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

  1. #741
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Sandia, Texas
    Posts
    3,831
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Bob Murphy from Springfield, Illinois walked away with the C Service Runabout title with two firsts followed by Lyndol Reid of Texarkana, Arkansas with two seconds and Don Nichols from Lake Charles, Louisiana with a third and a fourth.

    Billy Seebold ran away with D runabout winning both heats. Raymond Jeffries was second overall with a 3-2 and Phil Crown from Dallas third overall with a 4-4. I wish I could have had the score sheets from not only this heat, but all of them. Somehow I know Jerry Simison and Bruce Nicolson are the missing 2nd's and 3rd's but something happened in one or other of the heats. Clayton Elmer was usually up there too, but he doesn't remember.

    All in all, the people that were there remember it fondly as a good time, and the only thing else they remember were the water hyacinths. Everyone remembered that.



  2. #742
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Sandia, Texas
    Posts
    3,831
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Bobby Wilson told me of an incident between his brother in law and Henry Grupe as they were leaving the races. I think it was probably Saturday evening rather than Sunday when the land was still wet from the showers. Bobby's brother in law was a great big cowboy like guy who lived in Corpus Christi and came out to see the races. He'd been drinking a little beer and when he left to drive up the hill at Baldy's the caliche was very slick. His Jeep Cherokee started sliding, and instead of stopping, backing up and getting another straight shot up the hill, he put the power to it and slid into the side of Grupe's brand new Cadillac. Grupe got out of his Cadillac and asked Bobby's brother in law what he was going to do about it. His brother in law said "I don't think I'm going to do anything about it." Well he thunk wrong because as Bobby put it "He had never dealt with Grupe before and he didn't know what he was getting into." Henry and Mary spent two or three more days in Corpus Christi while their Cadillac was being fixed at the expense of Bobby Wilson's brother in law.

    It was here I first met Ashley Lawrence. Up until this time, I didn't know that Craig had a brother. I hung around a lot with Craig and Alan Registar back then, but I don't ever recall Ashley being mentioned. I was surprised to find out that the driver of the boat that cut the bottom of my brand new B Marchetti in half was Craig's brother Ashley. I don't know if it was his first race or not, but that was a heck of a way to get acquainted. Turns out that Ashley suffered from dyslexia. Two years later we would have another collision in which Ashley was mixed up between right and left. That was the only two times I ever saw that in him, and had many races with him and no other incidents. He turned out to be a very good and competitive driver.

    A lasting impression of that race continues to this day. In the many years since then I have had people tell me that they were at that race, and they remember it well because someone was killed. What they remember is my spectacular flip right in the middle of most of the boats, then another one coming along and running over the top of my hydro right after I jumped off into the water and began swimming. I was swimming away from the crowd so they couldn't see me behind the boat, but that led to the assumption I had been run over and killed. Never mind the ambulance never had to haul anyone in. After I got into business with my Dad upon graduation from college, I ran across many people who didn't know me, but knew I raced boats, and they would tell me they were at a race at Baldy's when a driver was killed. I always set them straight, but over the years I probably have had thirty or forty people tell me that. There are about six former and current neighbors that moved into Barbon over the years that told me that tale. It's been probably almost ten years since I was last told about it. What it means to me though is that Baldy did a very good job of promoting races and I have run across many people I didn't know, but knew Baldy and came to the races at Barbon.



  3. #743
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Sandia, Texas
    Posts
    3,831
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Here are the results from the two halves of the 1968 National Outboard Association World Championships. As far as I know this year was the only championships to be run in two separate venues. The only winner from each venue was Billy Seebold.
    Attached Images Attached Images



  4. #744
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Sandia, Texas
    Posts
    3,831
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    This appeared in the November/December issue of THE ROOSTERTAIL along with the above posted results.
    Attached Images Attached Images



  5. #745
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Sandia, Texas
    Posts
    3,831
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    This article appeared in the following Tuesday's Corpus Christi Caller Times, by outdoor editor Roy Swann.

    ADD: The inside hydro is Bob McFarland from Granite City, Illinois. He was Billy Seebold's brother in law. In the middle is Billy Seebold driving his V-45 in the days when the Seebold's fielded a team. Inside is Jerry Waldman. The number is almost impossible to see, but on my computer I can mess with the contrast and see a faint W. Also there is that white wedge behind the light colored deck. That's the way Jerry Waldman and Bob Hering's boats were painted with that pinkish salmon color.
    Attached Images Attached Images



  6. #746
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Sandia, Texas
    Posts
    3,831
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Bud Turcotte and I had to leave Sunday night to go back to San Marcos. Our Dad's Baldy and Louis Edgar were very strict about us attending our studies. Alice Specialty Company had access to lots of clean 55 gallon barrels and the hills and pits were filled with these drums for trash. The spectators there were very respectful and from that first race at Baldy's until the end, we never had a trashed out pits. There was only incidental trash to pick up. So after we got our boats loaded back on the trailer, and motors inside the box, and all else done, Bud and I drove back to Baldy's house in Alice.

    We had to come back the next weekend because there was a lot to do for the next race. We got the NOA World Championships done, but we filled in the races with Lone Star Championships. Due to all the hassle with the water lilleys Lone Star Boat Racing Association officials decided to come back in two weeks to Baldy's and do a full Texas State Championship. We had to come back home the next weekend to get ready for the championships the following weekend.

    Jack Chance had Clayton Elmer's motors to go through and we had ours. Everything was mostly in good shape, but our main problem was our B hydro bottom was sliced in half.



  7. #747
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Sandia, Texas
    Posts
    3,831
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    I was back home the following weekend to help Baldy with the B hydro. We were very fortunate to have Johhny Moore's hardware store in Alice. He stocked A good grade of marine plywood for us as well as several sizes of small bronze and monel marine nails. We never had to order anything from Harbor Sales because everything we needed was available locally.

    A former carpenter by trade as well as a former landing craft and boat repairman in the navy in the South Pacific theater, Baldy knew how to scarf the bottom without any danger of it coming loose. He was not a boat builder, and we didn't want to replace the whole bottom, so first thing he did was to square the bottom above the slice and mark it. He removed both air traps and set his skill saw to cut the bottom but not the stringers. Most if not all the stringers were already cut...the one's on the right much deeper than the others, but Baldy didn't want to do any more damage. With hammers, chisels, and a small crowbar all the wooden bottom and nails were removed. Baldy cut out a piece of plywood and fitted it to the bottom with nails and wood glue. I think he used some brass wood screws also on the forward portion. We sanded it down good then I put on a couple of coats of sealer while the glue was drying. Later we turned the Marchetti over and and removed the floorboard. Baldy had some wood the thickness of the stringers and cut them wide enough just to fit between the stringers. I don't remember what kind of wood he used, but it was consistent with wood that could have been used for stringers. He cut them somewhere between three and four feet long. As with the bottom, Baldy did not want to replace the stringers, but filling in between them with the planks would give enough strength that a full repair job was not necessary. These were heavily covered with glue and put in place. When the glue dried, they would be held fast, but Baldy also used some of the serrated monel boat nails and brass screws, but I can't remember exactly how he used them. I think some screws might have been from the bottom, but I cannot recall a bunch of screws in the bottom. I put some sealer on the inside when all of the work was done. Since picking the boat up from Nick Marchetti at DePue a couple of months earlier, we had only tested it a number of times and ran a qualifying heat at Forest Lake, then 3/4ths of a lap at Lake Corpus Christi before the accident. So there was not a lot of built up castor oil, dirt or grime to clean up before gluing and sealing.

    We were using Eurathane for a clear glossy finish, so I applied a coat to the inside, then we turned the boat over to do the same with the bottom. After that was dried, we turned the boat back over and repeated the process. I think only two coats went on the inside, but I might have lightly sanded the bottom and added a third, but I can't remember for sure. Baldy had measured and cut new airtraps while we were waiting for all the painting to dry. When it was time, he glued and screwed them back in place. I don't remember if any damage was done to the right chine, but I don't remember him doing any work on it like he did our DeSilva runabout in the crash with Jim Wilkins at Beaumont the year earlier. With the floorboard back in place and everything sealed an painted the boat was ready to go again.

    I never got enough racing to get a feel for how that Marchetti might have handled without the added weight, for it was surely heavy after the added reinforcement in the cockpit. We did not have to add lead anymore to make weight. I won a lot of races with that boat, and it was especially advantageous when the water was rough. It ran very stable in rough water. Our only disadvantage was acceleration, but we did a lot of prop testing with Floyd Hopkins and found props that would work well on tight courses.



  8. #748
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Sandia, Texas
    Posts
    3,831
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    It was some time around now, maybe just before the NOA World, or shortly afterwards that Clayton and Doris Elmer and their kids Pauline and Donny began to settle down in their new home in Corpus Christi. They bought a house fairly close to where Steve Jones lived, (or was about to move to.) Things were going well at Emmords and now Clayton had his family there with him. I went by the shop fairly often during the summer, but now that college had started and I was not living at home in Alice anymore, I wasn't able to go by there to see what was going on.

    Joe Rome and I were out of class during the noon hour I believe on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Joe had discovered this great eatery just a little bit east of the town square and north of the main drag, I think was Guadalupe Street or Avenue. Their is a main drag in Austin that runs by the University of Texas named Guadalupe, so I might be wrong about the San Marcos drag. Anyway, Joe took me down there for lunch and we talked boat racing. The Texan was a new joint to me so I probably tried a hamburger. That's the best way to figure out how good a diner is when it's new to you. The diner was newly built also. Probably less than a year old. Joe and I ate their often after that, and I brought my roommate Bud, then later friends we met over the eat there. Our favorite items on the menu ended up being Hamburgers, ham sandwiches, and for me at least....BLT's. There are places all over Texas that can equal or beat The Texan's and the same with a BLT, but to this day I have never had a better ham sandwich than at The Texan. Joe's Mom made a great ham sandwich. The main difference between hers and The Texan's was that they made their own bread and buns. I didn't eat any of Joe's Mom's ham sandwiches until later after I met her, but after that I knew why Joe kept gravitating to the ham sandwich over a hamburger. He liked both, but one day later on he persuaded me to try the ham sandwich and I was hooked.

    It was probably the second or third week that school started that I got a call from Ralph Peterson...an Alice boy. He found out that I had transferred to Southwest Texas and he did not have a car, and I did. We knew each other, but I graduated a year ahead of him, and we didn't hang out or anything like that. He had gotten a ride home, but for one reason or another he wasn't able to get back when he wanted and he called me at home in Alice. He asked if he could bum a ride back to Southwest Texas and I said sure. He asked me if I had an ice chest and I told him I had a small one. He lived three or four blocks away and when I picked him up about three O'clock he put his stuff in the back seat, and about six or eight cans of beer with three different brands. Somewhere before we turned off on Highway 72 Ralph had popped a top. These were the tin cans and the first pop tops. They came completely off the can and kids of those days made chains of beer and soft drink tabs and hung them all around the interior of their car. At least in Texas they did. On that ride back, Ralph and I became fast friends and have remained though since.

    Ralph was living on campus at Harris Hall just across the way from the Business Administration building and the Administration Building. I took Bud over there later to meet Ralph and in turn met two other guys that would later become pit men in our crew.

    That was a few weeks earlier and this weekend, Bud and I had to head back down south for the NOA Region 15 Championships or as it was better known, the Lone Star Boat Racing Association Texas State Championships. It was always a dual sanction. With the weather and water hyacinth troubles it was decided to run the whole slate of classes again on Saturday and Sunday.



  9. #749
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Sandia, Texas
    Posts
    3,831
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    A long time friend, pit crewman of two of the top racers in Texas, and a racer in his own right (not boats) came to see me today. I had talked several times over the years with Steve Wetherbee, most recently almost a year ago. He called yesterday about remembering how to get to Barbon after 40 years and we talked nonstop until my wife Debbie put her hand over my mouth and said "They have to leave...no more talking". Steve's girl friend Lee Ann had someplace she had to be.

    Steve is not much on computers, but I told him that BRF can make you learn how. His Dad Alex won three APBA National Championships. 1951 in B Utility and 1953 when he won two championships. Steve doesn't remember the classes, but his Dad Alex still has a lot of stuff. His uncle Tommy burned all his racing memorabilia and dumped all his D Konig, trophies and all the metal stuff at a junk dealer's. Steve was heartbroken because he is a packrat like a lot of us. He still has some Quincy B heads that were messed up.

    I will hopefully meet with Tommy Wetherbee soon. Steve's Dad lives up in northwest Texas on a Ranch. He still has a lot of photos. I am going to try to get Steve to learn how to post them, plus stories, or maybe he might let me if he can't.

    Steve was with us at Clerendon when I stuffed the B Hydro. I didn't remember that when I wrote that part of the story, but when he mentioned that Baldy asked Alex if Steve wanted to come, I remembered. It was my brother Mark and Steve, with some help that loaded our stuff up after Baldy headed off to the hospital.

    Steve and I didn't get to finish everything we had on our minds, but we will get back together soon, and hopefully have a few pictures to add. In the meantime, I am going to update several of the posts of the Baldy thread based upon information from Steve. I will post notice on where the info is afterwards. I have to do it this was to keep the timeline straight.

    http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forum...g-Story-Part-3
    Last edited by Ron Hill; 11-26-2018 at 07:46 PM.



  10. #750
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Sandia, Texas
    Posts
    3,831
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Harris Hall was just across the street from the campus near the center of academia in San Marcos. It was an old building. A rectangular two or three story building with plain old yellow ocher colored bricks. A utilitarian and sanitized building with concrete floors.

    The friends Bud and I made were skipping four doors down the hall, on the right....and the next three doors after that. I never thought about this until just before I wrote this. All the lasting friends we made, with few exceptions, came from this nest of roommates that had never set eyes on each other until they found themselves assigned to this small quarter. We never met or associated with anyone else on any other floor or room at Harris Hall, or for that matter any other dorm, except for a few guys the next semester at Jackson Hall shining on top of the hill above everything in San Marcos, including the tall admimistration building.

    There was my friend Ralph Peterson living there and between him and others Bud and I had met, we had all talked about our past summer, what we were doing there, what kind of stuff we liked to do, and Bud told him about our boat racing. They were intrigued by that. We told them that we were off to race again this next weekend.



Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 21 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 21 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. An Amazing Story: Part 2
    By Mark75H in forum Outboard Racing History
    Replies: 555
    Last Post: 10-13-2008, 05:44 PM

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •