1969 Stock Outboard Nationals

[A/B Speedliner]

I was going through the storage room the other day and found the entry list for the 1969 Stock Outboard National at Hinton, West Virgina. If you were there you will remember the hurricane that came through. I drove down from New York in my wife's 1966 Chevele 396SS towing a trailer, the trunk loaded with engines and fuel and a boat on the roof, one of the first Aeroliner A/B runabouts built. The dam had to be closed so the level of the water rose all the way up to nearly the bottom of the bridge, my guess is 50 feet high. Everyone that was in the pits had to move up into the Blue Stone State Park camp ground. That was not to bad since that is where they had the Ox roast dinner. The entry list still has the red clay stains from all of the mud in the pits.

Can you believe 54 entries in BU, 47 in DSH, 30 in CU, 47 in ASH, 58 in BSH, 57 in AU, 54 CSH, 12 36 class, 18 JSH and 16 in JU?

[jon66w]

I am very interested in the results at 1969 Hinton Nationals, especially DU. Been trying for years as I think I have the winning boat. Do you know results and can you photo the entry list and post it ?? Thanks, Jon K Walters

[fbref5269]

does anyone have the program from the race? i think pop augustine and either tom, gary or dave were on the cover.

frank

[A/B Speedliner]

I do not have the results but there were 27 listed entries. I drove Chris Neilsen's boat 200-N in heat 3. I will scan the DU page and post it later today.

[Mark75H]

Same entry list, different file type

(Excellent sizing and compression .... it was even significantly smaller than the .jpg version I converted it to)

[jon66w]

I had Gary Stippich's 5-W , a 1969 Stippich Quack "floater" which had the widest nose and a gull wing V in front built by Carl for Gary's return from the armed services. It was a big course boat built especially for Hinton 69 nationals. The story goes that after Gary, "Bones", won at Hinton, it was sold to Bill Luetner. He had trouble turning it on our tight WI courses so he sold it to me in 1972. I campaigned it with some success around WI and at the Nationals thru 1978 as 66 W, "All Shook Up III", but was a handful on our tight river courses. Bill Luetner bought it back and converted it to a "Pointy Nose" so it bank turned better and had some success as well as driven by his Grandson, Tim Weber. I'm trying to verify that Gary actually won in 1969 at Hinton but nobody seems to know. There are enough guys around that show on the above DU entry list but I see that the guy with all the stories, yes you Ron, wasn't there! How about any of the rest of you??? What are the results ???

[Ron Hill]

In '69 I was up to my eyeballs in racing. Evinrude had me very busy, I raced in Paris, Berlin, Havasu, Parker, Miami...plus testing and stuff. I also ran a full schedule of Alky (Now PRO), plus was commodore or race chairman of SCOA and I basically promoted the Winternationals, with the help of JIMMY DAWE....

So, after racing the Nationals in Seattle in '68 and the Marathon Nationals in '68 (Michigan)...looking at a map to FIND Hinton, West Virginia seems too remote...I had missed the Divisional, as I lived in Willamette, Illinois most of the summer with Ron and Gerry Hedlund...and "WORKED" at OMC in Waukegan...

Also, Ernie Dawe who always kept me on my toes had gotten hurt at the Divisionals, plus he was working on a Masters (A Fellowship) somewhere and he wasn't going...So, .....This is the only Nationals Ernie has missed since 1959...

BUT, seems Gary Stippich didn't win....Think I would have remembered that...

But, I'll do some homework!

[Ron Hill]

Well, I looked in the Beloit, Wisconsin Program for the 1970 Nationals. And as soon as I saw Don Pontius, I remembered he was the defending Champion....And this is why I remember. I showed up in Beloit, in time to register, then visited my in-laws in Janesville. I didn't get to the race site until Friday to qualify, as I had LED a movement to end Divisional qualifiers being seated in the nationals, as I wanted to have more spots open for us BIG TIME RACERS....

Anyway, I won my qualifier, (1970) Billy Allen beat me one heat, but jumped the gun. When the finals came, I remembered Gary Stippich wasn't even at Beloit, I think, but for sure wasn't in D Runabout. I do remember being worried about Ponitus, as he had beaten me in '61 and '63. I started where I wanted, 8th on the outside and last, by lap one I passed Ponitus, and knew then I could win... Seems second was Stan Armstrong, Norm Schaub was third....

ADD: The coolest thing on the 1969 entry list is Ted Zahorski. Ted bought his first Mark 30-H from me, then went in the Air Force. When Ted came out of the air Force he started working on Motorcycles. Ted's motors would beat Yamaha, so they hired him..

When Yamaha found out Ted knew about boats, they hired him in their new outboard section. Ted's outboards won the Parker Enduro with Brian Daley driving and Rick Hoffman co-driving. Ted still works for Yamaha. He lives in Georgia, now...I miss him as a friend as we had lunch together now and then, when Yamaha was in California...Ted is the greatest guy, just don't ask him what time is it, because he'll tell you how the clock works...

[Dave_E71]

!970 in Beloit was my first nationals. I ran J hydro and J runabout and there were 3 generations of Augustines racing there, Pop (John), Gary and myself.


does anyone have the program from the race? i think pop augustine and either tom, gary or dave were on the cover.

frank

Pop, Big Dave and Tom were on the cover and yes, we have a copy or two :D

Dave

[jon66w]

Well it was a good story but I appreciate your research, Don was always there in both C and D runabout!!!

[jon66w]

If Normy was 3rd, maybe he could fill in some of the details. I know he's a subscriber to your web.