All of this is making me very homesick for Lake Washington. From my parents house in Renton we could always hear the Allisons and I've spent many a good time out on the log boom or in Stan Sayers pits.
Having been involved in boat racing in the Pacific Northwest,, although it was drag racing, I will never think this is O/T, as they are just hot rods of the water. Thanks everyone for all the contributions to this thread.
You are right Bowtie as these this are real Hot Rods on the water, like water borne sprint cars as you never know what they will do next Did the engines for Tom Patterson's crackerbox the ' Sparkler ' for 6 years , and had a great time
the Uncle has talked much about the pre WII days when his built V8-60's would ply down the Sacramento river.....on a Saturday beer run.....and didn't Elvis build one ?
Yup, Hot Rods that skimmed over water. This is the Miss Desoto, first pic from it's early days and the last pic's after Butch Bailey of Ohio (Butch was heavy into 33 WILLYS back in the day) restored her. Potvin front mounted blown Hemi. How's that for Hot Rod
There is nothing quite like the sound of a v12 Allison humming across the water! We could hear them for Seafair week on lake Washington all the way over in west Seattle. I would love to see them here on Flathead lake, but of course the powers that be don't want the "noise". Thank you all for the great photos! Larry
Sorry, got excited...[confused with H-mod sport cars]..Would have been the 48 cu in inboard hydro, later 850cc...A book by Bob Foley, A Wild Ride about the little big boys would be an interesting read..
Nothing more than a sheet of plywood and an outboard... built one of these back in these back in the 60's, Mini Max Wasn't very good when the waves were more than 6-8 inches... submarined more then once...hahah
Back in the early 60's my brother , our uncle & I built 1 of these "shingles"... had a 7 1/2 horse merc on it ...we thought we were really flying ,.... lost the fin 1 time , found out the damn thing would go sideways w/o turning ... what a blast !!! dave
They used to run limited hydros at Allouette Lake when I was a kid. I'll NEVER forget the sound of the chryslers reverberating off the mountains behind the lake. Man. Breaks my heart sometimes to think of all the things we lost that my daughter will never know...
You want to see these Cracker/Box Boat in action this Summer / Come to Long Beach Ca. for Socal Speed/boat Clubs Circle Boat Races . (1) It's cheap (2) You never get closer to Boat Racing Action than Long Beach SS PS Grand National Boats and K-Boats .
Not sure about Eddie but Lou Meyer of Meyer Drake Offenhauser and his son Sonny held just about all the records and won all the races for the "Y" class (Crosley powered) in the 60's. I met them at a race on Greenlake in Seattle back then when we were running our 225 driven by Mira Slovak.
I just got back from visiting the Maritime Museum in South Haven, Michigan, and they have a very cool hydroplane racer by an early builder named Century in their outboard motor exhibit. I thought this would be very much in the spirit of the original video posted and you can really get a feel for just how small, fast, and dangerous these little craft would have been.
A multi-step hydro, the pre-cursor to the 3-point hydros. I didn't know if these step designs would be considered acceptable for this thread or not. I love this style of race boat myself, and I have some cool photos, but I've hesitated to post them. Awaiting word from on high, or from a moderator...
They looked neat but were way out of date designwise by 1951 as noted by the demise of the Quicksilver in the Gold Cup race on Lake Washington. Sad deal.
Damn. Boat turned onto itself at way over 100mph. Bad day to lose two good guys. Someone has a recreation in the works ... but I believe it is only in spirit, and name.
Quicksilver was an outdated design, however, I don't believe that's why it crashed. They were having issues the entire weekend in Seattle in 1951, and in fact, qualified with the slowest time. Videos show the boat porpoiseing down the straightways, which was uncommon with step hydros. Something was amiss, either with the balance or the prop, etc. Here is the AP report of the 1951 race after qualifying was completed and prior to competition. It's interesting to note that Miss Pepsi, another step hydro like Quicksilver, was the #1 qualifier, ahead of the 3-point SMS IV and V. After the crash, the race was stopped and the race winner was declared to be SMS V, since she was leading at the time. Seattle — (AP) — Chuck Thompson drove the super-powered Miss Pepsi around the three mile Gold Cup course Friday at a record-smashing 100 miles per hour to establish her as the chief challenger to Slo-Mo-Shun IV. Setting a new qualifying standard as it entered the list for today’s Gold Cup, the Detroit-owned Miss Pepsi averaged 104.247 mph on the fastest of its three qualifying laps. Official time was 100.5586 miles per hour for the nine-mile tour. Miss Pepsi became the sixth boat to qualify. Others included the defending champion, Slo-Mo-Shun IV (90.45) and her sister, the Slo-Mo-Shun V (91.37); Hurricane IV (90.06); Such Crust (93.34); Hornet (82.12); Quicksilver (68.04). (Reprinted from the Associated Press, August 3, 1951 Miss Pepsi, with dual Allisons...
My Sweetie was another very competitive step-hydro. These designs were more than competitive on race courses that did not have very wide (multi bouy) turns.
Well this thread has brought back a flood of memories, my family moved back to Seattle in 1946 after spending '42 thru early'46 in Wichita . Dad was a engineering test pilot for Boeing, a B-29 Driver. I have many years of memories of the Seafair Races and the unlimited hydroplanes . I was a big fan of the Merlin/Allison powered hydros, there is nothing like the sound of a Merlin at full song . It stops me in my tracks every time. Thanks Ryan for bringing the subject to the top. ................................. Jack
As long as we are discussing step hydroplanes, here are some photos of the restored "My Darling". Like "My Sweetie" and also "Quicksilver", they were all from plans from Hacker, although the Hacker design for "Quicksilver" was an older design. During the transition period from step to 3-point designs (and in particular, the Ted Jones design of Slo Mo IV), these step hydros were very competitive. Notice that the engine is facing backwards. It was designed to use a V-drive/trans. Some specs on "My Darling". 31'6" OAL, 7'8" OAW, and built at home in 1949 by the original owner from Hacker's plans, and a duplicate of "My Sweetie" . Here is a rare photo of "My Sweetie" from 1950. Both boats used the V-drive and mid-boat prop set up, with dual rudders.
The racing in the film that started this thread was, I'm pretty sure, either lake Elsinore or Salton Sea here in So Cal, I can't remember which. The still that Ryan used, mentioned by someone else, is Marine Stadium here in Long Beach. Long Beach
A bit of propaganda from the local chamber of commerce. However a great pic of slo-mo-shun in action! TEB