Thread: Dan Pigott

  1. #211
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
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    Danny, I just talked to an old friend who I haven't seen since 1983. He was the son of a racer in Corpus Christi who ran merc/quincy A/B hydros and the cousin of an old girlfriend whose Dad ran the same classes plus a McDonald Merc/Quincy F hydro.

    He was in the marines 72-76 in North Carolina and said he helped some of the mod racers there. I asked if he knew you and he said he did. His name is Steve Wetherbee. We had a good talk today. He raced motorcycles locally, and go karts nationally. Do you remember Steve? I told him about BRF. He is somewhat of a packrat, and was bidding on a gas tank for a motorcycle he was restoring when I returned his call.



  2. #212
    Team Member Danny Pigott's Avatar
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    Wayne, i do remember him it's been so long ago i can't remember any details, I think he was station At Camp Lejune(sp) NC..This is a story that could apply to all of use old timers. At a race a few years ago an old friend came up to me an said, Danny you know most of the people here have no idea of all races and National Championships you won. They just see an old guy sitting in a chair or walking around in there way. I said well dad always told me, it's not what you did yesterday it's what you can do to day that people see' Here is another one, we were at a race in NC a few years ago with our CMH.. I was sitting by the trailer an this guy comes up an is looking at the motor, He ask what kind of motor is that ,he says i know its a Yamato but which one. I tell him it's a 302 an that when they first came to the USA they cost about $470.00. He says i know i had one.( I say to myself this guy knows about racing i thought he was a spectator) We talk a while an he says he use to build boats an is from Tex.. I ask him what his name is, he says Craig Lawrence i said i know who you are an remember Lawrence Hydro's. We have a good talk he works for Hendrick's Racing an would like to get back in boats if he could find someone to go with.Heres
    's the old timer part, he had been there all day an i am sure no body there knew who Craig Lawrence was but me, and some how he stopped to look at our motor an ran in to probably the only person who had ever heard of him.

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    A great reminder to us all Danny. Craig is a member here under the name of "Gearbox49M" or something like that. He doesn't come on often, but the first boat he rebuilt was one that I stuffed and he and Alan Registar removed all the broken pieces from the cockpit forward, studied how it was put together and rebuilt it with a wooden deck. It was originally a 10-6 Marchetti with a cloth deck. During that time, Nick Marchetti quit building cloth decks and went to thin plywood, and that's what they did. Craig and Alan lived near Denny Henderson who was the same age and they started hanging out. After Craig and Alan rebuilt that Marchetti, they started on another A/B hydro. I have to find my notes to get it right, but I believe Denny had bought a complete hydro kit from someone previously, but without plans had no idea how to proceed. Now that I think about it, I believe Denny was part of that rebuild. Craig called his boats "AArdvark". Denny just called his a "Henderson".

    Craig has been in motorsports for a long time. He was a pit man in the Indy Champcar series a long while back, then was the head pit guy for Findley Racing in the top experimental cars of the Rolex Racing series of sports cars before they cashed in, then he went to Hendricks where his job has been outfitting three eighteen wheelers with every part concievably may be need prior to each race. While Craig was still racing, he was Bruce Nicholson's deck rider. He is a very modest character with a very funny and sarcastic streak and a lot of knowledge.



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    Steve lives in Corpus Christi now and has for awhile. I gave him the website, so I'm pretty sure he will become a member and hopefully share some stories.

    About the old timers. Joe Rome knows everybody. When I went to Alexandria in 1993 with Debbie and our kids to show them what Pro racing was about, Tommy Christopher was there. He had been severly injured in a car accident in his prime just a few years before I started, but he was already very famous. I had never seen him in person that I knew, but Joe Rome had. We were in the covered section above the concession stand and bathrooms when Joe pointed him out. We went over to talk to him, and not only was I very glad to shake his hand and talk to him, but was very honored to know that he knew who I was. He had been coming to the races back when I was still in it, but I didn't know who he was, and he didn't make it known publicly. Joe knew he had been coming, but didn't think anything about it, as we tended to do in those days. So you never know who may be standing around watching.



  5. #215
    Team Member Danny Pigott's Avatar
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    I read this in Powerboat Mag. years ago, i don't remember if this was before Jimbo got hurt or not.Anyway Jimbo and his wife were going to watch the Parker race back in the day.Jimbo drives up to the VIP parking lot an tells the guy at the gate he would like to park there.The guy ask him if he has a VIP pass,he says no but i won this race 7 times, the guy says if you don't have a pass you have to park in the reg. parking lot.Jimbo drives off saying funny how fast people forget you. I may be off a little on this story it's been a long time from when i read it, but it does fit in the old timers deal.

  6. #216
    Team Member Danny Pigott's Avatar
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    This is another old timer story, back around the mid 70's i was at a OPC race in Miami at the marine stadiun, I can't remember what race it was but most of the factory boats were there. I was down at the botton of the bleachers with some friends when this older man walked by, i had seen him several times that day, an never dreamed who he was, he was most always by himself. My friend asked me if i knew who the older man was an i said no, he looks at me an says thats Carl Kiekhaefer i said you got to be kidding he has a Evinrude hat on. It was really him walking around by himself with a Evinrude hat , so you never know who is around at a boat race.

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    I can believe that! Carl's non compete contract with Mercury ended in '70 or '71. That is when he started making the KAM engines that kicked Mercurys butt in offshore. So, perfect way for him to go unnoticed at a boat race...wearing an Evinrude hat!
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  8. #218
    Team Member Danny Pigott's Avatar
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    Default Just the past

    Dad quit Pro racing sometime in 1958.Every year they held a SEBA race in Beaufort SC about 70 miles from him . Some of his friends would come by an try to get him to go to the Beaufort race with them, and he would never go. They would ask him, why he did not want to go to a boat race after all the racing he did . This was his reason for not going. He said me going to a boat race is like an alcoholic setting in a bar, i didn't want to quit racing i needed to. At that time the Konig was taking over an it would mean new motors an boats to keep up and he needed to put his family first. He did win his last B Hydro race by passing Deiter Kong with a Merc. at a race in Atlanta GA.. In 1962 we did go to Beaufort to a race, he got to talking to some of his old friends an Sh. Hatton tells him he is having a race in Sav. Ga. in three weeks, I think dad had a few beers an by then was ready to race, he tells Hatton he will bring two boats to the race. On the way home he says we don't even have two boats that will float. With a lot of work we were at the race in Sav. with two boats . That was my first race, it's still hard for me to believe but i won B Hydro against some very good drivers. This sent us back to boat racing an we are still going today.

  9. #219
    Allen J. Lang
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    Hi Danny, as I remember your Dad was a very interesting man to talk with. Enjoyed a visit with him with John back in the early 60s. You were probably in school at the time.

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    Hi Danny,
    Enjoyed your comments.
    And I sure remember Sheriff Hatten!!

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