Boston Nationals, 1963

[Ron Hill]

Seems to me, this Nationals had a major effect on me. I was 19 at the time. I was working at the Santa Ana, CA lumber mill making good money for a college kid. We had run well in '61 and '62 in Gunterville, Alabama, got three seconds in two years. But we really went that way becasue my grandfather lived in Arkanas and we could go to the Nationals and see my grandfather.

1963, we had just moved to Garden Grove, I had finished my first year of college and Boston seemed a million miles away. I sure it was Bill Boyes mom who really talked my dad into going to Boston. We had the Divisionals at SAn Diego, as I recall and I'd won DU. Bill Boyes had won CU. Janet Boyes was telling my dad how Bill Sr. was working in Boston (Aero Space and Kennedy was President)...and how we'd have a great time if we went.

To go, I'd have to quit my lumber mill job, but has my dad said, "Hills have quit jobs, left crops in the field when fish was biting...no reason to work when we could go boat racing."

So we hauled out for Boston...3,200 miles from Garden Grove!!!

Here's shot of Racer Allen (Bill Sr.) and me in the finals of DU!!!

[alan akerstrom]

I have an extra '63 Boston MA on the Charles Nationals race program. I would like to trade it for the Worcester, MA Nationals program a few years prior to this. Anyone?

[bill boyes]

Seems to me, this Nationals had a major effect on me. I was 19 at the time. I was working at the Santa Ana, CA lumber mil making good money for a college kid. We had run well in '61 and '62 in Gunterville, Alabama, got three seconds in two years. But we really went that way becasue my grandfather lived in Arkanas and we could go to the Nationals and see my grandfather.

1963, we had just moved to Garden Grove, I had finished my first year of college and Boston seemed a million miles away. I sure it was Bill Boyes mom who really talked my dad into going to Boston. We had the Divisionals at Redding, as I recall and I'd won DU and and CU and Jan Boyes was telling my dad how Bill Sr. was working in Boston (Aero Space and Kennedy was President)...and how we'd have a great time if we went.

To go, I'd have to quit my lumber mill job, but has my dad said, "Hills have quit jobs, left crops in the field when fish was biting...no reason to work when we could go boat racing."

So we hauled out for Boston...3,200 miles from Garden Grove!!!

Here's shot of Racer Allen (Bill Sr.) and me in the finals of DU!!!Ron, i recall that the Divisionals were in San Diego (Mission Bay) You won DU and I won CU.

[Ron Hill]

Well, Bill, maybe you did win the Divisionals in C runabout, as you recall...because, didn't I break a steering cable???... Or did you just beat me?? And Joe Schulte didn't race...because he went home to get his motor....

We get to Boston, California has three good running CU's in the finals...We Joe Schulte, Bill Boyes and me talk it over how we have to work together... to win this...

Joe ran a Rinker with a three blade prop, and usually could beat us, if he didn't do something "GOOFY", which he did do, quite frequently...

Somehow, Region 7 decides they want to play football against Region 12.. We start this game, on what is now the grounds, I think, of the Kennedy Library...

Them Region 7 boys is BIG...Berghauers...Miehle and Puesto ain't too big... but they've got us out numbered, Old Man Stippich is giving us beer....We're in the huddle, Ruben Dawe, Ernie's dad, he's over weight, and OLD (He seemed at the time)...sweating, saying them BIG BUCKS THINK THEY'RE TOUGH... They knock him on his butt...he comes back and says, "They are tough."

No score, it is starting to get dark, Region 7 has us in our own end zone...3rd down....4th coming...They say two more plays...Ted May has been playing quarterback, and he kept throwing the ball to me, problem was, I never could catch...I tell'em in the huddle let me punt it..Joe Schulte, looks me in the eye, old blue eyed Joe, and says are you sure you can kick, you can't catch...

I kick the thing the full length of our field, Region 7 fumbles and Schulte recovers for a touch down...We hold them on their one play, after the kick off, which I kicked out of the end zone...and we win...Joe say, "Why didn't we punt more often?"

No shoes, no goggles, oh the days of innocents....

[Ron Hill]

The Hedlunds don't play football, as I recall, because someone had decided that Edgar Rose should "Inspect and Measure" one of their pit crew... The Heldunds, had some very cool equipment. They had guys like Waldman, Herring, Phil Wagner hanging with them...and at Boston they had a girl....not sure who's girl friend she was, but she had a bikini, which in 1963, east of California...no one had actually ever seen a woman wearing one...

Edgar was known as a hard nosed inspector and most feared him, in general. I didn't fear him , I didn't cheat and he could inspect all week as far as I was concerned...besides, my dad told me Edgar was really a nice guy. My dad had met Edgar when he first went to work for Mercury, in about 1953. Edgar had been one of Charlie's students at MIT...

So, I think, I was appointed to approach Edagr, to "INSPECT" Gretchen, the Hedlund's girl friend...But it seems, the way I did it, was to tell Edgar the Hedlunds needed some "THINGS" checked and could he meet them in the inspection area? He agreed, and I hauled out for the football game, as I was sure they'd get pictures and this could be embarrassing...

That was forty years ago, and anyone still living from then, remembers the day Edagar Inspected and weighed, the Hedlund's GIRL FRIEND...

Ernie Dawe had run well at the 1962 Nationals in Guntersville, Alabama, so I assumed, with his new Collins runabout, that he could win BU...As he was very fast out west...I planned to win C and D...so, I figured we could get three firsts...

They ran, J, A, B, C, D and 36 runabouts...first then the hydros...that was the way we did it then...

You could only see one end of the course from the pits, and you had to go up on the bridge to see that turn... They had you idle out under the bridge, and pit near the course before your race...

So, I go to watch BU...I can't see anything and finally, I hear a boat coming but it doesn't sound fast...One boat comes, makes the corner and disappears, then the field comes all bunched up and Dawe is like 7th or 8th...

I figure that guy that came by first, must be last...as he couldn't have been a quarter of a lap a head of everryone else, and almost a half lap on Dawe...

Next lap, this guy with this Rinker, no fin, and a rumbling motor comes by the corner again...This time I hear the PA, this guy IS leading and the name is Stovepipe Tire (Stover Hire, but I don't know that then)..... I say to myself, what kind of a name is Stovepipe Tire???

I need to go get my CU...But am totally confused at how slow Dawe is and how fast this Rinker, than growls, is...

My dad asks how's it going I say some guy named Stovepipe is kicking butt...

I had run well enough in 1962 to get second in CU, and my engine had been cutting out at the end of the straightaways...So, I felt, I could win CU...

All the CU's were on their saw horses before the race...A.D.D. me, I go and look at every propeller....I say 11 Smith Wheels, just like mine and Joe Schulte has a D Hydro Michigan that he borrowed from Ted May......the guy must be running B gears...I figure.

But, it bothers me to think, I had spent a lot of money with Smith and everyone there had a wheel just like mine...I had always been very honest with Papa Smith...but I never realized he was also selling wheels, just like mine, to others...

It was a lot rougher on the Charles River than it looked and I had'nt run qualifying races and therefore didn't even know where the clock and bouys were...I got off to a bad start but got through the first turn pretty well an came out about fifth... Seems like maybe Ed McCourtie, Don Pontius, Larry Castigneto, Gary Stippich and me... Seemed Stippich was out front, which, I knew he'd be hard to catch...

Seems, Pontius and Me were 4th and 5th...and we were catching the field into the first turn and Pontius started transom skidding like only Donny could do...But Mc Courtie got airbourne and the air off him caused Pontius to go airbourne and as he was trying to catch it, he did an inside barrel roll (He shot left in front of me)...I skidded around him....put me in forurth and caught McCourtie at the last pin as he was recovereing from a near blow over..... I wasn't looking back, I was looking forward...

I caught Stippich going into the pit turn and came out second going after Castigneto... Going into the last turn, Joe Schulte comes out of nowhere...(I still hadn't looked back), and cuts across my bow and spins me out....

I get back on plane and finish third, Bill Boyes comes around the corner 4th, hits my wave and spins out..he finishes fifth..

After the heat, I'm so mad at Joe I could have killed him...I said, "Joe, you are the SOB that said we should work together...you just spin me out and I spun Bill out. So, much for team work..."

We, sort of cooled down, and agreed we were all racing to win.....But in my mind, I thought that Joe is running gears out there and we are running legal......Then I said, "No, He's got that mother jacked up to the moon like my marathon boats....he's fast, because he has been working...

Next heat, I don't recall..Seems I ended up with a 4th place, Bill was 5th....Joe was maybe 3rd...LArry Castigneto won!

I went in to DU, tired, bared foot and pissed...as I noticed every one in DU had a Smith wheel like mine.

Don Pontius didn't make the same mistake he did in CU, I had an enjoyable race with Racer Allen...I got 2nd...but vowed that next year...things were going to be different...Pontius took straight heats...and made the resat of the field look real slow.

[Ron Hill]

I get to inspection, not very good weather...disappointed in myself, as I felt I had just driven two of the worst races in my life. I decided I needed to become a better driver. That, at the rate I was going, I'd never win a Nationals...

We I heard Edgar was letting you drill a hole in your deck or bottom so he could measure your boat I went blastic... Drill a hole in your boat to measure it???

I go to Edgar and say, "Well, my boat ain't go no deck, so you would have to drill a hole in it," He says, "Ron I didn't erite the rule, but the rule says an inside measurment... Now, I am being nice and letting the driver decide if he wants to drill a hole in the deck or the bottom.... It is the driver's choice...

(The next year the rule was changed to an outside measurement...)..

Anyway, Edgar starts to measure my CU...It is four inches too thick in the middle, but at the transon, it rounds and appears to be maybe a 1/32 too small... Edgar, smoked then, he's smoke and he'd measure and he'd smoke and he's measure thdeck again... About 20 people are watching...It is starting to get dark and cold...I blow up with Edgar...

I say, "Damn it, Edgar, the boat is four inched too thick in the middle, so what if it is an 1/8 too small at the back..the front more than makes up for the back...and besiedes, I ran this boat in Alabama in '61 and '62 and YOU inspected it...and I only got 4th anyway."


Well, he says, "Well, I guess if I can pass the Hedlund's Gretchen, I can pass you." everyone laughs...

We tear down our D Motor, which I don't mind...but this guy, not Edgar, is checking us out and I don't like him...His name is John Valachovic (Outboard Bob here or Valachovic's uncle John)...John's from New York and I don't like him...He figures I'm from California and he thinks I'm a wise acker.....So we are kind of having a contest of wqho can be the biggest jerk...

John goes to pick up my crankshaft by the mainbearing cap and the crank falls on the floor...Like he's standing there holding the mian cap and our crank is in a big pile in the floor... My dad looks at him.......My dad ain't one to drop things...This John start says he's orry, he's o sorry...I can tell he really means it...My dad and I start telling him it is OK...It will be OK.

(We ended up needing a set of pistons...) But the best thing about the dropped crankshaft...is that John Valchovic and I became friends over this. I realized he was a real person...with feeling and He realized I wasn't a jerk....and that I didn't hold things in...

Edgar got side tracked....measuring Don Christy's B Block....I didn't see Edgar for about four vears..

[Ron Hill]

All week at Boston, Ted May was talking about "SNAPPERRRS"...I thought maybe they were like those fire flys in the midwest...He kept seeing "SNAPPERRS", but I wasn't seeing them...

Well, Sunday night after the race, Ted May took Ernie Dawe, Bill Boyes, me and a couple of young "Snappers" things to some night club...Seems Ted always had away to get us drinks without ID....

Later that night, Bill and I and two young ladies are sittingin the car over looking the city when they start telling us about the Boston Strangler....of which I'd never heard of until that night....I'm setting in the back seat with my head on the window, when someone "Raps" on the glass, I turn my head just enough to see a BLACK GLOVE and I though I was a dead man....As it turned out it was the cops making us leave the area...That was 1963, and my heart jumps around in my body like a catfish out of water everytime I think of that night...

Monday, my folks headed for California via car and Bill's parents flew back to California...We had Bill Sr.'s apartment and Bill's mom's new Cadillac. I saw no reason to head for California...So, we decided to go see Stan Armstrong, as it turned out, Stan was older than we thought and had a JOB and a WIFE...But we enjoyed our visit with Old Man Armstrong....

I remember going to the drive-in that night seeing some Beach Blanket Bingo....BORING TO ME, but them Bostonians were eating it up...Dropping off women in the middle of the night in Boston, with the Boston Strangler on the loose....was a little spooky for us California Cool Kids...

Tuesday night we went to Larry Castigeto's. He'd won CU and DSH.....I had been doing some boat designing in my head, but didn't seem to have any extra money or time to build anything...I looked Larry's boats over and just "FONDLED" them...He had made them was Douglas fir plywood..which I knew was cheap (about 1/4 the cost of other plywood)...and he really had some great ideas...built in cowling on the deck, round chine.......on the inside, if I recall right...pretty wide bottom, very little afterplane...more than 15 degree angle on the transom...Everything my little mind had been thinking...

I never saw any of the Castignetos again...I did buy Doug Baily's JU that Larry had built. I actually had my uncle buy it for my cousin...It was a great little JU...

Wednesday morning we headed for California. We stopped in New York to visit Jeff Merlin. If you ever saw Bonnie and Clyde, you'll remember the look on C.W. Moss's face when he joined Bonnie and Clyde...Well, Bill and I asked Jeff if he wanted to come to California...He was in the back seat in 2 seconds and his dad said, "HAVE FUN"...He had the same look of C. W. Moss...

We hauled out for California. We go through Granite City, where Billy Seebold Sr.'s shop was...we stop, but they were closed. At that time, 1963, I'd only heard of Bill Seebold...the great Bill Seebold form Granite City, Illinois..arcoss the river from St. Louis...I think..

We drive all night, we eat sandwiches and drink beer most of the day and night...Next morning, as it gets light, Merlin is sleeping in the back seat. He wakes up and looks out the side windows, then looks ahead, then looks out the back window.....never says a word...just lays down for about 5 minutes. Then, he "POPS" up again...He says, "WHERE ARE ALL THE TREES. I thought I was dreaming or something." Bill and I explain that once you get out west, you won't see trees until Flagstaff...

[Ron Hill]

I use to know, but forgot..how far it is from Oklahoma City to Amarillo. No matter, I was driving Bill's mom's Cad as fast as that "SUCKER" would go...about 105, with the trailer...In those days there was one stop in Amarillo. I stop and we hear a "CLUNK". Bill says, "Hey what was that?" I say, "Aw nothing"...He says, "We'd better look." We get out and the trailer hitch had broken off the trailer... Had it broken five... minutes sooner, I was doing 105 MPH... we and that trailer would still be in Oklahoma...

We stop in Needles, as Jimbo lived there and there were a few women there that I liked, one in particular....so we stopped to see "JIMBO"...

Jimbo had found a 1949 Mercury car, abandoned at his dad's motel and Jimbo had got her running...I didn't say he'd got her to stop...I said running...That evening Jimbo asks Merlin, Bill and me, if we want to take a ride of "THUNDER ROAD"??? I'd been on it before...right after Jody Reid had rolled the 52 Chevy...but Jimbo was a good driver and I figured it would be fun....

That '49 Merc was a bit faster than those old Chevies we'd usually drive on "Thunder Road" and Jimbo had forgot to tell us they had had "FLASH FLOODS" since the last time he'd been on "Thunder Road"... We're sliding the corners like Robbie Gordon races offroad....Jimbo and me a laughing like compete nuts, that we were....Bill and Jeff were SCREAMING SLOW DOWN that their seat had come out...Of course, Jimbo acts like he's gone mad and can't hear....

All of a sudden we go airbourne into this dry wash......but I know something about dry washs...if there is a four foot drop on one side there will be a four foot wall on the other...the car lands and bounces, the head lights go to the moon and when the nose of the car comes down, there in front of us is a four foot wall of desert sand, rocks and gravel...we hit that wall at about 60... The pointed nose of the '49 Mercury works like a butter knife and slice right through that four foot drop...well, sort of...We like come to a stop for a second and Jeff and Bill fly into the front seat with us and the back seat comes with them.....we go airborne out of this wash and Jimbo FLOORS it and we skid a few more turns before we realize and Bill and Merlin and laying in the back seat dying...Bill says to this day his back is out of place....

Jimbo and me always talk about the night we "FLEW" the '49 Mercury....