Morehaven, Fla.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Morehaven kilos. Some of the photos Tim Butts sent down in the mid 80's. Probably taken by Bill Boxell. Two hydros with straightaway lower units. Don't know who they are, but they are pitted next to each other. Maybe same driver. Tim drew no. 1 and made a pass at 122, but there were foggy patches and the morning was heavy with dew and he couldn't see well enough to keep the hammer down. Especially, as Joe told me, there may be manatees lurking around. By the time his number came back up the weather changed to the point he couldn't make those kind of speeds.

Is it just me, or does the boat in the last photo look like it is starting to go sideways?

[F-12]

The 2nd, 4th, and 5th pics are all of the same boat. I would guess Danny Kirts by the way it is flying. It was '87 when I got back from the long lay-off so I'm not sure if I'm right. Looks just like Danny though................

[Jeff Lytle]

HAving been to a kilo or two myself, I always wondered why some of the guys made their pass in an arc instead of a straight line. Perhaps that's what Dan did there.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Charley, they do look like the same boat, but one has a strut at the transom and is blue, and the other "M" boat has no strut and is a wood finish. Joe and I figured both boats are Schumachers and Lowell Schumacher and Dan Kirts are pitted next to each other. We figured Dan had the blue boat and Lowell was driving the clear finish with an M before the number. Dan set the 500cc hydro record with that type lower unit, & this may be where it was set. The boats were so small it took a lot of enlarging and loss of sharpness, but you can see the strut of the blue boat in the second shot. Lowell blew over at one of the kilos, and there are two shots of a boat blowing over, but it is such a speck, it wouldn't blow up well.

And Jeff, I never heard of anyone making their pass in an arc. If so, would it be to spill some air? And a question for Ron. Did they round off the tip of the cleaver to relieve some of the lift? I was thinking with a set up like that and a lot of lift set back so far that it might cause the tail to skitter around on a high speed run. In other words, maybe handle a little bit like a tugboat does when pushing barges.

[F-12]

You are right, Wayne............#2 and #5 are Dan Kirts...........#4 is Lowell not too long before he blew over. He didn't complete the first pas but was running so far over the recor could have paddled to boat over and still broke the record. He is an amazing designer and set up man. Lots of fun, too. Danny always had an extra bullet for these type of runs and he would 'pull out just enough to win'. I'm sure you heard that story before................

[F-12]

Sorry about the last post...........my 1 year old was helping me type.............

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Charley---I didn't realize you were a Democrat;) :D

[David Weaver]

.. That is pushing the nose to the left. Nothing is in the water, but the tips of the prop. So this boat may have been drifting. Those units had either little or no skeg.

[John Howe]

Hey David W., to bad your uncle Bobby didn`t yet have the "Lobster Boat" back in those Moore Haven kilo days!!! I have no doubt he would`ve set the record with it. For those of you not familiar with the "Lobster Boat", it was a really unique 2.5 litre inboard hydro that always flew several inches above the water. Bobby Weaver did put canards on it after he "flew it to the moon" here in Miami in 1987 while testing before the Nationals.

I have many memories of those kilo events, some good, others not so good. How are your uncles, Bobby and Tommy? I also have a lot of memories of the Raliegh N. Carolina inboard races too!

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Wind is one of the things I had in mind David. Having never driven a hydro with one of those lower units, I couldn't guess at what might occur at those speeds. I have flown light aircraft in 30mph+ crosswinds and had to fly crabwise until just before touchdown then suddenly straighten up. And once in Phoenix I lifted off the water and was 5' up, drifting sideways to the point where my Dad thought I might land on the center concrete island.

If it is the wind, he is going to have to make a little left before setting down. And having never been there, how much manueveralbility is there on a kilo run?

[Ron Hill]

Don't be asking me questions as if I were a Rocket Scientist...I taught Elementary school for ten years, then Junior High for 28 years...Having said that....and I''ll add, I enjoyed everyday of it, even when Nicole Simpson Brown was my Star Student...

My dad rounded the tips of our cleavers to INCREASE the RPM, as he felt the tips were holding the motor back..My OLD MAN was a lot like O.F. Christener...If he saw something, he'd grind on it and see what happened... Ruinied a few props along the way... It is like when we drilled holes in our ski boat's prop...Monday night, we drilled three 1/8 holes in the prop..Tuesday, she pulled skiers better than the day before...Tuesday night, we drilled the 1/8 holes to 1/4...Man on Wednesday she pulled skiers like "Jack the Bear"...Wednesday night we couldn't find a 3/8 drill but we could find a 1/2 drill....Hell, if a 1/4 is good, a half inch would be KILLER...

Anyway, with 1/2 holes in the prop, she wouldn't pull a skier no matter what...She blew out so badly, we had to take the prop home and weld up the prop and re drill it with 1/4 holes...Point is: You never know anything until someone tries it...Knd a like when Capnzee had me reverse the battery at Applevalley Marine....I know, next time, not to reverse the battery, to try to reverse the motor...unless I want to see a battery blow up.

As far as an "ARC" goes..seems when I was teaching arithmetic, that we learned that a straight line and a 2 degree line were basically the same...(Hell, I may have made that up)....But for a kilo, if you went corner to opposite corner, your time are basically the same...and anyone who has ever run a runabout without a fin, realizes that the damn thing goes fast corner wise... I would imagine, and no one could see the kilos at Modesto, but I'd bet when I ran 86 plus MPH with a DeSilva runabout, konig powered, (Or any runabout) that I ran an ARC too...as the mother pulled your damn arm off...

If you lined up straight and let her eat, she'd walk across the channel...You'd tug on the wheel trying to keep her in the midddle, but a FREIGHT TRAIN goes where it whats too...and a 80-90 MPH runabout/hydro will go where it wants to..also...the "ARC" may have been whoever was driving just trying to get through a KILO..

Hell, when you're going those speeds, you aim the mother and hope a tree doesn't get in your way....Basically, if you are running near kilo record speeds the boat is OUT OF CONTROL and you are hoping you don't go "SPLAT"....

I mean, you start the kilo with youur hand on the wheel at12 o'clock and you exit it with your hand at 7, and you have just been turning the wheel clockwise as you go....

Probably, if the facts were really known, kilos are the most dangerous form of racing and you are running by yourself...

Am I making sense??? I'm saying that getting through a kilo, at speed, ain't easy and doing it in an arc, ain't planned. I just happens...

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Great reply Ron and you are making sense. (I guess? just got back from the Mexico border and up to Joe's today. Started at 3:48 am. 799 miles.) My two trips to the kilos were experiences. I do believe they can be the most dangerous form of racing. Drivers go beyond familiar territory. When we raced in competition we always tested for similar race course set ups before we left, or at least got there in time to test on the actual race course. My experience with kilos is that you guess at the set up and whatever happens while you are in your run, you make the corrections.

And, of course, the object of the kilos is to beat the fastest speed anyone has ever obtained in a particular class. That generally means going with setups that are not typical for competition, and with gear that a driver has not really had much time with, if any, previously. I'm guessing that there are not any kilo events where teams can test prior to going out. The teams strive for the most extreme speed they can coax from a motor, boat, prop combination.

In our situation, we only challenged the 500cc, 700cc, and 1100cc hydro records. Gerry Walin had done over 100 mph with an Anzani years before, and there were numerous attempts at records in the smaller classes. No one was going after the larger bores for years (in the alky classes) because of the speeds and dangers of a true ultimate speed test. We were racing in competition at speeds above some of the straightaway records which is what prompted us to go to Kaukauna in 1976 and Devils Lake in 1977.

We set a world mark in OD that lasted for a number of years and a national record in 500cc hydro, both using competion sets ups and props that we raced with. My 500cc hydro record was faster than the existing world record, but was .0005 mph short of what it would take to get it. Within just a few years, at Morehaven I think, Dan kirts blew that off the mark. I think he was probably 16 or 17 mph over my time. But of course that was with a straightaway set up.

The few times I made the runs, they seemed to be the longest, loneliest runs I ever made. In seconds they weren't really all that much time, but by yourself, as you mentioned Ron, and hanging things out, just to get to the other end, you start hearing noises you never heard before. One way you are working the throttle back and forth to keep it on the ragged edge. The other way you try to coax as much speed as you can to keep your average from dropping off too far. With all that to contend with, I don't have a clue as to what kind of lines I ran. Especially in the fog.

[Tomtall]

I had the pleasure to race at Kakakee sprint nations back in the early 80's. Clock start. first heat I blew the start and was back of the pack. Second heat I figured out the right tree on shore to judge my start and nailed it. First across the start line with a pack of sst 60's chasing me. Well I was so nervous about nailing the first turn ahead of everone I failed to realize that the wind had picked up to about a 20 mph coming straight across the course (left to right). I had the Seebold trimmed out for max air time and by the time I realized what was happening I was almost in the laps of the carnival people on the far shore. I must have been 10 boat lengh's from the #3 turn bouy. Needless to say I watched as half the pack took the turn with stupid me way to the outside. Lesson learned, but still had a great time.:D