I ran this 19 Daytona at Havasu, about 1982, and I didn't win but I was fast. As I put the rig on the trailer, pissed off that my throttle wire had pulled out, and even thought Howard Pipkorn, Mr.Hydrostream, had helped me fix it, I had lost....
Freddy Hartman met me at the launch ramp and asked if I'd sell my boat...I said, "Sure. $15,000." ($15,000 was like saying 4 million)...Bob Leach had giving me the boat and trailer, Jim Jost (Evinrude's PR man) had BILLED me for the motor ($3,500)....
So, $15,000 JUST SEEMED TO BE A GOOD NUMBER...FREDDY SAYS, "WELL I'VE ONLY GOT $5,000 ON ME, BUT I'LL TAKE IT...AND WILL YOU DRIVE FOR ME A PARKER?"
He counts out $5,000 on the deck of the boat and says, "He'll pay me the rest later..." AND HE DOES PAY ME LATER AND PAYS FOR THE GAS AND ENTRY FEE AT PARKER..WE FINISH FOURTH IN MOD VP.
I never really talk to Freedy again, except, he hands me a prop the next year, at Parker, and says, "Hey, you loaned me this lest year....Do you want to sell it?" I say, "Yes." He says, "How much?' I say, "$500"....He hands me $500 for a prop I had forgotten I loaned him....a year earlier.
Who was nuttiest??? Me or Freddy????
Here is an old picture of that 19 Daytona with a YOUNG Chad Hill at the wheel!!!
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