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I don't know that there was a flood Dale, but I know in 1972 the lake was shallow because I got stuck in the mud, and in 1974 the race course had to be plumbed for the bottom, and stakes marked the perimeter on the backside and turns. You have to remember, 1970 was 48 years ago. Maybe the trees and other changes make things look different. I remember in 1972 a bulldozer was running up and down in the pits in the area where Denny Henderson and I had a rock skipping contest. Denny wasn't there in 1970, but when he was there in 1972, we pitted close to where I think the background in the photo is.
I have to amend this post. I did get stuck in the mud in 1972, but it was in 1974 that Denny was there for the rock skipping contest with Denny and the bulldozer making pit area smoother. In 72 we were pitted down toward the launching ramp.
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The Cat was working below the pavilion. The area I think where the house or church was is to the left toward the end of the pits. I have included a photo of many times champion Denny Henderson competing in a rock skipping contest at DePue.
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That is pretty good form on Denny but I will say to get a good skip he needs to have a little more back bend in order to be as close to parallel to water as possible and then spin the rock off the end of the finger. Overall . if I were judging , I would give a 9 out of 10 points. :cool::cool:. Who is that with your dad in the picture??
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Chicago 69
Here is a pit picture , on the back it says Chicago 69. I'm sure Bill Kurps can add more information on this when he sees it. Help us out Bill. I have to say I love the era of the open trailers and racks and racks of boat. Look at that Iowa trailer in the background , that has to be an 7 or 8 boat rack. Any idea who that is , X-73 is the number on the runabout??
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X 73 might be Barry Wilson. I will look it up Dale. I like the old trailers too. Enclosed are very nice, and we would have probably had one too if we continued racing, but when you are getting close to the area where you race, I think seeing these boats on the trailer helps attract locals to the race.
Denny has pretty good form and actually got some really long skips, but his release is way too high. That is Big Jim Bear Wrestler behind Denny collecting flat rocks for him. Jim Richardson raced C and D runabout out of Houston, Texas.
I'm not sure who the guy in brown on the left is Dale, but I'm pretty sure the next guy to the right is named Eddie. He was a former mayor of DePue and he was a huge fan of our team. To the right of my Dad is Joe Rome's first wife Doris.
Hope you got lots more pictures.
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I'm not sure who the guy in brown on the left is Dale, but I'm pretty sure the next guy to the right is named Eddie.
Perhaps Ed and not Eddie , Ed Widmer was active in the Lake DePue Preservation Association which sponsered the races at that time.
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This is what I know from looking at this photo: The blond girl on the right is my sister Nancy, next to her is her future husband Tom. The garbage can looks like one from Chicago. If asked, I wouldn't have said this photo was from the race in Chicago. I lived in Chicago during this time period. I raced with Ray Hardy at three races in Chicago, 1st a Drag Race put on by I think the Chicago Park Board. I raced the second race boat that I built there. The second and third time we raced in Chicago was either 1969 and 1970 or 1970 and 1971 at the Turning Basin off the Chicago River. At these two races, I ran the boat shown in this photo, this is the third race boat that I built. My second and third boat designs had higher Cockpit Sides than were standard for the times. My first race boat (second boat that I ever built) was a Hall Kelly design which I kept falling out of in the turns. I figured I could design and build a boat as bad as his and still stay in the damn thing. The boat had a all wooden deck and a fiberglass front Nose Cowling. The reason I think this photo was from 1970 is that I have a copy of a check from Outboard Club of Chicago dated Aug 23, 1970, for $91.42. I placed 1st and 5th in "B" Hydro.
Bill Kurps
The first and second boats in the photo appears to be V-17 Clyde Queen boats, most likely "A" and class "B"
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Chicago 69 is written on the back of this picture Bill.
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What I remember, I raced Saturday and Sunday the first time there and made some money. The second year I went Saturday but didn't go back Sunday because the water was worst the second year. I might be wrong, it was a long time ago.
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DePue pic
Not sure of the year but definitely DePue.