By Steven Sheppard
Reprinted from
The Norberg Custom Boats
Perhaps the most notable of the early Dave Knowlen-Norm Berg collaborations was the project that followed the Spirit of ’76. It was the designing and building of a hull for a young Seattle boat racer named Steve Reynolds. That project would become the highly successful 225-class N-10 "White Lightning."
Reynolds had enjoyed moderate success with "Sundance Kid." Dave Knowlen had built that hull and raced it as a conventional 280-class limited in the mid-to-late 1960s. Dave sold it to two gentlemen who in turn sold the boat to Steve after altering it to race as a 225-class hull. Perhaps too heavy to compete well in the lower classification, the "Kid" failed failed to win any trophies for Reynolds, and left him wanting more.
Focused on eventually moving up to the unlimited class, the young driver decided to upgrade his ride after a particularly frustrating day of racing. He arduously saved his money over the course of a year to have a new, more competitive boat constructed.
When he had assembled the needed funds, he at first contacted Ron Jones to design and build the craft, but an anticipated wait of seven to eight months to begin construction of the Jones-crafted hull led the young racer to look elsewhere.
As luck would have it, Reynolds ran into Dave Knowlen, who had heard that Reynolds had been looking to have a boat built. Knowlen showed Steve his latest design prints and then took him to the NCB shop to meet with Berg.
Impressed with Berg’s craftsmanship, it is said that Reynolds reportedly declared aloud that Berg’s wood working was every bit as good as that done on Ron Jones’ hulls, to which Berg reportedly responded by telling Reynolds of his years spent working in the Jones’ shops in California.
Subsequently, Reynolds and the NCB partners settled on a price, and Norm began construction from Knowlen’s plans. The result was a bright blue and white cabover powered by a Buick engine — emblazoned with a big N-10 and the name "White Lightning". Notably, one of the major innovations that Knowlen applied to the design of that boat was a horizontal stabilizer wing — the first ever to be used on a 225-class hull.
"I kept the boat in my Parents Garage/Workshop on Mercer Island," Reynolds recalled of his new acquisition. "My first sponsor was actually an old friend of mine and my fathers who owned the Shell Gas Station on Mercer Island."
The boat became a front-runner almost immediately, winning six races in a row while winning every preliminary heat that the boat entered. It was about this point that the team was to become even better.
The catalyst for that improvement would be the addition of Jim Harvey to the "White Lightning" team as crew chief.
Harvey and Reynolds had a mutual friend who saw the potential in the two joining forces to race Steve’s new boat. A meeting was soon arranged, and Steve and Jim hit it off almost immediately. After taking Harvey to see the boat, Reynolds invited him to head his crew.
While Reynold’s father was a big help, the grind of Reynolds having to race the boat, put it back on the trailer, refuel it for the next heat, put it the water, race it again, put it back on the trailer, tie it down, load the truck with equipment, tow the boat to the shop, go through the hull and check for needed repairs, put away all support equipment (i.e. tools, gas cans, slings, ropes. etc.), and then to drive home for work the day after a race was wearing young Reynolds out. He needed help to carry the load so he could focus on winning.
Reynold’s made it clear that night that he felt that Harvey was the man to provide that help. He could be that someone that was needed to manage and take care of the boat—that someone who would become Reynolds’ crew chief.
Harvey accepted the position and quickly made it clear that Reynolds had made the correct choice.
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| A view of part of the damage done to the N-10 Pay 'n Pak from its blow over on Green Lake. |
"Jim was definitely the RIGHT MAN for the job! He'd stop by my folks’ garage after work everyday. He and my Dad babied the White Lightning, treating her with kid gloves", Reynolds said. "In the process Jim became like a second son to my Dad. They got along so well, and he was there so often."
Harvey, Reynolds, and Reynolds’ father then joined forces with another of Steve’s friends — engine builder Bill Grader — to set two world competition records and to remain undefeated in competition for two and one-half years, dominating the 225 class in Region 10 if not the entire West Coast.
Through it all, the centerpiece of the success was the 18’ cab over limited hydro with the innovative large rear wing crafted by NCB, and this was not lost on Reynolds. He recently commented on the "White Lightning" and his perspective on the work of Berg in a Facebook posting about another of Berg and Knowlen’s other hulls:
"Norm's boats were pieces of finely built works of art." Reynolds said. "He was truly one of the finest craftsman in boat building. His craftsmanship was second to NONE!" Reynolds then embellished that observation with a smiley emoticon to further emphasize his pleasure with Berg’s work.
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| A view of part of the damage done to the N-10 Pay 'n Pak from its blow over on Green Lake. |
Perhaps by chance, Reynolds drew a new, more influential sponsor to the N-10 camp with his success.
"Dave Heerensperger, owner of the Pay 'n Pak unlimited, was living on Mercer Island at the time, and he saw a picture of the White Lightning on the wall in the gas station," said Reynolds of the origins of the new sponsor arrangement.
"Heerensperger then told the station owner that if I was interested in him sponsoring me that I was to contact him at his office in Kent for a meeting, and we'd discuss sponsorship."
"I called Dave, set up a meeting, and then met him at his office. I walked out two hours later with a Pay 'n Pak sponsorship. I believe that was the first limited hydroplane, in Region 10 anyway, to have a contending unlimited hydroplane sharing sponsorship with a limited hydroplane."
Reynolds said he ran the N-10 hull four or five races as the Pay 'n Pak previous to a flip on Green Lake that nearly destroyed the boat and injured Reynolds.
Norm Berg rebuilt and repainted the boat while Reynolds was recuperating from the Green Lake accident. After the repairs were completed, Heerensperger contacted Reynolds, and told him that he wanted the boat to run in an exhibition race featuring local limited boats during Seattle's unlimited Seafair race.
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A view of part of the damage done to the N-10 Pay 'n Pak from its blow over on Green Lake.
Photo Credit: Bob Bolam Collection |
"I was on crutches for Seafair and couldn't drive," Reynolds said of the situation. "I told Dave I thought the water conditions on Lake Washington were far too rough for my little 18' boat. Dave wanted it to run anyway, and he told me that if I couldn't drive it myself then I was to find another driver — but he wanted it there!"
"I got another driver for Seafair, and my boat ran in the exhibition race. But as I feared and predicted, it cracked open a sponson in that rough water and had to be towed back to the pits. As can be imagined, I was NOT happy about it, and that ended my sponsorship arrangement with Pay 'n Pak right on the spot!"
As Reynolds transitioned into the unlimited ranks shortly after the Pay 'n Pak accident (he said that he was still quite stiff when he assumed that role), he divested himself of the "White Lightning", selling the engine to Brad Mosure and the hull to Roby Ottwell. It then became the "Honey Hush" according to Reynolds, and Ottwell ran the boat for a season before destroying it in a blow-over accident on Green Lake.
Note: Parts of the "White Lightning" reportedly still remain, however. The nose cowling of the N-10, with Reynold’s name on it, is currently part of the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum collection in Kent and is in currently in storage for possible display at a later date.
