And he's usually seen on the end of the pier at the marina in Cowes each August Bank Holiday weekend...........! (at least we and a number of dedicated others did so during earlier years - our annual pilgrimage!)

There are of course many other folks out there who 'lurk' but who for whatever reason choose not to post - shame - come on guys! Share your knowledge/pics!

I bow to Marco's superior efforts when it comes to the fine detail - he must spend a lot of time fishing around for the answers! The inspector Clueso avatar was very apt.

Richie, I was posting some Champion lists and speed records I noticed that Tom Gentry was a World Champ in 76 when did you start racing with him? And I Scanned a pic of you from '86 as Gentry's throttle I am wondering if you are about my age or older being 45?

Jim - he is 15 years younger than you -

I don't see how that can be true.

Dick had his thumb ripped off at a rodeo. Had his big toe grafted back in place. Dick Banks and Fred Miller were both fire fighters in the LA area. Lots of boat racers were also fire fighters. The biggest of all was---'Big Dirty'---all great guys.

Most of the guys on here are north of 60...........

T2x

Don`t forget Gene Lanham with doc Magoon was high up fireman, also Julio Navvaro ( Scorpion boats back when ). All great guys and personal friends. Big Dirty was probably the badest of all.

I started with Tom at the end of 1975 UIM season after I just clinched the World Championship for the second time with Carlo Bonomi. Tom made me an offer I couldn`t refuse, Basically write down on a piece of paper how much I needed to race with him and bring the Trophy back to America for the Bicentenial 1976. Money was no object. I dictated what equip. we would use and what races we would run. We bought 35` Cig. and all 100% Kiekhaefer equip. Bobby Beich and I rigged everything in our American Eagle shop in N. Miami, no Calif. involvement at all. First three races were in January in South America, we won two and the South American Championship, then prepared for the criss cross from Europe to America. We won some major races and the UIM world championship. I continued breifly after but Toms wife Nora was putting a major damper on Toms racing, like we would show up for a race, and waited for Tom to show, which many times he didn`t because Nora was afraid to fly that week, and would not let Tom fly either. I was in my prime and needed to compete, so it took it`s toll on the team, Tom and I were off and on for several years after doing special projects etc. Since you are doing records, do you have our kilo records. Both in 1994 World record V-superboat Scarab, 126.8 mph. Then the UIM open class record 158.7 mph. We had tested with the super boat motors in the 40` Skater and had it up over 178 mph. before dry sump drives etc. The UIM setup we had was in the 165 mph range. I have many stories about setting those records and the work that it took to accomplish them. Thanks for your interest, I`m always looking for past pictures. I think it was 1982?? I raced a 38` Scarab with the only set of supercharged aeromarine motors ever built, we kept the hatches closed, many people to this day don`t know that one, we also were running gear ratios that no one else had, as well we were playing with various rake angles on the props etc. we were developing a lot of the stuff that`s taken for granted today, funny how no one ever asks where did all this trick stuff come from, I have huge stories about all the different things we came up with and invented in those days, Kiekhaefer team and me. We invented the zero effort controls, long story about how and why, and the list goes on to probably 20 different items.

Ritchie, Thanks I enjoy reading your stories. I was first exposed to Offshore in '85 when my friend Art Lilly and I went to Key West. That visit to Key West changed me. I have boxes of memorabilia I collected over the years. The first record I have shared of Gentry is the Popeyes Kilos.
I too treasure the memories of racing most notably when Art included me in his SuperV team in '98. I has fortunate to meet others to race with at Fountain and enjoyed a run of success.

I will continue to scan and share stuff in my '85 Key West thread.

Thanks again and I look forward to hearing more of your stories.

You were with one of the best, and toughest of the new age throttlemen for that era, you were in the company of great.
thanks for your support, I keep threatening to write my book of memoirs. Not sure if you know but my carreer started in 1964 as a test driver for Kiekhaefer Mercury in Sarasota and I was one of the original Lake X guys. 7 world championships in open UIM and superboat class, and over 60 carreer victories later.I retired from racing after the accident with Tom Gentry in 1994, it was my third near death experience. I enjoy sharing the life and times, thanks to guys like you who enjoy and appreciate the past.