"I'm going to do what a boat driver should never do; I’m going to pick my favorite boat. When driving unlimited boats like the Pay-N-Pak, Budweiser, Squire Shop, Lincoln Thrift and others, you're  representing a corporate image and a lot of people you will never meet but are still a very important  part of the big picture. That puts pressure on a driver you do not get in the smaller boats. I found all racing fun. 

I saw an article under a picture of the 5 liter boat, The Going Thing F16, written by Chip Hanauer that was sent to me by Randy Wold from Spanaway Washington. That inspired me to add my thoughts at this time. What Chip said about owners John Wolf, Buddy Fox and of course Wayne Thompson is what I've known for many years. When Wayne was thrown from The Going Thing in 1970, he was critically injured and was paralyzed from the neck down. I was the first person to see Wayne in the hospital other than his family. Wayne could only blink his eyes, one blink was yes and two blinks was no. He was asked if they should run The Going Thing and he blinked yes, he was asked if he wanted me to drive it and he blinked yes. I was so proud he wanted me to drive, I would have driven it to the moon. Wayne never recovered from his accident but did get a little better and came to the Long Beach race in California in 1972. Unfortunately that was where I crashed the hardest in my racing career. I was racing the Bud Meyers boat and we were side by side at almost 130 mph when the steering failed and I made a square 90 degree right hand turn. I was thrown out the hardest ever. I was in shock until about 3:00 AM the next morning and didn't know it. We were all concerned for Wayne because he saw the accident and was concerned for me. The crash was in the second heat after winning the first heat, there wasn't time to run the second heat over so we won the race by winning just the first heat, it was one of those years. We won 9 races that year and the National Championship.

Parker AZ Kilo event
On Oct, 1971 we went to Parker AZ for the race and a chance to run the kilos on Friday and Saturday. The Colorado River there does not have a long enough straight away but we wanted to see how fast we could go. John went through the engine and checked everything and we had a new Italian propeller that we never ran before. On Friday we decided to make an easy run up river to check things out before a hard run. Going up river with some HP left, I saw 147 mph on the speedo, that was nice but when I backed off a little, up came the front of the boat, “Oh Oh” it was trying to go over backwards. I had to stand on the gas to get the nose down, then back off again and up came the front again. By that time I was out of river as it went to the left, now I had to do something or I would be up the river bank. So what I did was as I lifted the throttle just a little and turned to the left and it worked just in time before the river bank. “Oh My”. I went back down the river to the pits to talk this over with the crew. We took about 6 pieces of rubber hose, 6 inches long and hung them under the front of the boat to disturb the air under the boat just a little, it helped. When our turn came again, we ran a little harder, it was better but the nose came up again but now it was 153 mph, what a ride, and I had to turn left to get it back on the water. Friday we set the record at 151.?? Mph. Late Friday our group was all in a circle to talk this over. We agreed we could go a little faster but how, with what gears, what engine rpm and what go fast breakfast for me. John was asked if we could turn the engine a little faster, so I told him we were turning it about 8700 rpm. John said we can turn a little more rpm. Then we talked about the gear box and what gears to run on Saturday. We all sat and discussed all this very calmly with no one trying to make their point over anyone else. This is some of what Chip was talking about in his opinion of The Going Thing owners and crew. In all of my racing, this group worked together the best. We changed the gear in the gearbox to accelerate a little better. Come Saturday we made several runs on the kilo each time a little faster and each time I had to turn it left to get back on the water, what a ride. On our best set of runs we averaged 152.130 mph. Parker is short of room to start and to stop, we would enter the speed trap at about 145 mph and go out the end about 158 to 159 mph. On our best set of runs we went out the end of the speed trap at 161 mph and 9100 rpm on Johns Ford engine, John is the best engine man I have ever known. Our fastest one way run was 156 mph. Life was good then and still is. 

Green Lake
In 1972, we took The Going Thing boat to Seattle's Green Lake the weekend before the unlimiteds ran on Lake Washington. Most unlimited owners and crews were there to watch. The Seattle racers heard we were running fast and made the start of the heats just as hard on me as they could. I think we won the first heat but I’m not sure. The second and final heat is the real story. We were held up on the start by I think 10 boats and I could not see where I was going and hoping not to run over anyone or get run over. The second lap was better and I started to run The Going Thing harder, by the third and last lap there was just 3 boats ahead of me. I caught one on the end of the front straight away and passed him, the next boat was in the turn and I passed him on the outside also. Now I looked down the last straight away and the lead boat was far ahead of me. I had good water for the first time and I ran wide open to the last big turn. My thoughts about then was my crash going into that turn wide open a few years earlier in a smaller boat. I was running 144 mph and said to myself, stay way outside the lead boats water and remember the wind that can change everything. At Green Lake the wind is called Woodland Park Outflow, you watch the color of the water. I went into the turn just as I caught the lead boat and never lifted on the throttle, Ron Jones Sr. said it was flying the inside sponson. We went on to win the race and our last lap speed was 102.8 mph, passing 3 boats on the outside, what a ride. When I got back home in California I received 3 calls from unlimited owners asking me to drive their boat. I went with Dave Heerensperger’s Pay-N-Pak. That turned out to be the best choice as we won the National Championship. That was the end of me driving The Going Thing, I leaned years ago, if you want to do well at anything, do not try to do too much else at the same time. Guess what boat is my favorite.

APBA Speed Records

• 152.130 mph Straightaway record: The Going Thing 16-F - Oct. 30, 1971 at Parker, Arizona. Fox, Thompson & Wolf (owners) with Mickey Remund (driver). 
• 103.45 mph 1-2/3 course Competition record: Shogun F-23 - 1981 at unknown location by George Woods Jr. (Chevy powered).