Thread: Wayne Baldwin's Amazing Story: Baldy's Eual Eldred Baldwin

  1. #151
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Sandia, Texas
    Posts
    3,831
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    This is a cover of my second Roostertail---March 1966. It was so alien....so cool. Color TV just became widespread over the airwaves, James Bond and Johnny Rivers were entertaining us with segret agent actions, Voyage to the Bottom of the Ocean had an underwater spaceship like submarine fighting giant squids, evil people and disasters all in color...and you could sense change...some good...some bad, in the air. The cover of Bill Holland in this fantastic looking hydro fascinated me the first time I saw the cover.

    I looked at this cover many, many times during my early racing career and I kept thinking I will see Bill Holland at the races. He was living and raced in the same circuit I was just jumping into. However, he quit racing alky just when I was beginning. He had come to some of the races, but since he wasn't entered, neither he nor anyone else around thought about him being a big deal to a 16 year old kid who was fascinated by his boat and the nearly 106 mph it had been clocked at as reported in Roostertail. This was the March issue, so it would only be weeks until our first bonafide entry in an alky race.

    As I mentioned I never saw him there or any race I ever attended, but at the Lone Star Boat Racing Association Reunion he and his wife Dortothy attended. He brought a couple of albums with him. I was so fascinated with his history, we talked at length. He was gracious enough to let me take his albums home to scan. At that time we were very busy in our business so it took awhile to get everything scanned and he was anxious to have his books back. One thing he showed me at the reunion were the concept drawings of this boat. There was not only the drawing of the boat on the cover, but another one with two engines. I cannot remember what the speed goal of that rig was, however, the drawings were very exceptional, and he didn't want to lose them.

    We had numerous telephone conversations while I was scanning the photos and posting the story of Bill Holland here. Our business was really booming then so I did not have time to finish the Bill Holland story when the computer I had scanned everything on quit being able to send over the internet. It works now, but Andrew has commandeered that room and I very seldom can work in it because he has all his music stuff plugged in and one or more of my printers, recorders, scanners unplugged and it's a hassle to track down all the wiring. It's a full day's project.

    I really enjoyed my conversations with Bill and was very upset to hear when he passed away. He was a very, very nice man. And very talented with whatever project he took up. I talked at length with his second wife Dorothy after he passed away. They had both known each other from racing, but it took Ray Yates' matchmaking to put a stop to their gloom and get them together and back into the boat racing fraternity. A son of Bill had contacted me several months after Bill's death mentioning that I had been posting Bill's history and he was going to help me with any additional info I needed. I was having numberous E mail troubles back then going on for more than a year, and I lost his E mail and name. I'm hoping he may pass through BRF again and recontact me so we can finish the Bill Holland thread.

    ADD: The doodling on this cover was by my sister Brenda. Baldy kept the Roostertails by the telephone hanging on a wall next to the regrigerator in the kitchen and directly across from the grill on the island bar at our house in Alice. Mark, Jan and I had "our" phone hanging on the wall in the hallway between the girls and the boys rooms. Brenda would use the kitchen phone if Baldy wasn't home when she was talking to her boyfriend, and she would doodle while she listened. I was pissed when I saw what she did to MY Roostertail.

    ADD: The reason Baldy kept the Roostertail there was so he could call somebody new when he saw something that he wanted to know about, and when he got home and started cooking, the Roostertail would be handy.
    Attached Images Attached Images



  2. #152
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Sandia, Texas
    Posts
    3,831
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    We had tested...we had everthing loaded...the trailer lights checked out...all was ready for our first race with brand new FA Konig, FB Konig, A/B DeSilva runabout and a used A/B Sid-craft. Fuel was mixed and loaded and Honda motorcyle batteries charged.

    Other than our quick vacation to and from Santa Fe, New Mexico, us kids had never been further than Houston. Except for Baldy and my trips to Bryan Marine to get equipment and advice for National Outboard Association Pro Division racing.

    I was both stoked and nervous the night before. Having been reading Boating News, and then Roostertail, which was to me the down in the dirt and guts of what I had been looking forward to, it was hard to sleep.

    Baldy headed eastward through Mathis toward Refugio where we picked up a small county road and headed further east until we intersected state highway 35. It was not too far from where the Aransas National Refuge was where the Whooping Crane troop was built up from almost distinction. This was a route we were often to follow over many years. It was also the way to Jack Chance's house.

    The road brought back memories because it was the same road we took seven years earlier when Baldy's stepdad was dying from cancer and we drove up that way to Galveston. Back then the road was very spooky. We crossed the Guadalupe River basin which was about 10 miles across. The road was raised very high with no shoulders and water on both side. There were trees, cane, lillies, and no telling what manner of gators and cottonmouths lurked only a mistake on a rain slickened highway away.

    We stopped at Gordon's Seafood Restaurant for lunch located just at the western side of 35 where the Lavaca Bay bridge started. On the other side of the Lavaca Bay bridge was an Alcoa Aluminum plant. The whole bay was rust colored. The alumina discharge from making aluminum colored the bay and creeks all around. Passing over the bridge and just to the left were a series of abandoned barges. They were stacked against the abankment jutting out into the water....two in one batch and the other three just beyond. They were landlocked resisting the tide, only because of weight an water displacement. I would look at these barges being reduced to rust every time we passed by while also seeing the rusty colored water clear from the plant.

    (Debbie's taking over the computer....I'm ordered to stop)



  3. #153
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Sandia, Texas
    Posts
    3,831
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    I got it back. Before I continue, I will add some more to this story as an aftermath. Thirty four years later I still look over at those barges. There are only two of the staunchest ones left and they are still banked in the same place Baldy and I first saw them. Rather than complete shelled barges, there are only a few ribs and some of the heavier siding and bottom still showing above the water line.

    The water has been clear since around 1972. The Clean Water Act stopped direct discharges into bays, rivers and streams. I was a proponent of that and we saw improvement in a relatively short time.



  4. #154
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Sandia, Texas
    Posts
    3,831
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    We crossed the Karankawa Bay (named after the 6' cannibal indians), went through Bay City and got all the way to Sweeny, Texas where it was shift change. Philips 66 had a refinery there. It was a one horse town with one light. If you got there when everyone punched out.....you have to wait. After that, we always made sure we weren't going through there around 4:00 pm. The other times they changed were never a matter to our schedule.

    Baldy's Stepdad was gruff and scary to us kids, but for Baldy...he was just typical oilfield. He was a rigbuilder back when they built wooden derricks and moved whenever the oilfield moved. When he got too old....Grandpa Arkie became a caretaker at a tourist place hidden among gigantic moss laden oak trees just west of highway 35 a few miles south of West Colulmbia. The last time we had been that way was several years earlier when he was treated for cancer in Galveston.

    I looked then to see if I remembered where we turned off, but I didn't. Up through Angleton, turn right and head toward 146 that would lead us to Baytown.

    Before everything built up it was pretty simple. In 1966 a four lane major highway was being built and we had to make a jog and left turn to go down the old highway to catch the turnoff to get to 146. For several years it was a cakewalk, but after the construction continued, we had to get onto a new section the remember the small county road to turn off for 146.

    That very first trip though was unique. Around 5 miles after having turned eastward toward the intersection of 146 was a grain silo....a singular one....that was tilting. It was fairly tall. It stood leaning to the southwest at about a ten degree angle off to our left. The first several years we went to Baytown, Beaumont and Jack's it was no big deal. But after the construction and all exits looked the same, we weren't positive we were on the right road until we saw that leaning silo. It leaned over more through the years, but I don't know if it ever fell.

    After going north on 146 we started encountering some bay smells and sights. I will never forget our first trip to our first real race to Baytown, Texas when we saw hundreds of roseat spoonbills scouping up their food with an additional hundreds of steel oilfiield derricks in the shallow bay. Those derricks were featured in the film John Wayne did about Red Adair. A lot of the movie was filmed around there. There wasn't much time for reflection on that because we instantly entered the tunnel going to Baytown that went under the Houston ship channel.

    My eyes must have bugged out in awe. I remember a moment of darkness, then a deep descent into a very light, bright, damp, tiled tunnel. Then it was a very cool experience, but short lived before we came up on the other side. The Baytown Holiday Inn was not very far ahead on the right. Baldy pulled in to the covered entrance and booked us in.



  5. #155
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Sandia, Texas
    Posts
    3,831
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    I didn't like to eat breakfast in those days. I didn't like bacon, eggs or coffee. Baldy didn't drink coffee either, but he did like to eat breakfast, so we had to go into the lobby, order and wait around for the food....then eat. I was ready to get to the race course.

    The race course at the Baytown Boat Club situated on the banks of the San Jacinto River, was actually next to Highlands, Texas. Highlands was back toward Houston about 10 or 15 miles and we had to exit and cross over IH 10 to get on the main road through Highlands. Baldy saw some guys at a table eating breakfast that were obviously boat racers. He asked them how to get to the race course. It turned out that the one telling Baldy how to get there was Reles LeBlanc. What I remember was to cross over a set of railroad tracks, then look for a sign on the left that said "DILL's"at an old gas station converted to a small engine repair service or something like that. We saw the sign and Dill had a boat and motor on the side by the road we were to take, along with a piece of plywood painted white and had an arrow pointing left and said "Boat Races." Right after we made the turn, we saw a yellow trailer with a hydro and runabout and we followed them the couple of miles down the road to the Baytown Boat Club. It was Reles we followed in.

    I can still remember turning off the road to the right into the tree shaded club grounds. Lots of tents, campers and travel trailers were under the trees. There were many people milling about and a number of boats already in the pits. Baldy pulled up to the south side of the club and got out to scout out a place to pit. He found an opening about 50 yards to the right of the judges stand and just to the left of Jack Chance's trailer. The only people we knew at that point were Dan and David Waggoner, Steve Jones, Freddie Goehl and Arlen Crouch. Knowing Baldy and Jack, they would have soon met and become friends, but somehow I think pitting next to Jack and his driver Clayton Elmer for our first real race cemented our friendships and helped us get on the right track. Had things continued to go wrong and frustrate us, we might have given up. But Jack and Clayton were very helpful and offered anything they could to get us going.



  6. #156
    BoatRacingFacts VIP John Schubert T*A*R*T's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    East Galesburg, IL
    Posts
    504
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default Memory

    Quote Originally Posted by Master Oil Racing Team View Post
    I didn't like to eat breakfast in those days. I didn't like bacon, eggs or coffee. Baldy didn't drink coffee either, but he did like to eat breakfast, so we had to go into the lobby, order and wait around for the food....then eat. I was ready to get to the race course.

    The race course at the Baytown Boat Club situated on the banks of the San Jacinto River, was actually next to Highlands, Texas. Highlands was back toward Houston about 10 or 15 miles and we had to exit and cross over IH 10 to get on the main road through Highlands. Baldy saw some guys at a table eating breakfast that were obviously boat racers. He asked them how to get to the race course. It turned out that the one telling Baldy how to get there was Reles LeBlanc. What I remember was to cross over a set of railroad tracks, then look for a sign on the left that said "DILL's"at an old gas station converted to a small engine repair service or something like that. We saw the sign and Dill had a boat and motor on the side by the road we were to take, along with a piece of plywood painted white and had an arrow pointing left and said "Boat Races." Right after we made the turn, we saw a yellow trailer with a hydro and runabout and we followed them the couple of miles down the road to the Baytown Boat Club. It was Reles we followed in.


    I can still remember turning off the road to the right into the tree shaded club grounds. Lots of tents, campers and travel trailers were under the trees. There were many people milling about and a number of boats already in the pits. Baldy pulled up to the south side of the club and got out to scout out a place to pit. He found an opening about 50 yards to the right of the judges stand and just to the left of Jack Chance's trailer. The only people we knew at that point were Dan and David Waggoner, Steve Jones, Freddie Goehl and Arlen Crouch. Knowing Baldy and Jack, they would have soon met and become friends, but somehow I think pitting next to Jack and his driver Clayton Elmer for our first real race cemented our friendships and helped us get on the right track. Had things continued to go wrong and frustrate us, we might have given up. But Jack and Clayton were very helpful and offered anything they could to get us going.
    It simply amazes me that not only can you remeber back to those days but even to the very detail such as signs, etc. I bet you even recall what Baldy had for breakfast.

  7. #157
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Sandia, Texas
    Posts
    3,831
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Homer Alford was the referee and his wife Joy was a scorer. Clayton Elmer's mom Ouita was also a scorer and along with Joy, got everyone registered. Some of you that read Modified the magazine covering the midwest outboard racing scene may remember articles coming covering Texas races. It was Ouita who wrote those articles.

    I didn't know it at the time, but Ray Yates was starting out like us. He made have been to one or two other races before, but we were basically starting out together. Ray was pitted all the way to the left of the judges stand where the launch ramp was. He had a white boat with red trim and he ran A runabout and maybe B. I think he ran loopers in the beginning.

    It was a beautiful spring morning while we were rigging up. There was no hurry and it was so relaxing to soak it all in...where we were.....what we were doing....the promise of a lot of exciting action. Country music was blaring over the P A. I didn't generally like country music except for a few crossovers like Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline and Marty Robbins. One of my fondest memories is of rigging up the B runabout and Marty Robbins' singing his famous ballad "El Paso". From that very day til now, I think of rigging up that B runabout every time I hear "El Paso".



  8. #158
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Sandia, Texas
    Posts
    3,831
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    I can't remember all the races like that John, but I had a lot of this particular race imprinted in my mind because it was a real promising beginning. We had real race motors that would start and run. I remember the sign because the road was narrow and hard to see. We missed it the first time, then Baldy had to turn around having gone into downtown. We went back a mile or so to recross the railroad tracks then turn back around to look for Dills. It also takes a lot to jog my memory like you just did. I couldn't figure out how we came upon Reles trailer, but I remember following him in. Just now it comes back that after we turned around to retrace the directions, Reles came driving by and we crossed the tracks again and saw Reles turn left. It was then that we found the Dill's sign and the small boat racing sign. We had been looking up in the air for "Dill's"but it was on the ground.

    For breakfast I'm saying Baldy had country ham with red eye gravy, grits and over easy eggs. I'll bet Joe agrees. I had pancakes even though they made the roof of my mouth feel funny. I wish I could remember more John, but things come back in bits and pieces after I talk to Joe, Clayton or somebody else or look at old pictures and articles. I had forgotten about racing that old Sid-Craft until I looked at the movies. When I saw a close up after coming into the pits, I immediately could smell the sawdust from when I was sanding it to refinish.



  9. #159
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Sandia, Texas
    Posts
    3,831
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    I found a picture of the pits and we were between Reles LeBlanc in L-14 and Jack Chance and Clayton Elmer in T-30. Beyond you can the the T-61 runabout of Charlie Bailey. The other picture I have posted before, but I include it again to show the seawall we had to carry the boats over.

    The San Jacinto River at this point was close enough to the bay to have influence from the tide. The water levels would rise or fall through the day depending on where the moon was. Lugging those boats up and down over the wall could really wear you out. By the end of the day we were beat.
    Attached Images Attached Images



  10. #160
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Sandia, Texas
    Posts
    3,831
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    I remember seeing Joe Rome at this race, but I didn't know who he was. It was hard to miss someone close to my own age and towering it seemed two feet higher than me. I was shy and didn't get around meeting anyone except the people right around us, but Clayton was very friendly and since they were in the minority of racers with Konigs we had something in common and we began learning from him and Jack. Of course Baldy got around meeting people, asking questions and having a very good time himself. One sour note though was when Louis Williams came up to our trailer and saw the chrome exhausts. He looked at the FB Konig and said in a derogatory tone to Baldy "You think all that chrome makes them run any faster?" That really pissed Baldy off, but he held his tongue. That was the first time Baldy met Louis as far as I know, and it got them off to a bad start. They would taunt and make snide remarks to one another at annual meetings, and other times, but years later after Joe Rome started pitting for us when we went out of state, they both mellowed toward one another.

    Between heats the announcer would bark "Get over to the concession stand and git some fried chickin'....you also might find a Mogen-David snow cone." We did get the fried chicken and a heaping plate of french fries. Turns out that no other place we ever raced anywhere had food in the pits that could match that half of a chicken fried crisp. And I have never had better french fries at home or any restaurant than that deep fried in the Baytown cauldron's. And they never ran out. You could buy fried chicken and french fries when you headed out for home late sunday afternoon.

    Baldy and Jack hit it off so well that they made plans to get together soon, and Jack would teach me to work on the Konigs. It was back at the Holiday Inn Saturday evening that I learned how to tell which rooms boat racers were staying at. We spent many years staying at that Holiday Inn, but this was the first time I ever stayed at a hotel where numerous tennis shoes were drying out next to the doors of several dozen rooms. So we took our cue from that and left our tennis shoes out next to the door also.



Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 12 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 12 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. An Amazing Story: Part 2
    By Mark75H in forum Outboard Racing History
    Replies: 555
    Last Post: 10-13-2008, 05:44 PM

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •