HORBA Sad News
06-03-2010, 08:46 AM
#13
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We all knew of Bill Wishnick's great love for offshore racing, but not many knew of his other love...Drag Racing.
Bill was the Chairman of the Board of Witco Chemical Co., a billion dollar business. Bill found a way to combine both loves and his business.
He was one of the first to recognize a skinny kid out of Tampa, Florida as a potential superstar in drag racing, so he sponsored him with one of his company's products...Kendall Motor Oil....the kid of course was Don Garlits.
Bill was the Chairman of the Board of Witco Chemical Co., a billion dollar business. Bill found a way to combine both loves and his business.
He was one of the first to recognize a skinny kid out of Tampa, Florida as a potential superstar in drag racing, so he sponsored him with one of his company's products...Kendall Motor Oil....the kid of course was Don Garlits.
06-03-2010, 08:46 AM
#14
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God Bless Bill and his family.
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P4-13 Team THE JERSEY BOYZ OFFSHORE POWERBOAT RACING, OPA/ SBI/APBA/UIM. PRESIDENT: THE JERSEY BOYZ , VICE-PRESIDENT: OPA RACING, THE GREAT SOUTH BAY RACING ASSOCIATION. WAZZUP RACING ENGINES
P4-13 Team THE JERSEY BOYZ OFFSHORE POWERBOAT RACING, OPA/ SBI/APBA/UIM. PRESIDENT: THE JERSEY BOYZ , VICE-PRESIDENT: OPA RACING, THE GREAT SOUTH BAY RACING ASSOCIATION. WAZZUP RACING ENGINES
06-03-2010, 08:56 AM
#15
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Bill used a Cigarette in defense of his World Championship title. The boat pictured here was purchased from him by a fellow by the name of Howard Arneson. Howard converted it into a pleasure boat called Nauti Eve and ran it for many years on San Frnacisco bay.
The second photo is of Bill and one of his trophies, you can see the pure joy he got out of racing.
He was most generous to HORBA, a few years ago, he donated all of his trophies to HORBA in the hope that someday we would have a museum for the great history of offshore.
The other photo of Bill in a race boat was taken in California and really shows the generous spirit of the man. Another race boat crewed by Rene and Gale Jacoby had suffered mechanical failure right before the start of the race. Bill saw the look of disappoinment on their faces and invited them to ride along with him in his boat....if you look closely, you can see there is a crowd in the cockpit.
The second photo is of Bill and one of his trophies, you can see the pure joy he got out of racing.
He was most generous to HORBA, a few years ago, he donated all of his trophies to HORBA in the hope that someday we would have a museum for the great history of offshore.
The other photo of Bill in a race boat was taken in California and really shows the generous spirit of the man. Another race boat crewed by Rene and Gale Jacoby had suffered mechanical failure right before the start of the race. Bill saw the look of disappoinment on their faces and invited them to ride along with him in his boat....if you look closely, you can see there is a crowd in the cockpit.
06-03-2010, 08:59 AM
#16
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Just thought of the losses over the past year or so.....Billy Elswick, John Crouse and now Bill Wishnick.
The rest of us have to make good use of the time left.
The rest of us have to make good use of the time left.
06-03-2010, 10:46 AM
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06-04-2010, 07:33 AM
#18
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Very sad news. He was a real racer in every sense of the word. I will always remember him at an Around Long Island Race in the 60's, chasing Brownie and hollering "Who's a turtle???"
06-04-2010, 08:21 AM
#19
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Vincenzo sent a very nice comment on Bill's passing from Rome.
Dear Bill, you were not only a very good friend of mine, but a great and loyal competitor, a real and complete sportsman, what I could call "A CHAMPION! Vincenzo Balestrieri
They raced in the era of gentlemen racers. When they were battling for the World Championship, and it got down to the end and it was just the two of them with a chance to win, if one could not attend a race somewhere in the world due to business reasons or whatever, the other one would not race either.
When Bill's boat needed repairs in Uruguay, Vincenzo found another boat that he could rent so they could race against each other.
Dear Bill, you were not only a very good friend of mine, but a great and loyal competitor, a real and complete sportsman, what I could call "A CHAMPION! Vincenzo Balestrieri
They raced in the era of gentlemen racers. When they were battling for the World Championship, and it got down to the end and it was just the two of them with a chance to win, if one could not attend a race somewhere in the world due to business reasons or whatever, the other one would not race either.
When Bill's boat needed repairs in Uruguay, Vincenzo found another boat that he could rent so they could race against each other.
