Re: I have a question.....
 

Exxon paid for a marketing survey, that I read which concluded that the best names for a company.......have two syllables, do not limit the product, do not contain letters or initials, and convey a positive image........ so

Shadow...... I named after the radio character.... "The Shadow"

Shadow Cat.......... ummm...errr...added Cat to the name?

Conquest......... Conquest had a nice ring to it and fit the Exxon parameters.... Coincidently Ken Adams owned Quest racing....but it was named before we even contacted Kenny

Challenger........ was named after George Linder's previous race boats...... one of which was a Carlson, the model name of which was the Challenger.

T2x

How did you get hooked up with Kenny? Why did you choose wood as the hull material instead of fiberglass, kevlar, aluminum, etc? What hull materials do you believe are best for the speeds that today's boats are achieving?

Probably because he built canoes out of wood and habits are hard to break.:)

i dont know if it was mentioned earlier so if I repeat someones post forgive me....

I know exactly where the El Boss/American Dream is sitting as of a couple of months ago and would be willing to bet that it is still there and could probably be bought....Don't know any details everytime I even began to ask I was told the price being asked they're out of their mind.

Anyhow this is pre El Boss with Willie attending "The Saccenti Offshore Racing Academy" from here the rest is history.

The Cigarette

The Shadow Cat

Now I have a question for T2x......Do you remember sending a 30 Shadow Cat to the Great Lakes / Twin Cities Area that ran twin V-8 Evinrude Outboards. Was worked on by Fat Mikey from Godspeed Marine????

So Sean

Where`s the Boat ???????


MIke

Re: El Boss Apache 33' Race Boat...
 

Any more info on this boat? Bobby told me it had no handling problems and would do over 90 with big power as delivered to Willie others ended running up over 100 with no issues. It has an 8' beam and was built from a Squadron X mold.

Sean,

Scorpio's is a Mirage...no?

Yes Sir

Last time I saw it a couple of months back it was in my buddies back yard but I will find out later today if it is still there or where it actually is.

Sean

SEAN WHAT DOES THE BOAT SAY ON THE SIDES...DO YOU OR CAN YOU GET PICTURES .......PLEASE POST IF YOU CAN...

Ken Adams, while living in NJ, had done some projects with, among others, Jim Caldwell (later a production manager at Fountain). He had a reputation as a top craftsman. However, he had moved to South Carolina in the interim, and after a lengthy search, we found him in the woods wrestling bears....After a series of meetings he agreed to come back to civilization...or at least to a town...and we started in Monck's Corner, South Carolina... and later moved to countrypolitan, St. Stephens, SC. He also produced Quest Racing OPC tunnel boats....and the original Jaguar plug during the Conquest years.

The rest is history....or at least an old story.

T2x

Nope.


T2x

Never heard of Love'n it....Here are your choices.

1) Original...... Love it..Last seen in NJ

2) Second...... Love It.... Last seen in Calif.

3.) Love it Again...... Last seen in Florida

Boats 1 and 2 were light blue and yellow

Boat 3 was dark blue and white

These are the original gel coat colors and I believe all have been re painted.

T2x

Is this Rolling thunder a shadow? If not what is it? I saw it in the ex-race boats thread.

No, that's a Baja.....................

T2x

The original............and the first. The hull that sold Willie on buying a Shadow....and a lot of other people as well.

Shadow Cat.....at the World's in 1981

Two old Mercury guys having fun with T-4's

Wayne Vickers on Throttles

Snidely Whiplash on the wheel

T2x;)

Hey T2x, watching this thread i see a lot of talk of you and mr. linder...i was wondering what role did elbie play in shadow???

Justin

Here's the original Love It...Plywood hatches and all

T2x

nice rich! love those racing bolsters too! :)

Probably the winningest offshore race boat of all time...

Black Duck....

later Board walk...later Pennzoil.

3 National championships

4 World Championships

plus a smattering of course and kilo records

The only other boat with nearly as many wins is the old Manta..... "Fever"


T2x

My race digs!:D :D Absolutely the BEST CAT I have ever driven!:) :)

Shane,

Does Nicky ever run the Shadow on the lake?

No Darren, he doesn't. The stuff in 1996 in Key West so hard that the structural integrity of the boat was sacrificed to a point where it was no longer safe. He repaired it and uses it as a "show" boat from time to time.

I think you told me that at Skaterfest, but could not remember. Thanks.

Shane Post some Pic's from you races please.

I don't have any in digital or scanned form. Check out Freeze Frame Videos.:)

Found Key West Disaster Shots
 

HARD RACING TURNS TO HARD LUCK AS THE P-70 IS SEVERLY DAMAGED...KEY WEST FL.
In the beautiful but sometimes treacherous seas off Key West Fl., the 30' Shadow cat, P-70 PENNZOIL met its destiny. In the first race Wednesday, on the 9th of 10 laps the angry seas opened up and the boat launched off a wave. The results were two battered racers and a hull that will never race again. It was a valiant come from behind effort for rookie driver Shane Mahieu and veteran " T " man Nick Coutro Jr. as they drove the cat hard ...and it almost paid off .

Racing from behind is always difficult but... (Nicky) "...second place just isn't good enough. We we're heading for first, and when you race hard... these things happen." On lap nine and coming into the square - behind about a minuite- things were looking good as the gap had been steadily closing. Emerging from the cut, the gap was down to about 20 seconds and you could see this was going to be a fight to the finish!. Acording to Nick - "We were in their spray going into turn 1 " After the turn, at almost the farthest point out on the course it turned UGLY! In a scene that was not caught on video or film, a wave launch and a large hole and it was all over. Rescue crews were on the case in short order and the battered boat and crew proceeded back to the cranes under power but pumps struggling to keep up with the sea.

We were done for the season but Key West is Key West and we enjoyed the rest of the week meeting many well-wishers that stopped by to see us both at the trailer and the night spots. It was most interesting to find out that, following a tech inspection after the race, team Kamikaze was disqulified from this race for illegal engine modifications. Huummm...

All is well with the team and this year our 32' Skater will be ready for another exciting racing season. Thanks to all the helpers ect...

Another...

Please note that the deck on Pennzoil was not original....It was put on after the boat basically burned to the sheer line in a race in Michigan....... I always shuddered when I saw that boat racing after the fire, as the original hull laminates had been subjected to searing heat..... with obvious structural integrity issues.

T2x

Rich,

I thought the boat only burned in the stern and the deck was only changed from the cockpit back? Am I mistaken? Even after he fixed it, the boat ran like a raped ape and really held its own in the rough water. A true testament to its design and hull construction. Note: prior to going to KW in 1996 Nicky removed I believe in excess of 150 lbs out of the bow in what he termed "excess weight". I voiced my concern but he said that it was in no way jeopardizing the structural inegrity of the boat. When we went to the Lake teh week prior to the worlds it ran faster than it ever had not surprisingly. However, it only ran one more time after that. As much as the deck was damaged after we stuffed, the bottom was virtually undamaged. Once again proving that the "obsolete" methods sure were strong. Also, in the rough water there was only ONE other boat in our class that anything for us...UNTIL we hit that blue wall of concrete.

TTT

Darren has video footage of that fire....

I remember flying over it and seeing the entire boat engulfed in flames and smoke.......and we spotted that smoke from at least 5 miles away...... The fire was HOT......... The new deck had to at least extend from the forward cockpit combing back as that is not the original shape...... From that point to the nose is only about 10 feet...or so. I can't imagine leaving that piece of deck untouched...but stranger things have happened.

The point is the hull was made in 1981......and burned probably 8 years later....... and then had the issue at Key West ........ possibly 5-7 years after that...... It is amazing the old girl held up at all after the blaze.

T2x

It was a blue boat owned by some guy named Denny.

Sean......

After George and I left and went on to work with Kenny Adams and the Conquest hulls..... There were a few cats made either by our original crew under Larry Wirtzberger....or later by a group in Jersey called "Team Shadow", who leased the molds....and, finally, one hull was built at a Sailboat maker's yard in Newport R.I.

I would get a laugh out of my encounters at races...... A middle aged couple wearing Team Shadow jackets.... All I'd hear would be "When we created this boat" blah, blah...and "our design team"...blah, blah, blah....until they saw me..... and started mumbling and moving away..... I'd shake my head ...and go about interviewing somebody for ESPN.....

Maybe this was one of the hulls they sold? I , personally, do not remember "Denny" and his blue OMC powered Shadow Cat. There was a "Sunkist" hull that had OMC's as I recall, but that was the original hull that had a wooden plug deck for a while..... Later we put a molded deck on it........It was very heavy...... but the guy wanted it more for show...than go.

T2x

Rich,

HMS Dea Won had Team Shadow stickers on it when I bought it...I thought you built that boat??

The Sunkist boat, was it built for a canadian?, as I am sure it is in Toronto........or at least was.

RT

No it was sold to Skip Ring...from New Jersey.

It was built as our prototype.

T2x