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As I sit in my sea hut realizing the day for the John Broge fund raiser is fast aproaching I wonder how many current Stock Outboard people know of John Broge. My first memory of John was Trenton 1978, he ran 15ssr and neaded a third Boat so they could race, it was my second race but failing to get on plane the first one made it really my first, they talked my dad into letting me run my ASR in the 15ssr class to get experience. I wound up winning my first race beacause the 15 hot rods in those days where not to reliable, John broke a drive shaft and the other boat failed to finish for some reason I cannot remember.
The next summer the nationals where in Dayton and we pited around the Half Fast guys, John had a small motorcycle and let us ride it around when he was not using it. That was John, always giving and helping out other people. Here are some interesting facts about John if you have not been around him you would not know.
1. John was into punk rock bigtime, he had white and black hair (one side white, one side black) spiked and wore big black engineer boots. If you did not know John and saw him he was a sight to see.
2. He had his hair raffeled off one nationals to help a fellow driver who was injured in a racing accident.
3. He propossed to his wife in a 25 runabout in Burt Lake, the Friday before the Marathon Nationals (I do mean litterally in the boat, he took her for a ride and stopped and propossed) how cool is that
4. He does not drink or do drugs, that was the biggest suprise people had because of the way he dressed, they just assumed he did.
These are little tidbits I know just based on racing with John for almost 20 years, never had a relationship with him outside or racing, but like everybody else who races they are like family. John kinda limited his racing for a few years while he got his degree, he would race Trenton, and Top-o. I finished second to John 5 times and beat him once at Top-o. We always had a good time at Trenton, even thought it was supposed to be for show, we always hung it out there and we both beat all the other classes one weekend in the marathon.
I know most of you only know John as a OPC driver, but he spent allot of years in Stock Outboard. Please help him and his family in their time of need, Johns boys are starting their racing days now.
Also, anybody who has some other John Broge tidbits it would be fun to hear them.
Kerry Hamlin
The next summer the nationals where in Dayton and we pited around the Half Fast guys, John had a small motorcycle and let us ride it around when he was not using it. That was John, always giving and helping out other people. Here are some interesting facts about John if you have not been around him you would not know.
1. John was into punk rock bigtime, he had white and black hair (one side white, one side black) spiked and wore big black engineer boots. If you did not know John and saw him he was a sight to see.
2. He had his hair raffeled off one nationals to help a fellow driver who was injured in a racing accident.
3. He propossed to his wife in a 25 runabout in Burt Lake, the Friday before the Marathon Nationals (I do mean litterally in the boat, he took her for a ride and stopped and propossed) how cool is that
4. He does not drink or do drugs, that was the biggest suprise people had because of the way he dressed, they just assumed he did.
These are little tidbits I know just based on racing with John for almost 20 years, never had a relationship with him outside or racing, but like everybody else who races they are like family. John kinda limited his racing for a few years while he got his degree, he would race Trenton, and Top-o. I finished second to John 5 times and beat him once at Top-o. We always had a good time at Trenton, even thought it was supposed to be for show, we always hung it out there and we both beat all the other classes one weekend in the marathon.
I know most of you only know John as a OPC driver, but he spent allot of years in Stock Outboard. Please help him and his family in their time of need, Johns boys are starting their racing days now.
Also, anybody who has some other John Broge tidbits it would be fun to hear them.
Kerry Hamlin