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Thread: my first pro outboard race

  1. #1
    Free Spirit Racing Team wboxell's Avatar
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    Default my first pro outboard race

    i had run e-mod hydro for a couple of years(75&76). i had crewed for mike o'brien and kurt kubler(sp) for a few years before that. kay harrison was driving hydros for mike and kurt. kay was going to run c alky at depue in 75? i went and it was over. i had to have one of those pro hydros. tim butts had built me a boat for the new johnruid(omc) e in mod. i went to winnioa minn in 76 to watch. i came back with a 350cc round block motor on the back seat of my car. tim said my boat would be big for a b and small for a c. i really wanted a c but didn't have the money for a new boat. i bought the motor from a guy tim was going to build a new c boat for. the three of us are talking and the east coast guy says, tim you take his (me) check for the deposit on my boat. i wrote tim a check took my motor home. i went home and beg, borrowed, no i did not steal the money to cover the check.

    during the winter(i'm 23 at the time) tim and i keep in touch. i keep thinging about a new boat. how much can i borrow on my car? then the american express card shows up. tim tells me he wants to run OD at dayton in 77 and he will sell me the a/b boat he had built for himself. he hand picked the wood. lightest boat he has ever built. you will fly with this boat. i lost control. ok tim i'll buy it.

    when i picked up the boat it was -400 degrees. i lived in indy, i grew up and my dad and mom still lived about a 100 miles north. i stopped by dad and moms got dads pick-up and went to tims to get the boat. when i saw the boat WOW WOW WOW. never seen tiger strips like that. lots of bench racing then throw it on top of the half shell(could have done it myself i think) and take in home(dad and moms).

    should have had tim turn key the boat(no $). he told me when i picked it up what to do. he told me on the phone many times what to do. when it was together i had an extra part. didn't??? ask tim about that. the boat was ready just before the western divisionals at marine creek lake in fort worth june 4-5 1977. i (dad, sister inlaw) took the boat to a lake near the home place. it was wee hours and wow it was everything i thougt it would be. it's flying but when i turn it craps out. dad would pick me up with his electic trolling motor. did that a couple (long) times and i said good enough i'll fix it in texas.

    time to load up for fort worth. i have the front, dad has the back and up it goes onto the half shell. when dad raises the back he hits the tail shroud on the garage door. the boat is on the truck and i loose my mind. you(dad)killed my boat. go? dam? it. how could you hurt the best looking boat in the world. dad did not say much other then sorry. he was not a timmid guy and if about anything else would have hit me in mouth but he new what that boat ment to me.

    i head to indy to pick up my roommate(free ride on amex) and go to tx. the wind was blowing a 100mph. i can see the tip of the forks over the hood of dads pickup. they are moving then the boat tries to jump off the truck. fu?k!
    the boats front had swung up over and landed down on the half shell roof rack. i had a hole about 1 inch round, dead center of the bottom, a couple three feet back from the leading edge. i stop, get out, lift the boat off the only thing that had kept it off the highway and roped in down hard. guess i'll fix that in tx also.

    the race course was great. i really didn''t know anybody(tim wasn't there) but everybody was friendly. i duct taped my bottom damage and went for it. wow it's flying but it craps out in the corner. tim had told wayne(i think)to keep an eye on this rookie from the midwest. wayne comes buy and is looking the boat over(really lots of people had looked it over) and asks how it''s going. i told him about my problem. he looks things over and says i think maybe(he's being kind)you have the fuel tank in backwards(pickup). i turned the tank around and now i get to drive this sucker. every time i go out it seems faster. the back end is dancing but hel? this pro hydro racing.

    it's race time. i come down for the start in my normal spot on the outside as i never had the ba?ls to charge the inside where races are won. the start looks great. pipes up, full tilt, peak inside and i think it would have been good. the back of the boat is dancing(it's pro, fu?k it) then water in the eyes. my crew guy said as i hit the starting line it looked like the connon shot me out of the boat. when i stopped bouncing i was looking down course and the field was coming out of the second turn. i checked to see if all body parts were there. they were. then i think, my boat. tims perfect boat. maybe i just got pitched and i'm going to turn around and see it setting priddy on the water. not! i see a piece sign(forks),fuel tank,tail shroud, and stuff. i'm only x feet from shore and start that way when here comes the basket. not to be stopped they skoop me up and darn near walk onto the boat ramp. i answer the stupid human questions and i want to get up. at that time i hear a nice female voice say are you ok? i'm looking up at a few girls with cut off tops saying are you ok. answer, i'm getting better.

    then what makes racing, racing happened. anybody, and everybody helped recover my boat, load my stuff ect. my roommate(pit crew) had no clue and it didn't matter. ray hardy came up and gave me a gallon(big glass)of what ever it was and said you are going to need this. i took the medication as precribed. greg(roommate)drove us up to ok somewhere that night. when i awoke i could not move. i think my toe nails were sore. greg drove home and i worked on pain killers.

    the extra part i had was the clamp on the torque tube that keeps the motor from going up. sure was getting faster till it went to far.

    i got the boat home(dad&moms) and dad said i guess your not mad at me anymore.

    i think tim was ill when i got it back to mich

    welcome to pro racing. i sure new a lot more folks when i left tx then when i arrived

  2. #2
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
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    Default What a great story

    It was a beautiful boat Bill. Looks like you maybe turning the fuel tank around here. I was hoping to find some more pics, but for some reason I only took one roll of tri-X and one roll of Ektachrome. Maybe because I had only gotten out of the hospital a couple of weeks earlier from pnuemonia.

    Keep the stories coming.

    ADD: check out that beautiful water and those perfect pits.
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  3. #3
    Free Spirit Racing Team wboxell's Avatar
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    Default way back machine still running full tilt

    wayne you are killing me. tell a story and here comes a pic. thanks

    looking at the pic i'm thinking what the heck is that duct tape doing on the cal. forgot about that. tim had warned me to be careful not to ripe the cal with your forearm. that didn't take long did it? sorry tim.

    ok, we have had three wrecks and haven't(tail damage by dad, a hole in the bottom and riped up cal by bill) made it to the starting line of a race yet. it's got to get better from here right? not

    i remember when i got back to indy i really wasn't looking forward to calling tim. when i called to see about getting the boat back to him he said, i already heard about it. baldy had already told him about the crash. he told tim he had never seen anyone skip down the straitaway that far.

  4. #4
    Team Member denny henderson's Avatar
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    Default Marine Creek "77

    Bill,

    I would almost rather read a story like that than go to a boat race....almost.
    Great story! And that happens to be one of my all time favorite races. I'm sure that between myself and some of the other folks, like Wayne, Joe, Craig and Al we could write another Amazing Story just from that race.
    I believe you flipped in the first heat, which brought out the black flag. I came out of the second turn and just as I saw the flag I through a blade off a two blade prop. Talk about vibration!!! I limped to the pits and we changed props. I was able to win both heats that day thank's in part to your bad luck.
    I think '77 was also the year that we had the BIG BOO BOO in the race program. We (The North Texas Boat Club) spent lots of hours that Spring in Ft. Worth selling adds for a race program. One of the adds was for a local massage parlor. Like most of the adds, it also had a picture along with a discription of all the relaxing massages that were available. We picked a nice conservative picture and gave it to the printer. During the printing process, the printer lost the picture and instead of calling us at the North Texas Boat Club, since he had the massage parlors phone number from the add, he called them and asked them to send another picture. They did, but no one told us. Right before the race that week, we picked up the 1000 programs and found that the picture that was sent to the printer for the massage parlor add was of a naked woman. The programs were very popular with some folks, and very un-popular with others.

  5. #5
    Team Member jrome's Avatar
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    Default How many did you keep?

    Denny, I talked to Wayne today and what we want to know is if you really kept 100 or was it 200 copies? Wayne said he has 1 and I feel left out I didnt get one. I remember when it happened but somebody must of kept them.

  6. #6
    Stanley Henderson shenders's Avatar
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    Don’t feel left out Joe, I didn’t get one either. Ok cuz, I bet you still have some stuck in a draw somewhere. Right.

  7. #7
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
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    I'm going to find my copy and do some research. I'm thinking Joe Flow and Al Davis had something to do with selling that ad. I want to see what else they sold. I ran across it several months ago when I was looking up some historical stuff and thought to myself..."Whoa.......I had forgotten about that."



  8. #8
    Team Member Tim Chance's Avatar
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    I was there! Who has my program!

  9. #9
    Free Spirit Racing Team wboxell's Avatar
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    denny,

    one blade prop not the way to go? i bet that did shake. i remember you testing late in the day and the water was glass. you came by with your knees against the wheel and hanging as far out front as you could get! told my novice crew guy (greg) how scary flat water is. i was waiting for the blow over. didn't happen!!! guess you knew your boat/setup pretty good .

    wayne,

    fire up that scanner and let us all see the program boo boo !!!

    bill

  10. #10
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
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    Default I think maybe I might donate one to....

    ....Ron Hill to auction off as post reunion memorabilia. I just got back from my Daughter's wedding Bill, so I need to recuperate a little first.

    Hey Tim...when I get back into things I have a question about a particular issue of HQ that Joe had told me about some years back in a similar vein to the '77 PRO Western Divisionals program.



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