Knocky House
 

With the "old timers" reunion rapidly approaching, does anyone here, know who Knocky House is, and what he did for Offshore??

Hello Bobby

As far as I know he was Don Aronow's racing side kick for all or most of Don's races from the beginning. In old school terms he was Don's "riding mechanic , am sure he did more then just that for Offhshore racing. I would think that some of the things that were tried on Don's race boats were Knocky's ideas?
Thank you
Jim

Bobby...he was Don's guy in the boat and for most of his races. He also was the guy in the boat for other world champs like Bobby Rautbord inhis 36 Cigarette.

He was an Olympic wrestler (like Rocky) and was one guy that although short in stature, could never be bested in arm wrestling by any of the bigger or stronger guys.

Here he is shaking hands with Don after winning the Bahamas 500. Barry Cordingley is the other guy in the boat. Sadly, Knocky has passed on, but his wife still lives in the Ft Lauderdale area, my son speaks with her on occasion.

Did Knocky race with Howard Quam (Flap Jack) some? I Thought I'd read something where the boat came apart and Knocky had to Help Howard since he was Injured, anybody Recall that????

All I can say is "CLASS ACT" all the way!
Besides being a good prop man.
Later,
pp.

PS, Whats up Mr. Wide Awake ???

HAD A PROP SHOP EARLY 80'S IF I REMEMBER..

Yes he did.
Later,
pp.

When I met Knocky, he had a motorcycle shop on 7th Ave. in Miami. I gave him a job at Donzi, and introduced him to Aronow. They arm wrestled. Knocky won. One Sunday, I brought my kids over to the Donzi factory to go for a ride, and one of the kids said "I hear someone calling HELP"! The noise was coming from a 16' Donzi. We opened the hatch, and there was Knocky, stuck beside the engine since the evening before. He was muscle-bound, and couldn't raise his arms above his head to work on the latch. Great guy. I miss him a lot. PS, Big Dirty beat them both arm wrestling........

His wife and daughter still live in the same house in Ft. Lauderdale on the water - saw them at a XMass party this past year. Gave them a copy of Run Sunward and they loved it! They still have a cutoff "bow" from Knocky's old Donzi...

Is this Knockys bow cutoff?
 

Hey there - I happened to buy this bar from a friend, they didnt know anything about it. I restored it and brought it out for a party and another friend said "I think that is Knocky's bar" since then I have been trying to figure out who built this and if it was Knockys. Is this his cutoff bow from his old donzi? I would love to assemble the history of this!
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...bfe06da68.jpeg

That's interesting......I wonder who here is alive to confirm this

same - I have been trying to find a donzi that it might have come from but it doesnt really look like any of the boats they had.

well, OP was banned but I saw this question today so I'll throw in what I know. Please correct me if I'm off... please let me know if you have any more details about any of this:


in early 80's, Knocky sold my dad an Apollo 24' , (or at the least, Knocky built the hull mold similar to the formula 233 for Apollo, and laid our hull with extra glass for dad's racing hobby (S Florida)), I dont know who rigged it, but the 330 Mercruiser was not quite stock.

That 2018 offshore movie "Speed Kills" with John Travolta has Knocky portrayed in it. Horrible CG but I thought, good historical perspectives about our favorite sport.

If I'm not mistaken, Knocky worked with Don during a lot of the boat building companies Don shuffled around. He was a Rigger, Mechanic, Throttleman, US Navy Veteran, historical figure in Offshore history.

cheers

Per a conversation with John Crouse (SEARACE) back in the early 2000's, he told my dad and I that Knocky was a Pitbull for Don. He held multiple duties as well having Don's back no matter where they went.
John mentioned a race in Europe that Don and Knocky were a part of in the 60"s. Apparently all the teams were having their boats put in the water by crane/hoist and when it came to Don's boat, the crane operator was being a real prick about it. Don told Knocky to go take care of the situation as they were under a time crunch. Its turns out that guy gave Knocky a hard time and he proceeded to knock the crane operator out right on the spot and picked and lowered the race boat in the water.

Brian
PS, John lived in Homestead Florida in one of Al Capone's house's/ranch which was a bordello back in gangster hay days.

I'm not 100% sure, but i think Knocky was a part of the UDG in the navy.

Brian