Folks Of Interest RICK YOUNG ( WALRUS MACHINE ) HAS SAILED WEST R.I.P.

Belated Condolences to the Young family and friends in the passing of Rick...as noted he did certainly live life fully but was taken far to early...may he rest in peace...

 

I knew Rick from 1970-75 than I moved to Eastern Wa. and lost track of "things" until now. Always wondered what happened later in life for Rick, thanks for filling me in. My old roommate, Steve, was the manager of the Aquarius Tavern at the time and my best friend still today was/is Doug G. That was the bouncer. Rick worked out of his house that was a block behind the Tav. One Sat. Rick came into the bar and grabbed Steve and I and wanted to know if we wanted to go for a bike ride. We ended up at Rick's shop and he put both of us on a couple old school choppers and all 3 of us headed to Lk. Sammamish for the day, What an enema that was from our normal day's grind. Spent many hours with him watching him build anything and everything from scratch, none of this catalog cowboy crap you see nowadays. I am 75 now and still think of him often.

 

Hey @brigrat
I had the distinct privilege of going to the CHRR at FAMOSO with Rick Young and Pete McCleod, on Lou Fishers modified Golden Eagle coach, if you zoom in on my avatar, that is Rick and Pete sitting next to Lou's coach, at the end of the drag strip at FAMOSO.
I included a bigger picture of them as well.

I went with them for several years, and it was always a great experience!

Always a pleasure to encounter anybody that knew Rick Young. If you would like one of those RYSL buttons, PM me and send me your mailing address, and I will send you one, free of charge. I only have a few of them left.

Thanks from Dennis.

 

That would be nice! You wouldn't have a Golden Gardens Race Way decal would you?

 

Has anyone heard from Pete McCleod since he moved? I talked to him after Rick passed and he was moving to Florida.

 

Hey @brigrat, sorry, no Golden Gardens Drag Strip decal's, those are extremely hard to come by.
Enjoy from Dennis.

 

Hey Larry.
Yes I do keep in touch with Pete McCleod, I was involved in helping to get things in order for the big move.
He is established in Melbourne Florida, near his daughter.

 

Did Pete liquidate his stuff? Like a lot of us, he had a lot of stuff.

 

Pete drug a ton of stuff with him, that he will never be able to use again, his two car bays at the new place, are crammed full of stuff, and there is no room for his challenger or his ram truck to be parked inside, so they sit outside in the rain, till he can figure out how to deal with all of the logistics.
And indeed, Pete had an incredible collection of just about everything that you can imagine!

 

I was talking to another friend yesterday about Rick, he mentioned that Rick started working at Exhaust Specialties about 1968. I remember Rick telling me that he worked in the shipyards too; which was probably in the mid 1970’s.

 

Hey Larry.
Yes, that is correct, Rick used to work out at the TODD shipyard on Harbor Island, he did ship repair, because it wasn't the same thing over and over, plus they left him alone, because the majority of the time, the repair on the ship was in a tight space or an isolated area.

Looking back in retrospect, if Rick would have gotten into a good union such as the machinist union or the boiler makers union and stuck with it, he would have had a great retirement, but you and I both know, that Rick hated to be told what to do or how to do it !

He was going to do it his way, and the rest is history.

 

I wondered what happened to Rick. I'm very sad to learn of his passing. His shop was a magical place and I really enjoyed dropping in for various projects. I remember when he brought this Yoder and Pettingell home. It was the first time I got to run one.