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Thanks for the kind words guys
The only pics I have of Jimmie Nichols may be this race. The orange hydro Y-8 is also Jimmie. He is in the center of the photo by the podium. There is also one of him previously posted in the lower right hand corner where I mentioned Dan M in the background. Sorry to hear of his passing. Jimmie always wore that hat as far as I can remember.
Ron, speaking of a book Ron, Debbie has told me for a long time that I should write my racing experiences down for the kids as I quit long before they were born. So whenever she bugs me about spending too much time here, I tell her I was doing what she wanted me to do.;) But if I ever do one, I'll be sure to put you down. In fact, I could use you along with Sam as a fact checker and proofreader:D
The first pic below comes off a contact sheet. Don't know who that is checking the timing. The next is Jimmie Nichols.
I think my favorite pics are those in the pits. That's where you will find not only the drivers, but also pit crews, family members, officials and others that never get in the magazines, newspapers, or racing programs. They are just as important to racing as drivers, and boat and engine builders. I thought it was great for Doug to do a double take and find his brother. And I didn't know the McClellans, but Ron Saxvik did and called them. I think that's great. And I haven't even scratched the surface of all the pics I have. So you need to stay tuned to find out who may show up.
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Got to go to work..........
...........but first---more pics.
Tim Butts wasn't a racing partner like our partnership with Jack Chance and Clayton Elmer, but we worked together almost as a partnership. We bought a number of new designs that Tim came up with and tested them during the winter. V8 was first raced at the Eastern Divsionals at Springfield and this was the second race. We didn't have any video cameras to check out boat attitudes so I would go out on the water and get some pics of Tim racing past.
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Roster OD World Championships
Wayne Baldwin T 73 USA
Tim Butts V 8 USA
Tim Crimmons F 57 Belgium
Mike Dertinger CE 3 Canada
Rex Hall Y 51 USA
Steve Jones T 711 USA
Dan Kirts H 2 USA
Jerry Kirts H 1 USA
Dennis McClellan F 5 USA
Kurt Mischke 12 West Germany
Jimmie Nichols Y 8 USA
Wilfried Weiland 112 Austria
David Westbrook F 4 Belgium
Don Wood E 9 USA
Erwin Zimmerman 77 Austria
The photo is Wilfried Weiland on right and pit crew. He had borrowed Bill Van Steenwyks Rhoades hydro for the event. South African George Wragg was scheduled to appear, but something came up.
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Well....it's time to move on.
Sorry to drag this part out but it's the first race I ever went to where I was able to get photos of almost everyone entered in the heats. I am not sure of what Don Wood or Rick Dertinger look like, and my mind is real fuzzy on Tim Crimmons but I think most everyone is in a pic. For some strange reason I didn't have any closeups or boat photos of Steve Jones. Steve is from Corpus Christi and he and I tramped many miles between TV, radio and Newspapers promoting racing in South Texas.
So coming up is the story of the actual racing. This part of An Amazing Story is dedicated to my good friend and boat racing legend Tim Butts. He had just started racing OD, and will tell you to this day he was terrified of the speed and power of those boats. That makes this part all the more amazing because.........when he was one with his boat........he was ready!
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1st heat OD World Championships
It's been a long time ago, but it seems to me the first heat was overcast with the water a little bit rough. Not bad, as we could run over 100, but enough for some little holes in the water, especially from the wakes still traveling through the bottom turns 3 and 4 where we were milling. With 15 boats, there's a lot of wakes.
I made a bad start and was running somewhere around 5th or 6th when David Westbrook dropped a sponson starting into turn three and his boat did a violent spin. He was thrown over the right sponson and his thigh was struck by the lower unit. According to the newspaper article it was on the second lap, but in the article I wrote for Powerboat I wrote that it was before completion of the first lap.:confused: In the newspaper interview I told the reporter that he had to have hit something in the water that was hard and heavy. That was before David, driving under a Belgian flag, sent word from the hospital what had happened. I didn't see him before they took him off, but I did see his boat. The bottom half of the skeg on his lower unit was broken off and cracked a five inch motor swivel bracket. It was actually his leg that broke that stuff. David was very calm and cool during the time he was in the water and when the rescue team got there. He was holding the pant leg of his uniform with his leg barely hanging on and he told the rescue team what the situation was before they loaded him into the basket.
I was running right behind and to the inside of David when it happened and it was just an explosion of water. Jerry Kirts was in the lead followed by Tim Butts when the black flag came out.