Ron Hill
02-24-2005, 10:15 PM
Some how I missed the August/September issue of Powerboat magazine...But I discovered this issue in some books Rudy Raymos gave me....I really never knew Lou Brummett, I only raced againish him....in 1967 and 1968...(Both times it was the Parker 9 Hour and he won both....we have 120 independent teams in those days...and maybe four factory rigs)...
I raced the Elsinore 500 in 1970. The race had been split into four 125 mile heats...Outboard 125, Saturday and 125 Inboard, Saturday. With the same repeated Sunday.
I had a 20 Ron Jones, that we had done some "MOLINARI TYPE" changes to, and the boat "JUST ROCKED", it would run 108, full load and handled like a pleasure boat...I lead, the first 50 miles of the outboard section, until the flywheel came off my counter rotating motor... (They had a hamonics at 6250 RPM and if you kept the engine there, the flywheels would come off, even if they were welded on)...
I was leaving for Paris, Monday, and with a DNF on Saturday, I didn't even go to Elsinore on Sunday. Bob Nordskog and his wife Ellie told me, on Monday night at LAX, that Lou had been killed at Elsinore on Sunday. I was in total SCHOCK...he was THE STAR of Marathon Racing.....
Quoting Powerboat, Lou was called "Quiet Lou" and "Those that raced with him knew him as Lou"... Lupe Saldana of the time was quoted as saying "All Lou does is makes friends, builds great race boats, and wins races."
Lou built the famous Mandella Flat Bottoms...He built boats for John Mecom, "The Saint" (...John owned the New Orlean's Saints, at the time..) Lou had also a built boat for Red Adair, the Texa Oil Well Firefighter who they made a movie about "Hell Flyer" with John Wayne....
Lou held 7 UIM records and had won practically every marathon in the USA. He death, somewhat marked and end of a era...The only thing constant in motor sports is change... Nordskog was heading to outboards, Wallace was doing the same...Bill Copper had passed away from cancer... Times were changing.
This is Lou after winning the Houston 250, 1968.
I raced the Elsinore 500 in 1970. The race had been split into four 125 mile heats...Outboard 125, Saturday and 125 Inboard, Saturday. With the same repeated Sunday.
I had a 20 Ron Jones, that we had done some "MOLINARI TYPE" changes to, and the boat "JUST ROCKED", it would run 108, full load and handled like a pleasure boat...I lead, the first 50 miles of the outboard section, until the flywheel came off my counter rotating motor... (They had a hamonics at 6250 RPM and if you kept the engine there, the flywheels would come off, even if they were welded on)...
I was leaving for Paris, Monday, and with a DNF on Saturday, I didn't even go to Elsinore on Sunday. Bob Nordskog and his wife Ellie told me, on Monday night at LAX, that Lou had been killed at Elsinore on Sunday. I was in total SCHOCK...he was THE STAR of Marathon Racing.....
Quoting Powerboat, Lou was called "Quiet Lou" and "Those that raced with him knew him as Lou"... Lupe Saldana of the time was quoted as saying "All Lou does is makes friends, builds great race boats, and wins races."
Lou built the famous Mandella Flat Bottoms...He built boats for John Mecom, "The Saint" (...John owned the New Orlean's Saints, at the time..) Lou had also a built boat for Red Adair, the Texa Oil Well Firefighter who they made a movie about "Hell Flyer" with John Wayne....
Lou held 7 UIM records and had won practically every marathon in the USA. He death, somewhat marked and end of a era...The only thing constant in motor sports is change... Nordskog was heading to outboards, Wallace was doing the same...Bill Copper had passed away from cancer... Times were changing.
This is Lou after winning the Houston 250, 1968.