Clayton and I had signed up for all our classes on Wednesday at the American Legion Hall, a large open space building with lots of chairs and tables just set back from the pit area. It was a great setup for big racing events.

Thursday morning. First day of qualifying. We were all up and ready to go. With a group like ours, it was easier to follow the routine we had set the last couple of days. Baldy, Jan, Jack, Velma, Clayton and Doris would eat breakfast wherever they did. I don't know. We went to the little café by the pits. I suppose some of the other workers and owner realized by now that we had a Texas booth that was our own and Daria was our waiter. We did the loop around and got to Forest Lake and inside the café about the same time we did the other times. Daria was all smiles and handed us our menu's as we greeted her all around. Bud still teasing Daria and asking when she would go out with him. She was getting comfortable around us and finally offered up the fact that she had a boyfriend. Bud asked about how often they went out and she told him maybe once every week or two, at which Bud considered that she really didn't have a boyfriend and was only saying that to put him off.

We joked with her about other things and we told her about South Texas, and she told us about cold winters. Daria came by the booth often while we were there, so even though she seemed to resist Bud's advances, she was obviously having a great time bantering back and forth.

The first elimination heats up on Thursday were C Runabout. I don't have a roster with all the entries, and number of heats per class, but there was a good attendance and so the number of qualifying heats were about like any NOA World Championship of that time. There were a lot of boats there. Of course as usual the A and B hydro and runabout classes would have the largest registration of drivers, and the most heats. I'm thinking C Runabout had three heats. Clayton qualified.

Up next was A hydro. Clayton won his heat. I was in the second heat and jumped the gun along with Kay Harrison, Bob Murphy and Mel Kirts.

Neither Clayton nor I qualified for D Hydro. None of us were entered in F Runabout, C-1 Hydro, or X Hydro.

Clayton finished 3rd in A Runabout. I did not qualify.

When we were racing, we did not go to the café, but I think Bud probably made a quick trip over for some iced tea during the day.