Originally Posted by
Master Oil Racing Team
Mark went out testing our A on the Mishey hydro, and he didn't drive it back into the pits. He made a right upon leaving the pits, and when he started through the first turn and tried to make the bend to go down the back straight, the little Mishey just kept sliding and sliding. Before he ran into the bank on the far side, Mark shut the motor off. He never tested much and just didn't use his throttle and body to bring it around. By the time a pickup boat bothered to retrieve him and tow him back to our pits, it was too late to switch motors and for me to test. B hydro must have been up first because that's what's hanging on the boat in the pictures. I can't totally recall all that happened that day, but I never got out on the race course.
I think Mark was signed up for A hydro and I was going to run B hydro. I do remember suiting up in my Gentex and slipping on a white Bell helment, then sitting in the cockpit while Baldy pulled on the rope. He continued to pull on it until the one minute gun fired....both heats. The furthest I ever got was maybe ten or fifteen feet before the motor, firing on one cylinder, died.
We watched the races in ernest. This weather was a little cold, and the water a little choppy, but there were more boats here than came to the first two races. And, the water was good enough that we saw some real speed. Freddy Goehl was the most consistent out there, if not winning almost everything he entered, he was second, or third. Also just as important, he was finishing all his heats, unlike some of the others whose electrical systems were shocked by the salt spray. Baldy, fascinated by the Konig motors, introduced himself to Freddie Goehl and Arlen Crouch from Bryan Marine in Bryan, Texas.
Baldy wanted to know where he could buy some Konig motors. As Baldy would tell this story many times over the years Freddie offered to sell them his. Baldy's reply..."I'm through buying second hand junk. I want to buy some brand new motors." Freddie quickly responded "We're Konig dealers. We can sell you new motors, and we have all the parts and we carry all the parts you need in stock." He made the deal then and there for a brand new FA and FB Konig. I'm not sure when Baldy ordered the DeSilva runabout, but it was probably watching the races and determined there would probably be more racing in Texas if you had a runabout than a hydro. Texas was a hotbed of runabouts in those days. The DeSilva, in any case, also was ordered through Bryan Marine.
His is a pic of Freddie Goehl in his T 42 hydro with I think an FB Konig with open pipes, although it may have been an FC.