In memory of racers no longer with us:

[racingfan1]

On Saturday morning May 4th Mr. Gene East passed.

Comments by Paul Christner on the passing of Gene East;

The news has come to me of the passing of one of Quincy Welding's Great, Mr Gene East !
Most people associated with the history of boat racing realize there was once a place in Quincy Illinois called Quincy Welding, where some of the most wicked outboard racing engines ever in the history of outboard racing came from, along with some of the most talented racing boat drivers to ever compete in the history of professional outboard boat racing !
My late father OF Christner got a lot of respect and notoriety from his contributions to the field of past boat racing and it's history and legacy, however behind every great established business in boat racing's past is the heart of that success, made up frequently of the extraordinary employees that without, the firm never would have made it to the level of success it did, period !
Here at Quincy Welding we had many past great employees and one of those great extraordinary employees was Gene East who came to us right out of the Navy and at the almost peak of the cold war between the U.S. and Russia in 1962 . Gene was also a quite formable racing boat driver on the local level too !
Gene was highly trained and educated by my father OF Christner and progressed to be a top skilled welder, machinist, racing boat repairman, mechanic, and master craftsman of all trades at Quincy welding.
Gene went with the racing crew in the big Quincy yellow trailer to many of the bigger regional and national boat racing events and was seen by most racers at those events carrying four cylinder loopers on his back to and from different pit areas of the Quincy brand racers at those events!
One time after we left the shop on an early Friday evening after all of the customer work was completed for both the racers and the welding shop in Quincy, we set out for a race in the south, late that night on the trip we broke a leaf trailer spring on the Quincy racing trailer.
We thought what next, however Gene in the almost pitch black of the night crawled under the racing trailer in the dark on the shoulder of a narrow road with only a flashlight and changed that leaf spring with nary a whimper or complaint with a new spring we carried along back then as a spare!
That's the kind of extraordinary person Gene East of Quincy's fame was as well as a person of amazing trade skills work ethic and character!
There are many more times at Quincy Welding where we were blessed with Gene's amazing greatness that hopefully I will get to mention at a later time!
God bless your spirit Gene East and thank you for being a part of the Quincy Welding Family legacy, and great past that never would have reached the peak in history it did without your grace and unselfish contributions!
Paul A Christner