The Pak wins 3rd title on Mission Bay

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After two back-to-back titles for Dave Heerensperger's Winged Wonder Pay 'N Pak, one with Mickey Remund in 1973 and the other with George Henley in 1974, the Pak was looking to three-peat in 1975, but after Smilin’ George decided to retire, the seat was left open. Former Pak driver Mickey Remund already had a seat with the Miss Budweiser team, so Heerensperger had to go fishing for a new driver. He decided to go with veteran driver Jim McCormick who took the reins at the 1975 season opener in Miami. Unfortunately, the Pak underperformed and was not even able to make the final heat by scoring only 394 points. The following race at the Presidents Cup was also not good as McCormick finished in dead last during the first heat of the day.

Photo by John Woodward

The two sub-par performances by the veteran McCormick did not sit well with Heerensperger so he coaxed Henley out of retirement who then went out and had one of his worst career races scoring zero points in the Pak at the Kentucky Governor’s Cup in Owensboro with a DNS and a DNF. Meanwhile, Billy Schumacher in the U-74 Weisfield’s was making plenty of waves by winning two of the first three races of the 1975 season. Well, you can only imagine that there was a team gathering after the Owensboro race on how to turn the season around. Henley righted the ship and picked up a 3rd place podium finish in Detroit and then proceeded to go on a rampage by winning the next 4 races and putting the Pak right back in the national title race.

Two other hulls had also found the winner’s circle; the Budweiser won on the Potomac River and would win again in Phoenix, and Tom D’Eath in the U-2 Miss U.S. picked up a big win on her home turf in Detroit. Other noteworthy hulls were the U-55 Lincoln Thrift with Milner Irvin, and the U-6 Miss Madison/Hamm’s Bear driven by Jerry Bangs for their consistency in making nearly every final heat of the season. Everyone’s nemesis seemed to be Bill Muncey in the U-71 Atlas Van Lines (7), the Staudacher built lemon that kept Muncey off the top step of the podium for the third consecutive year. Controversy swirled around Muncey’s interpretation of the rule book as he kept searching for a race win that continued to elude the Atlas camp.

Photo by John Woodward

As the fleet headed into the last race of the 1975 season in sunny San Diego, the Weisfeld’s held a slight 249-point lead over the Pak. Schumacher had already wrapped up the driver’s title and was looking to add another national title to his already impressive resume. After the first heat, the lead had dwindled to 149 points after Henley narrowly defeated Schumacher to take the crucial 400 points away from the Weisfield’s. Then the wheels fell off as the Weisfield’s suffered engine failure and was unable to finish the second heat thus taking Schumacher out of the final and out of the national title race.

The Pak took the Lincoln Thrift to the finish line in heat 2B to barely squeak out the win by inches, and then in the final heat, the Pak had another amazing deck to deck battle, this time with Remund in the Budweiser. However, Henley in the Pak found a way to outduel the Budweiser to the finish line and win by a mere few seconds. The final two heats of the 1975 season at the San Diego Weisfield’s Trophy race gave the U-1 Pay n Pak enough points to leapfrog the U-74 Weisfield’s and claim their 3rd consecutive National Championship. Winning the driver’s title for Billy was nice but I’m sure that losing the team title had to sting a little. George Henley decided to hang it up for good after the season was over while Schumacher stayed on for one more year to drive the U-74 Olympia Beer.

The mighty Winged Wonder’s dominance rolled over to a 4th year as Bill Muncey would purchase the hull when Heerensperger decided to step away from the sport. This famous and innovative hydroplane designed and built by the master Ron Jones went on to win the 1976 title as the U-76 Atlas Van Lines and became the first hull in hydroplane history to win 4 straight titles on its way to 22 total career victories.

Move over, ya big bully!

Atlas, Muncey may be upstaged by Pay 'N Pak today

By Gary Schultz, Courier-Journal & Times Staff Writer
June 17, 1973

OWENSBORO, Ky. — Atlas Van Lines was the bully of the unlimited hydroplane fleet in 1972, winning a phenomenal six of seven races and taking first in 18 of 21 heats.

That was last year.

This summer the Atlas is fast becoming just one of the boys, a troubled boat like many others, showing promise at times and then proving a disappointment when the big moment comes.

But if the Atlas and driver Bill Muncey are ever going to come alive again, it would seem today might be the day. That's because the Muncey-Atlas duo is back in what you might call friendly confines.

The Ohio River. The Kentucky Governor's Cup race. Muncey has owned 'em both for three straight years, winning aboard Myr's Sheet Metal in 1970 and then steering Atlas Van Lines to victory in both 1971 and '72.

So tradition is on Muncey's side . . . but what about the more necessary ingredients — what about the equipment?

"We're running pretty well," Lee Schoenith, the Atlas owner, said yesterday, "but it might not matter how well we're running because the Pay 'N Pak is running fantastic. We're fast enough to beat the others — but the Pay 'N Pak . . . well, it'll be so-o-o tough."

Photo by Hank Kosciuszko 

"After going through 21 heats last year and never breaking down even once, it's been pretty unbelievable what's happened this year," Schoenith said.

"At Miami, for instance, our nitrous oxide valve broke. That's the first time I've ever heard of one breaking. And then at Washington, the drive on the oil pump broke. It's been little things, nickel-and-dime stuff."

The little things, meanwhile, have been holding together just fine for the Pay 'N Pak and driver Mickey Remund.

It's almost a rule that a brand-new boat — like the Pay 'N Pak — does not meet with success in its first season. The inaugural campaign is supposed to be one of "working out the bugs."

Not so with the Pay 'N Pak. It collected a perfect score of 1,200 points with three consecutive heat victories in the season opener at Miami. Then, in the second race, on the Potomac River at Washington, D.C., the Pay 'N Pak tacked on two more heat wins before running forth in the finale and finishing third overall.

Today's competition, which begins at noon (CDT), is the third stop of the year on the hydro circuit. Pay 'N Pak leads the national championship standings with 2,169 points. Lincoln Thrift, the Washington winner, is second with 1,925 and Miss Budweiser third with 1,569. Atlas Van Lines is a distant fifth with 825.

Having trouble in the corners

Remund figures the Pay 'N Pak's stiffest challenge today will come from Dean Chenoweth and Miss Budweiser.

"If Muncey wasn't having a lot of minor problems," the Pay 'N Pak driver said, "I'd be most worried about him. As it stands, though, I'd have to say the Budweiser is the one to watch. They seem to be coming on nicely."

Bernie Little, the always-optimistic owner of Miss Bud, agrees with Remund's sizeup.

"The favorite has to be the Pay 'N Pak," he says. "But we're ready to cause some trouble (the Bud finished fourth in Miami and second at Washington).

"Our boat's got 'em all beat down the chutes - we're getting 160 (m.p.h). Where we've been getting hurt is in the corners. Dean's been slowing down too much — but that's understandable, because he's only driven this boat in two races.

"But he's got the hang of it now - he's going to keep scooting all the way. We're going to be okay."

If two other boats — the Valu-Mart and Mr. Fabricator — meet the 95 m.p.h qualifying minimum before the course opens, the Owensboro Regatta will have 10 starts. Each boat will compete in two 15-mile preliminary heats with the five highest point-getters moving on to the final.

16-Cylinder Revolution

The new twin-Chrysler-powered Unlimited Hydroplane is out to revolutionize Gold Cup racing.

Reprinted from Hot Rod magazine, September 1970

With those big World War II Allison engines becoming scarcer than hen's teeth, Dave Heerensperger, Chairman of Pay 'n Pack Stores, decided to use a pair of Keith Black "elephants" to power his new unlimited hydroplane, "The Pride of Pay 'n Pack." Hull design is by the father and son team of Ted and Ron Jones of Costa Mesa and follows their new and revolutionary pickle-fork tunnel-hull configuration. The relatively new driver-ahead-of-engine design, known as cab-over, attains the desired effect of moving the center of gravity farther aft than in the conventional three-point hydro. Most three-pointers will average 150 to 160 in the chutes but slow to about 80 mph in the turns. The new low profile, combined with tunnel-hull lift, will produce about 150 in the chutes, and the relocated C/G will result in not under 110 in the corners. "Pay 'n Pack" is shorter (28'6" as opposed to most unlimiteds' 30-31'). It's also wider - 13', about a foot more than usual. Water pickup and pitot tube are in leading edge of rudder.

The unique tunnel hull is constructed of white oak, northern ash, mahogany and birch plywood, with the underside completely sheathed in aluminum. There is over two grand invested in aircraft stainless steel braid covered lines and fittings. The custom-made V-drive gearbox was built by Casale and has a ratio of 1.67:1. This super-light box has an integral oil pump for lubrication, plus a water-cooled jacket. The usual unlimited gearbox weighs about 300 to 400 pounds. Weight saving is a big factor in this boat's performance. The bare hull weighs only 1900 pounds; in racing trim she will weigh about 5000 pounds. Most unlimiteds weigh from 6500 to 8000 pounds. Special linear electric drive motors are used to actuate the engine couplers. The couplers can be operated from the cockpit, allowing on-the-beach runups without a spinning prop; or in case of engine failure, the boat can finish on one engine. Tommy "Tucker" Fults was the first driver but relinquished the helm to Ron Larsen when it seemed that some time-consuming debugging was going to have to be done.

A pair of these 473 Chrysler hemis on alky are rated at 1100 hp each. The GM blower utilizes a Cragar drive and manifold on the Chrysler block equipped with Forged true pistons and rings on Carrillo rods turning on a Moldex crank. Keith designed the cam and uses the new Spalding solid-state CD ignition. The Black dry-sump unit has two scavengers and delivers 105 psi at 185° through special oil coolers. With couplers at each end, engines are interchangeable and can be switched in 15 minutes. Fin holds boat in turns.

Hydroplane Owners Gambling

May, 1973

Multimillionaires David Heerensperger of Seattle and George Simon of Detroit are out to shake up the Old Guard when the 1973 unlimited hydroplane season opens May 18-20 with the $25,000 Champion Spark Plug Regatta at the City of Miami Marine Stadium.

Sparing no expense in the costly fight to rule the waves, both tycoons are gambling on a bold and innovative approach to Gold Cup warfare this year.

Heerensperger's Pay 'N Pak and Simon's Miss U.S. reflect the latest approach to the aerodynamics of high speed water racing. Utilizing lightweight construction materials such as titanium, magnesium and aluminum, both rigs are between 500 and 1,000 pounds lighter than most other boats on the circuit.

Improved cornering ability and acceleration off hairpin turns like those at the Marine Stadium are the primary goals rather than top straightaway speed.

Built by Ron Jones of La Habra, Calif., Pay 'N Pak utilizes Hexel honeycomb aluminum desk structure and and cowling designed by the Craig Breedlove speed team. The Seattle-based thunderboat also boosts a horizontal stabilizer bar, on the stern. The top wing is about 20 square feet in area and can  be adjusted when the boat is in the pits.

Pay 'N Pak crew chief Jim Lucero explains, "The horizontal stabilizer wing is a safety device to trim the boat. If the nose is too high, the wing should correct the boat's attitude."

Heerensperger has named Mickey Remund, a record holding limited hydroplane driver, to drive the new Pay 'N Pak. Remund impressed a full house at Marine Stadium last summer by racking up a local speed record with his five litre hydro "Goin' Thing."

Remund's crash helmet is equipped with a two-way radio so that he's in constant touch with Lucero. Should the boat's 12-cylinder supercharged Roll Royce power plant quit during the race, Lucero can relay instant instructions to Remund.

Heerensperger isn't the only owner who's making waves with dramatic changes in 1973. On the Eastern front, U.S. Equipment Company magnate George Simon is unveiling the latest in a distinguished line of "Miss U.S." thunderboats. The new beauty is a Staudacher hull constructed of titanium and magnesium that tips the scale at just under 5,000 points and is expected to be the lightest rig on the tour this season.

Besides Pay 'N Pak and Miss U.S., the lineup of the Champion Spark Plug Unlimited Regatta includes defending champion Atlas Van Lines with Bill Muncey at the helm, Miss Budweiser drive by Dean Chenoweth, Red Man piloted by former Gold Cup winner Jim McCormick, Miss Madison with Miamian Charlie Dunn, Jr. at the control and Lincoln Thrift and Loan chauffeured by George Henley of Eatonville, Wash.

Official testing gets underway on May 17, with qualifying runs slated on May 18-19. Race action begins at noon on May 20, with a non-stop action program that alternates limited heats of hydroplanes and runabouts with the world's fastest unlimited Gold Cup thunderboats.

Will Pak's cornering be enough?

Weisfield's sets course record

Special to The Courier-Journal

DAYTON, Ohio — Can Weisfield's handle the tight comers on the Eastwood Park Lake course? And can it handle the Pay 'N Pak?

Those are the two biggest questions to be answered today when the city stages its second annual Hydroglobe Regatta for unlimited hydroplanes.

The Weisfield's hydro, driven by Billy Schumacher, leads the national championship standings after five races with 4,763 points to second-place Lincoln Thrift's 4,201.

But it was the Pay 'N Pak, with George Henley at the controls, that prevailed at last Saturday's Madison Regatta — and many think the snug Eastwood Park Lake course suits the Pak much better than Weisfield's.

The Pak, on the other hand, corners tighter than any other boat in the fleet, so it has to be ranked as the favorite on the two-mile Eastwood Park Lake course. (All other courses on the circuit measure 2 1/2 miles and thus have wider turns.)

Too, the Dayton layout proved to the Pak's liking last year when Henley piloted the hydro to a perfect winning score of 1,200 points.

However, Weisfield's set a new course record 109.091 miles per hour in yesterday's qualifying, bettering the Pak's 107.463 of last year. Pay 'N Pak qualified at 107.784 as did Lincoln Thrift. Other qualifiers:

Miss U.S 104.348; Miss Budweiser 104.348; Miss Madison 98.765; Atlas Van Lines 97.495; Miss Vernor's 95.491; Miss Boot Head 93.385; U-95 90.000.

Bowing Out a Winner

By Bill Knight, Boating Editor, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Reprinted from Pipe Yard Gazette, January/February 1976

In 1964, Dave Heerensperger got out of unlimited hydroplane racing, vowing he’d be back.

The other day, the owner of the Pay ‘n Pak camp winner of the last three national championships, sold his boats and equipment and retired again, suggesting the challenges of the sport - at least for him - was gone.

Timing was critical on both occasions.

When he departed the first time, Heerensperger lacked the resources to campaign a competitive boat. “I couldn’t play their game,” he explained later.

More recently, it was a matter of bowing out while he was still at the pinnacle in a sport the Pak racing team has dominated to the point of his losing enthusiasm fo fit.

“I’ve had a lot of fun but the challenge is not there anymore,” he said candidly. “Besides, where to we go from here? What more can we do? We’ve won three straight national championships. After we got our act together last season we took everyone on head on and trounced ‘em.”

A couple of other factors played a part in the decision, which caught most of the boat racing world by surprise.

— Added responsibilities, demanding more of his time, in the management of his growing empire of building supplies, auto and sporting goods stores.

— Growing concern over the possibility of a backlash against the Pak camp because it has won so much in recent years. It’s the same undercurrent which prompts many to cheer against a big winner, regardless of the endeavor. Maybe it’s because more people identify psychologically with undergoes than champions. Heerensperger has been wary of this since the Pak hit the top and, in face, has often voiced concern over the lack of opposition.

— Billy Muncey’s offer - with the support of five-year financial backing by Atlas Van Lines - to buy all of Heerensperger’s boats, engines, props, gearboxes and the like.

Sport in Decline?

What Heerensperger didn’t say - he’s not the type to take a blast at the sport which has treated him well - is something that which could be even more critical in his decision. With the emergence of major league sports in the Seattle area, boat racing could decline to the point where the exposure it will get via press and TV won’t justify the rising cost of putting an unlimited on the circuit.

Highly regarded in the sport, Heerensperger’s departure is hardly a good omen. An innovative type, he will best be remembered for leading the sport into a new era of low profile, picklefork hulls which were faster and safer. The Pak hydro which finished its third season last year is the winningest hull in the sport’s history - 16 wins in 30 races.

He pioneered the use of honeycomb aluminum in hydros and the “wing” tail section and the rest of the fleet followed his example. Not all of this experiments worked. The “outrigger” was a dismal failure. His twin-automotive engine cab over was a flop at first. But Heerensperger didn’t flinch at trying new ideas and his innovations paid off.

Jim Lucero, the Pak crew chief Heerensperger credits with much of the team’s success, converted the twin-Chrysler hydro into Rolls power and rebuild the bottom and it became the hottest boat on the circuit.

Winningest Hydro

But the next Pak, new in ‘73, was even better and Heerensperger rates the boat - his 6th hull in 10 seasons - as his greatest contribution to the sport. The hull smashed records all across the country and won more races than any single boat, more than any of the legendary Slo-Mo’s, Thriftways, Gales, Tempo’s, or Bardahls. Before the next season, build Ron Jones was flooded with orders to duplicate the ‘73 Pak.

It brought  Heerensperger his first national championship and his first Gold Cup.

Yet Heerensperger’s most emotional achievement goes back to 1968 when he was still campaigning the Eagle Electric out of Spokane.

“We went to Guntersville, Ala., in the first race of this season with Colonel Gardner driving and we won the Dixie Cup” he recalls. “When we came back to Spokane there was a crowd of 500 to 1,000 people at the airport to greet us and the Shadle Park High School band was playing. I’ll never forget that one.”

Heerensperger will devote more time to the business now and he’s in the process of building a new home. He plans to attend the hydro races in Tri-Cities and Seattle as a spectator. “I won’t be upset and nervous and as ugly to live with,” he chucked.

He said the Pak will continue to sponsor a softball team with is “a pitcher and one or two players away from a national championship.”

But Dave Heerensperger is bowing out of boat racing as a winner and the sport is the loser.

Pak Wins 3rd Straight National Championship In Exciting Season

Reprinted from Pipe Yard Gazette, September/October 1975

It was a hectic season and as you’ll see by our point’s chart elsewhere in this issue. Pay ‘n Pak won by a mere 649 points when last year we won by a more comfortable 1,764 points.

George Henley, who came out of retirement after two races this year were lost, had to go down to the last race to win it all. However, George should be awarded the come-back of all times and broke a record by winning 12 races in less than 2 years and making it a record 16 races for one hull.

Pay ‘n Pak won the third straight title only by winning the last race, ironically the Weisfield’s Trophy Race, on Mission Bay in San Diego on Sunday, September 21, 1975.

May we quote from the San Diego Los Angeles and Seattle papers: From the Seattle Times, the lead line - “Billy Schumacher ran out of ‘Laughing Gas’ yesterday and George Henley and the Pay ‘n Pak crew ‘giggled’ all the way home.” The reference to laughing gas is the nitrous oxide that Schumacher had to use up all year just to run with the Pak.

Henley scored come-from-behind victories in all three heats on Mission Bay to win the Weisfield’s Cup Trophy and the National Championship.

Weisfield’s U-74 came into the race 249 points ahead. There were only two ways Pay ‘n Pak could win. (1) To draw Weisfield’s in every heat and finish first so the best Weisfield’s could do would be second. Then the Pak would pick up 1,200 points and Weisfield’s not more than 900. If that happened the Pak could have one with 51 points. (2) Weisfield’s would have go break in at least one heat while the Pak won at least 2 heats.

A little of both happened. George drew Weisfield’s for heat 1B and hung on Shumacher’s hip for the entire heat then passed the lead boat in the very final turn of the heat to take Weisfield’s in Heat 1B. “The nitrous tank just flat went dry”, Schumacher said about the lead change when the Pak shot forward as Weisfield’s ran out of power. The heat set a course record average speed of 116.099 miles per hour.

George Henley then did the same thing to Lincoln Thrift in Heat 2B and Miss Budweiser in the final heat.

Schumacher dropped out of Heat 2A, losing his spot in the final and losing the National Championship possibility when his boat lost its oil pressure. As he shut the engine down, it blew a rod.

The Pak now joins legendary Bardahl and Budweiser as the hydro racing world’s only three-time national Champion. Can we make it four-in-a-row?

Unlimited Hydroplane - National Points Standings - End of Season

Position	Boat	1975	Last Year
1st	Pay ‘n Pak	8,864	1st - 11,527
2nd	Weisfield’s	8,213	7th - 3,087
3rd	Lincoln Thrift	8,103	Not in Top 10
4th	Miss Budweiser	6,677	2nd - 9,763
5th	Madison/Hamms	5,203	4th - 3,865
6th	Miss U.S.	4,795	9th - 1,694
7th	Atlas Van Lines	4,017	3rd - 6,030
8th	Miss Vernon’s	3,384	Not in 1974
9th	Vans P-X	972	Not in 1974
10th	Miss Valvoline	844	Not in 1974