Thanksgiving Weekend 1972. The Outboard World
Championship on Lake Havasu, Arizona. This is the YouTube version of the 1972 race - You can secure a high resolution version on DVD for a $50.00 donation to our boat racing video remastering fund - contact Mark Benson for more details.
At stake,$65.000.00 overall,
this was the richest Boat Race in the world. 108 entries from the US,
Canada, Great Britain, Italy, Austria, & Argentina competed that
weekend.6 boats flipped on Friday practice, so 102 boats answered the
starting gun that Saturday morning in November.
# 35 Barry Woods- went
out to an early lead in the 1st hour. # 12 Billy Schumacher, a 2 time
Unlimited Hydroplane Gold Cup Champion, in his 1st outboard race was
in 2nd place.After 2 hours of racing, OMC was 1-2-3-4 with Bobby
Witt-Tommy Posse-James Beard- & Johnnie Sanders in 4th.
At hour 3 (
on Day 1) it was Sanders OMC (1st) Beard OMC (2nd) Bert Serra
(Mercury) (3rd) & Cees Van Der Veldon (4th) with a C-6 Mercury. At
the end of 4 hours of racing on Day 1 it was Van Der Veldon (Mercury
1st) Sanders (OMC 2nd) Beard (OMC 3rd) & Serra (Mercury 4th) On
Sunday morning, Sanders had a bad start & was running 4th.
The
leader, Cees Van der Veldon, blew over while leading in the 1st hour
& Johnnie Sanders took over the lead.# 501 Bert Serra, after a
courageous battle with Sanders to win, ended up 2nd (Mercury). # 12
Billy Schumacher (OMC) was 3rd while #37 James Beard (OMC) was
4th.Johnnie Sanders completed 174 laps of that 4 mile boomerang shaped
course to set a new record of 86.5 mph, 4 mph faster than the previous
record.
OMC captured 4 of the top 10. Earl Benz placed 7th, while Rich
McKinnley was 9th. Sanders 1st prize winnings were $18,000.00 A lot of
money in those days. For Johnnie Sanders, 1972 was like the Grand Slam
of Outboard Tunnel Hull Racing.
He won Parker 9 Hour Enduro, Paris,
Berlin, & the Outboard World Championship at Lake Havasu that
season. Johnnie Sanders accomplished something that season that no
other man had ever done before, win the four biggest outboard tunnel
hull boat races in the world -all in one season! Something that was
only accomplished that year (1972) and never has been nor ever likely
will ever be equaled.
Johnnie Sanders, 1972 was like the Grand Slam
of Outboard Tunnel Hull Racing.
Footage courtesy Rick Keller & his son Scot Keller
Havasu! Outboard World Championship. 1972 Copyright 1973 Johnson
Outboard Div.-Outboard Marine Corp. Directed and Photographed by Matt
Richard. Written by Bill Aucoin. Footage courtesy of the Rick and Scot
Keller Collection. Project Production Manager - Mark Benson. Digital Services
- Nick Springate.