Dan: I would like to start off by saying thank you for taking the time and for granting me this interview.
Bump: You got it! Anytime.
Dan: When did you join the Hempstead Fire Department?
Bump: June 10th, 1963
Dan: What Company?
Bump: Engine 5
Dan: Did you race right away?
Bump: Yup
Dan: Why did you join?
Bump: Why did I join? I was first on the Junior Flukes. With the Junior Flukes we got to see different activities within the fire department and as far as racing goes we got to see the B & C trucks. When we were juniors we ran the ground events – 3-Man Ladder, Efficiency but no Buckets in those days – this is how I got involved and as soon as I became 18 years old I joined. At first it was to race, but it isn't just racing it is also about protecting lives and property.
Dan: Who were some of your teammates that first year you joined?
Bump: Well of course there was Jackie (Jack Cloudman). He and I were the best of friends. As a matter of fact, I was the best man at his wedding. We knew each other since we were kids and we always did everything together. He was a year older than me and joined the fire department before me. Billy Florence, all of these people I am going to mention we all lived on the same block and we all played sports together. Just alone from Covert Street alone there was Johnny Orzenz, Bobby Cosgrove and Eddie Florence from my age bracket.
Bump: It is a family thing, we all had nicknames. Everybody in the family had nicknames. My father gave me mine. I was about two years old and I used to always bump my head. Believe it or not it stuck for 66 years.
Dan: Do many people still call you Bumpy?
Bump: Sure, yup.
Dan: Do you like being called Bumpy?
Bump: Yeah sure, mainly because it is family orientated.
Dan: I am going to say a few words and you say what comes into your head…
Dan: State
Bump: Biggest
Dan: Bone
Bump: Jimmy O'Neil
Dan: Hydrant
Bump: Best position in racing
Dan: Have you passed your knowledge on?
Bump: Oh yes, definitely. Even now when I go to practices I try and help the younger members. Some of people I did help were Joey, you know JoJo Simone from the Yellow Hornets. He is more or less my protégé. Skippy Abrams, I helped him, he ran for North Bellmore.
Dan: Not many people know you had an incident in 1981, would you like to talk about that?
Bump: I don't remember that because it was a head injury that I had. I will say this there were a lot of prayers going on. I was told by a lot of people, when I came out of being semi-toast for nine days. All those prayers work because it worked with me.
Dan: Were you on any State Record runs?
Bump: Oh yeah, a couple of them – Old Fashioned and Motorized. Motor Pump, B-Hose and C-Hose. 6.18 in Motor Pump, it was the first time in 20 years that the record had been broken and it was by almost a whole second. Two Into One and Efficiency records also. A big part of it was Pat Jeffares, who was probably the best nozzle-man. He was something else, he was good.
Dan: How long did you race?
Bump: 1963-1981
Dan: How many drills do you think the Flukes won during your career?
Bump: In the 70’s we had our biggest winning streak. We won Nassau County Total Points a couple years in a row.
Dan: Name the greatest single shot that stands out to you the most?
Bump: I really can’t say…
Dan: Because there were so many?
Bump: *Laughs*
Dan: Favorite track you raced on?
Bump: Oh easy, Hempstead, without a doubt.
Dan: During your racing career who were some of your biggest competitors?
Bump: West Sayville, they were very big. We were always catching up to them. They would get us in ladders and we would slowly but surely creep up behind them and sometimes we got ‘em and sometimes it was second and third places. You know it was catching up a lot. Central Islip too, it was predominately Suffolk teams back then we competed with. In the beginning of my racing career it was the Oyster Bay Rough Riders, they were tough. Port Washington too with their three teams: The Rowdies, The Runts and The Rangers. They were pretty competitive and also Westbury had a good water team. Their hydrant-man was Tallo. We always competed against each other in tournaments.
Dan: Why do you think some guys are able to race for 20-25 years while others only last a year or two?
Bump: Well it’s hard to say, you could be the best athlete in the world, that don’t mean you can race. Because what happens a lot of times a guy comes out of High School and they try to jump off the truck and stuff like that, it’s a different element. You know, it is not like carrying a football or running for yards and stuff, it is a totally different aspect. We have had good athletes on the team and like you said they only last a year or two because they lose interest. Here is when junior teams come into play. We started back then and we loved it back then and we continued to love it. Another thing too that I found is that the team events in a tournament, where you had the most people from your team running kept the teams together too. If they were competitive in those events you got along better because they were always getting trophies and they were always winning. You had your four-man teams, you know like ladder, hose and stuff like that. If you weren’t winning or at least competitive then the interest waned. They would try for only a couple of years and that would be it. With Efficiency, Pump and Buckets where they all ran, they stayed together a lot more.
Dan: How do feel about all the recent advancements and innovations that have been made to our sport? Drill Team Radio, the Scoreboard, The Drill Team Blog and speeding up of tournaments, etc…
Bump: Between you and I, I only go to one or two tournaments a year these days. I was never much into the Captains Association and stuff like that. I never really followed up to it like that.
What I didn’t like and this is when I was running: the money. You know, some teams had the money and others didn’t. What I mean by having money, I don’t mean from the tax-payers, I mean from fund raising events they used to have. Port Washington and Manhasset-Lakeville used to have these block parties and that gave them income. Every other team would go, a lot of camaraderie, we would all go and support them. That helped them. That helped the drill teams; it was not that they got the money from their departments or the taxpayers because back then we didn’t. What happens now I am not that familiar with, but back then you were self-sufficient. The Flukes would raffle off football tickets, have car raffles, that was a source of income for the drill team.
Dan: Is there any one call that an official has ever made that still sticks with you all these years?
Bump: Oh yeah, sure. Motor Pump, sure, they used to call him "Red Flag". And what it was is he used to red flag us all the time because they thought I jumped off the truck before the line.
Dan: What was your favorite C-Truck that the Flukes ran?
Bump: My favorite C-Truck? The prettiest was the Ranchero. As far as going? Nah, it didn’t go worth anything, but it was pretty. It was not competitive with the trucks like Port Washington’s, Manhasset and the teams of that nature. They had the best of trucks, aerodynamic trucks, lighter and they went into it better than we did.
Dan: Who were the Drivers during your career?
Bump: Jackie and before him was Bobby Marra. I even ran with Al Cooke, Sr.
Dan: How do you feel about Old Fashion versus Motorized?
Bump: Old Fashion is great. For the simple reason is that there is a large body of men competing against each other and that would keep them together. Back in the 70’s we had a very competitive Old Fashion team, we would always be competing against Freeport Truck One. They were also competitive and we would always duel it out at tournaments. Old Fashion was great.
Dan: If you were able to have raced for any other team during your career what team would it have been?
Bump: Probably the Yellow Hornets, more than likely because I knew all of them, I knew everybody on that team.
Dan: How did Bobby Marra leaving the Flukes affect you and the team?
Bump: There wasn’t that much of a difference where it hurt the team. Jackie filled right in after him.
Dan: How did Pat Jeffares leaving The Flukes affect you and the team?
Bump: That hurt big time because he was one of the nucleus of the team as far as his talent, he ran every event and it just hurt.
Dan: What year did you feel or say this is the year for the Flukes, state champ wise?
Bump: What year? I would say the late 70’s – 1977 to 1980. We were very competitive and we could have done it.
Dan: 1978 perhaps?
Bump: It came down to Buckets. It is a team event and everything happened so quick.
Dan: Do you have a lot of racing memorabilia at home?
Bump: Yes, my wife kept a scrapbook. Back then we used to have articles in the paper after every tournament and she clipped out every one of them, pictures too.
Dan: What is your most cherished racing possession?
Bump: My trophy. It is a ten year competitive trophy for B-Truck Total Points. After the tenth year I decided to take it out and keep it at the firehouse.
Dan: What single piece of advice would you like to give to Hydrant-men who are currently running?
Bump: I would have to say consistency, don’t try to break the record and be fancy. Consistency, that’s the key to racing, also learning from your mistakes.
Dan: What were some of the Flukes’ sayings or mottos you would like to share?
Bump: "Hold onto your hats!" When we marched in the parade at the state tournament, the announcer said underneath the arch when we walked through: "Here comes the Hempstead Fire Department Flukes Drill Team and hold onto your hats because they broke the state record!" We all grabbed our hats and walked under the arch laughing and smiling.
Dan: What individual person do you enjoy watching race nowadays?
Bump: Who do I enjoy? JoJo Simone.
Dan: What team do you enjoy watching race nowadays?
Bump: The Yellow Hornets.
Dan: Have you ever wished you did not get involved with racing?
Bump: NO
Dan: I understand you only attend two drills a year, what would entice you to attend more?
Bump: The thing is they have it on the weekends and I work on the weekends. If it wasn’t for that I would go to more.
Dan: We got to get you out to some Friday night drills. The Islip Town Drill, Babylon Town Drill and the like.
Dan: In our pre-interview conversation I mentioned that I interviewed Willie McCarthy from Central Islip. Who were some other people you remember competing against?
Bump: I don’t know his last name, Neil from The Meadowlarks and Darcy. They are the guys the guys I remember racing with and I see them now playing golf. I just played with Neil a few weeks ago at Eisenhower.
Dan: Who ran Hydrant for The Flukes before you?
Bump: Jackie
Dan: After you?
Bump: Who did I break in after me? I guess that would be Pat Cooke, yes Pat Cooke ran after me.
Dan: How did you feel when The Flukes stopped racing?
Bump: You know, to tell you something, I was not that close to the team anymore. I did not have any feelings about it because it was slowly but surely going that way anyway. They didn’t have the older members on the team to keep it together. I would go down to practice and give advice but if you miss two weeks of practice they go back to doing what they want to do anyway. Here’s another thing too…It used to be very family orientated, I had my Uncle, Pappy Oates and Jackie had his father. There were so many different things that changed, outsiders came in and the feeling wasn’t the same. It did not bother me that much, they stopped when ‘98? I stopped racing in 1981 so I was 18 years out of the game at the time.
Dan: What is your favorite color?
Bump: Blue, that is our company color.
Dan: How did you feel about the Flukes’ B-Truck going to another team?
Bump: It is one of the better B-Trucks ever made, it was very reliable and built right. There is no mistaking it. I am glad it is still on the track, it’s a part of racing.
We’d like to thank Bumpy for taking the time to sit down with us and we’d also like to wish all our readers, fans and friends a safe and happy Thanksgiving!
