Outboard Racing Lost Another Great One.........
The outboard racing family lost a member today with the passing of David Cambridge Christner from Covid-19. David was the oldest son of O. F. and Vera Christner, owners of Quincy Welding and developer of the famous Quincy Merc, The Quincy Looper and Quincy Z racing engines. David was 84.
David began racing for his father in 1955, by participating in the North-South Division I Championships held on May 29th at Quincy, Illinois, on the Mississippi River in the Quincy Bay.
David, at the Div III World Championships in 1956, took 1st place title in A Runabout.
The April 1957 issues of the (NOA) Rooster Tail proclaimed 1957 to be a banner year for racing with the biggest schedule in the history of outboard racing. It was also a banner year for winning races for David Christner. David started 1957 by taking a 2nd in B Hydro, a 3rd in B Runabout and a 2nd in A Runabout at the Division IV races at Freeport, Texas, on April 14th. At the Division I races held April 28th at Oil City, Louisiana, David Christner took a 3rd in A Hydro.
At the Division IV races on May 12th in Austin, Texas, David won A Hydroplane and A Runabout for Quincy Welding. Freddie Goehl, also from Quincy, took a 3rd in B Hydro, 1st in D Hydro and 2nd in D Runabout at the same event.
On May 26th, at the Canton, Illinois Division I & IV races, David Christner took 1st in A Hydro and 1st in A Runabout. At the Division I Pro World Outboard Championships at Mt. Carmel on the Wabash River, an estimated 25,000 spectators lined the banks to watch the racing. David would battle with Dieter Konig in A Hydro with David winning the 1st heat. Overall, Vern McQueen of Springfield, IL, took 1st, David Christner 2nd and Dieter Konig 3rd. They also competed together in B Hydro with Dieter taking the 1st heat and David taking 2nd in 2 heats. Overall, Dieter Konig was 1st, David 2nd and 3rd went to Bill Tenney.
At the Division IV races at Waterville, Minnesota, David took 1st place in A Hydro, 1st in A Runabout and a 3rd in B Runabout. David kept up his winnning streak at the Divisions I & IV races at Helena, Arkansas on June 23rd by taking a 1st in A Hydro and 1st in A Runabout. On June 30th at the Divisions I & IV races held at Quincy, Illinois,
David took a 1st in A Hydro, 3rd in B Hydro and 1st in A Runabout. 4th of July, at the Springfield, Illinois Division I & IV races, David celebrated the holiday by taking a 2nd place in A Hydro, 1st in B Hydro, 2nd in A Runabout and 2nd in B Runabout. Just 2 days later, on July 6th, at the Division IV races at Hudson, Wisconsin,
David won 1st in A Hydro, 1st in B Hydro and 1st in A Runabout. Moving on to the Divisions I & IV races at Mattoon, Illinois, on July 7th, David Christner took 1st in B Runabout while Freddie Goehl came in 2nd. That's 3 major races in 4 days!
David continued to successfully campaign as a member of the Quincy Welding racing team through the next few years. The January 1959 cover of the (NOA) Rooster Tail proclaimed "Christner Wins Trophy for 1958." David Christner won the Wishey-Vincent Best Performance Award for 1958. According to the NOA official records, the award is one of the most coveted in the outboard sport and is awarded on the basis of the best performance turned in for the year on the basis of number of races entered and finished.
Beginning in 1960, David continued to race for the Quincy team, but on a part-time basis, after his move to Sarasota, FL.
In his later years David became involved in collecting art, eventually opening a gallery in downtown Sarasota. He also became more involved in philanthropy. In 2012 he was awarded the Gusi Peace Prize for his work through the Cambridge Christner Foundation, which was instrumental in building five schools and four orphanages in Cambodia, plus a large school in North Korea.
David Cambridge Christner was knighted into the The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta (commonly known as the "Order of Malta") on November 23, 2013 for his humanitarian work.
David will be greatly missed by his family here.
However we believe he is now with his father, O. F., planning their next race in the great place above
with the Lord himself overseeing what those two have cooked up for their new competitors.
Regards,
Paul A. Christner
