Stardust 21-E

Randy Wold, who owns Stardust 21-E, sent me an email after someone emailed him a pic of a model they acquired of this record setting boat. Randy’s webpage on his Stardust boat is here. Here is the email Randy received:
“I came across information on Stardust and your contact information while doing research after having purchased a model of the boat (photo below).  Being a Jaguar enthusiast, what first drew me to the model was the original Jaguar engine used by Wes Knudsen.  I was amazed to read the storied history of the boat both during and after it was Jaguar powered.  I was delighted to hear that the 1977 World Record was set not far from where I grew up and on a lake I have spent a lot of time on.  I never knew speed records were set there.  I assume you still own the boat and congratulations on owning and preserving an important piece of boating history!  Nice also to know it lives in the Northwest! The model is made by a company in Italy called Racer Wake, who primarily make hand built 1950s and 60s Italian 3-point hydroplane models in 1/43 scale (5-7″ long). 
Not sure why they chose Stardust, but I’m glad they did.  You can still get them, but it takes several months.  They are expensive, but definitely very limited in production”.

Jerry Liudahl
Old Irish Racing


Charlie Lloyd – wood hydro (and funny car) builder

I’m not sure if I posted this before (and my apologies to whoever sent me this article from 2010 Super Chevy magazine), but did you know famed hydro builder Charlie Lloyd built a fiberglass Funny Car body?
This was before Ford pressured NHRA into making the fiberglass car body into a one-piece tilt-up style we are all accustomed to seeing. Below is the magazine article and some pics of the 1966 Chevelle he built out of fiberglass. It looks like a slightly altered steel body, but it’s not. The whole thing is fiberglass. The Pennsylvania Chevy Dealer parts department ordered all the body parts of the 1966 Chevelle, including the turret top. Charlie & Mike Lloyd’s body shop made the fiberglass molds of the steel parts, and from those molds made replicas of the original pieces, but in fiberglass.

Fiberglass body built by Charlie Lloyd
Larson`s groundbreaking Funny Car

2020 Monthly Calendar

The 2020 monthly calendars are posted (well, the first four months are posted).
Since 2005 I have been making monthly calendars. I print off each one and hang it in my office (and usually I am scribbling stuff all over them).
As usual, once the APBA V&H group gives me the 2020 Schedule of Events, I will add them to these calendars.

Rudy Toot (early Wickens)

Rudy Nielson sent in a few more photos of the neat Wickens he raced back in the early 1960s to his webpage. Included with those pics is also a news article on the race in Tonawanda on July 1967, some hydro race tidbits, and more pics of his other hydro he campaigned after the Wickens

Rudy’s family posted their home movies and you can watch the Wickens and other hydros running back in the 60s.