Pretty close, HJ. The hull in question was built by Ron Jones in '73 for Jim Clapp. It sported a pair of t-53 Lycoming turbines. Jim died in the spring of '74 & his wife, Pamela, campaigned the U-95 boat in the first 6 races of '74. It blew an engine at the Gold Cup in Seattle and sank. It was bought by Pete LaRock & ran in '75 as Shakey's Special with an Allison and in '76 as Sunny Jim with a Merlin. It was also leased to the Bud camp for the Madison race that year. In '77 it was painted as the 1st U-96 KYYX for the Tri-Cities and Seattle races, finishing 5th & 3rd respectively with LaRock driving. That year it was driven by Sue Williams to a new women's speed record @ 160 mph. It went on to run as Miss Orange County & Barney Armstrong Machine with owner/driver Chuck King of Calif and was bought by Bill Wurster in '81. It ran as the U-8 No Name, Miss North Tool, Miss Great Scot and Oh Boy Oberto. In '82 it became the U-8 Executone (the 1st). That was the boat, driven by George Johnson, that tangled with John Walters in the turbine Pay 'n Pak at the Seattle race. Walters was injured and the U-8 sank. 1983, as HJ said, was the last season for that hull.
The KYYX boat that Pat O'day owned was a 1981 rebuild of the '76 U-64 Vernor's/ Esquire/ Squire Shop. It was painted blue and green with white lettering, ran a turbo-charged Allison & was driven by Brenda Jones.
