Tricks that old racers get up to after retirement

[jackiewilson]

To cap it all—— the digit started to decline rapidly.
Went and had it seen to, back on the anti-B’s—- double dose age——- a months supply.
Better not run down the street, or hop skip and jump, pills tumbling about will sound like a drum roll!
Be glad to see the end of this week——- I’ve had better.

[jackiewilson]

Paris 1970 not a happy Paris race for me !

[Lake X Kid]

Suppose I ought to pass comment on Stevarino’s comment about Spalding and Garbrecht having a few cross words.
Make no mistake about it Garbrecht picked the winner—- we all knew that ! Whether it was SEEBOLD—- Fountain—BENTZ—- GG decided who had the best boat—- Motor—- and prop.
He did not ever brook dissent— argument or discussion! Gary was the ringmaster.
Yes , of course I fell out with him, same as I fell out with anyone who didn’t agree with me.
CK had made him an extension of himself—— absolutely beyond reproach—- Race Director with a free hand, and he did an admirable job of it——— no wonder OMC wanted him so bad—— paid him a big bag of gold, and an almost unlimited budget to leave Mercury.
After Liege and Toms untimely accident—— Gary and Bob grew even closer, so for Bob not to be first choice at his home world championships would be cause for concern!

The waves apparently got pretty choppy in Europe at times, with ringmaster Gary Garbrecht having eventual fallouts with you, Bob S. and Renato Molinari. Maybe when Gary was in Europe the food was not to his liking and then drivers beware.

In hindsight It seems Gary G. had a more congenial authority with his American drivers. Okay maybe not, Downard mention there was some ill feelings, before his switch to OMC. And Stickle recently told me, he didn’t like the role he was offered before he chose his Merc factory team departure.

When the ringmaster is at the top of the food chain, not everyone beneath gets treated meritoriously. But the thing about Gary is, his teams were successful at the race circuits. A telling testament to his management decisions.

[Lake X Kid]

So what went wrong at the 1970 Paris race?

[jackiewilson]

So what went wrong at the 1970 Paris race?

Renato led the race for the first two hours—— I took over, never missed a beat—- no boat ever passed me——- perfect pit stop——- Renato finished the race. Not a single worry EXCEPT. According to the official result, we were three laps down on the winners Sanders and Posey !
Course—— Renato blamed me—- and I told him he wasn’t the hot shot driver he was cracked up to be,
Big inquest at the George V hotel—— went on until midnight——- so we all missed the official prize giving and reception.
Only race I ever protested in my life.
My daughter Tracy. ( Boo to everyone) used to do the timekeeping for me——- strictly unofficial——
told me we were the winners—— she had timed every lap—- but —- she was twelve years old,
We never actually got into a fist fight—- but Renato and I never had the same friendship again!
A week later I was supposed to co drive with him in Berlin—— that arrangement was cancelled!
The French timing system has long been suspect—- but to lose by three laps was insane and unacceptable——?
Told you before ROY—— I fall out with damn near everyone, sooner or later!
Second place silver medal still hangs up in the workshop—— it never made it to the trophy cabinet!

[FUJIMO]

You couldn't pick a worse place, water conditions-wise, to hold a tunnel boat race.

[STEVERINO]

You couldn't pick a worse place, water conditions-wise, to hold a tunnel boat race.

It was always a exciting race to be in and watch and 1970 was the last year they ran the barges while the race was running so from 1971 on you could drive flat out and some years they had over100 entries apply to race I always enjoyed every race I had there and most drivers looked forward to it each year.But I would not say it was the roughest race on the calendar.

[Lake X Kid]

Avoiding a floating dead donkey on the race course, now that is one of the most unusual obstacles to race around.
A part of the Paris 6 Hour legacy.

[Lake X Kid]

Renato led the race for the first two hours—— I took over, never missed a beat—- no boat ever passed me——- perfect pit stop——- Renato finished the race. Not a single worry EXCEPT. According to the official result, we were three laps down on the winners Sanders and Posey !
Course—— Renato blamed me—- and I told him he wasn’t the hot shot driver he was cracked up to be,
...
We never actually got into a fist fight—- but Renato and I never had the same friendship again!
A week later I was supposed to co drive with him in Berlin—— that arrangement was cancelled!
The French timing system has long been suspect—- but to lose by three laps was insane and unacceptable——?
Told you before ROY—— I fall out with damn near everyone, sooner or later!
Second place silver medal still hangs up in the workshop—— it never made it to the trophy cabinet!

Jackie did you really believe "he wasn't the hot shot driver he was cracked up to be, or was that just in a heated moment of being blamed, frustrated and disappointed?

[jackiewilson]

Jackie did you really believe "he wasn't the hot shot driver he was cracked up to be, or was that just in a heated moment of being blamed, frustrated and disappointed?

You have no idea of just how pissed off with world I was at that time—— and when I’m pissed, you don’t want to be within a country mile of me!
Billy and Renato—- without question—- were the best drivers in the world at that time—— Bill SIROIS had moved to offshore so doesn’t come into the equation!
Billy never did offshore—— Renato did, but never quite made it—-
Sirois was the best in both—— which makes him unique!
So , I guess you could call it a heat of the moment thing!
I unfortunately did have those quite regularly !

[jackiewilson]

Avoiding a floating dead donkey on the race course, now that is one of the most unusual obstacles to race around.
A part of the Paris 6 Hour legacy.

When Len Britnell got Chris Kingsbury to see if he could organise a race on the Thames, he had no idea what he was letting himself in for!
Wasnt just dead animals that were thrown into the river—— anything that did or didn’t float was thrown in.
First practice run was like a battlefield—— OMC and Mercury had mountains of ruined equipment!
My friend Chas Shooter was running a RON Joes Tunnel with a Keith Black 427, was the only boat that looked like a winner——river was twice as rough as the Seine knew how to be.
Was surprised to see him being towed back to the bits—— I asked him what the problem was—- his reply was ——-I HIT A HANDLE !,
me— SO ..
Chas—- IT WAS ATTACHED TO A DOOR .?
me— BUT YOU GOT A KT MATE. A DOOR COULDNT STOP YOU!
chas.— IT WAS STILL ATTACHED TO THE SHED,

A boom was strung across the river, but after two hours had collected tons of flotsam and had to be lifted—— there was a dead horse included in the contents!
ALL the factory drivers failed to finish—— it was a race of attrition, won by Peter Inward I think!

Thames race was far rougher than the Seine race!

[jackiewilson]

The waves apparently got pretty choppy in Europe at times, with ringmaster Gary Garbrecht having eventual fallouts with you, Bob S. and Renato Molinari. Maybe when Gary was in Europe the food was not to his liking and then drivers beware.

In hindsight It seems Gary G. had a more congenial authority with his American drivers. Okay maybe not, Downard mention there was some ill feelings, before his switch to OMC. And Stickle recently told me, he didn’t like the role he was offered before he chose his Merc factory team departure.

When the ringmaster is at the top of the food chain, not everyone beneath gets treated meritoriously. But the thing about Gary is, his teams were successful at the race circuits. A telling testament to his management decisions.

This was at the world F1 championships at Chasewater—- our kerfuffle at Windermere was in the past

[jackiewilson]

I could not believe the amount of money being chucked about by OMC in Europe.
Figures were staggering, when you consider what factory drivers were paid previously!
Even the most loyal Mercury drivers were tempted, and eventually changed sides.
Spalding, Jenkins, Ericsson——— plus a rake of drivers from the lower classes—— Frost, Strom, Marshall.
Bullen, Percival , Beard had previously run OMC’S—— although Percy had been in the Mercury team previously.
Hodges put together a three boat team with SPALDING ,PERCIVAL AND ERRICSON
VELDEN ran a three boat team with Benson and Hedges.
Molinari ran three boats for Saffa—- and Martini.
Shudder to think what the initial cost of the set up was—— including the backhanders to the UIM.
And believe me—— Garbrecht would not have come cheap!!
Have often wondered what might have happened had the Oz’s—- ON’S—— and OE’s run a series jointly—— where the sport might have ended up, but the problems were insurmountable! It simply never could have happened!

[jackiewilson]

Saturday morning—- Her who shall be obeyed at all times dropped me off at the car boot sale for an hour——- about the number of stalls you’d expect for a wet March Saturday.
But it was the mood of the people walking round, and the stall holders, depression and despondency—— managed to buy A bandsaw for £20, with seven brand fire new Starrett blades. A really well made dovetailed box to ship all the lathe parts to China for a pound! Everyone’s chin was on the floor—— Ah well, it’s an I’ll wind !!!!
Been trying to think up an idea as to how to make my fortune——- spray on—— Peel off gloves, costing 5 pence a pop, but. charging a pound a time—— you know what I mean—— something along those lines.
You know things are pretty serious when APPLE stores are closed for a month——- BA grounds most of its planes and warns of heavy job losses.
ALL sport is cancelled——- F1 is not going to happen anytime soon——— London and Brighton marathons are called off———- 2020 Olympics are called off.
Price of petrol has fallen dramatically OPEC and Russia are head to head—— but the Arabs will definitely win that one——— oil under $20 a barrel ——- nobody’s getting rich at that price.
Werent many cars on the road today———- storage tanks full—— production halted—— jolly hockey sticks! Sun just came out—— must be an omen!
Oh bugger, forget that—- it’s just gone back in!!

[ron54]

How’s the toilet roll situation down on your manor Jackie?...Pretty much non existent up here in the Bristol badlands.Luckily we can still get copies of “The Sun” or the “Mirror” to fall back on....(Pun intended)��...