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

  1. #411
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
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    I found some more pictures while looking for info and added them along with a little commentary to post #384.



  2. #412
    Team Member Jeff Lytle's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Master Oil Racing Team View Post
    The second photo is of me being towed in. That is what happened in a least one heat of A Runabout. Don't know if it conked out or I got wet down.
    At least you're still dry and have both shoes on !

  3. #413
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    Yeah Jeff, Joe noticed that too. That left shoe went to the bottom of Lake Texoma not long after that picture was taken.



  4. #414
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    Baldy and Jack parked our trailers in the little sandy cove around the left from the judges stand, and almost due left of where you turn in to Fort Buhlow Lake. We pitted in the same place last summer. That was when there was little else to choose from because of the large number of teams that beat us there, but we liked it.

    There was a big crowd again even though school had started. Jack was to our right and past him I believe was W O Thompson from Haltom City abutting up to Fort Worth. about three or four trailers past him were Tommy and Alex Wetherbee. I remembered where they pitted, and it was about the same spot they were last year when I first saw Marsha. I don't remember the others, but boats went from our left, all the way around to the judges stand and most of the way to the first turn.

    I told this particular story five or more years ago, but this is the time that it happened. As you may remember my Baldy had worked with four or five chemists when he was partnered up with them and some doctors in the aloe vera business. One of them, George Warren, went on to help Baldy formulate MX 237 The Master Oil. At some point during the past summer Alex Wetherbee had gotten to know Baldy well enough to know he had a connection to a chemist, and asked Baldy if he would be able to get some hydrazine so that he could add it to his fuel. Alex had read about it somewhere....most likely in some drag racing publication, but was unable to buy any because he didn't have the credentials.

    Hydrazine is used in rocket fuels to enhance oxygen levels, and really make a powerful burn. It is also dangerous to handle, and that's why Alex couldn't buy it. George Warren was known by the people he bought it from and so had some shipped to Baldy in Alice. It was in a wooden crate about eighteen inches square and about a foot deep. Baldy told us to be careful, but we could also read the stenciled warnings on the crate.

    I was at the Wetherbee's trailer when they opened the crate up. It was well secured. Inside, the box was packed with wooden shavings all curled up with the glass pint of hydrazine nestled in the middle.of the shavings. It was not as unstable as nitroglycerin by any means but it had a low flash point. I think it was thirty four degrees. Alex had a cooler full of ice that he put the pint in while he looked over the brochure that George had provided.

    Some of the racers got curious and before long some people were taking notice of how much care the Wetherbee's were giving that little pint bottle and packing it in ice. I had talked to Alex's son Steve about this last summer and he remembered they had read how it reacted violenty with certain metals, and other stuff. Steve could clearly recall how they found a rusty spot near their trailer hitch and dropped a little bit on it. Steve said it went POOFF! and a little cloud of vapor drifted up. After that, Alex thought long and hard about how much he wanted to add to his fuel. I think initially he had calculated one or two ounces per gallon would give him all the extra oomph he needed without taking a chance on destroying his looper, but after that I think he may have only put one teaspoon into five gallons. In the meantime, the drivers on either side quietly loaded up that evening and found another pit spot. The Wetherbee's had plenty of elbow room after that. I never heard what happened to the rest of that pint, but it wouldn't surprise me to hear that they diluted a little section of water in a cove at Fort Buhlow Lake with some hydrazine.
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  5. #415
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    Here is the program from the 1967 National Outboard Association World Championships at Fort Buhlow Lake Alexandria/Pineville, Louisiana

    I always appreciated good officiating, pickup boats and turn judges, not to mention scorers and the ladies that always helped at registration (usually the same ones). So I include them along with the schedule of racing. Without all the support help....we could not even here a canon fire, or a white flag raised.

    I only know a few of these. Front row kneeling is Carl Rylee's Son Doug. To the left of Doug is W.I. "Bill" Bonner. He was our Lone Star Assistant Referee back then.and fourth from the left, is Carl Rylee for those who didn't race at Alex. What a force for outboard racing he was.
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  6. #416
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    Baldy was always meeting people from all around the country and getting to know what was going on in the boat racing world. It was at this race he first met Jack Marshall from Australia. They must have had a very good time getting to know one another, because they instantly became friends. Less than a year later Jack would be down at our house where I (remember) I first met him.

    Baldy also met Dieter Konig here at Alex, but Dieter was very, very busy with the new rotary valve motors coming out, trying to qualify, getting a DSQ and all the other things that can combine to mess up an otherwise good place to race.

    Over the next four days, Baldy strenghtened friendships with newfound friends such as the Dortch's, Seebold's, Scott Smith, Lee St. Clair and his wife, and got to meet some he had heard of and to get to know some others he had met in passing in our few brief ventures out of Texas. Baldy was having a great time, and making the most of it.

    Of course we always had good meals, and Baldy paid. I loved fried shrimp, and there was lots of good seafood platters to be found in Alexandria. After we got back to the room, shucked our wet tenney's and socks and set them outside the door to dry, we got cleaned up. Then a good supper. After that, Baldy went his way, and we went ours.



  7. #417
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    The weather for testing was perfect and Fort Buhlow Lake was abuzz both on land and water while everyone worked on the best set up for qualifying. The largest race ever at Fort Buhlow Lake was the NOA World Championships held two years earlier. At that event there were 138 drivers and 475 boats entered. Jerry Waldman was High Point Driver, but did not walk away from the event. He broke his back when he flipped his D hydro the next day in time trials while running in excess of 100 miles per hour. This is the story Dan Waggoner told me when I first started, but Dan didn't say the name. Give credit to the health, strength and determination to Jerry who was back in the cockpit several months later after first being told he would never drive again.

    The NOA Southern Championships held here the previous summer had 54 registered drivers, and 185 boats entered. Jim Schoch was high point driver at that race. This year was another big one for Alex. This time 111 drivers signed up and entered a total of 380 boats. The officials and pickup boat crews were looking at two long tiring days of qualification heats to pick the field of 14 drivers for the final heats. In some classes there were four qualifying heats. We were as ready as we could be.

    Neither Clayton nor myself made the cut for A Runabout. Of the Lone Star guys we usually raced against Craig Lawrence from Dallas, Freddie Goehl from Bryan, and Louis Williams, Jr. from Beaumont were in.

    We didn't make it in B Hydro either, but Freddie Goehl was in the finals B Hydro also along with Keith Taylor from Commerce, Texas.

    It was not surprising that almost half the field for the finals in C Runabout was made up of Texans. Lone Star was after all, a very strong runabout association. The surprise to us was that I made it in and Clayton didn't. He must have drawn a doozy qualification heat. Other Texans in the C Runabout finals were Freddie Goehl, Bruce Nicholson from Pasadena, Texas, P.G. Stepleton from Baytown, Texas, and Joe Bowdler from San Antonio.

    Clayton was in the D Hydro finals with one other Texan...Charlie Bailey from Houston.

    We had two Texans in F Runabout, which in NOA was a one man boat. Charlie Bailey and P.G. Stepleton were in the finals. Roland Pruett from Baytown did not qualify, but with his 44 looper on Miss Pam Rolland was one of the top Texas drivers.

    Curtis Dumesmil from Port Arthur and Louis Williams, Jr. were the only two Texas in the finals of A Hydro.

    Two Texans made the finals of B Runabout....Bruce Nicholson and Keith Taylor.

    Our 4 carb C that Jack supervised the overhauling of was up to snuff as we qualified in C Hydro along with Clayton Elmer. We were the only Texans in that class.

    In D Runabout a soon to be "Texan" Alan Davis qualified, but at this time he hailed from viking country, being a protege of Wally Roman and was living in Minneapolis. Texans Charlie Bailey, Roland Pruett, Clayton Elmer and Bruce Nicholson made this class crowded with Texans.

    F Hydro had two Texas entries.....Phil Crown from Dallas and Tommy Wetherbee from Corpus Christi. I don't know why Tommy entered F, because the Merc powered McDonald cabover belonged to his brother Alex. Anyway that's who is on the roster.

    Tommy was also the only Texan entered in X hydro that only showed a field of 5 drivers on the roster.

    Before F hydro qualifications, Roland Pruett wanted Clayton Elmer to run his 44 Merc/Quincy Looper in the F hydro class. We didn't have any legal F's in our team, so Clayton was willing to give it a try. Since it was not set up for his Morton hydro, they had to make a few modifications including bending the "S" hooks so they would slip into the holes on the steering bar. Clayton made one trip down the back straight, and the leading edge of the lower unit was right up against the bottom of the transom. It was so squirrely at half throttle Clayton backed of and came back into the pits. Roland's pits. They were pitted all the way around the turn and the other side of the judges stand where the other little cove is. Clayton had floated his Morton Hydro over there to rig up, and after that brief run, he told Roland that there was way too much difference in the rigging and setups between the Konigs and Loopers on his boat that they would not have enough time to dial it in. Clayton thanked Roland for the gesture and floated his boat back around to our pits where he rerigged the Konig on it the D Konig back up.



  8. #418
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    Dieter Konig had some tough luck in qualifying and didn't make the finals. He was entered in A and B Hydro. Dieter did not finish high enough in A and was disqualified in B. He had won his easy easily, but was two pounds light. He then was asked if another driver in the next heat could run his rig, and was told no. A rule book was produced and was shown where the same boat and motor could not be used to qualify two drivers.



  9. #419
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    After supper, Mark and I took Baldy's New Yorker back across the Red River into Pineville and to Fort Buhlow Lake. Qualifications were over, and the anticipation of the makeup of the finals was over. Teams either had to do some evening or late night overhauls or modifications, or they were ready. We were as ready as could be so we left Baldy, Jack, Clayton and Doris to mingle with whoever they chose. Mark and I wanted to hang out with Marsha Wetherbee and her Cousins LeeAnn and Steve Wetherbee. We found out they were aready enjoying the company of Bruce Mariouneaux and some dude whose name I'm not sure if I ever knew.

    I'll admit a touch of jealousy. Or maybe a little bit more than a touch. Bruce was a very nice looking guy, a great personality and only a two years older than Marsha to my four. Anyway, they welcomed us to join them as we strolled around the pits in the evening entertained by the "hitchhiker"

    This dude was hitchhiking somewhere between Shreveport and Alexandria when Bruce and Lucien Mariouneaux and Clyde laFitte were driving to the race course. Lucien was always pretty straitlaced and calm, I can't remember exactly how it went, but they saw this young guy hitchiking, and I am sure it was Bruce who convinced Clyde to pick him up, then convince the dude to hang out with them through the week to be a pit man. Judging what I came to know of him in those few short days, he would drop whatever he was doing if a more fun and exciting offer came along.

    He was an endless bundle of energy, cartwheeling around, balancing across a span of pipe, and generally nonstop talking about all kinds of things in between snatches of a song. He was constantly singing the phrase "Judy in disguise". He kept the girls and Bruce constanstly laughing. I smiled, but inside I was irritated. This guy had Marsha's attention and I didn't like it one bit. I had to mention though he had a talent for going on nonstop with funny business all the while singing snatches of a song including most often "Judy in disguise" as if it were a refrain to some of the other verses. He never sang a complete part of the song, just bits and pieces in between whatever else he was doing.

    After a little while, I asked Marsha what he was singing and she said "I don't know. It's something he's been singing since he came over." Mark and I spent about three hours with them before we left. I kept waiting for Bruce and the singing acrobat comedian to leave, but they outlasted us. I never saw him before or after, but this was the second crazy guy from Louisiana I met that summer. He was not good looking or bad looking. He was skinny but very athletic. He was a free spirit and I think would liven up any party. And he had me puzzled by that little ditty he kept singing...."Judy in diguise".. In fact I had to ask Marsha exactly what the words were because it was an incomplete sentence that didn't make sense. That is until about two months later when John Fred and the Playboy Band hit the AM pop music charts with their parody of the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." After I had heard "Judy in Disguise" a few times something kept ringing a bell. Then it all came back to me THAT was the song the dude was singing.

    When thinking about this part of the story I kept wondering "How was it that none of us knew he was singing John Fred's song "Judy in Diguise"? The time line wasn't making sense so a couple of months ago when I knew I was coming to this part, I looked it up on the internet. John Fred Goorrier had a band while he attended Southeastern Lousiana University. They actually had a couple of albums and played different places, even as far away as Florida. While in Florida, one of the band members was hitting on a girl that had great big sunglasses. He told John Fred that when she took them off she had a face that could stop a clock. That inspired John Fred Goourrier and band member Amdrew Bernard to write "Judy in Disguise". It was kind of a parody of "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" only because of the title. It was actually because some girl's face (Judy was picked because it worked best) was disguised by ber big sunglasses. It's a cruel thought, but I'm only reporting the facts. It Became No,.1 one the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1968 knocking of the Beatles song "Hello-Goobye". It sold over a million copies.

    John Fred and the Playboy Band was invited to play on the Dick Clark Show, but he turned them down because he had a basketball game on that date. John Fred Goorrier was a star baseball and basketball player and had set a number of records, one of which lasted 34 years.

    While they were still touring, they were in Las Vegas when a friend of John Fred's, Wayne Cochran heard that John Fred has always wanted to meet Elvis. One of the song's John Fred had on an album was "Boogie Chillen". Wayne Cochran told John to follow him, then he knocked on a door and says "Hey E...I got a guy from the South that want's to see you, so Elvis says 'Well...if he's from the South bring him in here.'" Wayne then said "Elvis, I want you to meet John Fred." Elvis stopped and asked "John Fred and the Playboy's....Boogie Chillen?"

    In fact John Fred had been playing around Baton Rouge when he first recorded "Lucy in Disguise" and a local station picked it up and played it a lot. By the time we got to Alexandria, it had been a local hit for a month or two. So the crazy guy didn't have little green men dancing around and singing in his head after all.

    It was kind of a side trip about the band and Elvis, but it helped clear up something that had been puzzling me for years if I thought about it, and I thought I'd share it with you, in part because lots of funny non racing things happen to, from and at the races. So it's all part of the memories.



  10. #420
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    Here is the list of drivers for the finals in the National Outboard Association 1967 World Championships.

    Note: I just noticed that Y 100 qualified as Johnnie Woods, Johnny Woods, and John Woods. I wish he were still with us to make a comment. Ray Almos also had a couple of good days qualifying.
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