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

  1. #341
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
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    The pit area was very nice. It was a gently sloping, firm bottomed pit area with short grass and lots of shade trees. It was most likely a park, but I don't remember that for sure. The course was one mile and we would run five laps. We pitted down around the safety bouy. This time, the only racer that came up from the Gulf Coast area with us was Alex Wetherbee. Most of the Dallas area guys were there however, and there were several I had never met such as Keith Taylor, Woody Marcy, Jim Bryan and Jimmy Epperson. Jimmy had just gotten out of the army and this was his first race back.

    There were good fields of A's and B's, but C, D and F classes were low so some of the guys stepped up. The weather was good for racing and there were lots of July 4th things going on. It was on a Tuesday this year.

    We started off with a bang louder than the five minute gun. I made a good flying start in A runabout and got around the first turn quickly and smoothly. As I got straighted out and slid to the back going down the back straight, I found myself in the lead. I kept waiting for someone to pass, but nobody did. As we approached the second turn, Bobby Wilson was there, but I made a good pass through the turn and held him off. Bobby fought to get around me at every turn, and he could match my speed, but could not overtake. I wish I could have had a complete video from flag to flag watching Baldy in the pits. I didn't know who it was I had been battling with, but Bobby Wilson came all the way down from the far end of the pits where he was to shake my hand and congratulate me. When he found out it was my very first win, his "Bobby Wilson Grin (those who know him know what I'm talking about)" got even grinnier. He told me back in 1993 as we headed back toward the airport from the World Championships in Florida that he still remembers that heat and was still proud to be the first one I ever beat. I told him the same thing about never forgetting, and how proud I was that my first win was a real win against someone the caliber of Bobby, and was glad that it somehow cemented our family's relationship right out of the chute. I don't remember what happened in the second heat, but my 400 points was good enough for second overall.



  2. #342
    Team Member Gene East's Avatar
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    You pick a good one to beat for your first win!

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    Thanks Gene. I agree....and A runabout was his class. Bobby was good in whatever he ran, but A runabout was his baby. Now that I think about it, Louis Williams was just about the same with A runabout. Like an old drill sargeant, Louis never gave me any slack, and would put the challenge on even if he was lapping me and come in very close. That's probably the training I needed to be able to beat Bobby that day.

    I had to stop the story because I had to go to the store. Now I have to start a fire to grill hamburgers. More to come when I get a chance.



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    Default thank u wayne

    wayne thank u for this and the thread about marshall grants d.excellent boat racing history.side note ,did u race with george neumann.mr.george a good 1 and helped us at apr races.

  5. #345
    Team Member Gene East's Avatar
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    Hey Wayne,

    I just noticed on the picture of your hydro, you may have had the wrong motor on the boat, but you did have the right throttle.

    That qualifies you as a Quincy customer.

    Thank you my friend!

  6. #346
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    I didn't think that was a Quincy throttle Gene, but I guess it could have been. We had some Keller stuff, but I didn't remember Quincy. I'll take your word for it though. I will have a Quincy bowl tank for my musuem though soon as I see Joe next. And it will be very proudly displayed.



  7. #347
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    Pit men earned their pay this Fourth of July race. The next heat up was C ruabout and I managed another win. I don't recall any battling it out with another racer so it must have been an easy win, but it was number two. Wow! Two wins and both in runabouts. I didn't write down whether we ran back to back heats or staggered, but I think it was staggered so next would have been A hydro.

    We rigged our "new" used A Konig up on our only hydro so we wouldn't have to do too much motor switching. I don't remember what position I was running, but it was probably 4th or 5th, when the little end of the rod on the top cylinder broke. It was lap three or four in the bottom turn, and when the engine locked up, I looked back and could see a fan of spray arching about 6 feet out and at about a 240 degree arc. As I discovered when we got home, our new FA Konig had brass bushings on the little end of the rod and they couldn't take the rpm's. When the rod broke, the piston slapped the head and bent it out, causing the water to spray out from the top cylinder.

    After being towed in, we went back out for the second heat of C runabout. I ended up with a second and overall first. I don't know if Phil Crown had crapped out or jumped the gun, but the second and third place finishers Alex Wetherbee and Ed Harrison were running stepped up B's. So my first overall class win was C Runabout, but it was not the same as that A runabout win, because the competition was not equal. That is not to say Alex and Ed were not competent foes. Ed was experienced with many wins and Alex had one of the hottest B Loopers in the country, but with me making good starts, it would be tough to outrun that two cylinder C on a tight course and big boat.



  8. #348
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    The next heat was C hydro.

    Since B hydro was coming up soon, and we had the one hydro, we elected to stick the B Konig on the Marchetti and finish up the racing with that motor. Phil Crown had been having trouble, and as I mentioned earlier....the big bore motors were scarce. To put on a show for a mid week Fourth of July show the B's started stepping up into the larger classes.

    We did the same in C hydro, stepping up our two cylinder B Konig. It turned out however, to be one of my most memorable races, and helped give me confidence that I could compete.

    I don't remember where I started in that first heat, but somewhere in that first lap I came upon Jimmy Epperson with also a stepped up B. His was a Merc. Don't remember what hull he was driving, but he fended me off. Jimmy had just gotten back into racing after spending some time with the U.S.Army.

    We got into the bottom turn and I tried to get around. Jimmy kept me on his starboard hip and accelerated back down the front straight. I caught up at the turn, but he squirted around and I made up ground on the back straight. Jimmy knew exactly what I was going to do, and he set up for the next turn perfectly. I really didn't know what I was going to do except try to get around.....but what he did kept me from doing that. He was experienced,... and I was getting some from him.

    Starting up the front straight on lap three, I thought I could get enough ahead of Jimmy that I could cut to the inside and thus have him cross my wake. I figured my Konig had more power than his Merc., and if I could get the inside....I would beat him.

    Neither one of us was aware of other boats. Alex Wetherbee was out front with his B Looper, and I still don't know to this day the problem Phil Crown was having with his C Looper. I do though relive the race between Jimmy Epperson and myself during that first heat.

    I now knew I was faster than Jimmy, and my motor was more powerful. I just could not get around him. I tried the inside on the back straight the next lap, but that was a totally dumb track. I had to cross his wake to get back outside again, without even making a challenge. I guess that must have made him change his strategy though by me making a stupid calculation.

    The next lap I came up beside him at the first turn and the second turn, but with our big boat and his acceleration, I couldn't get far enough ahead to shut the gap. I had moved from Jimmy's inside, and back to the outside during these few laps trying to figure a way around him. I learned some stuff during this duel.

    I knew I had more power than Jimmy, and we should have had more acceleration except for the large Marchetti, but each lap Jimmy kept me at bay. I once again went inside down the back straight on the final lap and kept the throttle on all the way. Our boat was bigger and heavier, and would set down much quicker than Jimmy's hydro. I was faster and was able to establish an overlap just before we hit the turn bouy. I knew Jimmy would be able to out accelerate us, especially with me being inside with a larger boat, but I took the gamble.

    I pushed the throttle so far into the turn before I set the sponsons that Jimmy had to go wide. As soon as I turned I slid as far back as I could and raced for the finish. I didn't know it at the time, but Jimmy's knee pad had slid back early on due to having to move around so much. His last several laps of racing were bare knees on wood. He was beat up. When I pulled that last corner, he could barely get squared up to race to the flag.

    I finished second behind Alex Wetherbee and Jimmy Epperson was third. Despite his bare knees hurting, Jimmy immediately came to our pits. He was pitting halfway between us and Bobby Wilson and close to the judges stand. He came up very quickly and enthusiasticly. Dripping wet, he grabbed my right hand and started pumping it up and down. He said " That's what racing is all about. I live to race like that." I didn't know what to say. Twice in the same day I had guys I never met before leave their pits and come down to shake my hand for a great racing experience.. I got a Bobby Wilson type grin on my face and thanked Jimmy for his congrats. He went on and on about how much fun he had. That was the first and last time I raced against Jimmy Epperson. Alex Wetherbee ended up first overall, I was second and after the two heat total, Phil Crown was third overall. I never raced against Jimmy again, and the only reason I knew he had been in the army was from a notice in Roostertail that he was back home and about to resume racing. I remember all this because Jimmy was so pumped up. Just like Bobby Wilson....it didn't matter that he lost to me.....the important thing was a great race.



  9. #349
    Team Member Gene East's Avatar
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    Wayne,

    I know that feeling. Sometimes where you finish is not as important as how well you raced.

    When I raced the "wild-cat" amatuer events around the Quincy area I enjoyed some success, but the most memorable race I ever had, I finished second.

    It happened in my hometown of LaGrange, MO. I got outdriven by John Smith.

    No kidding, that really was his name!

    We fought tooth and nail the entire race. Our speed was virtually identical. I'd try to take him on the inside, he'd close the door. I'd try to take him on the outside, he'd take me wide.

    We did this the entire race. Lap for lap, side by side down the straightaways and fighting through every turn.

    John never did let me get past him!

    Most days I could beat John, but not that day!

    When we returned to the pits, I ran over and shook his hand and he gave me a big hug.

    We both totally enjoyed that race, and apparently the spectators did as well from the comments we recieved.

    The level of competition that John and I enjoyed by no means compares to that of the Pro-Division; however, good competition at any level should be enjoyable for the competitors and the spectators as well.

    I still remember that race. I'll bet John does too!

  10. #350
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    That's right Gene. I don't remember what was going on with a lot of races I won since those first wins, but I remember in detail the few hard fought heats, and always it was the same. Both competitors came away pumped up and very satisfied. You never do forget those races. Later on I will repeat here one such race that was a battle at the hairraising speed of 35 miles per hour on half the cylinders, but the whole crowd was jumping up and down, screaming and cheering. So it's not just speed and crashes they come to see, but the drama of a close race that's not decided until the checkered flag drops. Right on both points Gene.



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