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

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Between Alex and the next race at San Antonio, Baldy took all us kids to Dallas. I don't know how he convinced Brenda to go except the fact that she was supposed to be in charge of us. Mostly Jan I think. I'm not sure why we went, but I suppose it had to do with getting out of the aloe vera business with the doctors and maybe/or not investment with Aldac. Probably both.

We stayed at a Howard Johnsons at the western side of Dallas close to Arlington so we could be close to Six Flags. I imagine it was Baldy's way also of giving us a minivacation. He was gone all day all of the three days we were there and we went to six flags just once. Mostly we just stayed in our room watching TV. I headed down toward the candy machine and asked Mark if he wanted anything and he said "Yeah....but something with no chocolate....or no peanuts." I don't remember what I got him...if anything at all, but it was almost like a bit out of the first hit of the Statler Brothers song from later that year "Flowers on the Wall".

The two main things I can remember from that trip were that I found out there was a race at Corpus Christi that we didn't attend, and I didn't know about, and that Ron Musson was killed at the President's Cup. The race was during Buccaneer Days near the Naval Air Station. The Blue Angels put on an air show. I've never figured out how we did not know about a race in our own back yard, but Baldy never intentionally withheld information. I figure since it wasn't in an NOA circular, and we were new Lone Star members and they did not send notices back then, someone dropped the ball. I was really bummed out about not being able to race there.

More importantly though was picking up the copy of Hot Boat. Boating News I guess went out of business and seems like somehow Hot Boat picked up where they left off. It was the summer editon 1966. On page 14 was a story by Eileen Crimmen entitled "Boat Racing's Darkest Day: The President's Cup Regatta. The first man I saw on television pumping water high enough from a hydroplane to wash down a bridge was killed. I was devastated. Ron Musson and Miss Bardahl were my original introductions to boat racing. I read everything I could get on Unlimiteds, and especially Ron Musson. While they ran the ads I always stopped what I was doing to watch. It was very sad about Rex Manchester and Don Wilson as well, but the death of Ron Musson was very profound. I left the magazine in the Chrysler station wagon and every few hours I would go out to the parking lot and stare at the photos and read the story.

The best part about the trip was eating fried clams for the first time. They were very delicious. Every time I was traveling after that and had a chance to eat at a Howard Johnson's I would stop to have clams. For those who never saw one....they had a paint scheme of Turquoise and Orange.