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Lone Star Boat Racing Association
Dale Sellers drove 250 cc Hydro and was good at it. I was just talking with Denny Henderson about him and thought that I would post some pictures of him. We have some great memories of him when we were all members of the Lone Star Boat Racing Association. Bobby Wilson and Dale were a "tuff" team to beat!!
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Lone Star Boat Racing Association
If you ever raced Alkies in Texas, keep tuned in. You may find a photo of yourself.
San Antonio PRO Nationals flip ID
Wayne,
I don't remember the year of the San Antonio PRO Nationals (1978 I seem to believe), but I do remember a rather amazing flip (I think it was a blowover in a 500 or 700, but it was so long ago I can't recall) with a comical out-come. I'm thinking that it might have been you (or you might recall who it was).
David Eldredge, I believe Kristi Hellsten and myself were wading in waist deep water watching a high flying Butts Hydro making a few laps. On the last lap, the guy dumps it right in front of us! The driver flew through the air flailing like crazy, and finally landed in the water & weeds about 10 feet away from us.
After ran over to him and made sure the driver was ok, we told him he gets an overall score of a "9" on that flip. The driver then responded, "Geesh, what do I gotta do to get a "10" ??!!" We said "you gotta land in that", as we pointed to a chair sitting in the water about 3 feet behind him. The driver then stood up, shook his head and walked off mumbling something about a tough crowd.
Was that you??!!
Guy
San Antonio Pro Nationals flip
That's A great story, but it wasn't me. I was in the air numerous times, but always managed to land back in the water right side up except in DePue 1974. That was my only "real" blowover. Maybe someone out there will remember. Let's hear some more stories.
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Lone Star Boat Racing Association
Here's some old photos I dug up from the time I started racing in Texas
Two funniest stories on the same day
Denny--what was the other story?
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Lone Star Boat Racing Association
Barbon, Lake Corpus Christi, TX 1974
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Some of the '60s Pictures from Baytown
Welcome Joe Cohen and Craig Lawrence.
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Lone Star Boat Racing Association
Some shots from my newly found pile of pictures.
two funniest stories on the same day
Wayne,
The incident I was refering to envolved Louis Williams friend "Roddy", and was funny only to those of us who saw it happen. There was a pier that extended out into the river 20' or so, with pleasure boats tied along side it. To help drivers see the flags, there would be a flagman out on the end of the pier. That day it was Roddy, and by 3 or 4 o'clock he was waving around more than the flags were. Craig and I had been watching him for some time, staggering around, waving flags, when suddenly he just toppled off the pier and disappeared into the bottom of a pleasure boat.
We ran out and found him curled up and sound asleep. He never even knew what happened. I guess you had to be there.
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Lone Star Boat Racing Association
Barbon, Lake Corpus Christi 1974.
I want you guys to tell some stories about things that happened at these races.
Those of us in the Corpus Christi Boat Club decided to build our own portable toilets and store them on the ranch part of Barbon to save money. They were BIG. About 4 X 4 X 8 with 4 X 6 skids. They were heavy and it took 3 or 4 people to load them, but there were always racers around to help when we needed to move them.
It was the evening before the race in 1974,( I think it was the Texas State Championships), we were sitting around drinking beer and decided it was time to bring the two wooden toilets to the spectator area. We had sealed them up and nailed the doors shut after the races the previous year in order to keep critters out. A couple of guys handled the front of the skids, and handed off to some guys in the pickup. I was handling the rear skid on the side where the door opened, and when the toilet was tilted up, the heavy door opened so I just grabbed the door frame with my right hand to load it in the pickup. One of the San Antonio racers was standing there and he slammed the door shut with both hands, put his head down and pushed hard. It just so happened that he wasn't paying attention that he closed it on my right hand.
That wasn't the bad part. My hand was where one of the nails holding the door shut was. The nail in the door went through my hand between the middle finger and the right handed ring finger about halfway down my palm. I started hollering and everybody bailed out of the pickup or took off. They thought a bunch of wasps was attacking. Me, the guy holding the other rear skid and the one who slammed the door are still there holding on the the toilet so it wouldn't fall on us. In the meantime, I was still pinned down by the nail. I was hollering "open the door....open the door". Then when the others realized what was happening, they jerked it open and freed me.
The next day I could only close my thumb, index and middle finger so it was a little tough driving, but that's racing. We all had a good laugh about it.
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Barbon Lake Corpus Christi, Texas
These photos were taken by my cousin John Lacey. It was about 4 months before I started buying cameras and lenses.
Ray Hardy Pleasure Boat Collision
Wayne and Denny:
The final outcome on the deal with Ray hiting the pleasure boat was about 4-5 years after the incident, APBA or I guess the insurance carrier settled with the drunk on the boat. The settlement was not for damage to his boat when Ray hit it, but the damage incurred to his ankles and lower legs when he jumped down on to the front deck of Ray's hydro and punched through the top deck and lacerated his legs and ankles. I know because Ray called me with the comment "guess what those dumb SOB's did about the accident", and then related the settlement story. He had to sign the papers on the settlement and the amount seems to stick in my mind as approx. 5000.00 they gave the dummy. Ray loved the sport and the people in it, and after he passed away last summer, Eileen and I were contacted by his surviving daughters in Chicago, and asked to put his ashes in Lake DePue. Thanks to many of his friends from that time period he raced, he made a few more laps around Lake DePue, and even won a few heats. Almost won the 250 Hydro championsip as deck rider but an engine failure did him in. We also made a small deposit in Fort Buhlow lake in Alex in the fall. He was one of a kind like your Dad Wayne, and there will never be another like him.
On another subject Wayne, tell the story about the jet boat guy that used to pester you to race him at Barbon when you and your Dad were testing. That is a funny one.
Bill Van
I have a question for Wayne Baldwin
I saw a runabout in the last pic on post #10 with T*73 on it and was wondering if that may have been Cleabern Phelp's old boat? I asked the Phelp's about it and they said they couldnt tell but he thought that you may have ended up with his boat. Can you shed a little more light into the details of that boat for me? I drive Super E hydro and runabout for him now and he still carries the same numbers on his boats. Thanks in advance Dwayne Laramore Buna Tx.