Bud David and Bucky

[Ron Hill]

Bud David was a jeweler in Modesto. I think he raced AU and BU. He had a wife named BUCKY. Bucky was a beautiful lady. Not sure if Bud and Bucky were ever married. I met her children from her first husband once. I think she raced for awhile.

Bud was a motor inspector after he quit racing. He and Bucky put on the Modesto Kilo Trials for years. My parents and I used to stay with Bud and Bucky when we went to Modesto.

We were racing at a small lake in NorCal, Merced, I think, near John Alden's house Maybe!!! Seems Bobby Willard "BLEW" his DU over backwards but it landed right side up...When they towed the boat in, it was full of water and the chine was busted out. My brother and I (I was 12) and Dan Schwarzenbach grabbed one side of the transom and were straining our guts out trying to lift the BIG DU to drain the water out of the hole in the chine... We three look over and see Bucky lifting the other side of the transom by herself... Hell, she was like maybe 25 years old, 110 pounds, beautiful blond.....The three of us shut up about how heavy the boat was...and we drain the water... Never saw a woman lift an DU Runabout transom before or after...I'm still amazed 50 years later!

Darrell Sorenson posted this quiz....and picture...I answered them all...But thought I'd add Bud to the ENCYCLOPEDIA...

> Quiz. (see attached picture)
>
> 1. What class is the boat?
>
> 2. Who is the driver of the boat?
>
> 3. What major achievement did this driver & boat accomplish?
>
> 4. What year was it accomplished?
>
> 5. What is the make of the boat?
>
> 6. What is unusual about the boat?
>
> Answers:

1. AU
2. Bud David of Modesto
3. He won the Winnebagoland Marathon (Biggest Marathon in the world)
4. 1953
5. Rocholt
6. Boat had a steering wheel in the front seat for rough water racing

ADD: Bud had really finished like 7th in AU, but Russ Hill Sr., my dad, had disqualified the first six ahead of Bud for engine infractions... Bud was from California and knew not to even try to run "CHEATER" Stuff...

LAST ADD: On the cover of Speed and Spray is Ron Loomis in a DeSilva, winning the Colorado River marathon (115 miles)...his boat has a steering wheel in the front seat...(You drove from the front seat in rough water...).



My dad was paid by Mercury to "CLEAN UP" Region 7 and he did his job...

[Roy Hodges]

Bucky musta been something else`. I never had the pleasure of meeting her. But, my only memory of BUD is bad. I was sitting next to him, can't remember where , unless it was at the` modesto kilos , when i heard him say ," the guy set a record , and he was running an evinrude , - I am a Mercury guy , so i said ... SHOW me the crankshaft". To this day , i have not had a good thought for him.

[Ron Hill]

When I set the AU 1/2 mile record in Orick, 1957, at 48.352, ABOUT 2 mph FASTER THAN THE OLD RECORD...HE WOULDN'T EVEN LET ME MAKE MY OTHER TWO PASSES..HE WANTED THE CRANK THEN.

To this day I figure I'd have gone over 50 MPH as I turned around on the exit bouy and my reutrn run was like 3 MPH slower than the down run...

He met well, worked hard....I was mad at Mercury Motors from about 1979 until 1996.....

At Kingburg, North-South Race, 1964, Bud DAvid caught Dave Mayer running a Mark 20-H block on his "A"....Dave said, "Did you see how fast I was???" That motor was the last motor my dad ever stamped Russ Hill on the lead telephone seal he used to seal motors with after he built them....Dave had changed the block without breaking my dad's seal...Bud David caught Mayer, when my dad had passed him at the 1964 Nationals...for a third in "A" Hydro...

[Ron Hill]

In an earlier post I said I never knew "BUCKY's" name...I got to looking at an old Modesto Cal Cup program and I saw Scorer: Evadna Buckley.... So, I guess I did know her name!!!