Found some ModVP photos

[fyremanbill]

Stockton is an inland city upriver from San Francisco. There is a deep water channel which makes it a sea port. They had to time the race heats so that the cargo ships could pass.

[wayne worthy]

Wow. What a flashback! What exciting times those were. What a crew!

Thanks for posting all of those, Wayne. I'm just a little choked up now.

The picture of Red (#2) is a picture I took while holding him on the dock
at the Kankakee Nationals. He won and became national champ that day -
but none of us had any idea at that time he'd no longer be with us just 2 months later.
We still miss him so much.

One of those pictures (Jason's boat w/ your cowl) looks like it was taken in Las Vegas.

Thanks for posting!
Val

I sponsored Red for that race and a few others. You gave me that photo shortly after he was killed. i still get choked up too! Red was the best thing for boat racing in those days, he was missed by many that got to know him like we did!!!!!!!!!! ModVP was never the same after that!!
The pic of jason's boat is moments before Nathan crashed and we threw it in the dumpster when we got back home, by the way, we were in Havasu.

[Miss BK]

Red was such a ball of energy - and when he was gone, all his zest and enthusiasm was missed so much that a lot of us just didn't even know where to turn next. Without Red, OPC racing in northern Texas ceased to exist. It seemed like we couldn't move forward without him.

But we run into people all the time who knew him or met him at some race somewhere - and just about every one of them has some great/funny/incredible story to tell about Red Hindman. He lives on.

I had forgotten about Nathan and the Seebold at Havasu. Ouch - That Colorado River hasn't been too nice to Nathan, has it? He was here not too long ago and we talked about the time he blew over twice within two days at Parker. Then Nathan told us that actually happened TWO times.

Come to think of it - the Colorado River hasn't been too nice to me either...


Val

[Miss BK]

Guess I'll throw in a few also. Havasu 1985, right hand turn, my favorite place to pass! Look at the water...a lot different than sprint racing!

Boat #411 (Sleekcraft) in post #7 is the first race boat I ever drove. (Chuck Styers).
He is the guy who helped me obtain/rig my first race boat (a Kober Kat). I bought the first Yamaha 3 cylinder in Region 12 from the place he worked (Holiday RV Marine in Bullhead City). A few years later, Chuck was running a cool boat called a Mirage Mod-VP and he talked me into buying a boat called a Mirage Tom Cat to put my Mod-C Yamaha on -- which then led me to meet the owner of Mirage, Brad Collins (who ended up becoming my husband).

Of course, you already know all that, Bill.

I can't believe we ran those little boats in that water. No wonder my neck hurts all the time now...lol

[fyremanbill]

Hi Val. What year was it that you had your accident in Havasu. I remember the first mini boat race where so many boats were over in the first 15min, they had to stop the event. All the rescue boats AND the tow boats were carrying multiple drivers. There wasn't any room left to pick'em up out of the water. We acually left one guy on top of his capsized boat so we could pick up someone who's boat sank.
Here's Havasu 1986, we stuck an engine in testing and had to settle for rescue work.

[fyremanbill]

One more of 86. Thats Teddy Whalen's boat in the background. I think it was Sergio Calvo who drove it in Teddy's honor.

[tthibodaux]

Hey Bill, what is that an old Molinari or something? The boat Sergio is driving of coarse.

[Miss BK]

Hi Val. What year was it that you had your accident in Havasu.

Which one? Ha ha ha.

The year you and your dad plucked me out of the water was 1987. That's when the clamp braket on my motor broke completely in half and I snap rolled in the middle of the right hander.

I was floating in the water, looking at my boat (which was FAR away) and seeing other boats zooming past me - still a little stunned - when I started hearing a "clanging" noise and thought to myself "Is that what 'ring your bell' means?" As I was floating, presuming I was all alone out there, I heard a voice that sounded like it was directly behind me, "Val, are you okay?" When I turned my head, I was shocked to see there was a rescue boat just inches away from me, and your dad was talking to me! Never even heard the boat pull up. LOL That was so wild. I don't know who else was in that boat, but you and your dad were there.

But in 1988 I was rammed by a boat that had lost its steering and made a quick right turn into my rear port side (at first I thought he was trying to make a quick turn for the pits since I saw him raise his arm just as I was passing him on the outside - but I found out later his arm went up because his steering wheel had come off!), which stuffed my nose in, and I was instantly ejected over the bow like a cannon ball. That one was crazy too because all the SST-45 leaders were rounding the corner just behind us. We have it on film - since I was thrown so far from the carnage, one of the rescue inflatables actually pulled DIRECTLY in the path of those hard charging 45s and blocked them from hitting me! BRAVE SOULS! Sure wish I knew who those people were...

I remember the first mini boat race where so many boats were over in the first 15min, they had to stop the event. All the rescue boats AND the tow boats were carrying multiple drivers. There wasn't any room left to pick'em up out of the water. We acually left one guy on top of his capsized boat so we could pick up someone who's boat sank.
Here's Havasu 1986, we stuck an engine in testing and had to settle for rescue work.

Believe it or not, I actually survived that first WILD race. I don't know how I made it, but a few of us got lucky. So I was pretty bummed when George May called it off. Guess I was just too much of a rookie to realize how dangerous that all was.

[fyremanbill]

Tim, I think Teddy's boat was a Molinari. He had been restoring it and getting it ready to race for a while, but was killed in a testing accident before it was finished.

[tthibodaux]

Tim, I think Teddy's boat was a Molinari. He had been restoring it and getting it ready to race for a while, but was killed in a testing accident before it was finished.

Thanks! You'll have to forgive me I just like to know what I'm looking at!