BSH-Bad Stock Hydro Champs

[Ron Hill]

The Irony...

Boy, I know that heartbreak well. In 1960 at Beloit, Stan Armstrong won CSH with a 1st & a 3rd. I was 2nd with two 2nds. The first heat was won by Don Christy who was using Chalie Piper's motor as it had the padded cylinders just as the 4 time CSH winner Bob Browns did. After the 1st heat I asked my fathere where Dick O'Dea finished in the first heat. He said Dick was 3rd, but we were pitted up near the dam by turn 2 & Dick was 3rd out of the last turn. Unknown by my father Stan passed Dick by the time they reached the finish line. So in the second heat it kind of got a bit more windy & rough, Christy stuffed & spun, Bob BRown stuffed so I worked my way up to Stan's roostertail & calculated the poits & said that's all I needed. My pit crew as well as myself tthought I had won. I immediately saw Stan's mom & asked where Stan finished the 1st heat & she said 3rd. I knew immediately he had won. Just goes to show, in the nationals, always go for the checker.

That was the ONLY Nationals Stan Arstrong ever won!

[John Schubert]

Padded 30H block

John, the C padded block was legal at this time? Why did only a few people have them? I have heard many rumors about them over the years, some people say they did not exist because so few people ever saw one. The only one i really know of, got DQ. at a NOA AM PRO Nat's around 69.

Yes they were as they got out the door on some motrs per Charlie Strang. Wasn't widely known back then & I actually did not know about them until several years later. Piper's that Christy used was found by the Miller's, Mercury dealer in Kingston, NY. They re-worked Charlie's Sid & installed the block. Quite frankly, I don't know how inspectors became aware of the pads & knew they were legal without it leaking to all racers, but Bob Brown always went through inspection as did Piper. Also, Bud Goodwin, who won "C" several years earlier was alleged to have one as well.

[Ron Hill]

From What I Heard

This is what I thought I was told, one thing about the "Padded" heads, they didn't look like the "A" heads, the combustion chamber was just smaller. The minimum CC was 14.2, I think most Mark 30 and Mark 30-H was like 21 or 22 CC'c.

Later a man named Lon Steven cast some heads, and installed them on Mark 30 blocks, by welding them in and acid etching them to look like salt water motors. These blocks passed inspection because they were like 14 CC and looked like Mercury heads.

Watching Bob Brown at Seattle in '59, he had an amazing set up. Tony Rodiguez had got 70 MPH at the kilos in Cambridge, MD, and then ran 16th in the race.

Being able to get around a course is usually more important than pure speed!

In Hinton, 1976, Mark Pruiss set fastest time in a Dawe Boat and one of my props. I watch Bunky Bowerman go, then I took metal notes on his set up and prop. Bunky was just ahead of the learning curve.