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

[Mark75H]

I recall during the month after 9/11, the guys flying the local gas pipelines were conspicuously the only ones up. I had never really noticed them before and maybe it wasn't a coincidence ...

[Master Oil Racing Team]

It might not have been Sam. The first three nights after 911, big helicopters flew back and forth for several miles in front of the Lake Corpus Christi Dam and back toward our house at night. Very bright spotlights. Some in front fixed, but one that could be directed. I couldn't figure out what they were doing at first, because the hours varied. Sometimes it was a couple of hours after dark, but after they flew at two or three in the morning for about half hour, I figured it out. They were checking on unusual traffic in the area. It would take some good engineering to shut down a dam, but if they could, it would shut down all the refineries below the dam in the port of Corpus Christi which could not operate without an abundant supply of cooling water. Our port is one of the major ones for oil and gas and probably not considered a high priority like the refineries around Houston, Beaumont, Port Arthur and the rest of the Golden Triangle or the big refineries in New Jersey. But all it takes is a moderate hit to cause panic, and I guess the authorities figured it would be easier to pull off an attack on less guarded facilities and thus the terrorists would get the biggest bang for the buck. In those days no one knew which direction they might take so they covered a lot of bases. There's still all those targets, but also a lot more awareness now.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I had a couple of negatives from the Rockport pits that have been stuck together for years. I tried a few years ago to use a warm bath with photo flo to get them apart and only succeeded in pulling apart some emulsion. A few days ago I steamed them apart, and I tried to salvage some pics, but it took a lot of trys. This is the best I could come up with. With a big part of the emulsion missing, it would not scan the pics. I had to cut the bad part of the emulsion off but since not all of the negative was their it only gave me a black scan. So I trimmed it to fit in the slide carrier. Same result. So I put it in the slide carrier and said it was a positive film, then it scanned it and I had to turn that into a negative, then try to color balance and size it. The other half got scanned from an earlier attempt with the bad part of the negative. I tried to match, but no way. In any case, both pictures came from the same negative. It was fun trying though, and I learned a lot.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

The negatives I had, AND the prints were all stuck. I managed to get a little bit of the image of a pit shot of the guys pitted to our left. This is also the same negative, and the only pit shots I have of our OPC racing besides the one of Baldy standing next to the Mustang.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

While we were in the middle of preparing for and racing the OPC race at Rockport, I was still working on our alky stuff. Mostly stripping, sanding and painting. Having never done any of this type of work prior to getting into boat racing, I was getting experience through reading directions and just doing it. Directions in those days seemed much simpler. It didn't take a lawyer to tell you not to get soaked in solvent, or breathe the fumes.

We got the boat trailer expanded for more runabouts, and had picked up a 13' DeSilva runabout from Bryan Marine. We also got rid of the Sid-Craft and bought a Marchetti hydro. It was 11' or 11-2. I can't remember. Baldy did all the deals. I just tried to make all the boats look neat. I still didn't have much in the way of mechanical skills, but I wanted things to look good for our launch into the 1967 racing season which was coming up soon.

Mark and I were two skinny kids, but I had two good white shirts lettered on the back with "BALDWIN RACING TEAM" across where the shoulder blades are, and below that "T-73" It was done professionally with fine stitching in that same brown color of our old paint scheme. Then after we got our "cool" racing team shirts, we ripped the sleeves off. We wore those sleeveless shirts to the beach where surfing was all the rage in 1966-67.

Whenever I hear Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell singing "It Takes Two", I think of those days of sanding, painting, etc. The am radio was always on while I was working. Here is a photo of the trailer after adding the tandem axles, boat supports, and the new wood, stained and varnished added to the box. Still working on the 13' DeSilva at the time the pic was taken.

ADD: Until I found this picture, I had thought that I had done the rounded flowing type lettering. This was again the Navy style stencil. I guess those letters were on the next trailer.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

WAYNE'S BEANS

Here is my recipe for beans.

In a colander, thoroughly wash and clean one pound bag of pinto beans. If you can get Anasazi, and or Rojo (red mexican beans) try them. They have an excellent flavor. NOTE: The red beans are NOT the same as kidney beans. I'm not sure of a recipe that makes kidney beans taste good, but I'm sure there is one somewhere. I like to buy a pound bag each of the Anasazi and Rojo and use half of each. Or you could double the recipe and use both bags. To double the recipe just use twice as much of everything and it turns out the same. In making these beans, Debbie had some leftover pinto beans, so the picture has a combination of the three beans. You can tell the Rojo, and I think everyone knows what a pinto looks like. The Anasazi are the ones like a "paint" horse......that is, a creamy white color with reddish paint splotches. These are worthwhile trying to find. In the south and southwest they are sold everywhere, I just never think of the midwest, northeast and east coast as bean country, but I'm sure they can be found. Cover the beans with water plus another inch or two. You can let them set overnight where they will swell and soften, then add extra water as needed, or you can let them set a few hours, or just go right to cooking. Add water as needed while simmering.

Cut one large onion into quarters, then cut the quarters in half. Add five or six large garlic cloves. You can run them through a garlic press, mince them with a knife, or just cut into a couple of small pieces and throw them in. You can use more garlic if you want. Garlic is good. A hint on getting the skin off the garlic. Lay the clove on the cutting board and place a wide blade knife, flat side on top. Then whack the blade with your other hand to smash the garlic. You don't have to smash it to smithereens, just enough to flatten it a little. The skin then comes off very easily. Usually in one piece.

Add 1 bay leaf. Salt and Pepper.

You can add bacon if you want, or ham hock. You can also save pieces of baked ham from a bone that you couldn't get to to slice. Just dig the ham pieces out with a knife and freeze it to save for when you cook beans. In this pot of beans I threw in a few frozen slices of smoked hog jowl. Baldy used to buy smoked hog jowl from a local smokehouse and it was delicious. I just found two different brands at a supermarket in Corpus, and bought both brands. The first was already sliced, but after we cooked some up it was too salty, so I saved the rest for beans.

Bring to a boil over medium heat. Turn the heat down to simmer. You may have to adjust the temperature several times to get it right. Stir occassionally and top off with water as needed. If you started off with too much water, just slide the lid slighty to one side to allow steam to escape. You can cook beans in one to two hours depending on the temperature, but I prefer two to three hours. The bean juice gets thicker and gives body to the beans rather than being like thin canned beans you get at some quickie BBQ joint.

ADD: Debbie was throwing stuff in the bean pot while I was dicing up the other onion for chili and I didn't get to mince the garlic. She wanted me to hurry up. It wasn't my job to take pictures, but to help get the beans and chili going so she could start on pies. So you can see little pieces of garlic at about 5:00 and in the middle. The onions are floating along with the bay leaf, and near the center are the slices of hog jowl. Onions are good too, so if you have small or medium size, just add another half or whole one. You don't have to be exact in measurements. Just use these ingredients, and the beans will know what to do. Just be sure to stir occassionally so you don't burn them.

[Gene East]

Drain 2 cans of kidney beans, brown and crumble 1 # of hamburger like you're making "Maidrites"

"Maidrite" is a registered trademark for a sloppy-joe type sandwich here in the midwest.

Karen Cadle worked in a "Maidrite" stand in Macomb and I hauled trash from "Maidrite" when I worked for BFI in Quincy. We can both tell you Maidrite uses 100% beef, as they told Alton Brown from the Food Network, but it ain't hamburger!

The Quincy store still sells hundreds of them every day. They taste great and that's all you need to know! Back to the bean salad.

Chop the following items:

1 medium onion
2 stalks of celery
1 large hard boiled egg

Mix all ingredients together with 2 tablespoons of sweet pickle relish and enough mayo to bind it all together. Then slice a second hardboiled egg and arrange neatly on the top of the salad, sprinkle with paprika and celery seeds.

Chill in the refrigerator before serving. Makes a great side dish for carry-ins and BBQ's but I like it by itself. Of course I'm like a cajun, I'll eat anything that don't eat me first!