Thanks: 
Likes: OK Wayne, get back to work
OK Wayne, get back to work
Since 1925, about 150 different racing outboards have been made.
We still had the seawall to contend with at Highlands. Boats were rigged up in the pits, then lowered or hoisted up by manpower from the pits to the water and back. If the tide wasn't in, it wasn't so bad because we could set sawhorses in the sandy bottom to set the transom on. We couldn't set any sawhorses up for the front because the bottom sloped toward the river.
With the runabouts we didn't worry because we had no holes anywhere in the bottom, and Baldy patched the A/B DeSilva up so it wouldn't leak. The Marchetti was another story though. It didn't matter that we had corks in the sponson drain holes. The real corks that come from trees and fit into the necks of wine bottles. Those tapered corks fit good, and would even swell a little, but water would still leak into the inside of the sponsons while we waited. Even though it was warm in Texas, the water could be cold when you have to wade in deeper than your crotch to lift the bow and hold it up while the corks were pulled and pitmen watched as water drained out. Didn't matter that I was racing, and would get soaked....and would have to get my crotch cooled down in order to make sure our sponsons weren't full of water. I did it, and we all did....except Baldy. He was pit boss. We were the pit crew.
I can remember when we would put the Marchetti in early, and leave it. If we didn't put the corks in tight...we would have to lift the bow to our chest and hold it for a couple of minutes, then after the bow lightened, do like weight lifters and duck down then with straight arms...push the bow to the sky so the last bit of water would quickly drain. By then, the corks would have been moist enough so they would seal the drain holes more efficiently.
At Highlands we were racing A and B Hydro with FA and FB Konigs on a Marchetti hydro and A and B Runabout on an 11'6 DeSilva runabout, and an FC Konig on a "maybe" Jumbo DeSilva runabout. I don't have any results but one. I had a bad habit in those days of jumping the gun. I also got wet down a lot in the hydro classes, especially because I always fought for the outside at the start and was at the end of the hose when we all got to the turn. I did however finish in the money again in one class. C Runabout in our Jumbo DeSilva with an FC two cylinder vibrating indestructable Konig on the transom. I got 4th place and $5.00 in C Runabout..
Bob and I were to graduate from William Adams High School before our next race scheduled for Beaumont, Texas on June 4th. We would have to leave about a little over a week after we graduated.
Bob and Mark helped get everything cleaned and we listened to our favorite music as we worked in the driveway on Jefferson Street cleaning the boats, motors and fixing what needed fixing. Pam would drive by and honk and wave, then sometimes stop and we would go inside and listen to music. I remember one afternoon with Bob, Pam and myself grooving out to "I think We're Alone Now" by Tommy James. Those were some fun days when I had never won a race, but that didn't matter. It was the people, the excitement, traveling to different places, and going fast on water.
GRADUATION DAY WILLIAM ADAMS HIGH SCHOOL 1967.
Remember....this is a thread about Baldy. Without Baldy, I would have never raced boats. This is about the way Baldy was to those he loved. Bill Van will probably understand the most as he, Joe Rome, and I are probably the last among the living boat racers that know this type of love from Baldy.
Baldy was a very popular host. Boat racers from all over the country and even from Germany, Australia and Canada came to his home. Mostly though it was neighbors. Baldy and his partner Joe Henricks built up Barbon. They met at different houses every weekend and usually one party or another had guests they brought with them. Most of this took place about a year and continued on for years after I graduated, but it began on graduation day.
I always wore white sox. I didn't even want to go to graduation. My Mom had died four years earlier and Baldy was always busy at Alice Specialty. He spent a lot of time there so he could be sure to have everything taken care of for racing boats. He never went to any school events that I can recall to this day (except graduation for Mark and Jan).
I just wanted to get the graduation over with, but I had to go get a cap and gown. I just went to the place I was told to go...got them and left. I never tried them on. It ended up that the gown was way short, but I didn't notice or care. It came down to my ankles and my white socks were very noticeable amongst the rest of the crowd. As I walked up to the podium, got my diploma, shook hands with school administrators and stroud to the exit, Baldy exclaimed to the lady to his right "My son is the most outstanding among the whole class".
I was in the top 10 per cent of academics, but I was not an athelete, an actor, a scholar....I was nothing noteworthey in our graduating class. The lady sitting next to Baldy was a well known lady in Alice whose kids had outstanding records and her husband was one of the city leaders. She knew Baldy well, but was taken aback by his comment when after a short pause he said "Look.....he's the only one with white socks!" As everyone was marching across the stage, my short gown exposed the white socks in contrast to the black gowns gliding back toward their seats. The lady, and and all the eavesdroppers aroung her and Baldy busted out laughing.
Baldy told that story for years and years. I know Joe and Bill Van have heard it, but don't know if they remember, I just remember that I could tell when he was going to tell that story, and I hated it. Then.....it's been many years ago now, that I figured out that it was his love for me, and in a convoluted way that I was different than all the others marching across the stage to pick up their diplomas. I knew he never was trying to degrade me, and I never told him how I felt everytime he told the story, but I have known for awhile why he did. Baldy was a simple man with an ingeneous mind and a big heart.
I kind of jumped ahead on what Baldy did and said in later years, but this is when it happened and tells more about who he was for people that only heard some of his nature but didn't know him.
ADD: I intended to get this into the story earlier, but I couldn't find the picture.
The mascot of William Adams High School was the coyote. The high school was named after my great uncle who along with his brother and my Grandfather settled on Tecolote Creek north of what would become Alice 24 years later. It was 1864 and there was nothing but brush country. I have an article from a magazine talking about when they held a picnic in 1867 at an old Spanish outpost fifteen miles north of where they settled. I just now leaned back from the computer and looked out the window and I can see the hill overlooking the lake where that outpost stood. It has been added onto so I can't see the original building from this angle. It was built for Spanish and Indian help to graze and raise cattle for the La Bahia mission at Goliad. There was an escape tunnel dug down and came out in the creek in front of my house on the other side of the lake. It would have been about a quarter of a mile beyond turn three of our race course at Barbon.
A couple of weekends before our graduation, most of the Class of '67 went to the beach at Padre Isand. There was no such official thing as spring break back then. My friend Kenneth Kattner kept cajoling me to drink some beer, but I didn't want to. He finally got me to take a sip, and I did not like it at all. We went to the beach in my Internaltional Harvester Scout with the doors and top off. It was four wheel drive and we had a great time. We set up just a few miles south of Bob Hall pier. Back then there were no condos on the beach and there was a Dairy Queen made of solid concrete and rebar that sat on concrete stems about fifteen feet off the ground. There wasn't much else around except a ramshackle single story building with a palm leaf shaded area in back. It was festooned with large ropes, netting, glass floats and everything imaginable that could be found on the beach. It was called "Frenchy the Beachcombers. He had a bar and grill and sold stuff he found along the beach. It was also a historical site. It was at the corner where the road going to the Dairy Queen turned toward the beach. Only a short time before it made world news when the very first topless wedding (in modern civilization) was held. You can imagine what kind of talk that generated among all us seniors as we drove by it on the way to the beach. I just wish I had taken a picture of it.
In the photo from left to right is Tommy Albert, pit man Bob Burnham and Donnie Reese. His brother Whitney came with us also but is not in the picture. Tommy will be featured in a couple of weeks when I tell about the road trip to North Carolina to pick up some boats, motors and a trailer from what I believe was Marc Johnson's Dad Randy.
Getting ready for Beaumont again. The race date is June 4, 1967
ADD: YEEEOOOWWH! Graduated!
Headed back to Beaumont, and this time we didn't have to worry about driving all night so we could make school the next morning. The race was on June 4, 1967. It was going to be a great summer of racing. We stayed once again at the Holiday Inn where IH 10 makes a big sweeping curve from north back to the east.
We were up early Sunday morning and headed out to the pits. We always pitted west of the judges stand, and we pulled into our spot next to Jack and Clayton. Joe Rome was in Louis Williams' pits next to the judges stand. As the driving force behind the Neches River Festival boat races and other boat races there, Louis pitted wherever he chose. Joe was not my friend yet. I knew he pitted for our arch enemy, but I didn't know his name.
Something was wrong with our FC Konig, but I don't remember what. Besides all the vibration, the motor was very reliable, so I think we might have blown a lower unit. We stepped up our B runabout into the C runabout class and I ended up with a third in the first heat and fourth in the second. This was running against the likes of Bruce Nicholson, Clayton Elmer, PG Stepleton, Charlie Bailey, Phil Crown, Roland Pruett and other great drivers. Artie Lund was just getting out of the army. I suppose there must have been some gun jumpers or motors quitting, but that little two cylinder B Konig was unstoppable. A lot has been said about the unreliability of Konigs in those days, but the FB Konigs were not that way. Mine was the most reliable of any Konig we ever owned. Don't remember how I fared in A runabout or A and B hydro. Sometimes they ran A and B hydro together, and in that case we would have rigged the A up on our Marchetti, and with that big boat we were not competitive on the tight Neches River course. I didn't write down the failures, only the successes. I finished second in one heat of B runabout for a total of $22.50 in prize money for the weekend.
Baldy
Wayne--I really enjoy your Baldy stories. I don't always spend time on the racing sites, but when you post, Bill comes and gets me to read what you wrote. I understand what you wrote about Baldy and your graduation. When I first met him I was fascinated with his personality and his drive. He was the first real Texan I had ever met and he was so much fun to be around. We spent a few times talking about the war years and how he struggled to make a good life for you and the other kids. He was of that generation that really had to fight and work for everything he got. He sure was proud of you and your brother and sisters. I am sure he probably didn't express his love verbally because that just wasn't done with that generation, but you were sensitive enough to pick up on how he cared about you. I will always think of him as a real southern gentleman. He always was one with me. I think his son is one too. Eileen
Very kind Eileen. You and Bill got to know him better than most. You remember when Bill had busted his pelvis and couldn't race for a long time, he flew down to visit with us quite a bit because of your stewardess job that got him cheap flights. Those were some good days (except the injury part) I think of my Dad every single day, Joe and I almost always mentioning something he did or said. David Alaniz worked for my Dad at his house and Master Oil factory for many years. He still does a lot of work for me at our house and business and he is always telling me stories about what he and Baldy did together. Baldy helped his family out on numerous occassions and in the summer had them over so their kids could swim and he would cook supper for them. There is a lot about Baldy most people never knew.
ADD: I found another picture of the pits and added it to post #220, and also post #292. And finally the crash sequence at Beaumont on posst #293.
Thanks!
I'm glad to see you have continued the story Wayne, I really look forward to reading them.
Bill
Thanks Bill.
My first trip ever out of Texas was when we raced the year before at Texarkana. It wasn't very far though. We stayed in a motel in Texarkana, Arkansas and walked across the street to eat in Texas. The second time I left the Lone Star state was also the year before when we went to Alexandria, Louisiana to race in the Southern Championships on Fort Buhlow Lake. This time we would really see some country. We headed out on a Wednesday morning on our way to Knoxville, Tennessee where Claude Fox would host the National Outboard Association North South race in his backyard.
A lot of the interstate had not been completed yet. For those of you older viewers you may remember the black and white television ads that told the traveling public how to travel on the interstate system. It might seem strange to younger people now, but back then interstates were new to most people. You were not just supposed to turn around and head the other direction, or just get off anywhere like you would a country road. The ad explained that there were exits spaced along the interstate. If you missed your turn, you were supposed to drive to the next exit which may up to ten or eleven miles or more down the road and turn around to go back the the intended exit. The ad went on to tell the viewer to pay attention, and explained road signs. It was kind of spooky to see that ad then think twice before venturing onto an interstate. We didn't have much of a problem with that though because so much of the system was not completed, we went to Knoxville mostly by U.S. Highway routes like the old Route 66. I think nearly every highway we took went downtown of all small cities in it's path. I took a long time to get to Knoxville that way, so we took two days to get there.
It was Baldy, Mark, Jan and I that went. Bob Burnham, may have went but I can't remember. On our first leg we took U.S Highway 59 up past Houston and on to Texarkana where we turned east following the route that IH 40 now goes. We spent the night somewhere around Texarkana. Motels were only about fifteen or twenty dollars a night then. After leaving early we went by Arkadelphia where Baldy was born and lived up until he was around eight or nine. We stopped at the outer edge of one little town in Arkansas to get a bushel basket full of ripe peaches at a fruit stand. Baldy loved those peaches when he was a youngster, and this was probably the first time in a long time he ate any from his childhood roots. They were very delicious and juicy. I can remember having to use several napkins eating them. Baldy must have eaten a half dozen at the first snack time. He would eat one, then spit the pit out the window. I thought that wooden basket was too large, but we ended up eating all of them before they got all bruised up.
We went through Little Rock, Memphis and Jackson, Tennessee before we got to Knoxville. I thought about how slow it was meandering through all those cities and towns with red lights, traffic, etc. Now I look back with nostalgia at all the quaint old stores and downtowns that are all historic districts. It was a lot slower time and pace. Everytime we stopped to gas up Baldy would tell the attendant to "Fill her up with regular". A station attendant would first start the pump, then pop to hood to check the oil. There would be a 35 gallon former grease drum filled with soapy water with a basket in it and hand crank wringer attached to the side. The attendant would get a soft scrub pad out of the basket and wash down the windshield, scrubbing hard at the dried bug guts. Then he would take a large chamois cloth out of the basket and crank it through the wringer, leaving it damp, but ready to soak up water from the windshield which you could see dry before your eyes. A lot of times he would also check the tire pressure. Radial tires were just being pushed in our area and most people still had fabric bias ply tires. They required a lot of maintenance and you had to check them often.
I can still remember seeing the Mississippi River for the first time, and the biggest and tallest bridge I had ever seen. I still can picture going up and over it for the first time. I took a picture of it when Joe and I flew back from Marshall's funeral, and the last time I drove over it was on the way to see Marshall in 2006, and then on the way back from the first DePue Reunion. That bridge always brings back lots of memories. And then I always look on the east bank for Marie's home a half a mile from the bridge.. Johnny Rivers' song Memphis became poplular only about a year or so before we first crossed it.
We enjoyed the scenery on this trip with all the hills, green grasses and lots of tall and different kind of trees than we were used to. I think Baldy enjoyed it the most though. He pointed out different kinds of trees and bushes along the way that we weren't familiar with. I can't remember where we stayed, or much about Knoxville except everything was pretty and green, and lots of great big flowers growing at the sides of the houses.
We pitted down toward the first turn from the judges stand. Jack Chance was still a night shift foreman at the Baytown refinery, so he and Clayton Elmer didn't make the trip. The only other Texans that came were Bruce Nicholson and Bill Knipe. Bill had quit racing by then and just helped Bruce. It was the first time we met the Harrisons, Kay, Milly and Mabel. Gerry Waldman and Bob Hering were also there and we remembered them and the Seebolds from Alexandria. I think it was also the first time my Dad and the Dortches really sat down to spend time together. There were a lot of new people there, and as usual Baldy made the rounds to get acquainted. Randy Johnson was there I know because he won C hydro. I think this is where Baldy found out about the equipment in Greenville, North Carolina was up for sale.
This was also the first time I saw Richard Austin race. I have an 8mm clip of him sailing down the river in a yellow cabover with a screaming looper on the transom. I am going to see if I can figure out how to get it on U-tube.
The North South Championships were held on June 17, 18 and 19, 1967.
The water was in good shape and the races went well. Claude Fox had excellent control over the boat traffic. No outside interference or wakes from pleasure boaters to cause trouble. Claude had unparalelled support from local officials because Claude himself was a long time member of the Coast Guard boating squadron, and over a span of decades taught many boater safety courses.
I can't remember how I fared in the classes. I do remember racing against someone for several laps, and in particular getting around him down the back straight and in the turn, but I don't know who it was. I ended up with a 4th in A hydro. Just one heat though, because I came away with only $5.00.
I always cherished this photo because it is the only time I made the cover of any publication. (Programs don't count---especially when you are in charge!) And what really makes it special is to be up there with these guys. Left to right Wayne Baldwin--Marchetti/Konig, Jerry Waldman--Marchetti/Quincy Looper, Bob Hering--Marchetti/Quincy Looper, Jerry Parrot--Marchetti/Quincy Looper. The judges stand was very substantial and sturdy. It was about twelve to fifteen feet above the water more or less. Jerry Waldman and I are still looking at the clock, Bob Hering seems like he is starting to look down the course and is starting to make his move. Jerry Parrot has timed it better than us and is solid on the throttle.
Here are the final results. I just noticed that Randy Johnson is from Greensboro, North Carolina. I was sure the person we bought the Dubisnki's, Konigs and trailer from was from Greenville. I'm not totally sure, because I thought the man had quit racing, but Randy continued on. I wish I could remember what Randy looked like. Maybe Marc can post a picture. Anyway, if it was Randy, maybe he won with the 4 carb Konig in this race that we bought about a month or so later. I got to know and become friends with just about all these guys. The only ones I didn't know were Evan Noyes, Lee Dingman, and Ed Peterson.
ADD: I forgot to mention of Baldy's favorite stories about my very first conversation with Bob Hering. He told it to just about every boat racer who came to visit, when they got around to swapping stories. If you look at the picture you can see that my Marchetti was much larger than the others. I'm not sure what Waldman's and Herings were, but I'm guessing probably 10-6. Jerry Parrot's looks even shorter. I think ours was around 11-2 or 11-4. We got it from Freddie Goehl and Arlen Crouch after the 1966 season when we ran a Sid Craft. It was used and Freddie made a deal with Baldy, so he bought it. After the race I was walking around the pits and my Dad and I came upon Bob. Bob asked "Why do you run that A Konig on such a big hydro?" "Because it's the only one I have I replied." Bob just said "Oh!". That always set Baldy off laughing when he thought about it.
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