NNRT Offshore Classics

[FLYING FISH]

Chris said the photo of the 37 was from Sept. 86

So, in September 1986:

September 7 - Guernsey, England Peter Stuyvesant
September 10 - Rochester, New York Coca Cola Race. The one where Bobby Saccenti got hurt so bad.
September 20 - Portofino, Italy grand Prix
September 23 - San Francisco, California
September 27 - Miami, Florida Apache Offshore Grand Prix
September 28 - Shodo-Shima, Japan

None of those races mention the boat in Searace.

http://powerboatarchive2.co.uk/galleries/Library/Boat-Builders/USA/Conquest_photos.pdf

The 1987 pic looks like Key West.

From the archives in 1987 Ciasulli raced the Conquest cat in South West Florida Regatta - Ret,New Orleans - 3rd,Suncoast - 3rdTrumps GP - 3rd,Key West Worlds - 3rd no record of his boat in this race but photos indicates it was the Conquest)

Chris Craft and Conquest are a bit difficult to track their history.Some years ago I posted a question to Rich Luhrs on the subject,thinking he was the expert on such matters,but no reply was forthcoming.

Searace is a good source of history,but there are mistakes a plenty.It`s very difficult to know every detail at every race,and once in print,your there to be shot at.Have the `T` shirt on that.

 

[Pete B]

 

[Serious News]

Searace, Page 455:

"Masakazu Kobayashi, ......, won both of Japan's top offshore races in the big ex-Morales' cat now renamed Bengal, ....., at record speeds."

This boat?

 

[Serious News]

One of the best boats ever. Charlie in Top Banana beat Bill Elswick in his 39' Cigarette Long Shot in the 1979 Bushmills, but Bill was always a very tough competitor and he had won the World Championship in 1971. That was in his old boat, the 32' Cigarette Boss O' Nova.

Not sure what the date is of this photo. Chris?

 

[Skater 36]

One of the best boats ever. Charlie in Top Banana beat Bill Elswick in his 39' Cigarette Long Shot in the 1979 Bushmills, but Bill was always a very tough competitor and he had won the World Championship in 1971. That was in his old boat, the 32' Cigarette Boss O' Nova.

Not sure what the date is of this photo. Chris?

1979

 

[Ratickle]

So maybe the photo is from the Bushmills.....

Charlie?

 

[Top Banana]

So maybe the photo is from the Bushmills.....

Charlie?

Hey guys, sorry I have been MIA for a bit.

Yes, this was the first turn at Dana Point in the 1979 Bushmills race. I turned first, Jerry Jacoby second with Bobby Saccenti throttling and Betty was right behind him. Then Elswick right after her.

I love this shot as it shows a nice lead after 50 miles or so, but still everyone was still close enough for a race.

It was the only race that Bill Elswick ran his new 39 Cigarette in White livery. He painted it Black after this and campaigned hard for the rest of the year and next.

He did win the USA # 1 the following year 1980, as well as the Harmsworth Trophy by winning both the Benihana race and the Cowes race in England.

He never won a World Championship. The other Bill you are thinking of was Bill Wishnick....the first official Billionaire in our sport.

 

[Ratickle]

Thanks Charlie. I hate it when I screw up like that.

Bill Wishnick is not Bill Elswick .
Bill Wishnick is not Bill Elswick .
Bill Wishnick is not Bill Elswick .
Bill Wishnick is not Bill Elswick .
Bill Wishnick is not Bill Elswick .
Bill Wishnick is not Bill Elswick .
Bill Wishnick is not Bill Elswick .
Bill Wishnick is not Bill Elswick ................:banghead:

 

[Top Banana]

Thanks Charlie. I hate it when I screw up like that.

Bill Wishnick is not Bill Elswick .
Bill Wishnick is not Bill Elswick .
Bill Wishnick is not Bill Elswick .
Bill Wishnick is not Bill Elswick .
Bill Wishnick is not Bill Elswick .
Bill Wishnick is not Bill Elswick .
Bill Wishnick is not Bill Elswick .
Bill Wishnick is not Bill Elswick ................:banghead:

Both were very colorful characters. Bill Wishnick was Chairman of the Board of a company called Witco. It owned a bunch of companies in the chemical and oil business. Bill loved speed both land and water and he recognized a real talent very early on in drag racing.

If anyone out there remembers seeing the Swamp Rat Don Garlits, run his dragster in NHRA, then they will remember Kendall Motor Oil as The main Garlits sponsor. Kendall was one of the oil companies Bill owned, another was Amalie which he used to sponsor some offshore races back in the 60's.

Bill used his money to benefit others in many fun ways. One of his favorite was to walk along the boardwalks in some places that we raced, like Point Pleasant, NJ. He would go into an ice cream shop there and quietly close the doors behind him, then he would ask loudly for the owner or manager of the place. When someone of authOrity identified himself, Bill would say something like.......All of these people here are friends of mine and we heard you have some great ice cream, so whatever they order, it is OK, just give me the bill when they are done. The people would go crazy and start ordering hot fudge sundaes and big dishes...he would just laugh and pay the bill at the end.

The year he won the World Championship, he only used his vacation days to travel. He was the Chairman of a publicly held company so he knew he was responsible to his stockholders and he didn't want to abuse his position. Pretty cool guy, it was an honor to be his friend.

 

[fund razor]

Did I read along the way that Bill Wishnick was a partner in Nova Marine in the late 60s?

 

[Top Banana]

Did I read along the way that Bill Wishnick was a partner in Nova Marine in the late 60s?

Yes, he and Brownie produced the Nova line of boats. Brownie still says of all the people in offshore Bill Wishnick was one of the great ones.

Of course as all offshore racers are required to have....Bill had an ego too. Look in the old photos and you can see during that time he named one of his boats......Boss O Nova!

He was racing in South America and in one race had trouble with one of his engines. Bobby Moore who became the sport's first throttleman when he worked for Bill, decided the engine problem could not be fixed before,the next race down there. The countries were all close so you raced this week in Argentina and next week in Uraguay and the next week in Paraguay. So, his closest competition was An Italian who didn't want to compete unless Bill ran too. So the Italian went out and rented an offshore race boat from a South American who bought an old American boat the year before and Bill and Bobby raced that boat.
different era, gentlemen racers.

 

[Ratickle]

That was the triple outboard boat I think. I'll do some digging.

 

[Ratickle]

I stand corrected, Quad Outboard.....

Count Vincenzo Balestrieri found a fairly competitive boat for Bill because Bill had an engine go bad. The boat that Vincenzo managed to rent for Wishnick in South America was the outboard racer campaigned by Juan Fernandez, a 28’ Magnum called “Boar Hog”. Fernandez had come down with a kidney stone between races and was unable to race.


From a different race.

 

[Top Banana]

Here is a photo of a very hot crew.

L to R Bobby Moore, Bill Wishnick, Race Official, and Brownie

 

[Ratickle]

All three were in the same boat?

 

[Top Banana]

All three were in the same boat?

Yes....in the early days, Brownie would actually drive while the new guy got used to the sensation of racing. As the season went on Brownie would move over and the new guy would take more and more of the driving.

When the boats started to get much faster, as with the Bertram of Wishnick, they discovered one day that perhaps they needed a dedicated throttleman too.

Bill was driving and throttling and they arrived at a checkpoint boat, but as Bill cranked the wheel over to turn around the boat, the torque of the props...No counter rotating....and the force of the turn.....no power steering back then either.......was a bit much to handle and they went around the checkpoint boat completely once, twice and on the third trip around, someone pulled the throttles back so Bill could crank the steering straight again.

That settled it....a full time throttleman was hired and became a part of the crew forever more.

Of course many of us continued on doing both driving and throttling.....the reason was not due to our super human strength....although we told the girls that....it was simply we had nowhere near the power and torque of the big Open class boats

 

[Ratickle]

With Brownie, Bobby, and Bill in the boat at the same time, who the heck came in second?

 

[Top Banana]

With Brownie, Bobby, and Bill in the boat at the same time, who the heck came in second?

That is the real problem in racing....of any kind......no one remembers who came in second!!

 

[Ratickle]

Yep, that is definitely the truth!!

 

[Skater 36]

need to get this going again