Italians, not particularly well known for winning anything the last thousand years , give or take a few hundred years, are dominating the outboard racing world. In fact, an Italian driver, Cesare Scotti, won the Outboard World Championships at Lake Havasu City, in an Italian boat, a Molinari, powered by twin Evinrude X-115 motors. Evinrudes had won since the Italians, but this was the first OMC breakthrough at Havasu where Black Power (Mercury) had dominated for the previous five years. One pit wit pointed out that the Italians are well known for running fast and that he figured the 33-year old Scotti was a naval reservist getting ready for World War III. The hawk faced Scotti, second behind Kenny Kitson in the 1968 Outboard World Championships, clearly was the class of the 1969 race. Cesare is a product of the rough and tumble European outboard circuit and would have been difficult to beat even if he didn't have speed on the rest of the field. The 120-pound Scotti cut off more people on the course than have been chopped from California's inflated welfare rolls. There were rumblings from all over the pits that his Roman nose stood a good chance of being realigned. Scotti apologised. However, several drivers were wondering late Sunday if the interpreter was unskilled labour, claiming that Scotti was still chopping them in the final four hours of driving.
There was a lot of conversation, but no protests were filed during the post race time limit. Perhaps some felt they couldn't prove the accusation and one, Bobby Massey, hadn't been towed off the course in time to file. This writer saw Scotti slam the door on six drivers on Saturday but none on Sunday.
It was quite a weekend for OMC.Not only was Scotti using Evinrudes, the second place finisher, Johnnie Sanders of Albilene, Texas, piloted a Glastron/Molinari with a pair of Johnsons. To round out OMC and Molinari's super good fortune, Jimbo McConnell of Victorville, California was the first single engine to finish, good for sixth overall, in a Glastron/Molinari with an Evinrude. Add to that, Ralph Evinrude, head of OMC, was named Powerboat's "Man of the Year." Evinrude, who contributed $20,000.00 to the 1969 purse of $50,000.00, and big Bob McCulloch, grand puba of Lake Havasu city, announced at the trophy presentations that each were kicking in another $5,000.00 and that the purse for the 1970 championships would be $60,000.00 That definately makes it the biggest purse in boat racing history. Would you believe maybe $20,000.00 for first place? That was an aweful lot of money back in the day. Scotti collected $15,000.00 for his victory. We figure that should be 42 pounds of lira. Sanders, who outlasted the best at Berlin, was rewarded with $7,000.00 for his second place finish.
Others in the Top 10 were: (3rd) Bill Sirois, Miami, Florida Molinari, two Mercury stackers: (4th) Dick Sherrer, Seal Beach, California, Glastron/Molinari, twin Mercury stackers: (5th) Harold Eis, Topeka, Kansas, Eis Super Cat, twin Mercury Super BP's: (6th) Jimbo McConnell, Glastron Molinari, single Evinrude X-115: (7th) Lou Brunette, Ojai, California, Ron Jones, triple Mercury stackers: (8th) Mike Quayle, Huron, Ohio, Molinari, single Mercury stacker: (9th) Jerry Craig, Baytown, Texas, Glastron/Molinari single Johnson: (10th) Robert George, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Fellercraft, triple Mercury stackers.
Big don Pruett took off as though he planned on repeating his sensational Elsinore 500 victory, taking the lead on the third lap and improving his position. While Pruett, the Electric Indian, was widening his lead the pack was forming behind him with Fred Hauenstein Jr. of Sunnyvale California: Bill Petty of Wapakoneta, Ohio, Kitson, Scotti, Joe Habay of Ypsilanti, Michigan: Jim Hurtubise of North Tonawanda,NY, and Robert George all setting their sights on the three Mercury stackers on his transom.
Hurtubise, driving the Pepsi Special, was the first to go out when the Indy car drivers boat hit something in the water and sank. The hard driving Habay was next and he'll have a limp for quite awhile to remind him of his first blow-over since 1965, fracturing his right ankle when he crashed. About this time Pruett went into the pits briefly and Petty surged into the lead. Back out on the course, Pruett again moved out front, Petty held second, and Scotti was third. With Pruett and then Petty into the pits for lower unit repairs, Scotti took over the lead on the 37th lap of the 4 mile course and stayed there for the remainder of Day 1 as slim Johnnie Sanders tried frantically to catch the shadow.
The end of four hours of racing found Scotti, Sanders, And George with 69 laps. Except for a monumental goof Scotti would have had a one lap lead. You might say Scotti triumphed dispite his pit crew and scorer. He was leading but having fuel problems Saturday. He limped into the pits at the end of the first day but had he travelled another 200 yards, crossing the finish line he would have been credited with another lap and had a clean cut lead. Sunday he came out of the pack in the spectacular modified Lemans start, quickly rushing into a lead he never gave up. Not only had Cesare's scorer missed recording him coming out of the pits on Saturday, it was found later Sunday that there were two page 70's in his score book, both had been recorded, and the relief scorer also missed him coming out of the pits that day. Not only did he have to beat everybody on the course, he had bumbling friends screwing things up on the beach.
Pruett, probably the champion lower unit breaker of all time, returned to the course late, making up a lot of laps but his bid, which was destined to fall short, came to an abrupt end when he collided with another boat.
Several entries were really screaming in the late going but although the hard charging Sanders (Johnson) and Sirois (Mercury) stayed close they couldn't catch the Italian in his dual Evinrude X-115 Molinari. Scotti shattered all the Havasu records, most of which were held by Kenny Kitson. These included a new distance mark of 584 miles in the eight hours, erasing Kitsons record of 512. Scotti's average speed was 73 miles per hour as compared to Kitson's 64 of the previous year. Scotti averaged 77 mph on Sunday and 80 mph during the final hour to shut the door. Only 45 of the 111 starters were running at the end of eight hours of racing.
Two time Havasu OWC champ harold Eis of Kansas, who really gets his cat going after the field thins out, went from 9th to 5th place in the final hour
Renato Molinari of Italy, another pre-race favorite, destroyed his Molinari in Friday practice. Last year he got all the way to the start before sinking. A siseable crowd (20,000 estimated), exceptional weather, few serious injuries, record speeds, and a bigger purse for next year. Hey, that Havasu race is something else!
Not sure who is running this site, but... my father was Mani Costa. He raced for many years. I have the original poster for the 72 OWC in Havasu with him piloting the evinrude powered # 30. I think that he was only in this boat for the photo shoot. If you have any info reguarding him racing i would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks
JC
Posted by: Jc Mani | May 06, 2010 at 03:52 PM