Boat Builder Extraordinaire

Joe Guess - Born January 30, 1917

Today is my brother's 94th birthday, that alone would be cause for celebration. But this is a story not about years but about my brother, boat builder extraordinaire. He loved cars, airplanes, most things mechanical and he really loved speed boats. When I was a little kid I remember nights over at his house where the garage was the place to be.

I had no idea that history was being made in that small garage, filled with guys always with their hands working on an engine. On weekends the family would head to places like Marine Stadium in Long Beach, California or sometimes out to the desert to a place called Salton Sea. These were places where you went to race boats, really, really fast.

The first boat he built was the "Guess Who", famous for its mad looking woodpecker logo painted on the hull, reminiscent of the Walter Lantz's cartoons that started with "Huh Huh Huh Huh Huh Huh Huh...Guess Who?" The early days were an adventure between Joe and his friend Clay Smith, a red-headed cigar smoking guy that drove the boat for him.

The "Guess Who" a 266 Hydro with a Ford 6 fuel injected Flathead Mercury V-8 engine [and one of the first Hilborn Fuel injections used in a boat...First was Alter Ego I believe - correction comment from Robert Sykes Jr.]set a mile record at Salton Sea with driver Bobby Sykes Sr. Another Joe Guess hull was "Z-Z-Zip", a Desoto powered 266 Hydro owned by Sid Street.

Here are some excerpts from MOPAR Magazine's HEMI Surf 'n' Turf article:

The watercraft is a famous DeSoto-powered hydroplane named Z-Z-Zip. It competed in the American Power Boat Association (APBA) “266” class from 1955 to 1971. It was built by Joe Guess in California and made famous by boat racing legend Sid Street, of Kansas City, Mo.

“It is a most unusual boat – sponsons far forward,” says Jeff Titus, a well-known former racer and a member of the APBA Hall of Champions. Titus was present on December 29, 1958, when Sid Street set the world record for the Kilometer on a narrow canal west of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Titus reported that the temperature on the morning of the record run was quite cold. Clay Smith, a legendary engine builder and cam grinder, was the mechanic on the Bobby Sykes-built HEMI that day. “He couldn’t get the cold alcohol fuel to fire,” said Titus, “so he took the plugs out and used a torch to heat them. Then he reinserted the plugs, started the engine and warmed it for the record run.”

Street recorded a 2-way average “at an astonishing speed of 146.945 mph,” said 3-time APBA Unlimited Gold Cup winner and former Z-Z-Zip owner Tom d’Eath, who restored the boat in 2003. Titus said, “The boat was totally airborne on the slick water, sucking mist off the sponsons with only one inch of the prop in the water,” He is still awestruck after all these years.

Street sold Z-Z-Zip and it later raced as Sea Biscuit and then Iroquois Chief, the latter driven by Gordy Reed to a speed of 148 mph, retiring Street’s old 266-class record.

There is also a great Popular Mechanics article on speedboats and my brother that was published in May 1948 which you can read in its entirety by clicking here.  [For you car enthusiasts, I see there is an article on the 1949 Lincoln that follows the speedboat article.]

Oh, and one other thing - Happy Birthday, Big Brother!

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Straightaway Speed Records One Mile or One Kilometer designated class prefix "F" 266 Cubic Inch through 1969 5 Litres 1970 and after  (Originally the 225 Division I class)

Date	Site	Name(s)	Boat	Engine/Hull	Speed (MPH)
xx/xx/49	Salton Sea, CA	Paul Sawyer	Belligero II	Ford/Hallett	99.890
11/17/50	Salton Sea, CA	Paul Sawyer	Alter Ego F-211	Ford/Hallett	115.045
11/09/51	Salton Sea, CA	Paul Sawyer	Alter Ego F-211	Ford/Hallett	120.085
11/11/52	Salton Sea, CA	Bob Sykes	Guess Who	Mercury/Guess	121.703
12/27/56	Hollywood, FL	Sid Street	Z Z Zip	DeSoto/Guess	132.600
12/29/58	Miami, FL	Sid Street	Z Z Zip	DeSoto/Guess	146.945
08/26/60	Cape Coral, FL	Claude Barracliff & Bill Jeffries (O) Ennie Argence (D)	Gun Shy F-90	Chevrolet/Jones & Jones	123.593
10/14/61	Issaquah, WA	Dixon Vose	Chris III	Chevrolet/Colcock	137.258
10/27/63	Norristown, PA	Michael Thomas	Apache	Chevrolet/Lauterbach	138.085
10/25/64	Ft. Lauderdale FL	Carl Henderson (O) Mike Thomas (D)	Miss Washington, DC F-999	Chevrolet/Lauterbach	144.835
01/31/69	St. Petersburg, FL	Gordie Reed	Iroquois Chief	DeSoto/Guess	148.638
10/30/71	Parker, AZ	Fox, Thompson, & Wolf (O) Mickey Remund (D)	Going Thing 16-F	Ford/R. Jones	152.130