Name of boat I’m looking at is Alcohol Abuse…still negotiating. Ironically, it’s been 3 years since I quit drinking and it’s been the best 3 years of my family’s, personal, and work life.
My Dad (Dennis) passed away recently after a 1 1/2 year battle with Cancer (duodenum). We didn’t give up until (what ended up being) 18 hours before his last breath when Dr. gave Me, my Sister and his Partner/Girlfriend the news that they couldn't do anything else for him. I said to my Dad, "It's time to go home Dad". He was 100% cognitive, knew what that meant, and nodded.
As the EMT's (Dad on gurney) left his hospital room, from 10ft behind I yelled, "See you at your house Dad!" He responded loudly / clearly "OK!" That was his last word on Earth. He passed away (81yrs young) peacefully (Vitas hospice was amazing) at his home 10 hours after we brought him home with family and animals by his bedside.
He always loved racing, especially drag racing whether cars or boats. He loved watching me race motocross too when I was a teenager, but his heart was with brute power and reaction times. (though he really liked that I was a good starter in motocross).
The hook was set when he was 20 and bought a 1961 Ford Galaxy Starliner with a factory 401hp 390ci. Tri-Power Setup(3-2barrel carbs). He had cutouts to open up the exhaust and it was a Manual 4-Speed. Back in the early 60’s he used to race frequently and his best run was 13.99 @ 101mph at his home track of Fremont Raceway in Northern Cal. Big / heavy car was moving back in the day and rowing through the gear box must have been exhilarating.
Some classic pics including the day he married my Mom back in 1966:
Rest-In-Peace Dad
So about this Alcohol Abuse boat. Still negotiating, but I’m liking what I’m seeing and I KNOW my Dad would have really liked it. And like Motocross there’s a great community of genuine dudes in boat racing that will take you under their wing. However it turns out, I can feel my Dad’s presence/influence to live life as he did. A life well lived, a full 81 years of life.
Enjoy the video(shot yesterday) and pics of this boat
- Blown 540 Chevy on Alcohol w/2-Speed Lenco transmission
- 1980 Sanger Ski Hydro top / hull bottom fully modified for racing
Great read !
" Unsinkable 2 "
Would be my name lol
Gnarly boat and cool story
Pickle Fork?
Cool boat.
Drag boats are insane.
Back in the early 90's, I was doing a mt bike race in Cameron park in Waco.
Right along the Brazos river.
Same time that they were having drag boat races.
Running at 90% anaerobic capacity, and suddenly you hear two of them launching off the start line.
Post race action had most of us watching them.
Incredible acceleration.
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Great read, bad ass ride.
Those drag boats always make me nervous as shit watching them. Small bit of air gets underneath and it becomes an aircraft.
The prop and rudder are the only things you really want in the water when making a drag pass, so yeah, essentially flying.
and only half the prop (on a hydro) is in the water at speed.
I'm sorry for the passing of your dad. Cancer sucks. A great thread honoring your dad, he sounds like he was a great guy.
Good luck with the boat purchase. VIdeos never quite capture the sensory assault of a motor like that. The sound, the vibration, the smell of the exhaust. Looks like a wicked machine!
Been to a few boat drags in Bakersfield many years ago. Had a friend who raced the capsule boats. Dudes carry their balls around in wheelbarrows to go that fast on water.
Sorry about your loss!
I'm familiar with that boat, as I believe the Westerfields have done some work on it recently?
Spent a lot of time hangin' around at different V-drive regattas and sprint boat races over the last 20+ years.
Anyhow, good luck in your endeavors and congrats on the sobriety!
Rex Hutchison Racing Engines up here in Sacramento has the most knowledge recently about this boat and engine. Glenn Hutchison (owner of RHRE) and I have had quite a few conversations including pitting next to him and having his crew guys check prop, adjust valves, etc.
Glenn moto'd himself too. 👍 Cool story on his blog as a kid around drag boat racing...https://hutchisonracing.com/in-a-picture/
There's no way I'd look into jumping into something like this without complete support / backing (no matter the $) in the short term for sure.
If I get it (getting close), goal is to get my license at the March 22 meet at Bakersfield.
Here’s Glenn assuring me the boat’s legit and their pit setup:
It's all good bud. We'll figure it out with you and we'll have to get together and talk about the races coming up. Make sure that we have all correct safety equipment so you'll pass tech and then I got a good group of guys you can use my pit spot that why you're surrounded by Rex customers we can keep an eye on you 🤣⚙️🛠️
I've seen some bad one's over the years. Before Top Fuel had capsules, it wasn't a matter of if you're going to crash, but when. An evil handling boat, with no capsule, traveling 220mph...what could go wrong? 1986 was the worst with 7 drivers in 8 months...a lot of changes stemmed from that year. The sport's major stars were no more in the span of 8 months. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-05-23-sp-1870-story.html
Probably the more import innovation(IMO) vs Capsules, is the twin-counter rotating props / W drive invention that can handle the power (10,000) of a Blown Fuel engine and push it down the track straight and true.. Fuel hydros run so much straighter now...but they are also fewer and farther between. Extremely expensive to run a Fuel program
The setup I'm looking at runs on Alcohol (cooler), makes an estimated 1500hp, and valves can be checked at the end of the day. Believe it or not, these configurations are not tuned to the max. Classes are more about dial-ins and driver reaction times. Even the courses are shorter than the standard 1/4 mile. There's 1000ft and 660ft classes now. Anyway, at full tilt 1/4 mile (when they still ran that), this boat would be in 6.5-7 second range at 160mph. ET's are so quick, because essentially drag boats get a running start...but also they accelerate extremely quick.
You seriously need to keep us updated on this.
Perhaps a short video or two once you are up and rippin.
I live on a large lake.
Nothing cooler early in the morning than hearing someone in a perfectly trimmed out bass boat, absolutely at full song.
Pretty cool, to start the engine you press with your left foot (left of footrest) on starter button, that way you can give it a little squirt of gasoline with right hand and gasoline bottle directly into injector.
That is just plain horny sounding.sounds even better than a crisp 2 stroke.
Fastest boats I’ve ever watch was the unlimited hydro planes at lake Washington. At the change over from the V 12 Merlin engines to the turbine driven boats.
I get some of the worry, this is big boy stuff. All these things (motorcycles, cars, boats) are tools. You better respect them and do it right.
A little history, I used to race OTHG in late 90’s / early-mid 2000’s, got up to 38 Expert and was a consistent top 5 finisher. I loved the sand and had my best of a 3rd overall at a OTHG National in Fernely, NV in 2006.
In that same time period (mid-late 90’s) I Road Raced with AFM at Sears Point, Buttonwillow, and Thunderhill. Started with an inline-4 400cc Honda CB-1. That thing sounded so sweet with its gear-driven cams. Then it was time to move up. Bought a turn-key 140hp Erion / HRC piston equipped CBR929RR. I worked up to speed and was getting top 3’s in Open Production and Open Superbike at the local AFM events.
2001 rolled around and I wanted to race the AMA Open Superbike Support class at the World Superbike round in July at Laguna Seca. That Spring I applied, sent in my AFM resume, and was granted an AMA Pro license.
I was in the tech world and a lot of us (at 3Com) lost our jobs in late May 2001. My Wife lost her job on the same day too, we both worked at 3Com. It took the wind out of our sails, especially with concern over losing the house we purchased just three years prior. But, for a minute I was an AMA Pro.
Last, but not least, I had the urge to take my Suzuki Bandit 1200 to Sac Raceway to see what it would do at the strip. It’s a sweet motor, 1157cc, Air-Oil cooled GSXR motor with a wonderful powerband. I added a slip-on,GSXR intake cams, and a Fox Shock. Estimating 120hp and a ton of torque. I made several runs down the 1/4 mile (it was 100 degrees, engine was soft). Declared a safe dial-in of 11.12 as the night would get a little cooler. My 1st time ever (~2013), I went 5 rounds and won the local event. Had a best of 11.19 @ 120mph with some good/consistent reaction times.
I Love racing, but I’m the tortoise type. Sneak up on it, respect it. One of the tips the boat builder/racer has already offered…start in 2nd gear. I’m all for it. 🏁
thanks for sharing, very cool, my girlfriends father raced for years (top alcohol flat) and i went with them to a handful of races IHBA and the lucas series before it shut down, very cool and an addicting scene to be around. alot of sick paint jobs on those boats too
Pit Row
You familiar with Kebin Kinsley?
Yeah, he's a buddy of mine who pretty much pioneered the capsule. He started buying scrap F-16 canopies from the place where I worked that made them.
Tex-Star! Hahahaha!
Ted, you know you can't change her name. Right?
It's bad juju.
It's a great name in my opinion BTW.
My first Laser was used. It was called "Aquaholic". I was 14 years old, and the stiffs at the yacht club thought it was appalling that a child was racing a boat with such a name.
We ( my Dad and me) pretty much said "piss off", and the next year Dad made Commadore.... So Fuckem.
I like the story. No name change…it’s perfect.
My Dad did the Yacht / Commodore thing with his Yacht club too. The Delta here in NorCal. and out under the Golden Gate to various destination ports on the Coast.
Yeah, he’s one of the lucky dudes that ran a boat and a car program simultaneously(I think). His boat was a hard-runner in the BAH class (blown alcohol hydro). That’s a no-limit class and they wound those Alcohol motors tight. Can’t imagine the engine RPM and prop speed.
Speaking of engine RPM, the big Blown 540 in Alcohol Abuse runs on the big end at 8200rpm (160mph in 1/4!mile) Here’s some perspective, my Dad’s beloved family ski boat (1972 Kona / built 468 Chevy / Berkeley blue-printed A pump / 850 Holley on a GM high performance intake manifold with high flow electric fuel pump) turns 5,200rpm at sea level.
Jets put a tremendous load on the motor and are essentially a dyno if you know health of pump and specs. Talked with my Dad’s good friend (Steve) at length about his passing and the good times we all had (early 80’s) supporting a good friend’s twin-turbo alcohol boat (BAH class). Steve was also stoked(but cautionary) about Alcohol Abuse…his words I’ve heard before Respect It. My Dad, Me, Steve, Darrel-boat driver, and crew went up and down California / Arizona: Red Bluff /Chowchilla/Lake Irvine and Firebird@Chandler, AZ for World Finals.
That boat was a runner and re-set many records(his own) for its class (et and mph)In the liquid 1/4 mile. It ran mid-5 second et’s @ 190+ mph. It’s record best of 199mph was at Chowchilla. Darrel had a clutch to spin the turbos/provide boost while staging / slow-rolling startI before green light. It was a beast off the line and left harder than some Nitro fuel boats. It’s twin-turbos sat atop an all-aluminum 481 Rodeck (Chevy based). It had a cool name too: Turbolence (pic attached)
Back to my Dad’s family boat…a little different than family boats these days. 🙂 Steve estimates with that pump and the BBC 468 (that my Dad and Steve built) turning 5200rpm, The engine estimate is an honest 525hp.
My Dad affectionately named the boat Brown Sugar in the early 70’s when Motown sound was huge. I’ll never forget my Dad towing Brown Sugar through Oakland (late 70’s) for a ski-club event (February Freeze) at the Oakland Estuary. The amount of thumbs up and big smiles from the brothers was cool. 😎
Good Times (good tv show too) ✌️
My Dad in his element; his happy place as he called it. Trinity Lake 2018...he was 74 (at the time) and enjoying life.
I will miss him dearly for the rest of mine. ♥️
Wow! You can see in the video he really loved water and speed! Brings a tear to an eye.
Dan Pastorini used to live a few miles from me, and when Id bump into him in town we'd talk racing. (he was racing asphalt short-track at the time and I was racing dirt sprint cars so we would swap stories) I told him he was nuts for that drag boat stuff he did decades back.
Yeah, it hits hard. That smile. So happy for him (in his element) and he was like that about a lot of stuff including his Grandkids which he adored.
My Sister took that video and just recently shared with me. It's my Sister and two long time camping friends also in boat. I'm not in there.
Seems healthy and great write up! I’m grew up around the drag strip and the adrenaline rush you get headed down the strip never gets old to me
However, a feeling I that I never reproduced again was the only time I rode in a drag boat. Truly amazing and always wanted to get into it
Sorry for the loss of your dad, that's a tough one. But he was an animal and way cooler than mine, you should carry on with the tradition and burn METHANOL
Hell ya!
As long as you don't have Alcohol on board, you will be stopped every 100 feet.
But hay, I dig it
Congratulations!! I just got 3 years myself and agree with everything you said.
Life still has its ups and down but overall great change. Sweet Boat Dude!!
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