I happened to stumble onto this forum and was pretty surprised to see my fathers name (Howard Quam) and our old race boats as a topic of interest to anyone.
Most of the information I have observed posted on this websight in regard to my father and his old boats is inaccurate to a large degree.
Ed Cozzi it is nice to see you are still alive and kicking but your memory is failing you. Memory loss is the first sign of senilty Ed! LOL LO LLOL Eddie it has been so many years and so many boats ago perhaps I can help you and refresh your memory. And perhaps help someone who now owns one of our old boats.
My fathers first offshore powerboat race was in a 28 ft. magnum in Key West in 1975 I still have the race program and many pictures. I was his throttle man and Phil Dipasqualie was our navigator. The name of that boat was "Balls and all" . The APBA soon made us change the name of that boat for obvious reasons.
We raced the 28 magnum for about year under the new name of "Razzle Dazzle" and my dad soon moved up to the open class I think in the 77 or 78 season I still have the records and can check. Meanwhile I continued to race and drive the 28 foot magnum in the national APBA production class.
My fathers first 38 Bertram and the first boat ever to be named "Flap Jack"was an all red one purchased from Preston Henn. Erroll Lanier was my dads first pro throttle man. Erroll only helped my dad for I think one race and was under contract to Preston. My father then hired Keith Hazell to throttle the Bertram for the 77 or 78 season I would have to dig up the old records but I do still have them. He and Keith didn't race very long before they had a disagreement over prize money. Back then you actually received prize money if you did well. 25K for first place as a matter of fact.
His next throttle man was Smiley Johns who was fresh from the modified class as was keith Hazell. Smiley was racing a red 28 foot magnum and did very well so he wanted less than Keith and hired Smiley. Smiley and my dad prompty stuffed Preston's red 38 Bertram in the 77 or 78 Benihana race in Jersey race while in first place. The Bertram delaminated in that crash and was never seaworthy again I don't think? It then sat in our marina for years. My father refused to repair it and left it front and center in the shop to remind Smiley every day how he had ruined his boat. LOL
My father in 1978 then had Bobby Moore and Jack Stuteville build him a new 38 Bertram all white with red stripes. It was also named "Flap Jack" and was the fastest and strongest vee bottom in the world when built. Keth Hazell was the throttle man because he was the best at the time with the difficult to handle 38 Bertrams and because Keith was the only one who could talk Bertram into building the 38 foot raceboats since their main sorce of revenue was selling high end pleasure boats.
As a matter of fact Bertram would only build you a 38 Betram racer in 1978 if you agreed to buy three at a time. So Keith found buyers for the other two and supervised the construction of the second "Flap jack". My dad and Keith raced that 38 Bertram in the 1979 season with Smiley as the crew chief and I was still racing the old and slow 1976 28 foot yellow magnum.
In the 1979 season my father in the second 38 Bertram named "Flap Jack" finished second in the national championship to Betty Cook in the last race of the season in San Francisco. The race was pretty controversial and was black flagged as soon as Betty pulled in front due to a mysterious phantom fog. We lost the protest and my father and Keith always felt cheated out of the 1979 National Championship.
Right after the 1979 season my dad sold the white and red 38 Bertram to an Englishman whose name escapes me at the moment for 125K. It was raced very successfully in Europe for many years and I don't know what ever happened to it after that.
My father then purchased Betty Cooks second wooden Cougar cat for the 1980 season but commissioned a complete redesign which took some time. In the meantime my dad purchased another 38 Bertram this time it was pre-owned. I think he purchased it from Sandy Satullo and it might have been named "Copper Kettle" before we painted it all black with silver stripes and re named it "Flap Jack". I would have to dig up the records to be sure what it's previous name was? But it was the third and final 38 Bertram named "Flap JacK" ever owned or raced by my father. It was a heavy and slow sled literally indestructible.
This final 38 Bertram was driven by my dad and throttled by Smiley Johns and I was the navigator for the 1980 season. On May 10th 1980 at 12:30 PM in the Bacardi Miami race just ouside of Government cut we barrelled rolled the Bertram and my father was thrown out of the boat and pinned under the boat where I fished him out and attempted to revive Smiley who was fatally injured and died in my arms. The boat was undamaged like I said it was a tank.
Sometime thereafter my father hired Eddie Cozzie to throttle that indestructible black and silver 38 Bertram for the remainder of the 1980 season. I was devasted over Smiley's death and sat the reat of the season out.
For 1981 my father decided to throttle all his boats himself and Eddie Cozzi helped out as crew chief until Eddie left to throttle another boat. Until we retired in our last offshore powerboat race in 1987 my father throttled all his own boats. I drove when time permitted and many others filled in over the years as drivers including Rocky Aoki.
I drove the black 38 Bertram for the 1981 season while my father throttled while we waited for the first of many cats to be built. In 1982 I believe my dad sold this the third and last 38 Bertram named "Flap Jack" to Marshall Ives a Miami lawyer for 5K without engines. In the mean time Eddie and I almost burned the boat and ourselves to death while transfering fuel one day. The boat was undamaged. Nothing could harm this boat I mean nothing. LOL
Anyway that is the 38 Bertram "Flap Jack" history. My father and I raced offshore powerboats from November 1975 in Key west until our last race in the Spring of 1987 at the Miami to Nassau to Miami endurance race in a 41 foot apache.
If I can be of any help with any of our old boats email me at
lquam2411@aol.com
