Starting a tread on DRAG BOAT HISTORY.
POST IT HERE.
Here is some who and when in Drag Boat History.
This can from a friend that was big into it in the 70s and 80s.
A couple of weeks ago there was a thread on ***boat talking about the different boat manufacturers. I have had all these thoughts and memories going through my head for the last couple of weeks of what I remember transpiring during the late 60's, 70's, and early 80's. Hope this doesn't get too long.
60's to 70's, there were a ton of Flatbottom and Hydro manufacturers: Sanger, Howard, Litchcraft, Buyers, Hondo, Brendella, Kurtis Kraft, DiMarco, Cole, Cheyenne, and a bunch more. Jack Davidson's Sanger Boats was probably the elite of the group going into the 70's.
Sanger made a ton of flatbottoms, about 1 per week, through the early 70's. When the jet boat craze started in the mid 70's Jack's production moved more to jet boats. As I remember him saying, It took a week to rig a V-Drive boat and 1day to rig a jet for about the same profit. When Sanger came out with the Picklefork Hydro the whole Hydro scene went that way.
Arlen Kurtis and Sonny DiMarco were originally partners. Arlens dad Frank used to build aluminum bodied Indy cars so Arlen had the equipment. Sonny was the craftsman. I have seen boats repaired by Sonny that you could not tell where it was repaired even on the inside. Arlen & Sonny split around 1970 or so. When they split they each took copies of the molds, flat & hydro. We had 3 Kurtis Kraft flats 1973, 1975, & 1979. During the first couple of years after the split Kurtis and DiMarco boats were almost identical. Ted Faggart drove his own Kurtis Kraft Superstar and Arlens "factory" boat (both UGF)had alot to do with keeping Arlen Kurtis competitive. Ted has been driving forever. He drove unblown gas flats (Kurtis Kraft) throughout the 70's, then BGF, UGH, BGH, and TAH. Arlen also built a center steer flatbottom. It had a cutaway deck in the middle and you sat infront of the V Drive. The weight distribution was a little weird and it didn't catch on. Looked very close to Capsuled flat without the capsule. Arlen came out with the 501 Hydro and the "Airplane", which Eddie Hill made popular, in the late 70's. My buddy at the time, Ken Gibbs, moved from UGF to UGH and ran one the first 501's in 1979 and won the national championship NDBA. The 501's became the Hydro of choice for most. I've been trying to remember who did the molds for the 501, the "Airplane" was I think from Irv Brendell. Jimmy Lareka worked for Arlen and did alot of the layup work for him. Duane and Ron Bolton of Kelron Eng (K boat fame) built a BGH for Gary Kincaid? in the early 80's. They used Arlens "airplane" mold (most thought it was too big for anything less than TFH) put a Balso bottom and a drop thru strut in it, typical circle boat construction. The boat was very light and ran over the national record after a couple of times out.
Sam and Peggy Hondo were very successful during the 70's. The Pete Kaiser built and tuned Crazy Horse(s) with Al Bush at the wheel did alot to help Hondos sales. I don't remember how many BFF's they crashed but it was well over a dozen and I don't remember Al ever getting hurt. Pete did alot of experimenting, bottoms, motor locations, strut angles, you name it. They ran over 180 MPH once in a Blown Fuel Flat and regularly over 165 to 175. I remember Al saying after he retired that the most stable and fastest bottom they ever ran had these outside square runners. I am pretty sure that boat was used for Bitz's molds. It is too bad Rick Bitz is hard to deal with because he has one of the best designed bottoms out there.
Hondo and Brendella were pretty tight. When Sam died Peggy married Irv Brendell, always wondered about that one. Brendella built a large hydro in the early 70's that was popular for TFH. I remember when Irv Brendell came out with the Pickle Winged Flat. Radical new design but it got instant bad publicity when Sam Kurtovich crashed at Oakland. The project was shelved. Somebody took that design and built some in the 80's. I think it was Cougar but I may be wrong.
Cole became very popular in the late 70's and on into the 80's. The TR-2 was Jim's center piece late 70's early 80's, very stable boat. He came out with the TR-3 with more rocker for unblown flat boats. It was faster than the TR-2 but tended to be "flighty". Jim Lange was the shop forman for Cole. Lange left Cole to start HiTech Marine in the mid 80's. Originally Cole just built Flats and decided he needed a Hydro to sell. He traded a TR-2 splash to Sonny Dimarco for a Hydro splash from Sonny. Dimarco had one of the best Hydros at the time. Sonny wanted a newer looking Flat to build. Interesting thing, Sonny modified the TR-2 a little. Gary Pritchard ran this new Dimarco in BFF. It seemed to work better than the Cole he used to run. Wayne Mettler worked for Sonny. About the same time Sonny decided to get out of the business Canyon Marine evolved. Not sure about the details.
There was alot of trading going on. Cheyenne arose in the late 70's with a hydro that looked alot like a Dimarco. Howard Boats wanted an updated flat. Cole wanted a cruiser. Cole traded a TR-2 for one of Howards cruisers. Jack Davidson ended up with a TR-2 bottom one of his Bubble Deck flat versions. Don & Jim Ermshar were Cole regulars and did some very nice installations. The "Elusion" boat was one of their nicest pieces. Don & Jim started Mako boats.
Gotta stop here.
Thanks GM,,,,,,,,