An Amazing Story: Part 2

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Three days later Debbie and I boarded a plane at DFW for Berlin. We had decided to do a 14-21 day excursion rate which meant that you had to be gone for at least 14 days and leave by the 21st. In those days flying was pretty expensive and the various excursion rates had reduced pricing. We knew when we wanted to leave, but when we were at the travel agency we were not exactly sure when we wanted to come back. All dates had to be in by 10 days before departure so we booked the flight to Berlin. A few days later we decided on the return date and called our travel agent Helen. She took the message then the following day went to a hospital for minor surgery. Being that the surgery was upmost on her mind, she forgot to enter our return date into the system. They didn't have the computers like everyone uses now.

When we went to pick up our tickets Helen apologized. She said the date we wanted to return was booked. But........no problem...we could just fly standby. There were hourly flights from Berlin to Frankfurt..a major business hub. So........Okay.......No problem. We picked up our tickets and got packed and were ready for some racing and sightseeing over the next couple of weeks. Little did we know!

[Master Oil Racing Team]

My Dad and Jack Chance followed us over several days later. My first trip to Berlin in 1975 I flew into Templehof airport. It was the airport used during Hitler's reign and also the one used during the Berlin airlift. I took in as much as I could of the sights and was glad I did. In 1976 Tegel was open and they quit using Templehof. After getting the baggage we took my Dad and Jack to Jenny Scwhartz-Nitka's house in the Grunewald district. They were both surprised to see the Texas flag flying high atop the flagpole.

When I first stayed at Jenny's two years earlier she had just bought it from the Netherlands. It was their embassy in Berlin, having survived the bombing of WWII where it had been occupied by high admiralty from the German navy. The Jewish family that built it split early on when they saw trouble brewing. When Debbie and I spent our honeymoon there in 1977, Jenny was still in the process of remodeling and now everything was finished.

My Dad and Jack had never been to Germany before, but they knew Jenny and her friend Harry Splettstosser. So there were warm greeting between all. Debbie and I knew Jenny's son Peter Preis, (slacks and blue shirt) so we made the introductions. They refreshments after a long haul over the ocean were welcome. The jet lag would come later.

[john lawrence]

Wayne: I really want to thank you, for all the posting you do, your pics and stories are great now how about all you guys who raced back then joining in and adding your contributions. How about some pics and info on some of the races Joe Rome you told me about a huge number of As one year, and it was a challenge to win the elimination. Comeon guys Wayne is trying to keep this going!!!! John Lawrence

[Master Oil Racing Team]

........this thread will go to the end. At least the part of it I know. Remember....this is the saga of one engine with a wierd serial number and a winning history that Marshall Grant hand picked. Some of those that could fill in gaps are gone such as Dieter Konig who could have told us what D41994 meant and Harry Bartolomei who we sold it to when we quit. I still need to contact Michael Lopez for his input, and we DO know that Bill Diamond aka Tubby Nevada was the last owner prior to me getting it back. So, there is still some stories to come before the final wrap up. But don't worry John......plenty of stories left to come. There were a number of races in the mid sixties where eliminations were tough. I just have to many things going on to do justice to the stories. There are many more pics for Random Shots, Where the Action Is, Lone Star and Alexandria to mention a few. That doesn't count the OPC stuff I still have. So I will try to finish this thread soon and move on. I need to figure out how to get both parts on DVD though before it disappears.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

..........there it is. Our boat made it intact all the way to Dieter's. Found it around back I guess about where Eric found the styrofoam.

Got to go to the plant at Mineral Wells today. We'll unpack "TEX" in a couple of days.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

When we got to the Konig factory the next morning Dieter told my Dad how much the freight was. My Dad said "What? The shipping has already been paid." It turned out that it got to Dieter "freight collect". I can't remember now whether Dieter paid all the way from Texas or more likely the overland trucking from Hamburg to West Berlin. My Dad used a shipping agent and paid to get the crate all the way to the factory. He made arrangements to reimburse Dieter and apologized. He told Dieter he would never expect him to have to pay to get our stuff there and that when he got home he would get with the shipping agent and present the bill Dieter had paid. As it turned out, the shipping line that took it across the Atlantic had filed bankruptcy while we were gone. They knew what they were doing and were just cramming their pockets until the date they filed.

The main thing is that everything got there and it was undamaged.

[Jeff Lytle]

Wayne, just a couple of things............1st--I have to see the b/w pics of the OE engine you posted on the contact sheets <<>> and pretty rare for eyes on this side of the pond.

I noticed that the rear afterplanes on Tex were not shaped as we had seen in the later Aerowing designs--Any reason for it? or was it simply no benefit on the rough water boat.

Take a look at the sponson shape and design that can be seen in the last pic people...........COOL!

[Master Oil Racing Team]

.....I was a little bit flippant with you many posts back when you asked about pics from the factory and I knew that we would get there, but it took a little longer than I had expected. Please forgive me. I will post some pics of the motor.

As far as the afterplanes and sponsons go, "TEX" was just another of the series of R & D with Tim. Tim guessed what we needed based on my input and like "HONCHO" it was a one of a kind. We tried it, had partial success and had ideas about what to make it better. I was supposed to be picking up some catfish plates right now!.........bye

[Jeff Lytle]

How was the catfish?

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Poco bueno!