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

  1. #301
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
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    Sorry...but there is not a Lone Star Boat Racing Association Reunion in the works. The Man behind the reunions left us last year. A moment of history here for those that are new to this site, and don't know about the archives or how to search, there was a Lone Star Boat Racing Association Reunion held at the Baytown Boat Club in 2004.

    Ray Yates was the man responsible. He is also the reason that OPC races are still held at Baytown. He never even raced OPC, but like a lot of us PRO guys, we liked OPC and went to the races. Joe Rome told me about Ron Hill and Ted May's Boatracingfacts. I checked it out and was immediately absorbed. After a few months, Joe and I got to talking about another Lone Star reunion. Joe said "I have to talk to Ray". Ray was the only one who could make it happen. It wasn't that there were not a lot of boat club members, but everyone knows how the game is played.....everyone has a good heart and intentions at the meetings, but only one or two people get dogged enough to do the work to make it happen. That man for LSBRA was Ray Yates.

    As BRF grew, Joe and I talked to Ray about putting together another reunion. It was a lot of tireless work and Ray had gone through a lot of health problems and successful surgery previously so he was reluctant. Joe persisted though and told Ray about Boatracingfacts. Ray did not use computers, and did not monitor any websites. After Joe explained to Ray about all the LSBRA, NOA, and APBA members joining, he got his wife Martha, or one of his daughters to sign him up. After Ray learned how to get around, he spent a lot of time on BRF. Totally computer illiterate prior to BRF, Martha told me several year ago that he got a new, faster computer and was under the desk hooking up the connections. Ray never posted anything, but nothing was ever posted that he didn't read. They had a place down on the San Jacinto River where they spent a lot of time. Boating, BBQuing, playing....etc. Martha told me that whenever they got back from the river on Sunday evening, Ray would unlock the door and run to his room to turn on the computer to see what new was on BRF.

    THAT was why the 2005 LSBRA happened. Ray told Joe...."I will do one more Lone Star Reunion:". Ray was not only happy that it turned out to be such an overwhelming success, but it drew in a lot of us that he had not seen in a long time. The topping of the cake however, was that , you....Ron Hill, showed up. The crowd was huge. The party was the best. Friends that had not seen each other for years were mingling with the OPC guys that were still racing at Baytown. It was a fabulous success. And as usual, Martha was at the entrance with the other LSBRA girls registering guests and handing out name tags. So sorry Charley....no more Lone Star Reunions that I can forsee, but the memory of that last one and the inspiration of the DePue Reunion belong to Ray Yates.



  2. #302
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
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    Sorry to abruptly quit the story. Been a lot going on. Less time for looking ahead. But tomorrow Andrew and I will go to the boat races at the T Heads in Corpus Christi. I'm thinking that the experience will inspire me to continue.



  3. #303
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    I should not have posted the message I did. I was thrilled to look forward to the boat race that Andrew and I were going to attend and we did, in fact, have a great time. I introduced him to my friend Darell Bealulier, John and Michael Schubert, Scary Jerry Rinkner and others. At the same time however, I could forsee America disappearing as we know it. At that time, I was seriously considering picking up a Tri-Hull for Andrew to try. John Schubert made me a very generous offer if I would put my trailer hitch in the receiver, but I couldn't do it. I thought about plunking down the money, and then what about next year?

    I am responding now because I have had too many boat racing friends call, Email, PM, etc if everything is O.K. I talk to Joe most every day and sometimes more. The most I have gone in years is a week, but he usually knows where I am. Just like when the Houston Fat Stock Show is going on I don't call him because he is to the top of his boots with all the celebreties coming in (he is on the board) and he has his own special seminars to take care of. But Joe has called me twice, and today after Charley Bradley called, I figured I should say I am not in a bad way except for worrying about our country.

    As I explained to Charley (and others previously) I am spending my time both preparing for what I think may be some trying times, and educating the young children about what the people in the District of Corruption are laying down for their future. My computer is corrupted and being dismembered as we speak, and hopefully when I get the new one, I can get back to the various stories I have hanging on with the quality I insist on.

    Wayne



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    Team Member Gene East's Avatar
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    We've missed you!!

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    Administrator Ron Hill's Avatar
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    Default Well Wayne...

    Wayne,

    I'm not sure I should post this here, but reading between your lines and NOT reading your lines, I feel your pain as well as mine. I can't talk anymore without talking POLITICS. My fraternity brothers and I email back and forth. We see things clearly... Here is an Email from MG....

    MG is a past President of our Sigma Chi chapter. His father was the head sports writer for the Arizona Republic. He always wrote nice articles about boat racing in Phoenix. MG should have been a writer, but went into the lending business...

    Hilly,

    I think Republicans are shell shocked. With over 50% of the population not paying taxes anymore and more than 45% of our over 18 population on some sort of welfare (food stamps, unemployment, income subsidizing and Obama promising to raise benefits and extend unemployment benefits for another year in addition to the 104 weeks they get now, Republicans are now seeing how hard it will be to unseat a hard left socialist Obama in 2012. He’ll wait until after the election to start taking away social security benefits and shave back Medicare benefits, so he won’t lose the over 65 vote just yet. Most of his ObamaCare provisions that will cost trillions of dollars don’t kick in until after 2012, so the real pain hasn’t been felt yet. Also, he’s already got over 50% of American voters on some form of governmental financial aid right now. Like the old saying in AA goes, “when you enable a person, you disable that person.” We’re seeing it happen right before our eyes.

    It’s hard to imagine how this could be happening but when you see his amnesty plan (adding 14 million new democratic voters), it all falls into focus. The socialization of American in 8 short years. Unbelievable.

    I feel sorry, very sorry, for our kids and their kids. You and I will witness the beginning of the end of America as we knew it. They’ll experience life in a negative way that we could never have conceived when we were growing up.

    MG

  6. #306
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    Default The peppers have arrived...........

    and it looks as though the USPS has made the finding that, as I remembered, they are considered HAZARDOUS MATERIAL!!!

    Note: To those who have forgotten what they look like, go to page 28, post #279 of this thread.

    I want to thank Wayne for sending me some of the "new crop" he mentions in his earlier post. When I stopped at the mail box at the end of my driveway yesterday morning, I should have known something unusual had been delivered. The silver paint on my USPS approved mail box was slightly brown as if it had been scortched. When I pulled the handle down, a small lizard which has made the box its home for the last few weeks was lying lifeless,belly up, where it had been seeking refuge during all the bad weather, rain, hail and tornado warnings the last month or so.. I thought that possibly that since the weather had turned very hot the last week or so, he had gotten trapped in the box and the sun beating down on the box had turned it into an oven during the day , and he had gotten too warm and perished.

    I removed the lizard and also a small brown envelope that had the initials "WB" and a Sandia, Tx. address and wondered "what has Wayne sent me", as I don't know anyone else from that part of Texas who might write me a letter. I also noticed that there was an official USPS stamp on the envelope with the notation "Postage Due", with an amount that I was not able to make out written there as it had evidently been wet after the stamp and amount had been put on the envelope, and had smeared so as to be unreadable.

    I did not want my mail carrier to be stuck with whatever amount of postage Wayne must have not gotten on it in error, so I caught the carrier this morning so as to pay her whatever I owed. She informed me the extra charge was not for not enough postage for weight, but for the envelope containing "hazardous material". She reminded me the box is not supposed to contain anything except US mail, and certainly not dead animals. As proof, she cited the expired lizard, still lying on the ground by the mailbox. Even the birds would not eat it after obvious exposure to the contents of the envelope. The contents were deadly to that lizard even though Wayne had put the chili's in a plastic bag inside the envelope. I was surprised he would be so careless, especially with his experience with hazardous waste earlier in his business career. Can't say it looked real appetizing to anything that might find lizards good to eat, as it looked as though it had been out in the sun all day without any protection at all. Almost the same color as the chili's.

    Hope I survive the next batch of gumbo Eileen is going to make. She says she is going to use them as Baldy used to, putting them in the Gumbo while cooking and then making sure they are all removed before serving the gumbo out in individual servings. I sure don't want to be the same color as that poor lizard. Just to protect the environment in the area, I buried the lizard in a lead container by melting down some of the #8 lead shot I use for shotshell reloading and and placing the lizard and the molten lead in a tin breath mint box. Probably not as good as Yucca Mountain, but I probably won't be around for nearly as long as the lizard is contaminated, so good enough.

    Thanks Wayne, for remembering how I felt about the chili's by sending me some fresh ones!! It has only been about 35 years, but I remember them like it was yesterday!!

  7. #307
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
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    Glad you got them Bill Van. Sorry about the little critter.

    I was wondering whether or not they would ever reach you. I didn't want them to get squashed so I left air in the plastic bag for cushioning, then put that in a bubble pack to mail. Trouble was.....you could hear them rolling around inside the package, and I was afraid someone would knock on my door returning them, or they would blow them up.

    Lots more are turning red now and I should have chilipetins to pick all through the fall. Incidentally, they do not bother birds at all. One way to keep squirrels out of bird feeders is to sprinkle cayenne pepper on the birdseed. Apparently birds to not have taste buds for hot. If you are lucky enough to kill a wild turkey that has been feeding on them for a while, you will get a spicy white meat.



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    Default Just so no one can suggest I am not grateful...........

    for Wayne's generosity, we have already thanked him for the chili's, and do plan on using them in the first batch of gumbo we make from this time on. Just thought he might like to know that perhaps some packaging with a little "foil" might be proper the next time these are sent to anyone.


    ADD:
    At this time, approximately 48 hours after the burial, even with the precautions taken with the "little critters" remains, a patch of grass about 10 inches square above the site has turned brown. We will continue to monitor the site.

  9. #309
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    Sorry for the interruption. A lot of things going on. Not just the hassel of Debbie pulling out the window about four feet from my left shoulder, but all the oilfield work, and the political stuff. I have spent the time I might have for BRF calling and E mailing the Freakin' credit card spenders in the District of Corruption. I do not like to introduce this into a thread about my Dad, but I thought I should make an explanation about one of the main reasons why I have not carried on. Another reason is I first haulted because I was looking for photos that fitted in that time frame. Some I have found...so I hope to resume shortly.



  10. #310
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    Mark, Bob and I all had white shirts with tails that should be tucked in, but weren't. The sleeves were cut off and on the back was embroirded in close stiched "BALDWIN RACING TEAM" In an arch and in the same size and stitch below that was T-73. The color was Brown to match the boats and trailer.

    Jack Chance and Clayton Elmer were now tied with us. At this point, I was spending more time learing how to work on motors from Jack than how to race from Clayton. I didn't have enough experience for Clayton to sit down and talk about it. It had to all take place on the water. The biggest lesson I learned......and it took awhile....but the first great lessons were at Highlands....was to not get wet down. Starting from the outside to stay clear, I was on the wet side of the turn a lot of times.



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