A bit of Racing History
Email Comments from viewers
(reprinted with permission
from the authors)
3/13/99 Email from
Peter Crowley: I saw your "ad" in the TOM's site asking about Crescent and Harrison racing motors. I remember when the Crescent motor came........and several years later-went! Crescent was made by Volvo-Penta. It was a three cylinder 30 cu.in. engine. It was run in the Stock Division of APBA as the "Super C" class in the mid 1970s. The Kilo-speed record was an astounding 93 MPH. It also brought the use of the "pickle-fork" hydro design for high speed racing. A few of these went into the hands of some PRO or "alky" racers and were converted to run on Methanol. They were reliable......but couldn't beat the top Konig engines.......but if they weren't the top people they could be beaten! The Harrison....well it depends on which era......Millie Harrison made some A and B engines patterned off of the British "Anzani" engines....this was in the 1960s. His son Kay built some 250cc (A) and 500cc (C) engines in the 1980s. These used the Yamaha 125cc cylinders. Everything else was Harrison however except the lower unit (which was a Yamato). I have a 250cc Harrison engine down stairs....I used it to set my first World Record in 1987. Kay owns the company "Birmingham Metal Products" in Birmingham, Ohio. Sorry this is so "wordy" but you wanted to know! Peter Crowley e-mail: b1prorace@mediaone.net After replying to Peter's email and asking him for permission to reprint the above, we received the following delightful email from his wife Bobbie: I am Peter Crowley`s wife, Bobbie Eldredge Crowley. In reference to the
Crescent motors, my father (Marshall Eldredge, Jr.), has one of the first stock Crescent
Super C motors. He raced in the class in the early to mid 70`s. I believe that Dick O`Dea
out of Patterson, N.J. was the distributor. My family has been actively racing since 1926.
My father began his own racing career in the 40`s and is a wealth of information on
motors used in racing from that era through to the present. He does not own a computer but
you can contact him @ X-XXX-XXX-XXXX. (please do not post his #) I must convince him to
acquire a computer as he would enjoy your sight as well as the other wonderful antique
outboard sites available. By the way, he is still active in racing in the 125cc and 250cc
hydroplane classes. We are now into our fourth generation of racers in APBA. Thank you for
your time, Bobbie. 3/14/99 email from Peter: I agree that a lot of this should be written down. The sport of hydroplane
racing has a long history. Our racing has its heroes, villains, triumphs and
tragedies over almost 70 years of outboard hydroplane racing. When I won the PRO National
Championships in 1993 (250ccHydroplane), there was an unbroken line of APBA National
Champions from the first APBA Nationals in 1929 right to the present (with the exception
of the war years 1942-1945) in that class. The name has changed through the years: Class
A, A hydro, AOH and 250ccHydro. The engines and boat styles have come and gone, but it is
still a 15 cu. in. Methanol burning engine. The pursuit of power in these engines have
topped 90 HP- the speeds have climbed to over 100 MPH. The engines cast aside as a result
of this pursuit of performance be comes the collectibles that the Antique Outboarders
seek. As much as things have changed, much has remained the same. The same clock style
start, the run to the first turn, the "iron" will and the racing strategy have
not changed in all these years. When I talk to legendary racing great Clinton Ferguson I
see a man who if able to race today (having hung up his helmet before the war), would be
as formidable a driver today as he was in the 1930s. My wife's grandfather was a pioneer
outboard racer here in Massachusetts, prior to moving to Lakeland, FL in 1948. His
is an amazing story that I hope write soon........with the help of Mr. Ferguson. I have
seen a lot in my many years of racing. Various people have been encouraging me to write my
story. My success has been the result of a combination of things. My childhood "pipe
dreams" were of fantastic racing victories in big races. I was determined to learn
and continue on......and never quit. In time, piece by piece, I began to win one small
triumph after another. My lessons were often learned the hard way, but a lesson was always
filed away carefully for future reference. After some thirty years of racing I finally had
all the tools to actually win some of the very victories that I had dreamed about so many
years ago. My only limitation has been the lack of financing to go to more races. The fire
still burns deep and there are still some dreams that I have not realized.....yet. I am
going to start a "web site" that will tell some of my story in the hope that I
can entertain, inform and encourage others........and who knows...maybe along the way I
can find a sponsor to share my dreams!!!!!!!
Thank you for your time.......Peter
Crowley Another wordy
e-mail......but you encouraged me! Thanks Folks! 4/6/99 Email from Sam Cullis: Dick, I had a chance to look over the Crowley's emails. Mostly correct. I
have some data somewhere about the year or so in which the Crescent was competitive
against the Konig C. (Must have been before the Konig VC was introduced.) Probably just
the first year the C was introduced to the US. 10/10/99 Email from Sam Cullis: Although Peter Crowley is very correct in connecting
the popular use of the pickle fork nose hydro design with the
late 60's/early 70's time period, my research found that the idea's roots
and application dates back a stunning 20 years earlier! As early as 1952 at
least 2 pickle fork outboard hydros had been built and raced. One by Swift,
a C,D,F, or X class size (12 foot or so) boat, and the other a B class (9 or
10 foot) boat built in New England. Dave Augustine related to me that the B
class boat was quite battle worn when he began racing in 1957, and that he
was the last racer to drive it in competition (at a race in Camden, NC in
the mid 60's). Dave said it was the worst ride of his racing career; it was
hard to plane, chine walked, hooked in turns, absolutely everything you
don't want a race boat to do. These poor handling characteristics were not
related to the pickle fork nose, but to other dimensions of the boat. Had
the boat been an otherwise good performer we might have seen the pickle fork
nose become popular in the mid 50's rather than much later, as came to pass. |