Duce's R Wild
 

[B]Hi guy's, it's been a few months since I posted here, I was trying to ID an old boat then, of which one of you told me it was a WebbCraft Equlizer and that turned out to be a fact. Thanks for all your help.
In fact, one of you also said it could be the old Duce's R Wild boat, and today I found out that also is correct. I had it listed for sale on Craigslist and got a Lot of phone calls and emails about it, several were complaining about the lack of numbers evident in the VIN. I done a people search on the net and located Brad Webb, one of which built the boat, and I got a Lot more information about the boat than I expected, it is the old race boat, and Brad said that was the Only 28ft race boat they made, and it was a custom build for the Bonaduce race team in Pleasent Point NJ. Brad told me what the Ser # were suposed to look like, and I sanded the paint and primer off in that area and there they were. WBB05422J889 28 that the boat was molded October 8th 1989. He also told me it was the only one of the (about) 20 something, Equlizers that was set up for the speedmaster (TRS) drive, he said all the others had an arcrylic windscreen. Brad said he put the lifting rings on this boat, and that it was the only one they did that to, but the plastic tank up in the bow was installed after it left Oklahoma, I still am confused what that tank is for, some say a ballast, others say a fuel recovery or vent tank ?? it has several lines in and out of it, but I'm not a racer, and I'm not sure what it's for.

Back to people search, I got hold of Roscoe Bonaduce, in NJ. He took my name and number to forward to Al Bonaduce ... to my surprize, Al called me this evening, we had a Really pleasent conversation, it was his boat. Al told me the races he had won with the boat and that it was a national champion in 1990 and 1991 "C" Class and set a worlds record @ 91 mph in 1993 in NY. He said the original number on the boat was A-2 but when he won the national championships, and set the record the number was A-1 .

After talking to Al, I have taken the boat off the market and decided to build it back to use, I can't afford to build a motor the old boat deserves, but I can build one that will cruise it around. Al said he was going to look up some picture's he has of the boat when he had it, and that he has some Vid's of it also, that he would try to get his son to put them on a DVD and sent to me. I sent him pic's of the boat as it is now, and have agreed to send him pic's as I make progress with it, probably begin in the spring.

Al sent me a few pictures of his Scarab, he son driving, he said the thing is showroom condition, and it looks like it by the pic's he sent, I'll try to post a couple here.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...Reds/boat1.jpg

I also raced in A class (A-96 & A-1) from 1990 through 1994, when the rules changes required me to move up to B class (B-19).

I remember them well. They came from Sumerville, NJ, and had a summer home in Forked River, just a few blocks from me. At one time they had Moly Black Gold, as a sponsor. The boat had a longport speedmaster type drive, Richie Zul power, and she ran very well.

You said "national champion in 1990 and 1991 "C" Class", I think you meant "A" class.

I would be really nice to see her restored.

This picture was taken sometime 1991-1992 race season.

A friend of mine had a Scarab Panther almost identical to the one you posted the picture of. It had Merc 330's & ALPHA drives.....http://smiliesftw.com/x/ugh.gif, but it would run 70+ back in the late 1980's, which was pretty fast at the time! The boats' name was "Lady in Red". :cool:


PS: I knew Bill Webb, and lived a few houses down from the Webb family at Grand Lake back in the 1980's. They used to rent those 5-6 man red & yellow water weenies on the weekends, & had a cool house.
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/7366/waterweenie.jpg


The 28 Webbcraft Equalizers, were a 99% direct splash of the 28 Cigarettes. They flattened the bottom of the Vee on the 28 Equalizers, which made them faster, but wild as hell at times to drive. I've been in 2 of them.

There were a few single engine ones that they built, as well as a few twin engine models. One of them is still on Grand Lake to this day. It's mostly white, with a yellow & blue stripe down the side, has bravo drives & 454's. They were really popular back in their day.

Ahhhh, those were the days....
Well at least it was when you were a 18-21 year old kid tagging along to all the races and getting in the boat a few times!
A-33 Kamikaze 91-93.
We won the Pt. Pleasant race in '92 at a whopping 45mph! There was some real offshore water there in 92 & 93!
I remember the Deuces boat, that and MRD were the two to beat if it was calm!

I can't find a pic of the A-Boat, it was the sister to this one and looked almost identical. The B-boat burned to the waterline in 90, the one I raced with them is still racing Class 5 (Whooz Your Daddy)

After Pat sold it, the A-33 Kamikaze became A-32 Haulin Glass, yellow boat, owned by T Spangenberg.

Thats when divisional races had 16 boats in a class, and the worlds had 26 boats in our class. When we won that, we really won a race.

Those were some great turn outs!

I may have asked before, but did you race with Chuck Burke?

Yes, I owend the boat, Chuck was my crew chief, throttle man, and we became good friends.

How is Typhoon Service really doing?

A few weeks back there was quite the letter sent to customers, some talk of lost leases, and new owners. Chuck is the best, and I hope things work out for him.

Some beautiful boats, even the raft Lee

It "Duces-R-Wild / Moly Black Gold" was a single engine "A" boat. It never ran in "B" class. I (A-1 RUNAWAY, B-19 RUNAWAY)was forced to move from "A" to "B", they said my design was to fast.

In 1990 she finished 2nd to us in the Key West worlds. Were were DQ on tech spec, so they became A-1. We spent 1991 in litigation, and upon winning, came back to racing in 1992. Just to prove a point, we ran the excact same motors, won Key West worlds, passed tech, and became A-1.

As you said "Duces-R-Wild / Moly Black Gold" ran well 1990-1991. They were fast, and ran the boat hard.