Old and Slow

[Ron Loomis]

Here is a photo of the start of BSR at the "puddle" in Los Angeles. This would have been in the mid 1950's I am in boat 393-C, great for a photo, but a lousy start wouldn't you say?

Ron Loomis

[Jeff Lytle]

Ron: A DeSilva by the looks of it.

[Ron Hill]

Thisis either one of the Speedboat Rodeo Races or the Tommy Mitchell Regatta. Speedboat Rodeo was 26 weeks of TV racing. Tommy and his wife, Billie, were very active in the USA Boat Club (United Speedboat Club). Tommy passed away with cancer.

Why do I rememer stuff??? I don't know but 383-C is Ron Loomis. 120-C was Bobby Willard (Boby ran A,B,C and D runabout. He was from Oildale. He and his father came to all 26 weeks of TV racing. In those days us younger drivers had a "CLUB" called The Boat Racing Syndicate. Roy Willard, Bobby's dad was such a good guy to us younger guys made him a member. One time down at San Diego, he took a bunch of us kids to the amusement park....We rode the roller coaster about five time, Roy and me in the front seat. After that, anytime that he got the chance he'd tell people that he got to sit in the front seat of the rollercoaster with the President of the Boat Racing Syndicate (Of course, I was the President)....we never did much, play croquet when we weren't fooling around at the races...

108-C Mickey McCoy. His dad Carl, could weld a cyclinder heat in a Merc when they was completely blown out. The weld held too as a D Motor I had, that ran well...had a head welded by Carl McCoy. Bought that blowned 55-H from Walt Guadarian, a 75 year old man that lived in Blythe, and raced D hydro until he blew his motor and I bought it.

Carl was the first one I ever saw to make propellers by welding the blades on and hammering on them until they went fast.

A-186-C was Rich Job...the same name of a guy that raced kneeldowns off and on for the last 20 years. This is the YOUNG Rich Job's uncle. Uncle Rich or RE Job Construction fame...Wonderful family. His daughter married Howard Thompson, who won the Needles Marathon in this "A" DeSilva with a B on it. Howard's son, David Thompson owns a Go-Kart Shop in Temecula, California.

Lo Ball, 340-C was Ward Rogers, he had a son who raced A runabout for awhile.

B-534-C-C was Mac McClellan from Long Beach.

524-C was Gene Bettis.

This picture is from is from TV Guide...

[Ron Hill]

Dick Lane announced all 26 weeks of racing. He got so he really loved the sport. He'd come early to moring testing and you could hear him practiceing his commentary...He's same when a runabout would bounce "Whoa Neely"...He loved the 36 Runabouts, becasue they went slow and he could see the action develop. And on TV speed doesn't really show...

Every live broadcast started witha TROPHY Dash. 2-C was Howard Thompson who, by his numberber, told the story. Unbeatable. but this day Junior Hill, my brother got the jump on Howard, which was UNUSUAL....Junior was the worst starter in the state, but Russ won this trophy dash. He always ran C-6 as his was a LOYAL ALKY driver. Russ loved the Stocks, but really his heart never left the fitting of piston, polishing heades and gas tanks of the ALKY days...

Here is russ coming up to be interviewed, his boat waas called the Bellflower Flash!!!! At Long Beach State the College newspaper called him Russ Thrill!!!

We invented the three minute gun for TV racing....time was money. Winner got $150 per class and they paid down to 5th, also stuff advertised, live on TV, were given out as prizes..Free Sta-Lube oil every week.

[Ron Hill]

If you notices, there are cars around the puddle. They had grandstands, but we raced in the winter and it was usually cold. So, if you came early, you could get a parking space, front row on the PUDDLE...

Here Russ is being interview by Dick Lane. Dick called the Hills REAL SHOWMEN... The lady in the pucture was the Vanna White of the time.

We we the number one sports show in the nation. On the way home from the races, prople would honk and wave at us.

[Ron Loomis]

Ron: A DeSilva by the looks of it.

Hi Jeff,

Yep, a DeSilva. My dad had the Merc dealership in the front half of the building, and Ralph and Bill had their business building boats in the back in Culver City, CA building.

During the 50's, all of my runabouts were DeSilvas. I was going to college at USC from 1956 till I graduated in 1960, and I worked part time in the shop doing engine repairs for the customers of Loomis Sales and Service (my dad's business). I worked there with Johnny Craven (292-C) which many of you may remember. He was a close friend and we kept in touch over the years until he passed away.

I had a Swift A-B hydro in the 50's too, but having grown up with runabouts, I was partial to driving them.

Ron

[Ron Hill]

Here's a picture of Howard Winnig BU in the Needles Marathon.

He won two new motors....a Mercury and a Champion.

[Ron Hill]

Seem to have LOST the original photo, but this is Dick Lane giving me a set of Proto Tools, live on TV for winning the Most Popular Drive contest!!!

I've still got the ears!!!! and some of the tools..

Who neely, Dcik Lane signed the picture!!!!

[Ron Hill]

Johnnu Craven, at Needles, in DU.. A champion boat.. He usually ran DeSilva...

[Ron Hill]

Everett Baggs, from Dana Point in a HOMEMADE boat, rope start KG-9.

[Ron Hill]

This is Jack Corner, 52-C Spec VI. Jack won the Colorado River Marathon at least five times..115 miles, on your knees in a AU witha KG-4...

That's me in 19-C and Jack Woodruff in 9-C (9-C and 19-C are both Moremouse Meteor Boats)...

Looks like someone is ahead of us...Maybe, 5-C Mr. Old and Slow himself, Ron Loomis...

[Ron Hill]

Hart Park, we raced arund an island.. AU, 19-C gets the jump on 2-C Bobby Parrish...I was 12 years old, pink and white "Racing Shirt", bare feet (I raced bare foot until, 1964, when they passed the rule you had to have shoes...), KG-4 serial number 448916... Morehouse boat, 22 inch bottom...

In the front seat my neighbor friends rode many a mile!!!!

[jon66w]

Johnny Craven's 290 C looks like a Champion Hull from Long Beach as I think I can Remember it featured in a Champion ad which I used to buy a Kit AB from them in 1962(??). The logo on the aft side also looks like it spells out "Champion"

[Ron Hill]

Craven had run DeSilvas, but the Champion featured a single chine and a wider bottom, and as result the were faster...

If you look at my 19-C Morehouse, she his Champion lines... Lee had started building CHampion Kits, Ron Loomis has a picture of Danny Morehouse in a Champion Boat that lee painted flames on, Lee had been a artict for Walt Disney...

Anyway, the round front seat (Cockpit opening) was Champions idea...See the measurement had a length and a width...It made the length and the width...Of course, the rule's in tent was a SQUARE or RECTANGLE Cockpit .....Rules are made to be bent!!! ASK NASCAR!!!

Where are more of your pictures????

Here's a picture of the 2004 D Runabout National Champion....(Fred hauenstein 1989)...caught him in the act of spying on my PROPS (Again)!!!

[Mark75H]

Ron, is Lee Danny's father?

Who is Ron Loos?

[Ron Hill]

I'd love to know if Lee or his wife Ibby are still alive. I saw them at my parent's 50th Anniverary, probably 20 years ago. The were "HIGH DOLLAR" people, but you'd never know it. They only had one son, but they treated me like one. I should could the number of Morehouse boats I had, and how many we paid for...

Lee raced DU for awhile, but quit and became our announcer....his favorite line was, when talking about boat bottoms, was it was slicker than S on a BH... (Snot on a broom handle)...He was one of the funniest guys I ever knew. Get him and my dad togeter, on UNCLE John's Yatch...and they were a pair!!!

Uncle John used the Morehouse money to be one of the biggest builder in California.. John D. Lusk...



Danny quit racing an went into the music publishing business.

I'm getting to be like Ted Zahorski (at Yamaha Outboards) and Edgar Rose...ask me the time, and I tell you how the clock works!!!

[Ron Hill]

I've told Dee Berghauer, I had this clipping, but I could never seem to find it....

The Wisconsin people could not believe, that California farmers would have peaches in boxes, by the highway, where you took the peaches and left the mone...(The honor systom)...Not sure they do that today...

I sort of had the job of escorting the Queen all week....Next race I was at, Jimmy Dawe asked how I did with the "QUEEN", I said, "One more day was all I needed, but had to get back to work." I could never lie to Jimmy...For years, if I had a young lady with me at the races, Jimmy would come by and say "One more day!!!" I should have just lied to him!!!



I thought this was Denny and Dewy...Carl Meyers is in the background in his Morehouse, BU....

[bill boyes]

Ron, some fruit stands still have the honor system in Northern Calif. Saw today Walnets $3.00 per pound & Persimmons $1.00 a bag honor system. Kiwi fruit in the summer is the same way.

[Ron Hill]

Hearst Regatta Program 1944.

[Ron Hill]

PODH.... Pacific One Design Hydro...

Handicap races....

[Ron Hill]

Jerry Simison in Quincy Merc cross flow... DeSilva...RED in color...

[Ron Hill]

I think they have changed the rules some, but since this was 1963...who know???

Byron Grant of Hoopa, CA, winner in 1962

White Water Racing...Oregon Style..

[Ron Hill]

Same jet as the Jet Ski used... cool boats....but what happened???

[Tomtall]

Ron - I know over the years there have been some strange stuff built.This picture is of a boat I restored for my son when he was 9 years old.It was manufactured by "Tom Turner" out of Battle Creek,Mi..He was an industrial arts teacher and raced boats in the 60's.I always thought this type of hull would be a good starter class boat.Made of fiberglass,fairly heavy and good stability.With stock 15 this boat ran 28-32 mph depending on the water.Tom also had a jet boat version of this hull in prototype form.The engine was mounted in the drivers area with a motor box over it that you sat on to drive. He produced about 400 of the outboard version back ine the 70's.

[Mark75H]

Looks a lot like a Yamato boat from Japan :)

[Ron Hill]

This is John Drake's Fillinger with a Mishey deck... Old Alky's first boat...

My brother may have been asked to drive your dad's B Hydro...my dad didn'tlet me in a hydro until the fall of...1957

Phyllis Winger has the nose, she was the only woman in John Wayne's Island In the Sky movie...John Drake with the jacket on and an unknown crew member carrying the oher side...Ralph DeSilva with his arms folded... Bill DeSilva with hands in his poscket...not sure you can see them...

Can't see Ralph or Bill...The guy with the white pants is not Bill..White hat is Dale Drake, though..

[Ron Hill]

Is that you Old Alky playing in the water???

Now you can see ralph and Bill DeSilva....

This is at The Puddle, 1953...

[Ron Hill]

More Puddle, 1953...Bill DeSilva with his hands in his pockets, still...

Russ Hill, Jr. in C-6...The Bellflower Flash...Evinrude Six Stud 60-42 motor....

[Ron Hill]

Found this brand new DeSilva Boats decal..

[Ron Hill]

This is C Runabout at Kemper-Campbell Lake in Victorville...."Flat Turner" and a "ROLL UP"...Don Springer in "HOMBRA". What was cool about Victorville was that we never used bouys.....Danny Schwarzenbach, if he were still alive, would still be mad at me for running him through the MUD in 36....but I had that "TURTLE EXPRESS" "HAULING" that day....

One thing we could always say about Joe Schulte was, "We'd never know what the gy would do next..." Hell, one week he'd win by half a lap, next weekend, me might not get on plane....

[Ron Hill]

I've been looking for some pictures, (I'm getting organized)....I ran across this news clipping...Top Row...First guy???, next Mike Wetmore, Doug Wetmore, Jimbo........Looks like the QUEEN is MARY JO ALLeN...AKA, today as Mary Jo Dawe, Monty Gibson, ? Glen Chambers, Gene Chambers, Russ Hill, Jr.
Bottom row: Frank Zorkan, Dan Schwarzenbach, Ernie Dawe, Don Pratt, Ron Hill I think that is Mel Colby between Monty and Glen...

Mel Colby and John Landon got drunk the night before the race, put on their jackets and helmets and drove up and down the main street of Needles doing about 90 is Mel's wife's T-Bird with the top down.....Then as now, not a hell of a lot of people on the main street of Needles...

The guy with the wide stripe on his shirt is Mike Wetmore...He named his boat RINSEO BLUE (There was a soap called Rinse O Blue....This was the race he got made at me for calling his 36 motor a sewing machine motor...he wanted to kick my buck...and might have, had the 36 driver not grabbed him and held him down...I was just joking but Mike didn't like the joke...)...

[bill boyes]

Gezz, What memories, Mike Wetmore(squaw man) and I go back a long way. I have a lot of stories about our being buddies. Talk about oil and water don't mix that was us. But we really had respect for each other. Boy can I tell some stories here. Not a place for BRF. Makes me want to call Mike and reconnect after all these years. Last I spoke with him he owned Wetmore Roofing in Gardena Calif. Found the Lord and changed his ways.

[Ron Hill]

Mary Jo Allen, has been Mrs. Ernie Dawe for a few years, now..

Picture was 1962....ish...

Barbara Madison's dad was the High School Principal and also an APBA Referee!!!!

[Ron Hill]

This is off the cover of an OLD magazine...Can anyone read what is says???

[Mark75H]

Everything about water sports. Information on boat racing in the central section

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Sehr gut Sam.

[Mark75H]

Viel danke. My stepmother is from Silesia (eastern border area now mostly in Poland)

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Bitte. I learned to speak a little German when I raced over there. Mostly eating, drinking and boat racing German. Once when Hans Krage was planning to come over here to race, he sent me a letter detailing what he planned. It was ALL German. He spoke fluent English, so figured he didn't know how to write it. I don't know why he thought I could read German. I had been practicing speaking German whenever I saw him, but why he didn't get Dieter Konig or someone else to send it in English I'll never know. It was a long letter so it took awhile to decipher it. Since he wrote it in German, I figured I better respond in kind.

There is a lot of difference between reading and deciphering a letter in a language you barely understand and in writing one. When Hans got my reply, he drove straight over to Deiter's for him to read. Hans later told me that him and Deiter were laughing so hard that it brought tears to their eyes. It brings a smile to my face now thinking of my dear departed friends and that letter that brought them such laughter.

My first trip to Berlin I spoke no German, but nearly all waitresses spoke English. I went to an out of the way restaurant one day and no one spoke English. I noticed on the menu (all in German) the word BIER. I figured that out so I told the waitress "Bier". She said "Kleine oder grosse?" I just shrugged my shoulder's. She then held her hands parallel, one about six inches above the other and said "Kleine", then she spread her hands about a foot apart and said "Grosse". I told her "Grosse". I figure it didn't take Ron and Jimbo long to put that together as well.

[proprider]

This is C Runabout at Kemper-Campbell Lake in Victorville...."Flat Turner" and a "ROLL UP"...Don Springer in "HOMBRA". What was cool about Victorville was that we never used bouys.....Danny Schwarzenbach, if he were still alive, would still be mad at me for running him through the MUD in 36....but I had that "TURTLE EXPRESS" "HAULING" that day....

One thing we could always say about Joe Schulte was, "We'd never know what the gy would do next..." Hell, one week he'd win by half a lap, next weekend, me might not get on plane....

Ron I have been looking for some nice color pictures of the 44 C. I liked this one but it is not in color. Joe was my uncle and got me interested in racing. I did race one of his 1.5 liter hyroes just befor he died. I even beat him when he was racing his new boat. We had some good times together. We still have the old 44 C in the storage shed and Joe's old propellers, including the old brass 3 blade. My brother is seriouly considering getting the old 44 C rinker race ready.

[bajarick]

Hello Ron.

I love looking at all those old boats you have raced. I was looking at this thread and the #19-C hull (the Moremouse Meteor) hull looks just like a little flat bottom boat that my brother owned. We dont have the hull anymore - got lost in southern Maryland years ago. It would be very interesting to know a little more about those boats. Do you have anymore pics of that hull?

Rick

[Ron Hill]

Keep reading and looking. Most of the kneelers I drove were Morehouse. Lee was a dream, way ahead of his time...I'll dig out some more pictures one of these days...

Here are two pictures of the first "Ron Hill" designed runabouts... My dad and I built them. When I said I designed them, I copied must of Lee Morehouses ideas. Lee believed the "HOOKED" chine would lift the tail. At first we thought him nuts. But later decide he had a hell of an idea. My first CU, broke the KILO record from under 60, to 64.661.

Here you can see how the chine was "hooked" Later, we changed the side so they appeared to be straing chines, but in fact, had the Morehouse "Meitor" hook.

This picture of me was in the Mobile gas news after I had won CU and DU in the 1966 Marathon Nationals....

After the Marathon Nationals, Chris White, Vic Brinkman, Max McPeek and Tom Schwartz came and stayed at my parent's house. My parent were on a month vacation. Everyday these guys were in California, we had a KEG of Coors delivered. Every year, my dad got a calendar froma local liquor store...He'd often say, amazing I get that calendar every year, and I ain't never been in that liquor store...

[bajarick]

Ron,
Great pics! I too would have thought someone to be crazy for adding so much hook!

On closer look at the Morehouse hulls - they dont look like what we had as much as I thought.

Thanks for posting the pics though!

Rick

[Ron Hill]

Not sure the year, but this is Steve Wild's twin brother, driving 1-0 in BSH... Mark 20-H powered...Wild hull...