Save the Old Race Tales

[Davidmnc]

No.... Spooky was a California 16 foot Formula, that had the "Beak" added to make it a 21 footer, for minimum length.

The engine was put in the middle of the boat and the driver sat with his legs on both sides of the engine. The crewman was put outside on the transom with a seat bolted into a cage.

Brownie actually rode in this thing, so he may be able to fill in more details for us.

WOW that's crazy........would love to see pics of it.

[Steve 1]

...and a Thriller it was! Key West '87 was my very first race in Pro Stock. We're barreling along on the outside in that typical Worlds slop and I happen to glance over and back and there's Thriller about to blast by us. From there it got surreal. They hit one of those ohmigod holes and put that big b-itch on its side and then completely upside-down and proceeded to skip like a stone at a 45 degree....right at us! Luckily, the wheel on our rig was on the far starboard side, so our driver saw them and started sawing the wheel to port like a madman. Shame there wasn't a flim crew above for this rodeo...an upside-down cat chasing three rather concerned stooges towards the island! Seemed like forever, but in an instant, the Thriller somehow snapped back over and slid to a stop. After the ugliness there in '85 and '86, we had a sick feeling as we came back around to check on them. Happy ending...Jaguar Jack and Ed(?) popped out of those capsules with the same astonished, I need a LOT of drinks look that we had on our faces. After making sure they were ok, we blasted off to finish the race and I remember thinking to my young self:

A> thank god for canopies

B> I really should've went bowling!

It was a tough Airex boat first open class with canopies ,we got the gimbals replaced (both broke Helmets the hard way) I did a quickie engine hatch and it raced in the saturday race. Some strange things happened nav lights shaved off decals gone the fuel pickups at the top of the Bladders.

[glassdave]

No.... Spooky was a California 16 foot Formula, that had the "Beak" added to make it a 21 footer, for minimum length.

The engine was put in the middle of the boat and the driver sat with his legs on both sides of the engine. The crewman was put outside on the transom with a seat bolted into a cage.

Brownie actually rode in this thing, so he may be able to fill in more details for us.

sounds . . . . uhhh . . . spooky

[glassdave]

WOW that's crazy........would love to see pics of it.

theres video of it in "Run Sunward" i believe its avaliable on the HORBA site. There are a few more pics floating around.

[Top Banana]

Did not!

John Stenbeck.....did and you were second, (First overall in your class).

Brownie, we agreed that we were not going to let the truth get in the way of a good story didn't we?

[ygrowup]

It was a tough Airex boat first open class with canopies ,we got the gimbals replaced (both broke Helmets the hard way) I did a quickie engine hatch and it raced in the saturday race. Some strange things happened nav lights shaved off decals gone the fuel pickups at the top of the Bladders.

Airex. As smokeybandit would say, there's a blast from the past! It must've had an attraction as ours was built with it also. Had completely forgotten that name until today. Their logo was emblazoned right into the little upkick on both sides in front of the tri-stripes from Pantera......

[Steve 1]

Nice looking boat!

[MikeyFIN]

John Stenbeck.....did and you were second, (First overall in your class).

Brownie, we agreed that we were not going to let the truth get in the way of a good story didn't we?

ohh you old Gentlemen ( spelled F**ts], you crack me up...
Yes I was born 1967...

[Edward R. Cozzi]

That 1986 Grand Haven race was a great one for me too. I was throttling a 32' Cobra called "Obsession II" for the owner, Bob Oetringer with a friend of mine Warren Schintzius as the rookie navigator. We were in the Sportsman D class and won because Warren kept us on course when everybody else followed the pack and covered several unnecessary miles. The seas were very calm and we had set-up the boat for rough water. (Figures)!

Anyway we could see the finish line and one engine ran out of fuel. We were so far ahead, we were able to transfer fuel, re-prime and finish on plane. I thought for sure we had missed a lap and were going to be disqualified. I wasn't convinced until we were handed the checkered flag that we had actually won. A perfect example of the Tortoise and the Hare.

[smokeybandit]

Okay, my DVD Recorder/VCR is on it's way. I can't wait to convert all of my tapes to DVD. I will try to post some clips and not infringe on anyones copyright. I was watching some great racing between Jesse James, Rolling Thunder and United Racing Engines. Mark Lavin was extremely talented. When Mark was killed in 86, I believe it was like a punch in the gut to the whole sport. That's not meant to take anything away from any of the others whose lives were tragically cut short, but Mark was taking the sport of offshore racing to new levels.

[Edward R. Cozzi]

In 1986 we raced "Obsession II" in the Lake St. Claire race. It was a real hot one that day and our black racing suits with our Lifelines didn't help. About half-way through the race while the engines were purring nicely, I had been looking at the gauges when the tachometer flicked and I felt a very slight loss in power. I instinctively shut-off that engine immediately. We had to idle from the farthest point on the race course back to the pits in the hot sun. It was murder.

After we returned to Chicago and pulled that engine, it was a valve in the process of dropping. It was a miracle that we didn't window the whole engine, as I had shut it off before the valve had hurt the piston in that cylinder. Oetringer still can't believe I heard that and stopped it in time. I told him that Zen-like I had become "One with the Engines" and did not want them to suffer.

[MikeyFIN]

Okay, my DVD Recorder/VCR is on it's way. I can't wait to convert all of my tapes to DVD. I will try to post some clips and not infringe on anyones copyright. I was watching some great racing between Jesse James, Rolling Thunder and United Racing Engines. Mark Lavin was extremely talented. When Mark was killed in 86, I believe it was like a punch in the gut to the whole sport. That's not meant to take anything away from any of the others whose lives were tragically cut short, but Mark was taking the sport of offshore racing to new levels.

It was, I followed the sport from overhere constantly and when the news arrived I was tearful over the matter.
A year later Didier Pironi died and that put a big cloud over here over the sport but the biggest blow globally would be Stefano Casiraghis death.
That put a Big cloud over the sport to this very day over here and the awareness of offshore racings dangers to the general public.
The death of Stefano was just as big news as the deaths of Grace Kelly, Lady Diana or ELVIS.

[smokeybandit]

Somebody please help me with this whole video thing. I finally got my DVD Recorder/VCR. I was able to record the VHS tapes onto DVD. What software should I use to make clips, and is youtube the best site for posting videos? There's some good stuff that I would really like to share.

Thanks

[smokeybandit]

Funny thing is that I work for a CD/DVD duplication and replication house. You would think I would know how to do this stuff, but we don't do authoring.

[Edward R. Cozzi]

I keep remembering things from the 1986 season! Sorry if it bores any of you gentlemen.

The World Championship that year was a two-race format for Sportsman D class. We raced on Thursday and then again on Saturday that year.

Thursday's race was the one that Mark Lavin regrettably lost his life in the tragic stuff of the Jesse James Conquest cat. (None of the racers knew until after the race unless they saw it happen and stopped to help.). The Obsession II 32' Cobra was purring along nicely until we became airborne and landed in a giant bed of floating seaweed. Our water intakes were solidly plugged and we had a DNF.

Saturday, under the gloom of Thursday's happening, started pretty good for us. We stuffed so badly out at the reef about 3/4 through the race that the water coming over the deck broke my snap-on face plate and cut open my cheek. For the rest of the race I couldn't hear because the wind was blowing my blood back into my ears. We finished on two healthy engines, but no thanks to my throttling. One of the throttle cables had pulled out of its jacket and only one engine was being feathered while the other one was zinging like there was no tomorrow. How it stayed together I'll never know. When I took off my helmet the look on everybodys face was priceless when they saw all the dried blood on my face. Ah, the good old days!

[MarylandMark]

I keep remembering things from the 1986 season! Sorry if it bores any of you gentlemen.

Keep typing!!

[smokeybandit]

I was converting more of my VHS to DVD last night and I came across Introduction to Offshore Racing from 1984. Awesome! I haven't watched that one in many years. There is great racing footage of Super Brut and many others. If you get the chance to watch it, is a must see (and not just because my boat was in it).

[smokeybandit]

Super Brut.wmv

OK, I finally learned how to do the whole video thing.

[NNRT]

Hi Rob - glad you got it under control - however ! - when you copy from a VHS - you get a Grainy home video look - no worse than VHS- which was the format for home video at the time. For selected videos that you really enjoy - contact T2X - and get it duped from the master which is a broadcast format and have it duped directly to DVD - A world of difference in quality !

Happy Holidays to all

Phil
nnrt.films@verizon.net

[smokeybandit]

Here's a video from the 1986 Liberty Classic on Barnegat Bay. This is my first race after the stuff on Lake Michigan. This was my throttlemans first time in the boat, so it gets a little hairy. T2X did not narrate this one. Narration is by Steve Berger.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNZ5eAjERGc