Hell of a man. Happy Birthday Howard.
​​​​​​​Bobby Sheer

Thanks for the pic's Rik. Awesome!
What an innovator that man is and was way ahead of his time with his developments.

This is a rare photo... probably the only photo of Howard in the very first test boat with the #1 prototype Surface Drive. 18' Arenacraft w/ 350 Chevy Crusader Marine engine.

I took this as he was idling back to the marina.

1st few months of testing-testing-testing the new drive & props.
We ran the stock Volvo-Penta drive for a while.... got all the numbers ( mid- 50 mph)....
Then installed the Arneson w/ Velvet Drive transmission.... ( immediately hit low '70's ... with less RPM's !! ) ***
( *** going by memory - you know how that goes!! )

Happy B-day to a True Engineering Pioneer!

What Howard & I experienced during the early days was chime-walking..... ( I got used to it..... even if I don't want to get used to it !! )

So, what may not be mentioned a lot about was Howard's re-engineering the hull designs & use of K-planes for added stability, due to ludicrous speeds,
Especially when He got into turbines in the first smaller boats.

( I was Howard's "1-man crew" for a while at the beginning...... Rik Wimp came aboard after that and was the " go to guy" for Howard )

It was a great time to be racing back in the 70's.

Please give Howard our best birthday wishes, Charlie and Mary Pat McCarthy.

My wife kept the hat Howard gave her until it blew off her head about 10 years ago. The boat we were on was going pretty fast, so we know Howard would understand.

I don't know if Rik has any extra hats around?
But I thought you may get a kick outa this....

Have a pair of ASD8s on my Fountain 12 meter.
Thank you Howard and Happy Birthday!

This was my "Birthday card" for Howard last year...... He told me it was still "good" for his 97th B-Day too....