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On the 1991 Dunnville race video the announcers mention that power trim was allowed as a new rule in CBF. The APBA boats must have had to remove weight to be competitive with the Canadian EP boats. Did the 14 footer have a wider pad? We're all the original deltas white?

Hey Jim, I never new the history on your boat or the fact that Delta was across from GW Invader. Very interesting. I used to race against Art Kennedy's 15ft. GW Invader in Danville. Ill. That was the FJ class. I had a 16 ft Checkmate with a Merc 1250BP. Hope you doing well and can make a race this year. Waterford is just 1/2 hour west of Dunnville. It is the weekend of 6/4 &6/5. Please let us know. Thom

Hey Thom...yep doing fine...hope you guys are all ok...I was told that Bob Sanders built some Delta boats in louisiana in the early 70s,went to Sharpsville Indiana for a while then back down south.Our Delta was owned and raced by Bill Vogel using the 302 number and I remember it said Delta on the tag then S&W Sharpsville Indiana.I believe the Delta was built in72...That 14 footer of yours was my all time favorite boat..too bad you dont still have it...we could put a v4 on her I would say our Delta and Todd were even on top end (it was your prop) but the lighter Delta was quicker out of the corner.......ps as for the lemans start...first it better fire off, then drag race to the pin...I found it was better to give up some top end to have the punch to get you out front..but.....when steve huff came around you then you wished you had the other prop on When everyone started getting the lighter boats starting around 1988 or so, we just couldnt quite keep up.We had a lot of second place finishes looking at the back of some darn good boats like Steve Huff,Steve Huinick,Todd Clark and Paul...those guys were just plain fast..

It was the prop. and we lost an ear in the spring of 1988, and could never quite duplicate the original. We never ran as well after we lost the prop. Your right about the light boats up in Dunnville. We were all stuck with heavy boats to meet APBA weight requirements. Oh well! We still had a blast running with all of you. Thanks again for the history lesson. Hope your boys are doing well. say hello to your "giant " Jeff.
If you ever want to come to West Branch to test with us, and drive the boat, let us know.

Most were not around when the Delta hull first appeared in FE class in the early 1970's. Some of the 70's hulls are still on the water. There were a number of F classes. The F was Family meaning it was to be a stock production model for sale to the general public. Same was to be the case for the motors. Stock production models. FE became EP. There was FD (T750), FF, FG etc. In APBA the 650XS was not allowed in EP. Both OMC and Mercury came out with special Family motors example the 1250BP in 1967-8. It was a numbers game. If the manufacturer built so many (250 I think) it was stock. In the case of the 650XS, Mercury couldn't prove the number to APBA's satisfaction so it was classed as a mod motor. Both manufacturers played with production numbers, special factory motors for certain people and the boat builders built special race versions. Did they hurt the sport in the long term??

Yes they did hurt the sport.

In Offshore racing in the late 1990's early 2000's, there were Factory I and a Factory II classes. Factory I was a 30ft V bottom with a single 502 cid MerCruiser 500 HP. Factory II was 30-40 ft with (2) 502 cid MerCruiser 500 HP's. The classes were great and growing like crazy until MerCruiser decided to force both classes into the 502 cid MerCruiser 525's. They put out much more torque and were about 90 more horsepower. The 500 HP's were discontinued. That killed both classes. Owners could not afford to re-power there family boats to race. A typical example of playing with engines and destroying a class/s. The special mod motors for the choosen few was another example, as Don points out.

Hounddog you were asking about removing weight to be more competitive..The Delta was about 275 and the Critchfield was 245/250. For EP i used a full 6 gallon tank,big Sears die hard and a 50 lb. lead weight and more and i was about 210.For Dunnville throw all that out and use a baby motorcycle battery and a plastic 3 gallon tank with about 1 1/2 gallons gas as Dunnville was 5 laps on a 1 mile course .Dunnville was the best place I ever raced at..look at those videos.and see the crowds they used to draw..it was crazy, you had big omc v8 tunnels,big mod u mercs,Mike Werner drove one,,wild MVP boats like Owen Boris, Ted Geguich,a bunch of SE boats..The crowds loved to see those lemans starts with those big boats..and the sound of the motors!!!!!....and then there were the partys...right Thom I ran at Dunnville from about 1984 to 1991....thanks for letting me share Those are great memories... Jim

Ahhhh the parties. Yes, the best boat races I ever went to from 1986 to 1992. TORC needs to talk to the Dunnville Boat Club about the return of " Thunder on the Grand". Were "all in" right Jim!