Jerry Waldman was the first man ever to average 80 mph in outboard hydroplane competition with a 44 cubic inch Quincy Welding modified Merc. Over the course of his career with Quincy Welding, Jerry Waldman won over 45 national championships. He also won 26 APBA titles and 19 NOA titles. Jerry won championships in 5 classes over the course of a weekend event in 1971. In the August 1972 issue of the APBA Propeller, Charlie Strang wrote "Probably the most talented power boat racer of all times, Jerry was certainly the most active. He raced every class of stock runabout and hydro during the heyday of that category, added several classes of alky outboards to his stable while still running stock, and finally concentrated on driving every class of alky hydro in APBA and NOA competition. Twenty to thirty heats of racing per weekend was standard fare for the tireless Milwaukeean for many years." Charlie went on to say "Just as it was reasonable to say Jerry ran more races than any driver in history, so it is reasonable to say that he won more races, won more national titles, and set more records. His was a fantastic career, which will probably never be equaled."

In 1965 Jerry held all of the NOA competition records and kilo records in the alky racing hydro classes. In 1966 Waldman was the Southern Champion in A Hydro, B Hydro, D hydro, F Hydro and X Hydro. In 1967 Jerry was the World Champion in X Hydro. In 1968 Jerry was the World Speed Record Holder (5 mile competition) in C Hydro at 68.913 mph, D Hydro at 71.713 mph and X Hydro at 70.644 mph. He was also the World Speed Record Holder (1/2 mile straighaway) in D Hydro at 97.297 mph.

This Quincy A Looper owned and raced by Jerry Waldman was restored by Mike Schmidt. Mike took the engine completely apart then meticulously cleaned and restored every part, down to the last nut and bolt. The engine has a combination of reed valves and piston skirt valves between the carburetor and crankcase. There are 4 Mercury Mark 20K style reed valves for the top crankcase and another 4 reed valves for the bottom crankcase. In addition, there are 2 port piston valves per crankcase. There are 2 exhaust ports on the bottom of the top cylinder and 2 exhaust ports on the top of the bottom cylinder. The motor is equipped with a pair of large exhaust manifolds that sweep rearward. There is a divider in the cylinder block and in the manifolds to keep the exhaust pulses from interacting. Each manifold has its own megaphone where it exhausts above water. The engine also has a driver actuated water injection system for introducing water into the exhaust. A switch on the throttle activates a solenoid, allowing water to enter the exhaust manifold. The water turns to steam, slowing down the exhaust waves. The objective is to get bottom end power. The engine has a regular A/B/C foot (gearcase) that has rare 15/16 gears. Charlie Strang said they made a small batch of 15/16 gears for the original Mark 20H stock outboard motors. Waldman used a 2 blade Smith Prop on his Quincy A Looper. This Waldman campaigned, Quincy A Looper is now owned by Paul Christner.

page 9 continued: Jerry Waldman out-distanced the entire field to take the first World Championship crown in the X Hydroplane Class. The race, although run under adverse weather conditions, proved that the Memphis Lakeland course is suitable in every respect with few changes to become one of the nation's most outstanding race courses. Note: Jerry Waldman took 1st places in F Hydro & X Hydro plus a 2nd in D Hydro.

Gerry Waldman named one of his boats Spooker, thus the word Spooker on his racing helmet.

This is a photo taken of Jerry Waldman (left) and Bobby Herring (right) at Alexandria, LA in the 1960's. The woman in the photo was a reporter, Mary Beth.

At the 1965 World Championships at Alexandria, Louisiana, Jerry set a competition record in B Hydro at 64.609 mph plus set 3 other speed records (C Hydro + D Hydro competition & C Hydro straight-a-way). Jerry was also crowned World Champion in A Hydro, B Hydro and C Hydro. Jerry Waldman won the High Point trophy for accumulating 30,063 national points. The 1965 World Champs, according to the Dec 1965 issue of the Rooster Tail, had 491 entries and ran a total of 66 race heats, including qualifying. Twelve new competition records were set (including Jerry's)and 6 straight-a-way records were broken.

Page taken from Spring 1972 Hydroplane Quarterly, published by Tim Chance.

This letter was written by Jerry (G. J.) Waldman to all drivers regarding the upcoming NOA race event at Hot Springs, Arkansas. Special thanks to Wayne Baldwin for sharing this piece of history with us.

This is the roster of drivers of the Northern Team for the Lone Star Challenge Championship Boat Races of June, 1972. Both Jerry Waldman and Jim Schoch were running Quincy Welding racing engines. Thanks again to Wayne Baldwin for contributing this to the Looper site.

Photo courtesy of Wayne Baldwin.

Photo courtesy of Wayne Baldwin.

Per Wayne Baldwin: ALDAC was the name of the manufacturer before MASTER OIL, INC. It went back to the corporation at the time Master Oil was invented. My Dad had partners in the Aloe Vera business that were from Dallas,---hence the name ALDAC. Alice-Dallas. Not many people know that. Anyway here is the score sheet from B hydro. The only guys from the west that showed were Ron Anderson and Lee Sutter, so we had some slots for some drivers not originally picked for the North or East. That is why the names are scratched and switched. They were all one heat races, so it looks like there must have been a bunch of gun jumpers in B hydro with only two payouts.

Jerry Waldman running a Quincy A Looper at the last race event he attended. This A Looper was restored by Mike Schmidt and is now owned by Paul Christner. Photo by Wayne Baldwin.

Jerry Waldman's spectacular racing career came to a tragic end on June 3rd, 1972, at Hot Springs, Arkansas, as he was racing in D Hydro. Here is a score card from that race from Wayne Baldwin, who participated in the races that weekend. At the Hot Springs event, Jerry was captain of the North, Marshall Grant captain of the East, Wayne Baldwin captain South, and Rich Fuschlin accepted captain of the West. As plans progressed, Rich had some other committments and he didn't have time to properly assemble his team or make the race so he got Lee Sutter to take his place. Jerry's final day of racing met with great success until the accident. He won most of his events with his Merc-Quincy's, and ended up high point driver. (Score Card courtesy Wayne Baldwin)

Photo by Wayne Baldwin.

We have some exciting news for Looper treasure hunters. We've just confirmed in February 2009 that the last production B Looper that Jerry Waldman raced has been discovered, FB-206. The proud new owner wishes to remain anonymous, but did send photos to share with you - as it arrived in the packing box. Notice the early Mercury CD ignition distributor? Surprisingly, as you can see, it is in mint original condition.

A second view of the B Looper FB206.