Ted March

[Skoontz]

Ted:

It just occured to me last night that I may have met you at Stirns Marine about '79 or '80.

I remember a boat, with a Mod VP type bottom, and a V-6 Johnson bolted to the back with a cantilever/jackplate. You ran a clever prop and we were talking about how that might work on my Switzer...

I can't remember the color of the boat, or if it was you for sure, so, lemme axe ya, did you have a Mod VP with a V-6? Maybe a Hydrostream????

I had a Starburst Gold Switzer Super Sport with a thumble full of Magenta dropped into the gel coat with a 140 Johnson souped up with a 85HP cover...

I'm betting it was you... I can remember the scene clear as day, just not the names....

[Ted March]

We rigged a Silver Hydrostream Vulture in the Spring of 1978. Stirn's hung a 1978 235 Johnson on ithe transom. In the beginning we ran SSTRX Cleavers before swithching to Ron HIll Choppers and finally a 14 X 30 Hill thru hub cleaver. Quincy modified the 235 in 1980 and the motor was painter black at the sam time. The Vulvure was not a Mod VP boat. It had a full interior. I don't remember any Real Mod VP boats coming into Stirn's at at that time.

The first picture is in 1978. The second 1981. Both on the Fabulous Fox in Mc Henry, IL across from Ed Tweed's house.

[Skoontz]

That was the boat, Ted!

It may not have been a Mod VP, but I do remember the nothes cut through the bottom. Kind of a shallow V center with two 1' or so wide tunnels starting about 6" or so from center. The boat sat near the front chain link gate as you pulled in the north side drive....

That looked like Tweeds house, I just was not sure. Ed sold me a cantilever that was not working on his GL-20/235 combo

[Ted March]

Ed's GL-20 from the same era.

Also the Christmas Card Ed and Sally sent us in 1981. Sally's creation.

[Skoontz]

Who had the edge, Ted? I know Ed danced at 97 or 8, some say he hit 99. There is nothing prettier than a GL-20 doing an air dance. That boat was so stable at high speed you could almost take your hands off the wheel...Then Dave came up with the GL-21 and slowed them down for insurance reasons, I was told....That's right about the time some knit wit coked out of his gord in an Eliminator speared through a Master craft at 3AM off Pistakee point by the Doll house. The news never tells the real story, that both boats were running with no lights...

[Ted March]

Side by side was usually with two people in the boats and depended on the day.

With one person the needle of my Keller cleared 96. At the same time the Medallion was reading 98. Speedometers were all we had in those days. No GPS's. So that's all we could read. I never heard qiute the numbers you quoted for ED - certainly could be. I know he blew it over at 94+ on the Keller. I got that call one evening about dark thirty.

[Skoontz]

Many people I've talked to have this misconception that Vees won't blow over...I had my SS on the transom about 3 times, then they flop to the side and typically throw you from the boat.

Ted, I got a great idea for a thread if you are game....There are so many tales on the Fox River like the one you told, and, there is a significant number of folks here on the forum who are near that river that there has to be some fun stories...I mean Blaney's Island drags everry Thursday, the Doll House, now turned condo, until that moron speared the Mastercraft and the news played into boating being so unsafe, the Chain was where it was all at...Now, Police taking breathalizers as you step off the pier, no wake zones every 5 feet, and that rape artistry they call an access fee...My God, it cost me nearly $80.00 to launch at the old Treadwells in 2000...

Anyhow, there has to be some great stories from the Fox River...

[Ted March]

on the Fabulous Fox.

[Ted March]

One Autumn Saturday, son Bruce and I slipped a nitrous (Land and Sea) unit on the Vulture. We took off for Ed's bright and early Sunday morning. We were going to put in a Ed's and make a run up the Fox with Ed and Sally and play in the lakes. We (both of us) always ran 28's for runs like that. While we were getting ready we made sure Ed saw us put the 26" on, making some excuse that I left home without the 28". Wyen we left Ed's, he knew he had the top end edge because he had the 28 and we had the 26. ASwe got to the end of the river heading into the chain the river flattened out and we hit it. I let Ed pull about 2 or three boat lengths an hit the mitous. We literally flew by him. Once we got into the lakes we cruised at 45/50 to our facvorite tavern for lunch. No one saying a word. We tied up the boats and went inside and Ed climbed all over me about what had just happened. Neither Bruce nor I knew nothing. Poor old Ed was having a cow trying to figure out what was going on..until Bruce's couldn't hold it anymore and burst out laughing and we had to confess. Sure had him going for a while.

[Skoontz]

Having met Ed a time or two, I can see the whole thing unfolding now...That's funny! Do you ever remember a guy named Jim Merkel who had a 155XS black silo on a Switzer Super Sport? We was with some loud mouth with a GL-20 and 235 in the locks...There I sat, them picking the boat apart, why did I have an 85 jacked so high out of the water, yada yada...They flew by me only to slwo down by his shore station...So, I kept idling around a circle waiting for him to crank that dog up...As they began to remove the cover, I lifted my motor and removed the 26" off shore and installed the 28" chopper.... He heads to the middle of the river, punches it, an in line 6 against a V-4 was never a good match out of the hole, so we planed off even as he has this look about him....As I hear his engine whine tighter, I pushed harder on the Nydahl throttle on my floor....Dead heat for a mile. He heads back to his shore, changes plugs. I wait. He heads out...He punches it, I punch it. Dead heat. Then I told the guy wirding with me to jump in my buddies 175 V-6 Switzer....All he saw was my 85 HP decals and then my rooster tail. They swore I ported my motor cause everyone knew dad was the guy who made many stock OMC Fox river engines fly...Then I told em...I would dismantle my engine, in front of them, and they could hire any tech they chose to start miking parts.... If nothing was found, he would give me his title....Another merc jerk put in their place..All in good fun. The next day, Island Lake Police radar got me going under the bridge on the high side of 72, an unheard of speed for an OMC Switzercraft....Merkels Super Sport was the heaviest Bobby ever weighed and until that day, the fastest....When John Wayne Janaky saw it run under the bridge, he said it had the best angle of attack any Johnson/Switzer ever had that he had seen.

Along with an OMC A gear foot, I only wish i could find a Super Sport in restorable condition...I have been told they are bringing nearly as much as a Wing....

Ever hang out at the doll house? Eagle Point bar?