Homer Kinkaid and Bud Wiget

[seacow]

I am still hopeful that we will see some personal stories about Wiget and Kinkaid. In the meanwhile, I found a 1955 Sports Illustrated article about Wiget and Bill Tenney who I am hopeful we will also hear some personal stories about. Wouldn't it be nice if Sports Illustrated still covered boat racing?

Grapefruit Circuit
Wiget and Tenney battle it out for Southern outboard honors
Michael Demarest


St. Petersburg Lake Maggiore may not be 40 miles long, like its Alpine namesake, but it's only four feet deep. This has its advantages, as Referee Whitey Miller assured the assembled drivers at the Third Annual Sunshine City Outboard Regatta on the Florida lake: "Any place you dump, you can stand up in it." Even more important, its green waters were as smooth as a Florida lime drink before the bright, hornet-angry swarms of outboards poured out around the one-and-two-thirds-mile course the last Sunday in February.

The St. Petersburg Regatta was the sixth of seven days of outboard racing sanctioned by the American Power Boat Association in Florida from January 23 to March 13. It was also the last day's competition on the Grapefruit Circuit between two of the wiliest and swiftest pros in the outboard business: Bill Tenney, a lanky, blond, 39-year-old engineer from Dayton, Ohio; and stocky, dark-haired Bud Wiget, a relaxed, easygoing fellow from Concord, Calif., who's been fascinated by outboards since he was a teen-ager and lost his girl to a boy who owned one. Wiget (pronounced to rhyme with "spigot") now competes in about 18 regattas a year, is particularly spectacular in runabouts (with APBA records in both C and F racing and C service classes) and in 1954 was the APBA's top-scoring pro driver for the third time. Tenney, unlike Wiget, competes in National Outboard Association events as well as rival APBA-sanctioned races, and holds the B and C hydroplane records for both the NOA and APBA.

SIZES AND TYPES

The runabout, a flat-bottomed pleasure craft which evolved into a racing boat, is less fast but also less likely to flip than the hydroplane, which has steps on the bottom and was designed strictly for racing. Between the two types of boat, outboard classes are simply divided, for equality, according to engine size (from seven-and-a-half-cubic-inch piston displacement in class M to 60 cubic inches in class F motors) and engine type (stock, service or racing). Gasoline-burning stock engines are raced as they come from the manufacturer, without modification. In most serious, record-breaking outboard racing, alcohol-burning service and racing motors, whether designed originally or modified for the faster fuel, are used.

The first event at St. Petersburg in which Wiget and Tenney crossed the starting line together was the C racing runabout. The crowd was braced for a cutthroat contest; both were running neck and neck for the Colonel Green Star Island trophy, the Grapefruit Circuit's top award for racing pros. Tenney led the first heat all the way, with a good but unspectacular average speed of 55.487 mph. Wiget finished second by a comfortable 15.1 seconds. The second heat, which Tenney also won, was disappointing. Wiget had a cracked cylinder head, which may have been slowing him down in the first race, and had to drop out.

Wiget was not entered in the two heats of the C hydro class, next on the agenda, which Tenney won. But then came the F hydro race, last of the day and the last in which the two rivals would battle boat to boat on this year's Grapefruit Circuit.

In the first heat, Wiget slammed his U.S. 2 hydro around the course unchallenged for an average speed of 64.194 mph, an APBA record. Tenney placed third, behind Hap Owens, last year's class F hydro champ. But the record breaker was too much for Wiget's motor. In the first lap of the second heat a broken ignition wire cost him a cylinder and he dropped out. Owens won that one, with Tenney again following the 46-year-old truck driver from Bedford, Mass. across the line.

Altogether, at St. Pete, Wiget was first in the C service runabout, third in F hydro and fourth in C racing runabout, which with his previous four wins in C service runabouts was enough to clinch the trophy. Tenney logged three wins, one second and one fifth. In the pits after the racing, Wiget announced cheerfully that the Florida trip—his first since the 1950 APBA championships at Lake Alfred—had been good fun. "We'll have to continue the feud with Tenney next year," he grinned. "Bill runs awfully quick. He's a hard man to catch."

A GOOD BAROMETER

Although the APBA's scoring year runs from April to October and does not include Grapefruit Circuit points, the Florida regattas give the Wigets of the outboard world a chance to break records, and tomorrow's record breakers an opportunity to rub the varnish off their boats in competition. It's also a good barometer of the sport. Most old-timers on the circuit this winter believe outboard racing is off to its fastest start in years. Close to 250 drivers, a record number, were competing on the Grapefruit Circuit this winter, and the number of drivers registered with the APBA and NOA is growing steadily. More and more outboard regattas are being scheduled: the 450 odd NOA or APBA sanctioned events in 1954 may be swelled by as much as 100 this year, with a proportionate increase in unofficial, unsanctioned races. New drivers in all classes, and new equipment, much of it still in the experimental stage, promise that outboard racing in 1955 will move closer than ever to its logical niche in U.S. sport: a thrilling mass spectacle for fans; a relatively safe but spine-tingling pastime for participants.

[russhill]

When Ron started BRF, he wanted to have a list of "Who's Who in Boat Racing," I suggested he also need a list "Gentlemen Boat Racers". I had Bud Wiget in mind when I made the suggestion. Bud was a gentleman's gentleman. My dad was more involved in officiating than in actual racing, but to his dying day, his greatest racing accomplishment was beating Bud Wiget in the Long Beach Marine Stadium.

I only met Homer a few times and that was never at a boat race, but I have only two comments. One is that at a race somewhere once , he won the whole race--every class. The second memory was that in the early '60s Johnny Woods and I were both region chairmen and hung out a lot together. (Region Chairmen constituted the APBA nominating committee.) Johnny told me, guess what, I got a Xmas card from the great Homer Kinkaid. I said, gee, so did I. We later found he wanted to be nominated for an APBA position.

Back to Bud Wiget. He was one of my greatest boat racing heroes. Anytime I could beat Bud, I felt great. I had probably won the race because he wouldn't have been far behind.

Once at a Friant Dam race in Fresno, I split heats with Bud in C Racing (Pro) Hydro and he beat me on time. My dad was the motor inspector and was working in a big moving van. I walked by and heard Bud yelling (and maybe even swearing). Bud never raised his voice. I didn't know what to think or what to do, so I listened. My dad had said, "Bud, you don't have the serial number stamped on your crankcase.”

Bud said, "OK, I'm disqualified, I wrote that rule." My dad said, "NO, NO, it's a minor infraction that didn't give you an unfair advantage and disqualifying you would let my son win the race. We don't want it that way." That's when Bud raised his voice and said, "I'm the Outboard Racing Commission Chairman and I broke the rule and I want to be disqualified." Now, that's a gentleman.

He was married to Ethyl. Few called her Mysie. She had been married to Ernie Millot who was killed in an F Runabout race in 1939. I raced several times against Mysie in A Hydro in the late '40s. Several years ago I saw an article about Doug Creech's death written by Bud Wiget, so I thought I'd give him a call. He had moved to Florida twenty or thirty years earlier. Mysie answered the phone and we talked for about twenty minutes when Bud took over. We talked for over an hour. Both of them were dead within a year after that.

[Judy]

I am sure all of you knew Bud from racing. I am going to come from an other direction. He went to school in Concord Ca. He was married to my grandmother (Meizzie) She had two daughters and one of them was my mother. As a child I went to many boat races. My grandmother use to give me rides. Bud taught me how to use a slide rule when I was alittle girl. He was a kind loving man. He had no fear when he raced. Both he and my grandmother are gone but they made it to their 90's. So I would say they had a full life. To clear up on how to say their last name......Wiget === Wig-it. Thank you for letting me share

Judy (Townsend) Haley

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Thank you Judy for your post. I did not know your grandfather, but he has been an icon in boat racing history. I know people that knew him, but when I started racing, he was done. I had always wondered how to pronounce his last name. Thank you very much. God Bless.

[Stuart]

There is a Wiget Ln. in Walnut Creek Ca. right next to Concord. Was he also in local politics.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I haven't gotten all the way through Bernie Van Osdale's book yet, but there are numerous photos of both Bud and Homer as well as some stories about them. I highly recommend this book.

[Judy]

There is a Wiget Ln. in Walnut Creek Ca. right next to Concord. Was he also in local politics.

Not that I know of. He use to live on Wiget Lane. He had many acres of walnut trees.

[Ron Hill]

My dad and brother spoke about Bud Wiget and Meizzie Wiget as Gods and Goddesses. Bud's equipment was flawless and clean enough to eat out of the bottoms of any of his boats. In 1952, at Friant Dam my dad was motor inspector. Bud wrote down the wrong motor number on his entry blank. Bud won C Hydro and my brother was second. When Bud "Discovered" his error on the motor number, he DEMANDED my dad disqualify him. My dad argued, but Bud said, Rules were rules."

I had heard that Meizza was married to Ernie Malot who was killed driving a F Runabout, but I knew little of this. In 1953 there was a race at Riverview Park outside Fresno. Bud and Meizzie both raced there, I was nine and watched with wide eyes. I never saw Bud again until Valleyfield, Canada, 1967. I won the 500 CC John War UIM World Championships that weekend, Bud was racing B Hydro with a Konig on a Sid Craft. He and Meizzie were living in Florida then. Wining the 500 World Championship was GREAT for me and my sponsor, Harry Bartolomei, But meeting Bud,as an adult, was really over whelming for me. I met my true FAMILY HERO.

A few years ago, I was in San Jose for a water polo tournament, I looked at the map and realized Concord was just down the road. I went to Concord and stood on Wiget Lane....... It is hard to describe the emotions standing on Wiget Lane. I thought of my dad, Rocky Stone, The Hearst Regatta...and The Wigets of Wiget Lane!

[Ron Hill]

Yes, there were fewer classes in those days, but Homer won every class at the race that day. At the Winternationals one year I won COH, DOH, FOH, FRR, DSR, DSH.....but was second is CSR, CSH, third in BSR, third is BSH, 4th in 36 SS Runabout, and didn't race A Hydro or A Runabout. 6 firsts was impressive...I once have 5--seconds, one first and two thirds at DePue...I loved racing, and had great sponsors, Homer was still the "MAN".

I ran against Homer at Valleyfield, 1967. He had a four carb Konig on a Schultz. I had a rotary valve Konig on a Schultz. I started on the outside and got the the first turn on the outside of Homer, I said to myself, "That is Homer Kincaid.......probably better shut the door on him". That was the last I saw Homer until DePue a month later. There were no hard feelings, he knew I had the lane and the speed.

Homer was a gentleman winner and a gentleman loser! It ain't easy to be both!

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Ron...you just took the words out of two mouths....mine and Joe Rome's. Before I got to your closing when you said that Homer had no hard feelings, I knew exactly why...and your finish was exactly what I was thinking. Over the years Joe and I have talked about the many boat racers, pit men, owners and others we have known. We didn't know everyone, but the ones we knew that definitely were in that category we talked about. This is only mine and Joe's list from our many conversations and Joe being the one who mentioned who he considered was a gentleman. Homer Kincaid, Sid Bowdler (father of Joe Bowdler) from San Antonio, Texas, Bill Holland, Dr. Simison , there is a guy Joe mentioned only a month ago on this very subject that I heard of but didn't, know and can't remember the name. and Dick O'Dea.

My Dad was very fond of Homer, and they talked a lot. They became fast friends before Homer was Chairman of Pro Racing, and with Baldy Chairman of District 15, they did a lot of official correspondence.

I raced against him a few times before he retired. I was still getting experience, and Homer was equipped with Harry PasturczaK modified Konig motors. He was a very formidable competitor even at the end when he retired. He wore the longsleeve white coveralls that had been popular for a long time.