speed demon half century ago

[BROCCOLI]

The driver of this AU, shown here winning a race in 1961, was seen in the pits in Wakefield along with the boat's owner and builder.

Any guesses?

[hpick86n]

Ron Hedlund

[BROCCOLI]

which?

howie, would that be the driver, owner, or builder?

[hpick86n]

Builder

[BROCCOLI]

yes the boat is a Hedlund...

[Ron Hill]

Are You Sure???

yes the boat is a Hedlund...

I do know that the Hedlunds bought the last of Rinkers molded plywood boats, but when did the Hedlunds start building their runabouts??? Maybe, early 1961...

Cool pictures anyway.

I talked to Jerry Hedlund for about an hour before Wakefield, just no time to go myself...Wakefield is a hard place to fly to...

What year did the Hedlunds quit racing???

[BROCCOLI]

Jerry won the BU nationals in 1970.

[Ron Hill]

Wow!! Talked To Jerry Hedlund...

I just got off the phone with Jerry. As usual, I had a few of my "FACTS" CONFUSED.

1. RON AND JERRY HEDLUND NEVER BOUGHT ANY MOLDED HULLS FROM RINKER
THEY BOUGHT THE MOLD THAT MADE THE MOLDED HULLS FOR RINKER.

2. He is pretty sure that this is Phil Wagner in the 2-US boat, as Ron and Jerry ALWAYS ran Bell Helmets....Jerry said, "Phil always wore an miner's hat."

3. Hedlunds built their first runabout in 1958.

4. Jerry only raced one race in 1970, the Beloit Nationals. He won. Before Beloit, they'd sold most of their equipment. They sold their remaining boat, motor and two propellers in the spring of '71 and quit racing.

JUST AN FYI:

In 1964, after the Modesto Nationals, the Hedlunds stopped at my parent's house and spend an evening with us. Phil Wagner was driving for the Hedlunds in those days, and he was also in MED SCHOOL.

Phil looked really young. On the way back to Illinois, they stopped in Vegas. Phil got carded because he didn't look 21. He had a hell of a time convincing they he was in MED SCHOOL....and was like 24....

[BROCCOLI]

Your right, Ron. This is a shot of Phil Wagner driving Ron Hedlund's boat.
Ron, Jerry and Phil were all at Wakefield.

[flatsmoke]

Ron still has the boat he won with in the 60's. It's the boat he used to win BU Nationals in Beloit in 1960.

[John Schubert]

Hedlund

Your right, Ron. This is a shot of Phil Wagner driving Ron Hedlund's boat.
Ron, Jerry and Phil were all at Wakefield.

Craig,

Actually Jerry's name is spelled Gerry. I remembered that all these years & confirmed it last year at the Pleasant Prairie race as I asked him.

John

[Ron Hill]

Gerry Hedlund and Gerry Waldman

Ron still has the boat he won with in the 60's. It's the boat he used to win BU Nationals in Beloit in 1960.

Jerry Waldman was with the "J", his wife's maiden name was "Hill". I always thought that was COOL.

Gerry Hedlund tells me he's dating a woman with the last name "Hill" and will probably come to California in October and maybe stay with us for a few days...

Seems the last time I was at the Hedlund's a saw Ron's 1960. I offered to buy it.

Is this the "Window" Rinker??? Seems Ron rolled it and got run over and they repaired the bottom with glass, and going around the corners the boat looked like it had a "Window'' in it....I may have to call Gerry, again, and ask more questions.

I was 16, in Beloit, 1960. I saw a lot of stuff I'd never seen and Ron's BU was one...

[sax]

First time I saw Team Hedlund run was at the "Milwaukee Journal" race in
(I believe) '64. They pretty much dominated the small runabout classes and
one thing that stuck in my mind was that they were the first knee jockey
team in my memory to make an attempt at team uniforms. They all were
wearing blue and white striped shirts so were easy to spot on the race
course. Stock was still in it's heyday and that was a huge race. Again,
if memory serves, they ran eliminations on Saturday and finals on Sunday.

[bethann]

Hedlund Runabouts

The driver of this AU, shown here winning a race in 1961, was seen in the pits in Wakefield along with the boat's owner and builder.

Any guesses?

I believe the 2US Boat was named Taboo and Hedlunds may still have the boat in the photo. Robert Shoemaker owned a Molded Hull Business in Goshen, In ( Mold Craft ). He sold pleasure boat Hulls to North American Marine located in Warsaw, In and to the Famous Craft Boat Co. of Goshen. John and Jan Rinker were building boats for their small Boat Co. known as Rinker Brothers Boats . John and Jan also built boat from the Mold Craft Hulls. Bob Shoemaker hired Rinkers to Build an A/B Runabout Racing Boat Plug to form Racing Hull from. 12 of the Hulls John & Jan build Racing Boats from had an added feature ( 28" Drop Bottom Running Area) Stover and Steve Hearn both had the Hulls with the added running area. Bob Shoemaker died about (1963) and Ron & Gerry purchased the remaining Hulls and the Plug from Bob's widow Lucy Shoemaker . What beautiful Hedlunds built ! Bud Hursh

[Ron Hill]

ADD: Gerry Hedlund and Family

WHen I was racing with OMC, I could stay at the Travel Lodge in Waukegan. But, I made a deal with Jack leek, that if I stayed at the Hedlund's in Willamette, could I spend the cost of my motel bill for food and drinks? Jack agreed, but told my I was supposed to show up ready to drive.

So, I spent many nights,in the 1960's , with the Hedlund's. We also spent a few evening in Chicago's Party area...

What I remember most was that Gerry and Ron's dad was a photographer and they had large 30 X 30 pictures of their boats on the walls of the shop.

In talking to Gerry the other day, he said he was learning to scan pictures and had MANY slides from their racing days. When he comes to California, maybe we can post a bunch of Hedlund Family racing pictures.

They were always a CLASS ACT!