Joe G.Schulte

[Ron Hill]

Today, February 17, 2012 I was posting on Hydroracer.net with Joe John Schulte. I just did a search here on BRF and can't find a mention of Joe. Seems we could tell a few stories, factual and otherwise about Joe.

http://www.hydroracer.net/forums/showthread.php?t=23116&page=3

[bill boyes]

I have many.

[bill boyes]

Many do not know this
Joe was a Captain for TWA and loved flying the Convair 880.
Well, he was taking a 880 flight out of Tuson (TUS) to Las Vegas and the Controllers were on a slow down or something. So Joe files a VFR flight plan. (visual flight rules) out of TUS. Anyway Joe takes the 800 with passengers a tour of the Grand Canyon. Not just a flyover a TOUR.
Just think if that happened today. Joe did not get off as he did get a few days on the beach.

[joejohn44]

hey, Gang, It took me a minute to re-register on this site, but looks like I made it! I still have photos of dad and Ted May playing with their c hydros ON THE GROUNDS at LAX in a pond. they poured gas on the water, lit it and were driving their canvas decked boats through the fire....can you imagine THAT today? They would be all over the news!!! once they were released from jail, that is... WOW...

[joejohn44]

BTW...Thank you, Ron and Bill. I love remembering my dad and telling some of his stories. Thank you for this thread. Of course, most of my stories have to do with last 15 years or so of his racing career...I want to hear about the first 15. One story I DO know about has to do with he and my mom living in Cairo Egypt in 1955...It seems King Faruk bragged about owning the fastest boat in the country. It was some kind of cruiser that would go about 30...Dad smuggled in his B runabout. He got up early one morning and put it in the water in the Nile river. he buzzed around for awhile, and when he got back to where he launched, he was confronted by about 20 egyptian soldiers with automatic rifles pointed at him. They were convinced he was some kind of Israeli agent or something...

[Ron Hill]

No question in my mind, if Joe and Ted were around today, some of their "Antics" if that is the right word, would have them in JAIL for sure.

Ted May had had a "RUN IN" with the officials at Lake Perris, and for his punishment, he had to work on the judge's stand at the next race.

Well, the next race was on Sunday, January 1, 1961. (My brother figured there would be no football games on New Year's Sunday, and having a race, everyone would just his club, which I think was the Valley Speedboat Association. Actually, I'm not sure of the year).

Ted worked as the flagman all day, and didn't complain. Seems this was the first time I ever saw Joe Schulte. He had this yellow Rinker, with only a fin on the chine, and a three blade brass prop.

Seems we'd heard that Joe won the Winnebagoland Marathon (Joe John said 2 or 3 times)...Anyway, Joe went roaring down the first turn and turned that Rinker on its side and surprised everyone how fast it turned and how fast he went. Seems Joe might not have won this race, be everyone was really impressed anyway!

[joejohn44]

That's a great story, Ron. Joe Pater still has that boat in its original, condition. paint and all. Last time it was raced was mid 80's. Bill Pater was the first to qualify a yamato in the finals at the nationals and he used that boat.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I'm glad you rejoined Joe John. I can sense some really great stories coming if you will continue. That "tour over the Grand Canyon" and the run on the Nile has piqued my interest as well as most others here I guess. I'm hoping you post more stuff here at BRF because this is where I think most people go to find out about boat racing history.

Would love to see some pictures.

[bill boyes]

Joe John, the Rinker is not original.. Your dad and I were pretty much side by side in CU midway up the backstretch at the San Diego Channel ! had the inside and was pulling Joe. One needed to keep that Rinker on the outside. Well Joe's steering pulley broke. The Ringer broched towards my boat and I ducked my head/body as low as I could and the boat grazeds the top of my helmet and hit the 30H dead center. The boat blew up into small pieces. The only thing left was the bottom. Ron Hill and Jimbo were right behind us. Really a nasty accident. Neither Joe nor I were hurt. .Your Dad fixed the boat but was far from looking like a Rinker I have a picture will post later..

[bill boyes]

Another Joe G story
Joe,, Jack Seacrest and I were at a race at Modesto. We ended up at Lake Yosemite near Merced Ca. It was an inboard race and we had our outboards. Well. Your Dad also raced a 145 inboard and it was home Playa Del Rey ca (LA) so Joe calls Kathy your mother and the next morning Kathy shows up with the 145 with you and your sister. Your Mother drove all night with you kids so that your dad could race. But of course that was your Mother and she was like that your Father..

[joejohn44]

Mom did that alot...she was always his biggest supporter. I remember one year we had to go to Parker without him and he flew his biplane over on sat morning. the plan was for him to circle the pits and that was our que to meet him at the airport. He was racing that starduster at Reno that year, and when he got close, he raised the officials on the radio and they cleared the course. I remember being dumbfounded as he made a 2 way pass in that thing a few feet off the water...he got a certificate showing his 2 way average at almost 170 mph...I presume he still holds the kilo record in sport biplane...LOL

[joejohn44]

as long as I mentioned his airplane racing, I have to include a story he told often about why he quit. Anybody who ever went into a first turn with him can attest to his level of competitiveness...Well, he made the final at Reno in his not-built-for-racing starduster. He was the slowest qualifier because he was up against real racing biplanes...anyway, he made his way up to 8th place and was along side of michael(?) dupont...Dupont had some speed on him, so Dad put his propeller right next to Dupont's open cockpit going up the backstretch, which they call the valley of speed. He stared at dupont's head and watched him look at the prop and then ahead and then the prop, etc...Dad anticipated the last time that Dupont could look at the prop before the final pylon...as soon as Dupont looked away from the prop, Dad yanked the stick back into his gut and threw it to the left, pulling up and then diving to the inside of Dupont at 170 mph and 100 feet off the ground. he took 7th place from Dupont, but his own competitiveness scared him. He did not want to hurt anybody and never raced airplanes again...

[Ron Hill]

Ernie Dawe, Ruben Dawe and Ted May drive to Boston in Ernie 1957 Plymouth that has 200,000 miles on it when they left California for Boston. They get to Boston and are trying to find the Charles River. Bostonians are friendly as hell, you just can't understand a word they say. Ruben, Ted and Ernie were lost. Anyway, they are stopped at a stop light and Ernie looks out the window.

Joe Schulte is sitting on the corner with his CU Rinker on skids and his Mark 30-H in he cockpit. He had stuffed his boat into a TWA cargo hold and flew it to Boston....How he got the boat from the airport to the corner, I never knew.

But, there were many things I never knew about Joe Schulte.

[Ron Hill]

Flash back picture of his dad's Alley Cat. It started life as a May Craft Hydro, that Ted and Joe Schulte built for a "Y" class inboard hydro with like a 44 cubic inch Mercury Outboard powerhead.

After Joe moved to Michigan, Rod Zapf ended up with the boat, he added a transom with Bill Boyes' help and bought a 650 Merc from a guy named Nichols in Kansas City who owned a restaurant.

Rod raced it as an "F" Hydro.

Rumors have it Joe John is racing at Minden, this weekend... 9/30/2017 and 10/01/2017.

This picture of the Alley Cat was taken at the Winternationals, 1969. Many people over the years have looked at this picture, some have actually seen the boat.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

You must be referring to Jimmie Nichols from Kansas City Ron. Nice guy, a little shorter than me. He had a big trailer and ran lots of boats. Jimmie was one of the guys that traveled the Midwest circuit, and was well liked among all the competitors. Seems like his colors were white with orange trim. I was at that race in 1969 Ron, but did not see the pits from where the picture was taken until it was time for the prizegiving. Then I could see the pits from above where all the trophies were lined up. From where the starting clock is , we were pitted way to the left on an island. There were perhaps a dozen teams from the overflow pits that were out there.

[rumleyfips]

I won my elimination heat with a Yamato runabout at Lake Flower (1979?). I thought it was the first of two heats but it may have been the second.

[Ron Hill]

You must be referring to Jimmie Nichols from Kansas City Ron. Nice guy, a little shorter than me. He had a big trailer and ran lots of boats. Jimmie was one of the guys that traveled the Midwest circuit, and was well liked among all the competitors. Seems like his colors were white with orange trim. I was at that race in 1969 Ron, but did not see the pits from where the picture was taken until it was time for the prize giving. Then I could see the pits from above where all the trophies were lined up. From where the starting clock is , we were pitted way to the left on an island. There were perhaps a dozen teams from the overflow pits that were out there.

Elgin Gates was the announcer, he knew everything about the mountains, desert and the river. He was once the Mercury Marine Distributor, but moved back to Needles. He started the National Pistol Association.

Jimmy Nichols, sold him a few props and ate at his restaurant once, but he was at a boat race and so, I never met him face to face.

He seemed to love boat racing. No relation to Louie and Fuzz Nichols. Louie ran the Mid West Power Boat Association for years. Fuzz moved to California and Dave and Phil were his kids. Dave still owns an NBRA boat or two.

[racnbns]

Elgin Gates was the announcer, he knew everything about the mountains, desert and the river. He was once the Mercury Marine Distributor, but moved back to Needles. He started the National Pistol Association.

Jimmy Nichols, sold him a few props and ate at his restaurant once, but he was at a boat race and so, I never met him face to face.

He seemed to love boat racing. No relation to Louie and Fuzz Nichols. Louie ran the Mid West Power Boat Association for years. Fuzz moved to California and Dave and Phil were his kids. Dave still owns an NBRA boat or two.

Wasn't Dave Nichols from Minnesota originally and was on OMC race team co-driver at Parker 67 or 68?

Bruce

[Ron Hill]

Wasn't Dave Nichols from Minnesota originally and was on OMC race team co-driver at Parker 67 or 68?

Bruce

I don't know if I knew "FUZZ" Nichols first name. The Nichols moved to California, from Minnesota, when Fuzz bought a SpeedQueen Washing Machine coin operated laundromat distributorship.

Rumors had it that Fuzz had a few run in with the "COPS" aka "FUZZ" in those days. I have no first hand knowledge of this.

Dave and his brother Phil seemed to like California, except the racing wasn't like Minnesota. In Minnesota, there would be several thousand watching a race, in California there were only the pit crews as spectators.

Phil was quite a painter and painted my help in 1961 or 1062.

Dave was more the driver in the family and did drive with Ted May at Parker 1970 for sure and maybe one other year.

Phil passed recently and Dave lives in Texas. He and his wife have sponsored Dave Mason in several NBRA classes the last few years.