National champion  1st  CJ 169 Yunker    2nd CJ 460  Brock/Robinson    3rd CJ 702 Mason.    Over all    1st  CJ 169 Yunker     2nd  Cj460  Brock/Robinson    3rd  Cj 702  Mason.

Congrats to Mark Yunker and the guys who finished on the podium.

Jack
CJ123

Thanks to fisherman Ken for the on shore videos and Ballinjack crewman Rick for the in boat vid. We might have had more of those but the Go-Pro now sleeps with the fishes! Here we go (crank up your volume).....

Saturday morning Heat #1 taken from shore.


Saturday morning Heat #1 taken from in the boat.
I guess it would be helpful if I explained what you are seeing in this vid. The GoPro was mounted on top of the engine air box, aiming out the left rear of the boat. The video starts with launching the boats and heading out for one complete lap of the course which serves to warm up the engines, acknowledge the crowd with a wave and allow the officials to check that the appropriate boats are indeed on the water. Next, the boats form a line side by side on the back straight with each boat in it's assigned lane (lane assignments are by lottery). Then the line of boats proceeds at medium speed down the back straight about 1/2 mile past the main island and rounds the end of another island onto the front straight. As the boats approach the course from the second island, the officials look for an even and fair alignment. When they are satisfied, the green flag waves, starting the race. Four laps later the checkered flag flies for the winner, but all the boats continue to circle the course until the last place boat crosses the finish line. At that point the black flag flies and everyone returns to their trailer. The actual race is about 3 3/4 minutes of extreme high adrenaline!


Sunday afternoon Heat #2 (final) taken from shore.

First, let me say thanks to the Moyles, the Dillworths and all the other terrific Idaho folks who work their butts off to make the Idaho Regatta at Burley a premier circle boat racing event. Also the large crowd of local people who showed up to watch the races were greatly appreciated by all the racers.

There were eight boats in the Comp Jet field and I thought that was going to rough up the water too much. But it didn't and the race conditions were pretty good.....except for the 100+ degree heat and minimal breeze.

Here are a few pix from the pits.
Mark Moyle (BBC/D'Cucci) finished 4th for the weekend and hosted the awards banquet.


Glen Dillworth (BBC/Rogers) finished 3rd for the weekend, and supplied the killer trophies.


Shirl Dickey (SBC/Rogers) finished 2nd for the weekend.


Tom Bandy (BBC/Liberty) finished 1st for the weekend.


In addition to the great racing venue at Burley, the special awards given out are part of the reason for making the long drive. The awards are the Moyle Mink (a mink coat from the Moyle Mink Ranch) and the Faulkner trophy (in memory of the late Lance Faulkner). For many decades both of these awards were given to the boat that exceeded it's class record by the greatest percentage. There was a change this year where the names of all the racers AND event workers were put in a bowl and one was drawn to win the Mink coat. One of the ladies who helped run the event was the winner.
In the battle for the prestigious Faulkner Trophy, the 3rd place Cup went to a hydro (I think - - memory fails me). The 2nd place Cup went to Tom Bandy who scored 107%. And the 1st place Faulkner Trophy went to Heath Hebert (GN369) who scored 108%. Hebert's win was a popular one with the racers, as they appreciate how he "drives the wheels off" that GN boat!

Oh, btw, there was a lady driver behind the wheel of CJ22. Name, Sandra. And she did a respectable job of running her "rookie" races.

(I struggled with trying to get photos into this post, so, if they appear I'll put up a few action shots in another post).

Jack

Comp Jet
 169 Mark Yunker Sun City, CA
 123 Thomas Bandy/John McClure Westminister, CA
 60 Shirl Dickey Aguila, AZ
 21 Harold Bruce/Terry Valore West Covina, CA
 702 Billy Mason Phoenix, AZ
 460 Jim Brock No. Hollywood, CA
 20 Kenneth Neal/Brian Neal Torrance, CA
 303 J Todd Burnett Santa Ynez, CA

Congrats to Mark Yunker!

Hi Phil,
Is this what you are looking for?



The SWTD in your avatar seems to be a step up from your 1st boat in the video.

Jack

Here is the only video I shot during the week end. This is Heat #1 on Sunday morning. The line up is
Shirl Dickey CJ60 lane #1
Tom Bandy CJ123 lane #2
Harold Bruce CJ21 lane #3
Mark Yunker CJ169 lane #4
Vance Lund CJ511 lane #5

Watch in full screen mode and it's almost like being there. 



I wish I had taped the second heat because it was a very close race.

Jack

Saturday racing is complete. CJ460 & CJ20 did not show, but Christian Munk did show - with plates on his Anthony.
Comp Jet was one of the bigger classes. Six Boats in the class and Shirl Dickey, CJ60, kicked ass in both heats.
Ron Lund's boy in CJ511 was a very fast rookie and claims to be totally hooked.
Beautiful weather for racing. Looking for more of same on Sunday.

Jack

This video opens with the aftermath of the Comp Jet race where George "Honker" Striegal (of Clay Smith Cams) took a swim in the "No Body Contact" drinking water Lake Casitas.

The Mod Jet race action was shot from the patrol boat in the first turn of the triangular course. I can only identify two of the six boats for certain. The first is the dark colored Southwind with the co-rider sitting high on the gunnel. That is the Hardin Marine factory Southwind/Olds/Jacuzzi, #455, "Nice-N-Easy" driven by Hardin boss Barry Lieberman. The boat could run with many of the Chevys. The other recognizable boat is running dead last - #727, the Rogers/Chevy/Berk of Steve King. This must have been one of the first races for Steve and his bubble deck Rogers. Once Steve got the hang of driving and got the Rogers dialed in, he won many, many races. Do you think that having Jeff Bennett on his team had anything to do with it?

Plenty of spinners in this race!

Jack

Jim, I'll try to get some more Steve King videos posted. Pretty sure I have one of his early races where he was spinning at the back of the field. And then I have others where he was running away with the race as he often did.

Jack

In that era we raced (circles) 12 times a year with COBRA, about 4 to 6 times with APBA and about 3 times with NJBA. The most races I remember running with my boat in one year was 17.

COBRA races originally were 30 minutes in length. The outboard guys liked enduros because their engines rarely blew up. The jet guys, on the other hand, couldn't figure out how to build reliability, so the races were cut to 20 minutes for them. The Olds engines were extremely unreliable (oiling issues) and it took years for those guys to solve their problems. The races were shortened again to 15 minutes and the finishing rate improved. That was still enough race time to have a lot of fun. When the races were held on narrow waterways like the River or LBMS or the Redwood City ship channel, the courses were straight line with one buoy turns at each end. When we raced on lakes like Casitas or Puddingstone (3 times each winter) the course was usually a triangle with one buoy at each turn and a different angle for each turn. Some turns were sweepers and others, hairpins. That equalized things for the different turning abilities of the different hull styles and made for very fun races.

APBA races were similar to today except that everyone battled for a starting lane during the 5 minute warm up period and then raced to the start line just as the clock counted down to zero. At zero a Poleroid photo of the start line caught any gun jumpers, who were then DQ'd. Very harsh, but everyone knew how to do it right. The courses at LBMS and Parker were straight line, one buoy turns, 5 laps. On the lakes like Yellowstone, Comache, Merrit and Clear Lake the courses were ovals with 5 or 7 buoy turns. Those were scary fast - a total adrenaline rush!

I think APBA also sanctioned the enduro circuit. The premier race, of course, was the Parker 9 hour - 6 !/2 miles one way from Bluewater to Bransons, one buoy at each end, 13 miles around, 120 boats leaving from a dead engine start at Bluewater beach, all at the same time!!! Talk about chaos...
The Elsinore 500 was another huge enduro that ran on a big oval around the entire lake in the roughest water ever. I can't remember the boat count but it was probably 75 or more. In Sept of 1971 (the last Elsinore 500, I think), Phil Trichler drove his Southwind marathon hull, "Peacemaker", to 1st Jet, 5th Inboard, 16th overall.

NJBA usually held about 3 events each year at Bluewater. There were drags, circles, slalom and marathon races (all jets). The circles were by class, SJ1 (Olds), SJ2 (Chevy), MJ & CJ. The course was a true 1/2 mile straight with one buoy turns and 5 laps long with a digital clock start (like APBA). The climax race of the weekend was a one hour marathon that usually paid $$$ to win. $1000 was the highest I remember going to the overall winner and lesser amounts going to the class winners.

It was definitely a different era for racing jet boats!

Jack

The up-dn nozzles used in both circle & drag racing during that era were operated by a cable (43C) that was attached to a left foot pedal.
The nozzle was up for speed on the straights, then down entering the turn to make the hull bite. The pedal was modulated throughout the turn to keep the bite and yet, not spin out. A certain amount of up in the corner kept the rear of the boat planted in the water.

We used to race at Salton Sea (sometimes known as Salton Sewer) once or twice a year. This video is an early morning combined race with SkiJets and some outboards. The SkiJets were required to use aluminum log exhausts with all of the engine cooling water exiting out the exhaust tip. They were limited to 460 cu in, no droop snoots or diverters, offset steering & thru hull fuel fills. Riders were optional but very common.

The two main players in this race were Bill Pratt in a 17ft Hornet (yellow #454) and Jeff Paine in a 16.5ft Rogers (white #277). Both hull designs have a deep entry so the boats really carve a turn. Jeff wins, Bill is 2nd and 3rd goes to #95 (an Avenger hull, I think). Duration of the race was probably about 15-20 minutes and the course was a triangle, about 1.5 miles around.