DeSilva Boats: John, Billy and Ralph

[Ron Hill]

Growing up in Southern California, the name DeSilva was a common as Safeway. I never knew John DeSilva, the father, but I always knew that Bill (Billy) and Ralph were called "THE KIDS". I never really spent anytime thinking about their boats, seemed to me they built them SLOWLY and that the designs didn't change much.....

As the years past I realized how much both Bill and Ralph loved boat racing. They worked hard to produce a QUALITY boat. Ralph was ALWAYS working on new designs....a small change her, a slight change there. Things, that as I kid, I never noticed. Ralph made new designs that everyone noticed, even me...

When guys like the great Bud Wiget drove DeSilva boats, it really never entered my mind that he drove DeSilvas because they were the best boat anywhere...

Bill and Ralph were always very good to me and complimentary about my driving. In my early years I ran Morehouse boats and frequently beat their DeSilvas. I never felt they were angry with me when I won, they often seemed to take real pride in seeing me win. I assumed it was because they knew me long before I was born. I was like family.

Ralph reminded me, last year, that he gave my dad radiator water on the way to Needles, May 3rd, 1947....I was three.

Ralph gave Bill Boyes quite a few of his personal pictures to post, I've promised to post them and return them to Ralph, as Ralph says he has more...and I want to post them all.

First picture:

J.A. "LON" Stevens one of the great engine men of our time, and Ralph on the right, at DePue........I thought 2008....

Second picture:

Bud Wiget, December 17, 1938, Long Beach Marine Stadium, John DeSilva hull.

[jrome]

Thank You Ralph Ron And Bill. This Great History. I Am Looking Forward To More Pics.

[Ron Hill]

The picture says Bert Ball, Glendale, California, Herb Rimlinger, Jr. and Herb Rimlinger (Culver City, CA). This C-84 is an early DeSilva, probably built by John DeSilva. My dad's boat, Forever Amber, looked just like this one...

I wasn't born until 1944, but the Rimlingers were great friends of my dad and so was Bert Ball. Herb Rimlinger had a place at Elsinore Lake, like our family.....He always called my dad a reprobate...and of course I had no idea what that was...I heard "BAIT" and thought it must have something to do with fishing....A reprobate, as I relearned later meant a morally unprincipaled person...I assumed now, that Herb didn't like my old man kicking his *** on the race course...The Rimlingers were tough on the course and Herb Sr. was tough on the kids...If he told them to tak a LAP, he didn't mean two laps...

My closest fraternity brother always called me a stumblebumb.....but I asssumed he was right...My old my, well his runabout was called Forever Amber...

Bert Ball is pictured here with a Nervous C (C Service) but I only remember him with a purple Mishey F Hydro...I could not have been more than four or five, but I recall Bert having a beautiful wife and a great looking boat. About 1947 my dad had an accident at Lake Elsinore because of a stuck throttle, and ended up with about 30 stiches in his hand...The doctor, or neighbor...Hoaksiema, gave my dad a shot of penicillin to prevent infection...My dad was alleregic to penicillin and he swelled up like a balloon and had knots on his head like someone had hit him with a ball peen hammer...For four days we thought my dad was going to die...He survived to live another 50 years...

Bert Ball, on the other hand, was my dad's best friend..He had a cold and they gave him penicillin.. HE was also allergic to penicillin, but his throat swelled shut and he died...I was only about 3 or 4, but I could tell the way my dad felt that he'd lost something special....My dad could never mention Bert Ball without choking up...

Here is a picture of Bert, 1940...

[Ron Hill]

1929, the CRASH, Ralph says three cheers for Bill, Ralph and John DeSilva...

No clue who anyone is here in this picture...

Maybe that is John DeSilva with the funnel in his mouth...

[geodavid]

Ron,
This was way too long coming. I too was born too late to have known their father. I do remember seeing some of his tools for sale in perhaps the LASA newsletter? They would be quite collectable today. "The Boys" had to be a couple of the young kids in the photo? Maybe Tim can get Ralph to take a look at it? I can remember going to their shop on La Cienega. Also with them to their foundary in South Los Angeles. They had castings of handles and such made there. Went to Sebastapol, where they were in a rustic lumber mill. They purchased one of the first Model 80 Yamatos, which they let me drive. I crashed their brand new 250 hydro in Winona coming up to the start. They never uttered a single negative word to me or anyone. Sold the boat for $50 as scrap. Ralph and Bill were an absolute pleasure to travel with. Recall a trip with them where all we drank was Chivas Regal. Ralph still talks about it! Props to two of the classiest people in racing. They have done so much to help boatracing. Thanks Ron. Great pictures!

[bill boyes]

You are correct the young kids are Billy and Ralph. I met Dad a couple of times. He built a drag Hydro at the Culver City shop and when he took it home I followed Dad and Billy home. Billy was living with Mom And Dad at the time. Pictures of the Drag Hydro has been posted on BRF. There are lots more pictures and Ron is posting them slowly.

[Ron Hill]

Ernie Milot is a name I heard all my life. Ernie had been killed in F Racing Runabout. John J. Kavacavich had been the driver that had killed Ernie. No one every blamed John but he quit racing after the accident.

Ernie's wife was named Maizzie. Maizzie later married Bud Wiget, she also raced A Hydro...

I had a friend at Northern Arizona University name Kavacavich, his family started Cirlcel K markets. I often wondered if John J. and my friend Kavk, as we called him were related...

The Hearst Regatta was larger the the Nationals, 35,000 often watched this regatta..

[Ron Hill]

Ward always raced in CLASS...Red and white striped decks on his NEAL Hydros...

I never knew Ward drove runabouts, here is Mazzie Milot and Ward, Long Beach, 1938..

[geodavid]

Ron,
These are all names that I too have heard. Thanks for posting pictures for images of these people. My Dad, George was at Lake Merritt when Ernie was killed. He said there was an anxious feeling, then the water turned red. I will never forget his account. Also heard the name Kavakovic. He was quite an accomplished racer. What I heard about him was that the family owned a large farming business in or near Bakersfield. Apparently, after the accident, he did not follow the races. Later, I heard the story of John being killed on some kind of farm equipment. The story said that a truck struck him as he was crossing the highway on a tractor?
Ron, another couple of names I heard a lot about are Bill Downey and Espy Hall. Any photos?

[Ron Hill]

Bill Downey and Espy Hall Geodavid...My brother will be here today, I'll ask about those two name. Espy Hall rings a bell, but only the name does...

Here is another of ralph DeSilva's pictures Gina Mishey....She's a great looking woman by TODAY'S standards...Well, in 1947, I was 3....

Ralph calls R.Allen Smith, the greatest Propeller Man of the 20th Century, anyway, ralph calls him Alan Smith...Which is cool...Grandpa Seebold.....

One of the unknows, black shirt, my brother says is Bud Wiget.

George Mishey looks like Paul Newman...

[Ron Hill]

In California we called these Neal hydros, "Banjo Neals"....But talking to Dudley Malone, two winters ago, and looking at his two Neal hydros, he said he'd never heard them called "Banjo Neals"...May have been a west coast term...

I really don't know much about Bill Tenny..

[Ron Hill]

US 10??? R-22. My Girl, Rocky Stone driving a Phantom hull by Charles Shirley, I think...

My dad never beat Rocky. They later became best of friends. Rocky was a real GIANT among Outboard racers...Everytime he shook my hand, I felt very humbled to know this man....

Manny Carnakis, was mayor of Bakersfield...Boat name, WOISME....

[Master Oil Racing Team]

What great pictures Ron. The one on post 10 brings memories to me. Three in the picture have been to my Dad's house. Grandpa Seebold on several occasions, Papa Smith a couple of times and Orville Brisban who introduced Debbie and I to a great California wine---Louis M. Martini.

[Ron Hill]

This picture says Les Deno's daughter and Orville Brisbin 1948 Pacific Coast Champion B Hydro...

What is cool to me about this picture is that my brother won this same race in A Hydro...Hawthorne, Nevada...

I think my brother still has his trophy, this small trophy was given to my dad as the mechanic's award...

[Ron Hill]

Just says Bill and Ralph and others????

[Allen J. Lang]

Keep posting the old timers pictures.They are GREAT.
Ye Olde Desert Geezer :cool:

[oldalkydriver]

Ron, second from left looks like Jack Dempsey. Him and Warren Painter hung out together lots until 1955. Can't say for sure as that was too many years ago, and you know how your memory plays tricks on you.

Ward Angely was a cool dude, at least to me. I think he was from Daily City. Dad always stopped by to see him and Bud Wiget.

I remember Burt Ball. The man had a build that guys would die for. Arms of steel as John T. always referred to him as.

Only time I heard the term Banjo Neals was at the Long Beach Alky Nationals in the mid 50's. That is when all the guys from the East Coast got a look at the cadillac De Silvas as they passed them in the straighaways. If memory serves me correctly, I don't think a Neal beat any De Silva 'C' Racing Hydro that Nationals. The East Coast Boys sure took notice of them.

[Ron Hill]

That F runabout picture, I'm sure, is at Long Beach...Russ wasn't sure...

The woman/girl in the picture behind the guys, looks like my sister... and the guy in the water is John Carnakis, I think...

Not THE Jack Dempsey, the fighter??? Think the one guy (Big guy) is Warren Painter...

[bill boyes]

No that is not John Carnakis. 1950 John would be about 9 years old.

[geodavid]

Ralph and Bill once had Dale Kaus give me a pep talk. They told me that Dale was the only one to win a Nationals in one of their hydros? Is it true or were they lying for effect? I think he won B Hydro in the 1960's? Is it true??

[Ron Hill]

The APBA Nationals for ALKY, was 1956 at Long Beach marine Stadium...I was racing AU in those days, but I watched the ALKY NATIONALS as only a boat racing loving kid could...

Ann Strang, Charlie Strang's mother, had explained to my dad that Jerry Waldman was going to win A and B hydro with a Mercury...My dad explained to her that HIS A would win A Hydro with Orlando Toraganti behind the wheel and the Keith Sorensen in a Hubbell SR on a Terrill Hydro would win B Hydro and that Doc Ingels, with an engine that he fit the psitons for, on a DeSivla hydro, would win C Hydro...

Well Orlando won and and Keith won B... Tommy lead the first heat won, seems their were several restarts and won ....In between heats, Tommy discovered a broke point spring and he ran around like a "CARZY MAN" fixing the spring...(My brother will probably tell the correct story)...Anyway Tommy was a straight away a head, on the last lap, looking like a sure winner, when he barrel rolled this DeSilva hydro...

Tommy quit after this race...He said he was tired..He had raced most of his life. He was a dentist...In the Navy, during the war, he drove PT Boats, thanks to a man named R.A. Rust who got Tommy his Commission...

My brother saw Tommy about 15 years ago, Tommy had had Ralph DeSilva build him a new hydro just like the one in the picture...

Tommy's dad, Doc, owned an airplane and he's fly over my dad's shop and BUZZ us, if my old man wasn't busy, he'd way at Doc and we'd meet him at the airport...We'd go fly out over the ocean diving through clouds. My dad and Doc were great friends...

Doc had this fuel tank on his C that had castor oil stains all over it, and many prople carved their names on the tank....I thought this was pretty cool, as our tanks were always polished...

This DeSilva hydro was always very fast.

[Ron Hill]

I guess I missed these two pictures earlier...

Maizzy Millot 1935, later Maizzy Wiget

Ernie Millot, 1938

[Ron Hill]

Ralph says 1950 here and I doubt that...I thought Champion Hot Rods didn't come out until 1956.....

Anyway, I remember my dad driving Lowell Haberman's "FYLING SLINGSHOT" at Bixby Slough... My dad came in soaking wet, he said every time he hit a wake the water would come through the "SLOT" or if he turned...same thing...

Ralph had designed these FLYING SLING SHOTS with a lot of lift in them and they did run fast, but as the field would head to the first turn, if they didn't blow over, they got very high...from a distance the sqaure nose with the V looked like a sling shot...No one called these boats Pickle forks or salad forks, they called them "FLYING SLINGSHOTS"...Not sure how many they bilt, but as I recall they didn't meet much success....

In those days Wade Terrill could build you a boat for $100, and he'd do it in a week...DeSilva boats were probably $300 and took about 6 month for delivery...that is how booked up they were

[Ron Hill]

The Parish family was from Bakersfiled. The two boys were George and Bobby. The Old Man was Buck. Buck always wore blue farmer's shirts, as he was a farmer. The boys mother had died when the boys were young and Buck raised them with the help of a lady, that I can't reacll her nameright now...Buck said when the boys were little he'd wake up in the night and check to see if they were OK.

Bobby won the 1954 Natioanls in A Hydro and in 1955, Devil's Lake he ran my block in A Runabout and got two seconds for a third. Buck had three good Louie bauman Kamics for AU, after the nationals he let me test all three and let me take my pick of which one I wanted...

The family were farmers, but they contracted with Standard Oil to allow them to pump oil from under thair ground. About 1955057 Buck got into a dispute with the government about NOT growing cottom...The government wanted to pay him for not growing cotton...

He moved his family to Australia and they GREW COTTON be damned...

Boby married Rich Job's, my accountant, aunt. I saw Bobby's son, about 25 years ago at a boat race at Puddingstone. He looked just like Bobby when he was younger. He wore the same farmer hat that Bobby always wore...

They were a great racing family....

ADD: In those days we all ran the Needles marathon, but Jack Corner always won AU....This is Bobby in a DeSilva AU at the Devil's Elbow on the Colorado River....Ernie Dawe ended up with this boat, just an FYI!!!

[Ron Hill]

Johnny T. raced A Hydro for awhile. Then, he started a LOVE AFFAIR with F Runabout that lasted his whole life.

The picture of John, 1961, is with Hubbell "HORNS" on his Evinrude 4-60...Later, 1975, as ralph calls it a Yamarudy (Evinrude case and crank, Yamaha cyclinders).

George May and Jay Root drove for John...This is Ted May riding with George...Seemed to me that Ted always looked like he was ready to jump out, if need be, when he rode with George. I don't recall them ever having accident together. In fact, I only recall George having one accident...

After George retired from driving he was referee at Parker, havasu and for the V-8 Formula One Tour

[Ron Hill]

Ray Harris could do magic tricks...He's pull a quarter out you your rear. He was a SHOW MAN and always wore a big comb/brush on his helmet. He raced F Runabout and F hydro.

Jack Corner had Ralph DeSilva build him a new A Runabout a few years back. Jack took a couple of rides in it and decide, at 77, it wasn't as fun as it used to be and gave to boat to Ed Hearn, who I think won a Nationals in it...

[Tim Chance]

Ralph and Bill once had Dale Kaus give me a pep talk. They told me that Dale was the only one to win a Nationals in one of their hydros? Is it true or were they lying for effect? I think he won B Hydro in the 1960's? Is it true??

I believe Dale won an NOA World Championship at McAllster, Okalahoma driving for Bill Tenney with an Anzani on a Swift Big Bee about 1958. I know that Dickie Pond won an NOA World Championship driving a Bill Tenney Anzani on a DeSilva Hydro.

I have attached a photo of Dale with the Swift/Anzani. I don't have a photo of Dickie with the Desilva but I can paraphrase what he answered to the TV reporter when asked if he needed to practice a lot in order to drive the boat like he did (NOA Championships, Mississippi River, Saint Paul, Minnesota, 1961); something like this: "I don't know, this is the first time I have ever been in this boat."

[Ron Hill]

Here is Dieter Konig and his wife, Mt. Carmel, Illinois 1956...Big Bee Swift Hydro..

Lee Sutter driving Rocky Stone's C Service at DePue, 1960's....

[Ron Hill]

Ralph says this is A Hydro, but I'm sure it is B, as harry never had an A until he bought my Quincy Looper....and We didn't combine classes in those days, because we had enough boats not to... This is Hart Park, in Bakersfield.....I think. Harry is driving a BULL NOSED DeSilva Hydro... and as usual, he ain't backing off...

Janet and Julie Herrick as I recall...Sisters who drove B Hydro and drove them hard and well!!!!

[Ron Hill]

My dad knew Marshall built motors and when John Carnakis stick his Grant C, John had my dad fix it for him...My dad found that Marshall had used MarineTex to stuff the case. My dad was so impressed...My dad always liked stuffed cases, and he later used MarineTex himself...

[bill boyes]

The picture of Harry B in a Bull Nose looks like Lodi to me.
My dad took me to the Long Beach Nationals. I remember Bill Tenney walking in the water with dress slacks and wing tip shoes.
My dad talking to some guy that put his hand on top of my head and ruffled my hair. I asked dad who was that guy? He said Roy Rogers. I met Roy Rogers again many years later at a big horseback ride and I asked him was he at the Boat races in Long Beach in the '50's. He yes then we talked about the Yellow Jacket boat company that he had an interest in.

[Ron Hill]

Always loved this picture. It was in several magazines.. He had this DeSilva "HANGING"...Bud was wondering where the other guys were????

[Ron Hill]

Homer was on the backside of his racing days when I raced against him. I passed him twice, once at Valleyfield and once at DePue. On both passes I wondered how I did it, as NO ONE PASSED HOMER KINCAID from Carbon Cliff, Illinois....A real gentleman!!!!

In his prime, Homer once won every class at a race....

[Ron Hill]

Freddy and I had led Parker in the spring of 1968 with a DeSilva wing that My dad and Rod Zapf had finished building it, it was owned by my dad and Mac McConnell....

Ralph built this boat for me, but a man named Warren V. Thompson, not the stock outboard racer, both the boat and got two new Mercury BP's. The boat tersted well in smooth water and may have handled rough water....

On Thanksgiving Day, 1970, Warren was killed testing this hull at the Outboard World Championships at Lake Havasu City, Arizona. I idled out of the marina with him, the Mercs were strong....I idled back in, I'd decided it too rough to test.....

Ralph and Bill never built another OPC Twin....I'm sure Ralph had a hard time writing 20' Wing on this picture...

[Ron Hill]

Bill Boyes...That was Harry Bartolomei at Lodi Lake...

[Ron Hill]

First picture is Chuck with two 4-60 F motors. Second picture is a DeSilva F Hydro of Chucks at Lodi Lake about 1976. Third picture is C-128 Bill jack Rucker, Sr. at Lodi, 1976...I'm going to bet that is Casey Parson driving that F Hydro, 1976...

My dad really quit racing when my brother won the Hearst Regatta in 1949...But my dad fooled with building himself a "SHORT ROD" F out of a Navy "Pumper" (fire fighting motor)...While my brother was in the Army (1952-53) my old man fooled with his pumper..He made a brass torque tube, as the aluminum one seemed to break...I secretly wanted to see me dad drive again, but never mentioned it to him...

Elgin Gates came home, I think, from Devil's Lake where he broke some records, with my dad's motors...and he told my dad Chuck Parson wanted his "SHORT ROD" F.....The OLD MAN agree to sell it for $500, about a month's pay for a painter of which my dad was.....I hated to see the motor go, but Chuck often told me dad how good that motor went...Somehow, I think my dad's motor is the one of the right...when you are 9 years old you remember details that an adult often misses.....Anyway, the Parsons were a fine APBA RACING FAMILY!

[Ron Hill]

1. CEO of Yamato Outboards and Jim MCKean, 1978, Firebird Lake, AZ.
2. Don Fryklund E MOD National Champion 1987, Hinton???
3. Deep V Prototype, Rick Fales, E Mod, 1987..
4. X-51 Krier, 77-T Bruce Nicholson, V-1000, Jack Kugler
DePue 2001
5. Last Twin Cockpit DeSilva Runabout for Westerman Jones, 1985
6. 33-M Fred Miller D Runabout national Champion 1996 and 1999..Orange boat, Gooslee, Alex, 1979..

Thanks Ralph for the great pictures. Thanks, Bill Boyes for trusting me to post them and retune them to you....

[beshears]

Love those old race boats. Ron you may have already seen this, but anyway if you have or haven't it a great story of a DeSilva.

http://www.americanclassicspeedboats.com/show_8.html

[Mark75H]

I had not seen that before ... pretty cool stuff.

You can advance to the next segment within a video with the fast forward button.

[dlmurray]

Pete Voss is running one of the DeSilva Runabouts in the Eastern Outboard Racing Club - won the class for the 2009 season!

[beshears]

Yeah I really like the hull design of that boat. If you notice I'll bet Reggie Fountain used some of their design thoughts in his boats.

Sam if you recall I live just up the road from you in Hunt Valley. I have been following David and Alan with Aeroliner with their new Hydro with that TX444. What a great project.