NOTES:
Larry Lauterbach of Chester, MD called to let us know that his vintage Gemini, A-711 is available and in great condition. Anyone interested can reach Larry at (410) 643-4521.
Larry Shuster of St. Petersburg, FL is moving north. He needs to find a new home for his 48 cu.in. Colcock hydro. If interested leave Larry a message at (727) 347-9223.

CHALLENGES:
Bill Steinfield from Conway, SC is trying to find out what might have happened to Ted Koopman, an action photographer, from Newton, Mass. Ted photographed stock outboards and inboards that raced in the Northeastern part of the country during the fifties. Bill feels there should be a tremendous collection of racing photographs if Ted’s work could be located. Bill can be reached at (843)488-9868.

RACE SITES:
July 6 - 9    Detroit, MI: Chrysler APBA Gold Cup. Time is running out, send your requests for registration to me. This is an invitation only event. Run on the historic Detroit Gold Cup course. 
August 17 - 20   Clayton, NY: Antique Raceboat Regatta 2000. Our largest vintage event. Not to be missed!

BOB SILVA’S WEST COAST REPORT:
Here is more information on the Hawaii Kai, U-9 story. This was gleaned from an old yellowed newspaper clipping I found which is dated March 4, 1956 and was reported by the Associated Press.
The record run took place on Hawaii’s Keehi lagoon. The official timer for the record run said that Kenny St. Oegger was doing 193 mph when the Hawaii Kai crashed and the speed was still climbing! APBA’s inboard racing commissioner Kent Hitchcock said, “I presume he would have topped 200 mph and ended up with an average in the 190’s” (the record at that time was 179 mph.) St. Oegger, “the luckiest guy in the world”, called by Hitchcock, was thrown 150 feet through the air. “He was fortunate that he hit on his back”. St. Oegger, who at first thought the crash was caused by rough water, later found out that a sheared-off rudder bracket was the cause of the accident.
Talking of going for world speed records. Read what Earl L. Vernier reported about the 1932 test run of Gar Wood’s Miss America X; The engineers had told Wood that the first trial in that boat would kill him. But that didn’t stop him… Wood and Johnson stepped into the cockpit. Johnson pressed the starting button and 6,400 horsepower was loose.
The boat shot like an arrow out onto the river. In less than a minute it was out of sight but we could hear those engines roar up the stream, its sixteen carburetors pouring five gallons of gasoline into them every mile, its ninety-six spark plugs clicking and firing perfectly.
The boat came roaring back in a few minutes. Wood, his face stinging from the hail of smashing spray. Climbed out of the cockpit, took off the helmet from his white head, and smiled…”She’ll do”, he said, “She’ll do.”
In 1933 the 40 foot Gar Wood built U-10, Miss America X, powered by four 12 cylinder supercharged Packards, went on to set a new world record of 124.86 mph.
 Bob Brillie is looking for a new home for his 22 ft Ron Jones marathon tunnel. This is the sister boat to Bob Nordskogs ET-5 that was at the Lake Tahoe show. Brillie can be reached at 925-228-7940. 

BILL NORTHRUP’S SPECIAL REPORT:
Boat racing on the St. Lawrence River has been important to both APBA and CBF from the beginnings of both organizations and has produced many great owners, drivers and boats through the years. One of them during that period of the late 1930’s through the early 1950’s was Dr. Walter G. Robinson of Alexandria Bay, NY. Doc or Walt was a friendly, outgoing, skinny guy and a serious Doctor and boatracer. He was my doctor and racing hero. Doc and his beautiful wife, Sally, attended most every regatta in the northeast including the very popular Canadian circuit. They were well like even though Doc won most of the time.
Doc’s two most famous raceboats were Miss Syracuse and Mr. Dockit. Two types of boats as different as night and day. The 28 ft Hacker, Miss Syracuse was a built in 1922 alongside Miss Mary /El Lagarto in Detroit for Col. Jesse Vincent of Packard. Miss Syracuse was powered with a standardized Liberty engine driven through a Cross V-drive. After three previous owners and a so-so past, Doc bought her from Adams Boat Works, Alex. Bay, NY in 1936. After straightening and strengthening her bottom and modifying and tuning her Liberty, with Doc Robinson and Fred Barker alternating at the wheel, she was undefeated except for one race during Doc’s ownership from 1936-1943. Her top speed at that time was 76 mph and on July 4, 1939 she ran 72.9 mph during a 5 mile 3 lap heat. The 1939 season was one of her best. She won the 1000 Islands Unlimited Championship beating two new three point Ventnors. In the Governors Trophy Race on the Potomac River, Miss Syracuse won the first unlimited heat. Her only defeat was the second heat when her throttle quadrant broke.
In 1943 Doc bought one of two Ventnors he previously defeated, the Mischief, and renamed her Mr.Dockit. The other Ventnor, Wildfire was bought by Guy Lombardo. This Mr.Dockit was powered by a Lycoming 6 racing engine and was the first of at least two more Mr.Dockits. The last being a Tommy Hill hull powered by a flathead Mercury V-8. This first Mr.Dockit, as in the photo, was destroyed in a fire in Miami along with several other racers that had come down for the Orange Bowl Regatta in the mid ‘40s. Under Doc’s talented hands she had won several races before that untimely demise.
Doc’s last Mr.Dockit a Tommy Hill can best be described by these quotes from Bob Schelling’s article Torque Talk in the September 1948 Rudder magazine. (Attending the Huntsville, Ontario Regatta) “Several new Mercury powered 225’s appeared, one of which was Doc Robinson’s spine jolting outfit which, while hotter than the wrong end of a poker, takes everything Doc has to keep it under control.” Then at Gravenhurst, “Top man in the field of nine 225’s was Doc Robinson, who in winning gave those on the officials barge nervous palpitations when he was forced to cut close and washed the whole gang down!” At the St. Sulpice, Quebec Regatta June 5th 1949 Doc set a new speed of 83 mph for a 5 mile heat in 225 Division I class. Almost 10 mph over the record held by Joe Taggart in the Tommy Ann III set September 21,1941.
Mr.Docket and the Miss Syracuse owned by Doc and Sally Robinson have certainly enriched our racing history.

VINTAGE HOT BOAT OF THE MONTH:
Mr.Dockit, F-15, a Ventnor 3 point hydroplane with a 6 cylinder Lycoming racing engine owned and driven by Doc Robinson of Alexandria Bay, NY (photo credit: Bill Northup)

©2000 Tom D'Eath