Thread: Random shots from the pits

  1. #261
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
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    Right on Jeff. And in the next pic, Hans Krage is kneeling at the left by the pipes, it looks like Harry Splettstosser with the Motor Club Steglitz windbreaker and I think that's Jurgen Lipinski in the blue hat above no. 12.



  2. #262
    Team Member Doug Hall Y51's Avatar
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    Looks like the driver found his way out through the side of the boat.

  3. #263
    Team Member corin_huke's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by epugh66 View Post
    Correct about the Chesman's. Joanne had two younger sister's. The middle was Andrea, the youngest name escapes me. Andrea married Paul Noone, who would later win the 500cc world championship. Paul was competing in OSY at the '86 event. We were involved in a collision, each blaming the other I'm pretty sure Claudia is Ekkehard's daughter. Her brother, Knute, is racing OSY currently.
    Eric - the youngest Chesman daughter is Laura, so in age it's Joanne, Andrea, Laura. Andrea was also a successful racer in her own right winning the European OSY championship

    As you correctly mentioned Andrea married Paul (Noone). The Noone family is also a racing dynasty with the father, Burt, being a world champion, followed by his sons, James (Jim), Paul and BJ. Both Jim and Paul were also World Champions in their own rights. Sadly BJ lost his life is racing accident in 1995

    You can read all about the Noone family and their achievements at http://www.motorboatmuseum.org.uk/collections/noone.php

    You are also correct about Claudia, she is Eckhardt's daughter, with Knut being her kid brother who races OSY and occasionally 0-250

  4. #264
    Team Member epugh66's Avatar
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    The 1986 OA/250cc world championships were held in Ypsilanti,MI. I couldn't go so I let multi world champion Waldemar Marsczalek of Poland use my rig. It's the flying boat in my avatar powered by a piston port Yamato, maybe a factory TEC engine.

    #66 is Waldemar, #67 is my brother Gary with a new die cast König VA. Next to him is D-3, Mike Schmidt with a Pugh/Yamato combo. Way down the shore is H-4, Dan Kirts with a Schumacher/König VA.

    Waldemar didn't adapt to well to the peaky nature of the Yamato. Combine that with kneeling for the first time in years and it made for a tough weekend.

    First and second were won by Italians. Gary placed third.
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    Had I known 1984 was going to be my peak year, I would have tried harder

  5. #265
    Team Member corin_huke's Avatar
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    Default Waldemar Marszalek

    Quote Originally Posted by epugh66 View Post
    The 1986 OA/250cc world championships were held in Ypsilanti,MI. I couldn't go so I let multi world champion Waldemar Marsczalek of Poland use my rig. It's the flying boat in my avatar powered by a piston port Yamato, maybe a factory TEC engine.

    #66 is Waldemar, #67 is my brother Gary with a new die cast König VA. Next to him is D-3, Mike Schmidt with a Pugh/Yamato combo. Way down the shore is H-4, Dan Kirts with a Schumacher/König VA.

    Waldemar didn't adapt to well to the peaky nature of the Yamato. Combine that with kneeling for the first time in years and it made for a tough weekend.

    First and second were won by Italians. Gary placed third.
    Hey Eric - I didn't apprecate that Waldemar raced in the US. Although a little frail now he's still actively involved in hydro racing, with both of his sons taking over the reins from their father

    You may or may not be aware that in his research for his book of champions/results, Mike Ward wanted to discover who the most successful driver was in terms of international championship results. And the answer was........ Waldemar Marszalek. If you look back over the years, certainly in the 80s and early 90s, there is not a year that has gone by without Waldemar winning something in the smaller engine classes. He really was the one to beat

    I don't have any pics of Waldemar when he raced, but I'm sure you guys would have some. I do, however, have this pic of his son Bernard from last year - Bernard is just airing out (well, getting to grips with!) his F500 rig
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  6. #266
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    Default Nottingham in 1984

    Eric:

    Something you may not know about that race if your mother has not told you:

    Eileen and I went to Nottingham to spectate and as an added bonus got to go over on the Concorde as BA had just started to let airline people non-rev on it when the airplane was being put back into position for regular scheduled flights after being used for charter. We got to ride part way in the cockpit and fantastic service as there were only about 20 of us on board. Anyway to the story:

    The organizers at Nottingham at the time (I was told) would not allow women at the drivers meeting which was to take place in the evening. This left your mom, Eileen, Ralph Donalds wife Shirley and Ralph's cousin's wife who I dont remember the name with nothing to do at dinner time. I volunteered to take the four lovely ladies to dinner at a supper club adjacent to the boat racing facility, and we all went there while the drivers meeting took place.

    We were seated and a floor show started with dancers and the whole deal. After that was completed a gentleman came out who I can only describe as an English Don Rickels. He proceded to go from table to table harrassing and insulting (in fun) the patrons until he came to the table that the four ladies and I were sitting at. He immediately started in with "Oh look at the one gentleman with four lovely ladies" deal and asked me what was the reason for my good luck. I told him they were all my wives, and of course he knew immediately I was an American from my accent. He asked how I could be married to all four at one time and I asked him if he knew what a Mormon was. He said he did and immediately went to another table and got off our back. I guess that was a little too complicated for him.

    Another story is about a group of American drivers and crew (no names will be mentioned to protect the innocent) who rented a van for transportation while in Nottingham. They pulled up to an intersection, checked left for oncoming traffic and pulled out. They were immediately T-Boned by an elderly woman who was coming from their right, which having learned how to drive in the US, they were not used to. Happily no injuries except for the vehicles and the drivers pride. The van was really bashed up and some of the doors would not close tight again, so they took it back to the rental place to get another van. After describing the accident to the rental agency they were told if they wanted a vehicle to drive the rest of their time in Nottingham, that was it. The stay was concluded with a long rope around the van holding all the doors shut.

  7. #267
    Administrator Ron Hill's Avatar
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    Default Can I Guess????

    Seems Harry Bartolomei told me he got in a "Hell of a wreck" in England...... My brother did too..and I almost got run over in front of the London Airport....looked the wrong way and started across the street....

    Two Englishmen were killed on PCH this summer...Newspaper said, "They stepped in front of a car outside a bar." I said at the time, bet they looked the wrong way....

    Jack Leek used to be a little hard on rental cars, but I'm not guessing he wrecked this van....

    What about the Mexican glue???
    Last edited by Ron Hill; 01-07-2007 at 01:22 AM.

  8. #268
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    Default Mexican Glue

    Ron:

    I don't know how you heard about the "mexican glue" and I'm not sure the story belongs on this thread as Wayne mentioned the "Mexican Adventure" on another one, but you asked so here is the story. Forgive the length but it is hard to compress 8 months or so into a couple of paragraphs. I do know that the experience for me was like the old saying about being in the military, you would not take anything for the experience, but you NEVER wanted to do it again.

    The story really starts when Baldy was telling me about the inexpensive labor availiable in Mexico, and the quality that could be achieved in product made there, assuming the person doing the work was taught the right way. I really don't think it was my idea so much, as a suggestion from Baldy and then my enthusiam for the idea and taking it and trying to bring it to fruition. Since he is no longer around to defend himself, I will give him the blame or credit, whichever you want to call it. Anyway, because of an accident I had (blow over in Billy Seebold's Tunnel boat) I had spent 5 weeks in the hospital in traction and was not able to work at my regular job. I had a disability policy from work that was paying me my monthly income, so I decided to try to have some boats built in Mexico for the Formula 350 class which had just been started by the PRO division and was a class designed to entice new drivers to the sport with the Yamato 80 (475.00 at the time) or bring back drivers who had quit for one reason or another, or attract some from other categories. The boats were to be priced about 400.00 or so which would cover the material cost, build labor, and getting them across the border plus transportation back to the midwest for distribution to whoever wanted them. The sell price was about 1/2 of what boats were going for at that time, so it would have been a good deal for anyone wanting to get started in boat racing. As you can readily see there was not much money left for me as I was using first rate material, same as all the rest of the builders at the time, but I figured if I could get it off the ground, there was a possibility of growing the business to the point of making it profitable for me, and because of the money coming in from the insurance while I wasn't working, I wasn't suffering financially.

    First step was to find a carpenter/cabinetmaker type in Camargo, Mx., which was right across the border from Rio Grande City, Tx. Baldy knew a guy in Rio Grande City (Mexican used car dealer, which should have told me something right there) who was tasked with finding the right guy and translating for me during the first boat build process as I taught him how to follow the patterns I had made for the first boats and the correct build technique so as to assure a good strong leakproof boat.
    The first boat was built in about a week working 10-12 hours a day in a concrete block building with a dirt floor. It was a bit of a job getting a jig built on a dirt floor assuring it was straight and level but we managed and he did a very good job of construction. All the tools we had were a 1/4 drill. jig saw, and a electric sander, but there have many good boats built with the same tools so that was never a concern. He did an excellent job and the boat looked very nice, except because it was a "test mule" so to speak we used mahogany paneling for the decks and bottom and cedar for the stringers and battens as it was never intended to be in the water. I left there really excited about the possibilities and went back home the St. Louis area with plans to get all the required permits to transport material across the border in to Mexico and then take a finished product back to the US. LITTLE DID I KNOW WHAT I WAS GETTING INTO.

    When I got back home I contacted the Mexican embassy in Chicago with my plan and it was asked of me to come there and explain in further detail what I had in mind. No problem,with Eileen working for the airline I hopped a plane to Chicago and went to the Embassy and got a list of government offices in Mexico City I had to contact for the proper documentation to do what I needed to do to get the material in and the finished product back out. Then the runaround started. For about three months I was constantly on the phone or writing letters or filling out forms,etc., until I finally figured out I wasn't getting anywhere fast. Baldy put me back in touch with the used car guy and after discussing the problem, he simply said "Mordida". When I asked what that meant he said we needed to bribe the mexican border crossing people to get the material in and the finished product out and there would be no problem. Well I really didn't want to do it that way for several different reasons, among them a decrease in profit for me that was small to begin with and getting smaller every day, but I figured after three months of beating my head against a stone wall, and one in Mexico at that, I had little choice, so I agreed to his suggestion and away we went. I already had material for about 8 boats bought and paid for and in stock at my house and I needed to get started on the project if any boats were to be ready for the upcoming racing season (already had about 4 orders). I loaded all the material on the trailer I had built to transport material to Mexico and the finished boats back home (could carry 8 at a time) and headed to Rio Grande City. When I got there and contacted the used car guy he told me the cabinetmaker I had worked with on the first boat had not been able to wait any longer for me as he had a family to support and had taken another job, so now in addition to starting 3 months later than planned. I had no boat builder. NO PROBLEM, says the used car dealer, I have found another man and he is as good if not better that the other, all you need to do is build another boat with him to show him what you need. Here we go again, but what are you going to do. I am at the border with material for 8 boats, orders for 4 and time slipping away, so again I start from scratch with a new builder. We built another Model 80 boat, (I belive Ray Hardy took that one for his step son as a favor to me) and he did a good job so I took all the material across the border, wood, screws, ring shank nails, tools, glue etc., every thing required to build boats, saw him started on another boat to my satisfaction with proper build practices, and headed back home, telling him to contact the used car dealer when the first 4boats were ready so I could come pick them up and distribute them to their owners. They had to be finished and rigged out and I was doing that myself on the US side at the used car dealers garage so as not to have them rained on on the way home with all the associated problems that would have caused.

    After stopping at Baldy's on the way home I arrived home about 3-4 days after leaving Mexico and had only been home just a few days when I recieved a call from the used car guy saying the boat builder had 4 boats ready for pickup. I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT. I hadn't been gone from there more than 10 days and he had 4 boats built. Boy oh Boy, this guy is a house afire, maybe this is going to work out after all. I loaded the trailer with more material (I had gotten more orders in the meantime including an order for a boat that was to be used to set a world's record for Electric Boats, Wayne has posted pictures of that boat on another thread and that is another real adventure story for another time) and hurried back down to Mexico to pick up the boats. Got there about 24 hours later and went across the border to pick them up with the used car guy to translate for me, and the first one he had finished looked a little rough, nothing some wood filler and sanding and rasping would't fix and each succeding one he had completed looked better so overall I was pleased and gave the money I had contracted with him for
    to the used car guy who was the middle man and loaded up and came back across the border. On the way back across the US customs guys really gave the boats a once over, looking into the sponsons through the drain holes, under the front decks as much as possible through the lighting holes in the dash and so on. I had one guy demand I remove the front deck from one of the boats so they could inspect completely inside but I was able to talk him out of that by explaining that it would basically destroy the boat and it would have to be rebuilt/reglued etc. He said OK and away I went. Got to the used car guys house, unloaded, sanded and sealed the boats and installed the handles, fins, pulleys, etc., and home I went. One of the boats was for Denny Henderson's wife Lizzy (they werent married yet) and if memory serves correctly I dropped that off in Dallas, I remember McKean traded an engine for one so I may have dropped that off also (this was mid 70's so memory fails me as to some details) and then headed on home. One boat had to be crated and shipped to New England area which I did and I'm not sure about the other one. (probably not faulty memory as much as the mind likes to forget traumatic events) Anyhow got the first ones delivered or on the way and had a chance to relax a little after about 6 months of being stressed out about getting the project off the ground. LITTLE DID I KNOW I WAS GOING TO FIND OUT WHAT STRESS REALLY WAS VERY SHORTLY.

    A couple of weeks went by and then I starting getting phone calls, first from Denny Henderson, telling me that Lizzy's boat leaked like a sieve, and couldn't be put in the water more that about 30 seconds before the gun was to be fired or it would sink in the pits. Then a call from the guy in New England saying he was not happy with his boat and he was not going to pay for it. This after I had prepaid the shipping (truck line) and built a crate for it. I never got that boat back or any money for it either. I realize he was upset, but the least he could have done is make an effort to return the boat. I never got it or a dime either. Then McKean confronted me at a race at Alex and I had to pay him for the motor we had traded the boat for. All in all a very expensive situation which I, at that point anyway, wasn't really sure what had happened, other than I knew that there was a definate problem with the workmanship on the boats, I just did not know what the cause was, and I knew it had to be made right, whatever that took.

    When I left the race site at Alex I went on to Mexico again as the Electric boat had to be built and completed for the record attempt that fall, and with the problems I had experienced with the other boats, I was not going to have any more boats built until I had a chance to be there while they were under construction, and especially the Electric boat as it had some special construction that was required to take the extra weight of the battery pack, etc.

    When I got back to Mexico, I got a local person in Camargo who spoke good English to go with me to the builder instead of the used car guy, as I wanted to see if whatever story I was going to get matched with what I was hearing from him. When I started talking to the builder through the interperter it didn' take long to determine what had been going on. Remember the word "Mordida"? Means pay off, cross my palm or whatever. The used car guy thought that he should be entitled to more of the profit on each boat than I was already giving him, so he took his extra part out of the builders part, and told the builder that I had backed off my original payment schedule per boat. So, because the builder was figuring on making X dollars per boat, and the only way he could do that with the used car dealer now taking part of his money, was to cut down on the time he was spending building each boat. As anyone who has ever built a racing boat knows, if you cut out the time spent gluing all the wood joints together, you can save a lot of time. You don't have what you wanted when you complete the job, but you have saved a lot of time. The moral of the story is there was no such thing as what you asked about, namely "Mexican Glue." Just NO GLUE, mexican, polish or otherwise.

    As to what I lost compared to Baldy, Wayne and Ray Hardy's 600K, it wasn't anywhere that, but I did loose the opportunity to provide good boats at a reasonable price to new drivers to help build the PRO division and that was a big dissapointment to me, in addition to all the hard work. Most of my lessons in life have come the hard way, and that was one of those kind also.

    Wayne also mentioned about the drug runners and my confrontation with them. Another good story, but for another time.

  9. #269
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
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    Default Ron's on a roll

    He's right about Harry, and how the hell did he know about the glue?

    Great story Bill. Man, did we have some times together. Here is a pic of that boat Ray got for his stepson. I can't remember if you had a name for the boat company yet, but it seems like I remember working with you on a brochure. It's too bad it didn't work out because they would have been great little boats.
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    Default Name of the company

    It was B&E Boats. Doesn't take a lot to figure out where that came from, does it? I just came across three "Brock-A- Brella's" left over from that adventure stored in a box in our basement. I don't know whether you remember what they were, but we bought them with a logo on them to sell at the boat races to help pay expenses and put the name before the public. They were a small umbrella about 18" in diameter with alternating color in the panels. Ours were red and yellow like the colors I had on my boats. The name came from Lou Brock, the famous STL Cardinal baseball player who bought the marketing rights from some company I believe in the Carribean and sold them first in his store at Lambert airport in STL. They were primarily a sun shade type of deal, with a elastic band and stand off metal pieces to keep it about 6" above your head when you wore it. Very novel and we sold all 200 of them we bought in one summer, and then for some reason couldn't get any more. I have been wearing one on sunny days shooting sporting clays because it doesn't interfere with your vision like a hat does when you have your cheek on the stock.

    Maybe I will wear one if we get to the reunion at Depue this summer.


    As to Ron knowing about the "Mexican Glue" story, I have no idea. I haven't told very many people about that deal except for close friends, and I don't believe I have ever been introduced to Ron Hill. He must have heard it some way though and I would like to know about that also.
    Last edited by Bill Van Steenwyk; 01-06-2007 at 08:39 PM. Reason: addition to post

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