Re: back in the dayss
 

Ron

Ghost Rider was owned by Hugh Doyle and designed by Walt Walters and Jim Wynne. Jim was the driver who became world champion driving it in 1965.

It was 28 feet long and made of wood. Cold molded wood built by Souter of England. It was powered by twin Daytona inboard engines on shafts.

I saw it around the waterfront in Newport RI in the 80's. I understand that someone in NY owns it now.

In one of the races...Cowes Torquay? The co-driver broke his leg on reentry and finished the race sitting down wedged in the corner of the cockpit.

He passed the time by counting between liftoff from the top of one wave to renentry again. He said he almost got to 5 seconds on more than one wave. As you can see from the photos no trim tabs were used then.

Remember, this was an era of no bolsters.....the racers just stood in an open cockpit and held on to the wheel or grab bars.

Re: back in the dayss
 

I saw "Top Banana" on the rear quarter of one of the Nextel Cup cars for the Bud Shootout. Is there any conection?

Re: back in the dayss
 

Another Merc Team boat..... a Memco....can you say "In the Gulfstream"?

Think about it....somewhere in the Bahamas.....out of sight of land....and just about everything else.

Photo courtesy of the driver.....Steve Sirois... (Bill's brother)

T2x

Re: back in the dayss
 

that photo is great!

Re: back in the dayss
 

tt

Re: back in the dayss
 

Damn T2.......... I'm old..... but I was in the 4th grade in 64............ :eek:

Re: back in the dayss
 

I raced while I was in High School.......... I raced from Albany to NY (136 miles) in one of these in 1964.......

15 foot Powercat...engines pictured are 80 hp Merc 800's...we raced twin Merc 1000's....100 hp each....biggest motors made at that time.

By the way in 1964 this was the fastest "pleasure boat" on Long Island...inboard or outboard....

The only things faster were full race Inboard and alky outboard Hydroplanes.

T2x

Re: back in the dayss
 

The guy in the photo is the legendary Chuck Mercereau.....who was a merc team driver and the holder of many records.

T2x

Re: back in the dayss
 

Ghost Rider was purchased by Barry Cohen in the late 60's at about the same time as he started Barcone boats..... He started racing in 1966 out of K&K Outboard on Long Island, where I worked at the time....with a 16 flat bottomed Rayson Craft powered by twin Merc 110's. Roughest riding boat I ever drove. He also had a beautiful Sting Ray which come to think of it may have been the roughest riding car I ever drove.

To my knowledge Barry still has Ghost Rider, although the sightings in Newport could have been him taking a ride.

T2x

Re: back in the dayss
 

I met Barry last year. He's ready to bring her out of mothballs and install new engines whenever another endurance run from Miami to NY is pulled together.