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

  1. #211
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    Pete called his Mustang boats "sleds". They looked a little bit tri-hulled from the front, though not as pronounced, but from the back it looked like a flatbottom, though it was slightly concave. The middle section was actually a sponson that quit a little before halfway down the boat. The two outer portions of the front of the boat gradually tapered down forming a tunnel untile they feathered out about 2/3rds the way back. For a fast boat, it handled rough water incredibly well. With the mosly flat bottom it planed out quickly and that center step really dampened waves that would pound a true flat bottom boat. The only problem Mark had was that in a tight fast turn, it would spin out every time. It was pretty spooky the first time it swapped ends. After the second time, he knew he had better watch it, and so Baldy, Mark and I began working on correcting the problem.

    Baldy called Freddie for suggestions. I don't remember whether it came with a center fin or not, but I do remember at Freddie's suggestion to move the cast aluminum center fin back toward the transom. That didn't help. Then Baldy had his welder make a bracket and cut out and make a cutlass shaped fin to mount on the left side of the transom. It was aluminum and about 4 inches wide, 10-12 inches long and 1/4 inch thick. It lasted about halfway through the turn before a permanent bend of about 75 degrees. Baldy had the welder make another one just like it, but out of steel. Not much difference except the bend was more like 60 degrees.

    Although we didn't actually meet Pete until 1974 Baldy talked to him on the phone. Pete had sold lots of his 15 foot sled, but not many 17 footers like Marks. No one had complained about the cornering problem. Maybe they weren't running Speedmasters with the lower unit cranked up to just below the bottom. Pete found us an inboard SK heavy brass center fin that was 10 to 12 inches deep and told us to move it further back toward the transom. In the meantime Baldy had his welder make a new steel bracket and had a fin made of springsteel and only 1 1/2 inches wide and about 8 inches deep. We had to move the SK fin back once more, and when it was about three feet from the transom, the boat turned hard and true.



  2. #212
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    We did a lot of skiing behind the boat, but we also like to cruise fast. We mounted a bracket for our Keller pitot tube on the transom, and found the Mustang would run in the mid to high 60's with the Merc 110. Mark got pretty good at dropping whatever lower unit was on the Merc, stabbing and bolting up the other one, and either jacking the motor up or down depending on the unit going on.

    Here is the earliest ad I could find of Pete's Mustang boats. It was in the December 1965 issue of Boating News. The same issue that the picture of Diane Nelson is in.
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  3. #213
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    These are class winners from the 1966 Havasu from the February 1967 HotBoat.
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  4. #214
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    Even though we spent a lot of time on the lake, I was not a good fisherman. I could do o.k. fishing in salt water with live bait, but on freshwater my best fishing was done with a trotline. I never had the patience to learn proper bass fishing techniques, so the biggest one I ever caught was only around two pounds.

    One day after working on the FA Konig, we decided to take the boat to Lake Alice for a quick test since it was only a couple of miles north of Baldy's house in Alice. Lake Alice was fed via pipeline from Lake Mathis (now Lake Corpus Christi) thirty miles north. It was not a big or deep lake, but there was one stretch going toward the dam that I could get up to speed. The only high speed corner was to the left of the dam. The end where we pitted was to narrow for a fast turn.

    As I came at an angle toward the dam, and about 50 feet off the Sid Craft suddenly tried to fly and the bow was nearly 4 feet off the water. Had I not had flying lessons, I probably would have blown over. Just before the bow popped up I had the sensation of the boat being very light like when a plane is about to leave the ground. Trimmed right, you do not need to pull up on the yoke to get a plane off. All you need to do is get up enough speed and it can take off hands free. That's the sensation I had just before it started to fly. There was not much wind at all, not even what could be considered a breeze. I was wondering what that was all about so I came back around for another pass. This time I was prepared though. I felt the boat get light, and I adjusted my position while easing off the throttle, I got a little closer to the dam while balancing to keep the bow from not floating so high that the hydro would blow over. I did it twice more, and there was definitely some kind of effect going on. I'm not sure, but it was probably something like what slight wind there was was also being dammed up by the small dam and reflecting back to cause the hydro to rise. I don't know what else it could be, but it had a definite effect on the hydro.

    Now back to fishing. As I headed back toward the pits, the FA Konig conked out. While I waited for Mark and Ken Kattner, a high school friend who lived nearby, to come get me, I turned around in the cockpit and rested against the steering wheel. Just before they pulled up, a bass jumped out of the water and landed in the cockpit with me. It was flopping around, but it could not get high enough to flounce out. I didn't toss it out either. Baldy wasn't at the lake with us and I wanted to show him the biggest bass I had ever "caught"

    I carried it home and took a few pics. It says 9 pounds on the scale, but I somehow remember dialing in a little extra poundage. I also hung it from a branch of the live oak tree with a string and backed up four or five feet while Mark took the picture, in order to make it look larger. Even if you're not a good fisherman, it doesn't exempt you from a little lying about your fish does it? To this day, it's still my biggest bass.
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  5. #215
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    Not too long after Mark got his Mustang sorted out, we were playing around trying to get it faster. Baldy was know to do a little hammering on a prop now and then, and he put a little more cup in the speed prop. I think it was a Michigan wheel, but not totally positive. Anyway, Mark got it up to right at 70mph on the Keller. He had a long straight, more than a mile where he had it aired out the the motor seized. It wasn't locked up, but it had gotten hot enough where it stuck some of the rings. We took off the powerhead, boxed it up and Baldy took it down to the bus station and had it shipped to Bryan Marine. They replaced the pistons and rings, cleaned up the cylinders and drilled a hole in the top of the cowling and installed a tattletale. Freddie told Baldy that by the time the heat gauge shows the motor is hot, it is too late and told Baldy to instruct Mark to keep an eye on the tattletale to make sure the motor was getting plenty of water. Freddie didn't think it was jacked up too high, but he didn't have an immediate answer to what caused the overheating.



  6. #216
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    October first and second we were back at Highlands, Texas for our final race of our first real season. As in the first trip, we stayed at the Holiday Inn only just a few miles from the Baytown Tunnel. Having been able to finish a lot of the races, and some even in the money I was looking forward to this final event for the year. We had become acqquainted with a lot of drivers and their families and pit crew along the way, and no where was there a more friendly and helpful bunch than at the Baytown Boat Club.

    This time we pitted a little further to the right of the judges stand, and became pretty much our slot from then on when we raced there. Once again Jack Chance and Clayton Elmer were pitted on our right side and the race them of Little and Wilkins on our left. Lee Little and Jim Wilkins were from the Dallas area and wore the racing colors of baby blue with white letters.

    B hydro was tough in Texas with the likes of Clayton Elmer, Curtis Dumesnil, Lee Little, Tom and Alex Wetherbee, Freddie Goehl and others. B runabout was no different running against the likes of Bruce Nicholson, Freddie Goehl, Louis Williams, Curtes Dumesnil, Jim Wilkins, Clayton Elmer, Raymond Jefferies, and others. I don't know where we finished, but that FB Konig almost always got me home unless I got wet down.

    The FA Konig though was a little tempermental, but I did manage one fourth place in A runabout and a forth in A hydro and with $5.00 for each finish, that put me at a total of $90.00 for the year.

    It was already hunting season, with dove season already open and deer and quail season coming up soon. Baldy invited Jack and Clayton to come down and hunt with us. Hunting was one of Jack's favorite things to do. It would be the first of many, many hunts with Jack upcoming in the middle of next month.

    Here is a picture of Jack's trailer pitted to our right. The second picture is the pits of Little & Wilkins. Left to right I don't know who that is standing. It may be a spectator. He has a plate of the famous "Baytown Chickin'". I recognize the face of the guy with the Baytown Boat Club on his coveralls, but can't place the name. Seems like Brannigan or something like that. To his right is Lee Little, and to the right of Lee is his brother whose name I can't recall. Next to him is Baldy and it appears that he has a toothpick. 99.9% bet that he just finished off some "Chickin'". Standing to the right of Baldy is the well known motor man from the Dallas area Henry Grupe. Everyone called him Grupe (pronounce groopy). He had a very sarcastic wit, and some people had a hard time knowing whether he was just giving you a hard time, or didn't like you. He and Baldy got along great, although I was intimidated around him for the first few years I knew him. Like a lot of guys like that, his wife was the most friendly woman you ever knew. I don't think they had kids, and she was with him at all the races. They were tragically killed in the early 70's when they ran head on into a column supporting a bridge over an interstate highway. The guy to the right of Grupe is Jim Wilkins.

    ADD: I found this photo of our Sid Craft with the A Konig and chromed exhaust that Louis Williams loved so much and the B Konig on the DeSilva. Jack and Clayton pitted to our left and Freddie Goehl and Arlen Crouch to our right. That's on of Freddie's T-42 runabouts floating in the water.
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  7. #217
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    The racing season was done and although South Texas water was still warm enough to water ski....all us kids were back in school. The gang Mark had been hanging around with all summer were from Kingsville, Sarita and Vattman area (which are all south by about 45 minutes) You had to be from down there to know where Vattman was because it is not on any map.

    So Mark and I just cruised around the lake racing anybody who wanted to try. The Kober Kats were no match in the rough water, and Powercats were not quick enough. We could cruise all day long going fast, But! The next time Mark got by himself to see what speed he would wind up with the Keller on board....he stuck that Merc again. He had been watching the tattletale closely, then the water flow just stopped. Baldy gave Freddie a call. Packed the powerhead back up in a box and shipped it by Continental Trailways to Bryan.



  8. #218
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    We got the powerhead back, new pistons, rings, cylinders cleaned up, and bolted back down on the tower housing. Mark drove it carefully, breaking it in and neither us, nor Freddie or Arlen knew what the problem was. They carefully checked the watercourse of the powerhead. We could find no obstruction from our end, so we just watched the tattletale. The lake water was cooling down some which helped, and since we no longer were pulling skiers, we just sped all around the lake, having no further problems with the engine sticking.

    Now it was hunting season. We made a tour of the stands and cleared the sendaros. We started putting corn down certain roads and sendaros. Our hunting lease was twenty minutes west of Baldy's house at Pernitas Point. It was also twenty minutes north of our house in Alice. It was around 10,000 acres and we had free run of the place. We could hunt doves, quail, whitetail deer, rabbits, javelina, turkey, ducks, coyotes, mountain lion, bobcat....whatever we wanted. And there were plenty...(except we never saw the mountain lions).

    Jack Chance may have come down earlier to scout out with Baldy where he wanted to hunt, and to help get things ready before the season, but I cannot recall one way or the other. I just know that he was very anxious for the season to get underway. When he did come down to hunt, he also came loaded down with stuff for our next years racing season. He had rolls of stainless steel wire, graphite to mix in our lower unit lube, nuts, bolts, washers, a tool to pull Konig flywheels, a 6 foot straight edge to check boat bottoms, and an untold assortment of myriad stuff a boat racer needs. I still have some of the stuff he brought that day.

    It was also unusually cold for a November. It turned out to be a very cold year. The wind was blowing from the north around 25 to 30 miles per hour, and Jack showed up at Baldy's place at the lake around dusk. He showed us all the stuff he brought then he and Baldy began warming up inside the house at the bar and grill. Some cold beer and steaks, and baked potatoes warmed up the two compadres. I can still remember all the excitement of the evening and the promise of tommorrow's early morning hunt, and how much Baldy and Jack enjoyed each other's company. Baldy didn't drink coffee, but Jack did. As a good host, Baldy had set everything out before they retired so that he could get coffee on when he first got up. We would get up around 5:30 a.m. because the lease was close by. We needed to get everyone close to where they would hunt about half an hour before dawn. In my case I had about a half mile to walk to a tree stand. Jack hunted a couple of miles to the east in a stand Baldy could drop him off before taking Jan to hunt out of his Chrysler station wagon overlooking a bluff. Mark was also dropped off in a stand before I got out.

    I can't remember how the weekend's hunt turned out....only that Jack and Baldy had a wonderful time, and Jack was back as often as he could get down for the weekend that season. While he was down, Jack would help me with motors and setting things up between the morning and evening hunts. It was really a lot of fun. Jack did not at all feel like he HAD to show me things.....he enjoyed every minute of showing me the ropes. I don't know that there was ever a more perfect match for two men having a great time together. Clayton Elmer was not able to get away with Jack at this point, but all of us were coming closer together.



  9. #219
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    So how do I remember what Baldy cooked on Jack's first trip down to hunt all those years ago? Four out of five times that's what he would have done that first day. That's a lot better odds than at Vegas. I might be wrong on the baked potato though. He could have done his special thick sliced grilled potatoes. This is how I know.

    Baldy loved to entertain his guests and part of that entertainment was drinking beer and laughing with them while listening to and telling stories as he was cooking. In those days before cell phones, and bypassing of towns, you could only just guess at about when a guest coming from a distance would arrive. A little store that most people would remember as the last gas station, grocery store and bait and tackle shop before you made the right hand turn to Baldy's is still there. Even though he moved in 1970, the a store is still the turn spot because Baldy just moved to the next point over and about 3 miles closer to the store. The original one burned down in around 1990.

    Edsel Lee from Alice built his first store in 1959. Baldy and Edsel knew each other when Edsel operated a hunting and fishing store in Alice. Edsel liked good food too, as he had a short lived stint running a cafe out of his converted sporting goods store. After that failed he built the place to what he figured would be a steady clientele on the west side of Lake Mathis where there was absolutely no competiton. Edsel had contacts in food service, and he knew quality food vendors so he stocked his little store with boxes of frozen sirloin, ribeye, T-bone and filet mignon steaks. He also stocked the dark skinned avocados and checked them every day for ripeness. He didn't put all of them out----only the ones that were ready. You could always depend on Edsel to carry only the best. Baldy generally bought his steaks from Edsel by the case so he would always have them on hand, but if he happened to run out, he would send Mark or I down there to pick up what he needed. Mostly he grilled the sirloin strip.

    Since Jack would be staying the weekend, Baldy would have started working on chili and beans or chicken and dumplings before going out on the evening hunt the next day, or maybe see if we brought in venison to carve up a tenderloin and do chicken fried venison tenderloin, mashed potatoes, gravy and biscuits. While the main meal would almost be done, Baldy would stand in front of the grill and stove finishing up while they talked, laughed and drank beer. Mostly Lone Star or Schlitz.

    If a potato was baking, Baldy could take a frozen steak and turn it into a medium rare one and the meal ready and hot within fifteen minutes, served with a very tasty avocado. I have seen this done on so many occasions, is why I am probably right. Mark, Jan, Brenda, Clayton Elmer, Bill Van Steenwyk and Joe Rome would agree. By the way.....this was before gumbo days. It was Jack Chance's wife Gertie serving us gumbo she made at their house, probably in 1967 that got Baldy hooked on that. It ended up being one of his most famous dishes.

    ADD: Here is a picture I took of Edsel Lee filling up Baldy's suburban. The guy to the right looks like Floyd Hopkins from the back, but I don't know why he would be down. This was just two months after I nearly broke my neck, and I still was wearing that collar and couldn't turn my head so we wouldn't have been testing. It might be Jack Chance, because Jack continued to come down then.
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  10. #220
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    It was some time during these days that I had a three or four hour running battle with the pit crew that would sustain us for a couple of years....but not the upcoming season.

    I'm not sure really how it started. I'm not even sure what side I was on. In the back of my mind, I had met my future college roommate, Bud Turcotte some days before. It was most likely during Christmas vacation between Christmas and the New Year celebration. We knew who each other was, but not really hanging out. Details are fuzzy, but the event was not. It was the christening of a pit crew and support members.

    It was one of those days when you were not sure the day started, unless you had a real job, had an alarm clock, and a wife.....(I was going to say...or husband, but back then the taxes weren't so high that wives also had to work). Us kids on holiday didn't live by an alarm clock or watch. Our days began when the sun was bright enough to filter through the shades to tell us it was time to get up to go skiing. However, it was winter now and the low hanging leaden clouds filtered out all the sun, and I'm not sure exactly when the battle began. I don't even remember how it started, but it was definetly planned because there was plenty of ammo.

    Now that I get the story going a little bit of memory kicks in. I'm sure if I could get the others to chime in, there would be other sides to the story, but since they don't...here is what I remember....up til now

    Us kids were getting to know one another and find out who was who. Mark knew the girls, but some of the boys were left out, having been playing football or hunting, etc. I think someone threw a water balloon at another of the group as we were cruising around. Actually, Mark may have been cruising in my Scout. One of the other parties also had a Scout, and it was a simple task to take the doors and roof off and turn it into something like a Jeep. I could be wrong, but I think the intitial incident happened a day or two earlier. In any case...a battle was planned and a lot of balloons were bought and passed out. As I said earlier, I'm not sure really whose side I was on, but I think it mostly turned out boys against girls.

    It was somewhere in the 40's or low 50's. Not a good day to get wet. Seems like there was a truce for everyone to load their balloons with water, then as Buddy McBride would say "It was Katy bar the door!".

    We filled the balloons at Jeannie Huff's place at the very tip of the peninsula of Pernitas Point. No one was home at the time, but Jeannie was in the battle. The water faucet just outside the main door on the porch leading into their lake house had good water pressure, so that's where we stopped to refill our ammo pouch. Everyone stopped to fill up there, so there were a lot of ambushes, and also busted balloons from trying to fill up too quickly. We would slip the neck over the faucet discharge, then twist open the faucet to get about a 4 inch balloon, pull it loose then slip on the next one to charge. Sometimes we pulled the balloon off too quickly and lost the reinforced spout, which stayed on the faucet along with the rings from the burst balloons. They were all colors, and soon were stacking up, because we were often ambushed and had to pull out suddenly.

    There was probably 800 acres among the winding roads among the Pernitas Point subdivision and since our families were among the earliest to locate there, and spend most of our time there, we pretty much had the run of the place during the winter.....especially on such a dismal day as this. We were in the two scouts, and maybe one other vehicle, but we didn't just cruise to find each other...we set out "snipers" to hit the opposing enemy as they cruised past, then we had to go back to find out where they were hiding haven run from where they made the hit, then go back to Jeannies and charge more ammo. We all got wet, and it was cold, but we kept it up for awhile. I have no idea how long we were at it, but when we finally got soaked and too cold to carry on, we called a truce. That was the day I can remember that we all became one. They didn't start to pit for the Baldwin Racing Team until the following year, but that day the seed was planted.

    I can't remember if it was Jeannie's Mom or Dad that wondered what all those rubber pieces were on their faucet when they walked up on their porch.



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