1974 Dayton Stock Outboard Nationals Reunion . . .

[Jean Mackay]

Did you attend the 1974 Stock Outboard Nationals in Dayton?
Know someone that did attend the 1974 Dayton Nationals?

40 years now . . . Time for a get together story telling session.

A reunion is in the planning stages for the Reno Meeting to follow the Category Awards on Friday evening, Jan.24.

Below is link to APBA Social page . . .

https://social.apba-racing.com/discu...s-reunion-time

[B1PRORACER]

1974 Dayton Nationals reunion

It has been that long! My brother and I were there.... I was racing in ASR and BSR (17-B). My brother raced in the CSR class (55-B). We didn't qualify in any of our classes. Somewhere I have all of those pages of elimination heats that were handed out at the drivers meeting. I don't know if I have the heat results. Rusty Rae's book about that race was the most complete account of any National Championship.... ever!

[RLR]

I remember getting there and could not believe the number of boats that were there and still running slims on Sat morning. Sitting down just outside the first turn on the beach, the Super C start in a heat was a classic, all coming to the first turn at once. Someone on the inside climbed a rooster tail and was able to get it back down, but his body was out of the cockpit, hanging on to the throttle and wheel, body and legs flailing on the side decks back and forth. He finally got stopped and collapsed inside the cockpit, to not move for quite awhile.

In , I think ASH, Andy Hansen stood it straight up, crawled on the nose, got it back down and went on to finish well. Remember also Charlie Gonyea and Rick Davidson tangling in CSH in first turn, with Charlie taking the brunt of it.
Lots of floating pieces all weekend, and the sounds of Merc's for the most part.

[CSR4C]

I had no intentions of going the the nationals in '74. However I won the divisionals in 25SSR and Jim McDonald won ASH. We are a the Rockaway OR race a couple weeks before the nationals, we found a couple trailer spots for our 2 boats for only $75 and loaded everything up at the race. We drove my VW bug back to the race, I think our fuel cost was about 1.2 cents per mile.

[Howie Nichols]

I remember getting there and could not believe the number of boats that were there and still running slims on Sat morning. Sitting down just outside the first turn on the beach, the Super C start in a heat was a classic, all coming to the first turn at once. Someone on the inside climbed a rooster tail and was able to get it back down, but his body was out of the cockpit, hanging on to the throttle and wheel, body and legs flailing on the side decks back and forth. He finally got stopped and collapsed inside the cockpit, to not move for quite awhile.

Ray I have pics from the Super C race, Dad was in the middle and got pinched coming down for one of the starts (I think someone told me they had several that year) He ended up going over backwards dislocating his shoulder. He did take a trip to the ER to get it reset. I will try and scan the pics in to post them...

After this past fall Tabor City he has added a match set dislocating his other shoulder in ASR. He says he is ready to go with a vengance for 2014 though!

[Jean Mackay]

Howie,

Yes, please scan any pics you have that you would like to share and you can email to me at: jean84c@earthlink.net . . . we will share with the group at the Reunion. Trying to put together a slide show maybe with lyrics.

Any of you that are planning to attend the Annual Meeting in Reno please bring your packable memorbilia and we will display.

Thanks . . .

[Howie Nichols]

Cssh

CSSH Pics from 1974 Dayton.

Blowover is of Pete Nichols, he ended up with a ride to the ER and a dislocated shoulder.

The boat out front is 103B Walt Haslett and I believe Bill Giles is on the inside.

Photos were taken by Ron Loomis from CA

[Herb Lanphear]

Dayton 1974

Howie, I remember that blow over, but did know you guy's then, as well as in the turn boat for your dad's other spill at Tabor City.My dad and I were there, and won our ASH elim, and came down for the start of the final , got out front and promply got a plastic bag wrapped around the lower unit and it quit pumping water and lost a cylinder. Another Nationals with bad luck! It was my last Nationals before college but remember it well.

[daveracerdsh]

Entries

I have Rusty Rae's book on this race....was there something like 800 entries? Why did this nationals have way more entries then any other, right in the middle of the gas crisis? Love to hear all of the stories....

[master oil racing]

I know you guys won't forget Reid Blackburn either. He took some fantastic pictures. Between Reid and Rusty, they have probably the best photographic coverage of any race ever and I agree with B1PRORACER on that score regarding the most complete account of a race.

Tragically Reid Blackburn was killed when Mt. St Helens exploded. That was a great loss.

I talked to Rusty a couple of years ago, and at that time he had no interest in taking time to scan or print any of his old photos. I wonder if would have any interest these days?

[CSR4C]

I have Rusty Rae's book on this race....was there something like 800 entries? Why did this nationals have way more entries then any other, right in the middle of the gas crisis? Love to hear all of the stories....

The gas crisis hadn't hit yet in '74. I think we were paying about 30 to 32 cents a gallon with that VW bug so we were close to a penny a mile. Dayton in '75 also had over 800 entries & gas prices were going up. I think everyone was thinking that we better go to the nationals now as we didn't know what next year would bring. In '75 Dan Schwartz, Skeet Phillips, John Rheinberger & I went together. We were using John's '68 Chevy van. John went to The Seafair Unlimited race & flew out. So 3 of us were paying for the gas on the way there. I think it was now up to over 40 cents a gallon. We each put $40 gas money in the glove box. When we arrived in Dayton we had 1/4 tank of gas and some change in the glove box. This was a van towing a 4 boat trailer plus a D hydro on top of the van. We didn't do quite as well on the way home because of a lot of head wind, but we were splitting it 4 ways.

[RLR]

Lots of plywood

Howie,
That did not look good with your Dad, but grateful no further than shoulder. I, like anyone there, could not believe the stretch of boats and trailers from the first turn, all the way down the front stretch. I was racing alkiy's and mods at the time, living in Illinois, so too close to not come watch. What a treat. I used to think, standing on the top at Depue at it's best, that there could not be more boats at a Nationals then what stretched from beyond the ramp, a few trailers at the top of the ramp, all the way down to the restroom at the west end. Boy, did Dayton that yr prove me wrong.

I think that a lot of things came together to have this happen, but certainly Dayton course and central part of the country helped.

[Ron Hill]

Ron Loomis

CSSH Pics from 1974 Dayton.

Blowover is of Pete Nichols, he ended up with a ride to the ER and a dislocated shoulder.

The boat out front is 103B Walt Haslett and I believe Bill Giles is on the inside.

Photos were taken by Ron Loomis from CA

Ron Loomis won the 1955 Nationals in CU with a Tommy Newton, Evinrude. In 1956, he ran a new Mark 30-H at Cambridge, Maryland and finished like fifth. His dad, Cecil was the second publisher of the magazine Speed and Spray. I think, Ron Loomis allowed the book to be called Speed and Spray as he owned the copy right.

In the winter of 1955-56, Ron and I raced AU against each other for 39 straight weeks on LIVE TV.

If anyone cares, I will be at Reno to introduce and new Honor Squadron member that I helped nominate and to give out aone of the six propellers that Hill Marine and Signature Propellers donated to the SE class of the Inboard Division of APBA.

I will buy a beer for anyone who can tell me how I straightened out my Winnebago bumper at Dayton, 1974.

FYI: I will be at the College World Series of Solar Race Boats, this summer, 2014, at Dayton, Ohio, June 14th ish!

[Mark 72@E]

Change in qualifying!

Why did this nationals have way more entries then any other? Love to hear all of the stories....

Although there were other factors, here's what I remember as the number one reason why there were so many boats at the 1974 Dayton Hydroglobe. And it was the reason why I was there.

For 1974 there was a change in the rules on how you qualified for the Stock Outboard nationals. Someone with the 1973 and 1974 APBA Rule Books should check me on this. For 1973 and before, the top three winners from each class from each of three divisions (East, Central, West) along with the previous year's national champion were prequalified leaving only two (12-10) spots open for challenge if all the qualified racers showed up. So the odds of an average racer getting in the finals were slight to none.

In 1974 the rule was changed so that only the first place winners in each class in each division qualified along with the previous year's national champion leaving eight (12-4) spots available. This meant anyone with decent speed and a good start in the elimination heat had a chance at being the in finals at the nationals.

At the Eastern Divisionals in Lowell, Massachusetts I finished second in 25SSH behind Jeff Hutchins in two out of three heats (with one thrown out for gun jumping) so I thought I had decent speed. I still remember Jeff turning around at the end of the final heat to see who was behind him and me thinking, "He doesn't even know who I am....but he's seen me twice now." And so I took off to Dayton in August, the farthest I had ever traveled to a boat race, thinking I had a good shot at being in the 25SSH finals.

The only old APBA Rule Book I have is from 1976 and the wording is different from what I stated above so my memory could be wrong. In 1976 the only prequalified racer at the Stock Outboard nationals was the previous year's champion leaving 11 slots available via eliminations. But if my memory is right about the 1973-1974 rule change, then the 1976 rule could be a reflection of what was learned from the 1974 Dayton Hydroglobe. Make the slots available via eliminations at the nationals and "they will come".

Or it could have been all the nifty swag that all the racers got at Dayton. Below are patch, pin, and decal. ACTUAL OBJECTS MAY BE smaller THAN THEY APPEAR.

[Jean Mackay]

Mark,

Like the pics . . . would like to use at Reunion get together in Reno. Was not able to download and save from this site. Could you email to me? That would be awesome.

Email address: jean84c@earthlink.net

Thanks,
Jean