This Sporting Life...That Sporting Death

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I was straightening up the boat racing room last night and was looking at this book. I noticed on the cover was a picture of Mel Kirts on the outside and Fred Hauenstein on the inside. I then realized that most boat racers never have seen this book. It was written by John Kiely and was published in 1973. John was at the Pro Nationals at DePue in 1970. It was Charlotte Queen that notified me when the book came out and I bought 6 copies. I don't know who else besides Charlotte ever bought any.

My pit crew in those days were all guys and girls that I hung around with at the lake. Maybe John was attracted to the female part of the crew, but anyway...he hung around with us through that racing week. I have tried to find anything else he might have published, to no luck. But that was a fun time. That was the race I was shocked and acidized in a heat of B hydro.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

That's me in D hydro on the inside cover page. You can see the ZAK stacks on the motor.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

This first photo is the same one that's on the cover. Mel Kirts on the outside and Fred Hauenstein on the inside.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

The guy sitting on the box holding his ears was just like the rest of us back in those days.....taking the noise of a 6 cylinder looper for granted. Just another day of racing. Oh what a beautiful sound. V23 is Pauly Bogosian out of Granite City, Illinois. I can't tell who is pulling out of the pits in the C service hydro. the runabout and hydro in the foreground are Larry Latta's.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

The next pic is Howard Anderson in FRR. Don't know who was riding deck. In the foreground of the next pic is pits of the Krier's. And to the left is the nose of Rex Hall's hydro. The outside C service runabout is Marshall Grant's K4 Ring of Fire with Billy Seebold in the cockpit.

ADD: To the far left is Tim Butts' trailer.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Don't know who that is that conked out. The pic on the right is me working on a motor and my brother Mark in his Kappa Sig T shirt looking on. The St Jude medal I was wearing was given to me by the girls in my pit crew.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Top pic is me in our B Marchetti. Note the 4 pipes. It was really fast, but the weight made the boat handle badly in the turns. The pipes were fixed in those days. That was the transition between the can and sliding pipes.

The pic below is Billy Seebold and the one on the next page is the back side of Dick Hoppenwrath I think, but it could be Phil Wagner. Both drove at one time and pitted with Jerry Waldman and Bob Hering, then later..Jerry Simison.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

It's kind of hard to tell who the people in these pictures are.

[Gene East]

What a great read so far. Please give us more!!!

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I should know who the FRR driver is in Mary's Carpet, but I don't. On the next page, Billy Seebold is on the scales in Marshall Grant's C service runabout.