Random shots from the pits

[epugh66]

Tim Butts gets ready for the OB/350cc world championships in Nottingham, England.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Eric, the 06 boat on the right from Yugoslavia---who was the driver?

Where were you pitted? More pit shots please.

[epugh66]

The year was 1984. We were pitted right there. The american team was prety "all for one". Tim Butts, Gary Pugh, Ralph Donald, Mark Borges and Lee Bartolomei flying the flag.

I dont remember the Yugoslavs name, I think he was there for the OC/500cc WC though. Either Lee or Mark chopped the nose off of his boat in a freak pit accident. He then used the Pugh boat for that WC.

I'll be happy to share more pics over time.

[spn#43]

Eric, the 06 boat on the right from Yugoslavia---who was the driver?

Where were you pitted? More pit shots please.

His name is Janez Ajlec. If I remember correctly, somebody crashed in to his boat sitting on the dock, and USA team let him use one of their boats, or something like that.
On the picture below is his original boat #106.

[epugh66]

Thanks for the name SPN. Were you there or do you just have a really good knowledge of mid 80's eastern European O class racers?

As I remember the story, either Lee or Mark came back to the jetty "goosing" the throttle. As luck would have it, the last full throttle blast would leave the carbs locked open. Sometimes König carbs would jam if not aligned just right. With not much space to move, he knocked a sponson tip off the Yugoslavians boat before the engine died.

The boat was either a Butts or a copy. I do have a pic of a team mates(#104) boat. Perhaps SPN can fill in the details. How does a Butts or a copy get to Yugoslavia?

Hmmmm, what happened to the photo upload?

[spn#43]

I am a Yugoslavian, (Serbian) and Janez and his buddy #104 Drago Perko raced against my brother (#115 now Champ boat SPN #44) in early-mid 80’s. I was just a pit kid back then, but I remember Janez telling his story. They did have two Butts boats yellow OC 500 and red OB 350 but I think Janez was there with his newly purchased lay down hydro from another Yugoslavian that moved to out of the country.
We used to be good friends but after we moved to USA we lost all contacts with ex YU racing scene.
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[spn#43]

In the picture, black 115 my brother, red 103 guy that bought Janez’s Butts and black 106 Janez in his new boat.

[spn#43]

You know what,,,,, I was wrong. He was there with Butts and immediately after that race he purchased lay down boat and sold his damaged boat to old comeback racer from Yugoslavia.
My bad,,,,,,it was long time ago.
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[Mark75H]

Page, how many boats and races were on the Yugoslav race scene back then? Were there a lot of races or did a racer have to travel around Europe to get in a season of racing? Did the Russian and Polish racers ever come to Yugoslavia for races other than major title races?

[Master Oil Racing Team]

In 1976 Walt Blankenstein smuggled in a calculator to East Berlin for Bernie Danisch to convert inches to millimeters for the purpose of copying a Yale. John Yale was one of the first to buy a Butts Aerowing, then later started building pickleforks himself. I don't know how close they were to a Butts as Tim's designs could change slightly with every boat. But at that time, all Europeans thought of was how dominant a picklefork had become in the U.S. in such a short time.

I don't know if Bernie ever had any success or not. I know if he tried them in the places I raced, that design was a killer. In Nottingham or some of the places in Italy or Sweden, it may work O.K.

I will never forget going through Checkpoint Charlie with Walt. Walt took the calculator and I took some chocolate for a friend of Dieter's. He had to go through a different checkpoint since he lived in Berlin. He told us where to meet up, then we had dinner with a bunch of Bernie's friends in East Berlin. He was much younger than I had expected for a famous boat builder.