Interest in 1100 Runabouts

[Bob Rusnak]

I have had a few replys to the Fales/Langdon Looper so I found another one of his early rigs. Also shown is the N-88 rig of Bill Svoboda/Bob Rusnak in a DeSilva Runabout with a full Quincy alcohol MK 75 H. The powerhead was sent to Quincy to do all the updates and modify it to run on alky, Lon Srevens supplied the exhaust. This was a great reliable engine but never could beat Bill Fales with the Looper or Doug Bindrim with his "48 ci" Konig. Maybe we can get Steve to put his dads engine back together, this is a great piece of outboard engineering and history.

[David Weaver]

There should be a handful of these boats racing in Omaha this weekend, including Fuschlin's big 6. Always a crowd pleaser on this tight race course.

[N-77 Two]

My dads looper was destroyed at a race in Southwick, MA back in the late 80's. A rod broke and actually cut the motor in half. My brother and I do have a new block and most of the parts to put a motor together, but it would never be the same. Most people do not realize that my father built a ssister moter to his that Jerry Peterson ran on his hydro. Jerry gave it back to my dad after the accident, and my dad sold it to Rich Fuschlin. I believe that motor is also not around anymore. All in all, my believe is that those two loopers were by far the fastest two ever built. I simply do not have the time to rebuild the one we have, but if someone wanted the parts to give it a try, let myself or my brother know. Thanks for the great pictures and lets put Bill Fales in the APBA HALL OF FAME. :)

[Mark75H]

Steve, you have email :)

[N-77 Two]

Email address is: steve_fales@comcast.net

[Joe J]

Rich Fuchslin still has a complete, running Looper in their shop. I have no idea as to it's history. It is not as strong as the Steven's Merc they are currently running in 1100 runabout.

Joe

[N-77 Two]

I hope this is the motor that my dad built. The sister motor was good, but not as good as the original. Mike S. said it best, "The motor Bill Fales had was trick then and would be trick now." I think Loopers are the best sounding motors of all time. Keep them running.

Remember, Lets put Bill Fales in the APBA HALL OF FAME!!! :)

[Gene East]

I was purusing some old threads this morning and came across this one that hasn't been active for quite some time.

Bill Fales was "The Greatest" in the F-runabout class. You can call it 1100cc if you want, but it will always be "F" to me.

As a former deck rider I am honored to have been soaked with Bill's rooster tail!

Back in the good old days when we had full fields of these 725 lb. monsters, 200 lb. pit crewmen were in demand as deck riders. Now there are no weight requirements and the riders for the most part are as small as possible.

Size does matter!

I remember having dinner with several deck riders at DePue many years ago. One of the guys had a few too many Bud Lites and was bragging about what he and his driver were going to do tomorrow.

Another wiser rider put him in his place saying "Yeah right, you're going to do just like the rest of us. You're going to hold your ears when Bill Fales comes blasting by you", and of course that prediction came true!

Bill was in my opinion the greatest F-Runabout driver of all times and is deserving of "Hall of Fame" recognition!

[Allen J. Lang]

Gene, thanks for bringing up Bill Fales FRR. The last time I saw Bill run was in 1970, just after I retired from racing due to a job change. The race was put on at the old Worlds Fair lake by the Eastern Outboard Racing Club a site which NYC banished use of powerboats on. This was a one time use permit. I had taken super 8 film which I loaned out and did not get back. As I remember I had a great shot in slow motion of Bill and Dick Scopinich in a turn head on.
Bill was one of the last 460 drivers in the country. He then bought the parts from Quincy and took them to master machinest Elly Langdon who also had run 460s. Apparently Elly did one heck of a job on that engine. Bill and Scop were both good racing friends and miss both. Both were great guys and very interesting to talk to.
I agree with Gene that Bill should be inducted into the Hall Of Fame.