Shootout boat

[FusionKing]

Where do you keep your argon bottle?

If you look closely you can see the flow meter tube sticking up behind the passenger seat and the yellow safety cap.


and why remove the prop?[/QUOTE]

The prop is very expensive...one nick and I am screwed. Also I constantly am getting up and sighting in straightness from behind and the twisted prop obscures this. It also gets in the way of the belt sander too.

[SundownIII]

FK,

Nice job.

People not familar with that type work really can't comprehend what a set of those Speedmaster drives cost. Same thing with the SS wheels.

When you mentioned a Bonneville type run, am I to assume we're talking one boat on the course at a time, running thru a measured mile? In that type scenario (flat water), the tunnel boats have a distinct advantage over a V-Hull. Put them in the ocean in rough seas and the picture changes.

Actually seems like a pretty safe type of racing. I'm assuming most of the higher end boats have capsules.

Quite a bit different than the last major I ran for OMC back in the mid 60's. Nine Hour Marathon, Marine Stadium, Miami, FL. Four classes of boats (Unlimited Inboard, Limited Inboard, Unlimited Outboard, Limited Outboard) all on the same course (3.2 miles) at the same time. Had limited outboards running in the high 70's and unlimited inboards running in the 170+ range.

Most dangerous race I think I ever ran. I was running an unlimited outboard at the time. Topped out in the lo 90's (monohull). Coming up the back straights at Marine Stadium, flat out, Hank Bowman (used to be sports writer for Popular Boating) (driving an unlimited inboard) passed me like I was dragging a 5 gal bucket. When the went past the barrier island into Biscayne Bay, he caught air and the boat went airborne. When it came down it popped him out of the boat. Boat went into a tight circle. He couldn't get out of his vest. Before I could get there (was going to run over the boat and wipe the intake system) the boat ran over him. Prop walked three times up his left side. Killed him instantly. I got there. Shut down the boat and went in the water to pull him out. Medivac airlifted us both from the water. No hope for Hank. Stopped racing that day. Resumed on Sunday. We lost a powerhead, about two hours into the race and went out.

Think that was the last year they ran the 9 Hr Marathon in Marine Stadium.

[FusionKing]

WOW! thats some story.
yea it's a flying mile, but this year there will be some side by side as well.
There has been some 200 mph runs here when everything is just right.
This boat if you notice has a capsule.
We have the offshore boys come here and run their event as well about a month later too.
It is actually unbelievable just how many offshore boats that there is here on this lake. It is in the thousands.
www.lakeoftheozarksshootout.org

www.funlake.com

[SundownIII]

Yea FK,

I'm familar with your "lake".

I went thru engineer AIT (Advanced Individual Training) at Ft. Leonard Wood back in the summer of 1967.

Just a wild azz kid, right out of college, knowing we were all headed for Viet Nam and living life to the fullest. Just took me a little longer to get there than I originally expected. I remember some "really" hot days and cold nights. More of a temperature swing than I was used to growing up along the coast.

Had two major vices as a kid. If it moved, I raced it. If it backtalked, I smacked it. Army did tend to calm me down a bit. Even paid me a little extra for some of the fun stuff (airborne, dive qualified, HALO qualified, etc)

Funny the hand life deals you. Going back to that 9 Hr. Marathon in Miami, that was the race where I got an offer from Carl Kiekaever (SP), President of Mercury Motors to drive for him at Lake X (Mercury's test facility in FL). Turned him down, knowing I'd be finishing college that spring and would be looking at a stint in the military. Six months later he hired Reggie Fountain to fill the position and the rest is history. I still joke with Reggie, telling him if I'd taken the job, he'd still be an unknown. Probably a good move though on my part. Jumping from C141's at 35,000 ft was probably safer than some of the boats we were running back in the 60's. Engine technology had definitely outpaced hull design in those days.

[monte55]

hey SundownIII . I took basic at Ft Leonard Wood. Started April 10, 1967. What a wonderful rocky place

[FusionKing]

Diggin' a foxhole in FLW soil.....!!!!!!

[SundownIII]

LMAO,

Good thing we were engineers. Learned early on how much faster a cratering charge is than a D-handle shovel.

Heck Monty,

Didn't realize that you were that old. Like me, guess you're a member of the "over the hill gang". That's OK though. Always been told you pick up speed on the downhill side.

Those were some good times though. I was an impatient kid, full of pi$$ and vinegar. Was such a troublemaker they'd sorta pushed me thru school. Went to VA TECH at 16 to be an engineer. Stayed up there one summer and finished in Civil Engineering at 19. Volunteered for the draft in May of '67. Figured I'd do my two years and get on with my life. Didn't quite work out that way though. Twenty-two years and 46 foreign countries later, I retired as a Colonel in the Corps of Engineers. Spent a good deal of my time in "special ops" but never forgot the engineer roots and kept up my qualifications in both areas.

[monte55]

Yeah, I was the same way. Hated anyone telling me what to do. Not so much
with the telling as much as the way they told you. Their job was to break us and my job was to not let them. One DI had it in for me and every time he saw me I had to drop and give him 50. What pi$$ed him off is that I always could and look at him with a big grin. He used to pick me for every $hit detail and one day I told him after basic his a$$ was mine. The last two weeks he let up and just as well. I just would have got into a bunch of trouble. Went to Ft Bliss for AIT in El Paso and was supposed to go to Korea and then they changed a bunch of us and sent us to Fairbanks Alaska on a Nike Hercules
missile site for 18 months. I don't think I've ever been around more idiots at one time as when I was in the Army. But the Army probably kept me out of jail. Actually, there was some good times. My best friend I met at Leonard
Wood in 1967. he' still alive and well.

[FusionKing]

Well Sept 19th 1977 I went to FT Dix NJ.
I feel better now just hearing all that.

[SundownIII]

Just a pup man. Just a pup.

You can only imagine what you've got to look forward to.

Some days I roll out of bed and feel great.

Some days I wake up and ask myself, "Did you forget to pull that rip cord?"