Automotive Power [1996]

 

Just for history

1967	U-28	Dutchman	5000 lbs	2 Fords	never qualified
1970	U-25	Pride of Pay 'n Pak	5500 lbs	2 Chryslers	B-F 5th, then re-engined
1970	U-29	Atlas	5500 lbs	2 Chryslers	B-F 5th, then re-engined
1974	U-77	Walther Special	6000 lbs	2 Chryslers	unraced, then re-engined
1975	U-14	Miss O'Neill	5000 lbs	2 Fords	DNQ
1977	U-4	Charlie's Girl	3500 lbs	1 Chevy	DNQ
1979	U-5	Candyman	5700 lbs	2 Chevys	B-F 2nd
1979	U-16	Lake Shore	3500lbs	1 Chevy	never raced
1980	U-9	Aronow/Halter Special	?	2 Cosworth	re-engined various ways
1980	U-100	Shazam	?	2 Chevys	don't know
1984	U-9	Texmo	2900	3 Mercurys	B-F 11th
1986	U-86	Arcadian	?	8 Mercurys	DNQ
1988	U-9	Stroh Light	4000	2 Fords	B-F 6th

 

None seemed to fair too well. I listed the weights because I am curious if weight versus number of engines doesn't work out — i.e., do you need four engines to meet straightaway speeds, but then be too porky for the turn?

— Ray Downes

* * *

[John] Paramore answers:

Add to the list "Chrysler Crew" which actually won a race, Lyle Parks' Miss Skyway (1957), powered by four small-block Chevs and about 9 million Vee-belts, And Wally Panebaker's Whiz-Ski (1957), single Packard-powered seven-liter with a seven-foot-long tailfin extension to meet minimum length requirements.

The Skyway just kinda sat there and burned rubber...never did work until an Allison was substituted. It qualified as either "Sudden Sunnee" or "Sunny Jim" and having at last qualified, was withdrawn at the request of safety officials. The last time I saw the boat it was rotting under leaves in a Bellevue WA back yard in about 1965 or '66. Tom D'Eath reports it has been located and is under restoration locally.

Whiz-ski just couldn't run more that a lap or so at a time, though speeds weren't bad, but it never qualified. There were a few years of here and there activity as a 7-liter, as the Redskin, then in the 1961-'63 period they finally got the Packard hooked up and the boat ran off with a series of national championships. This included a number of incredibly exciting deck to deck races between Lynn Montgomery driving Redskin and Chuck Lyford in Challenger. It was recently rescued from the weeds and restored in its seven-liter form. The boat was displayed at the September inboard races at Lake Spanaway.

I think that Aronow/Halter and Texmo may be the same boat in different reincarnations.

I last saw the Dutchman falling apart at Bob Gilliam's in Bothell in the early '70s...It's probably a part of the landfill for ATL Corp. now, but you never know...Bob saved *everything*.

(Reprinted from the UHRA Hydroletter February 14, 1996 Vol. 2 n. 54)