Neal, 90, recalls early years on Miss Madison crew

“My late wife and Bob Humphrey’s bowled together, and Bob was on the crew, and Jean (Humphrey) asked my wife if your Bob would like to get on the Madison crew, and she said, ‘I don’t know,’ so she told me about it, and I said, ‘I sure

would.’ ”

That was the beginning of Neal’s time as a crew member in the 1960s mostly during the years when Buddy Byers was driver.

Miss Madison Racing was established in 1961 when industrialist Sam DuPont donated his hydroplane, known as Nitrogen, to the citizens of Madison. When the original Miss Madison was destroyed in a racing accident, DuPont in 1963 sold his second boat, Nitrogen II, to the city for $5,000.

Many of the crew members were business leaders in the community. Three of the crew members had their own business — Bob Humphrey with Auto Electric, Bill Schnabel with Schnabel’s Jewelry Store and Ben Schnabel with Schnabel’s Meat Market. Graham Heath, who in the 1960s worked as a mechanic at Risk’s Garage, also later owned his own business.

Ben Schnabel also served terms as County Auditor and County Assessor, and on trips to race sites Neal said Schnabel was charged with the bookkeeping duties. “As far as rooms and food, they paid for that. Ben would keep track of that.”

One of Neal’s special memories was a trip in 1964 to the Harrah’s Tahoe Regatta on Lake Tahoe in which crew members Ben Schnabel, Bill Schnabel and Stan McKay drove two trucks west — one to haul the boat and the other with two engines, parts and tools. The interstate road system was in its infancy back then, Neal noted, so there wasn’t one to Lake Tahoe. They traveled US 50 for the entire trip. Along the way, the truck with the engines and parts got a flat tire that had to be repaired, slightly delaying their arrival. But once all arrived, they stayed in Stateline, Nevada, located on the southeastern shore of Lake Tahoe. “You could cross the street and you’d be in California,” Neal remembered.

Neal also traveled with the team to several other races sites including Detroit, Guntersville, Alabama and Washington, D.C. He recalled that he and Heath alone drove the team’s two trucks to Washington, D.C., including a route that neither anticipated.

“I was driving a truck and Graham was driving another truck behind me, but for some reason I got off the highway and took us right downtown in Washington D.C., and Graham was about to have fit,” Neal laughed. “What did you bring me here for?”

It’s those experiences that Neal fondly remembers.

“I don’t really remember how we did in the races,” he said, adding the Miss Madison team was still working to hit its stride in those early years. However, driver Byers, the boat and crew produced consistent results in 1964 and finished second in national high point standings.

Neal, working at the time at Chain Belt in Madison — later to be called Rexnord — used his vacation time to travel to the races. “It wasn’t nice for my wife for me to use up all my vacation time” going to the races, Neal said, “but she kind of understood.” He married his first wife in 1951 and they were together 42 years until her death.

Neal eventually remarried. He and his second wife, also 90, have been together 27 years and both now living at the River Terrace Health Campus. On Thursday, Neal asked wife Irene if she would have been OK with him using vacation to go boat racing, and she said that she would have, noting that with her being a bowler that there have been times in her life when she traveled for bowling tournaments.

“I had a good bunch of guys to work with” on the crew, said Neal, noting each crew member had a specific role. He said Heath worked on the engines and Humphrey handled the electronics. Since Neal had a smaller body frame, he was used to “hook up the engine and propeller. You had to take the driver’s seat out then crawl down underneath the steering wheel and hook up the engine to the prop. That was my job, taking care of the props and the drive shaft.” He said Ben Schnabel “took care of the hull itself” by repairing any damage the boat sustained with all the other team members assists if needed.

A 1950 graduate of Vevay High School, Neal moved to Madison for work. In the 1950s, he commuted from Vevay to work at Madison Machine Products on Park Avenue, then moved after beginning work at Chain Belt. Several years later, he went to work for Clifty Engineering, run by former longtime Miss Madison Inc. President Bob Hughes, but by then Neal said he was no longer involved in racing.

“By that time they’d gone to jet engines, and I didn’t know any more about that than I did than the man on the moon,” Neal laughed.

Neal said he enjoyed his role with Miss Madison Racing in the early 1960s, but never imagining in those early years that more than 60 years later Miss Madison would still be competing in unlimited hydroplane racing. Even though he’s no longer able to attend the races family members help keep him updated on how the U-1 Miss HomeStreet/Miss Madison is doing.

He said his memories of being a part of Miss Madison Racing are special. “I never did drive a race car or race boat,” he said, “but I enjoyed my time as crew member.”