Cedar Point
 

Here are some pic's from Chip Millers collection that just surfaced from the 1976 Cedar Point Stroh's Grand National race. I was @ this race [without a camera] with a friend who was racing his 26' Cary, HOT KNOTTS . I thought this 38' Bertram was one of the nicest boats there even with stock TRS drives. :rolleyes: I believe it was or became Phil Lewis NEEDLE NOSE Bertram. The Active-8-er Mag was the old Wolverine Magnum of Pete Smith, than Bud Drettman bought & rebuilt it even modifying the deck.. From that experience Drettman started the Active boat company in Algonac Michigan. Bud & Ross Fotch first built vee 31' hulls than later building the world Championship Active cat hulls that later became the Image, & Express cats now owned by Ross Fotch. That Cig looks to be one of Kiekhaefer Aeromarine Marine hulls. On the deck of the yellow Bertram it looks to be Rocky A looking for a place to tie up.

Live bullet- nick rinzi, , bruce beattie

Here is the Not politically correct Magnum LIVE BULLET .. :party-smiley-004:

Mark the outlaw racer cig would round off your my boats profile! Cool boat

Mark I spoke to Kurt who has the NN3 Bertram and he told me Phil only raced NN one season then sold the boat to Diamond Don who put bottom paint and merlin diesels in the boat and left it in a marina in Chicago. Shortly after Kurt was told Diamond Don died of lead poisoning....aka a gun shot. The boat sat in probate court in Illinois for many years before a guy in Jackson Mi bought it for 3k. He put it in a barn on his property then sold Kurt the boat a few years ago.

Joe great story, this Bertram had many lives. When I first saw it @ Cedar Point I I always wondered why they built it the stock TRS drives as I seem to remember it ran open class. If I remember right that race on Lake Erie was so ruff that it was a race of endurance & not speed as many did not finish.

H2O,
Love the classic pictures, however the pics in post 719 are from Point Pleasant NJ, not Cedar Point. The Nancy fishing boat is still there!

I don't think Phil ever raced it.
I think he built it & sold it rite before the NJ race and rented a chopper & took video & photos of the race.

Right you are,, any of the pic's with the fishing boats in them would be from NJ, but the Bertram pic's along with the rest of these are from Cedar Point. Chip had them posted on face book in one large collage of pictures. [I should have realized the fishing boats are ocean going] Here are rest of the pictures clearly at Cedar point, I hope.:party-smiley-004:

Boogie Bear-30' Corsa-hardly ever see a pic of this classic...and always loved Sandy's Copper Kettles-I think this was the 2nd boat made of Kevlar 49.

Is Copper Kettle a Sutphin?....................What a Wealth of old skool!!!

Pete this Copper Kettle is a Bertram 38' as they were very popular back then.

I bought the Hull and Deck from Bertram Yacht, in 1975, we put the TRS drives on the 38 Bertram, they were previously used on my 36 ft. Bertram (prototype hull - think it was a Memco 40 cut down, and the strakes were
bolted on, so the width could be changed or tested. - We could never keep the strakes on the boat, - it was sold and went to Southern NJ - to a barn eventually to be made into a pleasure boat) We put the TRS drives on, as it was a matter of Dollars - a whole drive package from Mercury 454's, TRS drives, Borg. 72C transmissions, inner and outer transom plates and drives was a little over Five Thousand dollars for the pair of engines and drives. The Hull and Deck and Hatch cover, as well as the Instrument panel from Bertram was
12,500 back in the day ! That was a race layup too. We never really got to race the boat, The 1976 Hennesy GP in Point Pleasant NJ was to be its first race - we knew we were not the fastest, but the fast ones usually broke down, our thoughts were to compete, and finish, and Money was a major thought in
what we could do. The Boat did start the race, previously to the start the new owner would let young kids
up in the boat to clean etc. - and some one must have stepped on a harness - to make it lose - as during the race the harnes came lose and the engine stopped - Upon the return to the pits after the race - I saw the boat, and its engines being serviced - I asked the Mercury People what happend - they said the engines were fine - Those engines when I sold the boat were 496 - engines built by Roger Munn, great engine builder too !

The trailer you see in the photos was built by my twin brother Peter, two 40 ft. 8 inch I beams were given to us by a close friend, and Peter cut and welded up that trailer - all we had to do was buy the hitch, and the 3 axels and tires - the work was done by my brother - Not bad for a guy that never was a professional welder! That trailer is still around - although the last 6 - 8 feet were removed so the boat could be launched from a
ramp - our thoughts were to have the protection of the steel beams to protect the drives while being trailered.

Many Memories - but this was the end of my racing, and the following year was the beginning of NNRT Productions - which now is BIG SEAS Productions - with Darren and Rich Luhrs.

Phil

To this day my father holds the opinion that the Bertram 38 Competition is the best handling vee bottom every built. He spent a lot of time re-rigging and running Vincentive after its roll over. Fell in love with it working for Keith.

Because your Dad spent that time in the 38' Bertram that got him prepared to race with Bobby Sheer in the Flight Cat.:ernaehrung004:

And many other of his wild florida rides :)
Chase, The Hustler, etc

Hi phil. All is well with B38.

Johnny-thats almost an oxy-moron: the best handling boat....after rolling over??

lol...yup!

Hello Kurt - did you ever open up the cockpit ? any photos if you did ?

Phil

Phil,

I speak with kurt often and he is really making your old boat very nice again. I'm wondering if I can purchase and race footage you might have of the Mirage Wolverine racing? I can't seem to find anything here in Detroit and thought you might have something we could buy from you?
PM me if you have anything or can point me in a direction to someone who might?

Thanks much!

Joe[ATTACH=CONFIG]517611[/ATTACH]

I raced Phil's 38' Bertram at Point Pleasant and Cedar Point with Diamond Don and Davy Gilmore. Think about that: Davy Gilmore and me in the same boat. Poor Don..............

Hello Joe,

Contact Darren Luhrs here on OFF or his father Rich Luhrs T2X, they own the NNRT video Library, and I am sure they can put together what you need. Darren has a Photogentic memory, and will be able to know instantly what he has and from all the different videos they have ! Glad to hear Kurt is doing well with the boat !

Phil

Hello phil. Cockpit now opened for 5. Bolters & interior being made up by PPI interiors in sarasota. Will b awesome when done. Will b out this summer for all to see. I will b intouch. Glad to hear you r in good health. Kurt

Thanks for the Information Kurt - yes, am feeling much better ! hope all is well on your end ! am looking forward to some photos !

Phil---continue to feel better!!! Do you think anyone on here would remember this????

http://i62.tinypic.com/2s1x7pf.jpg

Bobby, I remember that.
Bobby Sheer

Joe is this how it looks today ??

Over 9 years now i have owned NNIII

I remember it well ! One of two 38 Bertrams Rocky had !

yes.....nice isn't it

Yes it is Joe !! In my opinion these old girls sure do look really good compared to today's cookie cutter boats.:party-smiley-004:

Can someone tell me in post #665... what is sea twister?

Just guessing, looks like a 24-7 boat, Excaliber or P&D?

Sea Twister looks to be a 7 Meter Martini. This pic came from a Ohio GLOPRA race around 1976-77, hopefully a Ohio club member will chime in.

Phil,

Did you buy your Bertram Baron new as well?

Does Rich have the NN stills collection as well?

Jeff

I purchased the 28 Bertram Baron from Stone Harbor Marina. It was a used boat, bought it in the winter time, made a deal with the Marina to remove both engines and drives and Install New Holman Moody 290 Hp with Volvo drives - Stone Harbor Marina had at least 5 Bertram Barons there - (not all were for sale) - Mine was the
boat that was used in their Brochure - and had the Bertram Nautic Special painted on each side, close to the transome. I had a feeling the orriginal engines were not in running condition.

As for the NNRT Still collection, I gave it to my twin brother Peter after Rich and Darren got the Video Library.
I think there are close to 600 or more Slides or transparencies in the collection. - I am sure it would be
available for sale, offers accepted.

Phil

Good looking boat the 28 foot Baron,sadly we never got them in "OZ"

al's boat was legendary - then again, so was al. it had small blocks with y-pipes very unique sound.

As I said before, $$$ makes boats go fast.

If you spend enough $$$ you can make a ugly girl look gorgeous.