Saturday, February 25, 2017

Schumacher solve travel trouble

Reprinted from Tri-City Herald, June 18. 1972

There is a lot to be said for the good life of professional athletes. Their hours are relatively short and the pay is high.

About the only negative factor, most athletes agree, is the extensive traveling they have to do.

Billy Schumacher, driver of the hydroplane "Pride of Pay 'n Pak," in the Tri-Cities for the Atomic Cup race July 23, has found a solution to the pro athlete's travel woes.

Billy Schumacher and his wife Cindee discuss racing strategies with
Bernie Little (left), of the Miss Budweiser racing team, and Dave Heerensperger (top).

His home is on wheels, a spacious top-of-the-line motor home, complete with sleeping quarters for up to six, a fully equipped kitchen, dinette, full bath and modern decor featuring teak and Formica.

Schumacher and his pretty wife, Cindee, recently bought the Revcon 250 so they "wouldn't have to live out of a suitcase anymore."

"It's really great," Schumacher said, predicting motor home travel will soon become routine for traveling athletes, entertainers, salesmen and construction workers who are on the road most of the time.

"The better motor homes today have all the accommodations of motels, but you don't have to pack and unpack, hustle for cabs, and try to beat time tables," he said.

"This rig," he said, "is just great driving too. It's built for the professional traveler or the guy who can afford some builtin features to ease his fatigue. It has front-wheel drive, power steering, automatic transmission, and it's got an aluminum body so it weights and handles like a car."

"For me, that's important," he said. "It means I'm not all bushed when  I arrive so I can save my best driving for the water."

Billy the Kid, as he is know to his fellow hydro pilots, and his family are traveling throughout the country this summer in their "home on wheels" during the hydroplane racing campaign.

Relaxing with all the comforts of home, Schumacher discussed his racing career which started when he was eight years old. Since his first race, in a utility outboard, Schumacher has competed in virtually every boat racing class. His record at all levels of competition is impressive.

Schumacher is a two-time national unlimited hydroplane champion and Gold Cup winner. He was recipient of the coveted "Driver of the Year" award in 1968 and 1968.

The personable 29-year-old hydroplane driver from Seattle has set 10 world records ranging from outboards to unlimited hydroplanes. Last year, he established the world record for a three-mile course (121.076 m.p.h).

Schumacher chauffeured the "Pride of Pay 'n Pak" to more wins last year than any other boat on the unlimited hydroplane circuit despite an early season accident.

Many members of the racing fraternity are picking Schumacher as the favorite for this year's campaign.

"Pride of Pay 'n Pak" is sponsored by David J. Heerensperger, chairman of the board of Pay 'n Pak Stores, a Seattle-based electrical and plumbing supply chain operating in the western United States.

The unlimited hydroplane weighs 7,000 pounds and measures 28 feet 6 inches in length and 13 feet 9 inches at the beam. A 2,500 horsepower Roll-Royce Merlin aircraft engine powers the boat to top speeds of 175 m.p.h.

The 1972 unlimited hydroplane schedule opened June 4 in Miami. Other racing events include: The Governor's Cup at Owensboro, Ky., June 11; Gold Cup at Detroit, Mich., June 25; the World Championship, Madison, Ind., July 2; the President's Cup, Washington D.C., July 19; the Atomic Cup, Tri-Cities, Wash., July 23; the Seafair race, Seattle, Wash., August 6; and the Diamond Cup, Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, Aug. 13.

With this busy schedule, Bill Schumacher will be a man on the move during the summer months - in his "Pride of Pay 'n Pak" hydroplane on the water and in his Revcon 250 on the highway.

Sunday, February 5, 2017

Pay 'n Pak edges Miss Bud to win Gold Cup

August 5, 1974, SEATTLE (AP) - Sunday's Gold Cup Regatta for unlimited hydroplanes resulted in a well-earned victory for the Pay 'n Pak, some very angry boat owners and drivers and a tired and sunburned crowd that was just a fraction of previous Seattle race-day gatherings.

Two boats headed the casualty list. One sank, and the other burned.

Pak jockey George Henley of Eatonville, Wash., fought off a hard challenge by Howie Benns in the Miss Budweiser to win the championship head in rough waters and approaching darkness.

It capped a marathon day on Lake Washington in which delays forced the final heat back until 8:10 p.m. PDT, as the sun was setting.

It was the first Gold Cup for Pay 'n Pak owner Dave Heerensperger, who in 10 years of racing had won plenty of other trophies with his Eagle Electric and Pay 'n Pak boats.

George Henley in the Pay 'n Pak duel Howie Benns in Miss Budweiser in Heat 1-C of the
Gold Cup Regatta on Lake Washington in Seattle. Photo by Bill Osborne.

There were no injuries Sunday, but the U-95, the first competitive turbine-powered unlimited in the history of boat racing, sank in more than 150 feet of water during Heat 1-C.

In an attempted re-run of that heat, the new Miss U.S. of Detroit, piloted by Tom D'Eath, blew an engine in the second lap of the six-lap event, then caught fire and was totally destroyed.

In both cases volunteer race workers manning rescue boats around the 2½-mile course were strongly criticized by race participants and spectators who felt they did not act fast enough to save the respective boats.

D'Eath said the blaze which eventually gutted the Miss U.S. beyond repair started "as a minor fire" in a hard-to-get spot under the engine but rescue crews "were squirting it from 30 feet away."

"A $50,000 boat has been ruined because they had a bunch of chickens on the course handling fire equipment."

Despite the controversy, the Pay 'n Pak had a perfect day, winning three preliminary heats and the championship finale.

The Gold Cup place finishers:
  1. Pay 'n Pak, Seattle, driven by George Henley.
  2. Miss Budweiser, Lakeland, Fla., Howie Benns.
  3. Pizza Pete, Detroit, Fred Alter.
  4. Atlas Van Lines, Detroit, Bill Muncey.
  5. Kirby Classic, Seattle, Bill Wurster.
An estimated 35,000 spectators attended the event, held this year for the first time off the Sand Point Naval Support Facility rather than the Stan Sayres Memorial pits farther south on Lake Washington. The switch was to facilitate collecting admission fees. The race has been free in the past.

But the site was not as attractive nor as sprawling as the old one and the crowd was well below the 100,000-plus of past years.

Henley's victory Sunday widened the Pak's lead in national point standings over the second place Budweiser. He now has 7,000 to the Budweiser's 5,713.

Henley's championship heat victory was anything but certain for the first two laps. The Pak and the Bud were locked in a deck-to-deck duel as they roared around the course at speeds of over 150 miles per hour on the straightaway stretches.

At times the two three-ton thunderboats were so close it appeared the drivers could have shaken hands.

The Pak was pulling ahead slightly near the end of the second lap when it went up on on sponson and appeared in danger of bumping into the Budweiser. Bud driver Howie Benns appeared to back of just slightly at that point and it may have cost him the race. He never caught up.

Earlier, in the best single head of the day, the same two were locked into battle for 5½ laps of the six-lap Heat 1-C before the Pay 'n Pak pull away to win.

The sinking of the U-95 could mean an end to turbine-powered hydroplanes. The boat was sponsor-less and reportedly had no assurance of financial backing beyond Sunday's race. Now it appears questionable whether the boat could be raised from the lake floor and made ready to run again this year anyway.

A spokesman for the boat said over $500,000 had been spent in just developing the revolutionary craft.

There were other, less spectacular, casualties.

The Lincoln Thrift, which had the second fastest qualifying time during the days of pre-race testing, withdrew from competition before the opening gun. Owner Bob Fendler, of Phoenix, Ariz., said the boat was not riding smoothly and was potentially dangerous.

And the Australian Solo, representing the first foreign entry in U.S. unlimited racing in a quarter century, did not finish a heat all day.