RACE SITES:
 Aug. 10 - 12th  Hampton, VA East Coast boatracer Reunion. All are invited. Contact: Buddy Roper (747) 850-0694. 
Sept 7 & 9th  Buffalo, NY, Race Boat Reunion Pit Party 
 Sept 21-23   Wolfeboro, New Hampshire 
 Oct. 6th   Cypress Gardens, Florida - protected water in the Garden on a fast triangular course, by invitation only, hydroplanes & jersey speed skiffs. Contact me (941) 792-7554.

BOB SILVA’S WEST COAST REPORT:
The 2nd Annual Boat Racers Reunion will be held September 22, 2001 at Irvine Lake near Orange CA. The one-day vintage/classic event will provide circle, drag, marathon and ski boats a chance to do flybys. Over 450 racers attended last year’s successful reunion. Contact: Richard Parks 714-963-2409.

Paul Sawyer’s Red Rockets
You pick up the phone and the first thing your friend says to you is, ”A National Modified just set a Kilo record of 195 mph!” Shocked, your memory tells you the limits of horsepower and hydroplane design make that impossible and your reply is, “No way, not with a limited inboard.” In November of 1950 many a boat racer received a similar phone call that was just as astounding, only that time… it was True!
When Paul Sawyer’s 266 ci (aka 225 div. I) hydro, Alter Ego set an APBA 1 mile straightaway record of 115.04 mph, on November 17, 1950, it was no less shocking than the Unlimited and World Water Speed Record set by Stan Sayre’s Slo-Mo-Shun IV, six months earlier, of 160.32 mph. Those lucky enough to see Alter Ego’s historic, airborne, sponson walking, prop half out of the water, record run at Salton Sea CA. realized this was it, the answer for limited classes boat speed.
Paul Backus Sawyer Jr. began his racing career in 1929 in outboard hydros, before graduating from college he’d won 7 Eastern Divisional titles and had competed in International C and X class races in France. After passing his New York bar exam, he made several attempts at breaking the X class world record, held by Frenchman Jean Dupuy at 79.04 mph. At Brownsville TX the young Sawyer’s Italian Sorriano engine froze during the speed run, sending him crashing at 84 mph. On California’s Lake Elsinore each run ended in an 80-mph blow over and only darkness prevent him from trying a fourth pass. Upon his discharge from the Navy, as a radar officer serving in WW II, Sawyer took his experience of 100’s of outboard victories and turned to inboards.
His introduction to inboard hydros came as a riding mechanic aboard Doc Novotny’s POD hydro in Newport Harbor CA.  The hard driving Novotny, rushing to beach his sinking National Champ Cherub II, slammed onto shore where upon Sawyer’s chin collided with the dashboard, knocking him cold.
Although his home and business were in Syracuse NY, Paul choose to establish racing headquarters in Long Beach CA. where he worked with boat builder Willard Campbell in the construction of a 225 ci hydro (aka 225 div II). Powered by a Ford-6, the new Belligero (happy warrior) won the 225 Nationals for 1948.
During the winter of ’48 he commissioned Downey CA builder/driver Rich Hallett to construct two identical 16-ft. hydros incorporating some of Sawyer’s own design ideas. The Ford-6 was dropped into the 225 Alter Ego; N-211, while Belligero II, F-111 would use a Ford Flathead V-8 to race in the faster 266 class. Texan Buddy Renter built the racing engines. Sawyer wasted no time gathering victories with Belligero II. He topped Joe Taggert’s 8-yr. old 5-mile competition record; won the Nationals; and shattered Dave Forman’s flying mile record, turning an average of 99 mph at Salton Sea. The Belligero II had one pass just over 100 mph, making her the first limited class boat to hit the century mark. Kansas native, Sid Street, in Z-Z-Zip won class high points, keeping the F-111 from making a clean sweep of 266 laurels for 1949.
In 1950, with his wife Erminie as his sole crewmember, Paul decided to run Florida’s winter Grapefruit Circuit, a torrid 7day/7race tour. There, he would go head to head with nemesis Sid Street and a host of east coast hot dogs like: Thom Cooper in Tops VII and Ray Gassner’s Sunshine Baby II. But plagued by problems while racing in Florida, he then eagerly awaited the summer to unveil his 225, Alter Ego. By season’s end his twin red hulls had won the 225 and 266 Nationals along with High Point Championships. The new N-211 had also broken the 225-competition record. Looking to the 1-mile trials at Salton Sea in November, Sawyer decided to go all out for the limited class record.
Installing the spare Ford V-8 engine for Belligero II in Alter Ego converted her into a 266 and many test runs later it was determined Alter Ego handled best at high speed. Sawyer then turned to the little Long Beach cam grinding shop of Smith and Jones. There, Clay Smith (who Speed Age Magazine would several years later declare as, “the man with the magic wrench”) built a 235-hp methanol burning Mercury Flathead V-8. A Hilborn-Travers fuel injection unit was tried for the first time on a limited hydro, also. 
Ideal water conditions greeted water jockeys for the speed trials of ’50. Alter Ego left spectators open mouthed after her 115 mph record run (Belligero II topped 104) and Paul Sawyer became the first limited driver to join the Gulf 100 mph Club, which up until then was exclusive Gold Cup and Unlimited territory. Amazingly, there was even more to come, an invitation to compete in the International Motorboat Federation races in Italy and Switzerland.
More exhaustive testing of props, engines and hull ride ensued prior to Alter Ego’s departure and the fuel injection unit was replaced with a tri-carb set-up for competition. With wife Erminie, Paul booked fare on a passenger ship; the Alter Ego strapped to the deck topside. The European’s were eager to see the American record setter on their home waters; Bob Bogie’s 1949 visit with Blitz III had been a big help for the Italian hull designers. Sawyer wasn’t about to disappoint them.
Sporting the APBA US-1 shield on her bow and F-1 on each sponson, Alter Ego swept the 3 race series over Italian aces: Mario Verga, Enzio Selva and Achile Castoldi. Sawyer smashed Castoldi’s 1 lap and race record at Milan. Zurich found Paul over taking the 8-boat field for a win; despite an 80-second start line penalty. The Italians liked the tall, lanky American driver who, with the red Alter Ego, had drastically changed their ideas on hydroplane design. Then Paul unselfishly offered them the speed secrets to his hull. Master designer, Mario Speluzzi took measurements accurate to within 1 millimeter on every part of the hull; engineer Deli Zotti then built 1/10th scale, 10cc gas powered models from the blueprints…and European hydroplane design was forever changed.
Returning to home waters, Sawyer again upped the limited class speed record with a 120.850 average, putting him in the Gulf Marine Hall of Fame for the second straight year. During the 266 heat races, he broke Bob Rowland’s You-All 5-mile record, with an 87.890 mph clocking on the Salton Sea course. 1951 was the only appearance of the famed record-breaking combination in the USA. A test drive in the Slo-Mo-Shun IV turned Sawyer toward designing his own Unlimited. He sent a copy of Speluzzi’s blueprints to Speed & Spray Magazine for publication believing it would help increase the fields of the 225 and 266 classes (now called National Modified) through more evenly matched hulls. It was a contribution to a sport he felt was the greatest on earth…Boat Racing.
(The disappearance of Sawyer’s record breakers, in part II.)
 

Photo Caption #1
Paul Sawyer, airborne and sponson walking in Belligero II, F-111 on Salton Sea at 104 mph on November 17, 1950. The Sawyer/Hallett designed 266, powered by a Ford Flathead V-8, and was the first limited hydroplane to hit 100 mph in an APBA 1-mile speed trial in 1949. (Herb Ross photo)

Photo Caption #2
The famed 266ci hydroplane, Alter Ego, F-211 of Paul Sawyer, at Salton Sea, CA. just prior to setting a stunning 115 mph inboard APBA world record in 1950. The Mercury Flathead power plant was the first in a limited hydro to use fuel injection and was built by the “man with the magic wrench”, Clay Smith of Long Beach CA. (Herb Ross photo)

©2001 Tom D'Eath