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I hope you're all sitting down.....
Today, Sonny Dimarco sells backhoes in Northern California.:frown:
Had I picked up Earmshar's Dimarco in Oregon, my ideal hopes were to leave it with Sonny for a while for a little "factory clean-up work of the hull"....a pretty outlandish thing to ask of him, I know...
LO
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jgxx69
I believe Aquacraft is a fiberglass Wickens. Wickens is one of the original builders of highperformance boats. He built all wood flatbottom's, hydroplanes. Some say he built some of the best boats in his day. I believe dating back to the 40's.
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Skip Volk made the first 17 ft Aqua Craft and then later came the 18 ft. Fred Wickens made the wooden Wickens and then later I think Skip made the fiberglass splash off the wood Wickens. They were manufactured as two different hulls. Not one replacing the other.
There was a lot of races won by Skip and several others in the Aqua Crafts. The 17ft was one of the best turning boats in it''s day. That being mid to late 60's. I think the 18ft came along about the late 60's and early 70's.
Stan Drake raced a 17ft Aqua Craft in those days and did real well. He now lives in Havasu but says he was the guy to beat on the Parker Strip back then.
My dad built several Aqua Crafts and Wickens out of Don Minegar Custom Boats and before that Walley and Minegar Custom Boats out of the Bay Area.
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Today, Sonny Dimarco sells backhoes in Northern California.
and its my understanding he still has a 21 in the garage, never had a hole put in it.
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Bob Garner in his Blown Gas Miller flat racing Ray Caselli's Blown Fuel Hondo panic mouse in eliminations 1967.
http://www.***boat.com/image_center/...panicmouse.jpg
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Friend of mine had a Panic Mouse boat n the 70s. Red and gold flake one. Wish I knew where it was now. Hey does this mean I can say I drove Panic Mouse?
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Hal Holt in his unblown miller flatbottom eliminated all his competitors in Marine Stadium 1962. This picture shows him in a dead heat with a blown (fuel?) sanger flat. They raced again, hal holt won. He was suppose to race a blown fuel sanger hydro but the hydro broke something on the way to the starting line. Needless to say Holt had a terrific day at the drags
http://www.***boat.com/image_center/...01-002-med.jpg
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I sat my uncle down for a bit today. This is one of his many stories of racing in its infancy. I really should write or audiotape everything, its great to hear him tell them. The first Parker 9 hour enduro Ray caselli, my two uncles, mace ryan and several other friends entered a Guasti with a pontiac in it. They finished seventh despite a breakdown. About 1960. The next year ray had a Guasti with a blown oldsmobile and tall gears in it. He put in these big fuel tanks and figured he'd get out in front of everybody then just cruise the whole race. It seems alot of others hasd the same idea, it turned into a 15 mile drag race to the dam when others had the same idea. He didn't finish the race. There are lot more stories my uncle has that are first hand accounts...but his memory is fading fast with all the details.
here is the next one....i got him talking now. My uncles first boat was a guasti, another uncle flipped it at the drags in Bakersfield when the prop shaft came loose. My uncle was fine. he had seen a hondo and asked ray to build one for him. It was 1966. ray asked my uncle how fast he wanted to go, my uncle said 90mph, but it was to be used as a ski boat. So they built this flat with a STOCK 427 and a holley 850. the motor came from a wrecked corvette. the only modification they made was to put in a standard dual point distributor in place of the electronic ignition. They took it the the drags at bakersfield to clock it and it did 92mph off the trailer........That was 1966. Hondos took off after that.
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