Thanks h2oboater.
You had written in a post -I believe in the thread "Back in the Day"- that Active S-888-(then Express S-30) had been built in 1980, therefore it was the first Active cat ever built.
I also hope that Butch says his definitive on his Express and even on the other cats Active.


The narrow tunnel on the S-888


Express 37'


Vince Vento's Panasonic - former Express?

Black Tornado asks for pic of Flapjack pre Benihana,and whilst looking for just that ,it appears that the races in 82 before Benihana GP went as follows for Quam

New Orleans - Flapjack (ex-Kaama Cat),did not make start line.
Bacardi - Flapjack (Bertram 38)
Captran - Flapjack (Bertram 38)
Detroit - Unknown mount for Quam

So from the above it appears only Detroit is a possible Active Flapjack,even though reports for Benihana GP say Aoki`s boat was an ex Quam Active that had raced 3 times that year.Another piece of journo confusion.

Another piece of data noted is that the 82 World Cup at Key West had Quam as coming 3rd in Benihana.Was the boat repaired before Kaiser had it or was Quam in another Active or Bertram with Benihana sponsorship.

I thought Howard Got the Cougar Cat back for the 82 worlds and sunk it again there. I have a video of either 82 or 83 worlds, I'll have to check. But I know he leads for a while before he breaks, It's raining so it'll be a good day to watch an old video....

Here is a timeline that may help with the Active cats. This is the 1982 Stroh Light race program, and the inside cover with the Active cats. By Aug 82 the Wolverine became Bud Light, & this would be the last race before the Benihana crash in September. And as you can see Express was the same size as the open class Active cats.

I believe that Quam bought the cat Active and raced it from Point Pleasant with Aoki as Benihana.
Then the boat was damaged at St.Augustine, was repaired and the alone Quam drove it at Key West.
Then the mud becomes denser.
In the 1983 Quam races with an identical Active in the livery to the old Benihana but with the red (of the boats of Quam) color to the place of the blue one.
Then to Key West after the first two a little positive races it puts in sale the boat (this results in an info).
You says that the 1983 Chrysler Laser was the ex repaired Benihana.
Then there was an Active Flap Jack with a different livery that very it resembles to that of the Thundercat posted above.
If really the 1983 Chrysler Laser was the former Benihana Quam could also have had three Active in his long career.
I'm waiting that someone clear the waters from the mud.


Key West World Cup 1983


In foreground an Active that seem the Flap Jack and in background left the back part of the Chrysler Laser. Unidentifyed the contest

I believe that you report to Key West 1983 but the cat it was not the Active of Quam but the woodden Cougar of Gentry that while it was leading the race spoon out and it almost sank but he succeeded in reentering in the docks.
It was the Michelob Light ex Tony Garcia.

Thanks h2oboater.
This meanwhile clarifies that the Bud-Light raced in the 1982. But who was the driver?

I just watched the video (it was 1981 worlds), Lee Bomar was in a 37 active, Express was a 32 active, Quam was in the wooden cougar when he first got it, it still had Bettys Impala design on the deck, so it was before we redid it at cougar. The video has interviews with Smitty,Tolman, Clauser, Lanier, Meynard, even shows George Morales racing a "P" Class boat called Spanish Fly...Thats old stuff...

the s-888 was the original cat built by ross for the owner of active, bud drettman. i bought the boat and put my number s-30 on it. it was originally purchased to be a mule for testing my turbo motors. because of the narrow tunnel and weight it just would not lift. ross built another 37 cat for me made of kevlar and graphite. with the 2 1003 h.p. engines it was a tremendous package most time beating the lap times of the open boats

Many Thanks Butch!
Only so every doubt about the Express it could be removed.
The strange thing is that in Europe arrived the echoes of famous "smaller" boats that beat the majors as for instance the Jesse James,but few or nothing we knew of the Express and of it notable performances.
By the way the knots must be still loose on the Flap Jacks.