I was just checking to see if you were paying attention.......

Now which hull went around the course faster????


T2x........

Darren has been "schoolin" me for years...... sometimes the father teaches the son...... sometimes the son teaches the father.

see www.darrensoffshorephotos.com..... I'm a big fan of his Dad......;) ;) ;)

T2x.......... proud of his "hero" as always

Yes Bobby rigged it.... I have no idea what the George Linder designer award is...... and George is my best friend.... It's probably something he put together with his PR people.

The story...... Willie ran in a race off Fort Lauderdale, that I was in. Both of us were in Sport class...he in the Eickert, injected aluminum small block/ Cig.... me in a Prototype Shadow Cat with Mercury T-4 outboards/ Wayne "quicker" Vickers on throttles. The flag dropped and Willie accelerated away from the field.... then he looked to his right..and saw Wayne and I checking his top speed..... right next to him. We ran along like this for a mile or two matching his every effort to gain speed...until we got bored and roared off to tear up the Open Fleet.....

Shortly thereafter, Willie bought a Cougar cat, and found that it was too heavy..... He rigged it any way..and it was slightly faster than his Cigarette (low 80's). He got angry and had Bobby Saccenti (his rigger) call me and order a Shadow.

Willie jumped on the phone and asked what it would weigh, bare hull.... I said "maybe 3000/3500 lbs...depending" ."

We delivered the boat and it weighed maybe 3500 lbs..... close to the Cougar's weight..... Willie was furious and called me...demanding another boat. I said "go ahead and rig that one"..... It'll run 115 as is" (faster than anything else in race trim at the time in any class). He said (and I'll never forget these words).... "It better bro....or I'll burn it...in your driveway".

He rigged it......it went 118 ...first time it hit the water in New Orleans...... and he and I became pretty good amigos..after that.

To this day...El Boss was the most exciting Shadow Cat of all. Black Duck was the winningest, and Love It was the most fun.

T2x

Where are these Shadow cats now and who builds them today? How many times were they 'splashed'?

As a matter of fact , i named our race boat EL DIABLO with the EL BOSS in mind !!! Got to love the old them good old days !!!! :hothead:

Do you think he actually would HAVE BURNED IT IN YOUR DRIVEWAY if it hadn't run at least 115mph??? :eek: :confused:

Thank you T2x! I did not feel like taking this to the Betacam... BALDY!.................BALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL LLRIGHT!;)

I remember watching El Boss AND later American Dream by then had canopies. that boat ran its butt off. With small blocks no less! The feds always seem a little interested in those boys. My buddie whent to an Fed auction and bought an old seahawk cougar, Boy the 80s were some interesting times. Hey where is Sal?:D

Jerrry and Willie ran Love it Again. Both good friends of mine. Jerry is getting ready to "graduate" Fast boats and fast times. NO o/b ever outran "el Boss" unless it was broke or sittin on a trailer. "el Boss did out run the open fleet in Ft. Lauderdale in the early eighties. I know because I was in one of them.

Stan

Popeyes O.R.T.

You better believe that Willie would have burned the boat in T2X's driveway!!!

When we sold him a Chris Cat he told Dick Genth (President of Chris Craft) he would park the boat in his living room if it didn't meet expecitiations.

To put the performance of El Boss in perspective in the 80's Open boats started at least 5 minutes ahead of Sport class and Willie and El Boss would catch and pass the entire open fleet within one lap. After several such embarassing races for the Open class boats the APBA changed the courses for Sport and Open class so this could not happen.

The rigging was by Bob Saccenti and was flawless, the engines (small blocks) by Kieth Eickert and nothing could touch them.

Willie Diaz was the most fearless and daring throttleman I have ever seen. He eventually broke the first El Boss defeating the best V hulls in 6-8 foot seas off Miami and T2X built him another one.

Darren has the video file tapes of these exploits and they must be seen to be believed. Hope he does a DVD.

George Linder