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. 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 ..

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.

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.