NOTES:
John Manfreda of Cincinnati, Oh. is looking for a Swift A/B Hydro and a Mercury Super 10 Hurricane with a Quickie Lower Unit. I am not strong on the outboard equipment. Someone out there with info, please contact me. 
 Bill Mehan of Manchester, NH. has purchased a 1960 Will Farmer 145 stock hydro with a Ford Falcon engine. He is about to start on the restoration project, but he is looking for information regarding this raceboat. The hull was in Austin, Texas during the 80’s, shipped to California in the early 90’s and found its way to New Hampshire this October. It has not been driven for years. 
 The V & H Division is looking for a East Coast volunteer and a West Coast volunteer to submit articles monthly, keeping us informed about the activities in your area. If you are interested please call me.

RACE SITES:
At the present time we are soliciting, for Vintage & Historic events for 1995. I would like to clarify to our Race Promoters that we can be added to an existing race sanction at no extra charge for your already planned regatta. We can have either static displays, flybys(running demonstrations), or both. The only requirement is that participants who operate their boats at Vintage sanction events must be a member of APBA in the Vintage category. All race chairman or promoters please contact me as soon as possible, so that we can formulate our 1995 schedule. We also are looking for a site to host our 1995 Major Antique Boat Regatta. This would be sanctioned as a special event and we would prefer it to be held in the month of August, similar to last years Clayton Regatta. I would like to encourage some of our old Historic race sites (such as Guntersville, New Martinsville, Long Beach, etc.), that may or may not be presently holding events to consider us for your summer activity. It is my opinion that we need to have a major event scheduled each summer, on alternating coasts. Okay you West Coasters, 95’s your year!!!

CHALLENGES:
Bruce Broussard has responded to one of our challenges. Bruce tells us that Dr. Tripplet is living in Camp Wood, Texas where he is running a hospital. We hope that this information will help Bill Du Granrut locate his boat. Bruce, Thank you for helping us out!!!
 Fred Alter has issued a new challenge for us. He has sent us a photo which shows a 225 or 266 hydroplane named Hi-Ball 16-F. The owner was Perry Richie possibly from the Dayton/Cincinnati area. Does anyone remember Perry or this boat? On the back of the picture Perry refers to a speed record for boats under 240 ci. of 84 mph...Was this an early 225?  Where was the picture taken?  What year?  What record is Perry talking about?  Does anyone have information about Perry Ritchie? What type of hull this might be? This writer thinks that it might be a Tommy Hill hull and the 16-F indicates that this was a West Coast Boat at one time. For those members who are not familiar with the numbering policy of the past, East coast race boats put the prefix letter  in front of the number, and the West Coast boats the letter followed the number. This was a nice tradition.Does anyone know when this disappeared and for what reason?
 Jim Hawver of Rochester, NY. wrote us that he is looking for any racing history on Rock-A-Bye, an E Service Davis Raceboat owned and driven by the late Russ Kirkpatrick from Clarksburg. West VA. Jim is also trying to locate a Gray Fireball 6 Motor (3 Carb.); life jackets and helmets in order to complete his restoration project. 
 Does anyone know if Will Farmer is still around? He was from Richmond, VA area?  Or possibly his son or nephew?  If so let us know.
 We are still in need of a picture of the Florida Lady a 266 ci. Hydro which belonged to Julius Howard out of Miami, Florida, for The Guntersville Museum, Chamber of Commerce. Can anyone help us?

FAMOUS NAMES OF THE PAST:
Gulf Marine Hall of Fame Members
      1946 
Gibson Bradfield   Mildred Foulke (47,48)
Albert Brinkman    William Hampton
Robert Bogie    Edison Hedges (47,48,50)
William Cantrell (48,49)  Guy Lombardo (48,50)
Marion Cooper    Anthony Orth (47)
Merlyn Culver (47)   Vincent Schwing (47)
Howard Durm (47,48,49)  Joe Van Blerk (47,49,50)
Franklin Foulke (47,48,51) 

     1947
Dan Arena (48,49)       Gerald Hanley
Edward Campanella       Edward H. Nabb III
W.T.S. Critchfield (59,50,51,52,53,54) Paul Seward
Dan Foster (48,55)       Philip Sharples

    1948
Lou Barret      Calvin Thomas
R A. Dowdy (49)    Edmund Thompson
John Francis     Henry Tieman
Joseph Palmer     Leslie Trafton (49)
Lorin Pennington    George Trimper
Sidney Street Jr.(49,50,51) 

      1949
Sheila Boyd     L.J. Novotny
Stanley Dollar     Jerome D. Powell
John K. Erickson    Paul Sawyer (50,51)
L.J. Fageol (50,51)    Jack Van Deman
W. Reese Layton 

      1950
Earl Hildebrand     George Sarant 
Ted Jones      Stanley S. Sayres (52)
Robert Lueckenhoff (53)   Ruby Scull (51,52) 
Robert McAllister, III (51,53)  Aubrey Thacker

      1951
Sam Du Pont  Bob Rowland (52) Charles Thompson
Curt Martens (55) C.Mulford Scull (52)

 I will include a few more years of the Hall of Fame Roster in my next column.  Keep those cards and letters coming, we really appreciate all your efforts.

VINTAGE HOT BOAT OF THE MONTH:
Sid Street Owner/Driver of the Z-Z-Zip setting a world record  in the “ditch” along old Hwy. 84 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
In the HOT 266 Hydro class from 1956 to 1971, the King of Speed in a straight line was  the Z-Z-Zip/Iroquois Chief. The boat was designed and built by Joe Guess of California. Powered by a Bobby Sykes’ DeSoto engine. The first owner/driver and brain trust behind this package was Sid Street, the legendary racer of Kansas City, MO. Sid Street was responsible for two of the boat’s three records. The first one being set in Hollywood, Florida on December 27, 1956 at 132.600 mph. The second and most noteworthy, quite a milestone, was set on December 29, 1958 at an astonishing speed of 146.945 mph.
  After Sid died, the boat was purchased by Gordie Reed of Grand Island, New York. This long time boat racer virtually duplicated and slightly bettered Sid’s run some eleven years later in the same boat at St. Petersburg, Florida on January 31, 1969 at a speed of 148.638 mph. This record held until 1971, but actually the class had changed at that point to 302 cubic inches then known as the 5 Litre Hydro Class.

© Tom D'Eath