1978 Indy Unlimited

[Jeff Lutz]

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

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

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

. My dad and I was at one of the last Nats that Pinckert and Bridge raced each other in Hammond La. I was a very young child. Pinckert held the record with his twin 40 Gator at the time (83.33 mph) Pinckerts twin was far faster than John's 'lead sled' . I never heard of anybody running over 100 back then. I doubt a 16-18 lb gear grinding twin was pushed 109 mph with a single pitched 1667. You say it was one way? What timing equipment? Did he ever do it again? Jeff Lutz

 

[brad nichols]

Nice read!!! I am just finishing an old school 90 OPS powered Coyote. Hope to have it in the water soon.

Brad

 

[Timbo Whalen]

Nice read!!! I am just finishing an old school 90 OPS powered Coyote. Hope to have it in the water soon.

Brad

Best wishes with it, Brad.

TW

 

[Bob Morton]

Good stuff cool pics Twins rock

NAILS

 

[Jim Recker Jr.]

I finally found these results from an old Flying Models mag.

1978 Indy Unlimited results

1. Len Skwiera

2. R. Saunders

3. Conrad Cupit

4. Jim Fetters

5. M. Bryan

6. Don Bilsky

7. Dee Hughey

8. Rip Holdridge

9. R. Vitek

10. L. Peterson

 

[P THOMAS]

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

here are some old pic of twins at Indy, https://www.intlwaters.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=116&page=3

 

[Terry Keeley]

You were looking for this guy's name, it's Pat Pancione from Rochester, raced with him a bit way back when...

 

[GraysonTaylor]

That turn fin support is neat. I haven't seen that before.

 

[Timbo Whalen]

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

here are some old pic of twins at Indy, https://www.intlwaters.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=116&page=3

Nice photos, Phil... didn't see the boat I was thinking of from 1978 Indy Unlimited race.

 

[Timbo Whalen]

I finally found these results from an old Flying Models mag. 1978 Indy Unlimited results 1. Len Skwiera 2. R. Saunders 3. Conrad Cupit 4. Jim Fetters 5. M. Bryan 6. Don Bilsky 7. Dee Hughey 8. Rip Holdridge 9. R. Vitek 10. L. Peterson

Thanks, Jim...Yep, it was Len Skwiera.

 

[Timbo Whalen]

You were looking for this guy's name, it's Pat Pancione from Rochester, raced with him a bit way back when...

Yeah, the guy I was thinking of us Len Skwiera- won the Indy Unlimited in '78... had those old gray head OPS 60's or 65's in it...very large boat.

 

[teddyd]

It looked similar to this.

That boat owner was Ron Walker out of Detroit. That was the sister boat to John Bridges. I has the same boat but mines was twin screws built my Tim Ries.

 

[Jim Recker Jr.]

I finally found these results from an old Flying Models mag. 1978 Indy Unlimited results 1. Len Skwiera 2. R. Saunders 3. Conrad Cupit 4. Jim Fetters 5. M. Bryan 6. Don Bilsky 7. Dee Hughey 8. Rip Holdridge 9. R. Vitek 10. L. Peterson

Thanks, Jim...Yep, it was Len Skwiera.

No prob. I have several old mags with results in them from back in the day. However Lenny ran a green super sixty Crapshooter (The Harpoon) that Marty Davis built. Powered by and OPS 60. Wasn't a twin.

 

[Bob Kensill]

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

Greg huey
Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

 

[Timbo Whalen]

I finally found these results from an old Flying Models mag. 1978 Indy Unlimited results 1. Len Skwiera 2. R. Saunders 3. Conrad Cupit 4. Jim Fetters 5. M. Bryan 6. Don Bilsky 7. Dee Hughey 8. Rip Holdridge 9. R. Vitek 10. L. Peterson

Thanks, Jim...Yep, it was Len Skwiera.

No prob. I have several old mags with results in them from back in the day. However Lenny ran a green super sixty Crapshooter (The Harpoon) that Marty Davis built. Powered by and OPS 60. Wasn't a twin.

Well, then, it wasn't Len...

 

[Wesleys Custom Graphics]

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?

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

Can I steal this thread? I have a 69 GTO with ram air 3 heads! No it is not stock! Yes, I searched forever for the heads, and yes, it gets around 6 mpg but boy is she fun to drive.

OK back to your regularly scheduled programing.

 

[JRXHydros]

Unsolved Mystery....glad me & my friend saw this beast...makes you think!

 

[Timbo Whalen]

Unsolved Mystery....glad me & my friend saw this beast...makes you think!

Indeed...unsolved, but not giving up.