Waldman's B Looper Found!

[Original Looper 1]

I have some exciting news for Looper treasure hunters. I've just confirmed that the last production B Looper that Jerry Waldman raced has been discovered, FB-206. The proud new owner wishes to remain anonymous, but did send me some excellent photos to share with you - as it arrived in the packing box.

Notice the early Mercury CD ignition distributor? Surprisingly, as you can see, it is in mint original condition.

I have various pictures of this engine back in the late 60's and early 70's during competition and also resting in the pits on one of Waldman's Marchetti hydros. The best picture I have of this engine is Jerry Waldman beating Johnny Dortch in the late 60's, I think it was at the Nationals in Alex.

Enjoy the photos. There will be more on this motor soon over at
www.QuincyLooperRacing.US


Paul A Christner


Please note: these photos are for your enjoyment and are not to be copied or posted to any other web site without my written permission.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

....that this is the last B looper that Jerry raced, but is it the last one that he owned? They could be one and the same, but for historical reasons I bring this up. At the race where Jerry was killed at Hot Springs, he was the Captain of the North and it was at his sole discretion as to who would represent the North in the various classes. Jerry picked himself in all classes of hydro and was in fact awarded top hydro honors posthumously, but he felt his B was not competitive enough to win B Hydro. You know me Paul. I do not mean this engine was not a good one, nor that Jerry could not have won with it. I bring this up for a couple of reasons. First, I may have a pic of him testing with this motor before the races. Secondly...It shows the character of the man. If anyone could win with a motor that may need some more tweaking to win, but yet was willing to put someone else in his slot to give his team a better chance, then I would say this motor has a special place in history. It would be the motor that sat on the bank for Jerry to allow another entry into the team of the North. If it is determined that this is the motor, I will send you some additional info Paul.

[Original Looper 1]

Wayne,

Your inquiry brings up an interesting point and also includes an ideal time to comment on a mystery phenomena that occurred too frequently with Quincy's Looper engines.

As to the first part of your question: yes, this is the B Looper that Jerry scratched that day in Hot Springs in 1971. As to why - here goes. When Chris and I went back to Quincy in 1975 and re-instituted the Quincy racing outboard program, we did extensive dyno testing and research. The engine that we used as the "test mule" at the time was the weakest link in the Quincy racing program, which was the B Looper.

The 1st major problem we discovered with the B Loopers was the marginal at best Mercury 20H crankshafts. One has to remember that the best 20H's of the day maybe put out 18 hp. That crankshaft in a B Looper acted like a twist-o-flex watch band. It was way too light for the horsepower the B Loopers were creating, which was approximately 65 hp, and it had virtually no flywheel affect for engine stability due to it's unintended design use in our Looper. We pleaded with Mercury to build a new, heavier crankshaft but they were going in a different direction then (OPC) and weren't interested in our area of racing any longer. At the time, we shopped around for an alternative crankshaft or manufacturer of crankshafts. The best we could come up with required a $200,000 investment by Quincy Welding. That just wasn't viable due to the lack of profit in racing then, plus the economy was in a recession in our part of the midwest, negatively impacting our revenue from our non-racing customers.

The 2nd major problem was the Loopers evolved with low to no tension whatsoever L rings. We later discovered that there was a negative phenomena occurring with them. By their design, the low drag during the cycle of the piston movement prior to combustion definitely added an advantage to the horsepower potential of our engines. The problem occurred when the sharp cylinder port edges in conjunction with our much tighter piston clearance program converged and created what Chris and I defined as compression lag in the engines. It wasn't as noticeable on the dyno as it was on the water. What happens is when the outside radius of the top edge of the L ring becomes chamfered, the L ring would just as easily contract during the 1st part of combustion contrary to what it was designed to do, which was to expand and contain combustion. What we witnessed was extremely sluggish acceleration on the boat during water testing and peak horsepower lost on the dyno at the top end. Looking back, that's why there were so many inconsistencies at times in the performance of Loopers on the race course. Eventually we went to the chrome ring with tension as Konig used, which was down somewhat on power under ideal circumstances but far more practical and consistent in performance standards and longevity. We learn, don't we?

Yes, I (and I'm sure the gentleman that now owns this historic engine) would be very happy if you would post some of your photos of this classic engine.

Even though the B Looper had design limitations and crankshaft issues, this particular engine managed to accomplish quite a few victories under the supervision of the great race driver and set up artist, Gerry (Jerry) Waldman.

Thanks Wayne for your input. Hope this information helps you and those in the racing fraternity that finds it interesting.


Paul A Christner