An Amazing Story: Part 3

[Mark75H]

We pick up where Wayne left off on An Amazing Story: Part2 (http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forums/showpost.php?p=62083&postcount=558)

New posts for the thread will run here and I'll make a simplified cover thread to direct viewers to the earlier sections instead of cluttering up the forum with stuck threads. The threads stuck at the top will only be the current running thread and the cover thread.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

...I only have to finish up 1980, then do 1981 with a few extra comments. I was sure Part 2 would be enough, but we got into some interesting sidebars.:cool:

To continue the race at Yelm quoting from my notes. "I had debated about changing the lower unit before the first heat, but knowing how a change untested can effect a racing boat, I left the (this) one on it. I didn't feel like switching between heats because of the miserable weather although I knew the failure rate would be very high because of the abuse in the first heat. I didn't change oil either." I could kick myself for not getting out there and changing it, but that's the way it was. The 1:1 lower units were the ones that gave us the most problems.

Dick Rautenberg broached his boat coming into the start of heat 2. Dick was a very good driver so I suspect something gave up. Normally the race would have been stopped so I slowed down looking for the black flags. They didn't come out and I didn't get on full power until after crossing the starting line.

I got to the first turn in a very vulnerable position to get wet down, but I checked the other boats out and stayed inside. I tip-toed through the turn and came out fourth or fifth. I accelerated out of the turn and passed most of the ones ahead of me. I overtook the second place boat just before turn three. My pipes got jammed while I was chasing the leader Howard Anderson. As hard as I had been pounding down those corners, the bracket or something moved to the point that I could not slide pipes anymore. I had figured on passing Howard on the back straight on lap three. I didn't know where "Fireball" de Souza was but I knew that a first and a third would beat two seconds. So I pressed hard to catch and pass Howard.

Just before entering the first turn on lap three something didn't feel right. A quarter way through the turn the motor revved up as if I sheared a pin. I immediately eased off the throttle and it felt as if the pressed on gear had spun on the drive shaft then welded itself to the drive shaft. The prop grabbed and the motor was again under a load. I applied more throttle and gingerly came out of the turn and made it down the back straight. I didn't know at the time that de Souza had lost a plug wire and was cruising in last place. Had I known that I would have not pushed so hard and would have been running just hard enough to keep everything together and enough points to win. I could have won the nationals with just a fifth place. The unit might have given up anyway but pushing hard just made it happen sooner. As I was coming up on the exit bouy of turn four and close to beginning the final lap, the unit gave up. It cost me a national championship, but I give that up for the ride I got in the first heat.:D

[Master Oil Racing Team]

....and it's good. Next time she stirs up some Johnsonville italian sausages with sauteed peppers and onions, I'll take pictures and give the recipe. Really good.

The next day we had the 48mm carb 700cc motor on Vibora de Cascabel for a record attempt. We still had Marshall Grant's D with us, which I think at that time was still the more powerful engine, but we could not shut off the water. I think it was coming between the sleeve and block at an exhaust port and not at one of the heads.

I got a good start this time but the motor wouldn't accelerate very good. Going into turn one on lap three the water hose came off the front cylinders and it lost power. I checked over my right shoulder to make sure I didn't cut in front of anyone and drove straight ahead into the pits where we began swapping back to Marshall's old "F". We had previously put on another 1:1 lower unit on it. We had just completed rigging it up in time for the record attempt.

We had our Kilo Seebold D wheel on it which worked good when the pipes could slide, but we weren't able to free the pipes enough to be assurred they would work underway. So we tied them all the way forward. It accelerated very slowly with this setup, but we had no choice as we needed top end. I got a great start and ended up with a new 1 1/4 mile record at 84.484. Had we been able to slide the pipes I estimated the record could have been 86-87. I noted further in my notes that "If I would have been well excercised & not have(ing) tired out & been able therefore to hold the boat on the bouys, I believe I could have averaged 88-89 mph". I used to excercise everyday and drive down the road squeezing a gripper tool to keep my throttle and steering wheel grip in shape. I had gotten away from the habit and it hurt our performance.

[Steve de Souza]

Great story and good times. The one thing about the 1100 CC hydro, which was a 850 Merc, was it was not always the fastest in the country - but it never broke. I believe it went 30 straight wins at it's peak. Steve

[Master Oil Racing Team]

That is always the secret to winning Steve. Don't break. No matter how fast you are, you can't put the title in your pocket with one heat. Was that you that I was chasing?

[Master Oil Racing Team]

That was an incredible string of victories for that rig Steve. Do you have any photos of it? We don't get enough photos out of the Northwest which is a very historical region of boat racing. When J Dub mentioned Ralph Hildebrand rode deck for Howard Anderson, I went to the rosters I had to see if I had any pics from then. I could only find some with Howard Shaw riding deck, but I was holding my breath when I discovered Gerry Walin rode deck for Ralph Hildebrand at DePue in 1974. I was very disappointed I couldn't come up with any. Not to take anything away from Ralph, but Gerrry was one of my boat racing heroes when I was growing up. I have only a couple of pictures of him and I hoped to find one of Gerry in 1100 runabout.

Hey Ray....here's a pic for you of Bob Rhoades waiting for the 5 minute gun at DePue in 1972.

Also included is a pic of that F motor we bought from Marshall Grant. This pic was taken when Billy Seebold drove his last Pro Nationals for Marshall at DePue in 1972. You might think a dual rotary valve engine was very temperamental with lots of rotary valve problems. It wasn't. The problems were blowing lower units and breaking props. The rotary valve housings were offset with the outside one about a belt width higher than the inside. The belts actually touched when running. When a belt popped, it was almost always when the motor was started. Then the motor would run, but would slobber out the open side where the valve stopped. It was a rare thing for it to happen though. It did happen when we cranked it for the second heat of the Nationals at Winona however. I set a record in the first heat and it was the first time an outboard broke 80 on a 1 1/4 mile course.

The rotary valves both turned clockwise of course, but if you look through a carb just as the valve begins to close, and slowly turn the flywheel, you can look past the crank to the other side and see the opposite rotary valve turning counterclockwise from where you are looking. It was really a marvelous engine and put together very well as was Marshall Grant's standard.

[Steve de Souza]

If you finished second - yes it was. If you would have got to me I may not have been able to hold you off, all though I could make that boat very wide if needed. I also very seldom ran faster than I needed to to win to save the equipment- so back to that day - there might have been more speed left if needed.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I hear you Steve. You didn't get 30 straight with that rig without some winning strategies.:cool:;) Like you, I found it was best to back off when in a good lead to save the equipment. However, Charlie Bailey knew that too and suckered me in several good times for a fun race to the finish.:D The only times I ever pushed to the limit when in a strong lead was for records or single boat two lap qualifying heats, or if I had to beat a boat that looked lie might tie in points.

It's been too long for me to remember what your boat looked like Steve. Sure wish you could post a picture, but if not....what was your number? Do you still recall the disappointment of that second heat and what happened? I had written in my notes that a plug wire came off, but I've been known to make a mistake sometimes on what happened to a motor.

[ferv888ipba]

Hey Wayne,
Thanks for the picture, the guy up in Idaho was blown away from the pictures of Bob in his "younger" days doing the crazy.

Thanks and see you in a few days.

Ray

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I'm looking forward to it Ray. I will be getting in Wednesday night. Bill Van and Eilleen are leaving tommorrow. He will be tagging up with Ralph Donald and Mike Ward this weekend, then heading on over. Still have a lot to do to get ready. Am way behind on getting the photos printed I want to get autographed. I think maybe I will ask Joe when he wants a report and I will give him a call when you, Gene, Charley and some others are hanging loose so he can talk to you.

[Gene East]

Norma and I will be getting in late Thursday.
Charley and I have been trying hard to get Alan Ishii to come, but I got an email from him today saying he can't make it.
I know Ray is disappointed too.
Sure would love for Joe and Alan to be there.

[ferv888ipba]

Yes, unfortunately for us, neither Joe nor Alan will be there. I get in late Thurs. afternoon into Tampa and then will be driving over.

Should be a great weekend of racing and vistiing with everyone.

Ray

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Well....we had fun guys... didn't we.:cool:

Back to the story

Fred Hauenstein had given me an update of what was going on in Europe a not quite two weeks earlier. John Hill had won the OE World Championships followed by Michael Werner and Renato Molinari. Molinari won ON with Mark Wilson finishing second, but he didn't give the the name of the Italian who finished third. Roadovanovich from Yugoslavia was fourth. OZ was coming up the next weekend. In other news Fred talked about what was going on with the overseas racing. He said Gary Garbrecht was down in North Carolina with Reggie Fountain, Seeboold was still under contract with Mercury. Will sit out the recession and OMC will take care of Cees Van der Velden in OZ.

So when I called him September 16 about who won OZ, I didn't write it down. Joe Rome called me that same day to tell me that Tim went through the kilos at Kaukauna at 108 without pulling the pipes. They were rained out the next day.

Then I talked to Gloria Urban at APBA headquarters about the kilos scheduled for Waco. I asked about the rumour of APBA withdrawing from UIM the next year. She said she would ask John Love about it and he would call back. The info came from a story that appeared in Powerboat & Waterskiing. This was the days before fax machines and E mail so I told John I would send him a copy and he would contact Stan Fitts to check out the story and inferences. I could probably find that article if I had my P&W's organized.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

October 10 we worked on the motor for the kilos at Waco.

October 11 we had the Annual APBA District 15 meeting in Austin, Texas at a Ramada Inn overlooking Town Lake. That was where the 200 mph barrier was cracked a few years earlier by a blown fuel hydro. E.E. "Baldy" Baldwin was elected chairman with Bill Grammar Vice-Chairman. Frances Grammer was elected the Secretary/Treasurer.

Board of Directors elected were Jim Gordon, Louis Collins, Tim Butts, Rick Clausen. The following were elected representives of the their respective categories.

Wayne Baldwin--PRO
Pete DeLackner--Stock
Duke Waldrop--OPC
Dr. William C. Triplett--Region Doctor (He was also APBA doctor for many years)
James Stanfield--Inboard

Then on the 13th I got word that Dieter made a new A and C motor. Karelson built a laydown hydro for Jim McKean, and Elmer Grade won. Won what?:confused: My notes don't say. :mad: Oh well...now I know 28 years later that I can't depend on a few scribblings to refresh my memory.;):D

[David Weaver]

October 10 we worked on the motor for the kilos at Waco.


Then on the 13th I got word that Dieter made a new A and C motor. Karelson built a laydown hydro for Jim McKean, and Elmer Grade won. Won what?:confused: My notes don't say. :mad: Oh well...now I know 28 years later that I can't depend on a few scribblings to refresh my memory.;):D


Elmer won the PRO VP position? I believe that he held this post for a couple years around this time until maybe 1982 or so.

DW

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Duh...! You're right David. I forgot about the mid season election I had written about previously. Seems like a long time for a runup to an election.:rolleyes: We elected him to finish Mel Kirts' term, then turned around two months later to elect him for the first term of his own.

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

Wayne:

You are still just a "little" confused. Remember our phone call regards the appointment of a PRO VP after Mel's death?? This was when the appointment of a non-PRO person was going to be made to fill out Mel's term left vacant by his death, and when that became known, noises were made to keep the PRO VP a PRO person. Hence, Ralph Donald, a previous VP, was appointed to fill out the Mel's unfinished term. The the NEXT election was when Elmer was elected as a write in. He did not get thru the nomination process by region chairman in time to be on the ballot, and ran as a write in and won.

Obviously a loss of protein problem again, and in the same area too!!

[Master Oil Racing Team]

O.K. Bill Van....You got me there. I might have some more recall on snippets from 30 years ago than a page long memo from three months ago.:confused: As I think I recall, you were talked into running because there was another party (not to be named) that we didn't want as VP. After Elmer was drafted, we all joined behind him, including YOU. Then after Elmer won, and the results were published, my Dad offered you a 45 caliber Smith & Wesson when you came down to visit. You asked why he offered it & he said "No more votes than you got...you better carry this.";):D That was part of your relationship with my Dad. Both you guys got off on the kidding. I don't remember where I saw it, but somewhere I noted that you had dropped out so we could all put our support toward Elmer. So what I want to know is...how much walkin' 'round money did it cost for your few votes?;) Ray Hardy might have voted twice. Once in Illinois and once (maybe twice) in Texas. Actually, being from Chicago.... Ray may have provided the bulk of your votes.;):D

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

Wayne:

Actually being from Chicago, Ray probably voted 15 or 20 times.

I got a grand total of about 60 votes the way I remember the situation, which was very surprising to me, because as you said I only ran to provide opposition to someone who others felt they could support, but who would have been elected, as at that point (a month or so before the election) they were the only one to follow the rule book procedure which called for nominations by region chairman, which was how you got on the ballot at that time. Mel would probably have had the job as long as he wanted it, as he was someone who could rally everyone behind his proposals, and he was smart enough to know what he didn't know about leading the PRO Category. The same feeling did not exist for the one candidate that got nominated following his death at the next election time.

So if you count Ray's 20 votes, and subtract them from the 60 I got, and then add in the support I had from the general midwest where I was (started to say "known" better) somewhat notorious, and then the Texas vote which your Dad rallied for me, he being the one whose idea it was for me to run in the first place, I probably got about 40. Maybe less if Ray really stuffed the ballot box.

Anyway it was fun, irritated certain folks,(that pleased me immensely) and also I must say that the best man finally was convinced to run, and won, who was Elmer Grade of course, and he did a great job as PRO VP for a number of years. All in all, it worked out just the way your Dad and I wanted.

I seem to remember assisting him was my "penance" for talking him into an apology he really did not want to make at the National Meeting in Chicago prior to Mel's death. If you want, you can tell that story. I keep enough stuff stirred up in my old age as it is.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Some interesting times Bill Van. Too bad Ray and my Dad aren't still around. Just think of all the BS we could be reading.:D:cool:

The Kilos at Waco were held on the Brazos River on October 18 and 19, 1980. I got a call from Johnny Lattimer about some photos on the the 20th. I don't know of any that I took, unless they are part of the undeveloped film. It may be that Johnny took the photo I have hanging on my wall. If not, I don't know who took it.

We just made the one two way pass, and after Tim Butts blew over, we rigged our stuff down and helped get his rig apart and stowed away. We guessed wrong on our set up and didn't have near enough tuck. Same problem we had at Yelm, but we thought we had made enough adjustment. As usual, we ran our competition setup with a regular Konig foot, but with maybe 10mm in. We had been racing kicked in 6mm. The water was too slick though. I wasn't sure how fast we were going during the run, but I ran it about as close to the edge I figured I could get away with, but wasn't able to pull the pipes all the way up. I thought we could get an idea of where we were, then make adjustments for the next run. After Tim's deal though, we just rigged down.

[ferv888ipba]

Wow,
Talk about prop riding, HOLY BUCKETS!!!!!:eek::eek:

Great photo.

Great to see you at Lake Alfred Wayne. It was not quite, but almost another reunion.

Ray

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

Wayne:

As Ray mentioned in his post, that is a DANDY picture. You hardly ever see boats being run that high and loose in this day and time, even at Kilo trials.

It brings to mind a question that I have had in my mind for quite some time. Do you think that the reason you don't see pictures like that with all the air under the boat these days is because of a slow down in boat design since Tim quit building boats all those many years ago, drivers are more cautious these days because of the higher horsepower motors availiable today, or the higher horsepower motors of today don't require such "loose" attitudes to attain the speeds required to break existing records. Of course Kilo runs are not as numerous these days either, for a variety of reasons, lack of suitable water and funds versus the amount of competitors availiable to pay the tab being among the ones I have seen written here. It also seems the locations that used to sponsor and sanction Kilos like Moorehaven in Fl., and Kaukauna, Wi., have not had them for quite some time now. Possible the number of folks that used to do the work putting them on has changed along with more emphasis on oval racing, again possible due to the speed capable of being attained with engines of the present.

Maybe what is between the drivers ears has evolved also, and the dangers of higher speeds capable today has slowed the interest in Kilos, like it did in the Lakeland course. Just wondering about your thoughts about this subject.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

No Bill Van, I don't believe there is a slow down in boat design. In fact, I think that boat design has evolved as it always has to accomodate the increasing horsepower of engines. Tim's designs came along at a time when the boats ran out of stability due to primarily exhaust sytem horsepower increases in my opinion. The hydros were about at their limit then. You could build a longer boat to handle the straightaway speeds, but they didn't take the corners as well. The two major areas where Tim's boats were revolutionary were in cornering and taking away the leverage of lift from way in front of the cockpit and moving it back closer to center where it was more forgiving.

In the big hydros I think the enclosed cockpits have made for a more aerodynamic boat that runs clean without having to fly so high. I never drove one, but I saw the dramatic affect from just putting a rear cowling on a boat that was built before that design came about. It was Tim's first CDF boat he built. At 100 on the Keller, I could barely keep it on the water. With the cowling I could show 107 and the sponsons dropped to only a couple of inches off the water. I think a major contributing factor to being able to run so fast and clean is due to the multiblade cleavers with 3 to 5 blades. I only ran one three blade prop during my career, but it so changed the handling it completely settled the boat down. I can't say for sure that my ideas are correct, having not run any of these new breeds, but after having been in a turn watching at Lake Alfred, these boats are a completely different style from what we ran and they don't need to fly the bow to be quick. With the power they have it would be dangerous to try to do that. It's merely evolution and I think the boat builders of today are doing an extremely good job. I just wish I could watch those top hydros run once a month.:cool:

I don't believe anything has evolved between the drivers ears. Once you have made laps on the edge in a 700cc hydro, nothing else can compete. These guys live for that and that will never change. Oh how much fun it would be to be able to strap on a top hydro and put it through its paces.:D

[F-12]

Careful what you wish for, Wayne............I hear the gears turning in the heads of about 10 Top Hydro owners that would love to see you making some fast laps in one of their boats................

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

Wayne:

I think from your answer you and I are thinking along the same lines, although it might not seem like it at first glance. I should have been more specific in the area of the boat design I was speaking about. If you look at boat bottoms today, they are not as radical in the lift and hook curves as the boats that Tim built were. I would certainly agree that the prop advances over the last 25 years have had a good degree to do with speed advancing as it has since that time, although the props would not have done it by themselves unless the horsepower in the engines was there. I certainly agree that with present prop design (or at least as far as it had gone when I quit driving myself) certainly did a lot to settle the boat down while allowing faster speeds due to advances in motor and boat design. Multi-blade props could be run so much higher without blowing out or spinning out in the corner, which in turn increased speed. That being said, the main thrust of my comments was pointed towards the fact that boat bottoms, at first glance anyway and without putting a straight edge in them, do not seem to be as radical in shape today, as Tim's boats were in theirs compared to others of the day like the Marchetti, Byers, R&D, etc. In other words, the bottom design does not have to be as radical today to achieve tremendous speed compared to the boats of the 70's.

[David Weaver]

I grew up marvelling at Malcom Hardin floating his 250 Butts.

But, I am glad that I can run fast today without having to float so high at the nose. If you can see it, this Pugh comes off the water, but the nose is only marginally higher than the rear of the boat. The boat pretty much lifts evenly front to back. I have noticed that 3 blade propellers will lift the nose much more than a 4 or 5 blade. That could be my boat, but I believe in general that the 3-blade props from the 1980's and 1990's had a lot of lift built into them.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Thanks for boosting the daydreams of a "has been" Charley, but it would be fun to see if my shoe had the same feel as my throttle hand. The good thing about the Top Hydros is you can keep both hands on the wheel.:eek::cool:

Bill Van...I didn't look at the bottoms of any of the new boats, and I have never been one of the guys that could spot differences unless it slapped me upside the helmet. I could feel it on the water, but how that translates on design is for the builders. Tim always gave me the parameters to set the motor and then we would go testing. One time on New Years Days a new C hydro kept spilling air to the right. The water was slick. Normally Tim's boats would hang and if the water was glass you just had to know when to back out of it. I came back in and told Tim what it felt like and he was also observing. The boat was new off the rack with only sealer. Tim, my Dad and I turned it over and Tim began shaving wood. The picture was in Powerboat on a story I did on Tim. We went back out and it flew true through the water. All I know is that the boat builders of today have got it down pretty well. Did you notice how few spills there were? It would be fun though to be able to have the time and money to play around with Tim and Ryan Butts to see what they might be able to cobble together.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

That's what I'm talking about David. Notwithstanding the fully enclosed capsule boats, the open cockpit boats have taken advantage of closing up as much of the open space as possible and still allow room for the driver to move around. Before that, even the driver hunching over will give lift to a boat. Closing up the cockpit behind a driver really helps level the attitude. On that pic of my boat on the Brazos, it would have been able to go much faster if it was more like the attitude of your boat. But that's what's so great about the PRO division and what can be done to make the boats go so much faster, but safer.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Everyone was pitted on the north bank of the Brazos. The launching ramp was not directly on the river, but in a slough or man made canal just north and perpendicular to the river. We had to go right to go upriver and turn around for the approach. There were a line of trees along the river bank that obscured the view from the "pits"...a parking lot for the public access boat ramp.

I don't remember any inboards at the kilos, but that doesn't mean they weren't there. Not many PRO racers were there either. Us, Tim Butts, and maybe the McKeans, but I don't think so. I remember there were a lot of OPC guys there though. Louis Collins was one of the main instigators, and a lot of the TORC guys were there. I think Tom Posey and Alan Yaw were there, but I'm not sure about Johnnie Sanders.

I didn't take pictures and we didn't watch the runs for some reason. After we launched Tim, my Dad and I were talking to Jimbo McConnell when we heard Tim's engine suddenly go silent. A gap of only a second or two we heard the awe and hush of what crowd was lining the banks. Then we ran over to the river to see what happened to Tim. He blew over at around 114 mph. Tim was running a competition set up also, with allowances for just going straight and fast. Bill Van had mentioned earlier about the lack of attempts on kilo records for D and F and reasons why. That is not just a phenomena of the last 20 years or so. It was just such a lack of attempts that Tim and I had started to challege the records with competition set ups in 1976. It had been so long since the old records were set, we knew we were achieving speeds above those records while racing on a good course. In 1976 and 77, we broke the 700 and 500 hydro records with racing setups. Had we not had a broken ring, we would have done the same with 1100 hydro in 1977. The TRUE kilo records were set by Dan Kirts, and Jim and Sean McKean with their speeds in the 120's. Those runs are stories unto themselves.

Here are pics taken by I don't know who. Tim sent these to me without the credits.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Tim was pretty shaken up by this. In all my racing career the only other time I knew Tim to go out of a boat was at the 1972 Nationals at DePue when flipped his B in the bottom corner. One of the things besides the blowover that scared him was the chute strings wrapped around his neck. You can see from the photos that he never got separation from the boat while it was in the air. He was spit out when the left sponson struck the water. The canopy never opened and as Tim started rolling through the water the lines were spooling up around his neck. Then, after ending such a terrifying ride, he had to be calm while a rescue diver cut the cords from his neck.:eek: THAT blowover was the reason Tim built that weird looking 4 point Aerowing.

ADD: Looking at the next to the last pic, it seems the chute had opened some. Had that happened splits seconds before and Tim already had a wrap or two while he was still skidding pretty fast, it could have broken his neck.

[F-12]

#4 looks like he is trying to get the shute lines freed up from around his neck. Tim is a survivor in pretty much any situation and that one could have turned out much worse than it did. I still think he has some ideas running around in his head that we will see in the future, not only to increase performance, but to push more safety into the design of the outboard hydro. I'm pretty sure there is more to come.............

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I don't think he could have reacted that quickly Charley. I think that's just the way it happened to look, just like that drag boat guy that looked like he was running on the water. It would be cool to see Tim back. I know that Ryan was very interested in boat designs when he was at the reunion. If Ryan got the bug, they would both jump in.

[F-12]

Maybe we should be working on Ryan and let him work on Tim.............

[wboxell]

Tim told me he was choking! Someone came at him from the rescue boat, with a big knife, and cut the chute lines so he could breath. Told me at the reunion, "I never really had it after Waco".

I sure would like to see Ryan & Tim come back into boat design/building with both feet! I really do believe a Aerowing based design would kick a??! Bill

[Master Oil Racing Team]

...Hey Joe! Happy Birthday/:D I usually don't catch that part, but somehow just now I noticed. If it weren't for Joe, all my photos would be just nestling in their dark storage binders until who knows what. I've had friends all my life, from when I was just a Roy Rogers cowboy kid until now. Friends come and they go, and we lose touch. I've never lost touch ith Joe though,since 1966. We don't see each other as much since the old days, but we constantly talk to one another. All the years I was gone from boat racing, it was Joe who kept me up to date with the Texas guys. If I was as irresponsible as I was back when my throttle hand had a good grip and my right shoulder could handle the torque of a "D" hydro, I would drive up to Stafford and pick up Joe for an overnight in New Orleans. Of course he would have to agonize for a long, long time before he would lock the door on his shop and climb in my pickup.;):D

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Well..it seems either I called Joe or he called me on October 19. Didn't write down what we talked about, but it was probably about Tim and his crash. Jack Waite called after Joe and we talked about the Kilos and he said he would call back about the Port Arthur race coming up next week. It was an OPC race and there was no way I could make that.

October 22 I talked to Elmer Grade and W. Dean Wilson about what was going on in PRO racing. Hydroplanes International was pushing OD big time to get interest going in international racing while some in the PRO division were trying to eliminate the class in APBA.

On October 27 I had an interesting entry in my Journal. I got a call from a James Wilkins. Not the Jim Wilkins I first started racing with from the Dallas area, but a different Wilkins. He called me to get Tim Butts' phone number and he wanted to talk to Tim about building him an outboard drag boat. He was from the north central area of Texas. This could have been the guy that ordered Tim's first drag boat.

Right after that Jack Waite called. He said the Port Arthur race went good, but there were very few boats.

While I looked in Propeller to see if I could find any records that were set at Waco on the Brazos River I came upon a press release that saddened me. It appeared in the October 24 issue of Propeller and read: "COUNTDOWN IS ON. FORMER RECORD HOLDER LEE TAYLOR AND THE "U.S. DISCOVERY II" ARE READY FOR AN ATTEMPT TO RECLAIM THE WORLD WATER SPEED RECORD, CURRENTLY HELD BY KEN WARBY OF AUSTRALIA AT 317.60 MPH. TAYLOR AND THE WOODRUFF ROCKET POWERED DISCOVERY WILL MAKE THEIR RECORD ATTEMPT IN EARLY NOVEMEBER AT LAKE TAHOE."

[Master Oil Racing Team]

On November 17 my Dad and I flew into Washington DC for the 77th annual Amercian Power Boat Association meeting. It was a cold, wet and very dreary day. As we got into the cab I noticed a guy in a trenchcoat across the way that looked very miserable. He was standing by himself, apparently waiting for someone. At first I couldn't figure out why he looked familiar, then it dawned on me. It was John Jenrette, a member of the House of Representatives, that had been in the news a lot at that time. He was one of several congressmen and other Washington dirtbags who were convicted in the Abscam scheme. A phony Arab sheik was undercover passing out money to buy his way into the U.S. and also working a financial scam. Jenrette was shown on videotape pocketing around 30 or 40 grand I believe. He was one of the biggest offenders, bragging on tape what he could do to help the fake sheik more. That scene of him waiting for a pickup with no staffers, no support, and nothing more now than a fallen crook leaving Washington DC really brightened up my day.

I had talked with Jerry Peterson about my UIM proposal that day and he was all for my idea. Each country was allowed 5 entries in the World Championships. At that time, we had several racers from Europe that attended all our races and others that made only one race. To get full fields, we were allowed to get licenses from other countries for drivers that did not qualify for the American team. We usually got the licences from Canada or Mexico. I came up with an idea to present to UIM whereby the U.S. was split into an Eastern and Western division. We would be able to field 5 drivers from each division, or 4 if UIM thought 5 was too many. My argument went like this. Most states were as big or bigger than European countries. We had far more drivers than in any other country in the world. In Formula 1(cars) there was one Grand Prix per country, but the FIA allowed the U.S. to have a U.S. Grand Prix East (Watkins Glenn) and U.S. Grand Prix West (Long Beach). Therefore, if that automobile sanctioning body saw to the logic of allowing two grand prix's in America, why wouldn't UIM agree to allowing more drivers for our boat racing? The proposal would allow for increased participation by drivers from other countries. If there were enough entrants from around the world, we would reduce our entrants down to 5 if necessary. This was to be operational until we built up the international racing in the OA through OF classes. I had hoped to build up enough backing so that it would pass when we proposed it to UIM. If an idea was rejected, it was not allowed to be brought up again for a couple of years or so later. I wanted to hammer out all the details and get it right the first time.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

A brief backtrack to Waco. I finally found the story about Waco in the Propeller written by Billy Farmer. Jimbo had a good day. I forgot about Dan Kirts being there and breaking my 500 hydro record. I took it from Jim McKean in 1977 and I thought it was Sean to take it away from me and back to the McKean family. But it was Dan Kirts he took it away from. Sean and Dan took and retook it from each other several times until Sean bumped it up to 126 mph:eek::cool: where it currently stands. Man-O-man.....why didn't I take any pictures then?:mad:

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Now..fast forward back to the Washington DC meeteing . I don't know if my notes are totally correct, but at our first meeting I show Elmer Grade presiding with other commissioners present being: John Yale, Skip Birbarie, Dean Wilson, Larry Latta, Ralph Donald, John Ausgustine, myself, Todd Brinkman and Bucky Makofski. I would have normally listed them in alphabetical order, so this must have been how we were seated at the table. As the meeting progressed George Andrews, Pete Voss, and Hoz Compton arrived.

This was the meeting where RB was changed to Formula 350, and Dean Wilson moved that we go to a three heat format. George Andrews, Dean, John Yale, Ralph Donald and myself were for this and John made a motion that we conduct a feasability study to see if we could pull off such a program on race day.

Ralph had a big lead on a possible World Championship race at the site of the World's Fair to be held in Knoxville. The Eastern Divisionals went to Acworth, Georgia and the Western Divsionals to Beaumont, Texas. Lakeland, Florida submitted a bid for the Nationals. Bakersfield put in a bid for the Nationals at Lake Ming for 1982 on any weekend in August.

These meetings could be grueling...especially when going over the same ground we covered year after year, but I look back on those days with fond memories. The backbone of Pro racing ABCD Runabout, and ABC Hydro were left alone. The D Hydro was becoming an issue because of the speed and Hydroplanes Internatiional's use of the class to promote international racing. F or 1100 classes were still in the mix because of those exciting 2 man F Runabout races and the Quincy Loopers and Deflectors on the hydros and runabouts. They were not mandating qualifying heats anymore, but they were full fields. At least 10 to 12 entries were always there, and nobody wanted a Nationals not to have them present. But the year before there was talk about eliminating 700 hydro.

Other than primarily changes in safety rules, cleaning up old rules , awarding championship race sites, and recognizing winners and making the Hall of Champions selections most of the time was taken up by the slowest classes. The beginner class which was stock and gasoline, Formula 350 to allow beginners to move up, C Service allowing Mercs in, etc. Now I know I am going to get a lot of "heat" from Bill Van because of the way I have presented this, but I couldn't figure out a simplar way to describe what we Pro Racing Commissioners spent our time on. Up front I am saying I don't want this thread to go off on a Formula 350, C Service, or J thread rant, because this is not a criticism of any of those classes, or what occurred at the meetings. It is just a statement of one indisputable fact. In Pro racing...NO TRACTOR LOWER UNITS....NO BLOWERS AND YOU HAD TO BE ABLE TO POUR THE FUEL. Bore and stroke would determine your class. With weight restrictions removed, as well as the outmoded "lifting devices" rule for hydroplanes taken out, there was not much else to say except, be safe and watch the judges stand and turn judges for instruction. A large part of our time was taken up hearing arguments from different sides about specifications, inspections, etc of these classes, and also how much time it was taking at our events to run these classes. PRO racing was supposed to be Run-What-You-Brung but with racing declining across the board in APBA in 1980 we were looking for anything to bring in new drivers, and encourage racing families with kids coming up to stay in the sport. This is just stating history, and nothing more. But I can tell you after the meetings, everyone involved on both sides of the issue was ready for a little refreshment.:D:cool:

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I keep talking about the 1980 APBA Convention at Washington, DC, but it was actually in Alexandria, Virginia. I just never saw anything that looked like Virginia to me. I copied this schedule of events for those that never attended a national meeting. I just wish I had the time to do them once again.

It was a time to meet racing friends from the national circuit after all the competition was done. It was not just racers, some family members and a sponsor or two, but also judges, timers, scorers and all the APBA leaders. No matter where we went, the elected people were there. What always added to the event were the locals. The interested racers within 500 miles or so of the convention would come to give their input at the meetings and then join in with the festivities. I am sure it is the same now as it once was. Just different characters. Just know this. If it is within your means to attend an APBA convention....you need to do it. You never know who you will run across, or remember forever the time you spent at the convention.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Those that attended the convention might recall getting their photo taken and laminated in plastic tag with their name on it. My Dad took keen interest in that setup and began to ask questions of the security people that were in charge. Before we went back to Texas, my Dad had bought from them the complete system except for the background, which I had to make from a sheet of plywood and paint.

The oilfield was booming and new workers were being hired left and right. The pay was excellent, but some were not suited to the hours. We had a lot of turnover at Alice Specialty, especially among the "swampers" who helped on the winch trucks. We had just built a new paint and body shop, a 6 bay mechanic shop with a grease and front end alignment pit, a fabrication shop with a 30 ton crane, and at the end was the Master Oil canning factory. We had so much theft going on we had to build one mile of chain link fence around the property and hire a 24 hour security service with a guard gate who logged everyone in and out. My Dad liked the laminated name tags because of the photo id. We employeed an average of 120 people back then and some would last from 2-3 hours to a paycheck or two before they decided they didn't like oil field work. Some would stay several months before being hired away for higher pay jobs. Roughnecks with no experience could bring down $4,000 per month in 1980.

The ID system had a camera with two lenses that took two mug shots at a time, then automatically rotated 90 degrees. You could get two aproximately 1 X 1 1/2 inch sets of photos on one Polaroid (tm) print. Then you place the print in a machine that had a die to punch out the photos. One would go on the name tag to be laminated and the other attached to the personnel file. One of the duties added to my job was to take the photos of all ASCO and EMMX Corporation personnel and make the name tags. After the Alice Police Department and Jim Wells County Sheriff's Office found out about our "library" of mug shots, they would sometimes come down to search for a mug shot of a suspect they were looking for and I would make them an enlargement.:D Needless to say, a lot of employees didn't like the system and some in upper management didn't either. But if Baldy wanted it.....it got done.

So thanks to the APBA convention, I had to sometimes stop what I was doing to go down to my studio in the storage room and make ID's.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Back to the convention.

Rusty Rae was there and had a slide show of the Stock Nationals. Rusty and I spent a lot of time together and he showed me some new things he was doing as well as gave me some photo tips.

There was a hospitality room open from 7 to midnight following the meetings. The room was way too small for the number of people that came. It was about the size of two hotel rooms with a bar. It was shoulder to shoulder and so noisy that today with my hearing loss, I wouldn't be able to understand a conversation. Then miraculously, shortly before either 8:00 or 9:00 (I forget which) the room all but emptied. Somebody turned a TV on in a different room down the hall and I overheard someone else say, "Come on...let's go find out who shot J.R." It turned out that the Dallas TV show episode where the viewers found out who shot JR came on. Today it remains the second most watched TV show in history, behind No. 1...the final episode of "Mash".

I hated that show and never watched even one minute. It was a totally fictitious piece of propaganda about Texas oilmen. The only thing I could ever say good about it was that it emptied out that room and I found myself talking to the only other person left that cared nothing about "Dallas"....Ken Warby. I'll never forget that. The whole time the soap opera was on, Ken Warby and myself talked boat racing and about his speed record and what he went through to get there. For some reason I do not recall any talk between us of Lee Taylors death the week before in his attempt to break Ken's record. Maybe it was just too recent and sensitive for us to go on about.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I was in high school when I read about Lee Taylor, his water speed record, and his crash in either Boat News or Hot Boat. Art Arfons was going to put his Green Monster on flotations and drive it across the water. Those were exciting things for an about to be boat racer to read about. And those drag boat....Citation....Climax...and Skip Talbot with his 100 mph plus outboard cabover. Now, I was a part of the boat racing community and was talking to the fastest man on the water, and just came off the news that we just lost one of our own, in an attempt to regain his position as fastest man on the water. A sad thing.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I talked to Tim Butts on November 24. I gave him the rundown on the APBA Convention. He said he still had neck problems from his crash at Waco. Then he told me about his "Top Secret Kilo Boat".

It was an all together different fuselage. There was no bottom surface. Quad wing- sponsons in the rear that are wing shaped and will lift the bottom off the surface. Wedged surfaces..two on the outside turning surfaces. Fuselage has a step in it a little lower than the sponsons. Runs only on mechanical properties. Doesn't utilize air under the boat. Tim canned the outrigger designs. After he flipped, he decided he must do something new.

I put in calls later that day to Wil Pergande, Fred Hauenstein and Lee Sutter. They were all out for the week.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I was trying to figure out where we were at that time according to my journals, and I was not keeping good notes anymore. As a consequence I may have gotten some things out of order. so I pulled out my folders to organize letters into the proper time frame. My Dad had a file, and I have two that deal with Pro and UIM. I just didn't realize it took so long to get this thing going.

It was at the Washington D.C. APBA Convention where I had a good long talk with UIM Executive Director Jose Mawet. He and the UIM President had attended the convention. Since he was aware of my proposal to divide the U.S. into and Eastern and Western World Championship venues to encourage foreign participation and build U.S. interest in international racing he wanted to talk. Mr. Mawet asked me to join him at a bar at the hotel. We sat at the end of the bar, not at a table, and away from any other racer that may me there. He wanted to talk freely and off record. I don't remember any details of what we talked about other than the proposals I had, but we were there by ourselves for a couple of hours. I didn't have to complain about how we were ramrodded by politics in 1978 because he was fully aware. His interest was increasing UIM membership, international racing, records, etc. which Hydroplanes International could bring to the table (some states had more class entries than all of Europe), but he could not afford to jeopordize the UIM benefactor...OMC. I understood his position and we had a fine time getting to know each other personally.

That was the reason I had put in calls to Wil Pergande, Fred Hauenstein and Lee Sutter. One of the things that was confusing to me was that I had thought I had done that before now, and a glimpse ahead was that I had not yet got confirmation with Jimbo McConnell whether or not he was agreeable. I still have to find my note from Charlie Strang giving his blessings to the idea.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I pulled all the files to consolidate and put them in order of dates. Unfortunately I was bad about dating some of my correspondence as well as others, and I haven't gone through the biggest file regarding the fuel controversy, but I have a better idea now on how things happened. The original Pro UIM Commission didn't have as many members, and it was after the second assault on Pro Racing that I tried to enlist others from the OPC side.

Up until my Dad, EE "Baldy" Baldwin began working to bring large scale international competition to America, I was not up on international racing. We were friends with the Canadians, Jack Marshall from Australia, and knew who Dieter Konig was. After NOA failed, the following year was the first UIM World Championships to be held in the outboard class in the U.S. that I am aware of.

After numerous successful events (notwithstanding the disasterous weather spoiled race at Laredo later on) we felt we were on our way to building international racing in the U.S. The UIM ruling that overnight banned methanol from "O" classes blindsided us. Major rule changes were supposed to take effect two years after enactment. We spent the spring and summer fighting the methanol ban. We had never before been affected by such a major rule change without sound reasoning , and it came about from a category we had never raced with before. We had an uphill battle, but we didn't give up fighting. We lost in the end though. During those days when we at Hydroplanes International felt we were being railroaded by the OMC powerbrokers and their influence at Brussels, set out to put together a way to respond. We had no say in the discussions. The international racing was not within the jurisdicition of the Pro commission although it was affecting us. Within the outboard racing categories there was Offshore and OPC. They did not represent our interest, but it was the crossover at OE where the conflict was. OPC was represented, and held a seat at the table of UIM meetings. We did not. And we were totally unaware. After the battle over the fuel rule, we had another blind side and this is when Dieter Konig sent me this letter, and we started to find a way to represent the lesser "O" classes amongst the UIM rulers.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Been away from here too long. Thought I would have wrapped it up by now, but my files were so jumbled, I just had to start consolidating three or four files and put everything in order. Still not complete, but here's some backtracking to put things a little more into perspective. I've included a list of the original members of the Pro/UIM Affairs Committee and some correspondence with Gary Garbrecht regarding our move into the international politics of outboard racing.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I had mentioned previously that my Dad and I were talking to Jimbo McConnell at the kilos in Waco when Tim Butts blew over. We were talking about this Pro/UIM committee and I had asked him if he would be willing to serve. He said he would think it over. It was Jimbo that I was waiting on, and I didn't have another person in mind if he declined. I wanted someone of his caliber to represent OMC because the powers that be could look over this list and see that we were serious about the American interests in international outboard racing.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I found my next journal with notes running from 12-30-81 to 8-31-81.

On January 5th I wrote "Jimbo McConnell-glad to serve on UIM committee. If Carlsberg picks up series he will race @ Parker w/ Renato. After Waco he set a Mod 50 record of 85 & Mod 90 record of 82 @ Lakeland, Fla.

[wboxell]

Much earlier in this (Wayne's) thread there was talk about this device. Tim Butts hooked me up with Zack to get this built before the start of the 78 season. I will disassemble and post pics of parts later but right now I'm getting ready to head to the Luke and try to get the Colts a win! :D GO COLTS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

Hi Bill

That was a second or later generation of the "gizmo". The first generation had all the working parts in the flywheel instead of the rotary valve gear as shown in your picture. After looking at this incarnation and seeing how it probably worked, it was probably better than the first generaton in that it looks as though it would not bind in the middle of travel as easily.

Bill Van

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I have pictures of both systems Bill, but the pictures you posted have a different feature than the one we ran successfully. I remember when this subject first came up, but I didn't realize it was on the Amazing Thread. I want to see your dissassembly, and also post what pics I can take of the flywheel VS later generation. But...as my mind tends to zero in on a specific subject easier than where I remembered I saw it somewhere in the past, might I make a suggestion? After we got onto the rotary valve advancement, Bill Van started a thread about it. What I would like would be for you to carry on with the pics and comments on that thread and link back to An Amazing Story so that it is easier to find. I was going to try to find what page the gadget started and with the search choice I found out other related posts all tied into Bill Van's thread. To me...it makes a good tight package with all the info in one place so we can read all about it. In any case....Cowboys fumble into 2011 and so I have to get back to fixing all the computer problems. I didn't see how the Colts did....but I will be looking forward to your pictures.

BTW Steve....if you happen to read this.....congrats to your Vikings superior performance.;):D

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Wow..look at how long this has laid dormant. When all this came up Bill Van Steenwyk and I had discussed whether or not to divulge the info. Since then I have found out that Fred Hauenstein had one, Dan Kirts had one, a guy from New York had one, .etc. of course Tim Butts had one since we were working with him on testing boat designs at that time.

Ray Hardy invented the first one. We had and tested the first three or four generations. The results were sporadic. Very good...couldn't tell....kindof good for time. Did a lot of testing...changing springs etc. Then Ray totally changed the design when he moved down to Texas and was working in our shop. The one he redesigned became more consistent and something that was able to be tested.

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

Wayne:

It has been so long since I discussed this on BRF I can't remember where the original idea came from for the "gadget" but I got the original thought and the idea to make the thing from a bike magazine from the late 60's that I was reading at the time. An article in it talked about an adjustable rotary valve on some type of German bike, don't remember just what kind now, and just talked about the idea, but not any details. During later conversations with Harry Pasturczak, who was doing my motor work on a "C" Konig I had just purchased, I broached the idea with him. He gave me a basic idea of how it might be done, but because of his other workload at the time did not have time to do anything with it. Ray Hardy had just either moved to Texas (or was in the process of doing so) and so Harry suggested Ray might be interested in trying to come up with something. I contacted Ray and since he was always interested in making the motors of the day go faster, had access to a lathe and mill, he immediately started on the project and very shortly I had a prototype to test.

The initial problem with the first of several was they (the movable mechanism) were in the flywheel, as you have mentioned, and it was difficult to find a bearing material that would be small enough and last and enable the internals in the flywheel to move and still do the job. Teflon was tried at first and did last for a few heats but swiftly wore out or away, and also the springs that were used to time the actuation of the valve based on RPM were very difficult to get to operate properly, and as they were of the "hardware store" variety not always exactly the same tension from one to another. We used 3 in the flywheel of the first models. I did use the valve with some success as long as the Teflon would hold up and the springs would work properly, but then had the tunnel boat accident and was not able to race anymore for several years so Ray proceeded on his own and different methods and designs (and with other racers) to accomplish movement of the valve while the motor was running.

Ray and I remained good friends, developed several Hydraulic wrenches, Stud Testers, and received several patents on same. I was the marketing guy and he was the technical person who made the products. The Name R&B Enterprises, which is the name of my company of 30 some years now, is from the initials of our first names. Unfortunately Ray passed away several years ago, but his ashes are deposited in two lakes that he raced on and enjoyed immensely, Lake DePue and Fort Bulow Lake in Alexandria.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

One of my greatest regrets is that I did not continue to post for awhile. I stopped the Baldy thread in early 1969 and that was the year I met Bill Van, Ray Hardy and Harry Pasturczak. Bill Van was so looking forward to these posts and pictures. Well, I will start up again and do my best to honor his memory, but without his input which always was something to add to the story.

Ray did not move to Texas until well after development of the rotary valve advance had begun. Ray moved to Texas at the time the gizmo was moved from the flywheel to the shaft and gear on the rotary valve housing. The first rotary valve advance we had was made by Larry Hoeffler, a machinist friend of Steve Jones in Corpus Christi. It was made as described to us by Tim Butts who had already been testing them. We called them. CAVI, CAV II etc.. up to CAVIV. We changed to RAV when it was moved to the rotary valve. I guess it means Rotary Advance Valve. I forget.

The first mention I have found in our test data of a CAV is September 27,1974. On the 26th we test our C motor 74346 and ran a standard Konig rotary valve setup. The next day we first ran a standard Konig setup, and then a CAV II. I didn't write down what happened with our original Larry Hoeffler CAV, but it would have been either first tested or maybe modified before this run, but this is the time period we first tried one out.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

When Ray Hardy got to Texas and was ready to set up shop, He got Baldy to get what he needed.. He found a used lathe that was enormous . It was more than 10 feet long and was maybe more. It came cheap because someone cut it almost in half in order to turn something bigger. Ray took a week to level the base and make sure that everything was level and solid. With this lathe Ray Revolutioniized the rolling pin on trailer floats. He also used thus lathe to make the last and best version of the rotary valve advancement.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

This is the result of the first test sheet of the rotary valve advance kit.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I will take some pictures of the valve, and post some more test sheets to everyone that can't picture what we're talking about can see it for themselves.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

my scanner broke today. lasted 10 years so can't complain. Will get back soon as get set up again.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Been looking for the best scanner. Things have changed a lot . Firured sin ce I get a new scanner I need to be able to have acess to things to scan. So I started to clean up my darkroom and file things away, so that I can not only find what I want, but aksi pit things back so I don't let things get so cluttered again. ince I can't hardly see anymore, I have to take things slowly, and pt things back where they belong.. I don't have my computer glassrs on an there mey me a lot of spelling errorors. I just wanted to give an update and get back to cleaning out my darkroom which has been a mess for three or more years.

[racnbns]

Been looking for the best scanner. Things have changed a lot . Firured sin ce I get a new scanner I need to be able to have acess to things to scan. So I started to clean up my darkroom and file things away, so that I can not only find what I want, but aksi pit things back so I don't let things get so cluttered again. ince I can't hardly see anymore, I have to take things slowly, and pt things back where they belong.. I don't have my computer glassrs on an there mey me a lot of spelling errorors. I just wanted to give an update and get back to cleaning out my darkroom which has been a mess for three or more years.Wayne---I can't begin to comprehend what your going thru with the vision problem. You have done and contributed so much to all aspects of Boat Racing that all of us Readers of BRF would like you to keep on as you can. After all it's the meaning not the spelling and we'll figure it out and enjoy every word of your articles.

I'll catch ya later,
Bruce

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Thanks much Bruce. Some days are good, some not so.Got a lot done yesterday And can see the light of day. Except I still have about 20 rolls of film to develop from the 80's and 90's. can't trust to send them out. Have to buy new chemicals. One good thing.... When I open my cassettes to load the film on the reel....it is done in total darkness. I can't see a thing. It's all done by feel and I have done that since 1967, so my eyes don't count.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I picked up a new scanner last week. Try to set it up this coming week. Lot to catch up on. Started to straighten up my darkroom a month ago. Since I can't see much anymore, I quit laying stuff around, and now put it back where it belongs so I can find it again. In the long run, it will probably save a lot more time by finding stuff where it is supposed to be. And look much nicer.

[DeanFHobart]

Wayne,

My dad used to do his own development and then printing and enlarging. He had a red light to work under so he could see. Is that something that is still used?

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Yes Dean, except it is a yellow light now. When you open the cassette with the film, or unwind the exposed film from the roll, it always has to be in complete darkness. You have to grasp the leading edge of the film and guide it into the stainless steel or plastic reel in order to develop the film. It is a very delicate situation to spool the film around the reels, then drop the spools into the developing canisters. After all the canisters loaded with exposed film are capped, then lights can be turned on. All development of the negatives can be done in daylight. When the film is dried, then the negatives can be put in the projector.

There are several trays with chemical baths that are needed to make prints. That's where the yellow or I should say an amber "safelight" comes into play. After the photo paper is exposed to the tested light , and this is done under the ''safelight", it is dipped into the developing tray. That is why the amber light is necessary. You have to be able to see the image start to appear...come to the maximum development...and then suddenly dip the photo into a tray that will shut off any further development. After a few minutes rinse, the photo paper is placed in a tray to "fix" the image permanent This takes about ten minutes, then this solution is completely washed away. A dip in a water bath to clear all the chemicals and a long rinse will make for a wet print to dry and last for a long time. It's the light in the darkroom development time that allows you to do what it takes to make the print Dean.

[DeanFHobart]

Wayne,

Ok, my dad only did black and white in those days.... in the 1950’s... and before. I still have his picture albums... good stuff.

Dean...........

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Well Dean....I have done a lot of straightening up, filing and cleaning out my darkroom/storage room. Soon (that means within the next three or four months) I hope to get the stuff out of my sink and get the developing tanks ready. Once everything is clear, I can order all the chemicals I need to finish developing all the rest of my film. I had enough the last time I ordered, but I got too busy with the business. Too much time lapsed and I had to junk the primary chemicals. I have about 15 or so B&W rolls to do. I am sad to say that one of the rolls is Steve Litzell's butt being chewed up at the start of 500 or 700 hydro at Lakeland when someone ran up into his cockpit and launched. I promised Steve I would make him copies, but I never picked the right roll the last time I developed film. I don't have anything but the month and year on some rolls and nothing on others, so I have to do the lottery pick. One of the rolls has maybe the last flight of Clark Maloof. I think he may have quit racing after this. The local airport may have a blip on radar from his takeoff. Never saw anyone go so high before or since then.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I had to go back away to find out what this thread was really all about because we got so sidetracked. Hard to believe so much time has passed. The Marshall Grant D motor is still sitting about 20 feet from me. I was very close to wrapping up this thread when we got off in another direction. I have to go back further to get a sense of where we were to finish it up, and then also wrap up the sidetrack regarding the rotary valve advancement tool.

[Jeff Lytle]

Looking forward to it Wayne

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Thanks Jeff. I went up into my loft and brought down a flywheel and a rotary valve housing to be able to finish up the sidetrack regarding the rotary valve advance discussion. Once we get that covered, then I will finish out this thread. Got a plan to do that. Hopefully I can figure out where the photos go on my new scanner. Haven't been able to do much since we got hit by lightning Saturday before last. Got some equipment replaced and the internet seems to finally have stabilized today, so maybe by the weekend I will have the rotary valve stuff posted with comments and then go from there.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

still not being able to post pictures. Some of it has to do with upgrading my photo program. I didn't want to do it, but the powers that be would not let me do anything until I did it. Now I cannot post because my security system rejects it. My IT guy installed the security and everything, so I hope in the next couple of days I can post photos again. Everythings ready to go whenever all this security and lightening stuff is resolved.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Sorry. The IT guy was supposed to be here yesterday afternoon. The part came in this morning, but he's been hooked up in Alice all day. Will be here tomorrow, but Debbie and I are packing up to head to East Texas to visit our daughter, son-in law and grandkids. Soonest I can get back to this is a week to 10 days. Put the rotary valve parts up until I get back.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Everything is fixed and the downloading problem with the camera too. Depending on tomorrow's schedule, I should be able to post pictures of both rotary valve advancement types.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

The original rotary valve advancement design was incorporated into the flywheel. Three slots were cut into the top of the flywheel and pins were installed. The flywheel was taken apart and machined so that the top part moved freely from the part that was anchored to the top of the crankshaft. I don't have any of the springs left, but we had a partitioned plastic box with assorted springs of the proper length, but with different size wires and tensions. We started out with medium tensions in all three springs. As testing went on we tried different combinations of springs, some with all three the same, and sometimes with one or two springs of different tensions.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

For some reason the second photo didn't get posted. Here it is. Sorry....the second photo finally showed up, but I do not know how to delete this now unnecessary post.

[Jeff Lytle]

Whoh! Never realized there was spring tensioned valve movement possibilities on the hub and the valve shaft as well.
They were used separately and not together right Wayne?

AND.....Dieter never knew about this right?

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Yes Jeff, they were used separately. The flywheel shown above was the first attempt at rotary valve adjustment when underway. It worked erratically and in my belief, it would change the timing initially while accelerating, but I think when the RPM's stabilized the timing would move back toward the initial timing less what drag the valve itself created. I will review some of the tests we did to see what we learned.

I do not know if Dieter ever knew about the devices or not, but would not be surprised if he didn't know. Until it was first mentioned on BRF, I thought it was a fairly well kept secret. The only people I knew that played around with it were Ray Hardy, Bill Van Steenwyk, Tim Butts and our team. I did not know Harry Pasturczak was making them for other boat racers. Now I have learned that Mike Schmidt, Bill Boxell, Fred Hauenstein and others played around with it. I'm not sure where theirs came from or what results they had. I do know that Dieter's philosophy was to keep things simple and make a motor that someone that was not especially mechanically inclined could be competitive with. So, I think that even if Dieter was aware of the devices, he would not build them unless they made a really big difference, which they didn't.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I looked at a bunch of test sheets today. I didn't remember that we had also bought Marshall Grant's B motor. He had all new motors that we bought in 1974 except for the D and F. The first test sheets of these I wrote that they were set up with Marshall's original specs.

It was shortly after that we began testing with the first rotary valve advancement. Looking back at those sheets, we had lots of troubles. Not to do with the rotary valve advance gizmo, but it seems a wonder we ever won any races given the problems we had with the motors when testing. In a few tests with a B we must have done over a dozen tests over a couple of days and even rebuilt the motor in between. Same with Marshall's C motor. I have not finished going through the test book, but when I do I will pick some pages to post.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I have gone through most of the test book, but not finished yet. I have confirmed that the initial valve advancement was very spotty, and too unprovable to get reliable results.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I've tried off and on for the past couple of weeks to scan some stuff, which I did, but could not find. I'm not sure I like my new scanner, but anyway I sat down for more than an hour with a magnifying glass and finally figured out where the scans were. Unlike my old Canon scanner this one does not file according to date scanned, but by numberical order. The problem is is that it picks the number from the deleted files. So if I had files 1 through 17 and I had previously deleted 18, then whatever I scanned would then become the new 18. This is going to be a real problem, so I have to figure out a way to change the filing system. So far it won't let me. I can rename each scan, but I cannot do that until I scan the photo, then go find it to rename it. This scanner better turn out to be good by the time I learn more about how to use it, or it might get the old sledgehammer.

Here is one of the test sheet on the B we got from Marshall Grant.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Here is another test sheet.

I shouldn't have posted this one because it didn't have to do with the valve advancement problem. I just saw that it was a test of the RAV which I have not posted a picture of yet. Anyway, it shows some of the kind of problems we had testing.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

This is a test sheet on the D Konig we got from Marshall Grant. We were having surging problems with the motor prior to Phoenix. We tried everything. We even rented a D Konig from Jim McKean, but Marshall's old D was still faster even with the problems. As a last gasp effort we changed stator plates between our D and Jim's and that cured the problem. One of the brass posts for the points was drilled slightly crooked. When setting the points the double spring was strong, but when tightend all the way tension was taken out of the springs so that over 9500 RPM's the points on one cylinder would float. This test was with CAVIV, the last generation of the rotary valve advance mechanism that was part of the flywheel assembly.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I won the 1976 UIM World Championship presumably with the CAVIV advance. I know we had Jim McKean's stator plate, which we removed and put back on his motor before we returned it.

Now I need to go back through the test sheets to find when we started to test the RAV. It would only be the B, C or D Konig we ran at the time. I didn't always make a test sheet or include all the information. If we were in a hurry, we would get up early in the morning before the wind would kick up and make a few runs for a particular thing we were working out then Baldy would go to the office. Fortunately, we got few complaints. Not many people close by on the lake and we knew everyone that lived in our neighborhood, and they all would show up to watch the races.

Next will be the photos of the RAV which I think the guys that ran rotary valve advancements will be familiar with, and if they have any modifications I hope they will share them.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

This is the RAV Rotary Advance Valve. This one worked and was reliable. The one with springs had problems such as the springs scrunching up and rubbing on the crankplate and I think would restore back to more the original length while underway.

[Ketzer]

Wayne, if they find your posts a few hundred years from now, it will be like discovering the Rosetta Stone as it concerns boat racing. Hope all is well in Texas, buddy.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

thanks for your kind words Steve, but the Rosetta Stone would be Ron Hill and Ted March's Boatracingfacts. My stuff is limited to mostly Pro outboard, OPC, some mods, a little stock and some inboard and drag racing. I would hope that it never comes
to that where the history of boat racing is buried in the sand. I can see where you are coming from though Steve since more and more shoreline is taken up with houses, no pits , no noise , no boat racing, and too many people do not like internal combustion engines.

One of these days we need to get together and have a good bull session. We're good here and hope you guys are the same.

[Ketzer]

Hey, Wayne, are you surviving the winter storm okay? Hope so.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

We made it through Steve, but we sure were cold for awhile. We're not used to those kinds of temperatures. It was 5 days in the teens and twenties. We didn't get snow because we live on the lake and it warmed up the snow before it landed. Snow was around us 1/2 mile inland.

We were without any power for around 65 hours, then it came back on for about 5 hours, then off again for awhile, the it came back on again Friday for good except for a short period Satruday morning. It went off at 11:30 last Sunday night for the first time, and I spent Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, bringing logs inside to feed the fireplace, and stoking a fire in my halfbuilt smoker outside to cook water, and to heat up frozen food we had stored. Beans, chili, chicken and dumplings, pizza, hot dogs and gumbo. I was at it all day long for four days. Had to be careful because ice was everywhere and I didn't need to add to our misery by breaking a bone.

I used up all the small logs and tried splitting the big ones, but my axe head just bounced off. I don't know how many of you ever tried to split old live oak logs, but you have to be a lot stronger than I am these days if the logs are over 14". The USS Constitution was planked with live oak and the cannonballs just bounced off the sides. That's why the called her "Old Ironsides." So I had to burn logs 5 to 6 inshes thick.

Luckily we didn't have water problems like so many millions of Texans. My water well is 350' deep, but we had no power so no electric pumps were working in our neighborhood. I had , however, an old well that was 150 feet deep and I installed a Dempster hand pump on it in case Y2K really did happen. So we had fresh water, and some of our friends and neighbors came down to get water for drinking and flushing toilets. We have a pond just outside our front door, so I got water from there to flush the toilets. It had about 7/16 layer of ice on the surface, so I had to break through with a metal pail to fetch water for flushing.

Our Son and his friends in Austin ran out of food. The stores were empty. They started restocking though yesterday. Our Daughter and Son-in-Law in Tyler got by relatively OK. They lost power several times, but it was restored each time after not too may hours. Joe did not lose power or water and his home in Stafford, just south of Houston. Guess he and Karen must be living righteous.

[Ketzer]

A great accounting, Wayne. Glad you and yours survived it. Pity about those who lost loved ones. As my dad's old WWII Ranger buddy always closed his correspondence, "Stay Warm!"