Originally Posted by Bill Van Steenwyk
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As Fast Fred would say....
A fast 350 for sure
I agree with Bill. I saw that boat run at Hinton. Can't remember if it was 77" nationals or one of the many Labor day races at Hinton during the seventies. But the one time that stands out this thing was typical Kitrs fast. funny thing about it at the time that it was a round block. Note the wide manifolds.
Dan and Jerry both ran at Hinton in 1977, so you did see it run there JGosman. And you are right...it was fast.
Since I didn't have any notes and few pictures, I called Tim Butts to find out what he remembered about the race. His memory wasn't much better than mine, but after talking back and forth about what we both did remember, I kind of pieced this together.
I jogged Tim's memory about a group of early starters and he remembered that Jerry Kirts jumped the gun in the first heat. He recalled thinking about that being very unusual because Jerry NEVER jumped the gun. Tim finished third in the first heat and most likely it was won by John Yale. Jerry Peterson was probably second followed by Tim and then myself.
I remember a little bit more of the second heat because of the ride. I didn't get a good start then either. Milling was the worst part of a laydown because of visibility and so I stayed clear of the others, and got caught in a bad spot when the one minute gun fired. In the first heat, Tim's motor was not performing at its peak because the fuel pressure was too low. Ron Anderson had gone through Tim's Konig and it was very powerful, but the pressure relief spring on the check valve was too weak to keep enough pressure in the tank for that thirsty engine. Rick Saver gave a goofy looking prop for Tim to try and it really made that laydown perform, especially in the turns. It was a highly raked three blade. I asked Tim if it was a Rolla and he said "No...it was domestic. Somebody Rick knew gave it to him to try". I replied "You know Tim....that's about the time I got a card from John Czaplewski" "That's it!" he exclaimed. "The blades weren't straight like a cleaver...they came back...it had a strange name.....TULIP. That was it". Tim went on to explain how great that prop worked. He didn't have to go that fast because he could really blow a corner down.
Jerry Peterson got an early lead, but going into turn 3, Tim pressed Jerry hard and blew past. Tim says Jerry blamed Tim for an overlap violation, but Tim says they were both going so fast that Jerry couldn't hold the line and slid into Tim's roostertail and got washed down. Franny Patrillo told Tim that John Yale's motor was running badly in the second heat plus he made a bad start. John was a good starter, so that tells me his motor went sour on the approach to the start. I didn't battle against anyone during that heat. Having finally gotten a good feel of a laydown at speed in a corner, I pushed hard in the second heat. My motor didn't accelerate good, but I didn't have to slow down as much for the turns. I passed boats because I could keep the power on until the last second and dive deep into the turn at a higher speed than with Shadowfax. I almost caught Tim at the final turn and it was a race to the finish. These are a series of pictures Debbie took. In the first one it was probably completing the first lap, then making up time in the second frame and the last four frames are coming out of the final turn and sprint to the finish. Even though Tim's motor wasn't performing top notch at high speed, he had me on acceleration but it made a really good exciting finish for the specatators.
I don't remember how close it was at the finish. Debbie couldn't follow boats with a telephoto straight in front of her, plus I guess she wanted to watch the finish through her own eyes instead of a camera lens, so there's no image to see how close the finish was. Even though I didn't win, I was very thrilled with the ride having made up so much ground and came very close. That was the fun part. Those were the best races. I would rather get beat in a hard fought contest than cruise to an easy victory at the head of a long train of boats. Here is a photo after I got out of the boat that second heat, and the only notes I had at all of any results of the race.
When I talked to Tim a couple of days ago he reminded me of what was going through his mind as he stood on the podium in 1977 after winning the OD World Championships. He thought to himself as he was standing there. "I'm glad I won and that it's over with. I'll never do that again." And yet here he was again standing on the exact same spot.
Of course not everyone shared our dreams. We had a number of racers that didn't support our efforts. Tim told me of something Jeff Hutchins told him after that 1977 race in Dayton. Jeff told Tim that the Dayton race was "..something else. You guys got all that coverage. That'll never happen again." What Jeff was referring to was all the media attention given to the OD races overshadowed the unlimited event we shared the billing with. Jeff was not being critical, but he understood the hill we had to climb to bring more racers along with us. Believe it or not, some racers thought our prize money was too high. But, we continued to get more interest among racers in having a more professional look, along with more press coverage and short exciting events to draw the public.
In addition to the gold, silver and bronze pendants, prize money was as follows. 1st $1000 , 2nd $700, 3rd $500, 4th $300 and if at least 10 boats finished in both heats there would be $200 for 5th place.
Pic Left to right Jerry Peterson 4th, Wayne Baldwin 2nd, Tim Butts 1st, John Yale 3rd, Jerry Kirts 5th.
Wayne, Here's a side note to you're photo of the drivers on the podium, over the next two years I bought a 500cc Konig from my friend Jerry Peterson, I bought Tim's 700 Konig that he ran at this race, I ran those engines on the Butt's kneeler that I bought from Rick Saver until I broke it in Bakersfield, at which time I bought Jerry Kirts' 500 boat that had been built by John Yale! Now where do you fit into my story? Well you were on my short list of favorite drivers, all WINNERS!When I talked to Tim a couple of days ago he reminded me of what was going through his mind as he stood on the podium in 1977 after winning the OD World Championships. He thought to himself as he was standing there. "I'm glad I won and that it's over with. I'll never do that again." And yet here he was again standing on the exact same spot.
Of course not everyone shared our dreams. We had a number of racers that didn't support our efforts. Tim told me of something Jeff Hutchins told him after that 1977 race in Dayton. Jeff told Tim that the Dayton race was "..something else. You guys got all that coverage. That'll never happen again." What Jeff was referring to was all the media attention given to the OD races overshadowed the unlimited event we shared the billing with. Jeff was not being critical, but he understood the hill we had to climb to bring more racers along with us. Believe it or not, some racers thought our prize money was too high. But, we continued to get more interest among racers in having a more professional look, along with more press coverage and short exciting events to draw the public.
In addition to the gold, silver and bronze pendants, prize money was as follows. 1st $1000 , 2nd $700, 3rd $500, 4th $300 and if at least 10 boats finished in both heats there would be $200 for 5th place.
Pic Left to right Jerry Peterson 4th, Wayne Baldwin 2nd, Tim Butts 1st, John Yale 3rd, Jerry Kirts 5th.
Dan Kirts
Jerry Kirts
Wayne Baldwin
Bruce Nicholson
I am very honored to be considered among those guys on your short list Brian. That was very interesting that your boat racing career was advanced by four of the guys on the podium and another contender from that race. Wow...what a story.
During the past few days at Dayton, word had gotten around about the strange looking device duct taped to the windshield of my Dad's suburban. I explained how it was supposed to work and the proper type bulb and way to install it. I can't remember the names, but several of the racers went out and made up some rigs to use. In a couple of days we would all meet back up at LaCrosse, Wisconsin for the rest of the Pro National Championships and the OD North American Championships. I dropped my Dad off at the airport and Debbie and I traveled together with Tim and Ruth Butts to LaCrosse. We had no trouble with state troopers on the way there either, but I am not sure I was pushing as hard as on the trip up to Dayton. We had plenty of time to get there.
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