History in Lake Depue

[racingfan1]

While it was great to see all the past Pro drivers at Lake Depue , I had to wonder with all the history at the reunion , has anybody ever left anything at the bottom of Lake Depue. I will start it off with a piece that was saved.

For ten years I worked a tow boat at all the Pro races at DePue. During a Hydro race a piece of the cowl on Pete Voss' hydro blew off, we had a pretty good idea where it was , but by the time the heat had ended it had already sunk to the merky depths of the Lake. After the racing was complete for the day , we went back out with a diver , a pole ,and a piece of rope. We stopped the boat about where the piece blew off and made a loop in the rope , slid it on the bottom of the pole then stuck the pole in the bottom of the lake. The driver would go down and hold on to the rope and swim in a circle on the bottom feeling with his free hand. When he almost had completed the circle we would tap on the bottom of the jonboat with a hammer, he would release a little of the rope and start over in a circle again. At the end of the rope he would come up and we would move the boat alittle and try again. It took us about 4 hours and 2 days before the diver finally came across the piece about 40 yards from where it originally blew off. I cant remember for sure but it may have been Diane Murray in the boat with me.

[David Weaver]

McKeans lost a Quincy RB Powerhead in the first turn. Too many mechanics that weekend and everyone thought the other guy had put on the nuts that held the powerhead!!! Made almost 1 lap testing before the powerhead came off. I am not sure that they ever found or looked for it.

I have to imagine that there are plenty of propellers and parts of propellers.

[dlmurray]

While it was great to see all the past Pro drivers at Lake Depue , I had to wonder with all the history at the reunion , has anybody ever left anything at the bottom of Lake Depue. I will start it off with a piece that was saved.

For ten years I worked a tow boat at all the Pro races at DePue. During a Hydro race a piece of the cowl on Pete Voss' hydro blew off, we had a pretty good idea where it was , but by the time the heat had ended it had already sunk to the merky depths of the Lake. After the racing was complete for the day , we went back out with a diver , a pole ,and a piece of rope. We stopped the boat about where the piece blew off and made a loop in the rope , slid it on the bottom of the pole then stuck the pole in the bottom of the lake. The driver would go down and hold on to the rope and swim in a circle on the bottom feeling with his free hand. When he almost had completed the circle we would tap on the bottom of the jonboat with a hammer, he would release a little of the rope and start over in a circle again. At the end of the rope he would come up and we would move the boat alittle and try again. It took us about 4 hours and 2 days before the diver finally came across the piece about 40 yards from where it originally blew off. I cant remember for sure but it may have been Diane Murray in the boat with me.


Yes, that's a fact! It was me in the boat with you and the "team" did a great job! It was a great find!

Subsequent to that time, Pete has dumped several more things in Lake DePue--including pipes, props and can't remember if he lost another cowl! He has made his contributions!

[David Weaver]

Pete and I were talking at Constanintine. He suggested buying a big magnet to sweep Lake DePue. I said that was a good idea, but that we need a barge for a platform to handle all the stuff that we would dredge up!

[Tim Chance]

This didn't happen in Depue, it happened in Duluth, Minnesota. A guy was running down the back straightaway when his B Konig came of the back of his hydro. He noted some landmarks of where it happened. Then in the winter he and a skindiver went to that spot and cut a hole in the ice. The diver went down and there, barely sticking out of the silt on the bottom of the Lake Superior harbor he spotted the skeg and prop. They hooked a rope on it, pulled the motor up and it wasn't hurt one bit.

[Jeff Lytle]

I remember Todd Brinkman showing me where he lost a good C Service Speeditwin before the 2nd turn in Deseronto Ontario Canada.

[kampenracing]

We were at a race about 8 years ago in Quincy, IL. After the race a guy in a fishing boat came over and had a lower unit in his hand. He said he and his kids were watching the races and the kids were swimming and found it stuck in a log. It was an Inson lower unit that looked brand new and had a prop on it. We bought it from him for $25. We found out later that about 10 years prior to that a driver had lost that unit and prop. He had divers there for 2 days and could not find it. We cleaned it up and ran it for about 5 seasons after that!!!