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This race site is rich in racing history. So many greats over the years have planed out across it's surface. I would very much enjoy seeing/hearing some of YOUR memories, stories, history, photos, videos, etc. (Anything at all! Haha.) from Lake Buhlow. I know that there have been many posts throughout a few different racing forums about this location and some of it's past.. But I would like to start this as a new topic and see where it goes. 
This particular race site is very dear to me. Living in central Louisiana my entire life.. I have hardly missed a race of any sort at Buhlow. (Stocks, mods, pros, inboards, tunnels, drags..) My family would spend all weekend watching whatever events were taking place here as long as I've been alive. I can remember during my youngest years.. (Early to mid 90s) Being at the far north point of the lake on the same side as the pits.. Even with turn 1. I would ride out with my father early in the week or early the morning of race day and he would push mow the grass down a bit so we could get around the vehicles better. We would get there early enough to enjoy all the testing taking place pre-race. We'd stay from the time the first boat cranked off to make test laps that morning until the last heat of racing was finished that evening.. Usually as the sun was already even with the horizon. I remember enjoying many a race weekend sitting on the tailgates of trucks on that point with my father, grandfather, two uncles, and my cousins. Always dreaming that maybe one day I would be lucky enough to do it as well. My grandfather raced B Hydro way back in the day (was one of the best in area) so I grew up hearing his stories and seeing his trophies.. And that just drove home the fact that this was something I REALLY wanted to do. I built racing boats out of Legos and if there wasn't a real life race happening on a given weekend.. I was racing on my grand parent's coffee table all weekend long. And I couldn't be distracted! Haha. I had a schedule to keep. I can remember asking my grand mother if I could be late to supper one night because I still had the 2nd heat of A Runabout to race. Haha. It was an absolute dream come true when my father surprised me with the fact that he had bought a race boat for me. A, at the time, white Campise (sp?) Hydro and a Yamato 80. After a year or so of owning this rig.. We finally took it out to Buhlow one warm November morning in 2002 and I got to take my first laps in it. As if I wasn't already mentally hooked on this sport enough.. This completely infected me with the boat racing bug. We would make many trips back out to Buhlow over the next year just to play basically. We started to acquire more equipment and boats, etc. from ex-racers in Louisiana and before we knew it.. We had a trailer with multiple rigs. In August of 2003.. My father felt I was ready to race. The NBRA Nationals were in Pineville the same weekend as my birthday. We made this as our debut to the racing scene. I raced A Hydro, A Runabout, and B Runabout that weekend. We even lucked out and got a win in A Runabout. My Uncle Randy, who had been gathering equipment and so forth over the last few years as well would end up making his debut at Buhlow the very next year at the co-hosted NBRA/AOF race in May. He too would score his first win that weekend in 102 Stock Hydro.
This race site truly built a dream for me.. And it then became the avenue with which my family could take to make that dream come true. I've shared many great family moments there and many great racing moments there as well. I can't tell you how many times I've gone out for a drive and then find myself parked lake side at Buhlow reminiscing..
I can't wait to be back out there this year.
This particular race site is very dear to me. Living in central Louisiana my entire life.. I have hardly missed a race of any sort at Buhlow. (Stocks, mods, pros, inboards, tunnels, drags..) My family would spend all weekend watching whatever events were taking place here as long as I've been alive. I can remember during my youngest years.. (Early to mid 90s) Being at the far north point of the lake on the same side as the pits.. Even with turn 1. I would ride out with my father early in the week or early the morning of race day and he would push mow the grass down a bit so we could get around the vehicles better. We would get there early enough to enjoy all the testing taking place pre-race. We'd stay from the time the first boat cranked off to make test laps that morning until the last heat of racing was finished that evening.. Usually as the sun was already even with the horizon. I remember enjoying many a race weekend sitting on the tailgates of trucks on that point with my father, grandfather, two uncles, and my cousins. Always dreaming that maybe one day I would be lucky enough to do it as well. My grandfather raced B Hydro way back in the day (was one of the best in area) so I grew up hearing his stories and seeing his trophies.. And that just drove home the fact that this was something I REALLY wanted to do. I built racing boats out of Legos and if there wasn't a real life race happening on a given weekend.. I was racing on my grand parent's coffee table all weekend long. And I couldn't be distracted! Haha. I had a schedule to keep. I can remember asking my grand mother if I could be late to supper one night because I still had the 2nd heat of A Runabout to race. Haha. It was an absolute dream come true when my father surprised me with the fact that he had bought a race boat for me. A, at the time, white Campise (sp?) Hydro and a Yamato 80. After a year or so of owning this rig.. We finally took it out to Buhlow one warm November morning in 2002 and I got to take my first laps in it. As if I wasn't already mentally hooked on this sport enough.. This completely infected me with the boat racing bug. We would make many trips back out to Buhlow over the next year just to play basically. We started to acquire more equipment and boats, etc. from ex-racers in Louisiana and before we knew it.. We had a trailer with multiple rigs. In August of 2003.. My father felt I was ready to race. The NBRA Nationals were in Pineville the same weekend as my birthday. We made this as our debut to the racing scene. I raced A Hydro, A Runabout, and B Runabout that weekend. We even lucked out and got a win in A Runabout. My Uncle Randy, who had been gathering equipment and so forth over the last few years as well would end up making his debut at Buhlow the very next year at the co-hosted NBRA/AOF race in May. He too would score his first win that weekend in 102 Stock Hydro.
This race site truly built a dream for me.. And it then became the avenue with which my family could take to make that dream come true. I've shared many great family moments there and many great racing moments there as well. I can't tell you how many times I've gone out for a drive and then find myself parked lake side at Buhlow reminiscing..
I can't wait to be back out there this year.
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