Pictures

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Bill Ban and Jeff have correctly identified the people. It is Bill Rucker Jr in the runabout at San Antonio 1978. The photo of Marshall Grant was taken at Hot Springs in 1972 before Billy Seebold arrived. Marshall was doing some testing himself. It is Bill Seebold with his back to the camera.

Bill holding the prop is what I believe to be inside a limited hydro van. He was looking at props. I may be wrong on that, but I could look at some old contact sheets to find out.

The photo of Jerry Waldman is what I believe the last pit shot of him. It was the day before the race in which he was killed. He just got in from testing his F hydro and my Dad asked him "How was it?" Jerry replied "It's got good top speed, but..."looking down and spreading his arms "....you would have to measure the acceleration with a calendar."

It is indeed Tom Kirts at Hinton in 1977. He blew over at the start disintegrating that new DeSilva.

[Krazy Karl]

Just a quick comment, if you use an online browser and email like Google Chrome it keeps all your contacts and favorite websites in it's database. That way if you change computers everything is still there just like you left it. No updates required, nothing lost.
kk

[racingfan1]

Wayne - I took this picture a few years ago at DePue , it remains one of my favorites. I have posted it before and have been accused of photoshopping it , but this is how it was taken. I did sharpen it up just a bit. As you know , when using a zoom lens it compresses everything making it appear tighter than it actually may be.

[Gene East]

Bill Ban and Jeff have correctly identified the people. It is Bill Rucker Jr in the runabout at San Antonio 1978. The photo of Marshall Grant was taken at Hot Springs in 1972 before Billy Seebold arrived. Marshall was doing some testing himself. It is Bill Seebold with his back to the camera.

Bill holding the prop is what I believe to be inside a limited hydro van. He was looking at props. I may be wrong on that, but I could look at some old contact sheets to find out.

The photo of Jerry Waldman is what I believe the last pit shot of him. It was the day before the race in which he was killed. He just got in from testing his F hydro and my Dad asked him "How was it?" Jerry replied "It's got good top speed, but..."looking down and spreading his arms "....you would have to measure the acceleration with a calendar."

It is indeed Tom Kirts at Hinton in 1977. He blew over at the start disintegrating that new DeSilva.

Wayne, that is a great shot of our friend Gerry/Jerry Waldman. That was not the first time he ever commented on measuring acceleration with a calendar.

The shot of Marshall getting out of the boat with that ratty old Quincy life jacket is priceless. I don't know how long he had that jacket, but he certainly got his money's worth out of it.

[FurnalFlyer]

The picture of Cindy in the background on the left side is Bill Hosler and on the right it looks Roy Deweese.
That is Jim Stone and the person with his back to you looks like Harry Pinner.
Leigh

[Master Oil Racing Team]

That is a great picture Dale.

Gene...I didn't know Jerry had used that expression before. I only remember taking the picture and my Dad was talking to Jerry when I took the picture. My Dad was always very sad when he saw that picture and told whoever it was what Jerry said. I didn't hear it. My dad remembered it very well and told me what Jerry said

That picture of Marshall getting out of the boat is priceless to me. I only have a couple of frames, and at the time I knew I should take the picture. It is not a good picture at all, and I don't have one of Marshall driving. We were testing at the same time. Nobody else was around. Jerry Waldman was Captain of the North, Marshall Grant Captain of the East, Baldy Baldwin Captain of the South, and Captain of the West was not there yet. It was the day before most everyone else would arrive. Baldy, Jerry and Marshall talked informally about the Invitational, but since it was calm, we were all testing. Like Joe Rome and I always talk about..."We didn't know what we were in the middle of. It was just happening. We were there. We just didn't think about it at the time". We had had an inkling from Marshall though that his Alky racing was coming to an end. Billy Seebold had been driving for him since 1968, and for the past couple of years had been driving mostly OPC for Mercury. Billy only made two or three alky races that year that I can remember. That's why I ran to get my camera to take a picture of Marshall slipping out of that K-4 hydro. That life jacket goes back to when he was racing earlier in his career and Johnny Cash said he had to give it up to be in the band.

(Johnny Cash loved the starting cannon though that Marshall would sometimes fire off at a hotel).)

[Steve Litzell]

Thanks Bill. Here are a few more pictures from the stack. There were photos from across almost every category of boat racing. If you recognize them as your photos , please send me a PM and I will get them back to you.

Nope! Leigh, You are almost correct, Cindy is in the boat, Bill is on the left, and the fellow that has his arm up kinda hiding his face is Jeff Hutchins. You can see his mucstache a little. DeWeese was not that skinny! ( Sorry Roy) This was the times that I was Drag racing and also going to help Bill and Cindy with this, I was also working at Walt's at this time. I was moroe than likely attending a major drag race the day this was taken as This was around 76 or so and she set the record at Alex in 75. Steve Also may have been Jim Tudor maybe,

[racingfan1]

Wayne has given me the ok to post more of these pictures and he would fill in blanks if nobody else can. Thanks Wayne

[Gene East]

That is a great picture Dale.

Gene...I didn't know Jerry had used that expression before. I only remember taking the picture and my Dad was talking to Jerry when I took the picture. My Dad was always very sad when he saw that picture and told whoever it was what Jerry said. I didn't hear it. My dad remembered it very well and told me what Jerry said

That picture of Marshall getting out of the boat is priceless to me. I only have a couple of frames, and at the time I knew I should take the picture. It is not a good picture at all, and I don't have one of Marshall driving. We were testing at the same time. Nobody else was around. Jerry Waldman was Captain of the North, Marshall Grant Captain of the East, Baldy Baldwin Captain of the South, and Captain of the West was not there yet. It was the day before most everyone else would arrive. Baldy, Jerry and Marshall talked informally about the Invitational, but since it was calm, we were all testing. Like Joe Rome and I always talk about..."We didn't know what we were in the middle of. It was just happening. We were there. We just didn't think about it at the time". We had had an inkling from Marshall though that his Alky racing was coming to an end. Billy Seebold had been driving for him since 1968, and for the past couple of years had been driving mostly OPC for Mercury. Billy only made two or three alky races that year that I can remember. That's why I ran to get my camera to take a picture of Marshall slipping out of that K-4 hydro. That life jacket goes back to when he was racing earlier in his career and Johnny Cash said he had to give it up to be in the band.

(Johnny Cash loved the starting cannon though that Marshall would sometimes fire off at a hotel).)

Jerry used that "calendar" remark in discussions with those of us at QW several times, usually during record runs or after a change in engines. He was more than a customer, he was a very dear friend.
It's 5:00 AM and I've spent a very sleepless night because someone asked me yesterday what it was like that day over 40 years ago.
All of us knew he was hurt bad, but we had seen him bounce back before. Phil Wagner went to the hospital in the ambulance, but the rest of Jerry's pit crew were loading the boats. We (QW) were drying out the motor. Deep down all of us were thinking, "Jerry will be back to race at DePue" and then your Dad made that horrible announcement on the P.A. system.
Everyone was in total shock and disbelief and no one was ashamed to show his grief.
The sight of a hundred very macho men with tears flowing down their faces was a very humbling sight. We all finished the work that had to be done at the race course, went back to the motel and called our families to break the news. The ride home the next day seemed very long!
All of us had lost a brother.

Rest in peace dear friend. We'll see you soon!

[Master Oil Racing Team]

That day haunts me as well Gene. I was like you and everyone else around. We all knew Jerry was hurt, but we expected him up and around soon. We were all rigging down and laughing, joking and having a great time when my Dad interrupted everyone for the announcement. Even before he got his words out, you could tell he had something of importance to say so everyone slowed down to listen. When he announced the time that Jerry had passed away, a total shock wave struck the pits. No one moved, no one said a word. It was total silence. Everyone stood right where they were. Wrenches in hand, or stopped when walking to some other place, or in conversation with someone else. We all did go back to our work quietly rigging down, but only after a long stunned silence. I don't know if you have any feeling about how long we stood there without moving Gene, but to me it was a very long time. I lost track of time, but it could have been twenty minutes or more. It was very slowly that one person after another picked up where he left off doing a job we all knew we had to do. Even when I was laying in the emergency room for two hours waiting for a doctor on Memorial day after stuffing in Baytown doesn't even come close to how bad I felt that afternoon in Baytown. That was the worst day in all my racing by far. And you are correct Gene. That ride home seemed like it would never end.

ADD: I will never forget the next morning either. We had to go back out to the lodge to settle up any outstanding matters regarding the race and Diamondhead, the real estate subdivision on Lake Catherine that hosted the races. Those familiar with the invitational will recall it was my Dad's idea and he spearheaded the effort with help from Jerry Waldman, Marshall Grant, Tim Butts and Lee Sutter. He was the one to wrap up all the leftover details after the race. When he finished up at the lodge, he started for his Suburban to hitch up our trailer. We loaded it up the previous afternoon and left it in the pits. I started to head outside with him, and he said he could do it by himself. I asked, "Are you sure you don't want some help?" He said"No...I can do it." I went out on the front porch of the lodge and watched him wind his way down to the pits. Those who were there remember it was a grand view overlooking the whole race course. There were no other trailers. All others had pulled out the evening before. My heart was very heavy watching my Dad because he was in terrible grief. Everything was totally quiet on the lake. No boats, no people no nothing except some squirrels chattering and birds chirping. in the pits he swung the Suburban around to the left, then backed straight to the trailer which was parked at a slight angle to the left. He backed up to where the hitch was, got out, walked to the back and began turning the crank to lower the hitch onto the 2 inch ball. The hitch was perfectly aligned above the ball, and all he had to do was secure the bulldog hitch around the ball, raise and lock the wheel, hook up the lights and chains and it was ready to go. He put the chocks back in the trailer, got back into the suburban and drove back up the hill to the parking lot of the lodge. I was totally amazed at how he didn't have to jockey or move anything, just as if someone had guided him in perfectly. Maybe someone did.