Where The Action Is

[Pete Nydahl]

It was the Dub Parker Pro Nationals,held on Lake Parker. The F-888 is Tim Small with a 2 cyl 2 pipe Konig.The other Yale has an altered number on the deck,F808? It looks to have a Konig 700 on it. This may be a boat that Elmer sold to someone? The driver does not look like Jeff Hutchins to me. I'm pretty sure Trebor Billiter won 500 hydro that weekend

[F-12]

I think Tommy Hooten was driving the F-808................and F-12 was Kristy Thompson (Shank).

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I went back to look at other frames and Trebor was pumped up at the win. Reason is it was Dan Kirts who was chasing him and could not beat him. I have a half dozen frames coming around the final turn and the race to the finish, and it was Trebor first and Dan second. One of the frames I posted with two boats cornering and the boat in the back dancing the sponsons was Dan Kirts. I will try to clean up some more negatives and post more of this race.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Some more pictures from Parker Lake 1981 Pro Nationals

[David Weaver]

Malcolm, E-18, won by on time by the slimmest of margins over Gary Pugh (if my memory is correct less than 1 second over 3 heats elapsed time). Look at Chic LaRose's N-33 powerhead. I believe that is a 1969/1970 2 pipe FA which came out before the famous single pipe FA. Dad got 7th with damaged 250 engine and I got a 5th or so in 125cc hydro. My only strength was finishing all 3 heats!! We purchased Greg Hall's trailer at this race.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I was hoping for some comment, especially from Ralph Donald. That first boat doesn't look like one of Ralph's.... looks too long, and without a number I could not think of who was in that boat. I was also not familiar with Phil Wagner racing with long dark sleeves. Tim Butts in the number 7, the familiar 86 of Denny Henderson , and David Westbrook in his new duck taped no.4 hydro.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Just one tonight from the 1981 Nationals at Parker Lake, Lakeland Florida

[Donald]

Wayne, the U 4 belonged to Phil Wagner. David drove it for Phil whenever Phil was able to make a race. Later, Phil let Jeff Hutchens keep the trailer, boat and motor in Florida to make more races. The hydro I was driving, I bought from Lee Sutter after he had won the 350 in Winona, Mn. It was built by Ron Anderson. I blew it over at Lakeland and it was damaged beyond repair. The number 4 hydro is the DeSilva I just donated before it was painted.

[racingfan1]

Wayne , your pictures are amazing. I challenge any person who picks up a digital camera to ATTEMPT to capture what you did with a film camera and lens technology of the day. I still have my film camera and have thought about taking it to a race and shoot a couple rolls through it just to see how I do.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I hate to disagree with you Dale, but there are a number photgraphers who are better than I am. Rusty Rae and the late Reid Blackburn and Paul Simison and HC Clyde from back in the days of film, and Terry Zeimer, Cameraboy and David Alaniz of digital photography of today are better in my opinion. Those digital guys have the composition and timing down. They all have the skills to do what I did with film. One advantage of digital over film is that you have the luxury of a burst of images without running out of film at a critical time, then you can delete the bad or uninteresting stuff. Plus you don't have to worry about crinkling film when loading or having to work with developing with water too hot from the faucet making it hard to get good consistent density and grain. With digital you can also make film look old or different tints with a click of a button. I still love my film cameras, but unfortunately non of the lenses I have from those days will work on my digital Nikon. Thanks for the compliment Dale, but I think a lot of the acclaim I get from people is that I was taking pictures at a time of so many great legends and boat and motor advances in a time where there were race courses all over the country and big fields in almost all classes. Pit pictures are a big reason too, and are my favorites.

[smittythewelder]

But knowing WHAT to shoot is one of your big advantages, Wayne, and your candid shots of the guys and gals working in the pits or at the scorers' table or just gabbing is something no outsider, no local newspaper photog, is going to think of, however technically skilled he might be. Maybe like some others from out of your area, I never met most of the people in your photos, but I knew OF them, so they seem like something more than just strangers to me. My old BSH buddy Rusty Rae did a similar thing with his images of the Stock guys.

As to film versus digital, it seems to me that different skills are emphasized. I have a pal who is a professional photographer (used to shoot motorcycle roadracing), and I am in awe of his editing facility with Photoshop (or whatever program), which seems to be an essential with digital. OTOH, I used to go to Seattle Totems ice hockey games fifty years ago and glance over in the outside corner of the rink at Bob Carver with his big Speed Graphic (maybe even without motor-drive), and watch him wait and wait for THE SHOT. Any old Region 10 racer will tell you about Carver's ability to watch a field of boats, judge the likelihood of each for doing something dramatic, and anticipate THE SHOT. I think film particularly put a premium on that skill of anticipation, as well as of framing and composition. For my money, Wayne, you got all of those skills down!!

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Thanks Smitty, I appreciate your kind words. After Dale submitted a couple of photos by e mail to me explaining what he meant, I have reexamined my original post. You have just hit on what I was trying to figure out how to explain it Smitty.....THE SHOT. There was a famous B&W photographer from France...I think his name (what he went by) was Cartier-Bresson. He was famous for taking the picture at the exact moment before something happened. For instance a well dressed man looking askance at Cartier Bresson the moment before his highly polished shoes stepped into a puddle of mud. Bob Carver was one of the guys I thought about, but didn't mention his name. He was a master like you say Smitty. He had less film to work with for covering a heat than I did. Yet he always captured the moment. His photos are monumental in Unlimited boat racing history, and everything he did was without autofocus or built in light meters. I have some magazines that specialize in his photos.

What I was thinking about since Dale sent me the email was that the first four guys I mentioned did with film with what I did because they were there before and during my time and did it better than I could. Partly because I was racing and stuck in the pits. I couldn't move around when the sun changed in the afternoon and became very harsh and contrasty. I couldn't get into a boat in a corner, or move to a better spot for photos in a corner. All I had was my motor drive Nikon and a 500mm lens to get what I could from the pits. That's why I did a lot of roaming around the pits before a race with my 24mm and 135mm lenses for the pits shots.

The digital photographers I mentioned, and I left Jean out, but I think they are so equally dedicated photographers that I think they would have done the same quality work without having the computerized cameras to figure out focus, exposure etc. They know their composition, and since they are dedicated boat racers, I think they have a pretty good idea on when is a good time to snap a photo. They do have the luxury though of spinning through a lot of action and picking out the best. That is a plus. On divisionals or championship race I shot between 300 to 500 frames. On local races it was around 100. I had to develop all that myself and that took time and took it's toll on mistakes. With the digital cameras you don't have to worry about that, so there are possibly many more good images to choose from, but I still say the Cream of the Crop could do it.

[smittythewelder]

Black and white darkroom work used to be kind of fun. My dad had been a photographer's assistant while in high school in the Thirties, and kept his hand in as an occasional hobbyist, and I sometimes served as his darkroom assistant, mixing the D-76 or Dektol, running the enlarger or print-box, even trying to pull the exposed Plus-X or Royal X Pan (sort of an early Tri-X) out of its cartridge slowly enough not to get that static discharge that could fog the film before you ever got to look at it. Yeah, kind of a treat . . . .

But developing "300 to 500 shots," Wayne?? Mercy!!!

[Master Oil Racing Team]

It's not as bad as I guess it sounds the way I put it Smitty. At the Nationals I usually exposed 12 to 18 rolls of black & white film and processed them in a stainless steel tank that I could do 5 at a time. The real problem was that in South Texas the water was too hot to process at the ideal 68 degrees. Our water came out of the tap in the summertime at around 75 degrees. I would chill the developer down to 70, the have the stop bath around 71-72, then the fixer around 73-74, then the clearing agent and rinse at ambient temperature. For those not familiar with film processing, the hotter the developing bath, the faster the image develops. Their is a chart to figure out how long a particular film in a particular developer needs for complete development. The problem with going it too fast can result in overdevelopment as well as uneven development and too much contrast. But if you develop the film at one temperature and then a significant change in temperature for the rest of the process, it can cause the colloid in the film to expand or contract, thus ruining the images. So that was the real problem. And then I printed each roll on a contact sheet which is 8 X 10 photo paper on which the film strips are laid, then tiny photos of the frame size are printed. So when I say 300-500 frames Smitty, I only meant I developed them. I only printed and developed the prints in Dektol or Microdol X that I wanted. That's where digital is really handy. You can shoot a thousand frames and save only the ones you want to keep, and do it before you even leave the race course to come home. You skip the development and just go straight to the computer to do any editing, and that's instantaneous also.

I liked reading about your darkroom experiences Smitty. I really like doing B&W. Color's too much trouble. ten times more so than B&W. You are right about the static discharge. I used to open a cartridge, then touch a corner of the leader to a metal developing tank to discharge any electrical charge that might be built up before loading the film onto a spool.

[racingfan1]

I was fortunate to have a science teacher in junior high school that had an interest in photography. He started a photography club in which we had a darkroom and we learned to do our own film development. I learned a lot in his class and that club. He put us in a lot of different situations where you learned to set up your camera to the situation presented. He would have us take a picture and then he would take one with his setting to show us the difference.

I still have my film camera and have thought about bringing it out just to see how I would do. I guess I could do the same with digital just set it to one shot and see how it goes. I would hate to use film with today's camera technology. The Canon 7d mkii body i have is capable of 11 frames a second , sure could burn through a lot of film that way.

[Ron Hill]

In 1962, the 91 Freeway bought my parent's home. I had lived there for 18 years. We moved to Garden Grove, June 1962, where I knew no one.

I soon realized there were more girls in my neighborhood than boys and most of these girls were my age. Bill Boyes used to love coming down to see me.

One girl I dated and really liked, also dated Steve Martin. At the time, I didn't know who Steve Martin was and nobody else did either. This girl, "LINDA" would tell me I was the second funniest guy she knew, which pissed me off in those days.

Steve had dog named "**** HEAD" which I thought was a "DUMB NAME".

Anyway, by summer's end, I knew a ton of people in Garden Grove.

I enrolled at Orange Coast College and Jimbo moved in with us. The first year was not that fun, as there were many "War Babies" and over crowded classes. Jimbo's mom's restaurant was doing poorly, so he moved home to Needles.

By mid year, my second year, I realized I could graduate (two year college) but needed some elective credits.

My friends said, "Take photography, it is a fun class".

So I signed up for photography. The teacher said, "Are you Russ Thrill's brother?" Then he said, "I mean, Russ Hill's brother?" He said he and Russ had been friends at Long Beach State. This sounded good!

I checked out a camera. After the first day, I decided to figure out what "Depth Perception was".

So, I'm walking across campus...and I see this girl that lived on my street that everyone called "The Garden Grove Statue Symbol" because just dating her gave you status. (SHE WAS AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL, TOO, her name was Lynn but she would give Natalie Wood a run for her money.) I had seen here many times when I was driving home but had no reason to talk to her.

So, now I have a camera. I see her walking along. I go, "Hey listen, I need to take some pictures for 'depth perception'". She says, "Don't you live down the street from me?" I say, "Yes, and I know who you are, you are the Garden Grove 'Statue Symbol'"

She says, I never heard I was the "Garden Grove Status Symbol". I say, "Well, you are and everyone knows it...."

So, I take a few pictures and tell he I'll bring them by so she can see them.

Well, in 1963, having a 8 X 10 of your head is pretty cool. The Status symbols and I date til January 1967.

So, I go off to college in Arizona, they give me credit for Photography as art for teachers.

Oh, on the side bar, there were a few other girls that I took pictures of, they all loved the 8 X 10 head shots.

I fell in love easy and often in those days!

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I took a semester of photography when I was a junior in high school, then again in college in my last semester I took a photography class again. Both were elective classes as there were no other interesting classes to get the hours I needed. Here is the girl I picked as lead of my depth perception assignment. And you are correct about the 8 X 10 head shots. Here is one of my first true love. This may have been an assignment for head shots. Can't remember.

[racingfan1]

Is that somebody's box camera laying on the ground in the first picture Wayne?

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Yes Dale. It belongs to the guy in the middle. To the right of the girl on the end is another one. They were all in my photography class and we were outside shooting an assignment. The first girl also has one, probably on the ground too. These were all the same cameras provided by the class. They were double lens reflex cameras and you look down the top to focus. The top lens is the one you focus through and the film is exposed through the bottom lens. You had to take this into account when taking closeups because what you saw through the lens is about two inches higher than what the actual photo will be. The image is also backwards on the focusing lens and utilized a rangefinder system. That is you see a double image and when you turn the knob to bring the two images together, then the focus is correct. No light meter. That's where you learn to bracket shots to make sure you got an image with the correct density. All Texas colleges and high schools used the same camera. Think it was a Rolliflex and I guess they had the contract.

[smittythewelder]

My dad had an old Ikoflex like that; different film format, "two-and-a-quarter-square" rather than 35mm. Shot lots of what ultimately became color slides with it. I felt a little, what, dorky using that camera, and had a little trouble getting the full attention of a subject because you hold the camera at chest-level and look down into a ground glass to focus. Seemed more natural to bring an SLR in front of your face, and the subject knew your were just about to take the shot, and not to blink or rub her nose or whatever.

"I fell in love easy and often in those days," oh Ron, cracks me up!! But in my case, I might put that as, "The gals sure had me jumping through a lot of hoops in those days!" IF ONLY I could have been one of the cool guys that can make THEM jump through hoops, LOL.

. . . and did photography for PLAYBOY, oh, man!!!


Whoa, here's a fresh example of getting THE SHOT:
http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forums/showthread.php?18523-250CCH-Heat-1-start&p=155288#post155288

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I just remembered that the cameras we were assigned were not Rolliflexes, which were top of the line cameras from the 20's on, but Yashica D's. But they were twin lenses like the Rolliflexes and yes, same a you, you had to look down into the ground glass viewfinder. And they were that same 2 1/4 square format also. It took a little getting used to taking pictures of race boats because the bow of the boat faced left as I panned to the right while focusing. Through the viewfinder, the boat was aiming the opposite direction from where it really was going. The film had a paper backing which had to be removed prior to loading on the reel for processing. Peeling the tape from the film which held the paper in place would cause a fluorescent static discharge if you pulled too fast. The roll of film held 12 frames. That picture you linked to is a great one. What I would do to make it even better is crop out everything else except the boats. It would really be a crowded looking shot in a race.

[racingfan1]

My dad had an old Ikoflex like that; different film format, "two-and-a-quarter-square" rather than 35mm. Shot lots of what ultimately became color slides with it. I felt a little, what, dorky using that camera, and had a little trouble getting the full attention of a subject because you hold the camera at chest-level and look down into a ground glass to focus. Seemed more natural to bring an SLR in front of your face, and the subject knew your were just about to take the shot, and not to blink or rub her nose or whatever.

"I fell in love easy and often in those days," oh Ron, cracks me up!! But in my case, I might put that as, "The gals sure had me jumping through a lot of hoops in those days!" IF ONLY I could have been one of the cool guys that can make THEM jump through hoops, LOL.

. . . and did photography for PLAYBOY, oh, man!!!


Whoa, here's a fresh example of getting THE SHOT:
http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forums/showthread.php?18523-250CCH-Heat-1-start&p=155288#post155288

While I was lucky to get that shot it certainly isn't the most in focus shot.

I have been working on using back button focus which is assigning the auto focus to a different button other than the shutter button which is used only to take the picture. When at a race I usually carry two cameras a Canon 7D with a 17-55 and Canon 7D mkII with a 100-400. The mkii I has been using this spring at baseball games and track meets and have programmed the auto focus to the back button , but the other body I had not done that yet. So at the start of that race I was to close for the 100-400 and quickly switched to the other camera , hit the back button to focus, which I did not program , and hit the shutter button which where the auto focus still was. It didn't have time to gain clear focus so it isn't the best shot. A valuable lesson learned and it has been corrected.

I am using Lightroom as my photo processing software and it is really good , it can fix most things except focus. I can even scan old pictures and negatives and run it through Lightroom to correct scratches and orther problems. I love that software.

I took this at Pleasent Prairie in the fall of 2015 , a much better shot.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

That is excellent Dale. There is nothing wrong with that focus. And I like the cropping. It's got all the action..all the colors...and all the drivers are focused on speed. Rich's lead is a big advantage, but with everyone hammer down doesn't mean he will come out of the corner in the lead. Probably will, but the photo shows some fierce competition and Brinkman might tuck in behind if the others push hard right to the turn. A very good shot Dale.

[racingfan1]

I think I have a hydro start very similar to this Wayne. I was standing on top of the Prop Riders trailer which was right at the edge of the water at the start/finish line. That shooting down on instead of across the water made for some neat pictures.

[DeanFHobart]

Did anyone ever use a Hasselblad?

[Master Oil Racing Team]

You're causing me to reach way back in my memory Dean, but I think Hasselblad replaced the Rolliflex as the preferred medium format camera in the sixties or maybe earlier. I never used one, but my cousin took many very fine pictures with one. It was excellent for portraits, landscapes, commercial work, but not for sports as the 35mm format was the choice by photographers needing a lightweight, fast camera with plenty of exposures per roll.

[smittythewelder]

Who used Hasselblads? The rich guys! That was the Mercedes Benz of cameras in its day.

I had a succession of fairly primitive old things until I finally got a slightly used Minolta SR-2 35mm SLR with a couple of lenses, good lenses, which was something new for me, and the potential of the camera was well beyond the skills or imagination of the photographer.

That model was the last Minolta that called for you to carry an exposure meter around on your neck with all the other stuff. The first of those I had was a hand-me-down from my dad, from the Forties, metal case, must've weighed a couple of pounds, LOL. All these kids with their tiny digitals and camera phones ought to have to carry an old exposure meter around for a week, for educational purposes. Oh, and carry one of the old, heavy, all steel tripods around on their shoulder, watching for a place to set up. That was another of my dad's hand-me-down "gifts." Yet that steel tripod was so stable, I liked using it (not carrying it) more than the newer aluminum tripod and unipod I got later, and I still have it, gathering dust in a closet. Besides camera work, it makes a wonderful base for a strong binoculars or spotting scope.

Older guys will recall that one of the minor but good little camera-related developments of the late-Sixties was camera shops selling woven fabric neck-straps and shoulder-straps for cameras and other gear that were a couple inches wide, to replace the skinny little leather straps that came with the equipment. Seems like I usually had three or four objects slung around my neck when I went to shoot pictures in those days. Now all I have is a little Panasonic digital I bought 10-12 years ago, weighs nothing, drops in a jacket pocket, automatically adjusts for everything. I don't do anything you could call photography any more, and use this unit for such things as sequence shots of a transmission I'm rebuilding in case the job drags on and I forget how things go together.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I should clarify my statement regarding the Hasselblad Smitty. It was a status camera for the rich for sure, but I was referring to the professional guys. These were the famous photograpers taking pictures of famous people, the portrait guys who needed a great camera outside the studio, the architects, commercial photographers, etc that make money and the camera was a tool. They could write off the expenses related to the Hasselblads and lenses.

You're exactly right on the straps Smitty. They were the best cheapest investment out there to improve photo taking. Those wide straps took a load off your shoulders and neck. And they were much easier to install than those skinny leather straps that you had to be a sailor to figure out how to thread them through the D rings and back through the loops on the strap to adjust them or to keep them from slipping.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Here are a few more from the Pro Nationals at Lake Parker in 1981. I didn't take many photos then only three rolls of B&W. I hand rolled my own and they usually averaged 36 frames, except when the 100 foot roll ran out and it could be ten to twenty or so frames on a roll. I had to do some editing on the computer to make these OK.

[racingfan1]

The second picture is Rod Walk V-35 , Jack Kugler V-100 but who is the F-20?

[Donald]

F 20 was Dub Parker's number, but this was the Dub Parker memorial race after Dub had died in a plane crash the year before. I don't remember how his boat got there, maybe it was sold, but it looks like Jeff Hutchens driving it.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I think you are right Ralph about Jeff driving it. I was wondering myself about that. Since I never made any contact sheets of the film from this race, I can't tell what is on the frames until I scan them. That one was a surprise, and one of the reasons I posted it is because I didn't know why the F 20 was in the field. Sadly Jeff is no longer with us either so we can't ask him.

[tim townsend]

F-20 was still Dubs boat. Billie Parker and my father-law Bill Hosler wanted to run Dubs boat at his memorial race in his honor, but two days before the race Bill threw his back out and wasn't able to drive so they let me run for him . Jeff Hutchins was driving for Phil Wagner that weekend. You can always tell when Jeff drives, he had the black wetsuit on. Also a Trevor Billiter story: Roy Miner made a few props for us to try the week before the race. So we tested the props and both agreed the best prop happen to be the same one, which was odd being he ran 500h an I ran formula 350. Roy wouldn't sell it to us. He said just share it. So we did and Trevor won 500h for his first national win . Tim

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Thanks for telling how it went Tim. Everybody was proud of Trevor that day. I hope you can add more stories about your racing down there. You guys were always high point in region 5 because you ran so many races. Two sanctioned races in one weekend sometimes. But you did have very many good drivers. We always had fun racing at Lakeland, but it was too far for us to make the Grapefruit circuit. Have many good friends from there. Lots of the best in the nation came out of Region 5. Give us some more stories Tim.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

A few more pictures from Lake Parker.

I sometimes slowed the shutter to get the illusion of speed when panning. I tried this on the photo of V100, but the driver was out of focus. I decided to include it because the bow handle and a couple of feet of the nose are in focus. It shows how shallow the depth of field is with a long lens focused close.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Probably the last of Lake Parker.

[David Weaver]

Dave...who is this? Hinton Pro Nationals 1977.

Forgot if I answered, but this(E-9) Don Woods from West Virginia in either a 500 or 700.

[dave dalton]

I still have these pipes...

[dave dalton]

To clarify..The red pipes on Glen's # 41 Tunnel 500 green boat

[Jungle Jim]

I remember back in 1979 at Dayton Ohio had a chance to meet the whole Hutchin's family they were all down to earth. It was one of the largest race nationals I had ever experienced Jim Lee 79CE, DSH

[Mark40H]

The V-26 boat is Jeff Vancil from Quincy,IL.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I was looking for some old photos for Steve and Tommy Wetherbee. Found some, but thought I would post this that I came across of a different point of view. A going away picture of myself at a race in front of my Dad's house in 1971.