1974 Lowell, Massachusetts Stock Outboard NE Divisionals

[Mark 72@E]

This old stuff is only interesting in the dead of winter when there's no boat races to talk about.

Below is the program from the 1974 Stock Outboard NE Divisionals race held at Lowell, Massachusetts. It's fun to remember that this race was just a few weeks before the largest Stock Outboard Nationals ever held to date -- the Hydroglobe in Dayton, Ohio.

The hand written notes were made by my mother to pass the time. Typically she listed the first heat finish on the left and the second heat finish on the right.

The names listed were the preregistered drivers, preregistration being very common back in the olden days.

Do you see any names you recognize?

[Dew1us]

that's cool nice to see that my uncle was listed for BSH. my dad must have been in Vietnam at the time.

[B Walker]

Ahhhhhh, good stuff.

This was my one of my Mom's first races (25SSH) and I was a few months short of 9 years old but had been driving (testing) one of the Jensen's J's for a few years. That was the longest summer of my life waiting to be old enough to race.

We still have a Brunje's and a Jensen runabout. They were a little ahead of their time, but not as forward thinking as a Crowley Craft.
But who is the stud in the pic? Hes not gonna back off of that throttle no matter what!

Brad Walker

[L. Allen]

Wicked pissa!

[Fast Jack]

wow this is great !!!

Thanks, lots of great people listed -- got a kick out of Brad Snow ASH !!!!!!!!

[TPLACE31]

The stud holding on for dear life is Stan Armstrong. I have a newspaper clipping someplace in the archives. This race was big as I remember 3 heats of ASH. Steve Defo, Jeff Hutchins and Skip Birbirie were the heat winners. Defeo went on to win the Nationals for the second consecutive year.

1974 - 18-B, 200-B

[TPLACE31]

Start of 25SSH Elimination heat. The 72-E boat in the middle is none other than Mark Ritchie.

[John Lawrence]

great stuff how about the dayton one or the boston one before that Thanks

[Matt Dagostino]

Hedlunds......................

Start of 25SSH Elimination heat. The 72-E boat in the middle is none other than Mark Ritchie.

Look at all the Hedlunds. My first time ever in a Hedlund boat was on the mighty Merrimack River in Lowell. Water was about 50 degrees in May and i flipped testing and the ASH rig nearly drifted over the spillway.........not a good day!!

OK...................back to polishing throttles like Ian!!

[jtower3941]

look at entry per class, guess racing was on the down hill, not. Club would not lose money on that race.

[DiGia54D]

the 84-D looks like he has road.. I mean river rage. A lot of names i have not herd since i was little. Great stuff, thanks for sharing it.

[Mark 72@E]

84-d

the 84-D looks like he has road.. I mean river rage.

84-D is actually looking at a stopwatch. So yes, he took his hand off the steering wheel at full throttle to check it. This makes more sense when you notice he's wearing a rookie stripe on his helmet. On the other hand, if this was the start of the second heat, he may have been one of the only legal starters because the heat was red flagged for gun jumping. Far right in the picture and ahead of the pack in lane one is Jeff Hutchins in his Bezoats. Jeff went on to win the Lowell Divisionals that day and a few weeks later win the Dayton Nationals in 25SS Hydro.