Ray Gassner 


Sunshine Baby I, F-7

The first Sunshine Baby F-7 was a Ventnor hull and it's the boat in the inside lane when this photo was taken at a free-for-all race in 1947 in Florida. To Ray's right is:
F-41(?) Dolphin;  F-43 Lou’s Blues;  2-A Hurricane II (Wickens);  F-31 How-Mar IV;  N-26 Columbus Babe;  F-1 Tops (guessing that's the Pop Cooper’s Tops Speedliner).


Same image just cropped showing the tight formation at the start of this race.


Sunshine Baby F-7
St. Pete 1947


Unknown location


St Pete in February 1949

Sunshine Baby II, F-57

The 2nd hydro, Sunshine Baby II was a Rich Hallett built hull.
(photo from Keith Brayer collection)


F-57 Sunshine Baby II in the pits at St. Pete in 1952.

Sunshine Baby III F-57

Ray in his new Lauterbach-built F-57 Sunshine Baby III in 1953 at Dayton, Ohio on the Miami River.
Phil Kunz was only 11 years old when he took the photo with his Brownie camera.

Sunshine Baby Big WA-Wa Miami Boy
Photo from St Pete, 1953 - Boat Sport magazine



F-57 Sunshine Baby III at Pensacola, Florida 1954


Sunshine Baby III F-57
This Kent Hitchcock photo is Ray winning the Nationals at Salton Sea, California in October 1954 for the 266 class.
The boat was built by Henry Lauterbach and was powered by a flat head Mercury.


A book used the same K. Hitchcock photo when it covered the Seafair race in Washington and Ray won all his heats and the final in convincing fashion.






  Above 2 photos of Sunshine Baby III that appeared in the 1955 Southland Race Program



1955 Southland winner
 

Photo from an APBA Propeller issue


Sunshine Baby III photo taken while the boats were parading from the St. Petersburg Yacht Club in downtown St. Pete
to the race course at Lake Maggorie for the Southland Regatta in February 1958.

 

Ray and his Sunshine Baby III, F-57 with a couple of his race victories.
This boat was the second 266 class hydro to be powered by a 265 Chevy.
Ray switched to the Chevy in January 1956, after his best friend Bill Ritner's Wa Wa Too,  which was the first racing machine ever to run the 265 Chevy, 
beat him in the Orange Bowl in December 1955. Ray went on to win the National Championship again in 1957 in Gunthersville.


Sunshine Baby III, F-57
(photo from Keith Brayer collection)

Sunshine Baby IV H-57


St. Petersburg, Florida just after Ray won the 1960 Southland Sweepstakes race.
This is the first time the 7-Litre Sunshine Baby IV raced.
Photo by Brent McLean


 H-57 Sunshine Baby IV and Ray.


H-57 Sunshine Baby IV at it's home base, Albert Whitted Airport in St. Petersburg, Florida. 
Ray kept the Baby in a hanger in which he had a corner of the machine shop set up as his shop. 
Photo taken in 1961 by Brent McLean.


  H-57 Sunshine Baby IV
This boat was built by Henry Lauterbach in 1959.
She is powered by a supercharged Chrysler Hemi 392. This photo was taken during the filming of an episode of the TV series "Route 66".
I believe the year to be 1963. The boat had already won the 1962 7-Liter Nationals at Guntersville, Alabama.
 

Ray and his mechanic Doc Hardin (with cigar, on left). 
St. Petersburg, Florida. February 1961.


The next 3 photos are from February 3, 1962, Southland Sweepstakes Regatta, Lake Maggorie, St. Petersburg, Florida.

Ken Wheeler, one of Ray's crew members, looking over the SB IV Chrysler engine.


Ray leaving the pits.
 

Ray's mechanic, "Doc" Hardin, watching the action on the lake.


Ray and Buddy Byers looking over Sunshine Baby IV supercharged 392 Chrysler Hemi
St. Petersburg, Florida. February 1961


These 3 photos are fom February 2, 1962, Southland Sweepstakes Regatta, Lake Maggorie, St. Petersburg, Florida

Ray waiting for the next heat race

 
"Doc" Hardin resting before the next race


  The Sunshine Baby IV on the trailer prior to the races
 


1962 Inboard Nationals at Guntersville, Alabama. Ray won the 7-Liter National Championship at this race in August 1962
Photo taken from the motel second floor

1962_Eightball_Jim_Townsend_377ChevyV8_2ndPlace_Nationals
H-8 Eightball and H-57 Sunshine Baby


1962 Orange Bowl Regatta at Miami, Florida in December 1962


February 1963 at the Southland Sweepstakes Regatta in St. Pete, Florida


Moonshine Baby H-54 being lowered into the water
Sunshine Baby H-57 already in the water preparing for the heat
Phil Kunz photo


Getting ready for the start


1963 St Pete



1963 - Sunshine Baby IV and Wa-Wa Too
 
December 29, 1963 - Lifting H-57 out after Ray was going into the first turn at the Miami Marine Stadium and caught the wake of Art Asbury
in the Royal Canadiana and did an easy roll. The boat was not damaged and Ray was not hurt in the incident.




H-57 Sunshine Baby;  H-77 Country Boy;  H-22 Royal Canadiana at Morgan City in 1964


Some of the biggest names in hydro racing attending the 1965 Orange Bowl Regatta


Sunshine Baby IV at Miami Marine Stadium 1966


Sunshine Baby IV and H-426 Chrysler Queen neck and neck at Miami Marine Stadium 1966


Sunshine Baby H-57 in 1967 in Miami. Good shot of the Potvin Supercharger.that feeds the Chrysler mill


Miami 1968



Tommy D'Eath H-57 Sunshine Baby, Earl Wham H-00 Miss Merion Bluegrass
Miami, Florida 1968



1968 New Martinsville, West Virginia


H-4 Long Gone and H-57 Sunshine Baby battling it out in St. Pete in 1970.
Tom D'Eath is driving Sunshine Baby and he beat the newer cabover to win the race.


H-14 Miss Heavy Hauler (Lloyd hull running supercharged Ford) and H-57 Sunshine Baby going at it at Ypsilanti, Michigan 1970.
Sunshine Baby IV going through the turns at Miami Marine Stadium.
This photo was on the Miami area phone book cover in the early 60's.



ABPA Propeller magazine cover featuring SBIV 1970



Tom D'Eath driving Ray's H-57 Sunshine Baby IV. 
Brent McLean took this photo in St. Pete the last time it ran as the Baby in February 1971.
 

I found Ray Gassner's 1957 266 Cu. In. Hydro National Championship trophy that he won at Guntersville, AL in 1957 (this was the second for the SB III).
It resides in the St. Petersburg Yacht Club trophy case. When Ray passed away, most all his trophies were donated to the St. Petersburg Yacht Club. Ray was a long standing member and raced the hydros under the Yacht Club Banner as well as his 33 foot Chris Craft in predicted log competition. After Ray's passing, the trophy became the Ray Gassner Predicted Log trophy.


 Ray Gassner - 7-Liter winner St Pete 1963

H-42 El Condor

The Sunshine Baby IV was sold in 1971 after Ray's death.
If I remember correctly, it went to Toms River, New Jersey and was run as H-42 El Condor. 
Tom D'Eath sitting in the boat.

H-57 Sunshine Baby
restoration

In the late 80's, Bob Walters of Iowa purchased and restored the boat.
The below two photos were sent to me from Bob after he restored the hydro.


At that time, I gave Bob a lot of my memorbilia and let him have all my photo's and scrap books copied.
It is my understanding that Bob sold the boat to Hayden Harris of Chelsea, MI.
 


by Kevin A. Spaise
Photography by Gary Van Der Top
Nov./Dec. 1989
 
Bob and Barbara Walters' impeccable 7-liter Hydro restoration revives a slice of racing History and quickens the pulse.
 		 It's always gratifying to see a restoration project fully progress, with the finished result reinforcing the boat's original appeal. When the remake effort preserves a slice of hot-boating history- as in the case of Bob and Barbara Walters' stunning 7-Liter hydro project-it takes on particular importance. The Walters' four-year foray into racing seasons past began with an inheritance of sorts. Manager of a marina at which a long-abandoned 225 Hydro was stored, Walters' ended up with a project boat which wetted his appetite for something more. And that's where Sunshine Baby was born or more accurately, reborn. After inquiring nearly everywhere as to the whereabouts of a potential restoration subject, Walters was directed to Fair Haven, New Jersey, where circle-racing legend Tom D'Eath maintains a well- known workshop. D'Eath directed Walters to Toms River, New Jersey, 185 miles away, where a dusty but intact 7-liter was up for grabs. It was a certified bargain: $3,000.
It was only after Walters bought the boat that he discovered its rich history. On his way home, Walters again stopped at D'Eath's shop, where the amiable racer brought him up to date.
 
The Lauterbach hull was built in 1959 for Ray Gassner of St. Petersburg, Florida. It quickly surfaced as a national star: Sunshine Baby was a world competition record-holder in '61, '62 and '63, and national-class champion in 1962. It set an incredible speed record of 171 mph at the Salton Sea in California back in 1964.
The boat was, in a sense, the father of the 7-Liter Hydro class the mark at which others aimed. Gassner raced it regularly in Seattle, Washington, California and throughout the Eastern Seaboard.
After Gassner became ill in 1969, Tom D'Eath took over the driving duties and held them for three seasons. These days, D'Eath is best known for his cockpit time in the world champion unlimited hydro, Miss Budweiser, which he drove to three new world records and a 151-mph average while defeating Chip Hanauer in the Circus Circus boat.
Once informed of the boat's heritage, Walters became more motivated than ever to complete the project. He also became particularly fussy about remaining faithful to the boat's original specs.
The first step was refinishing the craft's woodwork. Walters did all the work himself, posting about 200 hours in refinishing the boat's mahogany deck, sponson tops and birch bottom. He then sandblasted the trailer.
Walters solicited the help of a local sprint-car engine builder, Engine Machine Supply, of Spirit Lake, Iowa, to bring the 392 Chrysler Hemi back to life. While researching the specs for the engine, Walters discovered yet another milestone - the engine is the only one on which Don Garlits ever worked. Walters was able to confirm that bit of trivia on a trip to Garlits' Drag Racing Museum, and even received enthusiastic help from "Big Daddy" in recreating the engine exactly as it was during its heyday. The 392 was bored .030 over to 400 cubic inches. The heads were built by Mondello, and Carillo rods were used. Jahns pistons, Chet Herbert roller cam and kit, Moroso pan and Hilborn injectors - fortified with eight extra enrichment nozzles on the manifold are its other components. Estimated horsepower on the boat is 1,000.

While the Lauterbach design is one of the few in the industry that has remained timeless (Sunshine Baby could keep pace with today's boats on the straights), its dated turning abilities would keep it from being competitive in today's field.
Sunshine Baby's stardom was not limited to the race course. It made appearances on the last two segments of the television series Route 66.
Walters' project spends considerable time in the spotlight during its second life as well. In four shows, the hydro has drawn rave reviews from throngs of spectators and four trophies.
Walters, who belongs to the Antique Classic Boat Society of America, plans to run the boat often once his show schedule smooths out. He's not too concerned about the boat's luster fading. "I built it to capture part of the past," explained the proud owner, polishing the boat's bright lettering (done by John Welle, Fastoria, Iowa). "But I also plan on enjoying it on the water a lot.

Thanks to Hot Boat Magazine for use of this article.

A world-record setter at over 171-mph, the wooden Lauterbach 7-litre Hydro was purchased by Walters for $3,000. Now completely restored to original spec, it's a consistent show winner.

 
 
 

Cockpits view is of the coventional, front-engine configuration common to yesteryear's racers. Today's circle hydros are all cabovers, with the engine in the rear.
Among the memorablia Walters has collected and shows are the original props used to set the 171-mph record and Tom D'Eath's driving helmet.
 

 
 
 
The Chrysler 392 Hemi is reportedly the only boat engine on which land drag-racing legend Don Garlits ever worked. Hillborn injectors were fortified with eight extra nozzles.

In conclusion, I would like to say that Ray Gassner was one of the finest persons you would ever want to meet. 
© Brent McLean

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