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

  1. #171
    Team Member jrome's Avatar
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    Default egg man

    HE sponsored Don Nichols out of Baton Rouge and before that it was Jim Corbett out of Lake Charles.

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    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
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    Luciean only raced until around 1968 or 1968. He drove absolutely vertical in the boat...more than Wayne Walgrave. One time he was following Jerry Waldman in D hydro at Alex in Jerry's wake. He was about 50 yards behind. When Jerry's looper locked up (which was rare) Lucien had to jerk the wheel over to keep from seriously injuring both of them. I think he may have quit shortly after that.

    Bruce continued off and on until the 1980's. Tim Butts says he had a warehouse full of Butts Aerowings....some that may have never been in the water.

    I'm not sure of all the years that it happened, but before the Marioneaux boys drove, Harry had a driver named Bob McGinty. He was one hell of a diver from what I read in some old Roostertails. He at one time lived in Kingsville, but mostly he was know as being from Corpus Christi. Sorry that I never met the gentleman. But, I was just talking to Joe about some things someone had told me a long time ago. Harry had a beach house on an island off the Texas coast between Galveston and Bay City. It was accessible only by boat, helicopter or seaplane. Harry had a seaplane. I thought I had heard that Bob flew that, but Joe couldn't confirm it. All Joe remembers is that Harry would fly Bob to races and that one time Joe himself saw Bob arrive at the racecourse in a seaplane. Whoever told me the original story related that the plane hit a soft spot in the sand upon landing at the island one time, and flipped over. They had a heck of a time getting it either fixed to get off the island or had to get it off in pieces and after that no one went to the beach house much. Then I'm sure hurricanes finished it off. Probably Carla in 1961 because that island would have been a bullseye.



  3. #173
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
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    On Saturday the first heat up was B hydro and it was taken by Charlie Huff winning both heats and Lee Little from Dallas repeating second place. Ray Yates from Pasadena took two fourths. Clayton won both heats of D hydro with Lucien Marionueux a second and third. Charlie Huff won the first heat of A runabout with Bruce Nicholson taking second and I finished third. Bruce won the second heat with Dan Mitchell second, Ozzie Robinson from Bryan third, and myself fourth. The order of finish in C runabout was identical for the first four places. It was Freddie Goehl, Clayton Elmer, Clyde Bayer Jr. from Tulsa and Luciean Mariouneaux. F runabout was Freddie, Bruce, Ozzie and Phil Crown from Dallas.

    Freddie Goehl, Clayton Elmer and Bruce Nicholson were the big winners on Sunday with Freddie winning C hydro and a heat of D runabout while having two seconds behind the double wins of Bruce Nicholson in B runabout. I finished fourth in the second heat of B runabout behind Ray Yates. Clayton Elmer won both heats of F hydro with Freddie again taking two seconds. I had yet to meet Denny Henderson, and I think this might be the first race we both competed against one another. Denny won the first heat of A hydro and Charlie Huff won the second. Denny was the overall winner in points because of his second place finish in the second heat. While Baldy and I didn't actually meet either Denny or Joe Henderson at this race, we did meet Charley Huff from Bartelsville, Oklahoma. I think he must have been pitted very close, because he and Baldy hit it off immediately, and he helped us with advice. Charley only raced for a few more years in A/B hydro and runabout, but we remained friends throughout our racing careers. Charley continued to come to the big races as long as NOA was around, and he always came to hang out around our pits.

    This happened to be the first race where we found boat racing coverage in the newspapers. I think we had probably not thought about it before, and at the other races, we hit the road Sunday evening . This time we stayed overnight in Arkansas and walked across the street Monday morning to pick up a paper in Texas as we headed into the cafe for breakfast. The two articles from the Sunday and Monday morning Texarkana newspaper edition are the first two clippings I have in my scrapbook.



  4. #174
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
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    The news references to Charles Whitman yesterday because of the armed guy on the University of Texas campus reminded me that I have not include some of the highlights of the year 1966 yet. That one was I had planned to reference.

    Charles Whitman went armed with a sawed off shotgun and M-1 to the University of Texas tower where he proceeded to kill 16 people and wound 31 others before being fatally shot himself. That happened on August 1, 1966.

    I don't remember exactly where I was driving when the first reports began to trickle out, but it was like the early reports of the bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City....you couldn't really believe something like that was happening. It was before the days of 24 hour news coverage, and in a vehicle most cars were equipped only with AM radio. Baldy had bought me a 1966 IH International Scout with 4 wheel drive to replace the GM pickup. I was driving somewhere around Alice with Pam when early reports of a shooter began to trickle in. As reporters began to gather and get more information, it suddenly became clear that the tragedy was unfolding as they were reporting.

    The AM radio finally quit broadcasting bits and pieces of the story between music and advertising and went fully live. It was too difficult to drive and feel the emotion and enormity of the story as it unfolded so I drove back to our house and parked in the driveway while Pam and I listened. It started around 11:45, but we probably heard the first reports around noon. When they went full time live, I think the people that were killed was already over, as well as the bulk of the wounded. The reporters were talking about brave people going out to bring the dead and wounded back to cover. There were reports about an ambulance driver going down from a wound and others going to bring him in. Witnesses were interviewed and as always happens, there were conflicting reports.

    I remember clearly that some of the students and people on the streets all pretty much said at first they didn't believe they heard gunfire. Whitman was a very accurate riflemen, and in the beginning he was able to bring down a lot of his targets before people realized what was happening. The people being shot would go down before the report of the rifle was heard because of the height and distance involved. For most of the people on Guadalupe Street, it wasn't until they saw several people going down and blood spilling, that they realized something was going on, but they didn't know what. There was a moment when people didn't know what to do, or where to go....then panic set in. People began to take cover, but some that were killed were shot trying to help their fallen friend.

    By the time the radio station Pam and I were listening to went fully live, most of the carnage was over, but shots were still being fired. A number of citizens nearby, either store owners or people with guns in their vehicle began returning fire when they figured out where Whitman was holed up. Police credit them with keeping the death toll down more than it was because it limited Whitman's firing positions and his ability to easily pick his target. Police were on the scene quickly, and I think one or more in the vicinity when it first started were early targets and were killed or wounded.

    We were especially concerned because some of our friends were freshmen at UT and Pam herself intended to (and did) go there the next fall. We listened in unbelief for more than an hour after reporters interviewed one after another witnesses and continued to tell when more gunfire erupted. It was three police officer and one civilian that made it to the tower guided by an employee and wounded witnesses hunkered down in the stairwell that got to Whitman. They were able to break in fire shots, then with a shotgun take Whitman out. It was something I will never forget.



  5. #175
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
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    A lot of stuff was going on in 1966. Heavyweight boxing champ Cassius Clay turned muslim and changed his name to Muhammed Ali. Federal spending was 135 billion and there were 197 million of us living here in the U.S.A. The Houston Astrodome was opened and miniskirts and bell bottoms became fashionable. Bat Mania was everywhere because of the TV show. Pete DeLackner was a few years later spotted on the highway hauling a Switzer Wing to his shop for some fiberglass repair and another driver pulled alongside asking Pete to roll his window down. He asked Pete, "Is that the bat boat?" Knowing it would be impossible to explain going down the highway Peter merely said in the affirmative, "Yeah!"

    Regular gasoline was 32 cents a gallon. Color TV just became popular and the most watched shows were Bonanza, Red Skelton and The Andy Griffith Show. The first Star Trek episode aired and Jimi Hendrix was making waves in England. The Dow Jones was at 950. Beach Boys spent one million dollars producing "Good Vibrations" and the Mamas and Papas had numerous songs that topped the charts. Some of the top movies were Thunderball with James Bond, Dr. Zhivago and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. My first date was with Pam and "she" was the one who more or less asked me out to go see Alfie. The second movie we saw turned out to be one of my all time favorites....The Dirty Dozen with an all star cast.



  6. #176
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    The aforementioned tragedy was a little more than a month ahead of this story. Things like that did not happen in America....and when it did...it was something etched in everyone's memory.

    We learned a lot at Texarkana. Baldy took 8mm movies and we ran those through so many times I thought they would wear out. The clock was not able to be seen from the pits, but Baldy filmed the boats coalesing into a start so we could tell when a heat formed up. The film was hard to follow as boats would disappear behind the tree line, then reappear on the back straight. Baldy wasn't the greatest cinematographer.....but if it weren't for him...I would not be able to piece together these times.



  7. #177
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    What was it that happened Karen?

    I remember the first time I saw that bridge. We were headed to the North/South Championships at Knoxville in 1967. What an awesome sight. I can remember looking to our right "just a half a mile from the Mississippi Bridge" thinking that must be about where Johnny Rivers sang about in his song "Memphis".



  8. #178
    Sam Cullis Mark75H's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Master Oil Racing Team View Post
    where Johnny Rivers sang about in his song "Memphis".
    In the song written by Chuck Berry about missing his daughter that lived with her mother.
    Since 1925, about 150 different racing outboards have been made.


  9. #179
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    While I had been to San Antonio and Houston numerous times, it was only the second time in Dallas. Baldy had taken us up there two years earlier while he competed in the Texas State Skeet Championships. I don't remember how he did, but I know it wasn't in the top tier. Us kids went to Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington. That was the original Six Flags and what an adventure that was.

    The race was held Saturday July 3rd on Garza Little Elm north of Dallas. It was a very big lake and there were more big yachts and sailboats tied up and on the water than there were at the marina in Corpus Christi. It was a one mile five lap course. Jack and Clayton didn't make the trip, but we got to know some more North Texas racers. Charlie Huff was down from Oklahoma and we got together for a visit. Lee Little was a local racer, and one of the top A/B drivers. He was very friendly as well as another local Jim Wilkins who we became friends with also. Other than Phil Crown, it seems most of the Dallas area racers just ran A and B. Another one of those that we got to know and like was Ed Harrison. It seems more and more we were to find these boat racing people very likeable and friendly, and if you needed anything all you had to do was ask.

    There were a couple of guys I got to noticing that were just about my age, but I didn't get to know them yet. One was a year older from San Antonio ...Joe Bowdler. The other was a skinny kid a couple of years younger than me...Denny Henderson. Joe was about 6 foot 4 or so. He had wavy brown hair and a big smile. Joe drove CDF hydro and runabout, and I was in awe of him. I was too shy to introduce myself.

    Bruce and Lucien Mariouneaux along with Clyde Lafitte showed up and we talked with them awhile. It was good to see some familiar faces. Freddie Goehl and Arlen Crouch came as well, and Baldy must have been talking with Freddie about another boat. I am not sure where Baldy found out about Mustang boats, but it was sometime in 1966 that my brother Mark ended up with a very nice 17 foot bronze metalflake Mustang with a 110 Merc on the transom. I guess Pete DeLackner, builder of Mustangs, may have been at the race, but I think he was still in California at the time.

    Freddie won D hydro and C runabout while Bruce Marioneaux won C hydro. Lee Little took B hydro, Roland Pruett D runabout, Alex Wetherbee B runabout and Ozzie Robinson A runabout. I finished second in A runabout. There were a bunch of gun jumpers. I didn't see any results for A hydro. It got very rough on the lake and two drivers were injured, so it may be that A hydro was cancelled. I had mistakenly said earlier that Dave Fuqua quit racing after he sold his B deflector to us, but I was wrong. He was knocked unconcious during A hydro and was hauled off to the hospital. He was released O.K. The other driver hauled off was Denny Henderson. He was thrown from his boat and his own propeller got him on the foot. I was kind of horrified to hear that, but he recovered.



  10. #180
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
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    We got up early Sunday morning, drove through "Cowtown" and to Benbrook Lake a little ways southwest of Fort Worth. The race organizers picked out a nice lake and pit area for the Fourth of July race. It was all rocky and gravelly with plenty of pit space and a nice gravelly, solid bottom with a gentle slope. The one mile course was less than a half a mile from the dam, and while there were boats on the water, they were controlled better than the yachts on the much larger Garza Little Elm. Also the weather turned out sunny and calm contrasting with the brooding overcast and windy day the Saturday turned out to be.

    Since we left the evening after the races were over, we weren't able to get a newspaper clipping, but Freddie Goehl had another good race day as well as Roland Pruett and Raymond Jeffries. Jim Wilkins and Charlie Huff put on some good races, and either Bruce or Lucien Marioneaux were in the hunt in the C/D hydro events according to Baldy's 8mm films. I came in 4th in the first heat of B hydro and 2nd in the second heat. I finished back in the pack in a large field of A runabout, and I can't remember what happened in A hydro. I had a bad habit of getting wet down in the first turn of A hydro. I always tried to get outside, but seems like half the field was too, so I usually ended up in the middle right of the pack heading to the starting line. While I could sometimes get through all the water with the B Konig, that little piston ported A didn't have enough power to digest all that water I fed it.

    (to be continued...yesterday it took too long and I lost all my narrative)



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