Origin of KAAMA
 

Okay, I NEED to know.
Was Kaama just the original race team of B. Cooke, or a performance company, or just a really gigantic Scarab (from the dictionary :rolleyes: )?
Now have a "KAAMA" model Scarab and want some history.

Re: Origin of KAAMA
 

..

Re: Origin of KAAMA
 

and more...

Re: Origin of KAAMA
 

yea Ernie . . .we can do those graphics on the side of yours :cool: :cool:

Re: Origin of KAAMA
 

Okay.....was Larry Smith some how involved with KAAMA.....
Come on guys..... toss the newbe a crum, eh :drink:

Re: Origin of KAAMA
 

Ernie-
Larry Smith is in California where he designs and builds Scarab boats under the Team Scarab name. He also licensed the SCARAB name to Wellcraft in Florida.

The Team Scarab boats are each unique boats and have TSC as the first characters in the Hull ID number. The Wellcraft built boats are more of a standard production model, and have WEL in the HID.

Betty Cook owned KAAMA, a company that built performance/race boat hardware.

Betty Cook ran a Cigarette named KAAMA for a short time, then Larry Smith built a Scarab for her sometime around 1977. A second boat was built for her which was some 1200 lbs lighter and is built with Kevlar and carbon fiber with epoxy resin- I own this boat.

She raced with John Connor on throttles and won 3 national championships and 2 world championships along with numerous record runs.

There was a Wellcraft model known as the 38 KV, which some say stands for Kevlar- I don't know if they were all built with Kevlar. I seem to remember being told that the KV stood for KAAMA Victory, maybe I am wrong. There was a KAAMA edition 38 KV also, which does sound kind of redundant with the Kaama Victory theory.

A KAAMA is a type of Gazelle/Antelope, also known as a Hartbeast. The KAAMA logo has a gazelle-like head with horns, and a large red heart under the head.

send me your email addy and I will send some pictures.
Good luck with your new boat!

Bulldog aka Ronnie
[email protected]
(Remove the X's- this is intentional to keep invaders out)

Re: Origin of KAAMA
 

Good info Bulldog! A lot of people won't take the time to post something like that.

Thanks!

Re: Origin of KAAMA
 

Wow, thanks for taking the time for the history lesson Bulldog. :drink:
That's some great info, not to mention pretty cool knowing where grand dame of offshores ex-race boat is. That's got to be a water born missle :evilb: :D :evilb: .
Uncle Ernie.

Re: Origin of KAAMA
 

I happened to have the honor of racing against that boat many times. Betty and John and the various navigators over the years were always the best.

The bottom picture in post #3 was of Betty and me at the start of the Bushmills Irish Whiskey race in Newport Beach California. I won the race and she came in third. The next race in Miami, she won and I came in third.

For the first five races of that year we battled back and forth and were tied for first place points. She eventually won with a cat taking the World Championship in Venice Italy.

Her original Cigarette was a 36 footer that was called Dante's Inferno and raced out of California by Dante Tagnoli.

Her first World championship came at Key West in a very rough race. Betty stayed in the boat, chewing on a towel for about 20 minutes after the race, to stop the bleeding from her mouth.

In those days, Key West meant running all the way out to Dry Tortugas and back. There were many miles when no land at all could be seen in any direction.

Larry Smith was always a great racer, designer and builder.

You have a great model there with a lot of history involving some really good people, enjoy.

Re: Origin of KAAMA
 

Thanks for the insight Top Banana. A pleasure to actualy speak (well, electronically at least) with some of the old school royalty.
Do you know if Ms. Cooke still with us and is she still active in the sport?

Ernie

Re: Origin of KAAMA
 

Sorry to say that Betty passed on a few years back. I believe it was cancer.

John Conner was living in Florida the last time I saw him.

Re: Origin of KAAMA
 

Betty Cook passed away in 1990 I think.
John Connor owns Connor Marine in Ft.Lauderdale.

I have some original and a bunch of hi-res pictures of Betty Cook, John Connor and others. I have a couple of pics of her with the towel on her mouth. Mr. Connor told me her face slammed into the console and was knocked out, bleeding. He shook her and she came to, jabbing her finger forward...

In the picture she has a championship medal hanging around her neck.

Top Bannana, would you please leave me some of your contact info? I am trying to establish a time line for the history of this boat and every little bit helps.

Ronnie
1-985-893-3831
1-228-688-3414
[email protected] (Delete the X's, they are antispam devices- seriously)

Re: Origin of KAAMA
 

Hey Ernie, I just saw your post and thought I would add a little. Betty went with the "Kamma" name because, according to her, it was a very graceful and sleek animal that was very fast and hard to keep up with...go figure. She was not into all the flashy graphics at the time and came up with what you see now. The model you have sounds pretty neat. Can you post pictures of it when you get it done?

Here's a good website with quite a bit of history. http://www.njppc.com/librarypreface.htm
She was also inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1996, was a member of the APBA Hall of Champions 3 times and is also a member of the APBA Honor Squadron. She stopped racing in 82.

She did pass away from brain cancer a couple of days before Christmas in 1990. If you have any other questions or anything, please feel free to let me know.

I was lucky enough to have Betty as my Aunt. Here's a picture of me in my first boat. It's a Mini Hawk she got me when I was a teenager. You can imagine the hours I put on that thing.

Hey Bulldog, I would love to see any other pictures you have. I have been trying to get as much info together on her as possible. You can email me at [email protected]. (remove the x) If you have time it would be great.

Shawn

Re: Origin of KAAMA
 

HI Shawn,
Thanks for throwing in on the conversation. I'm sure you posses a unique insight into racing past. How fortunate to have had an aunt who was such a sportsman and fine person by all accounts. The sport is less for her passing. Okay, enough of the grim.
I'll post a few pictures as the project comes along. Eventually I'm thinking of having Glass Dave do a variation of Ms. Cooke's original KAAMA scheme
:D :drink: :D . Old school rules (for those of us on a budget any way).

ps. Thanks for the NJPP link....nice historical record.

Re: Origin of KAAMA
 

You're welcome Ernie. Looks like a fun project can't wait to see pics. Good luck with it and like I said any other questions, let me know. She was a very special person I am very fortunate to have been able to spend so much time with here. Just so you know, there's no "e" on the end of Cook. :drink:

Shawn

Re: Origin of KAAMA
 

Hey Shawn,
Still have the Mini-Hawk KAAMA? :D
Always thought those were pretty cool.
I need one for my mom/dad's inland lake as the ramps there are to steep for the 38'. :rolleyes:
Uncle Ernie

Re: Origin of KAAMA
 

Acutally, it's still on the Lake my parents live on back East. The owner is going to sell it back to us when his kids out grow it. Would be nice to get it back in the family!

Re: Origin of KAAMA
 

Bulldog - Did you know your boat ran as "Revenge" for a couple of years?

Re: Origin of KAAMA
 

Kaamapart-
Ron Hirshberg bought the boat from Betty Cook, and raced it under the name "Revenge". I have talked to his son Jon, who was delighted to hear of the restoration effort.

I have a beautiful picture of it with Mr. Hirshberg driving- The sides say Kaama, but with black letters on a white background (opposite of original color arrangement). This may have been directly after the boat was Michelob Light and was all white on the sides with dark lettering.

I am trying to put together a timeline to document the history of this boat using the pictures I have and references from John Crouses book "Searace" (Thanks John).

Any information would be very much appreciated.

Ronnie aka Bulldog
1-985-893-3831

Re: Origin of KAAMA
 

Ronnie

I have about 15 of Betty Cooks awards , I will put up some pics soon.


Mike
Rio Roses

Re: Origin of KAAMA
 

I have a few questions maybe someone can answer.Timeline wise what is the relationship between the Kamma named boats and the Kaama drives. How many of the boats used the drives as well as the name ? Are any of the original Kaama drive raceboats still around and still equipped with the drives? Seems odd that most of the pleasure boats equipped with the drives seem to be Formulas and not Scarabs. Thanks.

Re: Origin of KAAMA
 

Hi Ronnie (Bulldog) Im sure you know I left Teaam
Scarab a few years back and im cleaning out all the
scarab stuff and I guess I will let someone sell it
for me on Ebay.
I know I have some Betty Cook stuff around and I will
box it up and send it to you.
Email me your address Iknow I have it someplace but
who knows where.
I will also pass on some contacts to help you In your
tracking of the Kaama Boat.
Mike J.

Re: Origin of KAAMA
 

What information do you know about the Mini Hawks? How many were made, who made them etc?

Re: Origin of KAAMA
 

I don't have any info on the mini hawks but as a kid in the mid 80's My best friend had one and we aslo clocked-in some serious hours around the Islomorada-plantation key area on a 13 mini hawk. The one on this thread is one of the only ones I've seen since then. It was also the first and hopefully the last boat I ever barell roll in!! Sorry for rambling about a 13' boat -- Back to the old school serious race boats!!