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

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Sometime during the last remaining days of summer just before school began, there was a beautiful August night. The beach had been our other major attraction besides boat racing and skiing and a couple of us wanted to go once more before the startup of school. It was around eight or nine in the evening, but no one wanted to go but Susan and Betsy Turcotte and me, so we told them they were going to miss out, and sure enough they did.

We didn't go to Port Aransas where the surfing was better. This was night time and we wouldn't be surfing. We went instead to North Padre Island a little way south of Bob Hall pier. There were very nice dunes there. Some over twenty feet in height. It was also about a half hour closer, which was our main objective. We went there through Corpus Christi and down Lexington Boulevard to cross over the canal. On the way we saw a fairly recently opened Suntide Refinery. It was around a mile west of all the other refineries packed in along the Corpus Christi Ship Channel. It was by itself on the highest ground around and was encrusted with thousands of green glowing mercury vapor lamps. Going to Port Aransas via Aransas Pass we never saw this refinery at night. Now we came upon it and we were in awe. It reminded us of OZ. It was so dazzling we could hardly take our eyes off it.

The Gulf was also presenting a spectacular show that night. The moon was not full, but gave off plenty of light. There were no other people on the beach so we didn't have to drive very far down the packed sand to find a spot all by ourselves. The waves were sparking in drops of gold. The breeze was mild and refreshing and the waves were only one to two feet, but the froth shimmered with gold. I have seen phosphorous in the water, but never in concentrations like that before. Every movement of water glowed in gold. We waded out to thigh depth and ran our hands through the water. It left a wake of gold. We scooped up the water with our hands and gold spilled out. Susan and Betsy ducked underneath the water and gold dribbled down their hair. Never have I seen it that bright since that night. We played in the water an hour or so, then headed back to the lake. On the way back we listened to the Stones "Jumpin Jack Flash", and I can still picture the second look at "Oz" on the way back while listening to Mama Cass sing her last song "Sing a little song for me". That song always brings back that night when I hear it.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Bud and I headed back to San Marcos to try to find a place to live. We were a little worried so we left early enough to have most of the day to find an apartment. It was a two hour and forty five minute drive so we got there mid morning. We looked all around the campus area, but there was really nothing there. There were a few old but very nice wood frame houses, but to afford something like that we would need two to four more roommates. We checked the local newspaper, but we did not find anything there. San Marcos and Southwest Texas State had yet to catch on, so there were not a lot of apartment buildings being built.

We headed out Ranch Road 12 west of San Marcos. There was a nice looking apartment complex on the way up a hill only a few hundred yards west of the campus. They were booked. A little over a quarter mile further west was an apartment complex built in a two story square with a swimming pool in the middle. It was very plain red brick and a simple gravel parking lot on the east side. Apartments on the east had parking behind their apartments. All front entrances were on the inside of the compound. There were a couple of parking spots on the narrow streetside, but that was where the front office was, with the manager's housing the next room to the west. Everyone else had to park in the gravel lot, then walk through the entrance at the front or on the northeastern corner of the complex.

Bud and I were by now looking for anything available short of a rat infested dump. As it turned out, luck was running in our favor at this last stop. Luck came in three ways. First there was one corner unit available. Second, the manager himself was not there at the time. Finally, we wrote out a check for the deposit and first month's rent, plus the time between now and a couple of weeks when we would be moving in. We didn't want to take chances. It was hardly a mile, or maybe not even that to the center of campus. Downhill, then back uphill. We could even walk if we had car trouble, and if it got icy, we would walk for sure. Southwest Texas State is impossible in ice, being steep hills all throughout the area in and around the campus.

What was so important about our luck is that when we did start moving in a couple of weeks later, the manager met us in his office and let us know that in no uncertain terms did he lease to students. That apartment was restricted to married couples and teachers. His wife didn't think about that. Since she accepted and deposited our check, there was nothing he could do, but he did not want one ounce of trouble out of us. We told him we would be good renters. With that relief off our minds, we set off for home. We stopped at Barth's for supper having come through to early for lunch.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Floyd Hopkins called Baldy after he checked all the props in the box I sent and he said they were all way off. As Clayton remembered it "the shallow water pulled all the pitch out of the props." I don't remember exactly what was wrong with all of them, but Floyd had to work each one over. He had his records, and he knew what he had built for us. In addition to his other codes mine were marked "wb" and Clayton's "ce". Baldy was a very big customer for Floyd when he was starting out. Baldy bought lots of props, and let Floyd do his experimentations. Baldy was getting to know props and how to evaluate them with the time he spent with Floyd.

With the second half of the NOA World Championships coming up at our place soon, Baldy had Floyd come down with the reworked props as soon as they were ready and I suspect some new props to try out. Testing was good for us all year. Only a strong norther coming down the chute would make it too rough to test.

Baldy loved this kind of stuff just as much as racing. He lived to entertain his boat racing friends. He always cooked something good, and his guests all could see that he was having a great time. There was always lots of laughter around the grill and bar as everyone swapped tales while Baldy cooked. Floyd would usually get in by evening, spend a fun night talking boat racing, hunting, or whatever they wanted to talk about. We would always get up early before the wind came up. Even though the race course at Barbon was protected, it could still get a little choppy. The main reason though was to beat the boat traffic. We could usually finish before the first skier hit the water. When Baldy and Joe first bought Barbon, nobody ever skied back there because there were no houses and no one knew how deep the cove was or what might be just under the surface. After we started racing back there and a couple of houses were built, it became the hot spot for waterskiing in that part of the lake. After labor day the skiing dropped off, but continued on weekends up until around November. In the summer we did a lot of testing in the middle of the week.

Floyd always had something new to try. Unfortunately, we didn't keep records yet. Floyd recorded what worked and what to change, or try differently. Baldy kept a list of props, but he knew in his head which ones to use. He was developing a good skill as a prop man as far as which ones for which course.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Baldy was on top of getting the NOA second half scheduled as quickly as he could so notice could be sent out and racers could plan to make the trip to South Texas. To make that happen, Claude Fox had to receive, approve and send out the notices. I don't know when Baldy called Claude about all this. He had talked to Claude before, and they knew each other, but this scribble on the back of a "Roostertail" could have been when the followup call Baldy made to Claude to move on the second half of the NOA World Championships in 1968. This was written on the back page of the last issue of "The Roostertail" before we headed out to Forest Lake, and before the next issue arrived.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Baldy and Claude talked back and forth and the date was established as September 14 and 15 for the second half of the NOA 1968 World Championships. It would be held at Barbon Estates on Lake Corpus Christi ten miles northwest of Orange Grove, Texas and forty five miles west of Corpus Christi, Texas.

Lone Star and NOA sanctions went through quickly, Lone Star officials were notified and ready to go. Notices had to be sent out right away. Baldy had sent or most likely told Claude over the phone the names and addresses of area motels and hotels for racers to call in for reservations. Local law enforcement, emergency vehicle and Texas Parks & Wildlife notifications were made. The local club consisting of Baldy and myself, Steve Jones, Dan Waggoner, Alex and Tommy Wetherbee, Larry Baker, Dave Fuqua and others got together to plan on race day.

Claude sent Baldy a bunch of photos to be sent to local newspapers for publicity. Baldy contacted the Alice Daily Echo, the only newspaper in Alice and the Corpus Christi Caller Times, the only one in Corpus Christi. I don't think anyone contacted any of the Corpus Christi television stations. This was our first big race. We still had a lot to learn.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

These are a part of the photos that Claude Fox sent to Baldy to help get the word out through local newspapers and promote the second half of the National Outboard Association 1968 World Championships. Claude other correspondence to go with the photos, but that was lost in Hurricane Celia.

Claude sent these photos and they were all stamped that they were property of NOA and should be returned after they were used in the race promotion. Baldy never sent them back. He saw Claude a number of times after that, and apparently never said anything about it, so they ended up in my possession. The one that I cherish the most is the one of Gerry Walin because it had a big impact on me when I just started racing.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Baldy knew that the race would have a good field of boats even on short notice because the Lone Star Boat Racing Association already knew this to be a good fast race course, and it would be surveyed just before and after the races, so records were at stake as well.

What Baldy wanted though, was to make it a truly NOA World Championships, and so he got on the telephone as soon as he got home and started to call all the many friends he had been making over the past couple of years.

Probably one of the first he had called was Johnny Dortch. Johnny made friends everywhere he went. He was know by all, and was probably one of the first friends Baldy made on our first trip out of Texas to Knoxville. In any event, they took an instant liking to one another and remained close friends for life. Baldy also talked to Bill Seebold, who was becoming a fast friend. Billy was the driver. Baldy always talked to his Dad Bill. He had met Canadian Armand Hebert at Alexandria the year before, and they got along well. Armand was another of those very likable persons who could get along with anybody. Baldy told him all he had to do was to fly down. We had a boat, motor and a place to stay for him. Armand said he would be there.

Jack Marshall from Australia was another friend Baldy met at Alexandria, and if he would come, then it would surely be a World Championship. Jack and Baldy had also got on very well together and he committed to come. I don't know whether or not Baldy tried to contact Dieter Konig or not. At that time, they had not known one another. And if Baldy had contacted him, there would not have been enough notice for Dieter to arrange passage for his equipment. Jack had his racing equipment in the states already.

Baldy was friends also with the Harrisons. We had pitted close to them somewhere. Maybe when we went to Knoxville a couple of years earlier. I just remember Baldy doing a lot of talking to Milly and his wife. They sat in metal chairs with woven plastic seats and backs and talked a lot. Kay and I and pit crews were working on our rigs. He didn't have to do much talking to get them to come down. They were already getting things together.

We didn't know Jerry Simison back then, but he had a lot to gain by coming down with some championships to win and to challenge Bruce Nicholson, Clayton Elmer, Louis Williams, Raymond Jefferies, as well as others coming from different states. Baldy didn't know how many would actually show, but he was getting good feedback from everyone he talked to.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

It was a very busy time for my racing partner Clayton Elmer. He was managing Baldy and Joe Hendricks new marine business as well as buying a new house and selling the one he Doris and two kids were living in, while at the same time getting ready for the race. In those days it was not such a difficult thing to buy or sell a house. Either you could afford it, or not. Banks would lend you the money, and it more or less depended upon how much the house was, and how much you made. Lawyers, Housing and Urban Development, EPA, and various types of crawling, skittering, flying or swimming critters or agencies did not play into whether you could buy or sell your home or property. As easy as it was back then though, Clayton must have felt some sort of juggling act as he had his family at Highlands, Texas, working 200 miles south in Corpus Christi, Texas, buying a house, selling a house, and getting ready for the NOA World Championships.

Clayton was still in racing mode then. He was one of the top drivers in hydro and runabout classes from A to F in the United States. The classic duel between Clayton and Hu Entrop televised on ABC's "Wide World of Sport's" with John McKay only three years earlier proved to the world that Clayton was one to beat in any class he entered. He was in fact defending world champ in C hydro. And he wanted to keep that title and lay claim to others. So he came to test with us.

Floyd Hopkins was busy as a bee making props for us. He came down often from Louisiana to test with us, go back, make changes, then test again. He was there shortly before the race was up to test some new props. Jack Chance was down and him Clayton, Baldy, myself and Jack did some serious testing before Floyd went back home to do more propwork prior to the race.

As usual, it was nothing but a lot of fun and good food around Baldy's bar and grill while Floyd was down. Baldy, Jack and Velma Mynier always had a good time visiting, but when another boat racer guest showed up, it was even merrier.

[Smokin' Joe]

Thanks for showing the photos, Wayne.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

You're very welcome Joe. I will add a few more when I straighten up my dark room and find them. Right now I have spent over an hour researching when classes started at Southwest Texas State College, but have had no luck, so I'm going to have to wing it. I won't miss it but by a few days anyway.