Welcome to Classic offshore Al. Little history on Al, he raced 38` Scarab open class in Calif. as well as raced other classes of boats. He and his wife are very dear friends of mine and are avid boaters today, with a racing sail boat named whisper and 47` Fountain named Scream, they will enjoy very much Classic offshore, next they will join HORBA, so Charlie give them a big welcome, great people with some good stories I`m sure. Al raced against Herbst, Edelbrock, Honcho etc. all 38` Scarabs from Calif. and all ex famous race boats, Maybe Al will tell us about the different boats and their origin.Your friend 7XCHAMP

Welcome,
What years did Al race in the Pacific?

I would be interested in hearing what it was like running against Nordskog up and down the beaches. He seemed like a pretty serious competitor.

I don't know if I'm doing this right but am willing to give it a go. I am not in Richie's league but we sure have had a great time.
It all started in Lake Arrowhead in southern California with ski racing and drags. Vic Edelbrock Jr, Jerry Herbst, Bob Brain and later Pete Peters of Phoenix and myself formed the "Fun Team" because we raced for fun--always the pits to visit for a cold one.
In the 1960's thru the 1990's we continued to ski race, particularly the Catalina Race from Long Beach to Avalon and back. I drove an 18 Spectra, 24 spectra, 32 Spectra, 22 Hallett, 27 Hallett, and a 21 Schiada.
During this period we had moved to Colorado and began racing in APBA Region 16 OPC class then Super Stocks. Went to the Nationals at Parker Blue Water in about 1967-69 with my Sanger flatbottom with a 427 Unser Ford and got blown away by the Howard Brown boats with Keith Black 426 hemis.
Then decided to go offshore in POPRA and had a special 21 Schiada built, rigged by Jerry Gilbreath of GMT with engines by Curt Hooker of Edelbrock--750 HP dynoed, normally aspirated. Herbst found out what we were doing and showed up at the first race, in San Francisco, with a black 38 Scarab bought from Kiekhaefer for back debts--a former "drug boat". Within a year, Vic and Pete were also racing 38 Scarabs.
We had first rate equipment.
Jerry was seriously hurt at the 86 Worlds in Key West, and still has paralysis on his left side. The guys in the Cougar Cat behind him were killed when they hit the same standing wave. Vic had sold his boat and gone Vintage Car racing--better for his business. Pete bought a new 41 Apache and Joe Lancor the Popeyes 38 Scarab(Al Copeland). I throttled for Lancor, and the we got the first 46 Aranow. We destroyed the boat in the first race in San Francisco; the kevlar bottom peeled off in sheets as we raced. We finished 3rd but refused to go to Pier 39 as we were leaking badly and I had to have drives and plates all the way up on one side and down on the other to keep us from cork screwing. We called Aranow and he essentially said "tough". At the trophy presentation Bob Nordskog heard of the problem and told us to deliver the boat to his shop. We did so and he called Aranow and told him to build us a new hull correctly or he was going to feature our boat in Power Boat magazine. We did some analysis and discovered that the boat would only hold together if built of carbon fibre. So Joe got Kary Gahrety of America's Cup fame to go and build the new hull. Bobby Moore rigged and tested the new hull and called to say that he got it over 105 mph but could not keep it from cork screwing. Hence it became a pleasure/fishing boat and is still around Ft. Lauderdale.
You asked about Bob Nordskog. He was the "Grand Poba", and POPRA would not have existed with out him. You had to have a love/hate relationship with him. He went out of his way to help with Aranow as he helped other racers. But he also changed rules after races to win and did not abide by rules if it meant not winning. He was a tough competitor. He both drove and foot throttled his boats, though I don't think he could have without the Teague brothers on each side of him. I believe he enjoyed having his own fiefdom on the west coast.
I miss Bob--most of the time.

That is too much for any of you--sorry to be so windy. Would be happy to fill in any spaces.

Now we will see if this makes it into the right spot.

Thanks for the history and a great first post !!


Cougarman

Breitanbach:
While most of your story is interesting, how did you order a 46 from Don.
He passed away before the Aronow 45' was ever finished.

What 46' are you talking about - he did not build V hulls from 82 until his passing. That part of your story does not make sense.

Sorry PJRIZ but someone has given you the wrong information. The 46, not 45, was his new race boat and we got the first one from the mold. You can get pictures of us racing the San Francisco race from POPRA as we are going through the Potato Patch just outside the Golden Gate. I know the boat is in Florida because the rigging shop we used for the 48 Fountain had just worked on her. You can get the name of the shop from Richie. If you still don't believe, call Bobby Moore. Past that, I'm sorry I can't help you.

The hull was pure white and seated four people. We had two big blocks that were built by the over-the-hill gang. Three retirees: Lou Carillo, Kieth Black and a man from Gentry Turbos whose name I can't recall. They took the project for fun and turned out two engines that dynoed over 1150 hp and idled under 1000 rpm. Joe was handling this part as Carillo was a good friend of his. Lou rode with us in the back seat in San Francisco so he would be another person to contact.

Breitanbach;
45' or 46' is not really relevant - the point is simple;
When Don passed, the mold for his new 45' or 46' had not yet been finished, as the men at USA were still working on the plug -
so please explain, if you can, how Don built you the first one out of the mold. That was not possible.
As that was not possible, then it is not possible that one of your crew called him to complain about a Kevlar hull delaminating during the running of the San Fran race you speak of and his answer of " tough" is a pure fairy tale.
Maybe your people want to make up a good a story and are using Don's name instead of the name G. Garbrect. Garbrect ran Aronow boats and he is probably responsible for the faulty built race hull you refer to.
Other than those facts and some other gaps in the tale, your story sort of makes some sense.
That phone call from Bob to Don is pure fiction and crazy talk.

Was the guy from Gentry's shop Vern GIlbert ?

If so he is still carring on Genty's work, and works closely with Pat Wiesmann on a lot of projects.

Cougarman

PJRIZ

Every event I have written about is factually correct. Unfortunately, you have substituted the word "Don" for "Aranow" which gives a different scenario. I have used the word Aranow like Outer Limits or Cigarette to define the company, not the individual. I may have misled you by incorrectly using the word "he" instead of "they" in a few spots. If that is the case, I apologize. However the facts are absolutely correct, including the call from Bob Nordskog to Aranow, the call to Aranow complaining about the kevlar delamination and their answer of "tough", and the fact that we were told that it was the first race boat out of the new mold.
This is not a "fairy tale" nor does it have "gaps". And we didn't have "my people", we did it ourselves.
I hope this clears up your concerns and have a Happy New Year.