These are two I was looking for from the reunion. I had placed them back in the binder where I carried them since 1980 for Bruce to sign. I finally got these autographs at the reunion.
Bruce is actually one of the first persons I ever raced with. It was in front of a different house we lived on in a different part of the lake. I ran in the first heat of B runabout in a Nomad with a stock B Merc and my brother Mark ran the second heat. It was very rough. I led the first lap and finished third behind Bruce in 77T and Bill Knipe in 177T.
Bruce is one of the all time top runabout drivers in PRO history. He was transferred from Houston to Gretna LA by Exxon for many years, but now he is back in Texas. The outside lane was Bruce's. He is an expert in setting a boat up. At the reunion he admitted that he would have lost some of his advantage in set ups with the way runabouts are turning now. But I'll bet he could have still figured out some additional edge to play with.
The combination of Bruce Nicholson/Craig Lawrence won many 1100 runabout races. One of Craig's duties was to pinch the fuel line as they broke over and the prop bit, then release it when they got the revs up.
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