1963: Boston, Massachusetts, Stock Nationals
Ernie Dawe, Ruben Dawe and Ted May drive to Boston in Ernie 1957 Plymouth that has 200,000 miles on it when they left California for Boston. They get to Boston and are trying to find the Charles River. Bostonians are friendly as hell, you just can't understand a word they say. Ruben, Ted and Ernie were lost. Anyway, they are stopped at a stop light and Ernie looks out the window.
Joe Schulte is sitting on the corner with his CU Rinker on skids and his Mark 30-H in he cockpit. He had stuffed his boat into a TWA cargo hold and flew it to Boston....How he got the boat from the airport to the corner, I never knew.
But, there were many things I never knew about Joe Schulte.
1 Attachment(s)
Joe John Schulte Birthday Today
Flash back picture of his dad's Alley Cat. It started life as a May Craft Hydro, that Ted and Joe Schulte built for a "Y" class inboard hydro with like a 44 cubic inch Mercury Outboard powerhead.
After Joe moved to Michigan, Rod Zapf ended up with the boat, he added a transom with Bill Boyes' help and bought a 650 Merc from a guy named Nichols in Kansas City who owned a restaurant.
Rod raced it as an "F" Hydro.
Rumors have it Joe John is racing at Minden, this weekend... 9/30/2017 and 10/01/2017.
This picture of the Alley Cat was taken at the Winternationals, 1969. Many people over the years have looked at this picture, some have actually seen the boat.
Too Bad You Could Not Hear the Announcer
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Master Oil Racing Team
You must be referring to Jimmie Nichols from Kansas City Ron. Nice guy, a little shorter than me. He had a big trailer and ran lots of boats. Jimmie was one of the guys that traveled the Midwest circuit, and was well liked among all the competitors. Seems like his colors were white with orange trim. I was at that race in 1969 Ron, but did not see the pits from where the picture was taken until it was time for the prize giving. Then I could see the pits from above where all the trophies were lined up. From where the starting clock is , we were pitted way to the left on an island. There were perhaps a dozen teams from the overflow pits that were out there.
Elgin Gates was the announcer, he knew everything about the mountains, desert and the river. He was once the Mercury Marine Distributor, but moved back to Needles. He started the National Pistol Association.
Jimmy Nichols, sold him a few props and ate at his restaurant once, but he was at a boat race and so, I never met him face to face.
He seemed to love boat racing. No relation to Louie and Fuzz Nichols. Louie ran the Mid West Power Boat Association for years. Fuzz moved to California and Dave and Phil were his kids. Dave still owns an NBRA boat or two.
Fuzz Nichols Was Quite a Boat Race Promoter
Quote:
Originally Posted by
racnbns
Wasn't Dave Nichols from Minnesota originally and was on OMC race team co-driver at Parker 67 or 68?
Bruce
I don't know if I knew "FUZZ" Nichols first name. The Nichols moved to California, from Minnesota, when Fuzz bought a SpeedQueen Washing Machine coin operated laundromat distributorship.
Rumors had it that Fuzz had a few run in with the "COPS" aka "FUZZ" in those days. I have no first hand knowledge of this.
Dave and his brother Phil seemed to like California, except the racing wasn't like Minnesota. In Minnesota, there would be several thousand watching a race, in California there were only the pit crews as spectators.
Phil was quite a painter and painted my help in 1961 or 1062.
Dave was more the driver in the family and did drive with Ted May at Parker 1970 for sure and maybe one other year.
Phil passed recently and Dave lives in Texas. He and his wife have sponsored Dave Mason in several NBRA classes the last few years.