Old OPC stuff
 

Trivia Question #1

Who is this man and why should he be famous in boat racing?

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...reenshot17.jpg



(If you guys aren't interested in the old OPC stuff, I won't bore you with any more of it, but if you want more, I have plenty)

I was involved in the OPC factory Mercury team based out of 20 Wisconsin st. in Oshkosh with Gary Garbrecht. When the old man disbanned the factory offshore team in 1969, he gave us all options on where and what we wanted to do within the co., Three of us went with Garbrecht Ralph Seavey, Dennis Robbins and myself. Ralph did rigging, dennis did gearcases, and I did powerheads. Only two guys for each dept. Dave Beyer and myself built 100% of all the powerheads. Serial numbers all started with our initials DB or RP. I built the 1350 BP`s in several different versions, Stackers, sylo`s, Cow bells, twisters etc. I still have my team ring from winning world`s in Havausu 1970. I did the circuit for approx. 2 yrs. included Europe, and all the big races in USA, I worked with Bob Herring, Sirois, Merten, Habe, Stickle, Downard, Purcival, Miles, Molinari,Wilson, and countless others. I joke with Reggie Fountain when I see him, and remember when I built powerheads for him way back, I made him champion many times over with my motors.
So Yes I am interested in OPC 1969 to 1971 would love to see some of the old crew pictures, I remember we all wore yellow jackets, race shirts etc. Mike Butler from Merc. sent me some pix awhile back, was cool. I was only 19 20 yrs old, and single, young and dumb and full of it. I have some great stories about those days, some tradgic, some funny and most insane, about the stuff we used to do. My carreer started as a test driver for Mercury 1967, out of Siesta key, and Lake X.

Rich, do you have any memory of how many cowbell motors were made? 4 or 5 ... or 10 or 20? It couldn't have been many.

I would say while I was there between Beyer and myself at least 25 to 30. The Cowbell and Silo motors came after the stackers, basically phased the stackers out. Doc Morgan over at engineering was the founder of the silo and cowbell exhaust. The picture you show, would the driver be Kenny Kitson??????????? I remember the old powercats, reveau`s etc. Used to be a black cat that raced, maybe 1965 1966 vinatge, that had a guy strapped to the deck in an X, and he would move from side to side in the turns, also kept the nose down, I remember Odel Lewis, Johnny Backus, Roy Ridgell etc. running those boats. My first real test boat was a 15` powercat with twin 650`s 65 hp all deck except where I sat and the fuel tank, I loved that boat, and wish I had it today to go play. Jake Anderson and a bunch of us kids used to use Freddie Kiekhaefers 15` crosby with a 650 on it, porpoised like crazy, we used to pull the front cover off to get more air to the carbs, also sounded better. Plus we ran it in the fifth pinhole, little tricky planning off, but once it planned hang on, we used to jump sand bars, oyster bars, run through the mosquitto canals etc. Big fun.

The man in the picture is Harold Eis, one of only 2 racers to win the Havasu race 3 times. The other was ....

I guess that can be trivia question #2 :p


Thanks for the guess on the cowbell motors. So far none of them have turned up in the hands of any collectors that I know of. Maybe the factory got them all back and scrapped them. :(

The Deck Rider
 

Back in the late 50's early 60's, George Thompson drove a Ted Jones Cat, with none other than Bill Sirois as the deck monkey..George was a favorite of Mr. K, and about the same age if not older, but couldn't see too well, so he took Bill along to help..Help see the buoys and hold the front of the boat down as well. The Jones cats were big, and made of wood. They used them for the pace boats at the start of OPC races as well as racing them. The picture shows George in the Around Miami Beach Race..Bill wasn't on the deck this time.

That`s the name I was trying to think of George Thompson. I worked with George at Kiekhaefer Aeromarine in 1970/71 he and Ralph Seavey rigged and crewed for Doc. Magoon, also rigged the Aeromarine IX for Bonomi and myself which became Dry Martini, Mel riggs was also there at the time. It`s all comming back now, it was George riding on the bow, and Sirois driving, those were the days. Remember Stan Adrian, little scrawnny guy, Dick Genth`s right hand man, I worked with Stan up at the Wayne Meyers boathouse in Fond du lac we built two 29` formula`s, one single 482 for Genth, the other triple 1350 BP`s for Gene Wagner and myself. First race around Long Island, Genth won the race, rest of the factory was under orders to back off????????????? Good hearing from you again, hope all is well, all the best

Richie,
The last time I saw George he was working at Aeromarine with Mr K on the motorhome for GM..That was the one with a front wheel drive Oldsmobile engine and 4 rear wheels free spinning on tandem axles..Did you ever work on that project? I think Aeromarine was helping develop it. He showed me pictures of it with no body..Seems like Mr. K was there too.

Butch

Roy Ridgell
 

I also remember seeing a baby Powercat with two 9.8hp engines on it at the lake..The boys at the Lake told me Roy blew it over clowning around..Roy said it was flying...he was a great guy with lots of stories..

Butch

If it`s the motor home I think, I bought one from Mr K back in 1972???????? It had the Bullet nose on it, all white with Green reflective stripe trim, maybe you remember about a 25 ft. or 30, if memory serves me right, I do remeber George working on it. When I left Merc. in 1970 and went to Aeromarine to get back into boats, the old man put me in the dyno cells running the Aeromarine snowmobile engines for Bollins, then went to the lab to work with Joe Marchello building the Offshore motors. I worked with Jim Kinsler putting the first Lucas fuel inj. on the 482`s. I built all the brackets, and made all the adaptations to make it work, Remember what we called the suit cases at the rear of the motors that had the wiring inside, I`m the one that cut the hole and ran the angle drive distributor through the back, then to cover, made a fiber glass bubble. Lots of stories about those days, not enough time to tell.

Did it look like this?

[QUOTE=7xchamp;2513002]That`s the name I was trying to think of George Thompson. I worked with George at Kiekhaefer Aeromarine in 1970/71

---and George lived in a trailer next to the plant---and towed the 'Aeromarine I' to its first race at Key West with a half ton Chevy pickup from FDL---

And Bill Sirois is the other racer to have won the grueling Havasu race 3 times.

For those not familiar with the OPC marathon races like Salton Sea, Parker AZ and the Lake Havasu Outboard World Championship ... the Havasu race originally was a 9 hour race ... 5 hours one day and 4 the other ... not just a walk in the park. I think one year there were over 120 entries for the Havasu race, which was held Thanksgiving weekend ... lots of boat racing kids grew up thinking Thanksgiving Diner was ... hot dogs, fries and Cokes on the beach :crazy:

And the same number , or more, for the Hudson River Marathon, Lake Saint Mary's, OH, the Lake George Nationals, The Miami 9 hour etc..........

Compare that to today's Offshore racing where you can "win" a class with one boat in it, simply by crossing the starting line!!!!!!

I can't wait for this Bimini race to provide a rebirth of truly "competitive" racing.

T2x.........

What did Sirois, Richie Powers, John Stenbach, Wayne Vickers, Odell Lewis, and John Bakos have in common?

T2x

Mr. K?

Correct!

There are no training grounds like this anymore, where an entire corporation was motivated to create leadership, innovation and a winning desire, regardless of pay level or title. The individual ego was secondary to the team's success.... and it worked.

I was offered a job at Lake X back in 1966 and had to turn it down because my young, pregnant (ex) wife would not leave the NY metropolitan area. I have often wondered how different my life would have been had I taken the job.

T2x

Rich we love ya like ya are....who knows, if you had taken that path..... you could have ended up a cranky opinionated old guy !!

Wow, Charlie, nice shot!

Cranky opinionated OLD GUY ????????????????????????????
from working at Lake X and for Mr. K.: Brownie didn`t even work for the old man.

Richie:

They were talking about me............

From now on you be Richie and I'll be Rich....except to Phil Lewis who will reverse it anyway.........:p

T2x.......... The younger (by 1 year), yet more obsolete Richie:D:D

[QUOTE=Redman;2513281]That would be correct, he lived there with his wife who the old man wasn`t to fond of. George doubled as the security gaurd as well. The man could also do some seriuos drinking. George was basically the old mans YUP and watch out anyone who would get in the way.

Got it I think???????????????????

Richie, You are correct. I did not work for Mr. K, I worked against him.....................

Rich or Triple X - Just keep it simple - XXX is fine - or TripleX then I wont get confused !

PHIL

All I can say is, thank God Powers' first name is Richie and not Phil or we'd all be in a mental hospital......:D

Phil:

Did you figure out the cost of taping the Bimini Race in Hi Def yet? If not, what the *%#@ are you waiting for?

Your pal,

T2x..............