An Amazing Story: Part 2

[fred tyson]

Wayne, I also raced many heats against JimmyStone in the Grapefruit circuit many years ago, he was running with Tommy Hooten, TreborBilliter and Timmy Small then, they all were driving or most were using Pinner Hydros powered by Konig-Jimmy was a great competitor, then and had that Cokked driving style in those rigs as well but none of them ran as fast as Elmers 700 combo -that thing was terrible. Recall seeing Jerry Kirts manhandle it at Alexandria one year it would run as fast sideways down the straights as it would straight...Jimmy was a true sportsman , agreat racer, and a true friend....

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Jerry, Tim, Alan and Fred thanks much for your posts about Jim. He needs to have his own thread in the encyclopedia. Tonight I am going to find a print that I made when I first started taking pictures. It is one of Jim in a runabout. If someone doesn't start a thread about Jim by the time I scan it, then I will. And I look forward to you guys posting stories about Jim Stone.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

In this photo is Kurt Reinicke on the left and Ernst Kozienski on the right. They are both from Hamburg. Ernst planned to retire from racing after this event. The Rio Grande River is very famous in Germany. They have a lot of cowboy and indian clubs throughout western Germany. They planned to ride down the Rio Grande in his 13' deep V monohull after the race, but they were unsure about fueling up along the way. Ernst thought they could make the trip to the mouth in one day, then go up the intracoastal canal to Corpus Christi and sell the boat. I think their plan was to put in below Falcon Dam at Zapata. Someone must have told them about the sandbars, rocks and shallow places because they didn't make the attempt. Instead, when they came back to Houston Ernst gave the boat to Joe Rome. He kept it for a number of years.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I have posted stories about Wilhelm previously. He didn't speak English, but we communicated. We became friends instantly when David Westbrook and myself pitted next to him at a race in Berlin in 1976. We helped him get his boat in the water and later he crashed and hurt his leg. Whenever we saw each other it was big hugs.

It was at Houston Intercontental where Joe Rome picked up Wilhelm, Ernst and Kurt and took them to his house at Stafford when they came in for the race at Laredo. That was when the story about Wilhelm seeing a photo of himself in an ad that Joe had in his scrapbook occured. As he was looking through Joe's scrapbook he started to tap his chest and point to let Joe know that it was him in the ad. It was a picture taken of the German Wilhelm racing in Czechoslovakia appearing in an ad for a Sony (Japanese) TV and they were standing in Joe's house in Texas. Seems like I might be missing another country or two in the telling, but this is when that story occurred. I loaned Wilhelm my boat SHADOWFAX for this race. Here is a pic of him getting it ready for the race. Dieter Konig is by the motor. I don't know who is going to crank it.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

We had thought about the possibility of racing on Monday if conditions did not improve, but the Europeans had committments and they went through a lot of expense to get here. They were used to racing when the water got bad, so it was decided that regardless of what the weather would be like on Sunday, we would race. The wind didn't abate during the night.

It remained near gale for Sunday. The first heat was scheduled to go off at 10:00 but for some reason I forgot, it was delayed until noon. Probably because of the noise and proximity to the city and residences. The race course was shortened and moved closer in to the west bank. That put the front straightaway just off the bank from the pits. At least there was some protection from the wind on the front straight.

Only four boats went out. Wilfried Weiland from Amstetten,Austria in his Konig powered cat, Ernst Kozienski from Hamburg, West Germany in his deep vee monohull with a Volvo-Penta, Hans Krage from Berlin, West Germany with a Konig motor on his Konig Proprider, and Wilhelm Dickhoff with a Konig on a Butts Aerowing. And that is also the overall order of finish.

Here are some pics of the boats in action.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Glad the satellite is fixed to resume.

We were very happy for our European friends that we could get this race done. I'm not sure how we would have felt had the weather been perfect for us to run the original course. In all respect, none of the Germans or Austrians knew either Mary Kirts nor Jim Stone and they were all in holiday mood. They all had been to, or were going to the Bahamas. Not to say that they were not saddened by all that happened, but they came to race, and race they did. The ceremonies after the race had to be held inside the Elks Lodge. We had a podium with flags from all the countries and the national anthems for whatever country the world champion was from. The wind was too high for an outdoor ceremony though. Dust and dirt were coating everything.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

We had done a lot of work, and had excellent news coverage, but the weather turned the event into a financial disaster. Very few spectators, maybe a couple of hundred. This was the second time a big blow kept spectators away from our event. At Phoenix in 1976 we had about the same near gale force winds, but with Firebird Lake below ground level we were able to run all the races without a problem. And it was the second event where we lost a driver. I felt really bad for my Dad, as he was the driving force behind all the international racing we brought over here for the Pro classes.

Carlos Sandoval was impressed with the event though. He knew what we had put together and what kind of show we might have had. He invited us to do an exhibition race at Alcapulco coming up in a couple of weeks. He wanted as many OD racers as possible. Several of us committed.

[ProHydroRacer]

“And it was the second event where we lost a driver.”

After racing and watching this sport for the last 50 years, I’m under the opinion that large prize money or a worlds/national title has been the worst thing possible, I think it leads to many drivers taking unnecessary chances and driving over their ability.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I don't agree Bill. In the 50 years you've been around it between UIM/APBA/NOA/AOF and all the other associations both here and abroad there have been thousands of championship races...either national or world. I've been to a lot myself and I never saw that.

As far as big money races.....in what I've read they paid the same or more money for first place in the 20's as when I started in 1965. Considering inflation, it was real money back then. When Clayton Elmer was first married to Doris, he told me he was bringing home more money in a weekend of racing than he made in a whole week at his job.

Jim Stone's death, from all I have talked to and the witnesses, was primarily due to the way he laid in the boat and the set up. A few days after the accident my notes say that Jeff Hutchins knew exactly what happened when he was told about Jim. He said with the set up they ran and the three bladed cleaver it was a tendency to stuff. Jim told Denny Henderson at Lakeland that the boat was difficult to handle with that set up. I can see where you might think that proves your point, but Jim was by himself. Sure, he had to deal with the clock to make the American team, but when someone is driving over his head the crash generally takes place in the turn, unless it is a blowover. Stuffing is not usual without some outside wake source. I was watching Jim when the accident occurred and he was not driving over his head.

You may have a little bit of a point in the death of Jerry Waldman at Hot Springs. I can relive to this day the approach to the clock. Milling was tight and I got caught where I didn't want to be. It was the scariest start I was ever involved in. When I started up on two roostertails at Alex at the start of A hydro at Alex in 1972 I wasn't scared, when I had to flip at a start at Alex to keep from running over a driver that turned right in my path in 71, I wasn't scared when I flipped in the path of 13 boats at Mineral Wells and was listening to all those props behind me as I was floating to the surface. I could have been driving over my head at Hot Springs.

At Hot Springs we all hit the clock together , got to the turn together and nobody was backing off. Even then, though, I don't thing money or the championship had anything to do with Jerry's decision on making that turn. He was competitive, and he certainly wasn't driving over his head. Neither was Jerry Petersen, Ray Nydahl, Billy Seebold, Rex Hall or any of the others that went into that turn. And even if Jerry did push it a little it was just part of his racing style. My counterpoint is that, has anyone ever seen a checkered flag that Danny Kirts didn't try to reach first? A 20 dollar prize, a trophy or 1,000 prize wasn't in his mind once that five minute cannon fired.

The numbers just don't stand up. If there were a lot of collisions in the turns with other drivers, many numbers of experienced drivers crashing, and a lot of bumping and intentional overlaps, then you may have some criteria to point at. But I do appreciate your thoughts and comments Bill.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I was wrong. Two weeks later was the Pro Western Divisionals on the Neches River at Beaumont. Louis Williams was the head man for the boat racing part of the Neches River Festival.

On the way there, I stopped at Tim Butts' shop at Murphy Road in Stafford, just across the railroad tracks from Joe Rome's auto supply store. There he fitted a clear plexiglass cowling on my new laydown "Vibora de Cascabel" He had put one on his as well.

We got into Beaumont and were pleased to see our friend Alan Ishii made the trip from California. Alan was friends with all of the Texans as he had come to our races often. Don Nichols was back in a Butts kneeler. I cannot recall who 444 was. And the same goes for V25, but I think that's Jack Kugler. But the boat number doesn't seem right. Just a few random shots from the Western Divisionals.

I don't have a program or roster from the race, or any results or notes that I took. Some of the pictures were very underexposed. I just wasn't into doing a lot of boat racing publicity at the moment. I don't even know how I placed. I just have one entry in my book for tax purposes. $40.00. I guess I must have won 700 hydro because I think the prizes at Beaumont were 40,30,20 10.