 PM

Bulldog - Did you know your boat ran as "Revenge" for a couple of years?

Bulldog · 07-09-2005, 01:16 AM

Kaamapart-
Ron Hirshberg bought the boat from Betty Cook, and raced it under the name "Revenge". I have talked to his son Jon, who was delighted to hear of the restoration effort.

I have a beautiful picture of it with Mr. Hirshberg driving- The sides say Kaama, but with black letters on a white background (opposite of original color arrangement). This may have been directly after the boat was Michelob Light and was all white on the sides with dark lettering.

I am trying to put together a timeline to document the history of this boat using the pictures I have and references from John Crouses book "Searace" (Thanks John).

Any information would be very much appreciated.

Ronnie aka Bulldog
1-985-893-3831

Hauling Trash · 07-09-2005, 09:52 AM

Ronnie

I have about 15 of Betty Cooks awards , I will put up some pics soon.

Mike
Rio Roses