Long Beach Marine Stadium - 1968 National Championship Boat Races

[Zeke27G]

Beyond stoked to find this!! Check out the entry price for adults! A buddy of mine said that Leonard Schiada secretly put huge metalflake letters on the bottom of the SS-82 'Psychedelic' boat that spelled out "HELP", but because he knew the driver Ron Woodruff would eventually flip it! Gonna have this poster professionally framed and will hang it in my garage pisser. And hopefully we're back at 'The Beach' next summer. Keep your fingers crossed!

 

[TCHB]

Funny an older friend raced in that Event. He was a top contender El Bandito Was the boat name. Mark Allison

 

[Havazoo]

And I was there

 

[timstoy]

I was probably riding my Honda 160 next to the Stadium in the oil fields! Nice score Greg!

 

[Zeke27G]

I was probably riding my Honda 160 next to the Stadium in the oil fields! Nice score Greg!

Thanks Tim!

Not as fun as riding doubles on an XR80 after several shots of "high-test" in Eason's trailer!

 

[timstoy]

My check liver light was on for a few days after that night! Good times!

 

[twocents]

This was back in the day when the City of Long Beach actually embraced power boat racing. My....how things have changed in the last 54 years!
Sea Festival was a Long Beach City August month-long annual event, largely based around power boat racing including the Hennessy Cup Offshore Race and the Catalina Water Ski Race. Sandy Kemp headed up the 'special events' portion of the Long Beach Convention and News Bureau at the time and was supported by Merv Harris who did City publicity. Merv was also the official scorer for L.A Laker home basketball games and later elevated to the position of sports editor of the San Francisco Examiner newspaper. It was a talented and easy to work with team that Long Beach had in those days.

 

[Zeke27G]

This was back in the day when the City of Long Beach actually embraced power boat racing. My....how things have changed in the last 54 years!
Sea Festival was a Long Beach City August month-long annual event, largely based around power boat racing including the Hennessy Cup Offshore Race and the Catalina Water Ski Race. Sandy Kemp headed up the 'special events' portion of the Long Beach Convention and News Bureau at the time and was supported by Merv Harris who did City publicity. Merv was also the official scorer for L.A Laker home basketball games and later elevated to the position of sports editor of the San Francisco Examiner newspaper. It was a talented and easy to work with team that Long Beach had in those days.

Appreciate the history lesson! Things sure have changed...

 

[Hydroman55]

I also lived those days….Sad to see what the country has become. With the new woke American the demographics are not going to play with any form of racing in the future.

 

[LB247XS]

And speaking of the good ol days I finally found a pic I've been searching for. This is me on the deck of the flattie my Dad drove. I believe this is around 74'/75' . If there's anybody that would happen to have pictures of this boat running I would love to have some copies of it. My dad just recently passed away and these are great memories that I'm trying to find and keep

 

[Zeke27G]

And speaking of the good ol days I finally found a pic I've been searching for. This is me on the deck of the flattie my Dad drove. I believe this is around 74'/75' . If there's anybody that would happen to have pictures of this boat running I would love to have some copies of it. My dad just recently passed away and these are great memories that I'm trying to find and keep View attachment 1234045

That's too kool!!

 

[twocents]

Beyond stoked to find this!! Check out the entry price for adults! A buddy of mine said that Leonard Schiada secretly put huge metalflake letters on the bottom of the SS-82 'Psychedelic' boat that spelled out "HELP", but because he knew the driver Ron Woodruff would eventually flip it! Gonna have this poster professionally framed and will hang it in my garage pisser. And hopefully we're back at 'The Beach' next summer. Keep your fingers crossed!

The two race boats on the poster were #82 "Psychedelic" ( a Schiada owned by Ron Woodruff but probably driven by the "wild Injun" Clem McCullah -- the other is #SS-88, "Shockwave", an all-wood Patterson hull driven by Don St. John). Exciting competition for sure.

 

[timstoy]

And speaking of the good ol days I finally found a pic I've been searching for. This is me on the deck of the flattie my Dad drove. I believe this is around 74'/75' . If there's anybody that would happen to have pictures of this boat running I would love to have some copies of it. My dad just recently passed away and these are great memories that I'm trying to find and keep View attachment 1234045

Dave, I remember your dad saying he raced against Don St. John in the SS class. I don’t know what years he raced SS. The Super Stock class was started as an inexpensive race class to get drivers into racing and had a large number of drivers. Later it became one of the most expensive classes to race in if you wanted to win! Maybe Sharp Shooter, Clank 123 or others may have some photos or your dad. I wonder what happened to all the photos in Vapor Trails and Mr. Ricky?