Lost Shadow Cat Race Boat Found
10-03-2019, 01:36 PM
#31
Fast Priorty II Nor-Tech
Platinum Member
10-06-2019, 09:34 AM
#33
I haven’t had a chance to get on Facebook to look for Mr. Lurhs yet. I was hoping he would show up on this thread. I did find a great video on YouTube that was produced by Rich Luhrs a while back, “Big Seas Productions LLC presents The Partnership that Changed the Game” . The video starts off with a short biography of Rich Lurhs and George Linder. The principle part of the video talks about the introduction of the Shadow Cat and its development in offshore racing. Great pictures/, race footage, and a few short interviews. The video then moved on to talk about Linders role in developing Chris Cats and Luhrs work on the Conquest Marine cats. Again more pictures and race footage of the Chris Cats and Conquest Cats. When I stumbled across this video I was searching for El Boss. This video was posted to YouTube by Bryan Watson and is a bit over an hour long. Hope this helps you find it. Sorry I’m not sure how to post s direct link. Definitely worth watching.
10-07-2019, 01:33 PM
#35
If anyone has pictures of the Apollo II or Wild Bill's Express boat I would like to see them. I haven't been able to find any pictures of any boats that look like God's Speed. I'm no expert, not even a novice, when it comes to Shadow Cats. So I don't want to question what Lightspeed posted about Docksider, but to me it doesn't look like Ned's boat. The stern and the cockpit/aft hatch sides don't look the same. The extension to the stern would account for the change to the outboard bracket, but I doubt they would have gone to the trouble of changing the cockpit/aft hatch sides. Again I don't know though. I'm no expert and have to defer to the guys that were there. I need to go back and ask Ned some more questions. I thought I would be able to find a picture of the boat when it was sponsored by Budweiser, but I couldn't. That's a pretty big sponsor. I did see the picture on Ned's door though. At that time the boat only had twin outboards. To me the boat looks like it was a flat transom mold, for stern drive power, extended to mount outboards. Looking at the sponson sides and the start of a third step in the bottom. I almost think it was a factory job. Who ever did the extension thought it out pretty good. I like how you can still tuck trim tabs up under the stern and hang outboards on there also. I wonder if they still had adjustable trim on the outboards also?
10-07-2019, 01:41 PM
#36
What were the standard hull lengths for factory Shadow Cats. I know there was a 30' and I'm pretty sure they produced a 27". I believe there was a 21' and a 31' or 32' also? T2x said he had a 38' plug burned. Man, to think what kind of performance a 38' would have produced!
10-07-2019, 02:26 PM
#37
Registered
If you do a search here on OSO for Apollo-a pic shows up. I don't know how to bring it to this thread.
Tim Sharkey use to race on Apollo, he would be a good contact.
What other race boats does this guy have?
Tim Sharkey use to race on Apollo, he would be a good contact.
What other race boats does this guy have?
Last edited by Fast Shafts; 10-07-2019 at 02:39 PM.
10-07-2019, 06:24 PM
#38
Gold Member
Gold Member
I believe there were 2 docksider boats and that one was one of them ,,, You could see the name where they took it off when we got the boat.It was rigged for mercs ,,,Then put rudes on it . All my pics got ruined from Sandy ,,,,
10-08-2019, 12:41 PM
#39
Thanks Fast Shafts, I'm searching through old threads for a picture of Apollo right now. I keep getting distracted by all the great history lessons from T2x. Also thanks to Lightspeed, a second Docksider helps me wrap my head around this search for information/history. I'm sorry for all your losses, not just your pictures, during the hurricane. I definitely would have liked to have seen your pictures and I'm sure they would have contributed greatly to preserving the history of offshore racing. Thanks again.
10-29-2019, 09:37 AM
#40
New Information and Additional Pictures
Sorry for the delayed update. I haven't been through Yorktown for a few weeks, but I was able to go by and see Ned again yesterday evening. After talking to Ned yesterday, the history of this Shadow Cat is still pretty vague. He did clarify a couple of points and add some information that may be helpful. First off this boat was not sponsored by Budweiser. Ned raced another cat with twin outboards that was a Budweiser sponsored boat. I'm not sure what boat this was, but the picture looked like a Shadow Cat. I asked Ned if this boat was previously Docksider or Wild Bills Express. He did not remember Docksider, however Wild Bills Express was a name he recognized and I believe this boat may have been raced under that name at one time. Did the owner of Wild Bills Express have any dealings with running Image Boats after George Linder and Rich Luhrs left in 1982? Ned seamed to allude to that notion. Ned also said that this boat is in fact the only originally built 33 foot Shadow Cat produced. The boat is Kevlar constructed and Ned believes it was built in 1985 or later. Ned also mentioned that this boat was previously named Triple Threat. He said the boat once had V8 outboards and that they were swapped out for Mercury 300s because tuning 8 carburetors per motor was a pain in the ass. The baot is for sale, but I was not able to tie Ned down on a price. He mentioned the trailer was worth 10K by itself. So I imagine his desired selling price is probably high. He did ask if I had any vehicles for trade. So his willingness to entertain trades is promising. just some history on Ned. He did throttle for Don Johnson during the 1989 race season along with another famous actor. Sorry I don't remember the other actor's name he told me, but it was an interesting guy along the lines of Chuck Norris. Ned said he previously raced a Skater Cat and kept getting passed by this Shadow Cat. So that why he pursued buying it. He said that he also one a number of races to include a TX race with Gods Speed. New pictures to follow.
