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Born in Seattle, Washington in July 1959, it was a given that sooner or later, I would end up being a true blue hydro nut. My father moved to Seattle in the early 1950’s and while one day having nothing better to do, he went down to the lake and saw the Slo-mo-shun III run and that was all it took for him to be hooked. After that year, the annual trek to the shores of Lake Washington for the big Seafair hydro race was standard practice. I attended my first race in 1960 and the tender age of 1 and every Seafair race after that until 1994 when the string was broken due to a work related move south to Vancouver, WA. With all those wonderful memories, all I ever wanted to be was a hydro driver. Not a doctor or a lawyer or a fireman but a boat racer! I was the typical kid in Seattle who towed a wooden hydro behind his bike with all of the other neighborhood kids and dreamed of the day. That day would eventually come. In 1984, I had the opportunity to join the Muncey racing team as a crew member. I worked every weekend for 14 months before Wil gave me the opportunity to drive his 5 litre inboard. It was the fall of 1985 on the Columbia river in Wenatchee, WA. that I took to the water for the first time. I entered competition without ever driving a boat before. My competition that day was against some very fast boats and some former regional champion drivers. The head referee at the time Jim Codling told me to stay out of everybody's way, which I was more than happy to comply. Just prior to the race, I was up visiting the bathroom for the 4th or 5th time due to nerves, I saw my good friend Mark Evans and his advice was to put my foot to the floor and let it rip! Oh and don't forget to turn left at the corner! Thanks Mark. I did eventually turn left and I finished the race and saw my childhood dream come true.
My dream spilled over to my older brother Doug who purchased a boat in 1986 and talked me into joining up with him. The boat was a Karelsen 5 litre which Doug named the E-76 Chapter Eleven due to our current cash flow. We picked up a sponsor for the 1987 season and re-named the boat COUNTRY STOVES. We raced locally and never really did well but occasionally would get a trophy or two. In August of 1987 while competing on the infamous milky waters of Lake Tapps in Sumner, WA., I got a great start and went into turn one in second place chasing David Leach in the E-101 Buccaneer. I was headed into turn 3 when Ken Dryden passed me creating the proverbial water pot hole that I fell into and flipped the boat which ripped half of one sponson off. I was spit out like a watermelon seed and fortunately landed on my back side and skipped across the water for about 20 yards or so. I then realized that I had been thrown directly into the competition behind me. I was narrowly missed by several other boats before the red flags came out on the course. We rebuilt the boat using the latest Karelsen design with the transom shoes to help keep the back end up allowing the prop to perform as intended. The first race out of the box yielded my second of two trophies. It was a red letter day for me. The E-76 raced for another 3 years before Doug moved to North Carolina, taking the boat with him, thus ending our racing careers. The Country Stoves would sit in storage for 13 years before she would see the water again. Doug had made several attempts to sell the boat at local boat races on the east coast and at one race it was proposed to restore the hull and race her in the up and coming vintage circuit. So in 2003, Doug set out to re-restore the E-76 to her glory days. In July of 2004, the Country Stoves made her maiden voyage into vintage at Madison, Indiana. Doug and the E-76 were instant celebrities. Doug called me up on the phone and said, “you have got to come race in this class.” So in 2005, I came out of retirement and raced on the famous Ohio River were many of my idols and favorite boats raced including the Miss Madison in 1971 as the underdog, pulling off the victory by winning the Gold Cup in her hometown. Those memories were with me as I drove the Country Stoves for the first time in 15 years on the famous body of water. At that point, I made the commitment to get back into racing and stay there for good. My next experience was one of my fondest memories yet, a change to race in Detroit, home of the famous Gold cup, the oldest motor sport trophy in the world. I literally had tears streaming down my face as I raced past and waived at the crowds standing on the docks of the famous Detroit Yacht Club as many of my childhood idols had done over the years. My childhood dream to race a boat had come true and in grand fashion too. But that was not the end of the dream. In 2007 while taking a pit tour at the Seattle Seafair race, I ran into my old friend Wil Muncey who gave me an opportunity to join his team once again and crew for an Unlimited Light boat racing team. I jumped at the chance and was reunited with my friends and doing what I love the most, racing. To this day, I
am still involved in both organizations, vintage and the Unlimited Lights,
now both apart of the APBA. Thanks to Wil Muncey and my brother Doug Woodward,
I was not only able to live my childhood dream, but to continue it. Thanks
to all the people who dedicate so much of their time to this wonderful
sport of boat racing. My dream came true.
John Woodward
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E-4 KGAA
