Hey Dean...I accept your acknowledgement of my tremendous foresight.I am not a betting man, but even I understand odds of picking future champions in a group like this.
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Hey Dean...I accept your acknowledgement of my tremendous foresight.
If you recall at the beginning of the part about the 1978 Nationals I mentioned I was bummed out. As anyone who has been following this thread knows, it is a series of loosley structured stories around the history of the D motor we bought from Marshall Grant. Along the way a bunch of you have added to it with other tales that come to mind at certain events and have made this thread a fun and enjoyable trip to the past. Now comes a part that almost made me quit boat racing. This is in no way intended to hurt anyone or be an insult to anyone or have any derogatory or defaming comments on any person. It just happens to be a part of this history and had a very profound effect on me and I thought about it a long time before deciding to include it. It is because there were suttle consequences that showed up later.
The incident involved a Yamato and the Formula 350 class. I didn't write down what exactly the problem was, and I cannot remember because it was something that to me was not important. The argument over reinstating the driver was important.
The driver involved was Chaney Street. He was from Snohomish, Washington (is that spelling right?) I don't think he himself ever did anything to bend the rules or do anything illegal. I think it was more like a little league game when the kid gets caught between the coach or parents and the umpire. But, something was not right and the motor was to be impounded. That was one of the parts that was very foggy in my memory.
Harry Pasturczack was the motor inspector and he found something not up to snuff on the motor. For some reason, the measurements or whatever needed to be done did not occur right then. Instead, the motor was to be impounded overnight. The problem was, Pete Hellsten put the motor in his trailer and locked it up. I don't think the motor was Pete's and I do not think he had any direct involvement with Chaney Street so I couldn't figure out why Pete wanted to keep the motor in his own trailer overnight. It didn't make sense why Pete did what he did. But, as I said, this part is very foggy and I didn't have any notes about it. Possibly Bill Van might remember as he was very involved with getting Formula 350 started.
Pete and my Dad Baldy got into an argument. Pete said he was ill advised by Hal Tolford and Ralph Taylor. That's in my notes, but there is no reference as to what the advise given was about, or what Pete thought it meant. In any case a commission meeting was held and Chaney Street's Formula 350 entry was reinstated. This made my Dad very angry because he felt whatever had been going on was not right and referee Jack Waite's authority was undermined by reinstatement from the Pro Commission. I can't remember what all the arguments were on either side, but in my mind it seems like the majority of the commissioners just folded and let it go, not wanting to heat up the controversy. My Dad felt very embarassed by what he considered to be a slap in the face to Jack Waite.
My Dad had seen how Jack had been a very professional and knowledgeable referee in major OPC and Inboard events and asked him to join us with the National and World events that we put on. He agreed and in short order,they became fast friends. Jack flew missions in a bomber over Europe during World War II and at the time we met he was the chief laison officer for the joint U.S./Soviet Union space activities. Our astronaughts and their cosmonaughts went on some joint mission during the early to mid 70's. Jack was the go between while they were training, so he had some very good diplomatic experience behind him. That is one of the reasons my Dad wanted Jack to referee our events. In all the UIM World Championships our group put on, there was at least one major controversy and generally some other situations come up. Jack helped settle all of them to every country's satisfaction, and that is not easy. It cost championships, and some were because of "Rules of the Day" and not standard UIM rules. Sometimes this was a result of language barrier, but the rules were always upheld. And the decisions made by the jury were much tougher than what happened at San Antonio. That is why my Dad was so upset. He felt that the commission should have had the guts to back the decision of the referee and had failed.
It must have been right after the decision of the Pro Commission and a bunch of us were standing next to a motor home up the rise from the pits. My Dad and Pete Hellsten had some words then they started yelling at each other. Then Pete called my Dad a pig. He hollered "Baldy...you are a pig. You're a g**d*** pig you s** of a b****!" They came face to face, my Dad yelling "You are a s** of a b**** and I ought to take you behind the trailer and whip you." Pete hollered back, "You want to whip me? Come on and hit me." Pete was egging him on "Come on. Hit me. You s** of a b****." My Dad's face was glowing red. "No one ever called me a s** of a b*****" he screamed as he lunged toward Pete to give him a punch. Pete was not expecting my Dad to actually go for him and got a surprised look on his face as he started to step back. Just as my Dad landed a blow Pete tripped over root and fell backwards on the ground. My Dad was madder than I had ever seen him and was extremely emotional. I was afraid he was going to have a heart attack or maybe a stroke as red as his face was.
As Pete was struggling to get up a bunch of us held my Dad back. He was very strong and four or five of us couldn't stop him. It took another two or three holding him then surrounding him and telling him to calm down, that this was not worth fighting over. I was pleading for him to stop, but he didn't hear anything. I think if he could have gotten to Pete he would have ripped him apart. Pete certainly didn't have any intention of provoking the fight any further and kept quiet. It took several minutes of us holding my Dad and talking very calmly for him to get back into our world and settle down. It was only then we could relax our grip.
I took no more notes for the rest of the day. I was very, very bummed out. I really felt sorry for my Dad. None of this should have ever happened and it really put a cloud over everything. I won the 700 hydro nationals shortly after this and very nearly the 350 hydro, but none of that mattered. There was no joy or celebrating at all. I just wanted to get it all past us and go on down the road. The last entry in my book from this race was "Almost quit racing after this one."
Wayne,
I am sorry you had to address this here. Of course. I remember the incident very well. I was almost in tears (call me crybaby) to see your Dad so upset. He treated each and every one of us like we were his own family. Every time we came to a race in Texas, we felt welcome because of Baldy. He treated everyone like they were his best friend. I called him years after I had quit racing with a question about oil, which he answered in his usual gracious way. I was torn because I was also friends with Pete. Many nights, we sat together in the campground drinking and talking. I was so sad when I heard that Pete was ill. I know in my heart that if Pete and Baldy would have been at the reunion they would have shaken hands like old friends should. Time would have been the healer. There were people at the reunion that I know could not stand me when I was racing. I hugged each and every one of them, and you know what? They hugged me back! Guys I had run over with irreverance shook my hand in friendship. As we get older, we hit the middle ground. Learn how to blend our lives. For me, this is a non issue. Baldy and Pete were both smiling as they looked down at DePue 2007.
It was great to see you Wayne. I'm ready top join the next Wayne and Joe road trip. I really enjoyed talking to Chris and his family. Pete would be so proud of all of you. Missed your Mom. (Go Bruins!) Hope I get to see all of you soon. From my days in TX, as Bob Wills says, "Time Changes Everything.' Or is it "Big Balls in Cowtown?"
a little more about the "rumble in san antonio"
As Wayne was recounting his recollections of this incident, it brought back a lot of memories. As he said I and several other PRO people were very involved in getting the Formula 350 class started and writing the rules so as to level the playing field as much as possible. Because the Yamato 80 was basically a stock motor, the committee charged with writing the rules for the class wanted to try to assure that it stayed that way and fulfilled it's premise as a starter class in the PRO division by having rules that would eliminate or at least strongly discourage cheating in the class, such as a claiming rule for the motor, and limiting the participation of a driver to five years and then they had to go on to another class. Because the rest of the PRO divisiion was a "run what you brung" bore and stroke division, we knew there were a lot of "unfair advantages" that could be had if the PRO mentality were applied to modifications on the Model 80. A few modifications that had already become common knowledge and were hard for inspectors to pickup because the motor was new to them were slightly shortening the megaphone in the tower housing and blocking the water "pee hole" that expelled water into the tower housing on to the pipe.
The first time most of us from other parts of the country had seen the young man mentioned by Wayne, was at the race in San Antonio. He was really flying in Formula 350 and won most if not all the heats he participated in by a large margin, being several MPH faster than the rest of the competitors. When this happened again and again, a protest was filed by two competitors in the class, requesting the inspector look closely at his engine to be sure it was legal, as it is almost impossible to come out of nowhere as this young man did and absolutely dominate and run away with the class. The protest was filed along with a protest fee, and when the inspector tried to inspect the engine, it was nowhere to be found. It was finally located locked up in a trailer belonging to Hal Tolford, who in addition to being the person who I remember bringing the young man to the race along with his mother and perhaps a younger brother, (long time ago and my CRS is bad today about some finer details of the situation) was somewhat a mentor to him as far as boat racing was concerned, and I believe was on the PRO Commission if not at that exact time, before and/or afterward. In short, he knew the rules, or should have.
I really didn't remember Harry ZAK being the inspector,but that is very probable as he served in that capacity many times at races Baldy was responsible for promoting. Short and to the point, the inspector was denied access to the motor until at least the next day by it being locked up in Tolford's trailer and not being made available for inspection when a protest had been filed. The young mans mother was VERY upset, accusing all involved of picking on her son. Many tried to explain to her that this (the inspection process) was something that a competitor could legally call for with the filing of a protest and putting up the protest fee, but she did not want to listen. Her son was being persecuted and that was that. Add all that uproar to the previously mention fact that the motor was not presented for inspection until the next day and it left a bad taste in a lot of peoples mouths.
I was not privy to the commission discussion process as to reinstating the young man, and I would be the first to agree he was probably the most innocent party of the whole affair. He was badly served by adults who should have known better, and especially a elected official of the PRO division/commission, Hal Tolford. I did not understand at the time and do not now, how someone in that type of position can deny inspection of an engine that a protest has been filed on until the next day, without some type of penalty. If such a penalty was assesed I never heard about it. Those decisions IMHO made a mockery out of the PRO Division rule book. and if it was done because of a "good old boy, one of us" mentality, then shame on the rest of the commission at that time, and I don't blame Baldy one bit for being incensed about it.
Agree of disagree with him, like him or not, (and I did) one thing you could be assured of when you attended a race he promoted, it would be run by the book.
As to what precipitated the actual argument between he and Pete, I wasn't privy to that, but I did get in on the result and was one of the persons that had hold of him trying to get him away from Pete. There were a lot of hard feelings about that incident, including trying to have Baldy thrown out of APBA, but luckily cooler heads prevailed, including Mel Kirts, PRO VP at the time, and he got the antagonists together at the next annual meeting and got cooler heads to prevail.
I knew Baldy pretty well and was a great fan of his. You always knew where you stood with him, there was no BS. If he didn't agree with you about something, he would tell you so in no uncertain terms, but I never saw him hold a grudge. He was not happy with me or the others that broke up the fight, but that is another story for another time.
Alan you are right on the money. My Dad could get angry very quickly over something he didn't like, but he also cooled down quickly and never held a grudge. He would have had a special time talking to Pete. When I got back from the 1993 UIM World Championships I told my Dad that Pete was in charge of the event and making sure everything was done according to UIM policies and procedures. He was very pleased. I could tell that he was happy to see that all the time and money we spent did pay off with more Americans racing overseas and that other countries were participating in events here. The fact that none of the original players involved were still in the game and yet American participation had increased meant a lot to him. The fact that Pete spent the time and dedication it took to organize such a race was very gratifying to my Dad.
I myself always got along with Pete. That incident never interfered with my dealing with him or his family. In fact, at the 1980 Pro Nationals at LaCrosse Pete and Carol had a table next to us at the club within our hotel and we had a great time. Pete spent most of his time I think talking racing with Ralph Donald and some others and I seem to remember taking a couple of tours around the dance floor with Carol. She is a very nice person.
And Bill Van....I had forgotten about the motor being in Hal Tolford's trailer. As far as his winning all the heats, this is what I found and what I have is limited in scope. I am guessing that there must have been qualifying heats and Chaney Street's time must have been exceptional. The incident occurred before the finals and this is what happened during the finals.
In the first heat Chaney Street led for 3 3/4 laps then was overtaken by Jeff Eaton from Yorba Linda, California. Jeff got a better start the second heat and led flag to flag. Chaney Street moved up to 2nd place in the first lap of the second heat and finished in that position. Jeff had two firsts and Chaney two seconds.
Hal Tolford was not on the Pro Commission at that time but you were Bill Van. In fact, Pete Hellsten and myself were also. What you actually are not privy to now is remembering why there should have been a reinstatement, and that is my position too.
more on san antonio
Wayne:
I didn't remember that was one of the years I was on the commission. That was probably the reason I don't remember any discussions by the commission about the locking the motor in the trailer incident and refusing an inspection until the next day.
I would not have been present at such an appeal meeting if in fact he was disqualified from racing for not allowing the motor to be presented for inspection, because I am sure I disqualified myself from any decision regards him as Eileen was participating in the Formula 350 class at that race. I don't remember specifically taking that action, but I know I would have done so because of her participation. As a member of the commission at that time, that would have been the only reason I would have missed a meeting of that importance.
It is unfortionate that some people who thought your Dad was only what he appeared to be at a boat race he was promoting, never had the opportunity to get to know him away from boat racing. He could be the most fun to be around of almost anyone I ever knew, and I would not take anything for the times with he, Ray Hardy, and other boat racers of that time he invited to his home.
He was one of a kind, and Eileen and I both miss him greatly. I guess its time to post some more stories about him on the BS thread.
When the motor was released by Tolford and inspected the next morning it was found to be legal. Guess there is only a person or two who knows whether that was the case on race day.
Last edited by Bill Van Steenwyk; 11-30-2007 at 08:26 PM. Reason: add information
Bill Van...when I was writing about this incident, I was thinking that there were commissioners who may have had a vested interest or some tie that they backed out of the meeting. I was not sure, but I had a nagging feeling that it was the case and I think there was more than just you. Ray Nydahl and Bill Hosler may have also stood aside. I don't remember any official report, but I could look in my Pro Commission file to see if there is anything. Anyway, I do seem to remember that whatever commissioners that were involved with Formula 350, as you and Eileen were, stepped aside.
And Hey Bill Van......I have decided that when I finish this thread...I plan to start one about my Dad...his house...his guests with all the racing stories (photos included) and comments from as many as possible that remember those days.
Here is a pic of that Yamato 80. Left to right are Jim McKean, Harry Pasturczak (striped shirt with head behind the powerhead), Dean Wilson, Pete Hellsten and I think that's Chaney Street on the far right.
It was the end of an era. For the first time in a decade we didn't end the season with a race at my Dad's place at Barbon in South Texas. The first race he put on there was the 2nd half of the NOA World Championships in 1968 which was blown out in Forest Lake, Minnesota. We had also run an NOA Southern Championship there as well as Pan American Championship. In the past several years the Lone Star Boat Racing Association Texas State Championships were held there on a one mile course. It was surveyed for records in 1972 and 1974. That is when the last LSBRA records were broken.
In the spring of 1978 my Dad installed an underground sprinkler system on his lawn and planted half a dozen of already big oak trees in his yard. He had grass right around the house, but most of the 10 acres was caliche. His house had been built on a caliche hill overlooking the southwestern most part of Lake Corpus Christi. What little topsoil he had was hauled in. Away from the house all that would grow was sparse outcrops of native grass, blackbrush, some stunted little yellow flowers and ceniza, known in other places as purple sage. After he put in the water system, St Augustine grass began to creep up the hill. With the trees blocking the view and the new lawn, my Dad not wqnt to put on any more races there. The last one in 1977 only had about 30 drivers attend. My Dad was tired from the hectic pace of the last three years, Jack Chance was tired, and I was up at Denton while Debbie worked on her master's degree. I didn't make it down often enough now to keep up the equipment like we should have. We didn't know it at the time, but after San Antonio it was all downhill.
1977
Happy birthday Wayne. Many more to come. I remember that last race your dad put on. I think that was the first I had went south from Del Rio. A friend went with me and we were running along some where around Encinal Tx.. It was right a sundown and I never had seen so many old rattlesnakes out on the highway. That sandy brush country was loaded with them. They were laid out on the highway sunning themself. My buddy said “I hope the hell we don’t have a flat” I said if we do your changing it. I’m staying in the truck...
I have to agree with you on the decline of the pro racing in Texas about that time. I had just bought a new 350 yamato in 77 and new hydro from Tim in78. By 1980 it was just about over in Texas. I switched over to gas and oil with AOF in 85 so my son could start racing.
We had about 15 years of good racing here in Texas and then it finally died. I can’t understand how a state this size, that had so many racer’s and racing clubs in the 50's,60's and parts of the 70's could just shut down. Just a damn shame. I’m just glad my son was able to have the fun
and enjoyment of it before it ended..
Stan Heenderson
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