Miami match race of Champions 1975

[brichter]

I remember watching this race on TV, nationally televised on wide world of sports.
Billy Schumacher was 1st,
Geoff Briggs was 2nd,
Roger Jenkins was 3rd,
Jimbo was somewhere in the pack?
Can any one provide the rest of the list, even if not in order?

[Lars Strom]

The Race of Champions at the Miami Marine Stadium 1975 by Bill Muncey

http://svera.se/blogg/the-race-of-champions-at-the-miami-marine-stadium-1975-by-bill-muncey/

[calvin]

Are any of the boats still around?

[brichter]

Are any of the boats still around?

Jimbo had one, put Molinari cowls on it and campaigned it as a Mod 50.........I believe it survived and someone in Canada has it.

[Ron Hill]

I'll see Jimbo next week, but don't think the Molinari that went to Canada was one of these boats.

Very cool concept....too bad no one but Bill Muncey could see the potential!

[stinger]

Who was the designer/builder of those boats?Seebold?

[Lars Strom]

Yes..Billy Seebold was the boat builder.

[stinger]

Looked at the post from Lars and my question was answered.If BRP or someone else manufactured that same motor again now,i'm sure they would sell quite well.Especially Australia.

[stinger]

Thanks Lars.Have strong demand for OMC 3 cylinder gear here,but prices for used gear from the US,whether it be SE,SST60 or MOD50/F3 are out of our reach.Especially considering the currency conversion of the australian dollar at this time.

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

Yes..Billy Seebold was the boat builder.

Lars is absolutely correct about Billy being the designer/builder of these boats that were used in this race, but I don't believe he built ALL of them. This was the time frame when Billy had been very successful with the Tunnel Boats at the start of that phase of his racing career, having come from primarily the PRO Category, first with owning his own equipment and then after Marshall Grant bought all the PRO equipment from Bill Sr., and he drove for Marshall for a time, and also started with the Tunnel Boat portion of his boat racing career. He also had driven a 7 Litre, "Long Gone" for a short time (short time meaning compared to his total career time). I think Long Gone was owned by Les Brown the orchestra leader, but do not remember for sure if that is correct.

I was recovering from a broken pelvis and destroyed hip socket from a blowover while taking a "test ride" in one of his boats with a inline 6 on it, and during the recovery process which lasted some time, I had the opportunity to hang around Billy and Bill Sr. while they were doing prop testing several times a week on the Meremac River above where it enters and widens out into George Winter Park. This is where so many of the St. Louis races were held that he and a local civic club were responsible for promoting. This time frame was truly the heyday of Tunnel Boat racing and included several UIM races that had the OZ class featured with all the attendant drama that came with the "factory Wars" between Mercury and OMC.

I believe he would confirm that Andy Lowrey, a cabinet maker recently retired at the time from Budweiser in St. Louis, both built and had input into the design of the first model or so of not only the "Mod 50" type boat used in this racing that took place at the Marine Stadium in Miami, but previously several of the Tunnel Boats he campaigned in the larger classes. Andy was not in good health at this time, and I seem to remember that he became unable to continue to do the actual build work on these boats and others that he was building of the smaller Hydro type for that type racing also. Andy built many of the smaller Hydro's that won many Championships in the MOD classes, and also some PRO classes that Andy's two sons campaigned in local races sponsored by NOA before they faded from the sanctioning body scene. This was the time frame that Billy hired BeBe Crum who was the husband of a close friend of Billy's wife Lynn, to carry on with the actual construction of the balance of the Mod 50 boats, which were all built the same and then wgt added to some of them so as to make them all the same performance wise, as I seem to remember they got lighter as BeBe became more familiar with the construction of them. He also rented space in a building where the boats could be constructed much easier, as to this point they were being built in his garage at this home as I was there many times and remember very clearly these boats and how excited he was that he had this contract that basically put him in the boat building business with a large number of boats to construct, all the same, so as to make it somewhat of a cookie cutter operation that could maximum profit once the final design was proved and settled on. I could be wrong, but seem to remember there were 15 total of this type and possibly a couple of extra's in case of damage or any were destroyed prior to the finish of the contract with the promoter of the series.

I remember one time Billy was testing props on the test model of the boat, and was a LONG ways up the river from where the boat had been put in. Bill Sr. made the comment that he did not hear the motor anymore, and then we waited for quite some time and finally after about 45 minutes just before Bill was going to get in his car and drive around and try to find a way to the river and see what might have happened, Billy came walking around a bend of the river with a rope over his shoulder pulling the boat. The water in the Meramec was usually very shallow in the fall which was time of year it was then, and Billy was almost in the middle of the river only up to about his knees in the water. He was very fortunate when he blew over while testing at that time, that the water was somewhat deeper where he went over, as he could have ended up with his head stuck in the bottom which is very rocky in the river in the area. The time frame I am speaking of is the fall of 1974 and possibly into the spring of 1975.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

You are correct Bill Van that the owner of "Long Gone" was Les Brown. I seem to recall that this series was inspired by the IROC series of car races in which racers from different auto sports competed in identical cars. I believe they came from F-!, Nascar, SCCA, USAC and maybe some other organizations. I think it was 12 drivers.

I think that Powerboat covered what was going on, and I'll bet Bill Muncey wrote some stuff too and maybe Mel Zikes.

[swamppanther]

When I was about 15 years old I sat in one of of these boats, My neighbor was the Evinrude service rep for this area and was pulling it around for show, this was after the race,It was dark blue and white ,If I had the money I could of bought it for $4500 boat,motor and trailer also included one cleaver prop,What a deal!!!!

[peterse90]

Are any of the boats still around?

The race was in November of 1975, I doubt any of these boats would still be around, too bad.

There were 17 hulls made for the Race of Champions. Even before the first elimination heat began 2 hulls were damaged, the one driven by Barry Woods was damaged pretty bad, the other was patched and could have returned if needed. During the final 10 lap race, one boat rolled or blew over (Mickey Remund).

In addition to the 17 Seebold hulls made for The Race of Champions, I wonder how many more Seebold SE hulls were made for the Jeff Brown turn-key SE boat promotion (picture attached)? Could some of the R. of C. hulls have found there way over to the Jeff Brown deal??

I know Seebold made a few more SE hulls that were not part of either of these programs. The one I had was one they built with experimental sponson bottoms that were actually concaved. I don't think they made many like this as mine was pretty fast in a straight but did not turn as well as the regular angled sponson bottoms. If you look hard you can see the different shape on my sponsons.

Jimbo did have a Seebold SE hull that he raced in MOD 50. It had Velden cowlings on it but it was a Seebold hull. He raced it here in Canada a few times in the late 70's.
5877058771

[brichter]

Here is an old Evinrude ad with some info on the match race.

[brichter]

The race was in November of 1975, I doubt any of these boats would still be around, too bad.

There were 17 hulls made for the Race of Champions. Even before the first elimination heat began 2 hulls were damaged, the one driven by Barry Woods was damaged pretty bad, the other was patched and could have returned if needed. During the final 10 lap race, one boat rolled or blew over (Mickey Remund).

In addition to the 17 Seebold hulls made for The Race of Champions, I wonder how many more Seebold SE hulls were made for the Jeff Brown turn-key SE boat promotion (picture attached)? Could some of the R. of C. hulls have found there way over to the Jeff Brown deal??

I know Seebold made a few more SE hulls that were not part of either of these programs. The one I had was one they built with experimental sponson bottoms that were actually concaved. I don't think they made many like this as mine was pretty fast in a straight but did not turn as well as the regular angled sponson bottoms. If you look hard you can see the different shape on my sponsons.

Jimbo did have a Seebold SE hull that he raced in MOD 50. It had Velden cowlings on it but it was a Seebold hull. He raced it here in Canada a few times in the late 70's.
5877058771
Yep, the Seebold with Velden cowls that Jimbo ran at the '76 Nats in Dayton was one of these match racers. He won Mod 90 that day.