An Amazing Story

[Master Oil Racing Team]

On my trip up to Tim's that same trip, 1974, I stopped the night of my final leg to Romeo at some unremembered motel. I had a small place to back up the suburban and trailer and some guy just showed up to direct me into the spot.

When I got out of the suburban he introduced himself. Jon Culver. We went into the ?Holiday Inn? wherever and spent the next couple of hours talking boat racing.

I don't know where the Dan Ryan Expressway is but I was headed to a suburb south or southwest of Chicago. Something Park? Just east of where Ray Hardy used to live where the first McDonalds was. Is there a Parkridge? Anyway...........so cool:

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Debbie and I were very pleased to have the pleasure of Kate and Mike Hauenstein's company for dinner tonight. They are down in our area for a vacation and look around and had time to come by and visit. We had a great time and heard some good stories.

Unfortunately, I was unable to take any photos until later when I figured out instead of film I needed a chip. With a regular camera you can take all the flash photography you want if there's no film in the camera. Then you tell your friends the lab screwed up the photos. With digital, the flash will pop up, the infrared will scope out the purps, but no flash or no pics. When you pop in the piece of plastic, then you can take the pics. So I only have a couple. And this is Kate and Mike Hauenstein on either side of D41994.

[Skoontz]

Ok, you were stopped in Romeoville, one town over from Joliet, home Stateville Prison, where John Wayne Gacy got the deserved needle. Your hotel could have been any one of a dozen old foresaken Rt. 66 stops, similar to what Jimbos mom used to operate only in the illustrious state of Illernoyzz.

Ray Hardy, if I am not mistaken is a brother to Don Hardy, of Don Hardy race car chassis. Many of the true greats of the golden age of drag racing lived in those south suburbs of Chicago, and near Oswego, Ilinois.

You must have taken the Dan Ryan to the Stevenson and I saw you just before you hit that exit ramp.

The first McDonald's is located in Desplaines, a town over from Parkridge, but those towns are so intertwined that you could be at any intersection and stand at all 4 corners and litterally be in a different city.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Skoontz...I stopped on the way up about 7 hours south of Detroit I think on IH 65? No route 66. No Hotel California

I don't think Ray Hardy had a brother, but Yes, I drove from Parkridge where Anne lived only a few miles west to Ray Hardy's house. It was Anne that pointed out the first McDonalds in Des Plaines. She took me downtown and showed me the L, Sears Tower, where they sold pork bellies, etc. We even went to a mosque before they got into bombs.

p.s. I do remember at some point going by an M & M or some kind of chocolate plant close to the freeway.

[Ron Hill]

Jon is still around, I'd love to interview him...

At the 1956 Nationals in Cambridge, Maryland, Jon won C Runabout. I had finished third in A RUnabout to Dean Chenowith, and Billy Shoemaker and was in the inspection area.

Jon came into the inspection area with a Speedliner, with the front seat cut out, which was the rule then, but he had the front seat covered with a plastic cowling...it was cool looking and I wondered, at the time, did the cowling help him win, or was it just COOL looking???

Anhyway, he was supposed to race C Hydro in a few heats, and he told his dad, Merlyn, he didn't want to run C Hydro that one win was enough...It struck me funny at the time...as I'd want to win them all if I could....But Jon seems to be happy savoring his one win.....

See, Merlyn Culver was a Mercury Distributor, from Ohio, and Dean Chenowith, was also from OHIO....Dean won three Nationals in Oakland, 1952, maybe Jon didn't want to compete with Dean, maybe, his C Hydro wasn't that fast, maybe, like me, I never liked hydros...

Merlyn Culver once made my brother a D Hydro prop, that my brother never liked. He sold it to Ernie Dawe for B Runabout, Ruben Dawe, repitched the prop on his 1958 FORD'S BUMPER, and Jeff Fritz from Yuma, Az, borrowed it and won the 1961 Nationals is B Stock Hydro...

Merlyn made props, and Mister Mercury, Carl himself, asked Merlyn to build props for Mercury and he turned him down...

The Culver Family would make a great story....Especially when Jon explained how his motor had 8 reeds and everyone else had four...(Local Race)...But I guess, Jon beat Major Bob Smith and Dean Chenowith, and the "FUR FLEW" until everyone had 8 reed reed blocks...

Where is MARSHALL GRANT ANYWAY??? Maybe, we should just go see him!!!! (And talk BOAT RACE)....

[Tim Chance]

I agree, I don't think Ray Hardy had a brother. When Ray quit racing in 1979, my partner Jack Kaemmer and I bought everything he had. As I recall 4 Konigs, about 30 props, a trailer and a 12' Butts Aerowing. I loved that boat with a C on it. Jack hated it because he went upside down with a D on it.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Hey Tim---I have a picture of you as part of this story coming up.

And Ron, Marshall still likes to talk racing. When I told him I found his old D, he sounded like a proud papa. He said after I got it mounted on the wall he might just have to come down here and take a look at it again.

When I was looking for pictures to go with this story, I came across a couple of rare photos of Texas Tornado. I didn't have too many because I only actually raced just under 8 1/2 laps with it. It had a name but we never got around to painting it on. After my Dad put the 1/2 round on the decks Tim said he didn't want one of his boats out there like that. Don't blame him. I don't remember how he got it back to replace it, but by the time we sold it to Jim McKean later on in 1975, it had had two decks, several stringer replacements, maybe a new cowling and a couple of round trips to Texas.

When I was trying to recall when I stuffed Texas Tornado with the D on it, I called Joe. He said to him it looked like I just fell into a gigantic hole. It seemed to look like the boat just fell off a cliff at a severe angle. There was no splash. I was just going like hell, then in the blink of an eye the boat just fell off and I vanished from sight. The boat dove in clean then bobbed back up right where it went in and just floated there. Then I popped up. I could never figure how there could have been just a hole. For more than a year I only remember coming out of the pits. Finally bits came back, but the last I remember to this day was coming out of the first turn and really gaining on the pack. I never knew until today how I came out of the turn and was only a couple hundred yards behind. Denny told Joe what happened from his perspective.

As I had previously posted, we had to make a quick repair right before the start and after the boats went by the referee signaled that I would be allowed to race. I pulled out of the pits, went around the safety bouy and punched the D. That D of Marshall's had so much power you better keep your steering tight. And since it was a short course we had on a Hopkins wheel for acceleration. It was a 7 1/8 X 13. We couldn't do much more than 90mph with it but it would get 90 right now. Unlike an A you could feed it pipe like it was a throttle. When I came out of the turn I saw the pack not even getting to the far turn yet and I smelled blood. I punched that D and was gaining so fast that I figured I may have a chance of being with the pack by the end of the first lap. That's the last I remember.

What Denny told Joe today was that he had his eye on Jim McKean who was right up front, maybe second place. Joe was watching me as I made my run with a very late start and did not see the rollers. I always figured some rollers came through after the pack and ahead of me, but Denny says no. The field had to slow way down and they bounced across. Denny took notice of Texas Tornado because of how fast it came off the corner and was topped out so soon. Denny told Joe there was no hydro ever built that could fly over those rollers and he said to himself "Ohhhh nooooo! This is going to be bad". I figure I launched off the first one and the second one popped the tail up and I dove in at a steep angle in the trough of the third one which to Joe appeared like a gigantic hole.

I think I must have seen it, but couldn't do anything. I figured I released the throttle and stood up on my knees, because I still had my left hand glove. I probably had a death grip on the steering wheel, and that or either the cowling took off my right glove. I'm guessing that as soon as the forks entered the water I flipped over the steering wheel went in front of the forks and entered the water legs first. I think this because besides my neck and head the groin area on both legs where I kept the leg straps tight really hurt also. The only other thing I associate with it is a black cold void. Not sinking or rising. Just an overwhelming feeling of being alone. Like there just isn't anybody else anywhere. Then light and warmth. I don't really know if this comes from subconsciousness, a dream or what.

The first photo is the finishing touches on Texas Tornado right before we loaded it on the trailer Thanksgiving 1974. In the second photo, it is behind the hydro in the foreground. Painted and numbered but not with the Master Oil logo or name yet. The third photo is Jack Chance left, pit men Johnny Bezecny or Johnny BZZZ as I called him, and to the right, Jim Roerig.

Coming up next is Tim Butts at the helm of the D.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

The Eastern Divisionals were held in Gadsden, Alabama on June 21 & 22, 1975. We didn't want to fall behind while I was out so we hauled our equipment up there for Tim Butts to drive. Tim had his own boat and motor M-71 for 250 and 350 hydro, and our equipment for 500, 700 and 1100 hydro.

Tim tested the 500 on a boat that I am not sure which one it was. It was painted, but no logo or name on it. It could have been Texas Tornado. Externally I don't think there was much damage, but I believe Tim had to repairs some stringers that became crooked. I'm not real sure though. I do know that I never drove Texas Tornado again.

He also tested the D on Honcho. Tim didn't like that boat. It was too long, not enough lift and would tend to hook in a turn, which is totally unlike an Aerowing. Tim didn't test the dual rotary valve F I don't think. Tim decided not to race the D but he did get some valuable time in the cockpit. Since Hookin' Bull was retired and Honcho wasn't working out, we didn't have a good rig for 700 and 1100 hydro. Tim took what he learned at Gadsden and built "Shadowfax". What a boat that turned out to be. He built the V-8 boat of Joe Michelini's from the "Water Wars" off that same design with only slight differences.

Tim was only going to run 250, 350 and 500 hydro, but the water got rough. There was a one hour delay in the qualifying heats and then it was decided to reduce the laps from 4 to 3. Tim ended up scratching in all events rather than fighting the rough water.

First two pics are possibly the Texas Tornado. The third is Marshall's D on Honcho.

[ProHydroRacer]

Skoontz...I stopped on the way up about 7 hours south of Detroit I think on IH 65? No route 66. No Hotel California

I don't think Ray Hardy had a brother, but Yes, I drove from Parkridge where Anne lived only a few miles west to Ray Hardy's house. It was Anne that pointed out the first McDonalds in Des Plaines. She took me downtown and showed me the L, Sears Tower, where they sold pork bellies, etc. We even went to a mosque before they got into bombs.

p.s. I do remember at some point going by an M & M or some kind of chocolate plant close to the freeway.

Ray Hardy had a brother he was a twin to Ray. When Ray and I where pals in the old Chicago Outboard days he would never speak of him and I got the feeling they where not on speaking terms. I think his brother lived somewhere south. Bill Van should know.

Bill Kurps
ProHydoRacer@BellSouth.net

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I never knew that Bill. Ray was a genius. I guess his twin must have been so too. Maybe that's why Ray never mentioned him. It's been told that twins could read each other's minds. Could it be that Ray's twin always knew what Ray was inventing? His inventions were innovative, easy to manufacture and timely. Something always went haywire with Ray's patents. Do you think this was the Hardy that Skoontz wrote about?

BTW Bill---You and Bill Hosler are featured in an upcoming segment of "An Amazing Story".