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Popeye's Cougar
- Thread starter fobes
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NNRT
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Rik
Sponsor / Charter Member
Al was having that hull built when his problems with Church's chicken developed and he could not race anymore. The boat was built and painted then he/they sold it to a Japanese customer.
Remember it well, it had Arnesons and Keith Eickerts. Looked like a hot dog in a bun though.
Remember it well, it had Arnesons and Keith Eickerts. Looked like a hot dog in a bun though.
Ryan Beckley
Charter Member / Competitor
did any of you notice that it is THREE seats front to back?
T2x
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Rik
Sponsor / Charter Member
I had to look at the photo again to spot it.
Don`t forget me and Bill Sirois of all people. If you remember when Sirois quit, Al hired Idoni who was under contract with Lorne Liebel to race Canada Homes boat for open class championship. Idoni was blessed with the Goetz 50` Ford powered boat with the Copeland Sirois drive and rudder system which was becomming the demise of the Copeland era of winning, the boat was loosing drives sinking etc. but Al Persisted and was convinced the boat could be a success. Since Idoni could not race with Al they hired me as consultant/test driver and throttleman. First race I ran was Sarasota, we won,and set a course average speed record of 112 mph, first win for the Goetz boat, everyone was very excited, I finished the season out with three more wins and clinched the APBA US1 title for 1988. Since my obligation was only for the APBA championship, Idoni was designated T-man for Key West Worlds where they failed miserably and almost sunk the boat. Bottomline is that equip. and boat needed a certain finesse to make it live and win. Remember I have usually been the guy behind the scene, just doing my job.
T2x
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Richie:
The "Classic Threesome" had many variants...I was referring to the three man setup on the "Japanese Popeyes" that this thread is based on. Certainly you and, to an even greater extent, Bill Sirois, had a huge impact on the Popeye's legacy. Bobby Idoni also did well but basically presided over the end of the era.
Bobby and Smitty had major Japanese connections back then. It always amazed me how some really wonderful, state of the art, American hardware would be sold and shipped over there at pretty good prices. The boats would be raced once at the annual Atami Cup...and then dumped in rice paddies to rot. There had to have been some major tax credit/write-offs involved with this....or some really loose money.
T2x
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