Horba Restoration Project
 

As you know we recently had the original 32 foot Cary Thunderballs donated to HORBA. The boat was in California and we needed to move it to Florida for the restoration. OSO member, Catastrophe, donated the entire amount for the move and Bobby Sheer donated his time and equipment to move it. A big Thank you to both of these guys for helping preserve the history of the sport.

So, the next step is to solicit donations and help from the high performance population to do this restoration.

HORBA's intent is to restore the boat like the 32 Cary that Don Aronow raced in 1969 and is so well known throughout the world, The Cigarette.

It is so ironic that on this very day...August 23, in California, 41 years today....Don won the Hennessey race with The Cigarette and Peter Rothschild was second by 5 seconds in Thunderballs.

The boat will be used to promote the history of the sport and will attend as many poker runs, race events and boat shows as can be afforded in the future.

HORBA will post photos as the restoration goes on.

Please send donations to:

HORBA
PO BOX 8625
WARWICK, RI 02888

In addition to outright donations, we are looking for some marine suppliers in the industry. Anyone out there want to become involved and forever linked to this project??

Engines and drives.....Mercury racing??? We need your help here. We would like to make the boat iinto a runner for poker runs and other events. What can be done to help us.

This boat will be seen at all major events and be a draw wherever it goes.

We already have a nice contribution courtesy of Ritchie compass. Thank you very much. All donors, whether cash, merchandise or time and effort will forever be part of the record of this restoration process.

Magazines that want to cover the restoration project?? Trailer people looking for recognition in the industry, help us to rebuild what we have or donate one of your latest models.

When the Don Aronow movie is finished and they are looking for a boat to use in the movie, we think they just might be interested in this one......all of the donors will be noted everywhere the boat goes.

Tow vehicles?? GM or Ford or ??? This is going to be a top of the line restoration, we need help at this stage.

Anyone interested in any part of this, please PM me.....thanks

We have been discussing how this boat would handle with new power. We have to remember how it handled with old power first.

Here is a link to a rare color film of Don racing the Cigarette and it shows him both steering and throttling the boat.

www.bananaboatco.com

Go to "Should you buy a banana?" section and click on the link to "Don's Secret Formula"....when you get to that page, the second paragraph has a link to the film.....Enjoy.

Happy anniversary throttlemen !!!!

That's right 41 years ago today, at the Hennessey race, Bobby Moore put a set of throttles where he could work them and Bill Wishnick could just steer the boat....that was the beginning of the role of the throttlemen.

Great lesson in the history of offshore power boating, thanks Charlie.

Thanks Steve.....another point here, is the Bertram of Wishnick had a set of the brand new # 3 Speedmasters, while the two Cary's and the rest of the fleet were still running the #2's with 2 blade props.