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Click on each Image
For Larger More Detailed View,
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Conquest,
the boat that started it all, was a team effort. The Sanger hull belonged to Ron Tort, the blown fuel Hemi belonged to
Bale, and there were various sponsors, but everybody knew that Ma Bale was the team's real sponsor.
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We had all
grown up with hot rods and drag racing. As far back as 1957 when Dwight
was 13, and brother Mac 11, Ma Bale gave in to Dwight’s insistence and
drove us kids to the drags at Lodi, California. There we saw Don
Gartlits
go up against Cooke & Bidwell in rigid framed “outlaw” fuelers. |
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But we had
not been a boating family, so in the summer of 1967, I was both amazed
and proud to find a centerfold photo of my brother in an issue of Hot
Rod Magazine. It stated, “Dwight ‘Hey’ Bale of Walnut
Creek,
California, got the wildest ride of his life when he took Ron Tort’s
392
Chrysler powered Sanger Hydro 'Conquest' through the quarter mile
lights
at a fantastic 181.44 mph in 7.45 seconds. It was a new all-time drag
boat
top-end record.” |
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A
DRAG BOAT Hydro measures
between 16 feet and 18 feet from stem to stern. And YES! When you know
how to do it, these things literally fly across the water. Little more
than half the prop, two rear stabilizers, and two metal skags are
actually
in the water (visible in this 1972 photo of Out-A-Sight,
the skags are attached to the rear of the sponsons and not much bigger
than a surfboard skag).
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Go to
Conquest Page Two
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