Red Adair...

[Ron Hill]

They made a movie of Red's life, it was called Hell Flyer with John Wayne playing Red Adair. He was always a friend to Texas Boat Racing...

I first read about Red Adair in Argosy Magazine...then first met him when his Madella lost steering at the 1967 Parker 9 hour and ran ashore...and ran through DeSilva parked on the trailer. That was the beginning a long family friendship...

The tunnel boat a DeSilva Sled is the boat Red's Mandella ran through!

[Ron Hill]

Slick invented the "Jaws of Life" used in many car wrecks today. he got the idea from Mercury's power trim. OMC always hired Slick to put on SHRIMP BOILS at the races...they were always excellent...

He later raced NASCAR Busch cars and was killed in a NASCAR Busch race....

This is Slick in 1968 at the Galveston 250....

[Master Oil Racing Team]

We raced with Red in Beaumont during the annual Neches River Festival. There was a split card--Alky outboards and flatbottom inboards. My dad bought an SK from Red and one of his hands, Richard Hatteburg brought it down to show us how to operate it. South Texas is one of the trickiest areas in the world for drilling. That was Richard's area. He would call our company whenever they came down for a blowout to provide trucks , mud, pumps etc. Whenever we heard of a blowout, told me to call him. One day a well blew out on the Southern part of the King Ranch and I called Richard. He was fighting a fire in Indonesia so they said they would patch me in to someone else. It was Red. He was in a boat in the middle of Clear Lake near Houston. When I first saw Richard in a race boat I said "I thought you just fought blowouts." He said "When you work for Red you do whatever he tells you to do." This is how two old boatracers made their living.

[bill boyes]

I met Red at a San Diego Mission Bay race when my Dad was a Referee. He was really a down to earth type nice guy.

[Jengle37]

My only contact with Mr. Adair was in Memphis in 76 or 77. We were there for a race put on by Armie Haines in ehat I believe was a converted gravel pit. The night before the race, most of the owners, drivers, and crew were in a restaurant having a big steak and seafood. Mr Adair came in and picked up the tab for the whole restaurant. He said since he wasn't racing this time, it was the least he could do. I'm glad I had a chance to thank him.

[WharfRat]

Red was one Hell of a man, he actually GAVE me my very first boat when I was about 12-13 years old. It was about an 8ft Jet boat of all things. (I have pics at home I'll post later) It used to belong to his grandson, but Red bought him a little 14' Boston Whaler to replace it. They kept it at one of Red's houses on Clear Lake. Red wouldn't let him take it out by himself cause of his age (about 8-9 I think) So I would go over all the time & take him out in it after school. Got many memories of that man when I was growing up on Clear Lake. What a great giving, caring man. (& Yes, he knew me as WharfRat, thats what they all called me back then)

[WharfRat]

the boat

[Ron Hill]

Thanks for posting and sharing...

My dad was the inspector for the Galveston 250 and the outboards were one weekend and the inboards were the next. Red heard my dad and mom were staying in a hotel all week...Red just told my dad and mom to "COME ONE OVER AND STAY THE WEEK." My dad knew Red's offer was from the heart...My Dad and mom really enjoyed their stay...

When they left, Red told them they were welcome anytime....

At Parker, 1967, Red had just put some oil well fire out in Arabia.....and they had done that story in Argosy....Red's team showed up with Red leading the "TEAM" in a new RED Cadillac El Dorado (Front wheel drive...way cool then...Then a semi with two Mandellas on the flat bed of the semi, followed by another El Dorado...)

I'm standing there with my mouth open as they go by...my four fraternity brothers who are with me....almost faint as they go by....I'm an OUTBOARD Racer going to race against THAT...TEAM?????

We had broken down early and we were hooking our boat onto the car and Ted May was under the trailer hooking up the lights, when Red's boat steering failed and his boat ran a shore and "T Boned" my De Silva.....not a lot of damage...but Ted comes out from under the car and trailer cussing a blue streak, that only Ted may could do.....He wanted to know Who the hell was trying to back over him.....Then he sees this Mandella on top our boat.....he said he thought he was going into "SHOCK"...but Ted always over acted...

[WharfRat]

pic of Red I took in 76 at Pier 7 in Clear Lake

[WharfRat]

Galveston hmmmmm? :)

[WharfRat]

another "shot" of Red ;)

[Master Oil Racing Team]

So--Wharfrat you were at the Conroe race when one of the drivers (don't remember who) got his foot cut off. It was barely hanging on. I was next to Red Adair at the launching ramps and all the racers and pit crews linked together on each side of the ramp to keep spectators away.

You were also at the Galveston race when they ran the OMC Rotary engines. Unfortunately the editor of Motorsport has all my b&w negatives from those days.

[WharfRat]

Yes I was at the Conroe race, I was pitting for Rick Clawson (think thats the right last name) & I remember that accident

I was supposed to go to the Galveston race but missed my ride :rolleyes:

But at least they brought me back that patch :D

[Ron Hill]

Red Adair...

[Powercat]

Scott:
I remember going to a marathon race over in the Houston area
somewhere, we had a couple of Power Cats entered, but the Red
Adair team was running the inboard class and they had August "Hands"
Hartcoff <sp> as mechanic and engine builder. Is that the same
time period you are talking about?
Danny Leger


Yes I was at the Conroe race, I was pitting for Rick Clawson (think thats the right last name) & I remember that accident

I was supposed to go to the Galveston race but missed my ride :rolleyes:

But at least they brought me back that patch :D

[WharfRat]

It was around the early '70's & beyond, can't say I remember the mechanic, but that doesn't mean I didn't meet him. It seemed the races were a lot more chaotic when the inboard guys ran than when it was just the outboards. Most of the races I went to were all outboard & I was either working rescue & recovery or pitting for someone. I do remember Red selling his last inboard race boat at the boat ramp on Clear Lake, the guy drove it & paid Red in cash. Most cash I'd ever seen at the time :eek:

[clampon]

The Guy That Got His Leg Cut Off Was From Houston Bruce Lowery He Has Been In Austin For Years And The Guy Who Ran Over Him Was Jim Franks From Waco The Year 73 Or 74 Franks Hooked In A Turn An Hit Bruce So The Story Goes

[racnbns]

They made a movie of Red's life, it was called Hell Flyer with John Wayne playing Red Adair. He was always a friend to Texas Boat Racing...

I first read about Red Adair in Argosy Magazine...then first met him when his Madella lost steering at the 1967 Parker 9 hour and ran ashore...and ran through my parked boats. That was the beginning a long family friendship...

I thought it was Red's son driving the boat,anyway it headed for the pits at about a 45 deg. angle. The driver was standing up and shouting to people to get out of his way,and we did ! Our scorer [a lady that worked for Doc Jones] was sitting on top of one of our pickups. The pickup had a trailer hooked up ready to retrieve a boat when needed. Red's boat ran into the trailer, bounced off and ran over our port. gen. set and came to a stop up against another boat. Luckily the lady wasn't hurt. To get the boat on their trailer we used manpower. We called everybody over,must have been 25 or more guys circling the boat and we picked it up and drove the trailer under. Wow! I think back now and it seems impossible. Pick up an 18-20 ft. flatbottom with a huge V-8 ? If you get enough PUMPED UP boat racers you can do anything!

Bruce Summers
V-71

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Richard Hatteburg had told me of doing that in a boat, but I don't remember the race. Richard fought fires with Red and drove one of his boats. I'm thinking it may have been Richard behind the wheel. Maybe Joe Rome could call up Richard and get his version of events.

[jrome]

wayne, Richard was driving the boat. he told me he just got to feeling save to come back to parker. He hit some big shots car or trailer.Not any more. joe

[Ron Hill]

Bruce,

Are you talking about Parker when Red's boat lost steering and ran through my DeSilva....??? (When Ted May was under the trtailer hooking up the tail lights???)...Or is this another accident???

[racnbns]

Bruce,

Are you talking about Parker when Red's boat lost steering and ran through my DeSilva....??? (When Ted May was under the trtailer hooking up the tail lights???)...Or is this another accident???

Ron:
That has to be the incident. I can't believe two accidents that similar. My memory is getting fuzzy but I do remember the boat hitting a trailer, the generater and another boat. Was your boat the last one it hit? It was Parker 67 or 68 as I remember.
Bruce

[David Alaniz]

Hmmmm......I know all these guys especially the "guy" all the way to the right. He's my father Pete Alaniz. I have a lot of storys from those days.

[David Alaniz]

another "shot" of Red ;)

The lady in the middle (white shirt) is Flo Hathaway. Her hudband Tommy, use to run a twin mercury hull for Red.

[David Alaniz]

They made a movie of Red's life, it was called Hell Flyer with John Wayne playing Red Adair. He was always a friend to Texas Boat Racing...

I first read about Red Adair in Argosy Magazine...then first met him when his Madella lost steering at the 1967 Parker 9 hour and ran ashore...and ran through my parked boats. That was the beginning a long family friendship...

I have a lot of storys about Red. This is just one that showed what kind of person he was.

We were test some different props in Clear Lake one evenning. The Parks and Wildlife officers wanted me but could not catch me. So, they waited at the dock. When I came back in they proceeded to write me a ticket for no TX numbers on the boat. I believe at that time they were not required on a registered race boat. They didn't want any part of that story.

Just so happens Red drove up in his red cady. He asked me what was going on so I explained. He told everyone to hold it a minute. He open the door of his car and starting dialing a number on his car phone. He said hello to John and made some small talk. He quickly explain what was happening. Before you know it he held the phone out to one of the officers and said "your boss wants to talk to you". All I heard the officer said is "yes sir...yes sir....yes sir...yes sir". He gave the phone back to Red and he said good by. The officer closed his pad and wished us a great day.

I asked Red who that was.....Red said it was John Connelly....The Governor of Texas. Now that is a great way to get out of a ticket!

[WharfRat]

LOL, great story there David..........Do you remember when he got hit by a mullet driving his red Fina (I think it was) & had that black eye for at least a week?

[Ron Hill]

Hi Ron,
It has been a long time since we talked. I keep up with you through mutual friends and mutual enemies, too. And, of course the Internet. Enjoyed your article on Parker Enduro in Propeller. Your reference to Red Adair sure brought back some fond memories. Red and Richard Hatteberg drove the ROHO GRANDE, and Boots Hansen and I drove INFERNO. I think that is the year, Richard drove the ROHO GRANDE up on the beach when the steering cable broke and hit a couple of trailers in the pits. I think Boots and I were up to 4th about the 7th hour, blew a pan seal and had to pit every 4 or 5 laps for oil. We had visions of winning, and I think we could have except for the oil leak. I think we finished 8th or 9th. Red was running 8 Webers and we were running 2 X 4's. Also, that was when we used to do a true Lemans start. Line up at the fence, run down and walk the plank and jump in the boat, or have some big guy carry you and throw you in the boat, plug in the piece of copper wire we used as a kill switch, light it up, and leave with the other 100 plus boats. It was a really exciting start! Fun to drive and fun to watch. Was always fun watching Marion Beaver lead that first lap!
Hope our paths cross this year. Best wishes and give my regards to Chad!


Signed,


Duke Waldrup

Add:

Hi Ron,
Look forward to seeing you in Detroit. We all have some great memories. I will dig out some photos sometime. I could not remember the name of the boat Boots and I drove, INFERNO, had to pull out an old picture to look it up before I sent you the email. Mind is going! Mike Reagan was there too, driving TINY TIM with Bill Cooper. Lou Brummett with RAWHIDE. Just thought of that. Great sport!
Cheers,
Duke

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Ron...tell Duke hello. Don't know if he remembers me, but I think I still have one of his hellraiser business cards.;)

And David....When I asked you a couple of weeks ago if you ran in the Houston Channel Derby you related to me how you won your class and who presented you the trophy...etc. I think this would be a good thread to make a few comments about that.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Here is one of Red's ads that appeared in Motorsport. Also one of his boats from the Houston Boat Show. The last ad---all of the advertisers were into boat racing except AJ Foyt.

David, do you have any copies of the publication Larry Muske did articles for? I forget the name of it and he later came over to Motorsport. I never got any copies of his mags.

[David Alaniz]

Ron...tell Duke hello. Don't know if he remembers me, but I think I still have one of his hellraiser business cards.;)

And David....When I asked you a couple of weeks ago if you ran in the Houston Channel Derby you related to me how you won your class and who presented you the trophy...etc. I think this would be a good thread to make a few comments about that.

Let's see....hmmmm......1969, yep, it was overcast, cold, miserable, rough and I was ill dressed to be running the channel derby. But what the heck, I won our class in a single engine checkmate. The big surprise came after it was over. I had to borrow Lee Ricther son's jacket to keep from freezing. (Never heard the last from of that since it was a letter jacket from a rival city school and the picture was in the paper).

Oh, back to the surprise. Since Red Adair was in the process of having the movie made he had two guests to present the trophies, the "Duke", John Wayne, and actress Kathern Ross. I was in awwwwe when he said, "congratulations David". I thought I said something but felt like it came out backwards. Then the "hand" of Ms Ross.....sweet. More mumbling.

The story is not over.........the race was long over and most were gone. Dad was heavily involved with the HGCMA so there were duties. I remember walking around the side of the club house looking at Red Adair's yacht. There he was big as ever. John Wayne stepping up and trying to walk the plank to board Red's yacht. I couldn't believe my eyes. With a drink in one hand he stepped up on the plank. I could see it coming. He was looped. Then it happened, a missed step and the "Duke" was gone. For the life of me, I never saw so many people trying to get him out. He was the "DUKE"! Finally, they managed to pull him up onto the yacht. And....I think he still had his drink in his hand! What a kodak moment. He will always be the "DUKE".

[1169 Crusader]

Bruce lost his foot. He was in a turn & the guy in front & to the outside of him barrell rolled in front of him. When Bruce hit the other boat, his boat stopped & Bruce kept going. Bruces boat (owned by Pete Buczo) didn.t have break away steering & Bruces foot got caught in the dashboard. I helped carry Bruce from the rescue boat to the ambulance & thought how ironic it was that just a few days earlier Buczo had replaced me with Bruce. When Buczo saw Bruce in the stretcher, he had a heart attack.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

When Ron commented about who was driving Red Adair's boat that speared his DeSilva sled, I had to go back and reread the Red Adair thread. As it turns out, there is a mention of Lee Richter in this thread that was reason for me to come back here. This stuff is well worth reading from the beginning. In the second picture posted was Jack Waite, Buck Allen, Slick Johnson and almost cut off all the way to the right was David Alaniz's Dad Pete. Seems to me Slick Johnson also raced stock cars. Maybe Joe Rome might know. All these guys were in his neighborhood.

I had forgotten Duke Waldrop was there. I had last seen him at Ralph Donald's Old Phart's Party at Naples, Florida. It's a good thing to go back and reread some old dormant threads because you will often pickup on things you didn't catch the first time around.

[Ron Hill]

The Slick Johnson I knew boiled shrimp for driver's parties. OMC and Mercury both enjoyed his "Shrimp Boils" so a Galveston, Havasu, Morgan City, LA to name a few race sites, Slick Johnson boiled shrimp for all the teams. These "Shrimp Boils" were more than great. Freshly boiled gulf shrimp was really super eating.

Now, I heard, and have not been able to prove it or disprove it, I heard Slick saw Mercury's power trim on several boats and as a result he invented the "Jaws of Life" using Mercury Outboard's power trim.

I also heard, and have not been able to find the facts for sure, but the Slick Johnson lost his life racing Nationwide stock cars.

I would to know if anyone really knows f these facts are true!

The funniest part of Red Adair's boat running into my DeSilva sled was that TED MAY WAS UNDER THE CAR HOOKING UP THE TAIL LIGHTS, when Red's boat hit, Ted came out from under the car cussing like a sailor. Wanting to know who was moving the car. Then, he saw this Mandella "T-Boning" the DeSilva. I thought Ted was going to go into shock. He was speechless!