Roger Hanks Racing
 

Hello to everyone! I am new here and I am wondering if any of you "OLD SALTS" remember a crazy Texas oil man named Roger C. Hanks and his "BLONDE" & "BLONDE II" Cigarette boats.
Roger raced in the late 60's and early 70"s.
He had a picture in his office of one of his boats sticking through both side of a yacht! I would love to find a copy of that picture!
Best Regards

You can find that pic (and many more) on Graham Stevens' website:

http://powerboatarchive2.co.uk/pictu...46/category/68

This would be one of the most famous pic's of Hanks.

Hi all- I just stumbled on this thread after googling my grandfather, who happens to be Mr. Roger Hanks. I've been looking for this picture to make a print of it! I am his oldest granddaughter, Blonde and Blonde II were named after my mother Graham Hanks.

If anyone has more information about him I would be forever grateful.

All my best,
Esa

Esa greetings

Take a look at www.historicraceboats.com That is HORBA That stands for Historic Offshore Race Boat Association.

Here is some information from the 1972 Key West race that Roger won.

As you can see the boat was a 36 foot long boat...... and here are photos showing it climbing up and finally cresting a wave, a big wave.

One of the crewmen with him that day was Bob Saccenti who is on HORBA's board. He went on to become a famous racer in his own right and founded the famous APACHE boat line.

The photo of the race boat sticking in the Hatteras, was used by your grandfather to send out Christmas cards one year..... with the title underneath in big black letters.......NOBODY'S PERFECT!

This is incredible!!! I am so grateful for your quick and thoughtful reply, thank you. I'm so excited to learn more.

Best,
Esa

Esa

At the bottom of the pages on the HORBA website is an advertisement for Innovation Marine of Sarasota, Fla. Very recently they had one of your grandfather's boatsin their facility. The boat had been converted to apleasure boat and was sold to anew owner when it was at Innovation.

If you contact them, ask for Rick, they may know of how to contact the new owner and you might be able to go and see the boat or even take a ride in it.

Funny story that was in Sports Illustrated about a race your grandfather was in. He broke down during the race and the reason he gave for the breakdown was this.........Roger said that he lent $10,000 to another racer a while back and the other racer repaid him in cash right before this race. So Roger tucked the money into his wallet and stuffed the wallet in his jacket and threw it under the deck. Sometime during the race, the wallet came out of the jacket and the money flew all around the engine room. But Roger said, he was convinced that the final blow was from his American Express card that came out of his wallet and sliced the belts on one engine. He was very colorful.

I raced against Roger in his first race (California), and his last race (Key West), and nearly every domestic race between---he was a great innovator, competitor and good friend---

http://i57.tinypic.com/2hzlb7k.jpg

Thats a awesome story, keep up the great work. Once this gets in your blood you will never get rid of it. I am 3rd gen Powerboater and thank my Dad and Grandfather every chance I get.
Esa enjoy the old stories and remeber them, sometimes they get a little more colorful with time. LOL.
Greg

Gentlemen- Greg, Redman, HORBA, I am just beside myself with curiosity! I am indebted to you for your stories. I wish we were all in the same room and could discuss for hours. I suppose it shouldn't come as a surprise that in my mother's wedding photos to my dad in 1974, my Grandad (this is what we called him) was in a huge neck brace from a motorcycle crash. I don't think she forgave him! Maybe having two boats named after you helps :)

I am compiling all into a story I'm working on-- increasingly it appears to be turning into a chapter. Not withstanding working on a full-sized print of "Nobody's Perfect" for my living room!

I will keep on this thread and enjoy the edge of my seat as your memories unfold. New to this world, I already feel the energy and how much you all have thrived around it, all this time. What a world-

All my best,
Esa

Bob Saccenti was having some trouble posting the picture and asked me to help along with his comments on the race that day.

Roger was fearless in a boat. Ha! I remember we were cutting thru huge waves going around the Dry-Tortugas and seeing green water coming down the deck a few times knocking the wind out of us..

Also cutting thru areas that had black coral heads just below the water to save some distance. I remember Roger saying before we climbed into the boat the morning of the race: If you see me doing something wrong, grab the dam wheel and correct it.. We will argue later if the correction was right or wrong!!

After going the distance and nearing the end, it was a drag race to the finish line. Dr. Magoon in Kiekhaefer Aeromarine (with Redman) was a few seconds behind us and Billy Martin Bounty-Hunter was a close third.

In 1971 and 72, Roger Hanks took part in some European races too. He won our local race, the 1971 Deauville Trophy as shown in this short Movietone report.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAinOlWoORw

A big thank you to all contributors who are making this thread really interesting.

Phil.

Michael Aronow sent in a note on Roger. He was a frequent guest at the Aronow home in Coral Gables, back in the early 70's.

As a matter of fact he was a good friend of Don's and even got Don to invest in some oil wells in Texas.........none of them ever hit!!!

How are they doing now? LOL

I could find no record of his first (California) race. Reason: It was rained out and never rescheduled.

A lot of us towed across the continent for the Long Beach-Ensada race late April, 1971. With our Mercruiser powered boats, with the big ugly cast iron exhaust manifolds, puny Holley carburetor---and we all got to see the 'Blonde II'---fuel injection, Patterson stainless water cooled headers etc----

Here is the photo of the Christmas card from Roger.

It has a full page spread in our book on the Golden Era from 1970 to 1980

welchie
 

Im pretty sure i own that boat now. The previous owner has more pics and info to give me. Her name was blondie and did go through the hull of a hatteras in a race

Caan you please send me that album. I own that boat today. Hull # c1g6 if thats the one

Welchie,
I would LOVE to see pics of Blondie in its current condition! Please post pics.
Thanks!

I'll get right on that fast shafts.

I'll get right on that fast shafts. Just as soon as I figure out how.

Welchie, you won't be able to post pics unless you are a paying member. The work around is to email them to a member or use a photo hosting site like photobucket.


Cool story...

Oh thanks for the info on that.

Ok so apparently I can't post pics at this time. If you want to see pics immediately you can email me at Roccostransport@ yahoo.com or check out my Facebook page (Sean welch). Her new name is ms. Wizard.

Pics from Welchie. Click to enlarge.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]545654[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]545655[/ATTACH]

If your interested in the blonde, i actually own her now. She has changed quite a bit. I have plenty of pics and she might also be up for sale. The hull number is c1g6. Just so you know im real

Thank you for posting those pics flightplan

digging up old thread. this boat is for sale in ft myers florida. says 10k says will sell with or without power.looks like an old boat that needs redone but it is not trashed. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...2111112l%22%7D

Wouldn't mind seeing a picture of the first Blonde.