Tricks that old racers get up to after retirement

[jackiewilson]

hardest thing you will ever do--Jackie--

Might just leave it then Gene. Let somebody else go to the trouble ,and expense, and disappointment, and heartache , and criticism, .
Told you before , theres. not many folk in the racing world i Haven't fallen out with over the years , might be fun to fall out with the rest, but long after I’ve copped my clogs.
I’ll sleep on it !

[jackiewilson]

Did get another chapter in over the weekend. the TOM AND BOB bit with Patsy and Gilly thrown in for good measure . Patsy was a very private person, but hells teeth, dont ever get into an arm wrestling match with her. Even the HULK would lose. she was never in the spotlight, but Bob owed her more than he ever knew. Enough, its bedtime , and i turn grouchy around midnight .

[jackiewilson]

My eldest grandson with a couple of my 15 great grandchildren, Max and Nicholas.
I might YET be a GREAT,GREAT GRANDFATHER.

[FUJIMO]

...yup. can see the resemblance...its as strong as a locomotive...

[Lake X Kid]

100,000 words and 150 pictures up to now. Half way Mark i would suggest. Next job is to get it edited . Fortunate enough to have a couple of kids. bright enough to help me prepare it for publishing. Then all i have to do is find a publisher , daft enough to print it !

If a publisher does not accept your manuscript, then there at least two other options. And within those two options are a lot of companies to choose from.

1) Self publishing.
2) Print on Demand.

[jackiewilson]

If a publisher does not accept your manuscript, then there at least two other options. And within those two options are a lot of companies to choose from.

1) Self publishing.
2) Print on Demand.

You know what Roy, writing a book about something you have loved all your life comes easy. I only wrote about the people and places i knew personally. None of it is here say, its all true. plus, i only write when i feel like it.
Im not an accomplished author, just a guy with a lot of friends, with the same interests which happens to be power boat racing. Mainly closed course circuit racing at the highest level, along with the best in the business from all five continents. Constructors , drivers , their families and the lives they lead .
I have a big mouth and a strange sense of loyalty that i dont really understand myself. If i see a wrong then ill try and put it right. If someone or something pisse me off , i have a go at them. Fallen out at one time or another with most commodores of race clubs. UIM officials in particular. Drivers in particular, if they were driving like a twat, i told em so.
Point I’m trying to make is this. I started on a book, mainly about me and my experiences. I have taken my time. Never needed to hurry. It wasnt urgent or important. Wont ever be a best seller , though theres more drama and romance in it than any Tom Clancy, David Baldacci or Stephen King novels. So you can see where im coming from when i tell you i dont give a flying fart when or who or even if it ever gets published . A bit like a river. Comes out of the ground and gradually grows , gets a bit faster, and eventually rolls out into the sea in its own sweet time, one way or another .
Good thing is, my youngest daughter Sam just bought me an all singing and dancing , state of the art APPLE I PAD, with a magical keyboard or some such thing. Even i can punch out a thousand words a day in between making concepts , moving house, dodging COVID . Plus FUJIMO can always help me out with piccies if i get short. Or , on a bad day i can call on Willabee for the odd caustic comment now and again.
My kids and grandkids dont push me to publish (they all know better than that) but without exception they always ask, hey dad/grandad, hows the book coming along. Always tell em the same thing JES FINE , BY JR.

[peterse90]

Jackie, if you have a chapter about Bob & Tom (or a separate chapter for each) here is a picture of Tom & Chris you may want to include.
Do I ever wish I could have been privy to their conversation.
I do know that you knew all of them quite well - both on and off the water.

[jackiewilson]

Seen that picture quite a few times before Pilgrim. Taken just after OMC started throwing money about like confetti. Hodges got enough dinero out of the old firm to equip a workshop with all brand fire new machinery ,plus a new carriage for hauling boats , and a double decker trailer. Add to this Bob and Percy and a talented but unpredictable Swede . Add the cash together that OMC paid them as individuals, you have the makings of a very presentable race team, which is what the Hodges/Percival race team was.
Tom died, a week after after a freak accident with Bocca, on the river in the town of liege .
Bob died as a direct result from injuries received at the race In Seville. He never fully recovered, was never the same man again.
Hodges continued to build boats , draw up new designs , got married (AGAIN), and retired to raise quarter horses in florida. Had another nipper , a girl again. Really dropped off the roller coaster for a while . Got divorced and moved to Australia. Occasionally surfaces, but rarely.
Last i heard ,he and Brownie were going to get together again. Last time they did was at cougars some forty/fifty years ago ! So endeth todays bit of nostalgic nonsense.

[Watermark]

.... So endeth todays bit of nostalgic nonsense.

Jackie, if your book is half as well written (and humorous) as your S&F posts and replies, it’ll be "Oprah's Pick of the Month” in no time! Keep it coming!

[jackiewilson]

Jackie, if your book is half as well written (and humorous) as your S&F posts and replies, it’ll be "Oprah's Pick of the Month” in no time! Keep it coming!
Not everyone is as enthusiastic as you are Mark, Its a happy and hilarious offering however, see if i can send you the VALLEYFIELD CHAPTER. Was one of the most hilarious trips of my life. Runs to a couple of thousand words
(five pages) with that “CLOWN PRINCE OF BOAT RACING” Chas Shooter at the centre .

bugger, should have started here, slip of consecration????

[peterse90]

Seen that picture quite a few times before Pilgrim.

Pretty sure it is from one of my 'old' Powerboat & Waterskiing magazines.
Funny how it 'magically' appeared on another thread about 2 hours after I posted it here late last night at about 11pm (Toronto, Ontario time).

[jackiewilson]

Pretty sure it is from one of my 'old' Powerboat & Waterskiing magazines.
Funny how it 'magically' appeared on another thread about 2 hours after I posted it here late last night at about 11pm (Toronto, Ontario time).

Cmon Guys , good pictures will always be copied ——-ya know what they say about copying . Sincerest form of flattery and all that Jazz !!

[FUJIMO]

[jackiewilson]

Well they weren’t talking about safety cells, they only came after Toms demise, Hodges invented them. He did a lot of the construction of the drivers pod for MACLAREN. In their F1 race cars, so he was way ahead of any other boat constructor.

[jackiewilson]

OK, here goes, i could wind up spending the rest of my life in the pokey for what i am about to say. might not even get published, all depends on Greg and „“THE COMMITTEE“‘ I am sick to my armpits of listening to all the crap thats being spouted under the guise of BLM !!!!! BLACK LIVES MATTER.
“ No doubt about it , black lives do matter, same as white lives , Chinks and Pinks. So its an undisputed fact that ALL lives matter.
So heres my beef. What in the name of all thats holy does tearing down statues THAT HAVE BEEN STANDING HUNDREDS OF YEARS , have to do with anything. What purpose does it achieve? All happened long before any of us here today were born.
Same as i was born white , Lewis Hamilton wasn’t—-so what? Sod all either of us could do about it, grow up, get on with life, instead of bitching and moaning „Nobody likes me Cos I’s black‘. Its nonsense , .
You managed to scare the crap out of the heads of the entertainment business with demands of not enough Black people compared to white. Well
by my reckoning there are far more blacks on my TV screen than whites. Dont matter whether its the soaps or the weather, newscasters or chefs, whites are now in the minority, thats because of all this PC nonsense .
ACTING AND ABILITY NO LONGER COMES INTO THE EQUATION. Its a case of he who protestath loudest !!!
Hamilton protests that there are no black drivers, wonder if it ever occurred to him that the reason could be that none of them are good enough???
Same with swimmers— theres no black swimmers — i have no idea why, doesn't matter anyway. Its a fact.
SIMPLE EVERYDAY FOLK LIKE ME SHOULD NOT BE BEATEN INTO SUBMISSION, SIMPLY BECAUSE WE DONT AGREE.
Time all these BLM idiots who are inciting riots , tearing down statues and discontented with their own lives were brought to task, same as i would be , even though im a „“PRIVILEGED WHITE“ person.
Lewis, You did a good job, not because of your colour, but because of your ability. At the minute
, all this knee bending businesses isn’t doing you any favours at all. But you are doing a good job of alienating yourself from the paying public.

Here endeth todays sermon.