For years I have wanted to pass along some of the experiences I had at Lake X from
1962 through 1970. This is going to take awhile and will be a living document. That
means that I will add bits and pieces over time. Additionally, I invite anyone that
was there to add their experiences. CAVEAT! Do not expect everything to be accurate
and correct. It's not that I don't want to be correct. But, unfortunately, I will
have to work from memory and the few items I still have as clues. Also, I have been
known to embellish. If there is one thing I have learned in my life as a former boat
racer, fisherman and fighter pilot; it is that boat racers, fishermen and fighter
pilots are the greatest liars in the world. I especially know that is true about
boat racers because we would always run every race boat through the measured kilo at
Lake X many times as we tried new things and as Don Schwebbs banged on our props. We
always knew exactly how fast our boats were running before we left the lake. The
only significant variables were fuel loads, water conditions and whether we were
running in salt water. SOOOOO...you would not believe how many times somebody at a
race site would tell me that they were running at 75 mph and I would walk past them
in an absolute 62 mph boat. Excuse me if I get names, places, dates and allot of other
things wrong. Also fell free to correct me. I am Steve Sirois and my brother was
Bill Sirois. Many of you may have heard of or known him. Very few of you will have
known or heard of me. In my next post I will try to explain how we got to Lake X.
Steve Sirois
01/25/2005
..................
 Terror of the Kankakee
OK, Let's try again. Circa 1950, When we were kids in Indiana, our Uncle George
Horner owned a small Fish Camp on the Kankakee River by Shelby, IN. Bill would have
been 9-10 & I 6-7. Bill purloined one of George's fishing boats and was terrorizing
the local fishermen when he ran afoul of the local Game Warden. The Fuzz, holding
Bill by the ear, returned him to George with the admonition, "You better watch this
Kid, he's a menace on the water." If he had only known what the future held!.....I'm
going to do this in small pieces so I won't lose too much again
- Steve
01/25/2005
.......................
 Sarasota High School Racer
1959 Bill was an officer in SHS JB's Club (junior JC's I think). He convinced
members that a good project would be to sponsor a boat race on Sarasota Bay.
Needless to say, Bill would be the race chairman. I not sure that he told anybody in
advance the he also planned to compete. He cobbled together an old fishing boat and
attached a Mercury KG-9. I think he did quite well. Bill was also a outstanding
swimmer on the SHS swim team and Coach Carlie Cleland was thoroughly p---ed when Bill
quit the team in order to go to work for Al Holub at Sarasota Marine. Al also had a
part interest in a small boat building business and after sending Bill through
Mercury Service school began to let him use one of his hulls and a Mercury to run in
local races. Bill was forever grateful to Al for that. I went to a race with Bill
and his girlfriend (Susan "Willy" Williams) in Palmasola Bay. He won that one
handily and soon had caught the attention of Mercury. I think that Bob Burford, who
was married to Helen Kiekhaefer, got Bill in the door. Anyway, he was soon at Lake X
running endurance. A side project was helping to build the 7 mile road around the
property. Chet Strickland was right along side of him as they slogged through the
swamps. Bill and Chet had been good friends through High School. Chet was also a
very successful racer in both the US and Europe. The last time I saw Chet was at
Bill's funeral. More later
- Steve
01/25/2005
.......................
 Big Brother helps me get onboard
June 1962. Right after SHS graduation, Bill helped me get onboard with Mercury at
the Siesta Key test station. A point to be made....Back then it was Kiekhaefer
Corporation. Later it became Mercury Marine. Gene Wagner was the Boss there and a
great guy to work for. Had allot of fun running endurance in salt water and will
provide many stories about that in the future. I started at Manatee Jr College in
the Fall and barely hung in for awhile. In 1963, I flunked out of MJC and went to
work full time at Siesta Key test station and shortly ended up at Lake X driving
endurance. Ted Collins ran the admin side of things and Joe Anderson was the boss in
the shop. Over the next several years I worked on and off at Lake X and Siesta Key
while I also returned to MJC and then Univ of South Florida. Finally eked out a BA
in Management at USF in 1968. We ran 24 hour endurance at Lake X from Monday AM
until Saturday at Noon when we would pull the boats out of the water an wash them.
Often I would then drive a truck to Sarasota to pick up parts at the Airport
Distrubution warehouse and return Monday AM. We worked hard sometimes, but played
hard all the time. Needless to say, there was a copius amount of adult beverage
consumed. Many stories about that in the future. I honestly do not know how I
survived those whiskey years. More tomorrow night, I hope!
-Steve
01/25/2005
.................
 Great Stories result from Stupid Acts...If you survive
I have at least 5 stories that fit this category. In 4 of them, nobody got hurt. Sad
to say, the other one was tragic. I will post them individually and it may take me
until later tonight of even tomorrow to post them all..............Very early during
my time with Kiekhaefer I was running endurance out of the Siesta Key.....Ooops
gotta go...back in about an hour or two....
-Steve
01/26/2005
....................
 I'm Baaaack
OK, so we were running endurance out of Siesta Key. Gene Wagner was the boss there
and he would see us off early AM. There would be 4 or 5 of us and we would be
running anywhere from 20 to 50mph depending on what engines we were testing. Several
years prior one of the endurance driver had the sun in his eyes as he went under the
Siesta Key Bridge and ran over a fisherman causing serious injuries. Well, Gene was
always worried that such an event would recur. Anyway, Pete Brogan was running a
Alim with twin big mercs and I was running a small cat with twin small mercs. He
would have been running around 50mph and I was probably doing 35. Pete decided that
he would wash me down. I'm sure most of you know how that is done. He is head on to
me when he started a big arc to set me up. Seeing this, I decided to counter. Take
it from me, never turn into someone that is trying to wash you down. Always turn the
opposite direction. We met in the middle of the turn and I literally went through
his boat doing copius damage and taking out one of his engines. Fortunately neither
of us got hurt. As we came to a stop, Pete was livid. He was screaming something
about having a family to feed and how he needed this job. Wisely I kept my distance.
I told Pete, "Don't worry about it. I'm single. I'll take all the blame". I got out
of there and headed back to the base at my stately 35mph while Pete limped back
off-plane. When I got back I approached Gene and told him I had bad news. The blood
immediatly started to leave his face. When I told him I had been involved in a
collision, he turned ashen. No doubt he thought I had run over a fisherman. When I
told him I had only run over Pete he was so relieved that he didn't even fire me.
However, I can tell you that it is no fun climbing under the deck of a small cat and
grinding fiberglass for an hour or two. Being my first experience grinding
fiberglass, I didn't know what I was in for until later. Jumping off the dock and
staying in salt water for an hour does not help one bit. Follow this bit of advice
from me that I learned 8 years later in USAF pilot training. If you are closing on
another airplane (or boat), make note of whether or not he is moving on your canopy.
If he is stationary on your canopy (or windshield) and you never change the
geometry, you are in big trouble.
-Steve
01/26/2005
................
 Phil is Just Hangin' Out
This is probably the stupidest thing I ever did in my life. Well, maybe not the
stupidnest, but it ranks right up there. Driving endurance at Lake X on the midnight
shift and the sky is beginnig to lighten up enough to see without lights. Phil
Schenk had pulled off to the inside of the course at the South end of the lake. As
we often did, I pulled off and rafted up with him to talk. Phil went to the transom
and proceeded to relieve himself over the edge. There must have been an evil demon
sitting on my shoulder and whispering into my ear. Without thinking, I acted on an
sudden impulse to reach into his boat an jam the shift/throttle lever full forward.
You know it's kind of like that urge to laugh when someone falls down. For about a
micro second it was funny. Then I noticed that Phil was hangin' out the back of the
boat (in more ways than one) and fighting to get himself and it back in. Meanwhile
he was screaming something akin to what Pete Brogan was screaming in the previous
story. Fortunately, neither Phil nor any part of his body body was injured. At least
I don't Think he or it was. This was another occurance in which I felt it wise to
keep some distance between my victim and me. Once accept some advice from a guy who
has managed to survive 61 years on this planet. Never act on a sudden impulse! There
is a difference between the sane and the insane. I have always believed that
everyone has a rare moment when some foolish thought run through your mind. The
difference is that the sane man laughs at himself but does not act on it. The insane
man does. Everybody knows that every boat racer has just a little bit of insanity
lying just below the surface. There is an old saying that runs in aviation circles.
"There are plenty of old pilots, but very few old bold pilots." Personally, I
believe that you must be bold to compete and win in the world of racing. Bill was
bold, but he always knew when to lay back and let the other guy destroy his
equipment. Sidelight here: Bill always had lots of humorous one liners. One that I
thought was particularly funny and self-effacing was, "It's not very big around, but
it sure is short". Later Gators......
Best regards
- Steve Sirois
01/26/2005
..............................
Ted Collins
Awesome Bullet - Let me tell you, your Grandfather is a very good man. Several years
ago I was passing through St Cloud and looked him up. We had a nice talk. Sorry
everyone but Awesome B. just made me remember a totally different and totally stupid
thing that I did. I think it was Ralph Seavey and I that had been in St Cloud for
many hours day-drinking and enjoying the cowboy hospitality of the J&A Bar. I once
saw a well oiled cowboy ride his horse right through the front door. His act was
well recieved by the clientele and I nearly fell off the bar stool laughing. Anyway,
Ralph and I decided it was about time to make our way back to the lake in my early
'60s Corvair. Damn that car was fun to drive. It was even more fun when the "Whiskey
Man" was riding on my shoulder and whispering into my ear. I don't know if you have
ever had that experience, but he tends to tell you that you have super-human
talents. He told me that I could drive the entire distance from the Lake X turn off
to the lake gate without ever actually getting on the pavement. I guess that was
another time when I let myself slip across that thin line into the world of the
insane. The weeds along the roadside were roughly the same height of a full grown
Corvair. Therefore, for about 5 miles, all we saw was the weeds at the distance from
the windshield to the front bumper. From the road, it must have looked like a wild
pig running through the weeds. The amazing thing is that we actually made it to
within a hundred yards of the gate when we re-emerged onto the pavement and gathered
enough speed to fully engage the emergency brake and spin the steering wheel full
left, thus causing the white Corvair to wildly spin in a screeching 180 degree turn
amid great clouds of smoke and gales of laughter coming from the two idiots inside.
We finally came to a dead stop directly in front of the gate and facing the other
way. When everything finally got quiet anyone could still hear us laughing from a
some distance. That included Mrs. Kiekhaefer and Anita Kiekhaefer who were both
standing at the gate with stunned looks on their faces. Ralph and I suddenly
realized that we would probably be packing our stuff very soon. Upon awakening the
next day we were summoned to the main affice for a visit with Awesome Bullet's
Grandfather (Ted Collins, the Boss). Ted was always a very laid back gentleman. He
very quietly asked if anything exciting had happened to us the previous evening. I
immediatly replied. "I cannot tell a lie. He did it." and I pointed at Ralph. Much
to my relief, Ted laughed and simply said, "You guys need to take it a little easy.
Get back to work." I think we both bowed several time as we backed out of the
office. Soooooo, Awesome Bullet, the next time you see your Grandfather, tell him
how grateful I am to this very day that he saw fit to have mercy on a couple of
idiots 40+ years ago. That's all for tonight folks. Best Regards from someone that
survived his own stupidity many years ago, but is around to laugh about it today. -
-Steve Sirois
01/26/2005
..........................................
  Iris says, "Be Careful"
The woman who literally changed my life 31 years ago and my wife of 30 years,
reminded me late last night of 2 things.
#1: Be a little careful of what you say in that forum. People may think you were a drunk.
#2: Don't get a big head just because some may enjoy your stories.
As usual, she is right. As to #1, things were definately wild and wooly in the '60s. I
was in my late teens and early 20's. There was not the stigma attached to alcohol as there
 is today. How we survived in those days was usually only by luck, and I certainly had
 my share of that. I have always believed that you change with the times or you die.
Believe me when I say that I have changed with the times. How else could I have
evolved through several stages to end up as a School Safety Inspector. However,
I'm don't believe that I would have made it through those evolutions were it not for Iris.
 I know that may sound corney, but it is true. I love her dearly. As to #2, The only thing
 better than telling a good story, is realizing that someone might actually enjoy it. However
 if I get too wound up, as I sometimes still do, tell me to cool it. -
-Steve
01/27/2005
.............................
 Turn left 270 degrees and a little earlier
I Don't remember exactly when this event occured but it really doesn't matter. I
drove the midnight shift endurance for 9 straight months. That was a lot better than
rotating through shifts every week. Actually I eventually got used to it and enjoyed
it. We used to do a lot of reading while driving endurance. I must have read a
hundred books during that 9 months. I took one of those little 12 volt lamps that
you strap to your head and attached a long cord with alligator clips on the end. I
could reach under the deck and attach them to the terminals on the back of the boat
headlight switch. Joe Anderson told us not to read while driving but we did it
anyway. Early one morning as the sun was coming up and I was cruising along at full
speed, I sensed a presence. I looked to my right, and there was Joe tucked in about
ten feet to my right. I don't know how long he had been there but when I looked up
and saw him he just peeled off. I thought I was in trouble, but he never even said a
word about it. On another occasion, I had driven to Miami and back during the day to
pick up a boat for the Company. I got back to the Lake just in time to start my
midnight shift at 11:30PM. Usually you would settle into an almost trance-like state
during the night. Sometimes you didn't even remember the last couple of laps. I
think it was about 3:00AM as I was going down the backstretch that I observed an
overpass over the trees at the end of the lake and I was headed for it when a
Greyhound Bus passed me on the right. WOW! That woke me up. Several guys ran into
the trees while driving the night shift. That usually resulted in getting sent down
the road with your bags. Fortunately, I never had that experience. However, I came
very close one night. We were testing the prototype Super-Speedmasters. We had two
Merc 6's (I don't remember if they were 1250's or 1350's) on the back of a 19' S-22
and it ran in the mid 60's, which can be kind of neat in the middle of the night.
When you pulled out of the slip at Lake X, you would cross the course and do a left
270 degree turn onto the course. I guess I zoned out a little early one night
because I pulled out of the slip and just went straight. The lake is only about 1/2
mile wide at that point, so it didn't take long before I was staring at trees, but
only for about 1/2 of a second. Boat Racers always turn left (By the way, so do
Fighter Pilots) and that's what I did. Rather abruptly I might add. Seems that the
boat didn't want to cooperate and responded by swapping ends. Naturally, when the
boat went hard left, my body kept going straight. At least until my head met the
gunwale. A few seconds later I came to my senses and discovered that I was still in
the boat with my head under the well and the engines were screaming as the props
cavitated about a foot behind me. I managed to get up and pull the throttles back. I
eased back across the Lake and into the slip and told the midnight Mechanic (Ed
Luthie) that I had a bodacious headache. I sat down for awhile with an ice pack on
my head and then went back out on the lake for the rest of the night. At least I
didn't end up in the trees. Anyway, that's one more stupid act the turned into a
good story. For the next story, I was not in a boat, but if you were at the Offshore
Worlds in Key West one year you might have witnessed it.
Best Regards
- Steve
01/27/2005
................................
 Straight up in Full Afterburner!
Next Stupid Act. Fast forward a decade or more. Bill is with Al Copeland (Popeyes)
and they are making a go at the Offshore Worlds in Key West. By then I had left the
world of Boat Racing and had entered a different world. In 1970 I had attended USAF
pilot training. That was an interesting year at Craig AFB in Selma, Alabama. I could
talk about that and the next 28 years forever. Next I checked out in the F-102 and
flew it with the Florida Air National Guard in Jacksonville for 3 years before
transitioning into the F-106. If you want to know a little about the Six just type
F-106 Delta Dart into Google. What an incredible machine. Single engine, single seat
and Mach 2. They didn't call it the Cadillac of fighters for nothing. I had the
ethereal pleasure of flying the Six for 10 years before kidney stones said no more
single seat fighters for you Bub. After that I flew 3 different transports (C-131,
C-130, C-26) for another 14 years. Anyway, Back to Key West. I managed to wrangle a
Six to go to Key West NAS (Boca Chica) on a "very important mission". I bummed a
ride to Truman Annex and spent the next several hours with Bill in the pits. After
which I went back to Boca Chica and fired up my trusty aluminum Dart. I took off VFR
(Visual Flight Rules) and headed about 20 miles South. Let me interject something
here. You have got to understand that NORAD was a little bit nervous about any
unknown low and fast movers approaching from the South. Remember Cuba is only 90
miles South of Key West and they had Mig's. Since I had descended to about 300',
turned North and pumped it up to about 600 Knots, I definately met that criteria. It
didn't take long before I had the pits in my sight. Once I had reached about 1/2
half mile out, I lit the afterburner and pulled straight up. You have to understand
that the Six is an incredibly loud aircraft when in full afterburner. My guess is
that several corpses in the graveyard sat bolt upright to see what the Hell was
going on. I rolled over on my back at 15,000' and filed an IFR clearance to Jax.
Naturally, after the thrill had worn off, I began to see my flying carrer going down
the drain. Once again I had acted on a stupid impulse. This time I was screaming at
myself in much the same way that Pete Brogan and Phil Schenk had done in earlier
stories. However, for the next several years, I heard comments about the crazy SOB
that attacked the Offshore Worlds. The unbelievable thing is that, I was neither
caught nor killed. Once again luck was with me. To this day, I still do something
stupid once in awhile. But never again anything that stupid.
-Steve
01/27/2005
..................................
 Dragging for the Body
OK, the next act did not include me. I think this occurred in the mid 60's. I was no
longer driving endurance. I had been away from the lake for a few days for some
reason I don't remember. I walked into the shop to find out that there had been a
collision on the North end of the lake during the previous night and Jim Prey was
missing. Jim was one of the Wisconsin guys that had come down to drive endurance. He
was well liked among the folks. He was one of those that was just a really nice guy.
Let me say at this point that I don't know who did what, but apparently someone had
decided to turn their headlights off and run the opposite direction on the course to
scare the pants off of someone else. As you might have surmised from some of my
earlier stories, such acts were not unheard of. We were always trying to sneak up on
each other and throw something (like a rotten banana) at or wash the other guy down.
Anyway, the tactic turned tragic when they had a glancing blow and Jim was ejected
into the dark water of Lake X. Since it was the middle of Winter he was wearing
heavy Winter coveralls. We immediatly began to drag the bottom from several boats
and motorized barges. This went on for about 3 days and nights. I was assigned to
one of the barges with 2 other guys. By then Jim's family had flown in from
Wisconsin and was sadly waiting for the recovery. During the search we must have
hooked hundreds of logs off of the bottom and we were always a little nervous when
we pulled something up. It would ususlly pop up 50 or a hundred feet behing us and
we would pull in the next log. On in the wee hours of night 3 we hooked another one
but this time it was Jim. It was another one of those images that will be forever
burned in my brain. By the time we got back to the boat slip, word had spread and
Jim's brother was waiting in the gloom for us. Someone convinced him to move away a
bit since it was not a pretty sight. We loaded him into an ambulance and they left
us all standing there in the night surrounded by utter sadness. I don't know what
transpired after that event, but I think things tightened up considerably. That's
all for today. Maybe some more tonight. Remembering this event has left me a little
down. For the past couple of years Iris has been a Hospice Nurse and we have talked
alot about events that she has been a part of. After awhile you get over the shock
of it, but it never gets easy. Don't worry, I promise that the next story will be fun.
-Steve
01/27/2005
.......................
 Doug Janisch & Larry Smith tackle the Gulf of Mexico
Bruce - Thanks for reminding me about one of the most incredible survival stories
I've ever heard. 1st let me bring others up to speed on the background of your
previous post. Once again I cannot put a date on it and it would be much better (and
more accurate) if told by either Doug or Larry. Mr. Kiekhaefer (or maybe it was Joe
Swift)somehow decided that it would be a great PR gambit to pull a group of very
attractive skiers behind a Drifter-Cruise houseboat powered (I think) by 4
Mercruiser 160's. Since Doug Janisch was a top notch mechanic and organizer (Man I
hope Doug doesn't see this) he became the driver of record. I don't know who else
ran the boat with him, but 6 lovelies came along to do the skiing, sometimes all six
at once. One of them was Alice, Doug's future bride. Anyway, the schtick was to pull
the ladies all the way up the Mississippi from Nawlins' to the Great Lakes and
continue up through the St. Lawrence Seaway. I'm not sure if they ended it there,
came down the East Coast, or went back the way they came. Once the Loooong trip was
over the boat and Doug ended up back in Nawlins'. I think he was then supposed to
transit the Gulf of Mexico to St Pete, which by my calculation is 450 mile straight
line. I don't know who else was with him other than Larry Smith. Larry was and still
is a photographer of considerable reknown. He took many photos of Offshore racing
and later also took many for us in the Florida Air National Guard. Larry had injured
a leg or ankle and was wearing a cast on his lower leg. They set out across the Gulf
on calm seas that had a surprise for them. Somewhere in the middle of the Gulf and
the middle of the night. An incredible storm blew up and Larry got seasick so he
went in the back and hit the sack. Yes there were beds onboard. Doug and Crew fought
against the seas for hours just to survive. Somewhere along they way Doug sent
someone back to check on Larry. Much to everyones dismay, Larry was gone. I have
been in situations where someone just disappears. It is probably the most helpless
feeling in the world. Anyway, they sent out a distress signal to the Coast Guard and
doubled back on their course. Now, I can tell you this. I have searched for boats at
sea from the air during the daylight and in pretty decent weather. It is extremely
tough even under good conditions. You can only imagine what it would be in extreme
weather, in the dark, in the middle of the Gulf and you have no idea when or where
he went overboard. Add to it that you are fighting to even keep your own vessel
afloat. Meanwhile put yourself in Larry's situation. Suddenly your are overboard in
the aformentioned conditions with only an inadequate life preserver and that is it.
The lights of the boat quickly disappear and now you are alone. The cast on your leg
is now water logged and is making it very difficult to stay above the water, and
getting worse with time. Larry is one of those guys that is a born survivor. I'm not
talking about one of these chicken s--t TV programs either. This is the real thing.
Many people would have just given up and taken the big gulp. Not Larry. He remembers
that he has his car key in his pocket. He very carefully extracts it and taking big
breaths, ducks under and starts to saw away at the cast with the key. Good God
Larry, don't drop the key! After some time and Hurculean effort he manages to cut
the cast away and is now more bouyant. But he is still up a creek without a paddle.
Meanwhile the sun is starting to lighten the sky and the Coast Guard has entered the
search. I'm not sure about any of these details or how long it took, but I think it
was Doug that finally found Larry and pulled him aboard. I've always believed that
attitude and perseverence are the most important characteristics of survival. I
think even Ernest Shackleton would have been impressed with this event. I think
Larry still lives here in Jacksonville so I will try to locate him to get a better
handle on this story. Meanwhile, if anyone out there is in touch with Doug, and you
can get him to talk about it, pick his brain and fill us all in. Also ask him if
he's eaten any skrimps lately.
-Steve
01/27/2005
................................
 How Seawall Seavey got his Name
Sometime during my life at Lake X Ralph Seavey showed up from Sarasota to drive
endurance. Ralph had been a good friend all through Sarasota High School and I was
really glad to see him at the lake. We had many adventures over the years and I
always appreciated his friendly ways. During his first week at the lake he was on
the day shift which handed off to the swing shift which ran until 11:30 and then
handed off to the midnight shift. This was during my 9 straight month stint on the
midnight shift. Meanwhile some of Freddy Kiekhaefer's college friends were at the
lake to drive endurance for the Summer. Mr. Kiekhaefer was always very friendly
toward guys that were working their way through college and that included me. For
that and many other things I will always be grateful to him. Anyway, one of Freddy's
friends asked Ralph if he would like to take his place on the swing shift so he
could go out with friends to sample a bit of that famous St Cloud nightlife. Or
maybe they were going to Cocoa Beach which was always a favorite of ours.
Soooo..Ralph said sure, I can handle 16 straight hours on the lake. In reality, we
had all done that, and more, on many occasions. Well one of the great fun tricks
(besides coating the inside of a newcomers bag lunch sandwich with multi-purpose
grease) was to roll a banana on a surface until the inside turned to mush and then
throw it at the other guy as you went by him in the middle of the night. What a
great splat it made if you were right on target at 40mph. I once got hit by a
catfish thrown by my brother while he and Chet Strickland were poaching the lake in
the middle of the night. Boy, there is another great story that I'll get to some
other time. Back to Ralph....I had reported to work and had walked out to the base
of the old tower with a nicely mushed banana to blast Ralph as he turned off of the
course at he end of this lap. I saw his lights coming up the West side of the lake
and they slowly drifted further to the West and toward the trees. There was a spit
off land that jutted about 100' out in the lake where the Grumman Goose (amphibian
aircraft) could exit the lake onto a ramp. The spit of land was protected by a
wooden seawall that stuck up about 2 or 3 feet above the surface of the water. You
guessed it. Ralph had drifted off into the Lake X coma. The next thing I knew his
headlights suddenly shot straight up into the air and there was one hell of a boom.
Needless to say this awakened Ralph from his comatose state and he wondered how he
had somehow suddenly bocome an aviator. Albeit for a very short flight. He
completely cleared the spit of landed and plopped into the lake on the other side.
Along the way he had gathered a rather impressive hole in the bottom of the boat and
rid himself of one of those pesky sterndrives. Meanwhile the mid-shift mechanic
(Gene...sorry can't remember his last name) was already in the rescue boat and
headed out the slip to retrieve Ralph before he sank. For my part, there I stood
with a perfectly good mushed banana in my hand and nobody to blast. Soooo...when
Ralph came into the mouth of the slip on the end of a tow rope, I figured, what the
hell? and let fly. I think I got him pretty good. Ralph went off to nurse his
wounded ego and I ran my midnight shift. The next morning Joe Anderson arrived back
at the Lake from one of his forays to Sarasota. After he had been informed of the
previous nights excitement he beckoned Ralph to follow him. Remember, this is the
end of Ralp's very first week in the employ of the Kiekhaefer Corp and he was
already in deep kimchee. Being a good and loyal friend that only wanted to blast
ralph with a banana the night before, I walked with him and Joe to survey the damage
to the boat which was now on a dolly. We all three bent over to look at the bottom
of the boat and then Joe stood back up and said, "Ralph, I think you better go pack
your bags". Ralph was devestated. I think it was Freddy that came to his defense and
explained to Joe that Ralph had just been trying to be a good guy and took the other
guys shift which resulted in 16 straight hours on the lake. Joe relented and Ralph
spent several years at the lake and raced many a good race. Circa 1978 I got a call
late in the evening from Ralphs brother Kenney. Kenney's exact words were, "Steve, I
got out of bed this morning and walked out into the living room. Ralph was sitting
there in a rocking chair stiff as a f---ing board." Good-bye too early to another
true and good friend. We've all said too early Good-byes to too many friends.
Later Gators
- Steve
01/27/2005
.......................
 Lake X Motel
T2x - I was standing next to the motel with mushed banana in hand the night that
Ralph gained the name of "Seawall Seavey". For those of you that are interested, the
motel was under the old timing tower. It consisted of 6 or 8 one room....motel
rooms. VIPs would be invited to stay there. Mr kiekhaefer always stayed in the
Northern most one when he was there and Joe Anderson always stayed in the Southern
most one. When running endurance one would see (usually very late) Joe's headlights
pull in by his room. He would then stand there in the dark for awhile before he
turned in. When Mr. Kiekhaefer was there, one would often see him standing on the
seawall in front of his room just as the morning light was beginnig to show. When we
finished our shift we would go to the dining room and Joe Dumbolton (the morning
chef) would fix us whatever we wanted. Mr Kiekhaefer would almost always come to
breakfast while we were in there and he would always have a few kind words. There
were 4 round tables (this was in the original kitchen in the old building) and he
would sit in the corner at the executive table. I heard some of the most amazing
conversations that you could imagine in that kitchen. The food at Lake X was
incredible. Mr Kiekhaefer often had the best possible steaks flown in from Wisconsin
for "his boys". Sometimes he would do elaborate cookouts for us and he would
personally do the cooking. God, those days were great!
-Steve
01/27/2005
.......................
 Scramble Izzy!
Mr. Kiekhaefer had his own one man private Air Force at Lake X in the '60's. It
consisted of Izzy Lashmore, a Grumman Goose (amphibian)and a Cessna 310.
Occasionally, the Company Beechcraft would fly in from Wisconsin and in later years
the Company had a Bizjet that would drop in. Visitors would also fly in on
occassion, but only with prior permission. The numbers on each end of the 5,000'
asphalt runway were X'ed over, which is the symbol for a closed runway. Izzy was a
bespectacled, mostly bald guy in his late 50's or early 60's. He usually seemed a
little cantankerous, but in reality he was a pussycat. I got to fly with him in the
Goose once and that further sparked my interest in aviation. He didn't always do
everything exactly right. On at least one occasion he landed on the lake and forgot
to lower the gear before taxiing out of the water onto the ramp and got stuck in the
mud at the base of the ramp. We had to attach a tow rope from a boat and pull him
back into the lake so he could extend the wheels. On another occasion (Christmas
Day, I think) he landed gear-up on the asphalt runway with Mr. Kiekhaefer and family
onboard. It didn't do any significant damage but the keel left a very nice groove
down the center of the runway. In the world of aviators that fly retractable gear
aircraft there is an old saying. "There are those that have landed gear-up, and
those that will.". Fortunately, in 7,500 hours of pilot time, I never experienced
that bit of excitement. The Lake X property had been designated as a game preserve
and was teeming with wild life (Both Animal and Human). Mr. Kiekhaefer had also
imported some elegant Japanese deer and you would often see them feeding on the East
side of the lake early in the AM. Among other things, there were deer, alligators,
wild turkeys, wild pigs. One one occasion I rode around the perimeter road, which
was about 7 miles, and counted over 100 deer. When driving on the lake at night, our
headlights would illuminate the alligators eyes. They were everywhere. Bill ran over
a gator in front of the tower one night. The collision tore the transom loose and
destroyed two lower units. The next morning the gator was found dead on the shore
with two prop tracks across his back. Apparently he was HUGE. I heard numbers like
12-14'. On this issue it would be prudent to remember my previous post about
boatracers, fishermen and fighter pilots being the greatest liars in the world.
OK.....I have really gotten off the point. On a number of occassions, poachers would
climb the fence and sneak back into the woods. In doing so they would leave tracks
across the dirt road and this would be noticed by the security patrol. More than
once the call came from Mr. Kiekhaefer to, "Scramble Izzy". Izzy would launch as
quickly as possible and conduct an aerial search. Other times he would conduct a
dawn patrol. I don't know if he ever found anybody, but it created alot of
excitement. One evening I was enjoying the St Cloud night life in the J&A Bar when a
very large cowboy sat down on the stool next to me. He looked over at me and asked,
"Do You work for Mecury?". I responded, "Indeed I do". To which he replied, " I
oughta Kill you". It seems that, while cruising along the Lake X road, one of his
dogs "accidently" got on the other side of the fence, went into the woods and was
never seen again. The friendly spirit of the J&A had a way of making everybody
happy. I bought him a beer and we became great friends for the next couple of hours.
I heard that one evening Mr. Kiekhaefer was in the J&A when someone said something
disparaging about somebody at the Lake. I understand the Mr. K immediately and
loudly came to the defense of "his boys". My experience with him led me to belive
that he nearly always came to our defense on contentious issues. I will guarantee
you that we were not always worthy of that defense. Back to the point...Each year
when hunting season rolled around, hunters would cruise up and down the Lake X road
waiting for deer to jump the fence and cross the road, at which point they would
blast away. One year, we took the mufflers off of all the vehicles and continuously
drove around to scare the deer back away from the fence. In the near future, I will
write about fishing in Lake X. That story will involve different episodes with
brother Bill, Chet Strickland, myself, Joe Dumbolton, Mabry Edwards and Florida
Governor Haydon Burns. Later Gators
- Steve
01/28/2005
.................................
Steve:
The stories are great, keep it up !!
Everytime my dad went to Lake X he would come back with some
of the darndest stories.... Never knew what to make of some of
them, as my dad was a racer and a fisherman, but looks like most
were based on fact!!
Danny Leger

01/28/2005
.................................
 Let's wet a line or throw a fish
Believe me Danny, some of the stories are hard to believe, but true. One of the
problems I have when telling stories is as follows; After I have been talking for
awhile and realize how preposterous some of the stories sound, I start to worry that
the recipients will probably start to think this is all BS. As I said in my first
post, I may not remember everything exactly how it happened and I might occasionally
embelish a little bit. But it is only a very little bit. With that in mind, let me
talk about fishing on Lake X. Imagine yourself as the only fisherman on a pristine
Florida lake with 7 1/2 miles of shoreline. The entire shoreline is populated by
Cypress trees that stand in the water. Someone has provided a fishing boat/motor/gas
and spinning rods/reels at no cost to you. There are numerous little coves and areas
of lilly pads. Birds and alligators are everywhere. That's what it was like for us
every day. Quite often I would get off of my shift in one boat, walk 10' and get in
another boat, motor out of the slip and I was in Fisherman's Heaven. In amatter of
minutes I could be wetting a line in front of some of the best lunker Bass
imaginable. I was never an accomplished fisherman and therefore wasn't also that
successful. However, early one morning I did see Joe Dumbolton (the morning chef)
pull into the boat slip see excited he could barely speak with an 11# Large Mouth
Bass on his stringer. The first time I met Mabry Edwards, he was standing in the
boat shop with Florida Governor Haydon Burns. They had just flown in and were headed
out onto the lake to fish. Mabry was the Governor's personal pilot and he later
became the guy that funneled me into USAF pilot training. This is another one of the
people that I will forever be grateful to. I will tell that story some other time,
but it involves Myself, Ted Jones, Ralph Seavey and cutting a boat in half
longitudinally. Mabry was a long time boat racer from Jacksonville and a very close
friend of Mr. Kiekhaefer. Don't quote me on this one, but somewhere I got the idea
that Mabry designed and built the first speedmaster lower unit. Let me switch
gears......Some of my earlier stories involved doing stupid things that could have
ended everything. Well, I wasn't the only one that performed such acts. Seems that
two people that were living right next to me on the property were having great fun
in the middle of the night running a neat little enterprise. They managed to acquire
many fish traps and, using the aforementioned company provided fishing boat, would
sneak along the shoreline in the dead of night placing them. They where hauling in
more catfish than you cold imagine. They would pull the boat up next to our trailer
and unload the catfish into the trunk of their cars and deliver to a market in
Kissimmee. I think they made out pretty good. The next morning the boat would stink
like hell from the fish meal they would bait the traps with. Also they stored the
meal under our trailer and it began to stink horribly. One night as I was running
endurance around 3:00AM, a catfish bounced off of my windshield and flew over my
head. I could barely see the Lake X catfish poachers at the edge of my vision as
they were laughing so hard the nearly fell out of the boat. Who were these
mysterious men. Let's just say that one of them might have been my brother (Bill
Sirois) and the other might have been Chet Strickland. Mind you, I said it might
have been them. I think they finally wised up and ceased their entrepreneurial
efforts before somebody said, "What the hell is that smell?".
-Steve
01/28/2005
.......................
 Quicksilver
Thanks Sam - I had forgotton that they were Quicksilver units earlier. As to Mabry,
I had only heard that he had some kind of proto unit early on. When it comes to the
really technical stuff, I could never hold a candle to any of you guys on this site.
Some day soon, I will tell you just how mad Odell Lewis got at me one day over a
technical issue. Also, I could never have held a candle to Bill when if came to
detail in boats. I don't know if you ever had the opportunity to watch him rig one.
He was like a very tempremental but very talented artist. The thing I do know is
that I loved to run the boats and I love to tell the stories about those years. It
is such a pleasure to be in touch with that part of my life again after all these
years. I have sooooo many more events to write about but I can't write any more
tonight. Later Gators
-Steve
01/28/2005
......................
 Cadillacs and Kneecaps
Mr. Kiekhaefer had placed 6 or 8 house trailers on the North side of the boat slip.
When I first got there three of them were occupied by families, (Wayne Meyer, Johnny
Bakos, Dean Schallenberger). The rest were occupide by single men. I moved into the
"Triple O" trailer with Chet Strickland and Phil Schenk. We each had a bedroom just
large enough for a double bed. There might have been 1' beside the bed and there was
a small closet. There was a small kitchen and living room that had two beds in it.
Occasionally someone else would occupy those beds. For awhile John Flood did so.
John was one of the many Wisconsin guys that would come to the lake to drive
endurance. He had arrived with an old Cadillac V8 that was as old as dirt and
closely related to it. Apparently he popped a piston or some such malfunction which
caused an impressive loss of compression and poor performance. He didn't have any
money for repairs so he came up with a rather unique solution. Now I have to tell
you that I did not actually see this repair made with my own eyes. Anyway, he
dropped the oil pan, removed the head from that bank and disconnected the piston
from the crankshaft and removed it. Then somehow filled the vacant cylinder with
concrete. Yes, I said concrete. He had created the first 7 cylinder Cadillac. I
don't know what transpired next, but if he ever got it running, it must have been
real smooth. ...............Gene Berg was also a Wisconsin guy (Appleton to be
exact). Gene was another of those fun guys to be around. He and I ran an Offshore
race together that would prove to be both the beginning and end of his career as a
race driver. This was early in the '60s as the sophistication of our rigging was not
very pretty. We were assigned a 19' T-craft with twin outboards to rig and run. The
T-craft might have has a little vee in the bottom but it was without a doubt the
hardest ride I have ever been in. Every bump would jar your teeth. All we had for
protection was a series of aluminum stanchions and railings to hang onto. We had
what was probably a 100 gallon gas tank held in place by aluminum angle and poured
foam. Anyway the race was to run out of West Palm to Freeport and back (?). It was
another of those days when small craft warnings should have been flying. We made it
through the Lake Worth inlet and into these huge seas. Gene was driving and I was
hanging on for dear life. The second or third bone jarring monster that we
encountered sent us both to our knees (everybody ran Offshore standing up in those
days). I managed to regain my feet and looked over at gene. The entire inside of his
helmet visor was covered with blood. He managed to barely regain his feet. He raised
his visor and spit out several teeth. At that point I thought he had just eaten the
steering wheel. Unbeknownst to me he had also clobbered his left knee on the gas
tank frame. I asked him if he was OK and he nodded yes and took off. The next wave
was not quite as bad but it was still nasty. Gene came down off of a plane and told
me I would have to take over. I asked him if he really wanted to continue in his
condition. He said yes, so I got it back up and off we went. It only took one more
monster before he screamed in pain and said that he just could not go any further. I
headed back in at idle speed and radioed that I had an injured man on board. Mr.
Kiekhaefer met us at the dock with an ambulance and Gene was lifted out of the boat.
Later Mr. K visited him in the hospital and made sure that he had the best of care
and that the bill was fully taken care. Several broken teeth had to be surgically
removed and his left kneecap was removed in 14 pieces. Mr. Kiekhaefer asked him what
he wanted to do and Gene replied that he had always wanted to be a truck driver. And
so, from that point on he was a Kiekhaefer Corp. truck driver. I have no idea what
ever became of Gene but I will always remember him standing there with blood all
over his visor, spitting out teeth and saying to me, "Let's keep going". At that
point we had only gone about 5 miles of a 200 mile race. We were all young then and
we thought we were invincible. Somebody once aske me what it was like to race
offshore in those days. I told them to place a ladder against their house, climb up
on the roof, jump off, and continue to do that for several hours and they might
understand what the physical part of it was like. I stand by that explanation to
this day. But, damn, it sure was fun!
-Steve
02/01/2005
..............................
Awesome Reading, Fond Memories
Wasn"t at the lake nearly as long as you seeroy,,,,,,But totally enjoy your humor
and all the stories, your memory is awesome,,, Name is Jim Hauser,,was at X from
"64-"66 than back to Wisconsin and back to the lake a couple of times,,,,,, Ran
midnight shift with you and Gene Berg a couple of months,Think a big guy named
George worked the tower,,,,,,,,, As I have remained in the marine business not a
time goes buy when I am not gratefull and draw on my boating practical experiences
learned while at X. As I was fresh out of high school and ready to whip the
world,,,,,,My father ( an exec with Merc A.A. Hauser) along with Mr. K. sent me to
Lake X, Will never forget getting out of the airplane and feeling my first blast of
Florida Humidity I thought my God My father sent me to Hell,,,,,Repeated those same
feelings a few years later however this time it was Southeast Asia and it was
Hell,,,,,,,, With such fond memories Lake X everyone their was just
special.........I was just so fortunate to be their with such a great group of
guys,,, On a sad note I read your story regarding Jim Pray, I was standing on the
dock when your boat bought him in he was a friend of mine and it was just a real sad
sad day,,,,,,,,Keep the stories up I know their are amillion of them.
 Thanks
Go fish 7070 Jim Hauser
02-01/2005
......................
 Remember you well
Jim - I remember you very clearly. If I were an artist (which I am not) I could draw
a picture of you right now. Thank you for your kind words about my stories. In the
near future I will post a list of names that I remember from those years and ask
that anyone that knows what became of them respond. Thanks again Jim and Best
Regards
- Steve
02/01/2005
...........................
 We didn't need that radiator anyway!
Once again not sure of the date but the event was the 6 and 9 hour marathons in the
Miami Marine Stadium. Anyway, one of the best boats to drive on endurance at the
Lake was a 21' Ted Jones catamaran with twin outboards. It ran approximately 50mph
and was a sweet ride. There were two tandem cockpits located in the center of the
boat. The driver sat in the front cockpit. The 6 hour was an Outboard only event and
the 9 hour was both outboard and inboard. Bill grabbed the Jones cat and installed
extra fuel to allow enough to run 9 hours unrefueled. He also moved the drivers seat
to the back cockpit which moved the center of gravity rearward. He ran this boat in
the 6 hour. I don't remember how he did but I think John Culver won with a Duo.
Anyway, I was to run the Jones cat in the 9 hour. Having run this boat comfortably
for long hauls I felt totally able to run the whole event nonstop and have the
advantage of not having to do a pit stop. Unfortunately I had never run the boat
with a full fuel load. I left the pits and idled to the milling area on the North
end of the course. There I tried unsuccesfully to get it up on a plane. The CG was
just too far aft. As we sometimes did, I climbed out on the bow and jumped up and
down trying to get it to fall over. No luck. Meanwhile the race had started and I
was now approaching the grandstand pulling a monster wake trying to get on a plane.
No doubt the huge wake created some spectacular sights as other boats launched off
of it. I'm also quite certain that some rather spectacular oaths were hurled my way.
Finally I pulled into the pits and picked another guy (don't remember who) to help
jump up and down on the bow with the plan that, once we got on a plane, he would
jump out of the boat and swim ashore. We were still not able to get it up and every
time I pulled back on the throttles the following wake would wash over the transom
slowly swamping the boat. At last all hope was lost and we idled back into the pits.
Unable to get the boat onto the trailer someone hatched the plan to place a large
round post under the bow, attach a rope to the bow eye, attach the other end to the
front bumper of a truck and pull the boat up over the post which would roll under
the boat. Sounded like a good plan. I advanced throttles to full as the truck driver
gave it everything in reverse. It didn't take long for the bow eye to give up the
ghost and depart the boat at an amazing rate of speed which propelled it completely
through the trucks radiator. Oh, just in case I forgot to tell you, Mr. Kiekhaefer
was standing on the fueling dock watching this comedy of errors. He just shook his
head in disgust and walked away. Everyone else was laughing so hard they were
crying. Once again, I managed to not get fired. To this day I do not know why Mr.
Kiekhaefer never spoke a cross word to me. I certainly deserved it on numbr of
occassions.
-Steve
02/01/2005
.........................
 Johnny & Odell

It's been a long time, but it looks like it? Also it looks like Johnny Bakos in the
front and Odell Lewis in the back.
-Steve
02/01/2005
.........................
I an sure enjoying this thread.
In those days I was a small time local privateer and
was only exposed to the "Factory" race operation at the big races like the Gold
Coast Marathon and the Orange Bowl 6 and 9 Hour events. It was something to see when
the Mercury Factory boats came in force and I am enjoying reading the inside stories
from those days. My one drive in a "Factory" connected boat was in the 66 9 Hour in
Brooke Russel's Miami to New York boat wich had some factory backing. I had the
misfortune to be in my first stint and struggling with a boat in which I had almost
no seat time when Hank Bowman's fatal accident stopped the race. It is fun to hear
that you guys didn't always have it all figured out either.
-2us70
02/02/2005
............................
More memories
Hey Steve,,,,Jim H. here again, nice to be remembered,,,,,when I first arrived at X
was assigned trailer with your brother never forget walking in and in our kitchen
spread eveywhere was a completely tore down 50 horse merc,,,,,,,,,I mean we had
parts in the refrigerator, cabinets, bathroom everywhere. Asked Bill about it one
day he said I think it was four his father he was rebuilding it... Yeah
right,,,,,,,,,,,, Anyway thought you might enjoy a Gold Coast marathon story,I think
it was "64 Had the pleasure of flying with Izzy, Fred K, Mr. K. and a couple of
others on board the grumman goose while following the race,,It was spectacular as
well as thrilling,,,,,,,,,Apologies to eveyone if I get the names wrong (over 40
years ago) Willnever forget the return leg from WPB to Miami everyone was off like a
bullet I think a fellow name Lou Nuta,Boats named Roman Candle took the early lead (
an inboard hydroplane do not know what class) and he was really movin,,,,,,,,,,Mr K.
was furious I swear if we would have had a bomb on board we would hace figured out a
way to drop it,,,,,,,He just kept repeating Its over 400 cubes,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Well
all of sudden Dave Craig gets that old wooden Switzer flying Izzy had that goose
flying as fast as the thing would go and Craig is pulling away (I think the darn
plane cruised at about 95 land speed) It was truly spectacular to watch from the
air,,,, At last he caught that hydro (which I think afterward did break down) and
that airplane was just bouncing up and down Mr K was just beaming and I mean it was
sweeet,,,,, He than instructed Izzy to circle back to find out where the rest of his
boys are. Was a grat day for everyone ,,,Little did I know as lowly endurance
drivers out at Lake X we were helping to shape outboard history,,,,,Hay Steve if you
feel like it e-mail me hauserj7070@yahoo.com
Thanks
go fish7070 Jim Hauser
02/02/2005
............................

 Third Bahamas 500
I had the fun of running in the first three Bahamas 500's. In the first one I rode
with Wayne Vickers, and in the second with Jim Tebo. The third one evolved rather
interestingly. While preparing a Lake X, I had drawn a 32' Cary with 4 BP's
(BluePrint engines rated at approx 140hp) which ran about 67mph. This was a tried
and true boat that Chet Strickland had previously run. I had run the boat out of
Sarasota to do some rough water testing on the BP's. Ralph Seavey had drawn an exact
copy of the boat but it was brand new. His boat clocked out at 65mph. About a week
before we were to leave the lake we were called into the office for some interesting
news. It seemed that Jerry Langer wanted to run Mercs in the 500. Jerry was an OMC
dealer in the Miami area and had run that brand pretty succesfully. In fact, in
probably one of the roughest offshore races ever run, only the Turbine Maritime boat
and Langer had finished. There was an incredible photo in the paper of the Turbine
standing nearly vertical at the Fowey Rocks light. Anyway, Langer had contacted
somebody (I guess Mr. Kiekhaefer) and said he wanted to run one of our boats in the
500. As this was quite a PR coup it was approved. So Ralph and I were told that we
would have to team up in one of our boats and Langer would get the other.
Fortunately they let us decide which boat we wanted. Ralph's boat (#808) was new and
slightly heavier and probably would do better in rough water.

Mine (#909) was not new but was faster. We chose mine and I was the
Driver of Record. The Bahamas 500 started at Freeport and ran
500 Nautical Miles (thats 560 statute miles) through the
islands ending back at Freeport. I will tell some more about the race in a future
post. Dale Thayer (Also Factory Team) was running 4 BP's on a 28' Memco which ran
approx 68mph. We ran side by side and in the Outboard lead for all but the last ten
miles. I'll get to that in a minute. From the very beginning we slowly pulled away
from Langer, and we were not about to give him a break. Let me interject something
here! I only raced on the Kiekhaefer Factory team for 4 or 5 years, but in that
entire time I was never told, prior to a race, to hold back for anybody . Even if I
had been directed to do so, I wouldn't have done it. Even though we all helped each
other prepare, once the flag dropped, it was every man for himself. That is not to
say that we did not stop to help out if the other guy needed it. As you will see in
a minute, we did. Anyway, by the time we got to Nassau, which was the half way
refueling point, Langer was probably 5 miles behind us. Mr. Kiekhaefer was on the
dock and was visibly unhappy that we had run away from Langer. He said something
like, "Why don't you guys give him a little break?". I replied, "OK" and put the
hammers down. I'll be damned if I was going to hold back for an OMC dealer that had
turned coat, or anybody else for that matter. Unfortunately, I got a short gas load
and ran out 10 miles from the finish. Dale Thayer stopped with me and asked what was
wrong. I told him to go on which he did. We raidoed our situation in and Mr.
Kiekhaefer, who had flown on to Freeport, sent a helicopter out to us with just
enough gas to finish. However it was not quick enough to stay ahead of Langer and he
managed to eke out second place outboard behind Dale. Those were the days of REAL
Offshore.
-Steve
02/02/2005
...................................
 Johnny Bakos' influence on Bill Sirois
Bill was very detail oriented. But alot of that he learned from Johnny Bakos. They
were teamed up for the 9 hour (Miami) one year. Johnny had latched onto a 20'-21'(?)
Rayson Craft which I think was mostly rigged in California. He took Bill under his
wing on this project. The boat was powered by a turbo-charged Chevy 427(I think).
They did some of the work ar Plant 9(?) in St Cloud, so most of us did not see the
boat until it was nearly ready. I had never seen such an immaculate craft. It was
absolutely beautiful and I think if ran pretty good. I remember seeing it run at the
Lake and at Miami but I don't remember how they did. The point is that I believe
this was a defining point in Bill's racing career and Johhny was a great influence.
Most of our boats ran well and fast but, in the beginning, they did not always look
good. Whereas, Johnny's always did. Attention to detail, Attention to detail,
Attention to detail! I wish that I had learned that lesson a little earlier in life.
If you see Johnny out there, ask him about that boat. I'm not sure I got the details
of this story correct, but Johnny can correct them.
-Steve
02/02/2005
................................
Miami Race
Hay Steve can help with info on on that turbocharged rayson-craft and your right
that boat was gorgeous and meticulous,,,,,Anyway Bakos took the boat down to Miami
Marine Stadium for the 9-hour, I dont think Bill co-drove with him as he had his own
rig I think it was Buddy Boyle teamed up with John,,,,,About half way through the
race a stud in a turbocharger let go effectivly eleminating the boost dropping the
horsepower to about 250 the boat @wot wouldnt do more than about 40 miles per
hour,,It was tragic watching these guys do their laps at that speed,,,,But asthat
class had such few entries a decision was made to keep running to the
finish,,,,,,,,,,After the race will never forget Bakos explaining That for a while
he was side by side with some fellow in a Boston Whaler with a 50 merc on it But the
guy cut him off in a corner and he couldn't catch it,,,,,,,,Later upon tear down at
X the broken stud was found. Mr. K had it mounte on a piece of wood and displayed it
in the shop with the message this inferior product is what cost us victory at the
9-hour marathon, it is why we dedicate our work here to researce to eliminate these
products. As usual he hit the nail on the head,,,,,,,But man that boat was a thing
of beauty,,,,
Go fish 7070  Jim Hauser
02/03/2005
..............................
 Sometimes I get Cornfuzzled
Thanks Jim - Now that you mention it, waaay back in my brain I vaguely remember
something about that plaque. I only started two 9 hours and I get a little confused
about who ran what and when. However, I do remember that one year we ran a practice
9 hour at the Lake to test the durability of lower units (super speedmasters?) on
fiberglass Switzers. We ran several of them and I had the pleasure of participating.
I remember the change in sound as the flap was lowered thus changing the shape of
the airfoil and the boat began to fly. As it became airborne the sound of the hulls
on the water would just cease. It was also really neat to go around the South end of
the lake flying slightly sideways all the way around. Before we finished there was a
large pile of units on the concrete next to the old tower. We popped quite a few. I
don't remember who ran them at Miami except that I think Jim Harkins ran the only
one that had a cockpit in the wing instead of the sponson. I think it was brown and
white whereas the others were more colorful. I think that was the year I ran a
Glastron /Mercruiser#1. I blew the blew the side out right at the chine and could
see through it until I had to come in for gas. I was sinking at the fuel dock so I
ran it up on the beach. Once again Mr. Kiekhaefer was not pleased as I had been
leading inboard Class A by a wide margin and should have been running a little more
conservatively. Consequently, a Volvo Penta won the Class. I guess I only knew one
speed.....
HAMMER DOWN!
-Steve
02/04/2005
....................................
 John Stenbeck
I absolutely remember John. He was a good friend and outstanding race driver. One
night we all went to a party in St Cloud and I got a little crazy on the dance
floor. The girl I was dancing with ran off screaming. So, John named me Taz after
the Tazmanian Devil. The name stuck for awhile. I think he also had a brother that
worked at the lake for awhile. The last time I saw John was at a tunnel boat race
here in Jacksonville. If you see him, tell him I said Hi. I think I remember Marty
but I don't have any stories about him. Maybe my memory will produce something
eventually.
Best Regards
-Steve Sirois
02/04/2005
.....................................
2us70
2us70
02/09/2005
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2us70 -
Interesting question....I'm not sure I ever knew how it happened. I was pretty young
and naive at the time, so I never had a clue about the internal politics of who got
assigned which race boat. However I can lend some insight to what I did see. When I
got there in 1962(?) I was there only to drive endurance along with 10-15 other guys.
Eventually, I got off of endurance and worked in the boat shop with Jim Harkins.
Odell Lewis,  Johnny Bakos,  George Thompson,  Roy Ridgell, and my Brother were
the primary race drivers. I know I am probably missing someone and will hear about it later.
Joe Anderson was the Shop Boss but I don't think he had much control over the race operations.
Those guys seemed, to me, to be pretty independent. However, I suspect that Mr. Kiekhaefer
himself directed which of them would do what. I do know that they did not always get along
real well with Joe and that was probably because of their direct connections to Mr. K..
As I remember, Odell and Johnny were primarily the inboard guys, while George, Roy and Bill
were primarily outboard guys. Eventually Bill crossed over and ran both inboard and outboard.
Also, it depended on whether they were running closed course, marathons, or offshore races.....
When the Company went to a race with a large contingent, others got the opportunity to get in
a race boat. That was usually the big races like the Gold Coast Marathon, Miami 6 and 9 hour,
Miami-Nassau, and Bahamas 500. I think the GCM was my first factory race. As for offshore,
one would first be assigned to be a co-driver. Which basically meant that you would hold on
for dear life while the experienced guy drove. For my first offshore race, I rode with
Wayne Vickers in a twin outboard Seacraft. That was the first Bahamas 500. Eventually, if you
didn't screw-up too bad, you would get a boat of your own and some other poor sap would have
to hold on for dear life. One of the most gratifying aspects of the whole process was the rigging
of the boat. Often one would start with a bare hull, and I do mean a bare hull. I remember working
with Jim Harkins in the boat shop on a small Glastron that I ran in a couple of races. We were
presented with a drastically lightened hull that had only logitudinal stringers. We first cut the sides
down some, then fabricated and installed bulkheads, installed fuel tanks, decked the boat and painted.
Then I worked alone (with plenty of guidance from my brother and Odell) to install a Mercruiser 1 drive
and 4 cylinder inboard engine as well as all of the controls and steering gear. Instead of the normal
through prop exhaust, the manifold simply had a short (6") slanted open hot stack at the end. I don't
know if it added any horsepower but it sure sounded neat. In some later races we ran the same exhaust
setup with the 6 cylinder inboard in several small Donzi's. Alot of the rigging process was standardized,
and yet we were allowed to innovate some. The experienced guys were allowed to innovate a whole lot.
I think that there was very little secrecy amongst us. If someone came up with something that worked well,
they almost always shared their idea. Also, we always helped each other with the actual work. I cannot
tell you how many times I worked 24, 36 or even 48 hours straight. Sometimes you would finish
rigging and propping out just in time to put the boat on a trailer and head for the race site. I had several
drives to Miami with wet paint still on the boat. Just before leaving Lake X we were given boat, trailer
and truck ownership papers in case we had any problems along the way. Or maybe it was so we could
be entered as owner and driver in the race. Please remember that most of these memories are of events
that occured 40+ years ago............I know that I have not answered you initial question of how we
were assigned boats and races....I think my best answer would be,
"I'll be damned if I know!".
-Steve Sirois
02/11/2005
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