Shazam - 7 Litre Hydro

[Marty Davis]

Back in 1985, I helped design a new and unusual 7 litre hydro. This was a project of Ed Karelson, John Prevost, Arty Ross, Glenn Cupit(past model boater) and I.

The idea started with John Prevost wanting a new boat and Ed Karelson wanting a new car. John made a deal with Karelson to trade the car for the boat.

Glenn knew that I had a lot of boat design experience and told Prevost about it. They flew me down to Baton Rouge to consult with them. I met with the entire crew except Karelson. We talked about my ideas and their requirements and then later I flew to Seattle to meet with Karelson in his shop. I talked to him several times by phone to tell him things that needed to be on the new boat. i.e. Rear sponsons, enclosed strut pad and our style turn fin.

Once the boat was built, Prevost picked it up and brought it back to Baton Rouge and got it rigged and ready to go. They transported it to the West Coast and the first day in the water it set the SAW Record.

The Inboard Nationals at the Dayton Hydro Bowl was the target to win the National Championship.

This You Tube Video is that race.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7Hy5hrib3I

I think you will agree that this boat handled and turned MUCH better than any of the other boats in the race. In preliminary qualifying races people were blowing off and crashing trying to keep up.

I have started converting my old VCR Tapes to DVD's and digital format and this is one of the first.

Hope you enjoy this......

 

[Mark Leyde]

Marty ,

I remember being there in Dayton and seeing that rig run out front and doing it with less angle of attack to the water. It was amazing! I love the sound of them 7 liters.

Boy do I mis those day's of inboard racing. I was like 16 years old at Dayton that year.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[julianconde]

WOW lol i dont think i was 4 years old lol

 

[Blue Print]

Marty, that boat was so far ahead of anything else. I saw Karelsen putting the rear shoes on the Miller when I had the privileged to be able to tour the Miller workshop back in 1987 with Roger Newton. Actually had a video camera and was told not to video the gang working on the upturned Miller but was allowed to video the "Starwars" boat. Luckily while videoing the "Starwars" Canopy the camera accidentally went into zoom and caught the guys working on the upturned Miller.

The rear shoes idea that you came up with took a slow boat and gave Chip his sixth consecutive Gold Cup.

A little bit more on what happened to Shazam http://www.demonchaserracing.com/home.html

 

[Bill Gibson]

Marty, i remember us talking about that boat at Norms a while back......not only did it have a better ride, it also sounded different than any of the other 7Ls at Lake Maggorie.....i would LOVE to see any other old videos that you might have if possible.....that was one GREAT running boat....pretty darn good driver too!

 

[Marty Davis]

Marty, that boat was so far ahead of anything else. I saw Karelsen putting the rear shoes on the Miller when I had the privileged to be able to tour the Miller workshop back in 1987 with Roger Newton. Actually had a video camera and was told not to video the gang working on the upturned Miller but was allowed to video the "Starwars" boat. Luckily while videoing the "Starwars" Canopy the camera accidentally went into zoom and caught the guys working on the upturned Miller.

The rear shoes idea that you came up with took a slow boat and gave Chip his sixth consecutive Gold Cup.

A little bit more on what happened to Shazam http://www.demonchaserracing.com/home.html

THANKS for that link. It has awesome information that I did not know. I was worried that the boat died someplace after Prevost, but some others saw something special too.

 

[Marty Davis]

Marty, i remember us talking about that boat at Norms a while back......not only did it have a better ride, it also sounded different than any of the other 7Ls at Lake Maggorie.....i would LOVE to see any other old videos that you might have if possible.....that was one GREAT running boat....pretty darn good driver too!

I have all the classes at that nationals but wanted to strip out the Shazam by itself. Will get you a DVD of the entire event sometime.

As for the sound: The engine builder (Arty Ross) was intrigued by the sound that the Kodak car which ran at Datona had and wanted something similar. It was all in the way that the collector was designed that made it sound so different. You can see the pipe out the back of the cowling which was most of it. Arty spent an entire day showing me around his place and what he was involved in. He even showed me his secret flow bench that was state of the art at that time.

I hope that Glen Cupit finds this thread, as he was a BIG part of the crew that made the Shazam happen. Glen was a prime mover in IMPBA circles in the 70's and 80's and should be in the Hall of Fame for sure. Ackerman and I had lunch with he and his son Conrad a few years back. Glen is into Cackle Dragsters now.

 

[68Bud]

Ahh, the good ol' days...Roaring engines and good TV coverage (with Ken Squier and Bob Varsha, wow!) Thank you Mr. Davis. If you have more of these videos we would all be interested in seeing them posted.

 

[jojoinotown]

Brian Reynolds bought the Boat and it became the Fyin Hawaiian and wooped the butts of many drivers out here on the west coast. Me and my family used to crew for Bridgmans and Shokwave at the time and I will never forget Don Holding the back of the boat as Brian would get ready for a heat and then as the time started he would tap the transom shove the boat out and turn with his back to the transom and hold his arms straight out and Brian would stomp the throttle and Don would get a high pressure propeller driven shower it was like thier own little ritual and that boat was just impressive as hell to watch go around the course and set record after record.

 

[piper_chuck]

Somewhere I've got pics of this boat from when it ran in Raleigh sometime in the 80s. IIRC, it was very new at that race. They were playing mind games with the other crews. Before they lifted the boat out of the water they put a cloth over the stern to keep anyone from seeing the prop.

 

[Marty Davis]

Somewhere I've got pics of this boat from when it ran in Raleigh sometime in the 80s. IIRC, it was very new at that race. They were playing mind games with the other crews. Before they lifted the boat out of the water they put a cloth over the stern to keep anyone from seeing the prop.

It was actually a Naugahyde boot that they took off once the boat was launched and in the water. It was to hide the reaar sponsons, the strut pad and the adjustable shaft log. All other times the boot was on the boat.

 

[piper_chuck]

Somewhere I've got pics of this boat from when it ran in Raleigh sometime in the 80s. IIRC, it was very new at that race. They were playing mind games with the other crews. Before they lifted the boat out of the water they put a cloth over the stern to keep anyone from seeing the prop.

It was actually a Naugahyde boot that they took off once the boat was launched and in the water. It was to hide the reaar sponsons, the strut pad and the adjustable shaft log. All other times the boot was on the boat.

That sounds about right. I remember thinking it looked like a diaper.

 

[jetpack]

That is a smooth ride.

What caught my attention was Stover Hire couldn't catch him. Stover always had the best setup.

 

[Marty Davis]

That is a smooth ride.

What caught my attention was Stover Hire couldn't catch him. Stover always had the best setup.

The difference in the two boats (Prevost and Hire) was amazing. I would have b een scared to death to drive the one that Stover did. It was super loose just to be able to stay with him. Also, did you see the difference in the turns? Prevost picked up a ton on every turn. That was a turn fin similar to the ones that we run on our models. They dn't allow a curved fin on the big boats, but you can have a fin like some are running on the models. Obviously a better system that they had.

 

[NOVALTD]

MARTY: IT LOOKS LIKE THE SHAZAM HAD A

LOWER CG AND WIDER FOOTPRINT.AND STOVER WAS RUNNING NARROWER FOOTPRINT AND HIGHER CG. THIS HELP SHAZAM. TELL US WAS THE STRUT COMPLETY ENCLOSED

WITH TWO RIDE PADS? TELL US ABOUT THE TURN FIN DESIGN AND SETUP? THANKS

DAN MCCORMICK

 

[Billy Blackwell]

Cool thread. Awesome boat! If you've ever watched that boat run, you wouldn't soon forget it. It was so dominant. And it handled different...better than all the other boats.

I talked to Ed Karelsen at an outboard race and told him I wanted to build a r/c model of one of his limiteds. He said "which one?". I told him I liked the old cabover 280's with the long head rests and I liked Shazam. He gave me the plans to the Shazam! While I have not built a r/c of it yet, I still plan to. I literally had the plans out last week. I'm trying to decide what size and powerplant to build match it to. It doesn't have a lot of room in the bow as the cockpit is quite narrow, but it's got that huge cowl. I thought maybe a gas hydro, maybe 1/5th or 1/6th scale. The problem is that I would have to locate the engine back aft of the sponson transom, so that might not put the c/g where it should be.

Thanks for sharing.

BRB

www.blackwellracingboats.com

 

[Marty Davis]

MARTY: IT LOOKS LIKE THE SHAZAM HAD A

LOWER CG AND WIDER FOOTPRINT.AND STOVER WAS RUNNING NARROWER FOOTPRINT AND HIGHER CG. THIS HELP SHAZAM. TELL US WAS THE STRUT COMPLETY ENCLOSED

WITH TWO RIDE PADS? TELL US ABOUT THE TURN FIN DESIGN AND SETUP? THANKS

DAN MCCORMICK

The strut itself was adjustble by using a long shaft that fit loosely in a spline setup so it could be moved a little at the rear deeper or shallower. The strut pad was like an old Crapshooter with a fairly narrow box around the shaft and strut.

Turn fin was much rearward toward the CG and deeper. It had braces to keep it rigid. That is the reason that they broke it loose after the first heat.

 

[Charles Perdue]

That is a smooth ride.

What caught my attention was Stover Hire couldn't catch him. Stover always had the best setup.

The difference in the two boats (Prevost and Hire) was amazing. I would have b een scared to death to drive the one that Stover did. It was super loose just to be able to stay with him. Also, did you see the difference in the turns? Prevost picked up a ton on every turn. That was a turn fin similar to the ones that we run on our models. They dn't allow a curved fin on the big boats, but you can have a fin like some are running on the models. Obviously a better system that they had.

Hmmmmmmm.......would that turn fin be something like a flat fin mounted at an angle like some are running on the models?

 

[Marty Davis]

That is a smooth ride.

What caught my attention was Stover Hire couldn't catch him. Stover always had the best setup.

The difference in the two boats (Prevost and Hire) was amazing. I would have b een scared to death to drive the one that Stover did. It was super loose just to be able to stay with him. Also, did you see the difference in the turns? Prevost picked up a ton on every turn. That was a turn fin similar to the ones that we run on our models. They dn't allow a curved fin on the big boats, but you can have a fin like some are running on the models. Obviously a better system that they had.

Hmmmmmmm.......would that turn fin be something like a flat fin mounted at an angle like some are running on the models?

Charles:

It MIGHT look a lot like the fin that I saw on a couple Baby Blue Boats...

Since those full sized boats can not use a curved fin, that was my option. It also had a flat on the bottom of the fin that was paralell with the water surface. Can't remember where I saw that.