I'm a chicken Steve. If I would have fought the dragon I would have been a roasted chicken.
On Memorial Day 1975 we were racing at Baytown, Texas. The five minute gun sounded for D hydro. At three minutes we went to fire it off, but it was a complete dud. Jack Chance started to troubleshoot and the red hot wire from the coil to the battery fell off. The pit crew got into action and got the tool and a terminal, stripped the wire and just finished tightening the nut when the one minute gun fired. I stayed in the boat. Soon at the boats crossed the starting line I stuck my index finger in the air and made circles while looking at the referee. He gave me the OK so my Dad cranked the engine and I took off toward the safety bouy, hung a left and headed for the first turn. When I came out of the turn I saw the pack only just now getting to the bottom turn. Little did I know that they bump bump bumped past some heavy rollers. It was a short course so we ran an accelerating wheel. Man that D hit 95 in nothing flat. It took me five or six years to even remember that part, and that's all I have been able to remember until I was cold, in extreme dark and felt like I was the only person alive in the world. Very lonely. Then warmth and sunshine. Denny Henderson and everyone on the bank saw what was going to happen and he hollered NOOOOO! Denny said I was flying along then me and the boat just disappeared. No splash or anything. Just like I was beamed to someplace else in midflight. So that was the end of most of our racing season with me in the cockpit. I did get in the last race of the year at my Dad's house, but that's for later. The boat "Texas Tornado" only had some testing and four heats on it. It was a new design by Tim. Tim took it back and replaced the stringers, some of which were crooked, and we sold Texas Tornado to Jim McKean.
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