Save the Old Race Tales

[smokeybandit]

Someone posted on the "Save the Old Race Boats" thread about wanting to hear stories from the Michigan races. I might be overstepping my boundaries, but I thought it would be appropriate to start a new thread for old stories by some of the racers on here. I think it's a great way to keep the history of the sport alive.

[h2oMag]

Lake St Clair [L.S.C.] was ground zero for offshore racing here in Michigan. In 1972 the Donzi, Cigarette & Magnum guys were ready to go from bar racing [Pat O' Brien's & Brownies] to racing out on the lake. In the summer of 1972 LSCORA was formed. The first race was the 1973 Brownies Cup, and the rest is history. I was lucky to have been there, and have saved some of the stuff from back then. Today I collect any items that I can find from this historic past, and will post what ever I have from Back In The Day. These pic's are from the beginng on LSC.

[MarylandMark]

Those are some bad azz pics!! Good stuff!

[smokeybandit]

Great pics and great tale.

[Davidmnc]

I don't say much on this side of the site, but I love the pics and stories from the elder statesmen of the group. Thank you for sharing. I could read these stories all day. And you know what; I would have less time to post stupid stuff if I had more stories to read!

[smokeybandit]

I had the good fortune of talking with Billy Martin at a race back in the mid 80's and hearing about the races in South America. He told me those were the wildest days. Amazing how when I raced in the 80's I felt like I missed the best time in the 70's. I'm sure every generation of racers feels that way about the previous generation.

[Lee]

Lake St Clair [L.S.C.] was ground zero for offshore racing here in Michigan. In 1972 the Donzi, Cigarette & Magnum guys were ready to go from bar racing [Pat O' Brien's & Brownies] to racing out on the lake. In the summer of 1972 LSCORA was formed. The first race was the 1973 Brownies Cup, and the rest is history. I was lucky to have been there, and have saved some of the stuff from back then. Today I collect any items that I can find from this historic past, and will post what ever I have from Back In The Day. These pic's are from the beginng on LSC.

Hey Mark,
Tell the story about Kurt Russell in KW

[h2oMag]

The guy in the blue Donzi [holding the bottle] is Jack Mathes a founding father of LSCORA, racer, [Li'L SMIDGEN & Maverick] and owner of Emerald City Harbor, LSC's ground zero. He is a great friend who let's me pick his brain for offshore history. If anyone here had the chance to come to our offshore reunion this last June, he was the center of attention. Here are some pic's of Jack, & Wally Harper,, in Wally's Magnum at the Brownies Cup race. Note the stock seats and windshield, back in the day !

[h2oMag]

Hey Mark,
Tell the story about Kurt Russell in KW

Will save that for later, I think he is still mad at me.

[Top Banana]

I had the good fortune of talking with Billy Martin at a race back in the mid 80's and hearing about the races in South America. He told me those were the wildest days. Amazing how when I raced in the 80's I felt like I missed the best time in the 70's. I'm sure every generation of racers feels that way about the previous generation.

We were down in Mar del Plata.....Argentina. It was exacttly 30 years ago this month. It was the location of the World Championships. Every year they would be in a different place. '77 they were in Key west, '78 Argentina. '79 Venice, Italy, '80 Australia etc etc. It was a real World Championship as everyone from all over the world would come and compete.

Anyway, we are in Mar del Plata...which is 250 miles south of Buenos Aires. Chile and Argentina are on war alert with each other....they are almost, but not quite at war. The Southern Ocean is huge.....waves really big and the wind blowing hard. Everyone is there but the Italians...their ship was late getting to Buenos Aires. The logistics were for the Americans....load your race boat and trailer and everything else you might need on a ship in Miami about 6 weeks ahead of time. It would arrive in Buenos Aires and then you had to get allof it through customs and hire a truck and get it 250 miles south to Mar del Plata. We all agree to wait another day for the Italians....and we all hoped the winds would die down a bit.

Two new boats have arrived and are under wraps. Tom Gentry with a new 38 foot Scarab..American Eagle. And the first ever boat that would later be forever known as the Top Gun....it was the 37.6 Cigarette, Ajac Hawk of Jerry Jacoby.

Richie Powers was in charge of the American Eagle as well as being throttleman on it. The boat was outstanding in preparation and cleanliness. Bob Saccenti was the throtlleman on Ajac Hawk and it was a pleasure to behold, right down to the silver bolster.

So, while we are all sitting around killing a day, Billy Martin decides he is going to make up some..."Rocket Fuel". He starts with a big drum and puts a black garbage bag in it.....next a large variety of bottles are opened and dumped in...vodka, whiskey, gin, brandy, etc etc. I think they used an oar to stir it. Cups and mugs and jugs were passed around and..... the day passed very quickly. No boys and girls...there wasn't a breath test for the crews the next day!!!

The Italians arrived the next day...everyone raced..... and an Italian won the World Championship.....Cosentino, in an aluminum 38 footer.

Here are some shots of that race....you can see the water is not a good day for a 50 foot Mystic cat. The shot of the Cigarette that I took, showing the 37.6 designation on the rear quarter. Last photo is Richie Powers, Bob Bieich and me on American Eagle in the pits.....I handed out a lot of Banana Boat co t-shirts down there....maybe they are still there.

Next story is the same race ....Bill Elswick sinks his race boat and gets in a life raft. Remember the war alert? Well that meant no patrol boats were allowed way out there ....you were on your own. Just before dark, the crew is rescued from the life raft by a passing freighter....more details later.

[smokeybandit]

Now that is what I am talking about! The b&w of mich light is unreal. I don't think I have ever seen that one. The rocket fuel story is the one Billy told me. I was 20 at the time and totally in awe. Charlie, when did you stop racing? I'm not sure if I ever had the pleasure of meeting you in person. I raced from 83-86.

[glassdave]

I had the good fortune of talking with Billy Martin at a race back in the mid 80's and hearing about the races in South America. He told me those were the wildest days. Amazing how when I raced in the 80's I felt like I missed the best time in the 70's. I'm sure every generation of racers feels that way about the previous generation.

Very true, i started in about 03 and and sometimes feel like i missed the heyday in the 80's and 90's but i gotta tell ya i am having the time of my life with the people i race with now. Great group in the OPA, so we make our own history. I see Billy often in the pits and enjoy talking to him, he does have some great stories though huh

Brownies another one. Wonder if he would mind if i cut an paste some of the stories i have see in other threads. The one that comes to mind is how he described the Favya Shoes stuff and aftermath. Quote that comes to mind, i chuckle every time i read it.

. . . . . Li'l Fayva magically transformed into an acre of orange plywood in 1 unbelievable second Thanks to our cameraman, about a hundred million people got a firsthand look at our engineering capability.

Lots of the pieces were tethered together by wires and hoses and such, and I towed the whole mess a couple of miles to the beach. There was still one engine and drive intact. It was at that point that we decided to only build raceboats out of materials with a specific gravity of 1+, so that at least, it would have the courtesy to sink.

clip . . . ouch!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjPfKW7YRDM


.

[Top Banana]

Now that is what I am talking about! The b&w of mich light is unreal. I don't think I have ever seen that one. The rocket fuel story is the one Billy told me. I was 20 at the time and totally in awe. Charlie, when did you stop racing? I'm not sure if I ever had the pleasure of meeting you in person. I raced from 83-86.

I started in the 50's ...but I haven't raced for the last 6 months or so...... my last race was June 08, in the Miami to Bimini, Don Aronow Memorial race, in the first ever race boat that Don ever made for himself from one of his own companies. Photo below.

A bunch of us stopped in the early 80's and went car racing.....IMSA. Sandy Satullo, Preston Henn, Clauser, and me. The best of us..Preston Henn, won the Daytona 24 hr race driving with some Texan guy...AJ Foyt.

Check out my boat co site for more racing...boats and car stuff.

www.bananaboatco.com

You could also ck out ....youtube ...Bushmills 1979

[Toasty]

Sitting in drivers meeting in 2006 OC MD with Ed Space Toth (41 apache) and Bill Martin Sr. We are getting ready to race my sutphen Billy Sr. Jr in their cigarette in class 4 us in class 5. Well Billy got to talking about old Lester and fuel for their 41 apache leathel weapon in a race in the 80s or 90s. So Billy and Ed are the two best story tellers in the world cause its true like, and these guys are real, not some little rich pieces who had the silver in their panties, these guys work...so anyway Lester dont listen to nobody and tops of the fuel tanks in his 41. The problem is everyone pre ordered their fuel before the race and certain boats get certain amounts. Well lester screwed it up now for everyone. now Ed goes to put the high octane in his 41 and he comes up short. so they are all on the dock, no motors running and Eds really hot. and sees Billy and doofy looking Lester. So Ed comes over to Leathel Weapon cause Billy either throttled or drive for them and liked billy, billy told lester to only put a certain amount in so Eddy says "If we run out of fuel and you happen to go by us, Billy you duck cause i am going to shoot Lester with the flare gun."

C

[Toasty]

Another race in the Sutphen and we have a few more laps to go, and its real rough. well we are running the front next to the beach, i am throttling Ed is driving and my best friend is along for the ride pulling lap tape. Well i have the boat cooking tying to look at the water but not going for the big picture just looking at whats in front of us, so over the motors i hear this loud whislte noise and i am thinking what the hell is that? guages look ok i dont hear nothing clanging, and its all within a few seconds i look over and Eds got the boat right along side of surfers the lifeguards are blowing us offshore and i am trying to outrun cresting rollers on the port side. so then in the same race i was just looking down to see how many laps. sometimes you try to count in your head but things are bumpy and looking at guages and thinking about fuel and other stuff messes it up. So i look down and we must (3 of us) all must been looking at the same time cause just as Joe (best friend pulling lap tape) pulls one a piece of fresh imron paint comes with the tape. So Ed looks over laughing and says "**** head musta used the wrong tape, he used black duct tape instead of the black elec tape" i told joe to pull the rest real slow, but not to worry its only a boat.

hope i didnt bore you with the stories...
C

[glassdave]

Hey Chris . . . .can i tell the GPS story one more time . . .


Great storys Toasty . . . .now i know why they make us run so far off shore in Ocean City lol

[ygrowup]

We were down in Mar del Plata.....Argentina. It was exacttly 30 years ago this month. It was the location of the World Championships. Every year they would be in a different place. '77 they were in Key west, '78 Argentina. '79 Venice, Italy, '80 Australia etc etc. It was a real World Championship as everyone from all over the world would come and compete.

Anyway, we are in Mar del Plata...which is 250 miles south of Buenos Aires. Chile and Argentina are on war alert with each other....they are almost, but not quite at war. The Southern Ocean is huge.....waves really big and the wind blowing hard. Everyone is there but the Italians...their ship was late getting to Buenos Aires. The logistics were for the Americans....load your race boat and trailer and everything else you might need on a ship in Miami about 6 weeks ahead of time. It would arrive in Buenos Aires and then you had to get allof it through customs and hire a truck and get it 250 miles south to Mar del Plata. We all agree to wait another day for the Italians....and we all hoped the winds would die down a bit.

Two new boats have arrived and are under wraps. Tom Gentry with a new 38 foot Scarab..American Eagle. And the first ever boat that would later be forever known as the Top Gun....it was the 37.6 Cigarette, Ajac Hawk of Jerry Jacoby.

Richie Powers was in charge of the American Eagle as well as being throttleman on it. The boat was outstanding in preparation and cleanliness. Bob Saccenti was the throtlleman on Ajac Hawk and it was a pleasure to behold, right down to the silver bolster.

So, while we are all sitting around killing a day, Billy Martin decides he is going to make up some..."Rocket Fuel". He starts with a big drum and puts a black garbage bag in it.....next a large variety of bottles are opened and dumped in...vodka, whiskey, gin, brandy, etc etc. I think they used an oar to stir it. Cups and mugs and jugs were passed around and..... the day passed very quickly. No boys and girls...there wasn't a breath test for the crews the next day!!!

The Italians arrived the next day...everyone raced..... and an Italian won the World Championship.....Cosentino, in an aluminum 38 footer.

Here are some shots of that race....you can see the water is not a good day for a 50 foot Mystic cat. The shot of the Cigarette that I took, showing the 37.6 designation on the rear quarter. Last photo is Richie Powers, Bob Bieich and me on American Eagle in the pits.....I handed out a lot of Banana Boat co t-shirts down there....maybe they are still there.

Next story is the same race ....Bill Elswick sinks his race boat and gets in a life raft. Remember the war alert? Well that meant no patrol boats were allowed way out there ....you were on your own. Just before dark, the crew is rescued from the life raft by a passing freighter....more details later.

That shot of the Scarabs & CUV (?) rounding the turn is old school heaven!

Attached is a cool old ad re the 38 Cig's evolution...

[Steve 1]

Elswick's boat was the John Player Special (Now Black and Gold) from the infamous Blonde race boat or spear, there is a photo of it stuck in the side of a large cruiser Anglo and myself rigged the Boat at Haggertys shop.

Billy had us install a pair of two man life rafts in the boat, which always puzzled me anyway they were in front of the cockpit bulkhead access thru a round hole when the boat went down they got one out ok but somehow pulled the cord on the second one I do not know if they got it out or the three crew fit into a two man raft!

He hit something and ripped a drive off the boat.

[smokeybandit]

I guess I'll add one since I started the thread.

1985 race in Barnegat Bay. I was racing my 21' Superboat (see pic below). Green flag comes up and I have a 22' velocity running right next to me. He trips and spins right in front of me. The driver gets thrown out of the boat and I run right over him. There was absolutely no way to avoid him, in fact he's lucky I didn't spear him. I'm figuring for sure this guy is dead and I'm going to have to live with this the rest of my life. We turn around and there's the orange helmet bobbing in the water. We motor over to him and the he's fine. We helped him back into his boat and they wound up finishing the race right behind us.

[Ryan8886]

Someone posted on the "Save the Old Race Boats" thread about wanting to hear stories from the Michigan races. I might be overstepping my boundaries, but I thought it would be appropriate to start a new thread for old stories by some of the racers on here. I think it's a great way to keep the history of the sport alive.

That was me that posted that....and thanks for starting this thread. The pics and stories so are great.