I raced A Stock Hydro in 1957until late 1959 in Region 6. I t took me almost 2 years to find the right prop to make my old Swift with a KG-4 go fast enough and I ended up with a brass mich. 6x7 prop turning 6600 rpm on a 105 lb boat with me at 145 lbs. making 54 mph on straight aways. I stopped racing in sept of 1959 to go back to college and left my engine with Bill Howell and I have not seen him or any money. I sold my boat some years later for $75, Those days everyone ran a Mercury engine either on a Swift or Sid Craft, pickel forks were un known and the runabouts looked like runabouts not what they are using today. Most races we had 12 or more boats competing and I was lucky enough to win high point champion for 1959. After college I got married and had a son so I could only follow racing from the sidelines. years went by and I ended up in sailboat racing with my last boat being a San Jun 21 where I was boat of the year twice. I am now 84 so I would like to race power boats again but being a senior and overweight I just have to pass. The problem in the power boat racing ranks is getting an engine light enough and 2 cycle and making sure that everyone has the same motor or same cubic inches and not a specific design like the sidewinder or a modified stock system. Good luck making a class similar to what we had in 57 to 59.
I raced A Stock Hydro in 1957until late 1959 in Region 6. I t took me almost 2 years to find the right prop to make my old Swift with a KG-4 go fast enough and I ended up with a brass mich. 6x7 prop turning 6600 rpm on a 105 lb boat with me at 145 lbs. making 54 mph on straight aways. I stopped racing in sept of 1959 to go back to college and left my engine with Bill Howell and I have not seen him or any money. I sold my boat some years later for $75, Those days everyone ran a Mercury engine either on a Swift or Sid Craft, pickel forks were un known and the runabouts looked like runabouts not what they are using today. Most races we had 12 or more boats competing and I was lucky enough to win high point champion for 1959. After college I got married and had a son so I could only follow racing from the sidelines. years went by and I ended up in sailboat racing with my last boat being a San Jun 21 where I was boat of the year twice. I am now 84 so I would like to race power boats again but being a senior and overweight I just have to pass. The problem in the power boat racing ranks is getting an engine light enough and 2 cycle and making sure that everyone has the same motor or same cubic inches and not a specific design like the sidewinder or a modified stock system. Good luck making a class similar to what we had in 57 to 59.