Teddy Whalen and Family...

[Ron Hill]

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<!-- icon and title -->http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forums/images/icons/icon1.gif FAN OF THE PAST
<!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->HELLO RON,
I DO NOT KNOW IF YOU RECEIVED MY EMAIL FROM THIS PAST WEEKEND. BUT NOW THAT I HAVE JOINED AS A MEMBER. I GUESS I HAD COME TO THE REALIZATION THAT IT WAS REALLY YOU! I REALLY JUST AMAZES ME THAT YOUR SON IS NOW A GROWN ONE AND IS RACING! IT JUST SEEMS LIKE YESTERDAY THAT I WAS IN YOUR CLASSROOM AT ALAMITOS AND YOU SENDING ME TO THE FENCE AND BACK!! HA HA! JUST BECAUSE I WAS A LITTLE SMART BEEEEP! BELEIVE IT OR NOT GRADUATING CLASSES 79 THRU 82 ARE HAVING A CLASS RENUION AT THE CROWN PLAZA HERE IN IRVINE THIS WEEKEND! SO I HAVE TO FACE THE FACT THAT I AM REALLY GETTING YOUNG! ITS BEEN 24 YEARS SINCE MY GRADUATION! MY HOW TIME FLIES! WHEN YOU ARE MARRIED, RAISING KIDS AND LIVING LIFE TO THE FULLEST. WHICH I DO EVERYDAY! BECAUSE YOU NEVER NO WHAT THE NEXT DAY MY BRING! FROM EXPERIENCE I MIGHT SAY! TO NOTE ON THAT! LOOKS LIKE YOU AND THE FAMILY ARE STILL RACING! I REALLY DO MISS THE BOAT RACING FAMILY! I WILL MAKE IT TO A RACE SOMEDAY SOON I HOPE! I WAS CHECKING THE DIFFERENT AREAS OF YOUR WEBSITE AND PICTURES FROM THE PAST. THOUGHT I MIGHT JUST CATCH A GLIMPSE OR A PICTURE OF MY BROTHER! YOU TAKE CARE AND WRITE ME SOMETIME!
Tammi, I hope you don't mind me posting your E-MAIL to me...

FYI: TO BRF MEMBERS

Tammi's brother died in a tunnel boat accident....I was Tammi and Teddy's Junior High Teacher. Tammi was a pain in the butt, and I got to know her parents, who at the time, I thought as pain in the butts, too...

Teddy was different, he liked me from day one...After he left Junior High, he'd come by and ask to wash my car....I told him he should go over to John's Custom Marine, a few blocks from school and tell them you were my student and wanted a job...Ted went the next day and they hired him...Gave him terrible jobs, cleaning the ****ter, and such...He was 15 at the time, he worked there until his death 10 years later.

Teddy raced kneeldowns....not sure where his first boat came from, but it either came from Al Stoker, John Stoker or myself... Old Man Ted Whalen went to work for John's too...

When Teddy was killed, Al was using a capsule in his MOD VP, and was having one built for Ted's tunnel...I know that AL Stoker, John Stoker and myself blamed ourselves for him getting killed...Freddy Hauenstein, at my insistence, passed rules for capsules the following year...

Teddy's death was awful, but by opening people's eyes to this awful event, safety rules were passed that saved many lives...

Some where here on BRF, is my letter to APBA requesting action after Teddy's death...



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[Ron Hill]

Ted "Teddy" Whalen
<!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->I had Teddy's sister in my class first. Then, I had Teddy. Neither were really good or bad students, though it seems I talked to Tammi's mom SEVERAL times...

After Teddy left Junior High, he'd come by my school every Friday and want to wash my car. One week I told him my car didn't need washing, that he should go to John's Custom Marine on Katella and tell them I SAID to give him a job.

Well, Teddy went to John's they gave him a job of cleaning...cleaning bathrooms and...He wasn't quite 17 then, he continued to work at John until he was 25, when he was killed in a race boat testing accident. His father Ted was also working at John's at the time of his death.

Teddy started is 20SS Runabout. He had also run MOD VP with Bob Kitchens, of Westminster, California at Parker, several times...He was killed in an SST 120. Stokers were building him a capsule at the time of his death.

After Teddy's death, the Stokers put up a very nice trophy in Teddy's name for OPC..

I saw his sister, Tammi, and he family, for the first time in years, at Long Beach...I very much enjoyed the REUNION... I hope Tammi will post some pictures of Teddy's race boats. as I have none!

ADD: Forgot I already posted about Teddy.

[fyremanbill]

Somewhere, I have some pics of Teddy. He was like my big brother at the races, telling me where I was screwing up. Teddy never turned down a good time, and was always the life of the party. Sure miss him.

[Ron Hill]

April 24, 2008...

Talked to Doug Rae at Parker, he was ACTUALLY serious when he asked if MEN, when they get older, cry easily.... as he said he'd wondered about my speech at the DePue Reunion...But said he had stronger feeling these last few years...

Well, I was at Wilkes Marine today, and one of my OLD 8th grade students came by, with her dad and two daughters....They yelled out the window..."That's Ron Hill"....They last time Tammy Whalen yelled out the window at me, she was with one of my other old students, Kim Godown, (One of those names you should change)...Tammy and Kim had driven by me as I was picking my nose...

Today, Tammy was with her dad, and she told me her mother had passed on Christmas Eve....and that her dad was doing well.... As I told Tammy's daughters, "She was a smart student, but a real pain in the ***"....

Ted, Sr. promised to get with me for lunch and we'll post some of Teddy's pictures....

Later in the day I talked to Freddy Hauenstein, head of Mercury Racing.....Freddy was head of Mercury Racing and OPC Chair when Teddy was killed in an SST-120 (More than 25 years ago). Freddy was the MAN that had the COURAGE to require capsules in OPC boats.....It was Teddy's untimely death that got Freddy to move to make CAPSULE rules....

I was thinking, the irony of capsules...Fred and his sons (Danny and Mikey) all three race APBA classes that don't require capsules..... and the IRONIC IRONY, Freddy's brother, Jimmy, was killed driving a capsuled boat....

Capsules save lives.....I believe in them.....

The Stokers of John's Custom Marine, had a capsule, for Teddy Whalen's boat, under construction at the time Teddy was killed...

Doug Rae...I have a tear in my eyes....Teddy was also my 8th grade student....Teddy was 25 at the time of his death.

ADD: I will get with OLD TED and we'll post some Ted Whalen Racing pictures...

[Ron Hill]

Hi There Ron,

Was Down With Dad Today And We Put Together Pictures For You. And We Came Across The Letter That You Wrote To The Apba Safety Committee On September 14, 1986the Day That Teddy Passed Away. Which Today The 19th Of Sept Is 22 Years Since We Laid Him To Rest. So I Want You To Know That He Is Up There Watching Over Us All This Weeked. Depending On My Dad We Will Either See You In The Am Or For Sure We Will Be There Sunday Am. I Just Have Concerns About A Place For Him To Sit And Relax To Watch The Races. But He Is Up For It. He's Like A An Enigizer Battery. At Eighty Years Old He Is Awesome And I Am Enjoying Every Minute I Spend With Him. So See You When We Get There.
Till Then,
Tammi

[Ron Hill]

Teddy's dad, Ted, did most of the driving to the races in their early years of racing...I'd be driving about 55-60 in my motorhome, they'd pass me so fast, I sometimes could figure out who they were....

This 25-C is Teddy in a C-D Sid Craft. This boat was first owned by Ted May, then in 1964 I bought it...The motor is the Merc 30-H we called the "Crayola" motor as every part on, the gearcase, tower, pan and starter were different colors. It was a good STANDARD BORE motor my dad built from parts...Al Stoker used this motor in his first race. The motor is now owned by Pat Murphy...

"X" is Teddy in his new Zorkan 20SS R...Not sure the year, but maybe 1978...No..Wrong year, 1- U.S. was Richard O'Dell and he was 1-U.S. in 1974...58-C was Jimmy Dawe, and the boat next to Teddy is Larry Lister...

25-C is what the Zorkan looked like after she got painted...

[Ron Hill]

I LOVE YOU RON HILL FROM THE NEVER FORGOTTEN WHALEN FAMILY! GOD BLESS OUR BOATS AND GOD BLESS YOU! AS MY BROTHER WOULD SAY IT " LET'S GO RACING" TILL THEN HELLO TO EVERYONE! TAMMI WHALEN HEISING BE SAFE AND LET'S KEEP RACING.

1/4/2012 Email RE New Years letter