Ted May Boat Racer, Mentor to Many!

[Ron Hill]

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The old Hell Cat, Ted May. Ted joined the Navy, December 1st, 1941... Spent 5 years and seven months on a Navy ship in the War Zone of the Pacific....at least that's what he said...I do know he was in the Navy in the Pacific... I do know he came back from the war and played football for the Navy's team.


I do know that he played quarterback for Manual Arts High for 7 years... they won the state Championships 7 years in a row, but in 1941, California passed a law you couldn't be over 21 and play high school football, so in '41, after his 21st birthday he joined the Navy..

He started boat racing the same year I did, 1955, I was 11, Ted was 34, we got along like brothers always. Ted was a teacher!!!

This picture hangs on Bill Curtis's wall. it is signed The Hellcat 54 Ted May.

This is Ted's old Molinari...many people in Southern California believed that Ted's trailer was welded to his truck, because you never saw the truck and boat separated...He was seen all the time going down the FREEWAYS...

Ted's belief, if you did 90 per cent of your boating NOT racing, you only had a 10% chance of breaking in the race...
Ted would co-drive with me at Parker, maybe run two hours, when the race was over and I got some prize money, I'd pay Ted by the hour...He loved it!!!!

[Ron Hill]

Ted played High School football until he was 21. He played quarterback for Manual Arts High. Seven years in a row they were State Champions. Ted would quit school after the championships, then return in the fall. In 1941, California passed a law that you couldn't be over 21 and go to high school, so, in November 1941, Ted turned 21. He left high school and joined the Navy.

He was in the Pacific 5 years and two months....At least that is what he told me. He said, he once won 200 insurance policies from guys on a ship, only to have the ship sank by the Japanese... Ted was one of the oldest on his different ships so, he was assigned shore patrol. Ted said he use to make so much money on shore patrol, he'd send cigar boxes full of money home...He told us he buried Japanese soldiers on many islands after major invasions....He had pictures to prove it...

Most of us, Ernie Dawe, Jimbo, Steve Cox, Val Snead, Mike Wetmore, Bill Boyes....Never knew if any of Ted's stories were true, but we did know he didn't work and seemed to have plenty of money....He never really left HIGH SCHOOL.

Ted came to more of my High School football games than my dad...Ted taught us guys, that the world was tough and it could kill you in a minute. He said, "Trust me, drugs will kill you...don't ever even take one hit" His brother had been murdered by some guys he met in a bar. As a result, Ted drank very little and watched out for US KIDS, like he was the mother hen, if we were drinking. We didn't need mom around, Ted kept us inline. When we were kids, we thought he was a handsome SOB....and he was.

More later.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Ron, If Ted turned 21 in November 1941, that means he was born the same month and same year as my Dad. My Dad also served in the Navy in the Pacific. He went from island to island following the invasion force. He was a carpenter and his job was to repair landing craft after an invasion to prepare them for the next island. What if they had unknowingly crossed paths. Before shipping out my Dad did some training in San Diego.

In the archives I guess is a picture of Ted and some others that raced in Mexico in the 50's or 60's. If you didn't know any better you might think that photo of Ted putting the pitch on that Mexican was Spencer Tracy.

[RichardKCMo]

Used to watch Ted race in mission bay a lot, heres a pic out of PPBC program
Always enjoyed watching Ted , he seemed to be there at every race in 70s/80s, didn't win very often with #54 but always ran well and seemed to have fun. Almost always alone.
RichardKCMo

[Ron Hill]

Actually, I agree that Ted came to the races, in later years, by himself...When he was younger, The Hell Cat would bring the neighborhood kids, plus his son, Butch. He'd drive his wife's car. Even after they divorced, but she charged Ted a $250 deposit to use her car.

Nobody had more fun racing boats than Ted May....He always carried two sets of keys...In his T-bird, one set was always in the trunk, when he drove off and the other set was in the ignition...Never seemed to bother him that his keys were bouncing around the trunk....

The last time I saw Ted, he showed me some pictures of some of the islands he went on after major invasions....They were real pictures, taken by him....Ted and Mr. "Baldy" Baldwin could have been friends...

Wayne, your dad ever talk about a guy who sold watches when he did shore patrol???? If he did, that would have been Ted... I started this thread to tell a Ted May story about him buying ham in Belgium...I thought about that time we went to Europe to race, 1968, I think...I was thinking about it while in Italy...

Seems Ted didn't really like those European breakfasts of rolls and Mud Thick Coffee...So, as we were heading to Paris....we go through a little town, Ted jumps out and orders what he thinks is 5 pounds of ham....Well, pounds to the Belgium Dude meant English Pounds, as Ted spoke English...A Pound in those days was five dollars and twenty five cents....So, Ted bought, $125 worth of HAM.....He comes out of this store with two guys carrying bread, and two boxes of ham....

He says, "Their pounds much be different than ours." He had about 75 pounds of HAM.....Fed everybody we could find that day on the way to Paris and once we got there. He still had about 25 pounds the next day!!!!

I sometimes thought Ted didn't understand money...He had these ducks and he always bought DAY OLD Bread for them...One time, we went to the store and they didn't have DAY OLD bread....Ted says to me, "Damn ducks won't know it's new bread will they?"....He thought they liked stale bread....

His wife had this damn Mountain Lion living with them, Orphy was his name. He ate 150 baby chickens a day. Once I went into the kitchen and Orphy was on top of the refrigerator. I let out a friggy yell...Ted says, "He's OK unless his tail is wagging." I say, "His tail IS WAGGING"....I never went back in that house....Orphy's eyes were as large as small oranges....Ted's wife worked at Lion Country and Orphy had been sick when he was small....but he grew up!!!!

Ted might have been by himself, but he was never alone!!!! He was always "On Stage" and a "STAR"...

[Ron Hill]

This is a pretty good picture of Ted standing in front of Bill Cooper's 22 foot Jones with a Mercruiser IO...Bill managed to blow this thing over before the race...reported to have been going 122 at the time..Rudy Raymos ended up with this boat.

I later saw Bob Nordskog go like 136 MPH in the same boat at Parker.... See Bob Nordskog for more info.

Bottom picture is the Jones boat being pulled ashore after Cooper blew her over....Cooper was lucky here...Took the forks right off...Bill died of cancer, 9 months later.

[Ron Hill]

We have a saying still, in our family, and it goes like this, "If you don't believe me, just ask Ted May, he'll tell you it is true..."....

Now, my fishing story...We go down to San Pedro, wharf and rent this ugly green boat, all it has is a bait tank...Oh, I forgot to mention that Ted was always telling me and Jimbo about going fishing and we begged to go along....SO, IN MY MIND, I FIGURED TED HAD THIS cool fishing boat...I mean Ted raced a great style, why would he not fish the same way....????

Anyways, Jimbo, me and Ted ...Well, Ted has the 25 Merc CRUISER motor...He goes to start it and the starter rope pulls out...Ted pulls the cowling off, and rope starts this 25 Merc like it was a QUINCY... We roar off to the damn bait dock...Of course, Ted can't get it out of gear and we crash into the bait boat. Ted buy two scoops of bait...

Ted tells us the only way to fish is with "HOT" bait and no sinker... (Live bait)... we are catching these BONITA one after another... I'm having a hard time landing some of them...Ted say, "Goddamnit, give me the pole..." We catch about a hundred and fifty Bonita...

It is getting close to quitting time as our boat is damn near sinking from all the fish and we're about out of bait... Jimbo says, "Oh crap, I've caught a tire." Ted says, "Give me the goddamnpole". Ted starts reeling in this "TIRE" when all of a sudden he realizes it is the tail section of a huge mother shark....(Jimbo had hooked the tail part and as he pulled it up it looked like a tire..but it was the tail section of a 25 foot shark... Ted throws the pole and reel up in the air and starts roping the engine... We hauls *** back to the dock...Ted gives all our fish away to the guys fishing on the docks....He never mentions throwing his pole in the ocean...

I didn't go fishing with Ted for about two more years...Jimbo still thinks we caught a tire...NOT!!!

[Miss BK]

Wow... I really miss both of these guys.

This are two photos I took of Joey's dad Roger and Ted. I think this was the year after they had won their division at the Parker 7 Hour. Unfortunately, this time they weren't going to be Champions. Mechanical trouble took them out of the race fairly early.

Now, you have to realize, when you scratch early in the 7-hour Enduro, you have a lonnnnnng wait before the end of the race.

These pictures are of Ted and Roger just after they had thrashed on the motor, only to realize they were done for the day. They both sat down to gather their thoughts.










(I'm SO lucky I didn't get really chewed out for snapping these shots while they both were in really BAD moods! LOL. But now I am now super glad I captured that moment. )

[Joe J]

If I remember correctly, ( this is 20+ years ago), Val's picture was taken after Ted and my dad went through either 2 or 3 powerheads. This was in the day when changing powerheads was not allowed. They figured, "What The Hell", since they were done anyway.

As anyone who knew Ted could tell you, driving a boat, anywhere, anytime, what what he loved to do more than anything.

Joe Johnson

QUOTE=Michael J Gwaltney]

Rare to see Ted sitting down during a race. If he was on the "beach" he would usually be talking to the crews about something that needed to be done during a "pit stop". He was always near the action with a helping hand but never got in the way. Ted was a real asset for feedback when testing and racing experimental engines.

Michael J[/QUOTE]

[Ron Hill]

It's Saturday night and I can't believe I haven't told a "TED MAY" story... Well, we were acing down in Blythe. Ted ahd this homemade copy of a Mishey hydro with a Champion Hot Rod for power. He'd won most of the races he'd run since he'd bought the ROD..But Blythe was a rough course and we had long straightaways and Ted had blown over and that cowling of the Mishey deck had hit him pretty hard in the chest, he was in a lot of pain and we all helped him lot up his equipement after the race.

Well, Kenny Pyle had this new Art Carlson "D" hydro and he'd managed to nose dive itas had Herb Mayfield...and Lynn Buckles...Herb had managed to hydralic both his eyes... Ugly, The doctor had o put his eyes BACK IN THE SOCKETS...

ANYWAY, KENNY AND TED HAD TEAMED UP FOR THIS RACE...So, Ted starts driving home...Well he's a hurtin' so bad he can't drive, after about two hours, and home is about 5 hours away. So, Kenny says he can drive, well about an hour into Kenny's "TURN", his eyes start to swell shut...Kenny's a yelling at Ted that he can't see and Ted's a yelling back he can't move...(Muscles too sore from his blow over)...

So Ted starts telling Kenny how to drive because Kenny can't see...Ted's a yelling more to the right GOD DAMN IT Kenny ..NO, NO the left.......Who knows the real truth, but they did get home in Ted's '55 "T" Bird...Kenny did have two of the damnest black eyes you'd ever seen and Ted limped around for about two weeks... The way Ted told the story you'll have to have believed it...