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History Ron Jones Sr & John Woods were best friends. John Woods
hailed form St Louis, Mo and was a billionaire stock broker. Thus,
he named all his boats Speculation. Ron built John a new boat each
year for 4 or 5 years as Woods strove to beat the Goodie Wagon and
Country Boy. In 1972 Woods was National Champion in the 225 class.
Mike Endres bought that boat, renamed it Third Generation, N-23 and
was a consistent winner running it as a 360 on the Canadian circuit.
This boat was stored over 25 years in Jones shop as Woods lost
interest in hydros . Eventually, Woods sent it to Florida where
Glenn Koutny drove it for John. Later, the wing was removed and the
boat was shipped back to Seattle. Ron had Steve Reynolds drive it in
races out West. Over the years Ron also used it as a research and
development hull. The sponsons were updated by Ron at some point. In
1995, Woods reclaimed the boat, removed the Ed Morgan 215 Buick
engine, and installed a new chevy. He then drove it in St Louis in a
few Race for the Cure celebrity events, John died in a motorcycle
accident on his farm on his 69th birthday & the boat was willed to
his good friend Arlie Appler. Arlie sold it to me in December 2011
as he is having Lauterback build him a new vintage 2 seater. |