1978 Indy Unlimited

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Timbo Whalen

Timbo Whalen

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2015
Messages
1,645
Hello-

Anyone out there remember who the guy was that ran the perfect race?...

He was running a gigantic, heavy outrigger powered by a pair of OPS 60's.

Does anyone remember who that person was?...

Somewhere I've got photos buried, but can't remember where I put them.

Thanks-

Tim
 
Was it Jarod Devae, He run a twin with ops 60 's in it. On'y twin I have ever seen run on 1 motor and finish a race. He has won Indy masters a few times.
 
I was at this race,it took two men to carry it down to the water,power to weight ratio was off the charts! To this day I haven't seen anything like this GIANT outrigger with OPS 60 grey heads. Very powerful rigger for its day. It was as big as a big picnic table. You had to be at this great race to understand the marvel of this machine,your jaw would have hit the ground seeing it launch & running on top of the water with such a sound of power coming out of the giant cowl that covered the engines & pipes. I looked at all the other boats at this great race,but when I looked back at this twin it was like from another world...it was crazy will never forget that day in 78.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Nope, don't think it was Possum's boat he ran twin 40's. John's twin wasn't that big, it was heavy but still only took one to carry and launch, hummm. I'll call Lenny Skwiera to see if he remembers, Marty started racing in 1975 so he may recall as well so I'll touch base with both.

Thanks, John
 
I was there at the ripe age of 17, didn't have a clue what I was doing. A buddy and I drove the 800 miles from Ottawa in his '70 GTO, we almost couldn't afford the gas home since there was a drag race at every stop light.
default_laugh.png


I remember Don Bilski helped me a bit and I got to finish one heat, awsome.

Was it Jay McGuire that had a big Gator back in those days?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Mike Betke said:
Pics of the Bridge twin. It would have run with no pipes back then.

Lager Head 5.JPG Bridge Twin.JPG Geared engines.JPG Lager Head.JPG
Click to expand...
Very Nice Craftsmanship,I took note of the engine bay...sweet! But this is not the rigger from 78,the wood cowl covered the top deck. Couldn't see engines or pipes,the cowl was awesome looking with a cherry stain look. Another thing to think about is the size & weight of this machine,like weight didn't matter to him. Rigger launched every time,the power just knocked me back couldn't believe how it got up on them little engines.
 
Terry Keeley said:
I was there at the ripe age of 17, didn't have a clue what I was doing. A buddy and I drove the 800 miles from Ottawa in his '70 GTO, we almost couldn't afford the gas home since there was a drag race at every stop light.

I remember Don Bilski helped me a bit and I got to finish one heat, awsome.

Was it Jay McGuire that had a big Gator back in those days?
Click to expand...
Hear ya on that gas mileage deal, Terry... that era of the GM 'A' body platform had some heft, and they rode very well.

Funny thing is, the biggest engine available in the Goat that year, the 455 HO, wasn't the fastest but ate the most oats.

It gave up 10 hp to the Ram Air IV 400, but had 50 lbs/ft more torque. The Ram Air III was the quickest and fastest of

the lot, even giving up 4 hp to the IV.

Meanwhile, back to the beastly rigger...

Thanks-

Tim
 
JRXHydros said:
I was at this race,it took two men to carry it down to the water,power to weight ratio was off the charts! To this day I haven't seen anything like this GIANT outrigger with OPS 60 grey heads. Very powerful rigger for its day. It was as big as a big picnic table. You had to be at this great race to understand the marvel of this machine,your jaw would have hit the ground seeing it launch & running on top of the water with such a sound of power coming out of the giant cowl that covered the engines & pipes. I looked at all the other boats at this great race,but when I looked back at this twin it was like from another world...it was crazy will never forget that day in 78.
Click to expand...
Joel, was hoping Finch would stumble upon this thread- he'll know, as well as Cowboy...

Got a choice here...either go dig around in the barn for that magazine, or give Cowboy

a call... Hmmm...

Thanks for participating-

Tim
 
John Beardslee said:
Nope, don't think it was Possum's boat he ran twin 40's. John's twin wasn't that big, it was heavy but still only took one to carry and launch, hummm. I'll call Lenny Skwiera to see if he remembers, Marty started racing in 1975 so he may recall as well so I'll touch base with both.

Thanks, John
Click to expand...
Hi John- yeah, Marty will know... I'm fairly sure the boat was a Pinckert concoction...

He built another monster rigger in the mid 80's, or so, with twin Picco P-90's. It was

featured in RC Boat magazine...think Finch gave it the shake down.

I haven't talked with Don since 1990, and we had some marathon phone calls.

He's getting up there and we're not sure how he'd respond to a call.

I always got along with him, though.

You used to run with Bridge in the Wolverine Club back in the day, right?... what was

the deal on that 'gearhead' deal he ran for a bit?...

Do you plan on being at the pond on Aug 26-27?...

Thanks-

Tim
 
timwhalen said:
John Beardslee said:
Nope, don't think it was Possum's boat he ran twin 40's. John's twin wasn't that big, it was heavy but still only took one to carry and launch, hummm. I'll call Lenny Skwiera to see if he remembers, Marty started racing in 1975 so he may recall as well so I'll touch base with both.

Thanks, John
Click to expand...
Hi John- yeah, Marty will know... I'm fairly sure the boat was a Pinckert concoction...

He built another monster rigger in the mid 80's, or so, with twin Picco P-90's. It was

featured in RC Boat magazine...think Finch gave it the shake down.

I haven't talked with Don since 1990, and we had some marathon phone calls.

He's getting up there and we're not sure how he'd respond to a call.

I always got along with him, though.

You used to run with Bridge in the Wolverine Club back in the day, right?... what was

the deal on that 'gearhead' deal he ran for a bit?...

Do you plan on being at the pond on Aug 26-27?...

Thanks-

Tim
Click to expand...
Hi Tim,

John's twin was the first that I know of and it was a geared to one shaft (3/16"). He lost a lot of gears in the beginning but Jerry Betke hooked him up with shaved crown gears and he started getting good life and performance out of the combination, ran 80 mph with one, could have been the first twin over 80. The second geared twin was built by Dave Turner and Ron Walker built the third both of our Wolverine club (Detroit). Ron Walker ran 109 mph one way with a 3/16" shaft using the original Octura 1667 that was a 3/16" bore (It wasn't stock blade but one that was pitched)

Don Pickert and his wife were at the Nitro Championships 2 years ago and he seemed to be in good spirits and good health. But haven't seen them since.

Thanks, John
 

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