Originally Posted by
Master Oil Racing Team
After I got back into the pits, it was time for Clayton's first heat of D hydro. He had a 4 carb short stack Konig mounted on a Morton hydro. Clayton got a bad start, but when he got the the first turn, Jerry Waldman was on the inside and took everyone way outside. Clayton cut back in and came out of the turn just behind Jerry. The raced all out to the next turn and Jerry just barely had an overlap on Clayton, but he left just enough room for Clayton to squeeze through.
Jim Morton was a cabinet builder in Baytown, living right next to the Baytown Boat Club. A lot of members there drove Morton hydros and runabouts, but nobody outside of Texas, and maybe Louisiana owned one. In fact, as far as I know only Baytown Boat Club members ran them. Jerry thought that Clayton could not come inside at that speed, but he didn't know how well that Morton could turn, and stay on track without hooking or sliding. Clayton zipped in and out of that turn so fast he left Jerry behind, Jerry might have jumped the gun, because he did not score second. That went to Billy Seebold who was hot on their heels.
Clayton had to press hard because he was being chased. Then just as he straightened up for the race to the finish,he felt the back end wobble and felt squirrely. His first thought was that the nuts on the mounting bracket had gotten loose.. He just kept the throttle down. When he crossed the finish line he looked over his left shoulder and saw the steering cable and pulley laying on the deck. "Oh S#!+....Man!" he said to himself. He knew he was in a bad situation and the only thing he thought he could do was try to slowly back off the throttle. He did and made it close to a hundred yards before the torque and prop rotation turned the motor. Clayton's hydro gave his right leg a good whop as they tumbled across the water. The canvas deck also got torn up.
From where we were in the pits, we heard a collective roar from the crowd, but had no clue as to what was going on. We saw a lot of people at the point where the cove opens onto the lake start running toward the other side of the judges stand, but we didn't know it was Clayton who flipped. We would shortly though. And looking at that pulley we could see where the "S" hook had broken after being straightened out a little, then hammered back into a S when Roland Pruett's 44 Looper was fitted onto Clayton's hydro.