NOTES:
Ken Branamen of Baltimore, MD is looking for a home for his 266 cu.in. Good Vibrations, F-65. While at an offshore event in Baltimore, Gene Whipp and Jon Culver looked the hull over and could not decide whether it was a Lauterbach. Richie Sutphen looked at Good Vibrations. He thinks the hull was built by somebody in Virginia who built about four Lauterbach look-a-likes. Rich believes that he drove this boat one time in the late 60’s. If you have information about the history of this East coast boat, contact Ken at pager # (410)797-4636.

VINTAGE RACERS REDISCOVERED:
 Dick Harris, retired limited hydro driver from Cincinnati, OH located and purchased a vintage Sooy 72 cubic inch hydroplane. Dick’s plans include restoration.
 John Peterson of Illinois has found and purchased Ron Larsen’s’ SK boat Miss Quickie Too. John is restoring this hull and plans to name her Still Quick.

CHALLENGES:
Keith Andrews of Moncton, NB Canada wants to purchase Grand Prix Hydro videos, from the early 70’s and 80’s. This writer is looking in particular for Grand Prix videos from Picton, Ontario 1974, 1976 and Valleyfield, Quebec 1978 thru 1980. If anyone can help out please call (941) 792-7554.

BOB SILVA’S WEST COAST REPORT: 
Ninth Annual Memorial Day Speedboat Regatta- Long Beach Marine Stadium, The souvenir program cover is graced with a photo of Ed Brown driving his E Racing Runabout, BOUNCY BARBY II, while looking over his shoulder at Guy Red Wilson. Wilson is suspended in mid-air and poised as if still at the wheel of SLIPPER-E, which a split second before shattered into pieces. The biggest piece of which is the cowling that trails him in the spray.
 The E Racing Runabouts were the fast flashy flatbottoms of their day and, as the program stated, they were “a wild and dangerous class.” You wouldn’t find any spectators standing in line at the snackbar when the ERR’s were racing! The E’s (not to be confused with the E Service Runabouts) began on the East Coast in the 1930’s as straight line bottom 16 foot hulls. By 1953 they were sporting Z-drives, 246 cu.in. multi-carbureted methanol burning Merc flatheads and fuel-injected Dodge Red Rams that were producing 3 times the horsepower for which the class was originally designed. While there was some success with rear-engine designs, the majority of the ERR’s were conventional hulls with the driver sitting as far back as possible. This horsepower/design combination produced one wild ride! Bows pointed skyward more often than not, they bounced down the straights at 80+ mph. Often getting so out-of-hand the hulls would do a 180 degree corkscrew on their transoms. The old design also lent itself to plenty of chine-hooking flips in their turns. Californians enjoyed putting a spin on ERR names: E-BOMB, E-GAD, MYSTER-E, WE’S-E, POKEY, HONEY BEE, SCURV-E, SQUIRL-E and SCREW-E to name just a few.
 Then there was BOUNCY BARBY II. Designed and built by Ed Brown and Fred Hallet, the new boat featured a shallow shaft angle that ran only 2 inches below the bottom and a prop out the back under a cavatation plate. The hull was kept to straight line bottom class rules but looked like a hydroplane minus the sponsons above the water line. Power for this birch plywood creation was the engine Brown developed in his record holding Crackerbox, BOUNCY BARBY, a Chevy straight-six using a Wayne Horning head. While Brown spent the 53 season working out BOUNCY BARBY II’s handling problems (getting thrown out twice in the process) the boat left fellow competitors wondering what potential this radical hull held.
 At the 1954 ERR Nationals held in Buffalo, NY, BOUNCY BARBY II made her presence known. While defending champ and record holder Al Endres in SLIVER jumped the gun, Brown sped off to a new course record and first heat victory. Brown lost a prop and his chances for the National win while leading the second heat. Long Beach’s Bob Willis in ROUGHNECK brought the Nationals to California with an overall win. Brown spent the following weekend racing BOUNCY BARBY II at the Bush River Regatta in Maryland, sweeping both heats over 8 other entries.
 BOUNCY BARBY II sported 1-E for the 55 season after winning National High-Points. Spectators grew to love watching the ERR with the high-winding Wayne/Chevy followed by its huge roostertail.
 1956 proved to be the banner year for Brown and his BOUNCY BARBY II. He was appointed Inboard Race Chairman for Region 11. He won the ERR Nationals in Newport Beach, CA and set a 5-mile competition record of 73.409 mph at Lake Mead, NV. He upped the 1-mile straight-a-way record to 89.563 mph at Salton Sea. It was no wonder then that Yachting Magazine nominated the boat for membership in its “National Powerboat Fleet.”
 In 1957 Ed Brown sold the BOUNCY BARBY II and tried his hand at racing a 266 hydro. In 1963, at the San Diego Nationals he raced a new ERR, BOUNCY BARBY V, (an SK style hull with Chevy V-8 power) and finished 4th. All Brown could do was following the roostertail of those two conventional ERR’s, DENNIE and MY STARDUST, as they battled for the win.
 By the late 1970’s all the ERR’s were SK style look-a-likes to the more powerful Super Stocks, and they faded from active competition....or as they might have said in E boat lingo, they were E-RACED.

VINTAGE HOT BOAT OF THE MONTH:
Don Dunnington, Silver Springs, MD driving his 7 Litre hydro Maryland Miss, J-777, to a World Five Mile Competition Record of 86.45 mph at the 32nd National Sweepstakes Regatta, Red Bank, NJ, August 14, 1971. Steve Sharp tells us that Don was one of the more colorful drivers in Region 4. Don started out driving with the Hallett 225 hydro Miss Bethesda, then went thru the 225’s, 7 Litre and finally Sam Dupont’s unlimited Miss Nitrogen. The Maryland Miss was one of Henry Lauterbach’s more beautiful hydros. She was basically painted white with red trim and the State of Maryland Seal on the Tailpiece.

2nd Photo Caption: 
Ed Brown of Sacramento, CA in his E Racing Runabout, BOUNCY BARBY II, 16-E, won the Err National Championship and broke the 1 mile and competition records in 1956. The birch and white hull was powered by a screaming Chevy straight-six and threw a roostertail to rival those of many limited hydroplanes. 

©1998 Tom D'Eath