Driver John Walters discusses his now famous blow-over accident while testing the new turbine-powered Pay 'N Pak unlimited hydroplane at the 1980 Columbia Cup in Tri-Cities, Washington.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
The Saga of Dave Heerensperger
By Fred Farley - Unlimited Unlimited Historian
Unlimited hydroplane racing, at its best, represents the ultimate in "no holds barred" experimental boat racing. The door is always open to new ideas. Anything goes.
Dave Heerensperger, owner of the PAY ‘n PAK and MISS EAGLE ELECTRIC boats, stands tall as one of the sport’s all-time great innovators. He was never afraid to try something new.
Not all of his experiments with hull design and power sources met with success. His 1969 outrigger PRIDE OF PAY ‘n PAK failed to make the competitive grade. And his 1970 attempt at automotive power proved disappointing.
But Heerensperger’s 1973 success with the “Winged Wonder” PAY ‘n PAK is legendary. “Dynamite Dave” likewise deserves praise as the first Unlimited owner to win a race with turbine power in 1982.
Between 1968 and 1982, Heerensperger’s team won 25 races, including two Gold Cups, and three National High Point Championships. In 1973, the “Winged Wonder” set a world lap speed record of 126.760 on a 3-mile course on Seattle’s Lake Washington with Mickey Remund driving.
The Heerensperger dynasty also had its dark side. Two drivers were fatally injured in hydroplane accidents--Warner Gardner in 1968 with the second MISS EAGLE ELECTRIC and Tommy Fults in 1970 with PAY ‘n PAK’S ‘LIL BUZZARD.
Dave sponsored his own boats. In 1969, he merged his Spokane, Washington-based Eagle Electric and Plumbing firm with the Pay ‘n Pak Corporation. He went on to found Eagle Hardware and Garden, Inc., before selling it to Lowe's in 1999.
Heerensperger entered boat racing in 1963. He read in THE SPOKANE CHRONICLE that the MISS SPOKANE hydroplane team needed a sponsor and was looking for someone who would invest $5,000. Renamed MISS EAGLE ELECTRIC, the boat finished third in the 1963 Harrah’s Tahoe Regatta with Rex Manchester driving and fourth in the 1964 Seattle Seafair Regatta with Norm Evans.
Dave became his own owner in 1967 when he bought the veteran $ BILL from Bill Schuyler. $ BILL was a 1962 Les Staudacher hull. It had never won a race and, as a contender, was lightly regarded. But while Schuyler regarded racing as strictly a hobby, Heerensperger ran his race team in the same aggressive way that he ran his business.
Nicknamed the “Screaming Eagle,” the second MISS EAGLE ELECTRIC caught the racing world by surprise in 1968. With Warner Gardner as driver and Jack Cochrane as crew chief, the Heerensperger team trampled the opposition en route to victories in the Dixie Cup at Guntersville, Alabama, the Atomic Cup at the Tri-Cities, Washington, and the President’s Cup at Washington, D.C.
Moreover, MISS EAGLE ELECTRIC posted a 3-mile lap of 120.267 in qualification at Seattle. This duplicated exactly the then-current world lap speed record set by Bill Stead in MAVERICK on the same race course ten years earlier.
Heading into the 1968 Gold Cup, MISS EAGLE ELECTRIC and the Billy Schumacher-chauffeured MISS BARDAHL had both won three races that season.
The fans looked forward to a classic confrontation between Schumacher and Gardner on the historic Detroit River. But the 1968 Gold Cup emerged as one of the more tragic chapters in Thunderboat history.
MISS EAGLE ELECTRIC, which had finally come alive after so many years of mediocrity as $ BILL, disintegrated on the backstretch of the third lap of the Final Heat. She was leading MISS BARDAHL and challenging Bill Sterett in MISS BUDWEISER. Then, the EAGLE became airborne and cartwheeled itself to pieces in the vicinity of the Detroit Yacht Club. Warner Gardner never regained consciousness.
Solemn but undaunted after the loss of his driver and friend, Heerensperger went ahead with plans for the 1969 season. He chose as Gardner’s replacement the 1968 Unlimited Rookie of the Year, Tommy “Tucker” Fults. “Tucker” had won the San Diego Cup with Jim Ranger’s MY GYPSY.
Dave’s new flagship was the outrigger PRIDE OF PAY ‘n PAK, a Staudacher creation. It had originally been intended as a straightaway runner but was altered to run on a closed course. Unfortunately, the craft proved unsatisfactory in either format and was quickly retired.
The outrigger hull made a bid for the world mile straightaway record of 200 miles per hour but could only reach 162 in trials on Guntersville Lake. Its fastest heat was only 94 miles per hour on a 3-mile course at Seattle.
Heerensperger unveiled his second Unlimited Class experiment in 1970. He achieved better results than the first but still fell short of expectation. This PRIDE OF PAY ‘n PAK used a pair of 426 cubic inch supercharged Chrysler hemis and featured a pickle-fork bow.
Designed and built by Ron Jones, Sr., the boat featured a cabover configuration with the driver sitting ahead of the engine well, a concept that was not widely accepted at the time. The design was an evolution of Ron's 225 Cubic Inch Class TIGER TOO of 1961, the Unlimited Class MISS BARDAHL of 1966, and the 7-Litre Class RECORD-7 of 1969.
The Chrysler-powered PRIDE OF PAY 'n PAK showed some good bursts of speed at times but wasn't fast enough to be truly competitive with the aircraft engine-powered boats.
According to Jones, “The boat was a little too heavy for two Chryslers. We didn't have the propeller technology that we have today. I wish that I had had the propeller and gear ratio combinations in 1970 that we are able to enjoy today. We might have been a great deal more successful."
At the last race of 1970 in San Diego, Heerensperger’s team again experienced the ultimate downer. Tommy Fults was killed in a freak accident during testing with PAY 'n PAK'S 'LIL BUZZARD, a conventional Rolls-Royce Merlin-powered entry.
Fults died of a broken neck when he encountered a wake and was flipped out of the boat. He had been wearing a car racing helmet, which was permitted--but not recommended--for boat racing.
Built by Les Staudacher, the BUZZARD had won the 1970 Tri-Cities Atomic Cup and had the distinction of turning the fastest heat of the 1970 season at Seattle (108.433) with Fults at the wheel.
For 1971, Heerensperger hired Billy Schumacher as driver and promoted Jim Lucero to crew chief. During the off-season of 1970-71, Lucero changed the PRIDE OF PAY ‘n PAK from a cabover to a conventional configuration with the cockpit situated behind--rather than in front of--the engine well. Lucero replaced the twin Chryslers with a single Rolls-Royce Merlin. The boat was wider, flatter, and less box-shaped than most Unlimiteds of that era.
The Merlin-powered PAK performed unevenly in the first half of 1971. But there were those who believed that if PRIDE OF PAY ‘n PAK ever had the “bugs” ironed out of her, she would revolutionize the sport, and render obsolete all of the top contenders of the previous twenty years. This ultimately proved to be the case.
Schumacher powered the PAK to victory in the last three races of the season at Seattle, Eugene, and Dallas and set a world lap speed record of 121.076 in qualification at Seattle. The boat that had disappointed so badly the year before as an automotive-powered cabover, now ruled the Unlimited roost.
Dave Heerensperger now had seven race wins as an owner. His team’s recent difficulties seemed a thing of the past. PRIDE OF PAY ‘n PAK seemed poised for a National Championship bid in 1972. But things didn’t work out that way.
Joe Schoenith’s ATLAS VAN LINES team, after an uneven 1971, had its act together in 1972 and driver Bill Muncey was really on a roll. Schumacher and PRIDE OF PAY ‘n PAK ran a frustrating second to Muncey at each of the first three races of the season at Miami, Owensboro, and Detroit.
Schumacher and Lucero were at odds on how to set up the boat. After being decisively defeated in every race by ATLAS VAN LINES, Schumacher left the PAY 'n PAK team the weekend after Detroit at Madison, Indiana.
Where Schumacher and Lucero were concerned, it was a case of an irresistible force against an unmovable object.
On a race team, there can be only one leader. Everyone must pull in the same direction. A team must be unified or there is chaos.
Former champion Bill Sterett, Sr., came out of retirement to pilot the PAK at Madison. He failed to start in Heat One but ran the fastest heat of the race in Heat Two. (Heat Three was cancelled due to inclement weather conditions.)
Billy Sterett, Jr., drove the last three races of the 1972 season. He scored a sensational victory over ATLAS VAN LINES in the President’s Cup and, in so doing, handed Bill Muncey his only defeat of the year. After a frustrating series of early-season setbacks, PRIDE OF PAY n PAK appeared to be back on track and highly favored for the Atomic Cup and Seafair Trophy races.
Sterett, Jr., and the PAK were indeed an awesome sight to behold during qualification at the Pacific Northwest regattas. They qualified fastest at both events. And, at Seattle, the team achieved owner Heerensperger’s goal of a lap of 125 miles per hour with a clocking of 125.878 on a 3-mile course.
Race day was a different story. At the Tri-Cities, after winning the first two heats, the Rolls engine conked out at the start of the finale. At Seattle, PRIDE OF PAY ‘n PAK again experienced mechanical difficulty and failed to complete even a single lap.
In Heerensperger’s words, “When we’re hot, we’re hot. Today, we’re not.”
At this point, Dave decided to accept an offer from his good friend Bernie Little, the MISS BUDWEISER owner, and sold his record-holder to the Anheuser-Busch team. The day after the Seafair race, Heerensperger met with designer Ron Jones to plan a new boat for 1973, the “Winged Wonder,” which would prove to be one of the most significant boats in hydroplane history.
After 1972, the words PRIDE OF were dropped from the Heerensperger team’s official name. For the rest of Dave’s racing career, all of his boats would be known as simply PAY ‘n PAK.
The 1973 “Winged Wonder” was the first hydroplane of any shape or size to be built of aluminum honeycomb, rather than marine plywood.
According to Jones, "I had originally thought that I would use a honeycomb bottom. But after talking with the people from the Hexcel Company, I was very impressed and decided to use it everywhere in the boat that I possibly could for a weight saving of about a thousand pounds."
In planning the new PAY ‘n PAK, Jones wanted very much to build a cabover. But Heerensperger insisted on a rear-cockpit hull and won out. Ron nevertheless utilized many of the cabover hull characteristics while still seating the driver behind the engine.
"But I did insist on the use of a horizontal stabilizer. Heerensperger agreed because it would give him a lot of publicity. And it did. Perhaps, by today's standards, the stabilizer was not everything it could have been. It was, however, a good running start on the widespread use of the concept.
"And in all fairness to Jim Lucero, he certainly added to the boat's ultimate performance by preparing excellent engines, good gearbox/propeller combinations, and probably some fine-tuning on the sponsons."
The "Winged Wonder" PAY 'n PAK set a Gold Cup qualification record for two laps in 1973 at 124.309 on the 2.5-mile Columbia River course. This translated to approximately 129 miles per hour on a 3-mile course.
The 1973 season was the first in which the majority of races were won by Ron Jones-designed hulls. The new PAY 'n PAK and its predecessor (now the MISS BUDWEISER) won four races apiece on the nine-race circuit.
At Seattle in 1973, the PAY ‘n PAK with Mickey Remund and the MISS BUDWEISER with Dean Chenoweth became the first two teams to average over 120 miles per hour in a heat of competition. And they did this in a driving rain! MISS BUDWEISER averaged 122.504 for the 15 miles; PAY ‘n PAK did 120.697. A local newspaper labeled the PAK and the BUD as "the champion fogcutters of the world."
Although not significantly faster on the straightaway than the traditional post-1950 Ted Jones-style hulls, the Ron Jones-designed PAY ‘n PAK and MISS BUDWEISER could out-corner anything on the water. Both boats were helped considerably by the inclusion of an outboard skid fin, which Billy Schumacher had resisted in 1972. The skid fins helped greatly in holding the boats in their lanes through the turns.
In spite of being three years older and a thousand pounds heavier than PAY 'n PAK, MISS BUDWEISER was able to achieve parity with the PAK. This was due to driver Chenoweth consistently securing the inside lane in heat confrontations between the two entries.
PAY ‘n PAK ended up with the first of the team’s three consecutive National High Point Championships in 1973. The only major disappointment was at the Tri-Cities Gold Cup.
Pilot Remund appeared to have things well in hand. He won his three preliminary heats and had a clear lead in the finale. Then, on lap-two, the PAK lost a blade on its propeller. The boat bounced crazily a couple of times and settled to a stop. MISS BUDWEISER went on to claim the victory.
This was a most unfortunate turn of events for Remund who had posted a Gold Cup competition lap record of 119.691 miles per hour on the first lap of the Final Heat on a 2.5-mile course.
The 1973, ‘74, and ‘75 seasons are fondly remembered as “The PAK/BUD Era” of Unlimited racing. The many side-by-side battles by those two awesome machines are unforgettable. Their owners, too, were larger than life. Dave Heerensperger and Bernie Little gave no quarter and asked for none. To them, second-place was an insult.
And yet, as competitive as their teams were out on the race course, the two men were close personal friends. In 1974, when Dave married his wife Jill, Bernie was Best Man at their wedding.
PAY ‘n PAK and MISS BUDWEISER picked up in 1974 where they had left off in 1973--but this time with different drivers. George Henley now occupied the PAK’s cockpit; Howie Benns handled the BUD. (Chenoweth did briefly return to the BUDWEISER team in late season after Benns suffered a broken leg in a motorcycle accident.) The PAK won seven races and the BUD won four.
The most memorable PAK/BUD match-up of 1974 would have to be the 1974 Seattle Gold Cup at Sand Point. Delays, controversy, and rough water marred the running of the race but PAY ‘n PAK finally prevailed and Dave Heerensperger was able to take his first Gold Cup home--but only after a titanic struggle.
Henley and Benns battled head to head all day long in some of the finest racing ever witnessed in the Unlimited Class.
PAY 'n PAK won all four heats with MISS BUDWEISER always within striking distance. The BUD had the lead in Heat 1-C but spewed oil briefly and was overtaken by PAY 'n PAK. Heat 1-C was the fastest of the day with Henley averaging 112.056 miles per hour and Benns 109.845. No one else averaged over 100 all day long because of the rough water.
George Henley made it two Gold Cups in a row for Heerensperger at the Tri-Cities in 1975. The "Winged Wonder" won her three preliminary heats and then cruised to an easy third in the finale behind Tom D'Eath in MISS U.S. and Milner Irvin in LINCOLN THRIFT.
In the space of three years, the low-profile/wide-afterplane Ron Jones-style hull had become the dominant design in Unlimited racing. (Ted Jones, Ron's father, had likewise revolutionized the sport in the 1950s, starting with SLO-MO-SHUN IV.)
The PAY 'n PAK's road to victory in 1975 was not an easy one. After a stellar 1974 campaign, George Henley retired as driver and Jim Lucero rebuilt the boat. In spring testing, PAY 'n PAK was definitely faster on the straightaways but was skittish in the turns.
New driver Jim McCormick (on the rebound from a serious injury accident in 1974 with RED MAN) had great difficulty in cornering the PAK and was the subject of considerable criticism. McCormick retired from racing after a third-place finish in the 1975 President's Cup.
Henley was coaxed out of retirement and returned to the PAY 'n PAK cockpit at the third race of the season in Owensboro, Kentucky. Lo and behold, George had the same problem with the PAK that Jim had experienced. On the first lap of the first heat at Owensboro, PAY 'n PAK swapped ends, caved in a sponson, and had to be withdrawn. All of a sudden, the Jim McCormick detractors became the George Henley apologists.
PAY 'n PAK continued to perform badly at the next race in Detroit. Finally, Lucero restored the boat to its 1974 configuration. Only then was the PAK its old competitive self again.
Henley and PAY 'n PAK picked up where they had left off the year before with victories at Madison, Indiana, and Dayton, Ohio. After winning at the Tri-Cities, the team went on to take first-place in Seattle and San Diego en route to a third consecutive National High Point Championship.
Earlier in the season, the Billy Schumacher-chauffeured WEISFIELD'S had seemed a shoo-in for the national title. They had scored convincing victories at Miami and Owensboro and finished second at Washington, D.C. But once PAY 'n PAK was back on track, the chances for a WEISFIELD'S championship promptly vanished.
The MISS BUDWEISER team had an uneven 1975 campaign. They won two races (at Washington, D.C., and Phoenix, Arizona) with Mickey Remund driving, but in general lacked the consistency that marked the 1973 and 1974 seasons.
After two dozen race victories and having re-written the speed record book from coast to coast, Heerensperger decided to rest on his laurels for a while. “We’ve accomplished everything we set out to do and more.”
In January of 1976, he accepted an offer from Bill Muncey’s ATLAS VAN LINES team and sold the entire PAY ‘n PAK equipment inventory for a figure in the six digits.
Inactive as an owner between 1976 and 1979, Dave nevertheless stayed close to the sport that he loved. He sponsored the boat that he had most recently owned--the ”Winged Wonder”--at two 1977 races. He also sponsored the 225 Class WHITE LIGHTNING, owned and driven by Steve Reynolds, as PAY ‘n PAK.
Always on the lookout for new ideas, Heerensperger began serious speculation into the possibility of turbine power in an Unlimited hydroplane. Between 1980 and 1982, he campaigned just such a craft. Jim Lucero designed the hull. The highly regarded Dixon Smith, who happened to be Heerensperger’s personal pilot, developed the turbine engine concept.
The turbine PAY ‘n PAK was the first turbine-powered Unlimited since Pam Clapp’s U-95 in 1974. Unlike the U-95, which used a pair of T-53 engines, PAY ‘n PAK used a single Lycoming T-55 power plant, thereby establishing a precedent for turbine-powered Unlimiteds of the future.
The new boat’s first appearance (at the 1980 Tri-Cities Columbia Cup) proved disastrous. Rookie driver John Walters flipped the boat in trials on the Columbia River and delayed the team’s competition debut until the following year.
Walters steered the turbine PAY ‘n PAK to some high finishes in 1981, which included a second-place performance in the Champion Spark Plug Regatta at Miami and a second in the Gold Cup at Seattle.
During the Final Heat of the Gold Cup, Walters gave the winner Dean Chenoweth in the MISS BUDWEISER everything he could handle. MISS BUDWEISER averaged 123.814 to PAY ‘n PAK’s 122.223.
The PAK finally achieved victory in 1982 at “Thunder In The Park” at Romulus, New York.
In the long history of Unlimited hydroplane competition, this was a famous first--the first victory by a non-internal combustion-powered craft.
The turbine was the power source of today. In contrast, the Allison, the Rolls-Royce Merlin, and the Rolls-Royce Griffon had ceased production almost forty years earlier.
Her triumph at Romulus not withstanding, PAY ‘n PAK did not have much of an opportunity to build upon this accomplishment. The boat damaged its right sponson in Heat 1-B at the Gold Cup in Detroit and had to withdraw. A few weeks later, Walters was badly hurt and the boat was extensively damaged in an accident at the Emerald Cup on Lake Washington.
Moments after the start of Heat 1-B at Seattle, George Johnson, driving EXECUTONE, experienced rudder failure. The boat dug in its right sponson and veered to the left and crashed into the right side of Tom D’Eath and THE SQUIRE SHOP. The impact sent EXECUTONE back to the right and into the path of a late-starting PAY ‘n PAK. The PAK ran right over EXECUTONE and flipped.
EXECUTONE sank almost immediately. THE SQUIRE SHOP managed to limp back to the pits under its own power, while PAY ‘n PAK had to be towed back to the dock.
Johnson and D’Eath were unhurt. But Walters was critically injured with several broken bones and a collapsed lung. John recovered and continued in the sport for many years as a shore mechanic. But he never drove in competition again.
After the accident to his boat and the injury to his driver, Dave Heerensperger announced his retirement from Unlimited racing and sold his team to Steve Woomer. Heerensperger had first joined the sport in 1963 as the sponsor of MISS EAGLE ELECTRIC. “Dynamite Dave” had left before. But this time it was for good.
As in the case of the U-95 eight years earlier, the PAY ‘n PAK team’s innovative turbine concept passed into history, but not for long. In the not too distant future, the Lycoming turbine engine would return and revolutionize the sport.
A member of the Unlimited Hydroplane Hall of Fame, Heerensperger has in recent years become heavily involved in horse racing and has owned as many as fifty horses at one time. His most successful horse is MILLENNIUM WIND, the winner of the 2001 Blue Grass Stakes who went on to finish 11th in the Kentucky Derby.
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| Jim Lucero with Dave Heerensperger in 2004. |
Unlimited hydroplane racing, at its best, represents the ultimate in "no holds barred" experimental boat racing. The door is always open to new ideas. Anything goes.
Dave Heerensperger, owner of the PAY ‘n PAK and MISS EAGLE ELECTRIC boats, stands tall as one of the sport’s all-time great innovators. He was never afraid to try something new.
Not all of his experiments with hull design and power sources met with success. His 1969 outrigger PRIDE OF PAY ‘n PAK failed to make the competitive grade. And his 1970 attempt at automotive power proved disappointing.
But Heerensperger’s 1973 success with the “Winged Wonder” PAY ‘n PAK is legendary. “Dynamite Dave” likewise deserves praise as the first Unlimited owner to win a race with turbine power in 1982.
Between 1968 and 1982, Heerensperger’s team won 25 races, including two Gold Cups, and three National High Point Championships. In 1973, the “Winged Wonder” set a world lap speed record of 126.760 on a 3-mile course on Seattle’s Lake Washington with Mickey Remund driving.
The Heerensperger dynasty also had its dark side. Two drivers were fatally injured in hydroplane accidents--Warner Gardner in 1968 with the second MISS EAGLE ELECTRIC and Tommy Fults in 1970 with PAY ‘n PAK’S ‘LIL BUZZARD.
Dave sponsored his own boats. In 1969, he merged his Spokane, Washington-based Eagle Electric and Plumbing firm with the Pay ‘n Pak Corporation. He went on to found Eagle Hardware and Garden, Inc., before selling it to Lowe's in 1999.
Heerensperger entered boat racing in 1963. He read in THE SPOKANE CHRONICLE that the MISS SPOKANE hydroplane team needed a sponsor and was looking for someone who would invest $5,000. Renamed MISS EAGLE ELECTRIC, the boat finished third in the 1963 Harrah’s Tahoe Regatta with Rex Manchester driving and fourth in the 1964 Seattle Seafair Regatta with Norm Evans.
Dave became his own owner in 1967 when he bought the veteran $ BILL from Bill Schuyler. $ BILL was a 1962 Les Staudacher hull. It had never won a race and, as a contender, was lightly regarded. But while Schuyler regarded racing as strictly a hobby, Heerensperger ran his race team in the same aggressive way that he ran his business.
Nicknamed the “Screaming Eagle,” the second MISS EAGLE ELECTRIC caught the racing world by surprise in 1968. With Warner Gardner as driver and Jack Cochrane as crew chief, the Heerensperger team trampled the opposition en route to victories in the Dixie Cup at Guntersville, Alabama, the Atomic Cup at the Tri-Cities, Washington, and the President’s Cup at Washington, D.C.
Moreover, MISS EAGLE ELECTRIC posted a 3-mile lap of 120.267 in qualification at Seattle. This duplicated exactly the then-current world lap speed record set by Bill Stead in MAVERICK on the same race course ten years earlier.
Heading into the 1968 Gold Cup, MISS EAGLE ELECTRIC and the Billy Schumacher-chauffeured MISS BARDAHL had both won three races that season.
The fans looked forward to a classic confrontation between Schumacher and Gardner on the historic Detroit River. But the 1968 Gold Cup emerged as one of the more tragic chapters in Thunderboat history.
MISS EAGLE ELECTRIC, which had finally come alive after so many years of mediocrity as $ BILL, disintegrated on the backstretch of the third lap of the Final Heat. She was leading MISS BARDAHL and challenging Bill Sterett in MISS BUDWEISER. Then, the EAGLE became airborne and cartwheeled itself to pieces in the vicinity of the Detroit Yacht Club. Warner Gardner never regained consciousness.
Solemn but undaunted after the loss of his driver and friend, Heerensperger went ahead with plans for the 1969 season. He chose as Gardner’s replacement the 1968 Unlimited Rookie of the Year, Tommy “Tucker” Fults. “Tucker” had won the San Diego Cup with Jim Ranger’s MY GYPSY.
Dave’s new flagship was the outrigger PRIDE OF PAY ‘n PAK, a Staudacher creation. It had originally been intended as a straightaway runner but was altered to run on a closed course. Unfortunately, the craft proved unsatisfactory in either format and was quickly retired.
The outrigger hull made a bid for the world mile straightaway record of 200 miles per hour but could only reach 162 in trials on Guntersville Lake. Its fastest heat was only 94 miles per hour on a 3-mile course at Seattle.
Heerensperger unveiled his second Unlimited Class experiment in 1970. He achieved better results than the first but still fell short of expectation. This PRIDE OF PAY ‘n PAK used a pair of 426 cubic inch supercharged Chrysler hemis and featured a pickle-fork bow.
Designed and built by Ron Jones, Sr., the boat featured a cabover configuration with the driver sitting ahead of the engine well, a concept that was not widely accepted at the time. The design was an evolution of Ron's 225 Cubic Inch Class TIGER TOO of 1961, the Unlimited Class MISS BARDAHL of 1966, and the 7-Litre Class RECORD-7 of 1969.
The Chrysler-powered PRIDE OF PAY 'n PAK showed some good bursts of speed at times but wasn't fast enough to be truly competitive with the aircraft engine-powered boats.
According to Jones, “The boat was a little too heavy for two Chryslers. We didn't have the propeller technology that we have today. I wish that I had had the propeller and gear ratio combinations in 1970 that we are able to enjoy today. We might have been a great deal more successful."
At the last race of 1970 in San Diego, Heerensperger’s team again experienced the ultimate downer. Tommy Fults was killed in a freak accident during testing with PAY 'n PAK'S 'LIL BUZZARD, a conventional Rolls-Royce Merlin-powered entry.
Fults died of a broken neck when he encountered a wake and was flipped out of the boat. He had been wearing a car racing helmet, which was permitted--but not recommended--for boat racing.
Built by Les Staudacher, the BUZZARD had won the 1970 Tri-Cities Atomic Cup and had the distinction of turning the fastest heat of the 1970 season at Seattle (108.433) with Fults at the wheel.
PAY ‘n PAK’S ‘LIL BUZZARD never raced again after 1970. It sat in storage for several years and eventually became an ATLAS VAN LINES display hull.
For 1971, Heerensperger hired Billy Schumacher as driver and promoted Jim Lucero to crew chief. During the off-season of 1970-71, Lucero changed the PRIDE OF PAY ‘n PAK from a cabover to a conventional configuration with the cockpit situated behind--rather than in front of--the engine well. Lucero replaced the twin Chryslers with a single Rolls-Royce Merlin. The boat was wider, flatter, and less box-shaped than most Unlimiteds of that era.
The Merlin-powered PAK performed unevenly in the first half of 1971. But there were those who believed that if PRIDE OF PAY ‘n PAK ever had the “bugs” ironed out of her, she would revolutionize the sport, and render obsolete all of the top contenders of the previous twenty years. This ultimately proved to be the case.
Schumacher powered the PAK to victory in the last three races of the season at Seattle, Eugene, and Dallas and set a world lap speed record of 121.076 in qualification at Seattle. The boat that had disappointed so badly the year before as an automotive-powered cabover, now ruled the Unlimited roost.
Dave Heerensperger now had seven race wins as an owner. His team’s recent difficulties seemed a thing of the past. PRIDE OF PAY ‘n PAK seemed poised for a National Championship bid in 1972. But things didn’t work out that way.
Joe Schoenith’s ATLAS VAN LINES team, after an uneven 1971, had its act together in 1972 and driver Bill Muncey was really on a roll. Schumacher and PRIDE OF PAY ‘n PAK ran a frustrating second to Muncey at each of the first three races of the season at Miami, Owensboro, and Detroit.
Schumacher and Lucero were at odds on how to set up the boat. After being decisively defeated in every race by ATLAS VAN LINES, Schumacher left the PAY 'n PAK team the weekend after Detroit at Madison, Indiana.
Where Schumacher and Lucero were concerned, it was a case of an irresistible force against an unmovable object.
On a race team, there can be only one leader. Everyone must pull in the same direction. A team must be unified or there is chaos.
Former champion Bill Sterett, Sr., came out of retirement to pilot the PAK at Madison. He failed to start in Heat One but ran the fastest heat of the race in Heat Two. (Heat Three was cancelled due to inclement weather conditions.)
Billy Sterett, Jr., drove the last three races of the 1972 season. He scored a sensational victory over ATLAS VAN LINES in the President’s Cup and, in so doing, handed Bill Muncey his only defeat of the year. After a frustrating series of early-season setbacks, PRIDE OF PAY n PAK appeared to be back on track and highly favored for the Atomic Cup and Seafair Trophy races.
Sterett, Jr., and the PAK were indeed an awesome sight to behold during qualification at the Pacific Northwest regattas. They qualified fastest at both events. And, at Seattle, the team achieved owner Heerensperger’s goal of a lap of 125 miles per hour with a clocking of 125.878 on a 3-mile course.
Race day was a different story. At the Tri-Cities, after winning the first two heats, the Rolls engine conked out at the start of the finale. At Seattle, PRIDE OF PAY ‘n PAK again experienced mechanical difficulty and failed to complete even a single lap.
In Heerensperger’s words, “When we’re hot, we’re hot. Today, we’re not.”
At this point, Dave decided to accept an offer from his good friend Bernie Little, the MISS BUDWEISER owner, and sold his record-holder to the Anheuser-Busch team. The day after the Seafair race, Heerensperger met with designer Ron Jones to plan a new boat for 1973, the “Winged Wonder,” which would prove to be one of the most significant boats in hydroplane history.
After 1972, the words PRIDE OF were dropped from the Heerensperger team’s official name. For the rest of Dave’s racing career, all of his boats would be known as simply PAY ‘n PAK.
The 1973 “Winged Wonder” was the first hydroplane of any shape or size to be built of aluminum honeycomb, rather than marine plywood.
According to Jones, "I had originally thought that I would use a honeycomb bottom. But after talking with the people from the Hexcel Company, I was very impressed and decided to use it everywhere in the boat that I possibly could for a weight saving of about a thousand pounds."
In planning the new PAY ‘n PAK, Jones wanted very much to build a cabover. But Heerensperger insisted on a rear-cockpit hull and won out. Ron nevertheless utilized many of the cabover hull characteristics while still seating the driver behind the engine.
"But I did insist on the use of a horizontal stabilizer. Heerensperger agreed because it would give him a lot of publicity. And it did. Perhaps, by today's standards, the stabilizer was not everything it could have been. It was, however, a good running start on the widespread use of the concept.
"And in all fairness to Jim Lucero, he certainly added to the boat's ultimate performance by preparing excellent engines, good gearbox/propeller combinations, and probably some fine-tuning on the sponsons."
The "Winged Wonder" PAY 'n PAK set a Gold Cup qualification record for two laps in 1973 at 124.309 on the 2.5-mile Columbia River course. This translated to approximately 129 miles per hour on a 3-mile course.
The 1973 season was the first in which the majority of races were won by Ron Jones-designed hulls. The new PAY 'n PAK and its predecessor (now the MISS BUDWEISER) won four races apiece on the nine-race circuit.
At Seattle in 1973, the PAY ‘n PAK with Mickey Remund and the MISS BUDWEISER with Dean Chenoweth became the first two teams to average over 120 miles per hour in a heat of competition. And they did this in a driving rain! MISS BUDWEISER averaged 122.504 for the 15 miles; PAY ‘n PAK did 120.697. A local newspaper labeled the PAK and the BUD as "the champion fogcutters of the world."
Although not significantly faster on the straightaway than the traditional post-1950 Ted Jones-style hulls, the Ron Jones-designed PAY ‘n PAK and MISS BUDWEISER could out-corner anything on the water. Both boats were helped considerably by the inclusion of an outboard skid fin, which Billy Schumacher had resisted in 1972. The skid fins helped greatly in holding the boats in their lanes through the turns.
In spite of being three years older and a thousand pounds heavier than PAY 'n PAK, MISS BUDWEISER was able to achieve parity with the PAK. This was due to driver Chenoweth consistently securing the inside lane in heat confrontations between the two entries.
PAY ‘n PAK ended up with the first of the team’s three consecutive National High Point Championships in 1973. The only major disappointment was at the Tri-Cities Gold Cup.
Pilot Remund appeared to have things well in hand. He won his three preliminary heats and had a clear lead in the finale. Then, on lap-two, the PAK lost a blade on its propeller. The boat bounced crazily a couple of times and settled to a stop. MISS BUDWEISER went on to claim the victory.
This was a most unfortunate turn of events for Remund who had posted a Gold Cup competition lap record of 119.691 miles per hour on the first lap of the Final Heat on a 2.5-mile course.
The 1973, ‘74, and ‘75 seasons are fondly remembered as “The PAK/BUD Era” of Unlimited racing. The many side-by-side battles by those two awesome machines are unforgettable. Their owners, too, were larger than life. Dave Heerensperger and Bernie Little gave no quarter and asked for none. To them, second-place was an insult.
And yet, as competitive as their teams were out on the race course, the two men were close personal friends. In 1974, when Dave married his wife Jill, Bernie was Best Man at their wedding.
PAY ‘n PAK and MISS BUDWEISER picked up in 1974 where they had left off in 1973--but this time with different drivers. George Henley now occupied the PAK’s cockpit; Howie Benns handled the BUD. (Chenoweth did briefly return to the BUDWEISER team in late season after Benns suffered a broken leg in a motorcycle accident.) The PAK won seven races and the BUD won four.
The most memorable PAK/BUD match-up of 1974 would have to be the 1974 Seattle Gold Cup at Sand Point. Delays, controversy, and rough water marred the running of the race but PAY ‘n PAK finally prevailed and Dave Heerensperger was able to take his first Gold Cup home--but only after a titanic struggle.
Henley and Benns battled head to head all day long in some of the finest racing ever witnessed in the Unlimited Class.
PAY 'n PAK won all four heats with MISS BUDWEISER always within striking distance. The BUD had the lead in Heat 1-C but spewed oil briefly and was overtaken by PAY 'n PAK. Heat 1-C was the fastest of the day with Henley averaging 112.056 miles per hour and Benns 109.845. No one else averaged over 100 all day long because of the rough water.
George Henley made it two Gold Cups in a row for Heerensperger at the Tri-Cities in 1975. The "Winged Wonder" won her three preliminary heats and then cruised to an easy third in the finale behind Tom D'Eath in MISS U.S. and Milner Irvin in LINCOLN THRIFT.
In the space of three years, the low-profile/wide-afterplane Ron Jones-style hull had become the dominant design in Unlimited racing. (Ted Jones, Ron's father, had likewise revolutionized the sport in the 1950s, starting with SLO-MO-SHUN IV.)
The PAY 'n PAK's road to victory in 1975 was not an easy one. After a stellar 1974 campaign, George Henley retired as driver and Jim Lucero rebuilt the boat. In spring testing, PAY 'n PAK was definitely faster on the straightaways but was skittish in the turns.
New driver Jim McCormick (on the rebound from a serious injury accident in 1974 with RED MAN) had great difficulty in cornering the PAK and was the subject of considerable criticism. McCormick retired from racing after a third-place finish in the 1975 President's Cup.
Henley was coaxed out of retirement and returned to the PAY 'n PAK cockpit at the third race of the season in Owensboro, Kentucky. Lo and behold, George had the same problem with the PAK that Jim had experienced. On the first lap of the first heat at Owensboro, PAY 'n PAK swapped ends, caved in a sponson, and had to be withdrawn. All of a sudden, the Jim McCormick detractors became the George Henley apologists.
PAY 'n PAK continued to perform badly at the next race in Detroit. Finally, Lucero restored the boat to its 1974 configuration. Only then was the PAK its old competitive self again.
Henley and PAY 'n PAK picked up where they had left off the year before with victories at Madison, Indiana, and Dayton, Ohio. After winning at the Tri-Cities, the team went on to take first-place in Seattle and San Diego en route to a third consecutive National High Point Championship.
Earlier in the season, the Billy Schumacher-chauffeured WEISFIELD'S had seemed a shoo-in for the national title. They had scored convincing victories at Miami and Owensboro and finished second at Washington, D.C. But once PAY 'n PAK was back on track, the chances for a WEISFIELD'S championship promptly vanished.
The MISS BUDWEISER team had an uneven 1975 campaign. They won two races (at Washington, D.C., and Phoenix, Arizona) with Mickey Remund driving, but in general lacked the consistency that marked the 1973 and 1974 seasons.
After two dozen race victories and having re-written the speed record book from coast to coast, Heerensperger decided to rest on his laurels for a while. “We’ve accomplished everything we set out to do and more.”
In January of 1976, he accepted an offer from Bill Muncey’s ATLAS VAN LINES team and sold the entire PAY ‘n PAK equipment inventory for a figure in the six digits.
Inactive as an owner between 1976 and 1979, Dave nevertheless stayed close to the sport that he loved. He sponsored the boat that he had most recently owned--the ”Winged Wonder”--at two 1977 races. He also sponsored the 225 Class WHITE LIGHTNING, owned and driven by Steve Reynolds, as PAY ‘n PAK.
Always on the lookout for new ideas, Heerensperger began serious speculation into the possibility of turbine power in an Unlimited hydroplane. Between 1980 and 1982, he campaigned just such a craft. Jim Lucero designed the hull. The highly regarded Dixon Smith, who happened to be Heerensperger’s personal pilot, developed the turbine engine concept.
The turbine PAY ‘n PAK was the first turbine-powered Unlimited since Pam Clapp’s U-95 in 1974. Unlike the U-95, which used a pair of T-53 engines, PAY ‘n PAK used a single Lycoming T-55 power plant, thereby establishing a precedent for turbine-powered Unlimiteds of the future.
The new boat’s first appearance (at the 1980 Tri-Cities Columbia Cup) proved disastrous. Rookie driver John Walters flipped the boat in trials on the Columbia River and delayed the team’s competition debut until the following year.
Walters steered the turbine PAY ‘n PAK to some high finishes in 1981, which included a second-place performance in the Champion Spark Plug Regatta at Miami and a second in the Gold Cup at Seattle.
During the Final Heat of the Gold Cup, Walters gave the winner Dean Chenoweth in the MISS BUDWEISER everything he could handle. MISS BUDWEISER averaged 123.814 to PAY ‘n PAK’s 122.223.
The PAK finally achieved victory in 1982 at “Thunder In The Park” at Romulus, New York.
In the long history of Unlimited hydroplane competition, this was a famous first--the first victory by a non-internal combustion-powered craft.
The turbine was the power source of today. In contrast, the Allison, the Rolls-Royce Merlin, and the Rolls-Royce Griffon had ceased production almost forty years earlier.
Her triumph at Romulus not withstanding, PAY ‘n PAK did not have much of an opportunity to build upon this accomplishment. The boat damaged its right sponson in Heat 1-B at the Gold Cup in Detroit and had to withdraw. A few weeks later, Walters was badly hurt and the boat was extensively damaged in an accident at the Emerald Cup on Lake Washington.
Moments after the start of Heat 1-B at Seattle, George Johnson, driving EXECUTONE, experienced rudder failure. The boat dug in its right sponson and veered to the left and crashed into the right side of Tom D’Eath and THE SQUIRE SHOP. The impact sent EXECUTONE back to the right and into the path of a late-starting PAY ‘n PAK. The PAK ran right over EXECUTONE and flipped.
EXECUTONE sank almost immediately. THE SQUIRE SHOP managed to limp back to the pits under its own power, while PAY ‘n PAK had to be towed back to the dock.
Johnson and D’Eath were unhurt. But Walters was critically injured with several broken bones and a collapsed lung. John recovered and continued in the sport for many years as a shore mechanic. But he never drove in competition again.
After the accident to his boat and the injury to his driver, Dave Heerensperger announced his retirement from Unlimited racing and sold his team to Steve Woomer. Heerensperger had first joined the sport in 1963 as the sponsor of MISS EAGLE ELECTRIC. “Dynamite Dave” had left before. But this time it was for good.
As in the case of the U-95 eight years earlier, the PAY ‘n PAK team’s innovative turbine concept passed into history, but not for long. In the not too distant future, the Lycoming turbine engine would return and revolutionize the sport.
A member of the Unlimited Hydroplane Hall of Fame, Heerensperger has in recent years become heavily involved in horse racing and has owned as many as fifty horses at one time. His most successful horse is MILLENNIUM WIND, the winner of the 2001 Blue Grass Stakes who went on to finish 11th in the Kentucky Derby.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Spokane hydro sweeps to second win; Eagle Electric is Atomic Cup champion
By Tom Burnside
Reprinted from Tri-City Herald, July 22, 1968
Col. Warner Gardner proved his opening hydroplane victory of the season was no fluke and took another step toward a national title while maintaining the winning monopoly for Washington State Sunday in the Tri-Cities.
Gardner piloted the Spokane-based Miss Eagle Electric to two straight elimination heat victories, then left the rest of the field in his wake in the final to capture the championship in the third running of the Atomic Cup unlimited hydroplane race on the Columbia River.
The Inland Empire Eagle outran former Atomic Cup winner Miss Budweiser in the finals, while favored defending champion Miss Bardahl sat dead in the water, to take the $5,000 first prize and post its second win in four tour stops this season.
The annual Tri-City spectacular came off like clockwork under ideal racing conditions before a crowd estimated by Water Follies officials at 60,000, which jammed both shores of the Columbia.
Gardner's 45-mile average established a record 102.913 mph, eclipsing the mark of 101.234 set last year by Miss Bardahl with Billy Schumacher behind the wheel. Eagle also recorded top 2 1/2-mile lap speed of 109.400.
It marked a bitter defeat for Seattle's Bardahl, which had won two consecutive races on the tour and was an easy victor in its first two heats. But the defending champion went dead in the backchute with a blown engine while making a charge at Eagle Electric in the second lap of the finals.
Ironically, the consolation Mira Slovak Trophy Race was won by Jim McCormick in Harrah's Club - the same boat Slovak was supposed to drive on the unlimited circuit this year before he was seriously injured in an airplane crash.
Joining the tour's hot boats -Eagle Electric, Bardahl and Budweiser - in the finals were Bob Miller in Atlas Van Lines and Jack Regas in Notre Dame.
The start of the final heat was a dandy, although Bardahl was a little late getting into position and got shoved to the outside. All five boats bit the line at full bore, but Budweiser held a slight edge and was ahead out of the first turn, followed closely by Eagle and Bardahl.
The Spokane boat charged up the outside, took over the lead in the backchute and led the field at the end of the first lap. Eagle and Bud were tight out of the turn and Bardahl started making its move up the inside when the engine blew.
Budweiser remained close on the heels of Eagle Electric for another lap, but Gardner starting pulling away in the straight-aways and opened a good lead after four laps. The Eagle kept increasing the distance the rest of the way and crossed the finish line with an average speed of 105.882 mph just as Bud was starting its entrance into the last turn.
In overall standings, Bill Sterett and the Bud took second place for $3,700, Notre Dame was third for $2,700 and Bardahl fourth for $2,100. Bardahl and Schumacher retained their leads in national point standings, while Gardner and the Eagle advanced from fifth to second, 600 points off the pace.
In the Slovak Trophy Race, My Gypsy, Parco's O-Ring Miss, Gale's Roostertail and Savair's Mist all jumped the gun - which unknowningly made things easy for the winning Harrah's Club because the other four had to make an extra lap.
Roostertail led for the first two laps, with Harrah's hanging back in fourth place. Gypsy running as a alternate when Smirnoff elected not to compete because of handling problems, overtook Roostertail on the far turn and zoomed past on the outside to take the lead to stay. Harrah's, who had fast time of 104.651 in the fifth lap, gradually moved up to challenge after passing Roostertail and Savair but never caught up.
Eagle Electric led all the way in winning Heat 1-C, with an average speed of 106.635. Eagle got a flying start and led out of the first turn by a comfortable margin. Rookie Tommy Fults spun out in the corner and nearly flipped, tearing chrome stripping off the right sponson and knocking the boat out of the second heat. Notre Dame challenged briefly in the third lap, but Gardner stepped on it and ran away.
The Eagle also led all the way in winning Heat 2-A, but had a scare at the finish. Eagle was running rough, coughing and sputtering, and nearly conked out in the first turn of the fourth lap. Atlas was coming on strong and was right on Gardner's tail when he finally got the Spokane boat churning again.
Eagle pulled ahead on the backchute of the last lap only to lose power again just 200 yards from the finish line. Gardner was trying desperately to get the boat across the finish while Atlas came charging down the stretch. Eagle managed to nose out the win by a scant two seconds.
Bardahl easily won heats 1-B and 2-B, posting averages speed of 105.592 and 101.427, respectively, without being pressed in either. Fascination, Bob Gilliam's Seattle latecomer which finally qualified early Sunday morning at 95 mph, sheared a propeller pin after two laps in last place in the second heat and never ventured back onto the course.
Notre Dame was the winner of the other elimination race, Heat 2-C, with an average speed of 104.976.
Reprinted from Tri-City Herald, July 22, 1968
Col. Warner Gardner proved his opening hydroplane victory of the season was no fluke and took another step toward a national title while maintaining the winning monopoly for Washington State Sunday in the Tri-Cities.
Gardner piloted the Spokane-based Miss Eagle Electric to two straight elimination heat victories, then left the rest of the field in his wake in the final to capture the championship in the third running of the Atomic Cup unlimited hydroplane race on the Columbia River.
The Inland Empire Eagle outran former Atomic Cup winner Miss Budweiser in the finals, while favored defending champion Miss Bardahl sat dead in the water, to take the $5,000 first prize and post its second win in four tour stops this season.
The annual Tri-City spectacular came off like clockwork under ideal racing conditions before a crowd estimated by Water Follies officials at 60,000, which jammed both shores of the Columbia.
Gardner's 45-mile average established a record 102.913 mph, eclipsing the mark of 101.234 set last year by Miss Bardahl with Billy Schumacher behind the wheel. Eagle also recorded top 2 1/2-mile lap speed of 109.400.
It marked a bitter defeat for Seattle's Bardahl, which had won two consecutive races on the tour and was an easy victor in its first two heats. But the defending champion went dead in the backchute with a blown engine while making a charge at Eagle Electric in the second lap of the finals.
Ironically, the consolation Mira Slovak Trophy Race was won by Jim McCormick in Harrah's Club - the same boat Slovak was supposed to drive on the unlimited circuit this year before he was seriously injured in an airplane crash.
Joining the tour's hot boats -Eagle Electric, Bardahl and Budweiser - in the finals were Bob Miller in Atlas Van Lines and Jack Regas in Notre Dame.
The start of the final heat was a dandy, although Bardahl was a little late getting into position and got shoved to the outside. All five boats bit the line at full bore, but Budweiser held a slight edge and was ahead out of the first turn, followed closely by Eagle and Bardahl.
The Spokane boat charged up the outside, took over the lead in the backchute and led the field at the end of the first lap. Eagle and Bud were tight out of the turn and Bardahl started making its move up the inside when the engine blew.
Budweiser remained close on the heels of Eagle Electric for another lap, but Gardner starting pulling away in the straight-aways and opened a good lead after four laps. The Eagle kept increasing the distance the rest of the way and crossed the finish line with an average speed of 105.882 mph just as Bud was starting its entrance into the last turn.
In overall standings, Bill Sterett and the Bud took second place for $3,700, Notre Dame was third for $2,700 and Bardahl fourth for $2,100. Bardahl and Schumacher retained their leads in national point standings, while Gardner and the Eagle advanced from fifth to second, 600 points off the pace.
In the Slovak Trophy Race, My Gypsy, Parco's O-Ring Miss, Gale's Roostertail and Savair's Mist all jumped the gun - which unknowningly made things easy for the winning Harrah's Club because the other four had to make an extra lap.
Roostertail led for the first two laps, with Harrah's hanging back in fourth place. Gypsy running as a alternate when Smirnoff elected not to compete because of handling problems, overtook Roostertail on the far turn and zoomed past on the outside to take the lead to stay. Harrah's, who had fast time of 104.651 in the fifth lap, gradually moved up to challenge after passing Roostertail and Savair but never caught up.
Eagle Electric led all the way in winning Heat 1-C, with an average speed of 106.635. Eagle got a flying start and led out of the first turn by a comfortable margin. Rookie Tommy Fults spun out in the corner and nearly flipped, tearing chrome stripping off the right sponson and knocking the boat out of the second heat. Notre Dame challenged briefly in the third lap, but Gardner stepped on it and ran away.
The Eagle also led all the way in winning Heat 2-A, but had a scare at the finish. Eagle was running rough, coughing and sputtering, and nearly conked out in the first turn of the fourth lap. Atlas was coming on strong and was right on Gardner's tail when he finally got the Spokane boat churning again.
Eagle pulled ahead on the backchute of the last lap only to lose power again just 200 yards from the finish line. Gardner was trying desperately to get the boat across the finish while Atlas came charging down the stretch. Eagle managed to nose out the win by a scant two seconds.
Bardahl easily won heats 1-B and 2-B, posting averages speed of 105.592 and 101.427, respectively, without being pressed in either. Fascination, Bob Gilliam's Seattle latecomer which finally qualified early Sunday morning at 95 mph, sheared a propeller pin after two laps in last place in the second heat and never ventured back onto the course.
Notre Dame was the winner of the other elimination race, Heat 2-C, with an average speed of 104.976.
The Jim Lucero Story
By Fred Farley - Unlimited Unlimited Historian
Of all the Crew Chiefs in the Unlimited Class since World War II, one name stands out above all the rest in terms of total victories: Jim Lucero. Between 1971 and 1998, the Seattle, Washington, resident accounted for no fewer than 69 first-place trophies with such teams as PAY ‘n PAK, ATLAS VAN LINES, MILLER AMERICAN, WINSTON EAGLE, SMOKIN’ JOE’S, CLOSE CALL, and WILDFIRE.
In addition to his 69 victories, Lucero’s boats finished second 48 times and third 15 times. That’s a total of 132 podium finishes in 235 races as a Crew Chief.
A Crew Chief is defined as an individual who regularly works on the boat and has charge of those who also work on the boat. Crew Chiefs, over the years, have had varying degrees of authority, depending upon their relationship to their owner and driver, yet are considered Crew Chiefs if they fit the above description.
For the sake of comparison, the Crew Chiefs that stand closest to Lucero in total victories are Ron Brown, who won 56 races between 1976 and 1997 with the MISS U.S. and MISS BUDWEISER teams, and Mark Smith, who won 33 races between 1998 and 2004 with MISS BUDWEISER.
Lucero’s first contact with the world of Unlimited hydroplanes occurred in 1965. That was the year that Jim signed on as an engine parts washer for Shirley Mendelson McDonald’s NOTRE DAME. He remained with NOTRE DAME through the 1967 racing season.
In 1968, Lucero accepted his first Crew Chief assignment. The boat was the SMIRNOFF, owned by Joe and Lee Schoenith’s Gale Enterprises team of Detroit, Michigan.
The radical bat-winged SMIRNOFF pioneered the “picklefork” configuration in Unlimited racing. With the bow dropped back and the sponsons protruding, there was less chance of the boat nosing in and flipping over than in the old-style shovel-nosed hull design.
In retrospect, SMIRNOFF was probably a little too heavy for her own good. But Lucero was nevertheless able to make a contender out of her by season’s end. With Dean Chenoweth driving, the craft finished third in the APBA Gold Cup at Detroit and fourth in the San Diego Cup and the Arizona Governor’s Cup in Phoenix.
The most positive thing to come out of the SMIRNOFF experience was the opportunity for Jim to work with designer Dick Brantsner. While Brantsner didn’t remain in the sport for very long, his influence on Lucero was significant. Jim greatly appreciated the astute and orderly manner in which Dick went about solving problems of design. The two remained close friends for many years.
When the Heublein’s Corporation dropped its sponsorship of the SMIRNOFF hydroplane after 1968, Lucero transferred to the Bob Fendler organization, which was then sponsored by Atlas Van Lines, Inc. This was the start of a long and successful collaboration between Jim and Atlas that was to last intermittently for fifteen years.
Lucero worked as a crew member on Fendler’s ATLAS VAN LINES U-19 during 1969. But Jim had larger fish to fry.
His association with Brantsner had sparked an interest in hydroplane design. So, for 1970, while attending UCLA, Lucero designed Fendler’s ATLAS VAN LINES U-29.
The U-29 represented a significant departure from the tried and true in Unlimited racing. It was a cabover, a boat with the driver sitting ahead of--rather than behind--the engine well.
The modern cabover concept had been formulated in the early 1960s by Ron Jones, Sr., who hailed the design as the future of boat racing. Indeed, Jones had achieved great success with such champion cabover creations as the 225 Cubic Inch Class TIGER TOO and the 7-Litre Class RECORD-7.
But the idea was slow to catch on in the Unlimited ranks. Some unfortunate accidents had occurred which had nothing to do with the fact that the boats involved were cabovers. But they were associated with cabovers, and that made the concept difficult to sell.
Lucero, however, agreed with Jones that the cabover was the way to go. So, in collaboration with builder Fred Wickens, Jim went ahead with plans for Fendler’s cabover U-29. The finished boat, however, proved a mixed blessing.
A decision had been made to power the hull with a pair of 426 cubic inch supercharged Chrysler hemi automotive engines. The hemis simply lacked the horsepower to be competitive with the traditional Allison and Rolls-Royce Merlin aircraft engines. Moreover, the boat could likely have benefited from the advanced propeller technology that is commonplace today but was unavailable in 1970.
At this point, Lucero left Fendler to accept an offer from Seattleite Dave Heerensperger’s PAY ‘n PAK team. But the U-29 story did not end with Jim’s departure from the organization. Later re-powered with a turbocharged Allison and renamed LINCOLN THRIFT’S 7-1/4% SPECIAL, the U-29 finally realized Lucero’s dream of designing the first modern cabover to win a race in the Unlimited Class. This was at the 1973 President’s Cup at Washington, D.C., with Gene Whipp driving.
Some may have viewed Jim’s shift from Fendler to Heerensperger in mid-season 1970 as capricious. In the long run, though, switching over to PAY ‘n PAK was a shrewd career move. It was with Heerensperger that Lucero first achieved racing’s big time.
Jim’s first major assignment with his new employer was to revamp an automotive-powered cabover hull, the Jones-designed PRIDE OF PAY ‘n PAK, and try to make a winner out of her. In accordance with Heerensperger’s wishes, Lucero moved the cockpit from fore to aft. He then replaced the twin Chryslers with a single Rolls-Royce Merlin.
It took Lucero and driver Billy Schumacher a few races to get PRIDE OF PAY ‘n PAK sorted out. The boat lost her rudder and Schumacher sustained injury at the 1971 season-opener in Miami, Florida. And the PAK was trounced at Madison, Indiana, by the Gold Cup-winning MISS MADISON.
But during the western half of the 1971 tour, PRIDE OF PAY ‘n PAK came alive. Although not significantly faster on the straightaways than the traditional post-1950 vintage Unlimiteds, she could corner better and faster than any boat in the world and could run qualifying laps in the 120 mile an hour range almost effortlessly.
PRIDE OF PAY ‘n PAK entered the winner’s circle for the first time at Seattle, her homeport. The team of Heerensperger, Lucero, and Schumacher claimed the coveted Seafair Trophy and emerged as the class of a twelve-boat field. It was a radiant moment for Jim, his first victory as a Crew Chief after six years in the sport. It would not be his last.
For 1972, owner Heerensperger set a goal of a 125 mile per hour lap speed for the team. PRIDE OF PAY ‘n PAK exceeded that goal and almost reached an unheard of 126 miles per hour in trials at Seattle with Billy Sterett, Jr., driving.
Heerensperger then sold the boat to Bernie Little and decided to experiment with a new hull, which became known as the “Winged Wonder” PAY ‘n PAK of 1973.
The new PAK was designed and built by Ron Jones and featured a prominent horizontal stabilizer wing. Crew Chief Lucero provided the futuristic craft with powerful Rolls engines and some fine-tuning on the sponsons.
The result: a National High Point Championship for PAY ‘n PAK in 1973 with Mickey Remund as driver. The team won four races, including the World’s Championship Seafair Trophy, and raised the world lap speed record to 126.760 on a 3-mile course at Seattle.
It was the same story in 1974, another National Championship for the “Winged Wonder.” Pilot George Henley powered his way into the winner’s circle at seven out of eleven events during the season. This was the year when Heerensperger, Lucero, and Henley won their first Gold Cup, in a particularly memorable contest on Seattle’s Lake Washington at Sand Point.
All day long, the PAK battled side by side with Howie Benns and the MISS BUDWEISER. They shared the same roostertail, on extremely rough water, in perhaps the greatest single performance in PAY ‘n PAK team history.
The 1975 campaign was something else. For a while, it appeared as though the opposition had caught up with the defending National Champion.
The Billy Schumacher-chauffeured WEISFIELD’S dominated the first three races and seemed a sure bet for High Point honors. At Owensboro, Kentucky, PAY ‘n PAK swapped ends, caved in a sponson, and had to withdraw from the race, while WEISFIELD’S went on to take the checkered flag. All hope of retaining the National title appeared lost.
But despite a formidable points deficit, PAY ‘n PAK bounced back in championship fashion to turn the tide on WEISFIELD’S. The PAK had been rebuilt during the 1974-75 off-season. It was fast on the straightaways but had trouble in the turns. Lucero put the boat back in its 1974 configuration and, immediately, PAY ‘n PAK was its old competitive self again.
Henley and the PAK thundered to victory in five of the last six races of 1975 to claim a third straight Martini & Rossi National High Point Trophy at season’s end.
Never before or since has one boat’s momentum been so effectively halted by the performance of another boat.
Having done everything that he had set out to accomplish and more, Heerensperger decided to rest on his laurels. In January of 1976, he accepted an offer from Bill Muncey and sold the entire PAY ‘n PAK team equipment inventory for a figure in the six digits. The package comprised three hulls, including an unraced cabover craft, designed by Lucero.
Jim, at first, was not involved--and did not want to be involved--in the new Muncey ownership. But Bill, who had not won a race since 1972, was smart enough to realize that he needed Lucero to help get his career back on track. So, Muncey hired Jim as his Crew Chief and started a new racing team under the aegis of ATLAS VAN LINES. Lucero was given complete authority to run the team from top to bottom. Jim’s word was law.
The sport held its collective breath.
The burning question: could two such strong-minded personalities as Muncey and Lucero actually work together on a day-to-day basis without driving each other crazy? Well, they could. And they did.
In fact, they became the best of friends. Both were totally dedicated to winning races and understood each other perfectly.
The team of Jim and Bill didn’t always see eye to eye with the Unlimited officialdom. But no one can deny the Lucero/Muncey combination’s competitive excellence.
During his four years as lead wrench for ATLAS VAN LINES, Lucero achieved the pinnacle of his career. Between 1976 and 1979, Jim and Bill won twenty-four out of thirty-four races entered, including three Gold Cups (1977-78-79). They won three National Championships (1976-1978-1979). And they raised the world lap speed record to 128.023 in 1976, to 129.310 in 1977, to 132.353 in 1978, and to 133.929 in 1979.
In 1976, they brought out the “Winged Wonder” with pleasing results. (This craft was sold in 1978 to the MISS MADISON organization.) Then, in 1977, Lucero unveiled the cabover hull that he and Norm Berg had put together two years earlier for Dave Heerensperger. This incredible craft became the famed ATLAS VAN LINES “Blue Blaster.”
In addition to winning two dozen races, the “Blue Blaster” established the cabover design as the state of the art in Thunderboat racing. The old-style rear-cockpit hulls were now unquestionably obsolete.
Granted, Jim Lucero did not invent the modern Unlimited cabover. That distinction belongs to Ron Jones. But Lucero is the one popularized the concept by making it work in the acid test of competition.
Always on the lookout for a new challenge, Jim decided after 1979 that the time was right to explore the possibility of turbine power in the Unlimiteds. His former boss Heerensperger was likewise thinking along the same lines. So, the two got back together for a brief period between 1980 and 1982.
Heerensperger and Lucero unfortunately did not achieve the level of success with Lycoming turbines that they had enjoyed with their Rolls-Royce Merlin program.
In addition to being Crew Chief and co-designer (with Dixon Smith) for PAY ‘n PAK, Jim retained secondary ties to ATLAS VAN LINES and also to THE SQUIRE SHOP. As a result, Lucero was thought by some to be spreading himself too thin. The new turbine PAY ‘n PAK wasn’t ready until half-way through the 1980 season.
The PAK’s first appearance (at the Tri-Cities, Washington) proved disastrous. Rookie driver John Walters (who had worked for Lucero with ATLAS VAN LINES) flipped the boat in trials on the Columbia River and delayed the team’s competition debut until the following year.
Walters steered the turbine PAK to some high finishes in 1981, which included a second-place performance in the Champion Spark Plug Regatta at Miami and a second in the Gold Cup at Seattle. The team finally achieved victory in 1982 at “Thunder In The Park” at Romulus, New York.
In the long history of Unlimited hydroplane competition, this was a famous first--the first victory by a non-internal combustion-powered craft.
The turbine was the power source of today, Lucero pointed out. In contrast, the Allison, the Rolls-Royce Merlin, and the Rolls-Royce Griffon had ceased production almost forty years earlier.
Her triumph at Romulus not withstanding, PAY ‘n PAK unfortunately did not have much of an opportunity to build upon this accomplishment. A few weeks later, Walters was seriously injured and the boat was badly damaged in an accident at the Emerald Cup on Lake Washington.
A disheartened Heerensperger announced his retirement--this time for good--and the PAY ‘n PAK name vanished forever from the Unlimited arena.
Returning full-time to ATLAS VAN LINES, which was now owned by Fran Muncey (Bill’s widow), Lucero was anxious to continue his experimentation with turbine power. To date, the concept had proved only sporadically competitive.
At Evansville, Indiana, in 1984, Jim and co-designer Dixon Smith debuted their new ATLAS VAN LINES turbine entry, which caught the racing world by surprise.
On the very first time around the buoys in qualification, the new ATLAS set a world lap speed record of 140.818 on the 2-mile course. This was faster even than the existing 2.5-mile world record of 140.801.
No doubt about it. Lucero had come up with another winner--the first truly competitive turbine hydroplane that could run with any piston-powered boat in the world. Unlimited racing would never be the same. The “thunder” would soon be going out of the Thunderboats.
The “bugs” of newness plagued the team throughout 1984. But when the boat was running right, no one could touch her. The “Awesome ATLAS” scored decisive victories in the Indiana Governor’s Cup at Madison and in the Gold Cup at the Tri-Cities with Chip Hanauer driving.
The 1985 season was another Lucero success story. With the boat renamed MILLER AMERICAN (ATLAS VAN LINES having dropped out of the sport), the Muncey team would not be denied. En route to the National Championship, they won five races: Detroit, Evansville, the Tri-Cities, Seattle, and Oklahoma City.
Moreover, pilot Hanauer posted an incredible 153.061 miles per hour on a 2.5-mile course in qualifying on the Columbia River.
Lucero had now been in the sport for twenty years. A lap of 153 in 1965 would have been dismissed as science fiction. Indeed, in that earlier era, it was unusual for an Unlimited hydroplane to do 153 miles per hour on a straightaway, let alone around a closed course. Now, in 1985, Jim Lucero had turned science fiction into science fact.
All good things must come to an end. And the end of Jim’s association with Fran Muncey came a few weeks prior to the start of the 1986 season. He and Fran had an unexplained parting of the ways. After ten years, Lucero never worked for the Muncey organization again. Fran continued in racing for another three seasons. But she generally did not achieve the performance level that she enjoyed during the Lucero years.
As for Jim, in August of 1986, he found employment with Steve Woomer’s Competition Specialties team of Auburn, Washington, where he would spend most of the rest of his Unlimited career.
The first few years with Competition Specialties were difficult ones. Lucero watched in horror as popular driver Steve Reynolds suffered critical injuries when the Woomer-owned CELLULAR ONE crashed at Madison, Indiana, in 1987. And Jim experienced disappointment when an interesting new design--the WINSTON EAGLE “Lobster Boat”, which featured a much narrower transom than usual--failed as a competitor in 1990.
Things started to look up in 1991. Woomer had purchased the equipment inventory of Bill Bennett’s MISS CIRCUS CIRCUS. This included a hull that Lucero had originally designed for Fran Muncey. With Mark Tate as driver, this particular craft won three races, including the Gold Cup at Detroit, and placed second in 1991 National High Points under the banner of WINSTON EAGLE.
Lucero went on to many more pleasant years with Competition Specialties. The 1994 campaign was particularly noteworthy. Tate piloted SMOKIN’ JOE’S to a five-heat grand slam at the Gold Cup in Detroit and came within 46 points of the National Championship claimed by MISS BUDWEISER--10,908 points to 10,862 for the season.
Following the unexpected death of Steve Woomer in early 1998, Lucero decided to call it a career. He already had ten Gold Cups and eight National Championships on the shelf.
When Kim Gregory purchased the Competition Specialties racing team inventory from Woomer’s estate, Jim helped in the transition to the new ownership. He recorded his last victory as a crew chief at the 1998 Honolulu, Hawaii, race. The boat, renamed WILDFIRE, took first-place on Pearl Harbor with Mark Weber in the cockpit.
A member of the Unlimited Hydroplane Hall of Fame, Lucero still works for Woomer’s company and occasionally consults for various Unlimited teams.
The history of Unlimited racing can be roughly divided into two eras: the piston and the turbine. Jim Lucero is one of the few Crew Chiefs to be successful with both technologies. As such, he is worthy of the highest praise.
Of all the Crew Chiefs in the Unlimited Class since World War II, one name stands out above all the rest in terms of total victories: Jim Lucero. Between 1971 and 1998, the Seattle, Washington, resident accounted for no fewer than 69 first-place trophies with such teams as PAY ‘n PAK, ATLAS VAN LINES, MILLER AMERICAN, WINSTON EAGLE, SMOKIN’ JOE’S, CLOSE CALL, and WILDFIRE.
In addition to his 69 victories, Lucero’s boats finished second 48 times and third 15 times. That’s a total of 132 podium finishes in 235 races as a Crew Chief.
A Crew Chief is defined as an individual who regularly works on the boat and has charge of those who also work on the boat. Crew Chiefs, over the years, have had varying degrees of authority, depending upon their relationship to their owner and driver, yet are considered Crew Chiefs if they fit the above description.
For the sake of comparison, the Crew Chiefs that stand closest to Lucero in total victories are Ron Brown, who won 56 races between 1976 and 1997 with the MISS U.S. and MISS BUDWEISER teams, and Mark Smith, who won 33 races between 1998 and 2004 with MISS BUDWEISER.
Lucero’s first contact with the world of Unlimited hydroplanes occurred in 1965. That was the year that Jim signed on as an engine parts washer for Shirley Mendelson McDonald’s NOTRE DAME. He remained with NOTRE DAME through the 1967 racing season.
In 1968, Lucero accepted his first Crew Chief assignment. The boat was the SMIRNOFF, owned by Joe and Lee Schoenith’s Gale Enterprises team of Detroit, Michigan.
The radical bat-winged SMIRNOFF pioneered the “picklefork” configuration in Unlimited racing. With the bow dropped back and the sponsons protruding, there was less chance of the boat nosing in and flipping over than in the old-style shovel-nosed hull design.
In retrospect, SMIRNOFF was probably a little too heavy for her own good. But Lucero was nevertheless able to make a contender out of her by season’s end. With Dean Chenoweth driving, the craft finished third in the APBA Gold Cup at Detroit and fourth in the San Diego Cup and the Arizona Governor’s Cup in Phoenix.
The most positive thing to come out of the SMIRNOFF experience was the opportunity for Jim to work with designer Dick Brantsner. While Brantsner didn’t remain in the sport for very long, his influence on Lucero was significant. Jim greatly appreciated the astute and orderly manner in which Dick went about solving problems of design. The two remained close friends for many years.
When the Heublein’s Corporation dropped its sponsorship of the SMIRNOFF hydroplane after 1968, Lucero transferred to the Bob Fendler organization, which was then sponsored by Atlas Van Lines, Inc. This was the start of a long and successful collaboration between Jim and Atlas that was to last intermittently for fifteen years.
Lucero worked as a crew member on Fendler’s ATLAS VAN LINES U-19 during 1969. But Jim had larger fish to fry.
His association with Brantsner had sparked an interest in hydroplane design. So, for 1970, while attending UCLA, Lucero designed Fendler’s ATLAS VAN LINES U-29.
The U-29 represented a significant departure from the tried and true in Unlimited racing. It was a cabover, a boat with the driver sitting ahead of--rather than behind--the engine well.
The modern cabover concept had been formulated in the early 1960s by Ron Jones, Sr., who hailed the design as the future of boat racing. Indeed, Jones had achieved great success with such champion cabover creations as the 225 Cubic Inch Class TIGER TOO and the 7-Litre Class RECORD-7.
But the idea was slow to catch on in the Unlimited ranks. Some unfortunate accidents had occurred which had nothing to do with the fact that the boats involved were cabovers. But they were associated with cabovers, and that made the concept difficult to sell.
Lucero, however, agreed with Jones that the cabover was the way to go. So, in collaboration with builder Fred Wickens, Jim went ahead with plans for Fendler’s cabover U-29. The finished boat, however, proved a mixed blessing.
A decision had been made to power the hull with a pair of 426 cubic inch supercharged Chrysler hemi automotive engines. The hemis simply lacked the horsepower to be competitive with the traditional Allison and Rolls-Royce Merlin aircraft engines. Moreover, the boat could likely have benefited from the advanced propeller technology that is commonplace today but was unavailable in 1970.
At this point, Lucero left Fendler to accept an offer from Seattleite Dave Heerensperger’s PAY ‘n PAK team. But the U-29 story did not end with Jim’s departure from the organization. Later re-powered with a turbocharged Allison and renamed LINCOLN THRIFT’S 7-1/4% SPECIAL, the U-29 finally realized Lucero’s dream of designing the first modern cabover to win a race in the Unlimited Class. This was at the 1973 President’s Cup at Washington, D.C., with Gene Whipp driving.
Some may have viewed Jim’s shift from Fendler to Heerensperger in mid-season 1970 as capricious. In the long run, though, switching over to PAY ‘n PAK was a shrewd career move. It was with Heerensperger that Lucero first achieved racing’s big time.
Jim’s first major assignment with his new employer was to revamp an automotive-powered cabover hull, the Jones-designed PRIDE OF PAY ‘n PAK, and try to make a winner out of her. In accordance with Heerensperger’s wishes, Lucero moved the cockpit from fore to aft. He then replaced the twin Chryslers with a single Rolls-Royce Merlin.
It took Lucero and driver Billy Schumacher a few races to get PRIDE OF PAY ‘n PAK sorted out. The boat lost her rudder and Schumacher sustained injury at the 1971 season-opener in Miami, Florida. And the PAK was trounced at Madison, Indiana, by the Gold Cup-winning MISS MADISON.
But during the western half of the 1971 tour, PRIDE OF PAY ‘n PAK came alive. Although not significantly faster on the straightaways than the traditional post-1950 vintage Unlimiteds, she could corner better and faster than any boat in the world and could run qualifying laps in the 120 mile an hour range almost effortlessly.
PRIDE OF PAY ‘n PAK entered the winner’s circle for the first time at Seattle, her homeport. The team of Heerensperger, Lucero, and Schumacher claimed the coveted Seafair Trophy and emerged as the class of a twelve-boat field. It was a radiant moment for Jim, his first victory as a Crew Chief after six years in the sport. It would not be his last.
For 1972, owner Heerensperger set a goal of a 125 mile per hour lap speed for the team. PRIDE OF PAY ‘n PAK exceeded that goal and almost reached an unheard of 126 miles per hour in trials at Seattle with Billy Sterett, Jr., driving.
Heerensperger then sold the boat to Bernie Little and decided to experiment with a new hull, which became known as the “Winged Wonder” PAY ‘n PAK of 1973.
The new PAK was designed and built by Ron Jones and featured a prominent horizontal stabilizer wing. Crew Chief Lucero provided the futuristic craft with powerful Rolls engines and some fine-tuning on the sponsons.
The result: a National High Point Championship for PAY ‘n PAK in 1973 with Mickey Remund as driver. The team won four races, including the World’s Championship Seafair Trophy, and raised the world lap speed record to 126.760 on a 3-mile course at Seattle.
It was the same story in 1974, another National Championship for the “Winged Wonder.” Pilot George Henley powered his way into the winner’s circle at seven out of eleven events during the season. This was the year when Heerensperger, Lucero, and Henley won their first Gold Cup, in a particularly memorable contest on Seattle’s Lake Washington at Sand Point.
All day long, the PAK battled side by side with Howie Benns and the MISS BUDWEISER. They shared the same roostertail, on extremely rough water, in perhaps the greatest single performance in PAY ‘n PAK team history.
The 1975 campaign was something else. For a while, it appeared as though the opposition had caught up with the defending National Champion.
The Billy Schumacher-chauffeured WEISFIELD’S dominated the first three races and seemed a sure bet for High Point honors. At Owensboro, Kentucky, PAY ‘n PAK swapped ends, caved in a sponson, and had to withdraw from the race, while WEISFIELD’S went on to take the checkered flag. All hope of retaining the National title appeared lost.
But despite a formidable points deficit, PAY ‘n PAK bounced back in championship fashion to turn the tide on WEISFIELD’S. The PAK had been rebuilt during the 1974-75 off-season. It was fast on the straightaways but had trouble in the turns. Lucero put the boat back in its 1974 configuration and, immediately, PAY ‘n PAK was its old competitive self again.
Henley and the PAK thundered to victory in five of the last six races of 1975 to claim a third straight Martini & Rossi National High Point Trophy at season’s end.
Never before or since has one boat’s momentum been so effectively halted by the performance of another boat.
Having done everything that he had set out to accomplish and more, Heerensperger decided to rest on his laurels. In January of 1976, he accepted an offer from Bill Muncey and sold the entire PAY ‘n PAK team equipment inventory for a figure in the six digits. The package comprised three hulls, including an unraced cabover craft, designed by Lucero.
Jim, at first, was not involved--and did not want to be involved--in the new Muncey ownership. But Bill, who had not won a race since 1972, was smart enough to realize that he needed Lucero to help get his career back on track. So, Muncey hired Jim as his Crew Chief and started a new racing team under the aegis of ATLAS VAN LINES. Lucero was given complete authority to run the team from top to bottom. Jim’s word was law.
The sport held its collective breath.
The burning question: could two such strong-minded personalities as Muncey and Lucero actually work together on a day-to-day basis without driving each other crazy? Well, they could. And they did.
In fact, they became the best of friends. Both were totally dedicated to winning races and understood each other perfectly.
The team of Jim and Bill didn’t always see eye to eye with the Unlimited officialdom. But no one can deny the Lucero/Muncey combination’s competitive excellence.
During his four years as lead wrench for ATLAS VAN LINES, Lucero achieved the pinnacle of his career. Between 1976 and 1979, Jim and Bill won twenty-four out of thirty-four races entered, including three Gold Cups (1977-78-79). They won three National Championships (1976-1978-1979). And they raised the world lap speed record to 128.023 in 1976, to 129.310 in 1977, to 132.353 in 1978, and to 133.929 in 1979.
In 1976, they brought out the “Winged Wonder” with pleasing results. (This craft was sold in 1978 to the MISS MADISON organization.) Then, in 1977, Lucero unveiled the cabover hull that he and Norm Berg had put together two years earlier for Dave Heerensperger. This incredible craft became the famed ATLAS VAN LINES “Blue Blaster.”
In addition to winning two dozen races, the “Blue Blaster” established the cabover design as the state of the art in Thunderboat racing. The old-style rear-cockpit hulls were now unquestionably obsolete.
Granted, Jim Lucero did not invent the modern Unlimited cabover. That distinction belongs to Ron Jones. But Lucero is the one popularized the concept by making it work in the acid test of competition.
Always on the lookout for a new challenge, Jim decided after 1979 that the time was right to explore the possibility of turbine power in the Unlimiteds. His former boss Heerensperger was likewise thinking along the same lines. So, the two got back together for a brief period between 1980 and 1982.
Heerensperger and Lucero unfortunately did not achieve the level of success with Lycoming turbines that they had enjoyed with their Rolls-Royce Merlin program.
In addition to being Crew Chief and co-designer (with Dixon Smith) for PAY ‘n PAK, Jim retained secondary ties to ATLAS VAN LINES and also to THE SQUIRE SHOP. As a result, Lucero was thought by some to be spreading himself too thin. The new turbine PAY ‘n PAK wasn’t ready until half-way through the 1980 season.
The PAK’s first appearance (at the Tri-Cities, Washington) proved disastrous. Rookie driver John Walters (who had worked for Lucero with ATLAS VAN LINES) flipped the boat in trials on the Columbia River and delayed the team’s competition debut until the following year.
Walters steered the turbine PAK to some high finishes in 1981, which included a second-place performance in the Champion Spark Plug Regatta at Miami and a second in the Gold Cup at Seattle. The team finally achieved victory in 1982 at “Thunder In The Park” at Romulus, New York.
In the long history of Unlimited hydroplane competition, this was a famous first--the first victory by a non-internal combustion-powered craft.
The turbine was the power source of today, Lucero pointed out. In contrast, the Allison, the Rolls-Royce Merlin, and the Rolls-Royce Griffon had ceased production almost forty years earlier.
Her triumph at Romulus not withstanding, PAY ‘n PAK unfortunately did not have much of an opportunity to build upon this accomplishment. A few weeks later, Walters was seriously injured and the boat was badly damaged in an accident at the Emerald Cup on Lake Washington.
A disheartened Heerensperger announced his retirement--this time for good--and the PAY ‘n PAK name vanished forever from the Unlimited arena.
Returning full-time to ATLAS VAN LINES, which was now owned by Fran Muncey (Bill’s widow), Lucero was anxious to continue his experimentation with turbine power. To date, the concept had proved only sporadically competitive.
At Evansville, Indiana, in 1984, Jim and co-designer Dixon Smith debuted their new ATLAS VAN LINES turbine entry, which caught the racing world by surprise.
On the very first time around the buoys in qualification, the new ATLAS set a world lap speed record of 140.818 on the 2-mile course. This was faster even than the existing 2.5-mile world record of 140.801.
No doubt about it. Lucero had come up with another winner--the first truly competitive turbine hydroplane that could run with any piston-powered boat in the world. Unlimited racing would never be the same. The “thunder” would soon be going out of the Thunderboats.
The “bugs” of newness plagued the team throughout 1984. But when the boat was running right, no one could touch her. The “Awesome ATLAS” scored decisive victories in the Indiana Governor’s Cup at Madison and in the Gold Cup at the Tri-Cities with Chip Hanauer driving.
The 1985 season was another Lucero success story. With the boat renamed MILLER AMERICAN (ATLAS VAN LINES having dropped out of the sport), the Muncey team would not be denied. En route to the National Championship, they won five races: Detroit, Evansville, the Tri-Cities, Seattle, and Oklahoma City.
Moreover, pilot Hanauer posted an incredible 153.061 miles per hour on a 2.5-mile course in qualifying on the Columbia River.
Lucero had now been in the sport for twenty years. A lap of 153 in 1965 would have been dismissed as science fiction. Indeed, in that earlier era, it was unusual for an Unlimited hydroplane to do 153 miles per hour on a straightaway, let alone around a closed course. Now, in 1985, Jim Lucero had turned science fiction into science fact.
All good things must come to an end. And the end of Jim’s association with Fran Muncey came a few weeks prior to the start of the 1986 season. He and Fran had an unexplained parting of the ways. After ten years, Lucero never worked for the Muncey organization again. Fran continued in racing for another three seasons. But she generally did not achieve the performance level that she enjoyed during the Lucero years.
As for Jim, in August of 1986, he found employment with Steve Woomer’s Competition Specialties team of Auburn, Washington, where he would spend most of the rest of his Unlimited career.
The first few years with Competition Specialties were difficult ones. Lucero watched in horror as popular driver Steve Reynolds suffered critical injuries when the Woomer-owned CELLULAR ONE crashed at Madison, Indiana, in 1987. And Jim experienced disappointment when an interesting new design--the WINSTON EAGLE “Lobster Boat”, which featured a much narrower transom than usual--failed as a competitor in 1990.
Things started to look up in 1991. Woomer had purchased the equipment inventory of Bill Bennett’s MISS CIRCUS CIRCUS. This included a hull that Lucero had originally designed for Fran Muncey. With Mark Tate as driver, this particular craft won three races, including the Gold Cup at Detroit, and placed second in 1991 National High Points under the banner of WINSTON EAGLE.
Lucero went on to many more pleasant years with Competition Specialties. The 1994 campaign was particularly noteworthy. Tate piloted SMOKIN’ JOE’S to a five-heat grand slam at the Gold Cup in Detroit and came within 46 points of the National Championship claimed by MISS BUDWEISER--10,908 points to 10,862 for the season.
Following the unexpected death of Steve Woomer in early 1998, Lucero decided to call it a career. He already had ten Gold Cups and eight National Championships on the shelf.
When Kim Gregory purchased the Competition Specialties racing team inventory from Woomer’s estate, Jim helped in the transition to the new ownership. He recorded his last victory as a crew chief at the 1998 Honolulu, Hawaii, race. The boat, renamed WILDFIRE, took first-place on Pearl Harbor with Mark Weber in the cockpit.
A member of the Unlimited Hydroplane Hall of Fame, Lucero still works for Woomer’s company and occasionally consults for various Unlimited teams.
The history of Unlimited racing can be roughly divided into two eras: the piston and the turbine. Jim Lucero is one of the few Crew Chiefs to be successful with both technologies. As such, he is worthy of the highest praise.
The Mickey Remund Story
By Fred Farley, Unlimited Hydroplane Historian
Every sport needs its own version of “The Mick” to capture the enthusiasm of the fans.
“The Mick” in baseball was Mickey Mantle; “The Mick” in boat racing was Mickey Remund.
One time, at a race in Madison, Indiana, a group of youngsters approached Remund, requesting his autograph. He replied, “I have to test the boat right now. But if you’ll meet me on this very spot in exactly 20 minutes, I’ll sign all the autographs you want.”
Mickey kept his promise. He gave those kids a fan experience they would never forget with autographs, handshakes, and a friendly smile.
The man had class.
A machinist by trade, Mickey Remund (whose real first name is Eugene) started racing power boats in 1958. He won his first National Championship Race in 1963 with Dr. Henry Eastman’s 48 Cubic Inch Class PIRANHA, winning both heats and averaging 69.018 miles per hour with the Crosley-powered craft.
In 1972, the Palm Desert, California, resident won nine straight races and the Inboard Nationals with the 5-Litre Modified Class GOING THING.
Remund made his Unlimited hydroplane debut in 1970 when he showed up at Seattle as the rookie driver of Bob Patterson’s SUPER CINDERS II (later renamed MISS VAN’S P-X). The Patterson team was a low-budget operation. But Mickey managed to qualify for the Final Heat of his very first Unlimited race, finishing an overall sixth in a 14-boat field.
Asked by a newspaper reporter his first impression of Unlimited racing, Remund replied. “Oh, I could learn to love it.”
His big break occurred in 1973 when he was hired as pilot of Dave Heerensperger’s “Winged Wonder” PAY ‘n PAK, one of the most significant boats in hydroplane history.
Designed by Ron Jones, Sr., the PAY ‘n PAK was wider and flatter than most of her contemporaries and represented the next generation of hull design, which was to dominate Unlimited racing for the next several years.
Although not significantly faster on the straightaway than the other post-World War II Unlimited hydroplanes, the PAK could corner better and faster than any boat ever built up until that time.
During the 1973 season, Mickey won four out of nine races, finished first in 20 out of 28 heats entered, and was National High Point Champion. He set qualifying records at seven races, competition lap records at six races, and was the first driver to do a lap of 126.760 on a 3-mile course.
Remund won all three heats of the season-opening Champion Spark Plug Regatta at Miami Marine Stadium and--in so doing--thoroughly humiliated the defending National Champion Bill Muncey, driver of ATLAS VAN LINES, who placed a dismal fifth.
At the Indiana Governor’s Cup in Madison, Mickey experienced some anxious moments in the Final Heat. That was when the PAY ‘n PAK’s aluminum steering wheel broke apart in his hands prior to the start and two of the three spokes of the steering wheel came loose. Remund managed to win by firmly gripping the one spoke and the base of the wheel in the hope that it would all hold together.
The race for which Mickey Remund is best remembered is his victory in the 1973 World’s Championship Seafair Trophy on Seattle’s Lake Washington.
Despite mist and rain, the competition was superb and unforgettable. The PAY 'n PAK with Remund and the MISS BUDWEISER with Dean Chenoweth ran side-by side. Mickey and Dean shared the same roostertail en route to becoming the first boats in history to average better than 120 miles per hour in a heat of competition. A local newspaper labeled the PAK and the BUD as "the champion fogcutters of the world."
Remund also took first-place in 1973 at the one and only Unlimited race ever run in Toledo, Ohio. Mickey won all three heats of the Clearwater Cup and trounced perennial rival MISS BUDWEISER in the Final Heat.
The PAY ‘n PAK team’s only major disappointment of 1973 was the APBA Gold Cup at the Tri-Cities, Washington.
Remund appeared to have things well in hand. He won his three preliminary heats and had a clear lead in the finale. Then, on lap-two, the PAK lost a blade on its propeller. The boat bounced crazily a couple of times and settled to a stop. MISS BUDWEISER went on to claim the victory.
This was a most unfortunate turn of events for PAY ‘n PAK, which had posted a Gold Cup competition lap record of 119.691 on the first lap of the Final Heat. Moreover, the “Winged Wonder” had set a Gold Cup qualification record for two laps at 124.309 on the 2.5-mile Columbia River course.
When contractual negotiations between Remund and Heerensperger broke down at the end of 1973, Mickey was replaced as PAY ‘n PAK driver by George Henley.
Remund spent an unsatisfying 1974 campaign at the wheel of Bob Fendler’s rough-riding LINCOLN THRIFT before being signed by Bernie Little’s MISS BUDWEISER team in 1975.
Mickey once again had a top-notch competitive ride. He came back to haunt his former PAY ‘n PAK teammates by winning the President’s Cup at Washington, D.C., and the Desert Thunderboat Classic at Phoenix, Arizona. He might have won more in 1975 if MISS BUDWEISER hadn’t broken so many hoses.
Prior to the season, owner Little had refused the MISS BUDWEISER crew’s request to re-plumb the boat. Bernie later admitted that this was a mistake and apologized to the crew for it.
Remund briefly retired from the sport after 1975 but was called back to the MISS BUDWEISER team in mid-season 1976. This was after pilot Howie Benns had fractured a leg in an accident at the Gold Cup in Detroit.
Mickey found himself at the wheel of a different version of the MISS BUD than the one that he had driven the year before. Like its immediate predecessor, this particular hull likewise benefited from the design talents of Ron Jones. The craft scored a decisive victory in the 1976 Seattle Seafair Regatta with Remund in the cockpit.
Moreover, MISS BUDWEISER set a world 2.5-mile competition lap record of 124.481 at the Tri-Cities Columbia Cup in 1976.
In 1977, Remund’s final year with the MISS BUDWEISER, he won his second National High Point Championship. To do this, Mickey had to defeat a hull that was a design generation ahead of MISS BUD. This was Bill Muncey’s “Blue Blaster” ATLAS VAN LINES, co-designed by Jim Lucero and Dixon Smith, which established once and for all the viability of the cabover design in Unlimited racing.
Remund managed to defeat Muncey in 1977 not so much on the basis of speed--although MISS BUDWEISER had plenty of that--but on reliability. Mickey finished all 28 of his heats that year and won the races in Madison, Dayton, and San Diego.
Bill and the "Blue Blaster" broke speed records all over the country in 1977 and were clearly the dominant team with six race victories, including the Gold Cup. But they had an off-day at Madison, Indiana, where the ATLAS VAN LINES had a DNF in Heat Two and didn't make the cut for the Final Heat. This came back to haunt the ATLAS when National Points were added up at season's end.
Muncey, in essence, won six of the nine battles, but lost the war…to Mickey Remund.
It is interesting to note that Remund was able to win the National Championship in two of the three seasons that he had a realistic shot at the title…and with two different teams: PAY ‘n PAK and MISS BUDWEISER.
Mickey retired once again after his stellar 1977 campaign. He made one final curtain call as an Unlimited driver in 1984 with Bob Steil’s THE SQUIRE SHOP. Remund’s old friend Jim Harvey, a former MISS BUDWEISER crew member who was now crew chief for SQUIRE, was instrumental in Mickey getting the job with Steil.
Remund had been away for seven years. The sport had changed. 1984 was the year of the turbine revolution. THE SQUIRE SHOP, which used the time-honored Rolls-Royce Merlin, represented the old technology.
There were those who feared that Mickey had been out of the loop for too long. Did Remund still have what it took to be competitive? Yes, he did.
At season’s end, THE SQUIRE SHOP occupied second-place in a field of 20 boats in National High Points with a victory at Syracuse, New York. Mickey also took second-place at Evansville and Detroit and third-place at Lake Ozark and Houston.
An unrealized ambition of Remund’s was to win a Gold Cup race. He finished second in 1977 with MISS BUDWEISER and almost pulled off a victory in 1984 with THE SQUIRE SHOP.
At the 1984 Tri-Cities Gold Cup, Mickey and SQUIRE made a perfect start in the Final Heat. Remund led out of the first turn with Chip Hanauer in the turbine-powered ATLAS VAN LINES and Jim Kropfeld in the Rolls-Royce Griffon-powered MISS BUDWEISER in hot pursuit. The three boats were two buoys apart after lap-one with THE SQUIRE SHOP still on top.
Kropfeld blew his engine going into the first turn of lap-two, while Mickey continued to hold off ATLAS VAN LINES. Coming out of the second turn on lap-three, Remund burned a piston in the Merlin engine, just as Hanauer pulled even with him. SQUIRE coasted to a stop, and ATLAS was on its way to the bank.
After a quarter century of hydroplane racing, Mickey decided to call it a career after a third-place finish in the UIM World Championship Race on Clear Lake in Houston, Texas.
Mickey Remund’s career box score shows eleven victories in 53 races between 1970 and 1984. Very few drivers have been able to score double-digit race wins in the Unlimited Class…and with three different teams.
And who could ever forget that “Race in the Rain” with Dean Chenoweth in 1973! If “The Mick” had done nothing else in his entire career, he deserves to be remembered for that.
 |
| Mickey Remund, driver of the 1973 U-25 Pay 'N Pak |
“The Mick” in baseball was Mickey Mantle; “The Mick” in boat racing was Mickey Remund.
One time, at a race in Madison, Indiana, a group of youngsters approached Remund, requesting his autograph. He replied, “I have to test the boat right now. But if you’ll meet me on this very spot in exactly 20 minutes, I’ll sign all the autographs you want.”
Mickey kept his promise. He gave those kids a fan experience they would never forget with autographs, handshakes, and a friendly smile.
The man had class.
A machinist by trade, Mickey Remund (whose real first name is Eugene) started racing power boats in 1958. He won his first National Championship Race in 1963 with Dr. Henry Eastman’s 48 Cubic Inch Class PIRANHA, winning both heats and averaging 69.018 miles per hour with the Crosley-powered craft.
In 1972, the Palm Desert, California, resident won nine straight races and the Inboard Nationals with the 5-Litre Modified Class GOING THING.
Remund made his Unlimited hydroplane debut in 1970 when he showed up at Seattle as the rookie driver of Bob Patterson’s SUPER CINDERS II (later renamed MISS VAN’S P-X). The Patterson team was a low-budget operation. But Mickey managed to qualify for the Final Heat of his very first Unlimited race, finishing an overall sixth in a 14-boat field.
Asked by a newspaper reporter his first impression of Unlimited racing, Remund replied. “Oh, I could learn to love it.”
His big break occurred in 1973 when he was hired as pilot of Dave Heerensperger’s “Winged Wonder” PAY ‘n PAK, one of the most significant boats in hydroplane history.
Designed by Ron Jones, Sr., the PAY ‘n PAK was wider and flatter than most of her contemporaries and represented the next generation of hull design, which was to dominate Unlimited racing for the next several years.
Although not significantly faster on the straightaway than the other post-World War II Unlimited hydroplanes, the PAK could corner better and faster than any boat ever built up until that time.
During the 1973 season, Mickey won four out of nine races, finished first in 20 out of 28 heats entered, and was National High Point Champion. He set qualifying records at seven races, competition lap records at six races, and was the first driver to do a lap of 126.760 on a 3-mile course.
Remund won all three heats of the season-opening Champion Spark Plug Regatta at Miami Marine Stadium and--in so doing--thoroughly humiliated the defending National Champion Bill Muncey, driver of ATLAS VAN LINES, who placed a dismal fifth.
At the Indiana Governor’s Cup in Madison, Mickey experienced some anxious moments in the Final Heat. That was when the PAY ‘n PAK’s aluminum steering wheel broke apart in his hands prior to the start and two of the three spokes of the steering wheel came loose. Remund managed to win by firmly gripping the one spoke and the base of the wheel in the hope that it would all hold together.
The race for which Mickey Remund is best remembered is his victory in the 1973 World’s Championship Seafair Trophy on Seattle’s Lake Washington.
Despite mist and rain, the competition was superb and unforgettable. The PAY 'n PAK with Remund and the MISS BUDWEISER with Dean Chenoweth ran side-by side. Mickey and Dean shared the same roostertail en route to becoming the first boats in history to average better than 120 miles per hour in a heat of competition. A local newspaper labeled the PAK and the BUD as "the champion fogcutters of the world."
Remund also took first-place in 1973 at the one and only Unlimited race ever run in Toledo, Ohio. Mickey won all three heats of the Clearwater Cup and trounced perennial rival MISS BUDWEISER in the Final Heat.
The PAY ‘n PAK team’s only major disappointment of 1973 was the APBA Gold Cup at the Tri-Cities, Washington.
Remund appeared to have things well in hand. He won his three preliminary heats and had a clear lead in the finale. Then, on lap-two, the PAK lost a blade on its propeller. The boat bounced crazily a couple of times and settled to a stop. MISS BUDWEISER went on to claim the victory.
This was a most unfortunate turn of events for PAY ‘n PAK, which had posted a Gold Cup competition lap record of 119.691 on the first lap of the Final Heat. Moreover, the “Winged Wonder” had set a Gold Cup qualification record for two laps at 124.309 on the 2.5-mile Columbia River course.
When contractual negotiations between Remund and Heerensperger broke down at the end of 1973, Mickey was replaced as PAY ‘n PAK driver by George Henley.
Remund spent an unsatisfying 1974 campaign at the wheel of Bob Fendler’s rough-riding LINCOLN THRIFT before being signed by Bernie Little’s MISS BUDWEISER team in 1975.
Mickey once again had a top-notch competitive ride. He came back to haunt his former PAY ‘n PAK teammates by winning the President’s Cup at Washington, D.C., and the Desert Thunderboat Classic at Phoenix, Arizona. He might have won more in 1975 if MISS BUDWEISER hadn’t broken so many hoses.
Prior to the season, owner Little had refused the MISS BUDWEISER crew’s request to re-plumb the boat. Bernie later admitted that this was a mistake and apologized to the crew for it.
Remund briefly retired from the sport after 1975 but was called back to the MISS BUDWEISER team in mid-season 1976. This was after pilot Howie Benns had fractured a leg in an accident at the Gold Cup in Detroit.
Mickey found himself at the wheel of a different version of the MISS BUD than the one that he had driven the year before. Like its immediate predecessor, this particular hull likewise benefited from the design talents of Ron Jones. The craft scored a decisive victory in the 1976 Seattle Seafair Regatta with Remund in the cockpit.
Moreover, MISS BUDWEISER set a world 2.5-mile competition lap record of 124.481 at the Tri-Cities Columbia Cup in 1976.
In 1977, Remund’s final year with the MISS BUDWEISER, he won his second National High Point Championship. To do this, Mickey had to defeat a hull that was a design generation ahead of MISS BUD. This was Bill Muncey’s “Blue Blaster” ATLAS VAN LINES, co-designed by Jim Lucero and Dixon Smith, which established once and for all the viability of the cabover design in Unlimited racing.
Remund managed to defeat Muncey in 1977 not so much on the basis of speed--although MISS BUDWEISER had plenty of that--but on reliability. Mickey finished all 28 of his heats that year and won the races in Madison, Dayton, and San Diego.
Bill and the "Blue Blaster" broke speed records all over the country in 1977 and were clearly the dominant team with six race victories, including the Gold Cup. But they had an off-day at Madison, Indiana, where the ATLAS VAN LINES had a DNF in Heat Two and didn't make the cut for the Final Heat. This came back to haunt the ATLAS when National Points were added up at season's end.
Muncey, in essence, won six of the nine battles, but lost the war…to Mickey Remund.
It is interesting to note that Remund was able to win the National Championship in two of the three seasons that he had a realistic shot at the title…and with two different teams: PAY ‘n PAK and MISS BUDWEISER.
Mickey retired once again after his stellar 1977 campaign. He made one final curtain call as an Unlimited driver in 1984 with Bob Steil’s THE SQUIRE SHOP. Remund’s old friend Jim Harvey, a former MISS BUDWEISER crew member who was now crew chief for SQUIRE, was instrumental in Mickey getting the job with Steil.
Remund had been away for seven years. The sport had changed. 1984 was the year of the turbine revolution. THE SQUIRE SHOP, which used the time-honored Rolls-Royce Merlin, represented the old technology.
There were those who feared that Mickey had been out of the loop for too long. Did Remund still have what it took to be competitive? Yes, he did.
At season’s end, THE SQUIRE SHOP occupied second-place in a field of 20 boats in National High Points with a victory at Syracuse, New York. Mickey also took second-place at Evansville and Detroit and third-place at Lake Ozark and Houston.
An unrealized ambition of Remund’s was to win a Gold Cup race. He finished second in 1977 with MISS BUDWEISER and almost pulled off a victory in 1984 with THE SQUIRE SHOP.
At the 1984 Tri-Cities Gold Cup, Mickey and SQUIRE made a perfect start in the Final Heat. Remund led out of the first turn with Chip Hanauer in the turbine-powered ATLAS VAN LINES and Jim Kropfeld in the Rolls-Royce Griffon-powered MISS BUDWEISER in hot pursuit. The three boats were two buoys apart after lap-one with THE SQUIRE SHOP still on top.
Kropfeld blew his engine going into the first turn of lap-two, while Mickey continued to hold off ATLAS VAN LINES. Coming out of the second turn on lap-three, Remund burned a piston in the Merlin engine, just as Hanauer pulled even with him. SQUIRE coasted to a stop, and ATLAS was on its way to the bank.
After a quarter century of hydroplane racing, Mickey decided to call it a career after a third-place finish in the UIM World Championship Race on Clear Lake in Houston, Texas.
Mickey Remund’s career box score shows eleven victories in 53 races between 1970 and 1984. Very few drivers have been able to score double-digit race wins in the Unlimited Class…and with three different teams.
And who could ever forget that “Race in the Rain” with Dean Chenoweth in 1973! If “The Mick” had done nothing else in his entire career, he deserves to be remembered for that.
Thunder on the Bay
Reprinted from Sports Illustrated, May 28, 1973
Biscayne's waters shivered to the opening of the unlimited-hydroplane racing season as a new winged marauder called 'Pay 'n Pak' awed and eventually overcame Bill Muncey, the suffering 1972 champion.
The noise of the big boats set knees and spines humming Sunday in Miami's Marine Stadium, but the shock waves were even more intense. Out on the roiled water of Biscayne Bay a baby-faced driver known to virtually no one beyond the roostertails and emergency wards of hydroplane racing was dueling side by side with the champion and grandest old man of the unlimiteds, Bill Muncey. Baby Face, who answers to the name of Mickey Remund, not only had an insuperable lead over Muncey on points in this final heat of the season's first event but was behaving very much as if he were the master's master. Suddenly, on the third lap of Miami's tight, 2½-mile oval course, Muncey's Atlas Van Lines spun out and went unmasterfully dead in the water. Remund finished that and the three remaining laps with an insouciant flourish, and as he coasted his brand new, futuristic, winged Pay 'n Pak into the pits, he turned a gleeful face to the shower of beer rained down on him by his supporting troops. Someone made the impolitic suggestion that he had backed into victory, to which Remund calmly replied, "I'll take 'em any way I can get 'em."
Remund took this one because he had the speed—up to 160 mph on the straights—and sweet confidence to take it. And maybe to a degree because Muncey, 44 and concealing broken ribs which would have kept a less intense competitor ashore, was one snake-bitten hero.
Muncey arrived in Miami in a thunderboat mood. He was just out of the hospital after cracking up in a smaller boat the previous Sunday. That was in Memphis and, as Muncey put it, "All of a sudden the boat started climbing. It went up about 50 feet and came down on top of me, still going about 100. There were lots of other boats flying past my head, some 15 or 20 inches away, and that made it a little exciting, but I kept thinking, 'I hope I'm not badly hurt because there's a big race coming up.' "
At Miami, Muncey let on he had only a bruised kidney—the ego bruises were to come later. Meanwhile Remund showed up with the season's surprise, a flashy boat said to be 800 pounds lighter than any other entry and decked out with a horizontal stabilizer that made her look something like a fat, wheelless Indianapolis car. The rest of the fleet was content with the traditional vertical fin. A Pay 'n Pak crew member said the wing was meant to keep her going straight. He was asked if it would help in the turns—the narrowest on the unlimited circuit. No one knows, he replied. And he was not kidding. This Pay 'n Pak had never been raced before.
Everybody found out soon enough. In practice and qualifying runs the boat was sensational in the turns. At one point Bernie Little, owner of Miss Budweiser, was standing in the pit tower with his driver, Dean Chenoweth, observing Remund out on the course. "Watch him into those turns, Dean," said Little. "He doesn't seem to slow down at all."
Perhaps one reason for Remund's course-burning in practice is that he has had few misadventures to make him nervous, at least by unlimited-hydro standards. In some 15 years in all kinds of racing he has left his boat involuntarily only twice. Last Labor Day he was thrown out of an 18-footer at 120 mph and shaken up. "But," he says, "I didn't have to do any sheet time."
Remund qualified with a two-lap average of 119.048 mph, a new course record, while the best Muncey could do in the boat with which he had all but drowned the opposition in 1972 was 113.493. Said Chenoweth of Muncey: "Remund's got Bill's mind so bent with that 119 you wouldn't believe it. He said to me, 'What are you gonna do, Dean?' I said, 'Hell, I'm gonna go and race.' "
In the pits Sunday there was an almost palpable aura of danger—and money. Two ambulances stood by, and behind each boat was its van, full of extra propellers and engines. The props, forged in Italy, were shiny little 11-inch, $1,100 beauties. Each crew had a dozen or so, not to mention five to eight engines at up to $10,000 per, originally designed to cruise airplanes at 2,000 rpm. In these boats they would be going at 4,500 rpm, but that is how you make thunder.
Chenoweth and Miss Bud won their first heat Sunday, but for Muncey it was a day of unmitigated misery. Driving in Chenoweth's heat, Muncey sprang an oil leak on the first lap and got the stuff in his eyes. Even so he finished second. Meanwhile Remund won his first heat.
A second set of heats brought the top boats together, but not for long. Muncey simply could not get Atlas moving, an astonishing development in view of her reputation for bugless running, and Miss Bud conked out while putting on a fine show out front. The winner: Mickey Remund.
"
You have to be a natural out there in everything you do," Remund had said. "Fortunately, I am."
Doing what came naturally in the final five-boat heat, he hooked up with Muncey in thrilling dashes down the straights and swoops through the tortuous turns until Muncey at last was forced to give him surcease.
"These," said the old warrior, "have been the worst eight days of my life."
Biscayne's waters shivered to the opening of the unlimited-hydroplane racing season as a new winged marauder called 'Pay 'n Pak' awed and eventually overcame Bill Muncey, the suffering 1972 champion.
The noise of the big boats set knees and spines humming Sunday in Miami's Marine Stadium, but the shock waves were even more intense. Out on the roiled water of Biscayne Bay a baby-faced driver known to virtually no one beyond the roostertails and emergency wards of hydroplane racing was dueling side by side with the champion and grandest old man of the unlimiteds, Bill Muncey. Baby Face, who answers to the name of Mickey Remund, not only had an insuperable lead over Muncey on points in this final heat of the season's first event but was behaving very much as if he were the master's master. Suddenly, on the third lap of Miami's tight, 2½-mile oval course, Muncey's Atlas Van Lines spun out and went unmasterfully dead in the water. Remund finished that and the three remaining laps with an insouciant flourish, and as he coasted his brand new, futuristic, winged Pay 'n Pak into the pits, he turned a gleeful face to the shower of beer rained down on him by his supporting troops. Someone made the impolitic suggestion that he had backed into victory, to which Remund calmly replied, "I'll take 'em any way I can get 'em."
Remund took this one because he had the speed—up to 160 mph on the straights—and sweet confidence to take it. And maybe to a degree because Muncey, 44 and concealing broken ribs which would have kept a less intense competitor ashore, was one snake-bitten hero.
Muncey arrived in Miami in a thunderboat mood. He was just out of the hospital after cracking up in a smaller boat the previous Sunday. That was in Memphis and, as Muncey put it, "All of a sudden the boat started climbing. It went up about 50 feet and came down on top of me, still going about 100. There were lots of other boats flying past my head, some 15 or 20 inches away, and that made it a little exciting, but I kept thinking, 'I hope I'm not badly hurt because there's a big race coming up.' "
At Miami, Muncey let on he had only a bruised kidney—the ego bruises were to come later. Meanwhile Remund showed up with the season's surprise, a flashy boat said to be 800 pounds lighter than any other entry and decked out with a horizontal stabilizer that made her look something like a fat, wheelless Indianapolis car. The rest of the fleet was content with the traditional vertical fin. A Pay 'n Pak crew member said the wing was meant to keep her going straight. He was asked if it would help in the turns—the narrowest on the unlimited circuit. No one knows, he replied. And he was not kidding. This Pay 'n Pak had never been raced before.
Everybody found out soon enough. In practice and qualifying runs the boat was sensational in the turns. At one point Bernie Little, owner of Miss Budweiser, was standing in the pit tower with his driver, Dean Chenoweth, observing Remund out on the course. "Watch him into those turns, Dean," said Little. "He doesn't seem to slow down at all."
Perhaps one reason for Remund's course-burning in practice is that he has had few misadventures to make him nervous, at least by unlimited-hydro standards. In some 15 years in all kinds of racing he has left his boat involuntarily only twice. Last Labor Day he was thrown out of an 18-footer at 120 mph and shaken up. "But," he says, "I didn't have to do any sheet time."
Remund qualified with a two-lap average of 119.048 mph, a new course record, while the best Muncey could do in the boat with which he had all but drowned the opposition in 1972 was 113.493. Said Chenoweth of Muncey: "Remund's got Bill's mind so bent with that 119 you wouldn't believe it. He said to me, 'What are you gonna do, Dean?' I said, 'Hell, I'm gonna go and race.' "
In the pits Sunday there was an almost palpable aura of danger—and money. Two ambulances stood by, and behind each boat was its van, full of extra propellers and engines. The props, forged in Italy, were shiny little 11-inch, $1,100 beauties. Each crew had a dozen or so, not to mention five to eight engines at up to $10,000 per, originally designed to cruise airplanes at 2,000 rpm. In these boats they would be going at 4,500 rpm, but that is how you make thunder.
Chenoweth and Miss Bud won their first heat Sunday, but for Muncey it was a day of unmitigated misery. Driving in Chenoweth's heat, Muncey sprang an oil leak on the first lap and got the stuff in his eyes. Even so he finished second. Meanwhile Remund won his first heat.
A second set of heats brought the top boats together, but not for long. Muncey simply could not get Atlas moving, an astonishing development in view of her reputation for bugless running, and Miss Bud conked out while putting on a fine show out front. The winner: Mickey Remund.
"
You have to be a natural out there in everything you do," Remund had said. "Fortunately, I am."
Doing what came naturally in the final five-boat heat, he hooked up with Muncey in thrilling dashes down the straights and swoops through the tortuous turns until Muncey at last was forced to give him surcease.
"These," said the old warrior, "have been the worst eight days of my life."
Twin-Automotive Pay 'n Pak
By Fred Farley - Unlimited Hydroplane Historian
The twin-automotive-powered PRIDE OF PAY 'N PAK of 1970 was inspired by the success of the 1969 7-Litre Class hydroplane RECORD-7, which was the first Limited hydro to run a heat at over 100 miles per hour.
The PAK and the RECORD-7 were both Chrysler-powered and featured the classic Ron Jones cabover design, which had been in disfavor since the accident to the cabover MISS BARDAHL at Washington, D.C., in 1966.
PRIDE OF PAY 'N PAK proved to be too heavy to be competitive with automotive power. Perhaps it might have run better if the propeller technology of today had been available then. The best it could do was a fifth at the 1970 Spirit Of Detroit Regatta with Ron Larsen driving.
Repowered with a Rolls-Royce Merlin and converted to a rear-cockpit configuration, PRIDE OF PAY 'N PAK "came alive" in 1971 and won three races with Billy Schumacher driving. The PAK also became the first boat to do a lap of 121 MPH on a 3-mile course (at Seattle). In 1972, it won the President's Cup with Billy Sterett, Jr., driving.
Sold to Bernie Little, the PAK raced for three years as MISS BUDWEISER and won ten races with Dean Chenoweth, Howie Benns, and Mickey Remund as drivers.
Sold to an Australian sportsman after 1975, the boat was renamed simply MISS BUD and won the Australian Griffith Cup in 1976 with Bob Saniga driving.
It is currently back in the United States and is scheduled for restoration by the Hydroplane And Raceboat Museum.
As for Ron Larsen, he achieved more success in the Limited ranks than he did at the Unlimited level. He raced U-boats from 1970 to 1974. His mounts included ATLAS VAN LINES (U-29) and PRIDE OF PAY 'N PAK in 1970, MISS TIMEX in 1971, NOTRE DAME in 1973, and MISS TECHNICOLOR in 1974. His highest finish was a third-place at Phoenix, AZ, in 1974 with MISS TECHNICOLOR.
He was plant manager for Keith Black Racing Engines and helped to develop the 426 cubic inch supercharged Chrysler hemi for use in race boats.
Ron passed away in 2005.
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| The 1970 Pride of Pay 'N Pak |
The twin-automotive-powered PRIDE OF PAY 'N PAK of 1970 was inspired by the success of the 1969 7-Litre Class hydroplane RECORD-7, which was the first Limited hydro to run a heat at over 100 miles per hour.
The PAK and the RECORD-7 were both Chrysler-powered and featured the classic Ron Jones cabover design, which had been in disfavor since the accident to the cabover MISS BARDAHL at Washington, D.C., in 1966.
PRIDE OF PAY 'N PAK proved to be too heavy to be competitive with automotive power. Perhaps it might have run better if the propeller technology of today had been available then. The best it could do was a fifth at the 1970 Spirit Of Detroit Regatta with Ron Larsen driving.
Repowered with a Rolls-Royce Merlin and converted to a rear-cockpit configuration, PRIDE OF PAY 'N PAK "came alive" in 1971 and won three races with Billy Schumacher driving. The PAK also became the first boat to do a lap of 121 MPH on a 3-mile course (at Seattle). In 1972, it won the President's Cup with Billy Sterett, Jr., driving.
Sold to Bernie Little, the PAK raced for three years as MISS BUDWEISER and won ten races with Dean Chenoweth, Howie Benns, and Mickey Remund as drivers.
Sold to an Australian sportsman after 1975, the boat was renamed simply MISS BUD and won the Australian Griffith Cup in 1976 with Bob Saniga driving.
It is currently back in the United States and is scheduled for restoration by the Hydroplane And Raceboat Museum.
As for Ron Larsen, he achieved more success in the Limited ranks than he did at the Unlimited level. He raced U-boats from 1970 to 1974. His mounts included ATLAS VAN LINES (U-29) and PRIDE OF PAY 'N PAK in 1970, MISS TIMEX in 1971, NOTRE DAME in 1973, and MISS TECHNICOLOR in 1974. His highest finish was a third-place at Phoenix, AZ, in 1974 with MISS TECHNICOLOR.
He was plant manager for Keith Black Racing Engines and helped to develop the 426 cubic inch supercharged Chrysler hemi for use in race boats.
Ron passed away in 2005.
Lil Buzzard surprises Atomic Cup field
By Tom Burnside
Reprinted from the Tri-City Herald, July 20, 1970
There weren't many of the big boys left around when it came time for the championship heat in the fifth running of the Atomic Cup race for unlimited hydroplanes yesterday afternoon.
With the two co-favorites on the sidelines, it opened the door for the underdogs on the tour to shine and Tommy Fults took the opportunity right in stride.
"Fults, driving the second string" Lil Buzzard for the Pay 'n Pak camp, stormed to first-place finishes in his first two outings and cruised home second in the final heat for an easy Atomic Cup victory.
Lil Buzzard ended up with 1,100 points and the $5,875 first prize. Notre Dame, with Leif Borgersen behind the wheel, won the final heat in addition to taking an earlier heat to finish second overall.
Favored Miss Budweiser and driver Dean Chenoweth met with some ill fortune during the first section of the race when the boat hooked coming out of the east turn. Chenoweth was pitched into the water, but fortunately suffered only a slightly sprained arm and was released from the hospital after an examination.
The Budweiser, winner of two races on the tour this year, sank in 15 feet of water. It was pulled up from the bottom of the river last night, revealing a badly-damaged front end, ripped open by the crash.
National point - leader Myr's Sheet Metal, driven by Bill Muncey, also was on the beach during the finals after going dead in the water in the second heat.
The afternoon belonged to Fults, who won the rerun of Heat 1-C in a breeze over Miss Owensboro in a two-boat field, then came back for an easy triumph over Fascination in another two-boat session in Heat 2-A.
Lil Buzzard grabbed the lead out of the first turn in the final heat, but was overtaken on the west turn by Notre Dame. When Fults took his boat wide on the turn, Borgersen moved into the inside to take the lead, which he never relinquished.
Fults, realizing that he needed only to finish the race to win the Atomic Cup, pushed Notre Dame for three laps, but then slacked off and was content with second place to insure the overall championship.
Notre Dame captured the opening heat after a battle with Myr's in the only other heat of the afternoon that amounted to much.
Muncey, who lead-footed the Myr's to the top lap time of day at 107.399 mph in Heat 1-A, held the lead for one lap before Borgersen cut inside on the east turn and went in front on the backstretch of lap No. 2.
The Shamrock Lady led the rest of the way, fighting off a series of challenges from Myr's, to win the heat with the top average speed of the afternoon at 104.651 mph, while Muncey was second with an average time of 103.806.
Pride of Pay 'n Pak, the radical rear-engine job powered by Chrysler automotive motors, walked away with Heat 1-B after Parco's O'Ring Miss, driven by Billy Schumacher, went dead coming out of the west turn after leading for four laps.
With Ron Larsen in the saddle, Pay 'n Pak also streaked out in front on the back chute of the second heat, only to conk out on the next turn and end its racing for the day.
After Myr's and Pay 'n Pak both went dead in Heat 2-B, Terry Sterett drove his Miss Owensboro into first place and pulled away from two others to win going away.
The accident by Chenoweth in the Budweiser was the first in the five-year history of the Atomic Cup and marked the first time that a race here ever had to be stopped.
The unlimiteds now will have two weeks off before the Seafair Race Aug. 2 at Seattle. Only remaining race after Seafair is the Gold Cup on Sept. 20 at San Diego.
Reprinted from the Tri-City Herald, July 20, 1970
There weren't many of the big boys left around when it came time for the championship heat in the fifth running of the Atomic Cup race for unlimited hydroplanes yesterday afternoon.
With the two co-favorites on the sidelines, it opened the door for the underdogs on the tour to shine and Tommy Fults took the opportunity right in stride.
Miss Tri-Cities Julie Cole presents the Atomic Cup hydroplane trophy to Tommy Fults,
driver of Lil Buzzard on July 19, 1970. The trophy, hand-chiseled from laminated redwood,
was designed and created by Lewis McCord, chairman of the division of
performing arts at Columbia Basin College.
driver of Lil Buzzard on July 19, 1970. The trophy, hand-chiseled from laminated redwood,
was designed and created by Lewis McCord, chairman of the division of
performing arts at Columbia Basin College.
"Fults, driving the second string" Lil Buzzard for the Pay 'n Pak camp, stormed to first-place finishes in his first two outings and cruised home second in the final heat for an easy Atomic Cup victory.
Lil Buzzard ended up with 1,100 points and the $5,875 first prize. Notre Dame, with Leif Borgersen behind the wheel, won the final heat in addition to taking an earlier heat to finish second overall.
Favored Miss Budweiser and driver Dean Chenoweth met with some ill fortune during the first section of the race when the boat hooked coming out of the east turn. Chenoweth was pitched into the water, but fortunately suffered only a slightly sprained arm and was released from the hospital after an examination.
The Budweiser, winner of two races on the tour this year, sank in 15 feet of water. It was pulled up from the bottom of the river last night, revealing a badly-damaged front end, ripped open by the crash.
National point - leader Myr's Sheet Metal, driven by Bill Muncey, also was on the beach during the finals after going dead in the water in the second heat.
The afternoon belonged to Fults, who won the rerun of Heat 1-C in a breeze over Miss Owensboro in a two-boat field, then came back for an easy triumph over Fascination in another two-boat session in Heat 2-A.
Lil Buzzard grabbed the lead out of the first turn in the final heat, but was overtaken on the west turn by Notre Dame. When Fults took his boat wide on the turn, Borgersen moved into the inside to take the lead, which he never relinquished.
Fults, realizing that he needed only to finish the race to win the Atomic Cup, pushed Notre Dame for three laps, but then slacked off and was content with second place to insure the overall championship.
Notre Dame captured the opening heat after a battle with Myr's in the only other heat of the afternoon that amounted to much.
Muncey, who lead-footed the Myr's to the top lap time of day at 107.399 mph in Heat 1-A, held the lead for one lap before Borgersen cut inside on the east turn and went in front on the backstretch of lap No. 2.
The Shamrock Lady led the rest of the way, fighting off a series of challenges from Myr's, to win the heat with the top average speed of the afternoon at 104.651 mph, while Muncey was second with an average time of 103.806.
Pride of Pay 'n Pak, the radical rear-engine job powered by Chrysler automotive motors, walked away with Heat 1-B after Parco's O'Ring Miss, driven by Billy Schumacher, went dead coming out of the west turn after leading for four laps.
With Ron Larsen in the saddle, Pay 'n Pak also streaked out in front on the back chute of the second heat, only to conk out on the next turn and end its racing for the day.
After Myr's and Pay 'n Pak both went dead in Heat 2-B, Terry Sterett drove his Miss Owensboro into first place and pulled away from two others to win going away.
The accident by Chenoweth in the Budweiser was the first in the five-year history of the Atomic Cup and marked the first time that a race here ever had to be stopped.
The unlimiteds now will have two weeks off before the Seafair Race Aug. 2 at Seattle. Only remaining race after Seafair is the Gold Cup on Sept. 20 at San Diego.
Pak outraces extra-hydro field for 3rd triumph
By Steve Purdy
Reprinted from the Tri-City Herald, July 22, 1974
Pay 'n Pak maneuvered through the unprecedented seven-boat feature race Sunday on the Columbia River to win the World Championship Regatta for unlimited hydroplanes.
Rookie driver George Henley averaged 107.091 miles per hour for Pay 'n Pak's third victory in five 1974 races.
Runner-up Pizza Pete piloted by Fred Alter, trailed Pak by 23 seconds at the finish line, with Value-Mart and Ron Armstrong placing third, 9 seconds behind Pizza Pete.
Pizza Pete averaged 101.396 m.p.h. and Valu-Mart 99.451 in the five-lap, 12 1/2-mile championship heat.
Bill Muncey, a 20-year unlimited hydroplane veteran and winner of the 1972 Atomic Cup here in Atlas Van Lines, didn't place in the championship race, but shared the spotlight with Pak.
Muncey was an alternate for the six-boat final heat after placing seventh in points from the preceding heats.
Valu-Mart caught fire before the start of the race and began drifting down the center of the course, Muncey and Atlas came out of the pits to take Valu-Mart's place.
Armstrong got Valu-Mart started again 90 seconds before the race, in time to compete, but Muncey said later he didn't see Valu-Mart re-enter the race.
All seven boats - including Seattle turbine entry U-95, Mis Budweiser and U-76 (formerly Miss Cott Beverages) - crossed the starting line together.
One of the boats clipped U-95 on the east turn, shearing the right fin of its $15,000 tail section. U-95 driver Leif Borgersen restarted his boat three laps later and finished fourth to retain third place in national points standings.
Miss Budweiser and the U-76 did not finish the championship race.
Within minutes after the race, head referee Bill Newton fined Muncey $250 for failing to leave the course after Valu-Mart restarted before the race.
Six boats are the maximum allowed under American Power Boat Association rules.
Henley won $7,100 Sunday with two firsts and a second, including $4,000 for winning the championship.
Kirby Classic, sister boat to Bob Murphy's Red Ball Express, slipped into the lead of the $1,500 consolation race after Miss Madison conked out on the first lap. Kirby won after finishing fourth and second in the earlier heats, beating Sunny Jim - the entry in the three-boat race - by 14.4 seconds.
Considered by officials as the best race of the day was Heat 2-C, of the fastest qualifiers.
Borgersen's U-95 and Pay 'n Pak staged a see-saw race with Valu-Mart more than half a lap behind at the final lap.
The Seattle turbine boat beat the Pak seven lengths, the first time it has ever beaten Henley's boat. The turbine's speed average of 113.469 was a new record for a complete heat on the Tri-Cities course. Sunday's race limited to 12 1/2 miles each compared with 15 in previous years because of the national gas shortage.
The other fine of the day was $50 drawn by U-76 and driver Rodger D'Eath for entering the course too early for heat 2-B.
Debris left by the crowds at Columbia Park was picked up Sunday night by Boy Scouts and other volunteers. David Grim, Benton County parks director, said many individuals collected bottles and cans for resale.
Other winnings were U-95, $4,600; Valu-Mart, $4,200; Pizza Pete, $3,750; Budweiser, $2,800; Madison, $1,700; U-76, $1,600; Miss U.S., $1,200; Atlas Van Lines, $1,000; Sunny Jim, $750; Lincoln Thrift, $700; Kirby Classic, $675 and Red Ball Express, $625.
Reprinted from the Tri-City Herald, July 22, 1974
Rookie driver George Henley averaged 107.091 miles per hour for Pay 'n Pak's third victory in five 1974 races.
Runner-up Pizza Pete piloted by Fred Alter, trailed Pak by 23 seconds at the finish line, with Value-Mart and Ron Armstrong placing third, 9 seconds behind Pizza Pete.
Pizza Pete averaged 101.396 m.p.h. and Valu-Mart 99.451 in the five-lap, 12 1/2-mile championship heat.
Bill Muncey, a 20-year unlimited hydroplane veteran and winner of the 1972 Atomic Cup here in Atlas Van Lines, didn't place in the championship race, but shared the spotlight with Pak.
Muncey was an alternate for the six-boat final heat after placing seventh in points from the preceding heats.
Valu-Mart caught fire before the start of the race and began drifting down the center of the course, Muncey and Atlas came out of the pits to take Valu-Mart's place.
Armstrong got Valu-Mart started again 90 seconds before the race, in time to compete, but Muncey said later he didn't see Valu-Mart re-enter the race.
All seven boats - including Seattle turbine entry U-95, Mis Budweiser and U-76 (formerly Miss Cott Beverages) - crossed the starting line together.
One of the boats clipped U-95 on the east turn, shearing the right fin of its $15,000 tail section. U-95 driver Leif Borgersen restarted his boat three laps later and finished fourth to retain third place in national points standings.
Miss Budweiser and the U-76 did not finish the championship race.
Within minutes after the race, head referee Bill Newton fined Muncey $250 for failing to leave the course after Valu-Mart restarted before the race.
Six boats are the maximum allowed under American Power Boat Association rules.
Henley won $7,100 Sunday with two firsts and a second, including $4,000 for winning the championship.
Kirby Classic, sister boat to Bob Murphy's Red Ball Express, slipped into the lead of the $1,500 consolation race after Miss Madison conked out on the first lap. Kirby won after finishing fourth and second in the earlier heats, beating Sunny Jim - the entry in the three-boat race - by 14.4 seconds.
Considered by officials as the best race of the day was Heat 2-C, of the fastest qualifiers.
Borgersen's U-95 and Pay 'n Pak staged a see-saw race with Valu-Mart more than half a lap behind at the final lap.
The Seattle turbine boat beat the Pak seven lengths, the first time it has ever beaten Henley's boat. The turbine's speed average of 113.469 was a new record for a complete heat on the Tri-Cities course. Sunday's race limited to 12 1/2 miles each compared with 15 in previous years because of the national gas shortage.
The other fine of the day was $50 drawn by U-76 and driver Rodger D'Eath for entering the course too early for heat 2-B.
Debris left by the crowds at Columbia Park was picked up Sunday night by Boy Scouts and other volunteers. David Grim, Benton County parks director, said many individuals collected bottles and cans for resale.
Other winnings were U-95, $4,600; Valu-Mart, $4,200; Pizza Pete, $3,750; Budweiser, $2,800; Madison, $1,700; U-76, $1,600; Miss U.S., $1,200; Atlas Van Lines, $1,000; Sunny Jim, $750; Lincoln Thrift, $700; Kirby Classic, $675 and Red Ball Express, $625.
Pak coasts to Gold Cup win
By Hec Hancock
Reprinted from Tri-City Herald, July 28, 1975
The thing about the Gold Cup, as it is with virtually every other sporting event, there's only one winner - and lots of losers.
Pay 'n Pak, combining the driving skill of George Henley and the reliability of crew chief Jim Lucero's mechanical crew, won its second straight Gold Cup Sunday afternoon by an overwhelming margin.
Not only did the Pak win its third consecutive victory of the season it leap-frogged past a faltering Weisfield's into first place in the national point standings. The win was worth 1,425 points giving it a total of 5,864 points. Weisfield's could add only a paltry 225 points to its total and now has 5,788 points, 76 behind the new leader.
A crowd estimated at over 40,000 lined the shores of the Columbia River to watch the 67th running of the Gold Cup under cloudless skies with the temperatures reaching 110 degrees.
Henley, the gentleman from Eatonville who says little and smiles a great deal, simply outclassed the field. He won three heats to build an insurmountable lead and then coasted to a third place finish in the final heat to clinch the victory.
But in the minds of most of the contending drivers it wasn't so much that Pay 'n Pak won as it was that they lost it.
"I wasn't that impressed with their (Pay 'n Pak's) performance. Except for three mechanical failures I feel I could have won the three heats I was in," a dejected Billy Schumacher, driver of the Weisfield's, lamented after the race.
Other race victims included the Lincoln Thrift, which went dead in the water with an ignition failure with victory almost at hand, the Miss Budweiser which sank to the bottom of the Columbia River and Miss U.S. which won the final heat with a fire aboard for the final four laps.
The war of attrition got started in the very first heat, the one that was supposed to be the lucky draw for Weisfield's. Driven by Schumacher, the Seattle based boat appeared on its way to a routine win and 400 points when it blew a wheelhouse and while attempting to limp home fourth was black flagged thus triggering a controversy with referee Bill Newton.
The carnage continued in heat 1B. Miss Budweiser spun out on turn No. 2 of the first lap, missed a buoy and circled to go back to pick it up. Henley, meanwhile had piloted the Pay 'n Pak to a comfortable lead. After completing four laps Mickey Remund took to the deck of the Budweiser waving that he needed assistance. The boat had a four-foot hole in the sponson and sunk to the bottom of the river before it could be towed to the safety of the pits.
Henley continued his winning ways turning back a challenge in heat 2A by Miss U.S. Weisfield's was washed down going into the second turn and was never able to get into contention and settled for third, its only points of the day.
The story of heat 2B wasn't that Miss Vernor's won it, as unusual as that might be, but that the Lincoln Thrift lost it with less than a lap to go when it ran afoul of the aforementioned ignition trouble.
When chance Weisfield's had of salvaging anything on the afternoon went out the window when it conked out on the backstretch of lap three of heat 3A. Pay 'n Pak coasted home ahead of Super Cinders, the only other finisher as Atlas Van Lines and Oh Boy! Oberto both had to drop out.
That gave Pay 'n Pak 1,200 points and to all intents and purposes his second Gold Cup.
The best race of the afternoon was the duel between sister boats, Lincoln Thrift and Miss U.S. in heat 3B. The twin designs of boat designer Ron Jones ran nose to nose for most of the six laps before the Lincoln boat led Miss U.S. across the finish line.
That set the final heat, one as anticlimactic as yesterday's newspaper as Pay 'n Pak wisely settled for third behind Miss U.S. and Lincoln Thrift.
The win by Tommy D'Eath moved Miss U.S. into second place with a total of 1,225 points. Third was Lincoln Thrift with 1,100. Hamm's Bear-Miss Madison was fourth with 863, Super Cinders fifth with 747, Miss Vernor's sixth 696, O' Boy Oberto, seventh 469, Atlas Van Lines, eighth, 300, Weisfield's, ninth, 225, and Sunny Jim Jam, tenth, 95.
Sunday's Gold Cup race also set the stage for a national championship race in Seattle Sunday. It appears that in all likelihood Seafair will be the last race of the season and as a consequence the national title will be on the line in the confrontation between Weisfield's and Pay 'n Pak.
Reprinted from Tri-City Herald, July 28, 1975
The thing about the Gold Cup, as it is with virtually every other sporting event, there's only one winner - and lots of losers.
Pay 'n Pak, combining the driving skill of George Henley and the reliability of crew chief Jim Lucero's mechanical crew, won its second straight Gold Cup Sunday afternoon by an overwhelming margin.
Not only did the Pak win its third consecutive victory of the season it leap-frogged past a faltering Weisfield's into first place in the national point standings. The win was worth 1,425 points giving it a total of 5,864 points. Weisfield's could add only a paltry 225 points to its total and now has 5,788 points, 76 behind the new leader.
A crowd estimated at over 40,000 lined the shores of the Columbia River to watch the 67th running of the Gold Cup under cloudless skies with the temperatures reaching 110 degrees.
Henley, the gentleman from Eatonville who says little and smiles a great deal, simply outclassed the field. He won three heats to build an insurmountable lead and then coasted to a third place finish in the final heat to clinch the victory.
But in the minds of most of the contending drivers it wasn't so much that Pay 'n Pak won as it was that they lost it.
"I wasn't that impressed with their (Pay 'n Pak's) performance. Except for three mechanical failures I feel I could have won the three heats I was in," a dejected Billy Schumacher, driver of the Weisfield's, lamented after the race.
Other race victims included the Lincoln Thrift, which went dead in the water with an ignition failure with victory almost at hand, the Miss Budweiser which sank to the bottom of the Columbia River and Miss U.S. which won the final heat with a fire aboard for the final four laps.
The war of attrition got started in the very first heat, the one that was supposed to be the lucky draw for Weisfield's. Driven by Schumacher, the Seattle based boat appeared on its way to a routine win and 400 points when it blew a wheelhouse and while attempting to limp home fourth was black flagged thus triggering a controversy with referee Bill Newton.
The carnage continued in heat 1B. Miss Budweiser spun out on turn No. 2 of the first lap, missed a buoy and circled to go back to pick it up. Henley, meanwhile had piloted the Pay 'n Pak to a comfortable lead. After completing four laps Mickey Remund took to the deck of the Budweiser waving that he needed assistance. The boat had a four-foot hole in the sponson and sunk to the bottom of the river before it could be towed to the safety of the pits.
Henley continued his winning ways turning back a challenge in heat 2A by Miss U.S. Weisfield's was washed down going into the second turn and was never able to get into contention and settled for third, its only points of the day.
The story of heat 2B wasn't that Miss Vernor's won it, as unusual as that might be, but that the Lincoln Thrift lost it with less than a lap to go when it ran afoul of the aforementioned ignition trouble.
When chance Weisfield's had of salvaging anything on the afternoon went out the window when it conked out on the backstretch of lap three of heat 3A. Pay 'n Pak coasted home ahead of Super Cinders, the only other finisher as Atlas Van Lines and Oh Boy! Oberto both had to drop out.
That gave Pay 'n Pak 1,200 points and to all intents and purposes his second Gold Cup.
The best race of the afternoon was the duel between sister boats, Lincoln Thrift and Miss U.S. in heat 3B. The twin designs of boat designer Ron Jones ran nose to nose for most of the six laps before the Lincoln boat led Miss U.S. across the finish line.
That set the final heat, one as anticlimactic as yesterday's newspaper as Pay 'n Pak wisely settled for third behind Miss U.S. and Lincoln Thrift.
The win by Tommy D'Eath moved Miss U.S. into second place with a total of 1,225 points. Third was Lincoln Thrift with 1,100. Hamm's Bear-Miss Madison was fourth with 863, Super Cinders fifth with 747, Miss Vernor's sixth 696, O' Boy Oberto, seventh 469, Atlas Van Lines, eighth, 300, Weisfield's, ninth, 225, and Sunny Jim Jam, tenth, 95.
Sunday's Gold Cup race also set the stage for a national championship race in Seattle Sunday. It appears that in all likelihood Seafair will be the last race of the season and as a consequence the national title will be on the line in the confrontation between Weisfield's and Pay 'n Pak.
Miss Budweiser wins cup after Pay 'n Pak loses prop
By Dan Walsh
Reprinted from Tri-City Herald, July 23, 1973
Mickey Remund was the crowd's favorite to win Sunday's Gold Cup before an estimated 55,000 people, but when it was all over Remund's Pay 'n Pak hydro was sitting dead in the water.
Driving to the winner's circle at about that time was Dean Chenoweth in the Miss Budweiser.
Chenoweth, who was running second for the first lap and a half of the final heat, took advantage of a Pay 'n Pak propeller failure to charge into the lead in the backstretch of the second lap. He held off a solid challenge by defending champion Bill Muncey in Atlas Van Lines to win his second Gold Cup. Chenoweth won his first Gold Cup in 1970 in San Diego.
"I knew that if we pushed hard, somebody would have to break," Chenoweth said after the race. "So I stuffed my foot into it and went as fast as I could."
Chenoweth, who was having engine problems in the last heat, fell behind early as Pay 'n Pak charged to a record-breaking 119.691 miles-per-hour lap the first time around the 2 1/2-mile course. Chenoweth had a 111.111 m.p.h. for the same lab, put had a poor start and was about six seconds behind the leader when Remund broke down.
"I don't know what happened," Remund said after the race. "Everything from the gear box to the prop is destroyed. The damage is almost the same as we had in Detroit." Part of the prop flew off and gouged a hole in his boat.
With Remund out of the race and partially sinking, Chenoweth and Muncey, who were tied for second with 1,100 points going into the final heat, battled for the Gold Cup.
Chenoweth was unable to get much of a lead until the fourth lap when he opened up a small gap. But Muncey kept pushing until the fifth lap when he began to fade.
Thirteen boats competed in the 10 heats, making it one of the largest fields in the history of the Gold Cup.
Chenoweth and Remund made an all-out assault on the record book, rewriting every record for a 2 1/2-mile course.
Remund, who broke two qualifying records Thursday, set the pace in Heat 1-A with two records, neither of which was good enough to last the race. He ran a 114.796 m.p.h. lap, snapping Chenoweth's 1969 record of 111.663 m.p.h., and recorded a 110.905 m.p.h. heat, which erased Chenoweth's 103.906 m.p.h., also set in 1969.
Those marks lasted only as long as Heat 3-A when Chenoweth and Muncey battled for two laps before Chenoweth passed Muncey on the outside and went in for the win.
In 3-A, Chenoweth set the heat record at 110.905 m.p.h., and the Muncey-driven Atlas was clocked at 114.796 m.p.h. in the first lap, erasing Remund's other record.
But even those records weren't good enough to stand. Both fell in the final heat when the sport's three fastest boats - the Pay 'n Pak, Atlas and Budweiser - were in the same heat.
Remund left the field behind in the first lap, rewriting the record at 119.691 m.p.h., the fastest anyone's ever gone in any official race, and Chenoweth, who was pushed by Muncey, took up the pace and finished with a record 111.386 m.p.h. heat.
Chenoweth averaged 105.354 m.p.h. for the 60-mile race (four heats of 15 miles each), a record, eclipsing the 100.535 set by Notre Dame in 1970.
Reprinted from Tri-City Herald, July 23, 1973
Mickey Remund was the crowd's favorite to win Sunday's Gold Cup before an estimated 55,000 people, but when it was all over Remund's Pay 'n Pak hydro was sitting dead in the water.
Driving to the winner's circle at about that time was Dean Chenoweth in the Miss Budweiser.
Chenoweth, who was running second for the first lap and a half of the final heat, took advantage of a Pay 'n Pak propeller failure to charge into the lead in the backstretch of the second lap. He held off a solid challenge by defending champion Bill Muncey in Atlas Van Lines to win his second Gold Cup. Chenoweth won his first Gold Cup in 1970 in San Diego.
"I knew that if we pushed hard, somebody would have to break," Chenoweth said after the race. "So I stuffed my foot into it and went as fast as I could."
Chenoweth, who was having engine problems in the last heat, fell behind early as Pay 'n Pak charged to a record-breaking 119.691 miles-per-hour lap the first time around the 2 1/2-mile course. Chenoweth had a 111.111 m.p.h. for the same lab, put had a poor start and was about six seconds behind the leader when Remund broke down.
"I don't know what happened," Remund said after the race. "Everything from the gear box to the prop is destroyed. The damage is almost the same as we had in Detroit." Part of the prop flew off and gouged a hole in his boat.
With Remund out of the race and partially sinking, Chenoweth and Muncey, who were tied for second with 1,100 points going into the final heat, battled for the Gold Cup.
Chenoweth was unable to get much of a lead until the fourth lap when he opened up a small gap. But Muncey kept pushing until the fifth lap when he began to fade.
Thirteen boats competed in the 10 heats, making it one of the largest fields in the history of the Gold Cup.
Chenoweth and Remund made an all-out assault on the record book, rewriting every record for a 2 1/2-mile course.
Remund, who broke two qualifying records Thursday, set the pace in Heat 1-A with two records, neither of which was good enough to last the race. He ran a 114.796 m.p.h. lap, snapping Chenoweth's 1969 record of 111.663 m.p.h., and recorded a 110.905 m.p.h. heat, which erased Chenoweth's 103.906 m.p.h., also set in 1969.
Those marks lasted only as long as Heat 3-A when Chenoweth and Muncey battled for two laps before Chenoweth passed Muncey on the outside and went in for the win.
In 3-A, Chenoweth set the heat record at 110.905 m.p.h., and the Muncey-driven Atlas was clocked at 114.796 m.p.h. in the first lap, erasing Remund's other record.
But even those records weren't good enough to stand. Both fell in the final heat when the sport's three fastest boats - the Pay 'n Pak, Atlas and Budweiser - were in the same heat.
Remund left the field behind in the first lap, rewriting the record at 119.691 m.p.h., the fastest anyone's ever gone in any official race, and Chenoweth, who was pushed by Muncey, took up the pace and finished with a record 111.386 m.p.h. heat.
Chenoweth averaged 105.354 m.p.h. for the 60-mile race (four heats of 15 miles each), a record, eclipsing the 100.535 set by Notre Dame in 1970.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
The Pride and the Passion
By Dave Speer
Reprinted from Powerboat magazine, April 1976
Dave Heerensperger wound up may timepieces during eleven seasons as an unlimited owner, and none of them were Mickey Mouse. Beginning the day he assumed sponsorship of a ragamuffin community hydroplane called Miss Spokane and continuing until his announced retirement in January of this year, Heerensperger methodically shaped success: success in boat racing distinguished by innovation, expertise and victory.
Miss Spokane, built in 1956 on the same jig as the fast and famous Wahoo and Shanty I, never won a race. Its performance, or non-performance, earned little more than wide-eyed loyalty from the fans as rookie drivers demonstrated their remarkable propensity for near-miss accidents. Out of mothballs in 1963, Heerensperger's renamed Miss Eagle Electric fared no better; a white and lavender paint scheme was pretty, but that was all. When the electrical doodad merchant closed his racing cash register after two mundane seasons, what they didn't know was that Heerensperger didn't care for 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th or 10th place finishes.
Bill Schuyler, a California outboarder from way way back, a tinkerer, a hobbyist, owned the $Bill. Norm Evans, one of those rookies with an attraction for the unusual, drove . . . except when under suspension. A good story heard in the pits recounts the '66 Gold Cup when Evans fired up his engine while still hanging over the water. "Well, Norm's a swell guy and all that," the nervous ref laughed. "but when he gets near the water something crazy happens." Evans was booted and Warner Gardner filled in. Two years later Gardner and Heerensperger returned for another try.
Miss Eagle Electric, the former $Bill, now decked out in metallic Indian red, black and gold leaf, one the 1968 opener . . . Alabama's Dixie Cup. At Pasco, Warner Gardner won again. When the "Screaming Eagle" was Seafair's fastest qualifier at 120, her owner commented, "We missed the record by a tick of the watch, but that speed's not too bad for us country boys.
And they won the President's Cup, too.
Miss Bardahl and Billy Schumacher were defending national champions that year. The Bardahl was the latest in 3-point evolution, sleek and wide, exceptionally quick in the corners. In contrast, Eagle Electric was a six year old hull built by Les Staudacher, a typical Ted Jones-influenced design of the day with narrow afterplane, high crown deck and dinky non-trips; by all measures a boat that should have been well passed its prime.
Gardner, a retired flight officer, had won his very first unlimited race in the old Miss Spokane repainted and remembered as Fifi Lapeer. He was a charger, yet was aware of the limitations of his equipment and got more out of it than any of his contemporaries. Never one to frown on a little spray aiming, his style included chopping off here and there, delivered with class, in a good natured way, with a sense of humor.
Jack Cochran built high revving Rolls power plants that were also dependable. Other crew chiefs knocked their heads against each other to try to figure his secrets out.
Against Gardner's and Cochran's Eagle, Schumacher couldn't win like before. Schu could turn faster than anybody, but Gardner was nearly as fast. When one broke the other didn't. Ether way, the Kid and the Colonel were 3 - and - 3 going to Detroit's Gold Cup and a showdown for the 1969 national title.
One the third lap of the final heat, Gardner's boat became airborne and out of control. He never had a chance. The hull shuddered, tripped to the right and rolled. Suddenly the Colonel was gone. Gone, too, was the last of the conventional 3-pointers that won big.
Even in defeat and sorrow, Heerensperger had a new business, a new boat and new steps to a championship team. Planned and promoted prior to Gardner's death, the Pride of Pay 'n Pak resembled Donald Campbell's jet Bluebird and Staudacher's Miss Stars and Stripes II. Christened a "trimaran", the 30-footer had outrigger sponsons, nothing less than radical. Detroit News columnist Pete Waldmeir scribed a more colorful description: "She looked like a South Seas war canoe bobbing on the choppy river. You keep expecting a dozen guys with spears to come pouring out of the fuselage."
At launching, driver Tommy Fults smiled. "She runs as though she were on rails, hits a turn, sets up easy and moves around fast." Pay 'n Pak moved to Guntersville, Alabama, for a crack at the world's 200-plus mile. Being kind, the attempt was a bust!, clocking only 162. The crew said something about the speedometer needing calibration. Then, the Pak barely qualified for Guntersville's Dixie Cup. Testing props, testing rudders, testing everything followed. After the particularly wild run that inspired Waldmeir's sketch Fults claimed, "I shook hands with St. Peter on that one." As the season wore out, so did Fults. He finally admitted "it was like driving your car with the emergency brake on." Unquestionably the Pride was admired for bold design, but one driver suggested the best solution was to drill large holes in the bottom and let it sink. With only a single race left on the season the exhausted Pak was traded for 'Lil Buzzard. In debut, Fults drove with all the verve his hot rod and drag boat background could muster and won two Gold Cup heats and blew two engines.
Looking for a winner, Heerensperger talked Ron Jones from the designer's self-imposed U-boat exile. "I won't say Dave begged me," recalls Ron, "but he talked for hours trying to get me to build the Pay 'n Pak with two Chryslers in it. I didn't want to build it. I told him all the reasons about all the gas I got over the '66 Bardahl accident and Ronnie Musson's death. Finally, with a lot of thrashing, I said OK." The owner was rolling for aces, branching out again, being different, trying, and gambled on a fork-nosed cabover. After only three races, Fults was disenchanted with the progressive design; he jumped ship back to the conventional round nose 'Lil Buzzard.
Tommy Fults was ahead of his time in a way, an easy spirit with surfer's long blond hair in a traditionally conservative sport. Though he used a lot of pedal and showed no fear, corners were his weakness; maybe he didn't really know how to drive a hydroplane. The Colonel had befriended Tommy and urged discipline in place of Fults' frivolity. (Tommy wanted no one to pass him . . . even in warm ups.) At the 1970 Atomic Cup, Fults carried opening heat wins into the finale. All he had to do was finish. Characteristically, Fults made a run at Notre Dame. Everybody heard Heerensperger storming down and back yelling, "Oh, if I had a walkie-talkie, or a hammer!" Tommy did win the trophy.
With his victory on the Columbia River and the fastest heat of the year at Seattle, the twenty-nine year old driver looked forward to San Diego's fast track. Testing mid-morning he circled back towards the pits. The water was sticky and a sponson dug in at flank speed. In a accident that shouldn't have happened, "Was Tommy Tucker" died. A fluke, they said.
When Fults quit the cabover, flat-bottomed inboard champion Ron Larsen stepped into the cockpit. Improvements came, but low torque (compared to a V-12 aircraft engine) was the stumbling block to higher performance. "There's another way," one of the crew members said. So, over the next winter Jim Lucero yanked the V-8's and moved the steering wheel behind a Rolls Merlin: a daring and simple solution? Would it work? Billy Schumacher won the last three races of 1971 in the turned-around Pride of Pay 'n Pak . . . an amalgam of Ron Jones' aerodynamics and Lucero's probing logic . . . but 1972 fizzled, a year marked by the bitter defection of Schumacher who refused to drive in a storm-tossed Ohio River filled with everything but liquid. Billy Sterett, Jr., provided the only relief to the long season of second places to Bill Muncey. He scored a fast paced upset of Muncey's until-then invincible Atlas Van Lines as Washington, D.C.
The ultimate Pay 'n Pak . . . barring a future change of heart . . . was the best. It was another Ron Jones boat, with a share of Luceroisms thrown in for measure. The tail was different with a wing perched upon twin fins, an idea borrowed from cloth and wire biplanes, sprint cars and maybe one of Tommy Fults' dragsters. Beneath, another unique idea in boating: honeycomb sandwich construction. The hull was a hummer, deceptively efficient, and like wine improved with age. Nine 1973 races later, Heerensperger, Lucero and drier Mickey Remund had their first national title. The best moments were shared with the ex-Pak, Miss Budweiser, as both pickle-forks seesawed and thundered in front with all others lagging far behind. In '74, George Henley winning 7 of 11 and another U.S. 1, also captured what Heerensperger wanted the most - the Gold Cup.
Last season, Pay 'n Pak make a false start and struggled from oblivion to championship urged by Henley's persistent foot and an equally persistent crew. Stanley Terraplane, chronicler of unlimited racing's sociology and speedy deerring-do writes . . . "Pay 'n Pak was the story . . . summer in Hoosierland the first week in July. Those who watched carefully knew that the U-1, testing, testing, would now do what Henley and Lucero wanted." A week later at Dayton's grand gravel pit, "Weisfield's was so strong it hurt itself and Pak won . . . At Pasco's Gold Cup Weisfield's lost blowers, Budweiser came unstuck again, U.S. and Lincoln Thrift had a wonderful duel, Shenandoah produced a smoke screen impenetrable . . . Pay 'n Pak won the day , of course, so easily that the final held no suspense."
When evening fell at Seattle, Lucero added up the times he'd been crew chief for the winners . . . George sat nearby, peeling off his socks. "Every time I push the button, she goes," he marveled. "Every time."
"San Diego's fog, faint but persistent, hung on past noon this year . . . the crowd probably saw the best unlimited race ever . . . Pay 'n Pak, behind by 249 points, lead only thrice all day, but each time at the finish line. Three times Pak came off the last turn like a slung stone, passed the leader, and won . . . the race, and the high point championship. George didn't want to drink the lousy water; he got champagne that night."
Dave Heerensperger bows out a leader. His Eagles, Buzzard, and Pay 'n Paks rolled and cajoled to 25 team victories, 16 by the amazing U-1. Heerensperger was a flamboyant and demanding owner, a man who understood winning best. Outgoing, he sought what was best for his team. Some people say they won't miss his sharp, often abrasive businessman's approach to boat racing; but everyone will miss all he brought with him: commitment, expertise, high drama and superb boat racing.
Knowing his past in manners financial, one suspects Heerensperger profited a nickel when he sold his camp to Bill Muncey. In trade, Atlas Van Lines adopts the finest unlimited team on the circuit, a team of pride and passion. Now, I suppose, Dave will spend his spare change acquiring another double windup pitcher for Pay 'n Pak's softball team? He'll be expected to win.
Reprinted from Powerboat magazine, April 1976
Dave Heerensperger wound up may timepieces during eleven seasons as an unlimited owner, and none of them were Mickey Mouse. Beginning the day he assumed sponsorship of a ragamuffin community hydroplane called Miss Spokane and continuing until his announced retirement in January of this year, Heerensperger methodically shaped success: success in boat racing distinguished by innovation, expertise and victory.
Miss Spokane, built in 1956 on the same jig as the fast and famous Wahoo and Shanty I, never won a race. Its performance, or non-performance, earned little more than wide-eyed loyalty from the fans as rookie drivers demonstrated their remarkable propensity for near-miss accidents. Out of mothballs in 1963, Heerensperger's renamed Miss Eagle Electric fared no better; a white and lavender paint scheme was pretty, but that was all. When the electrical doodad merchant closed his racing cash register after two mundane seasons, what they didn't know was that Heerensperger didn't care for 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th or 10th place finishes.
Bill Schuyler, a California outboarder from way way back, a tinkerer, a hobbyist, owned the $Bill. Norm Evans, one of those rookies with an attraction for the unusual, drove . . . except when under suspension. A good story heard in the pits recounts the '66 Gold Cup when Evans fired up his engine while still hanging over the water. "Well, Norm's a swell guy and all that," the nervous ref laughed. "but when he gets near the water something crazy happens." Evans was booted and Warner Gardner filled in. Two years later Gardner and Heerensperger returned for another try.
Miss Eagle Electric, the former $Bill, now decked out in metallic Indian red, black and gold leaf, one the 1968 opener . . . Alabama's Dixie Cup. At Pasco, Warner Gardner won again. When the "Screaming Eagle" was Seafair's fastest qualifier at 120, her owner commented, "We missed the record by a tick of the watch, but that speed's not too bad for us country boys.
And they won the President's Cup, too.
Miss Bardahl and Billy Schumacher were defending national champions that year. The Bardahl was the latest in 3-point evolution, sleek and wide, exceptionally quick in the corners. In contrast, Eagle Electric was a six year old hull built by Les Staudacher, a typical Ted Jones-influenced design of the day with narrow afterplane, high crown deck and dinky non-trips; by all measures a boat that should have been well passed its prime.
Gardner, a retired flight officer, had won his very first unlimited race in the old Miss Spokane repainted and remembered as Fifi Lapeer. He was a charger, yet was aware of the limitations of his equipment and got more out of it than any of his contemporaries. Never one to frown on a little spray aiming, his style included chopping off here and there, delivered with class, in a good natured way, with a sense of humor.
Jack Cochran built high revving Rolls power plants that were also dependable. Other crew chiefs knocked their heads against each other to try to figure his secrets out.
Against Gardner's and Cochran's Eagle, Schumacher couldn't win like before. Schu could turn faster than anybody, but Gardner was nearly as fast. When one broke the other didn't. Ether way, the Kid and the Colonel were 3 - and - 3 going to Detroit's Gold Cup and a showdown for the 1969 national title.
One the third lap of the final heat, Gardner's boat became airborne and out of control. He never had a chance. The hull shuddered, tripped to the right and rolled. Suddenly the Colonel was gone. Gone, too, was the last of the conventional 3-pointers that won big.
Even in defeat and sorrow, Heerensperger had a new business, a new boat and new steps to a championship team. Planned and promoted prior to Gardner's death, the Pride of Pay 'n Pak resembled Donald Campbell's jet Bluebird and Staudacher's Miss Stars and Stripes II. Christened a "trimaran", the 30-footer had outrigger sponsons, nothing less than radical. Detroit News columnist Pete Waldmeir scribed a more colorful description: "She looked like a South Seas war canoe bobbing on the choppy river. You keep expecting a dozen guys with spears to come pouring out of the fuselage."
At launching, driver Tommy Fults smiled. "She runs as though she were on rails, hits a turn, sets up easy and moves around fast." Pay 'n Pak moved to Guntersville, Alabama, for a crack at the world's 200-plus mile. Being kind, the attempt was a bust!, clocking only 162. The crew said something about the speedometer needing calibration. Then, the Pak barely qualified for Guntersville's Dixie Cup. Testing props, testing rudders, testing everything followed. After the particularly wild run that inspired Waldmeir's sketch Fults claimed, "I shook hands with St. Peter on that one." As the season wore out, so did Fults. He finally admitted "it was like driving your car with the emergency brake on." Unquestionably the Pride was admired for bold design, but one driver suggested the best solution was to drill large holes in the bottom and let it sink. With only a single race left on the season the exhausted Pak was traded for 'Lil Buzzard. In debut, Fults drove with all the verve his hot rod and drag boat background could muster and won two Gold Cup heats and blew two engines.
Looking for a winner, Heerensperger talked Ron Jones from the designer's self-imposed U-boat exile. "I won't say Dave begged me," recalls Ron, "but he talked for hours trying to get me to build the Pay 'n Pak with two Chryslers in it. I didn't want to build it. I told him all the reasons about all the gas I got over the '66 Bardahl accident and Ronnie Musson's death. Finally, with a lot of thrashing, I said OK." The owner was rolling for aces, branching out again, being different, trying, and gambled on a fork-nosed cabover. After only three races, Fults was disenchanted with the progressive design; he jumped ship back to the conventional round nose 'Lil Buzzard.
Tommy Fults was ahead of his time in a way, an easy spirit with surfer's long blond hair in a traditionally conservative sport. Though he used a lot of pedal and showed no fear, corners were his weakness; maybe he didn't really know how to drive a hydroplane. The Colonel had befriended Tommy and urged discipline in place of Fults' frivolity. (Tommy wanted no one to pass him . . . even in warm ups.) At the 1970 Atomic Cup, Fults carried opening heat wins into the finale. All he had to do was finish. Characteristically, Fults made a run at Notre Dame. Everybody heard Heerensperger storming down and back yelling, "Oh, if I had a walkie-talkie, or a hammer!" Tommy did win the trophy.
With his victory on the Columbia River and the fastest heat of the year at Seattle, the twenty-nine year old driver looked forward to San Diego's fast track. Testing mid-morning he circled back towards the pits. The water was sticky and a sponson dug in at flank speed. In a accident that shouldn't have happened, "Was Tommy Tucker" died. A fluke, they said.
When Fults quit the cabover, flat-bottomed inboard champion Ron Larsen stepped into the cockpit. Improvements came, but low torque (compared to a V-12 aircraft engine) was the stumbling block to higher performance. "There's another way," one of the crew members said. So, over the next winter Jim Lucero yanked the V-8's and moved the steering wheel behind a Rolls Merlin: a daring and simple solution? Would it work? Billy Schumacher won the last three races of 1971 in the turned-around Pride of Pay 'n Pak . . . an amalgam of Ron Jones' aerodynamics and Lucero's probing logic . . . but 1972 fizzled, a year marked by the bitter defection of Schumacher who refused to drive in a storm-tossed Ohio River filled with everything but liquid. Billy Sterett, Jr., provided the only relief to the long season of second places to Bill Muncey. He scored a fast paced upset of Muncey's until-then invincible Atlas Van Lines as Washington, D.C.
The ultimate Pay 'n Pak . . . barring a future change of heart . . . was the best. It was another Ron Jones boat, with a share of Luceroisms thrown in for measure. The tail was different with a wing perched upon twin fins, an idea borrowed from cloth and wire biplanes, sprint cars and maybe one of Tommy Fults' dragsters. Beneath, another unique idea in boating: honeycomb sandwich construction. The hull was a hummer, deceptively efficient, and like wine improved with age. Nine 1973 races later, Heerensperger, Lucero and drier Mickey Remund had their first national title. The best moments were shared with the ex-Pak, Miss Budweiser, as both pickle-forks seesawed and thundered in front with all others lagging far behind. In '74, George Henley winning 7 of 11 and another U.S. 1, also captured what Heerensperger wanted the most - the Gold Cup.
Last season, Pay 'n Pak make a false start and struggled from oblivion to championship urged by Henley's persistent foot and an equally persistent crew. Stanley Terraplane, chronicler of unlimited racing's sociology and speedy deerring-do writes . . . "Pay 'n Pak was the story . . . summer in Hoosierland the first week in July. Those who watched carefully knew that the U-1, testing, testing, would now do what Henley and Lucero wanted." A week later at Dayton's grand gravel pit, "Weisfield's was so strong it hurt itself and Pak won . . . At Pasco's Gold Cup Weisfield's lost blowers, Budweiser came unstuck again, U.S. and Lincoln Thrift had a wonderful duel, Shenandoah produced a smoke screen impenetrable . . . Pay 'n Pak won the day , of course, so easily that the final held no suspense."
When evening fell at Seattle, Lucero added up the times he'd been crew chief for the winners . . . George sat nearby, peeling off his socks. "Every time I push the button, she goes," he marveled. "Every time."
"San Diego's fog, faint but persistent, hung on past noon this year . . . the crowd probably saw the best unlimited race ever . . . Pay 'n Pak, behind by 249 points, lead only thrice all day, but each time at the finish line. Three times Pak came off the last turn like a slung stone, passed the leader, and won . . . the race, and the high point championship. George didn't want to drink the lousy water; he got champagne that night."
Dave Heerensperger bows out a leader. His Eagles, Buzzard, and Pay 'n Paks rolled and cajoled to 25 team victories, 16 by the amazing U-1. Heerensperger was a flamboyant and demanding owner, a man who understood winning best. Outgoing, he sought what was best for his team. Some people say they won't miss his sharp, often abrasive businessman's approach to boat racing; but everyone will miss all he brought with him: commitment, expertise, high drama and superb boat racing.
Knowing his past in manners financial, one suspects Heerensperger profited a nickel when he sold his camp to Bill Muncey. In trade, Atlas Van Lines adopts the finest unlimited team on the circuit, a team of pride and passion. Now, I suppose, Dave will spend his spare change acquiring another double windup pitcher for Pay 'n Pak's softball team? He'll be expected to win.
Hydroplane Racing Profile: George Henley
During his 1970 to 1975 career, Henley won 12 out of 34 races entered, for a winning percentage of 0.353.
A veteran limited hydro pilot, Henley started his thunder boat career as a crew member on the likes of the Miss B & I and Coral Reef. His first unlimited ride as driver was in the Burien Lady, owned by Bob Murphy. The team's modest budget notwithstanding, Henley raised many eyebrows when he finished a strong second in the 1970 Seattle Seafair Regatta, winning the final heat and defeating the overall winner, Miss Budweiser, in the process. Later Henley saw action with Bob Fendler and Lincoln Thrift's 7 1/4% Special and Jim McCormick's Red Man II. Henley's best finish was second place in the 1973 Champion Spark Plug Regatta at Miami, Florida, with Lincoln Thrift.
Then came the historic 1974 racing season, when Henley joined forces with owner Dave Heerensperger and crew chief Jim Lucero on the "winged wonder," Pay 'n Pak. After having paid his dues with the low-budget teams, Henley had a ride that was truly commensurate with his ability. The Pay 'n Pak already had won four races and the National High Point Championship in 1973 with Mickey Remund as driver. It was up to Henley to do it all over again.
In his first appearance with Pay 'n Pak in Miami, Henley experienced mechanical difficulty after winning both of his preliminary heats. But a week later in Washington, D.C., Henley won the President's Cup on the Potomac River, beating the likes of Bill Muncey in Atlas Van Lines, Leif Borgersen in U-95, and Howie Benns in Miss Budweiser. He followed that win with victories at Owensboro, Kentucky; Tri-Cities and Seattle; Dayton, Ohio; San Diego; and Madison, Wisconsin, becoming the first driver to win seven High Point races in a single season.
After a stellar 1974 campaign, Henley decided to retire from unlimited hydro racing and to concentrate on his Eatonville-based marina business. But boat owner Heerensperger had a hard time replacing Henley in the cockpit of Pay 'n Pak, so he agreed to make Henley his partner if he would drive again. Following his brief retirement, Henley rejoined the Pay 'n Pak team at the third race of the 1975 season in Owensboro. In the short time that Henley had been away, Weisfield's, driven by Bill Schumacher, had garnered most of the glory and appeared likely to unseat Pay 'n Pak from its national championship throne. On the first lap in the first heat at Owensboro, Henley's boat spun out and then went on to blow an engine. Pay 'n Pak was forced to withdraw, and the race went to Weisfield's.
Despite a formidable deficit in points, however, George sparked Pay 'n Pak to one of the great comebacks in hydroplane history. The 'Pak took third at the next race in Detroit, and then found the winning combination a week later in Madison, where Henley retained his title in the Indiana Governor's Cup, decisively beating Weisfield's. This was followed with victories in Dayton, Tri-Cities, Seattle, and San Diego. The end result was a third-straight season title for Pay 'n Pak.
In his last season of Unlimited Class participation, "Smiling George" won more races than any other driver and averaged more points per race than anyone else. His legacy to the sport is a standard of competitive excellence that few drivers in any racing category have ever achieved.
A veteran limited hydro pilot, Henley started his thunder boat career as a crew member on the likes of the Miss B & I and Coral Reef. His first unlimited ride as driver was in the Burien Lady, owned by Bob Murphy. The team's modest budget notwithstanding, Henley raised many eyebrows when he finished a strong second in the 1970 Seattle Seafair Regatta, winning the final heat and defeating the overall winner, Miss Budweiser, in the process. Later Henley saw action with Bob Fendler and Lincoln Thrift's 7 1/4% Special and Jim McCormick's Red Man II. Henley's best finish was second place in the 1973 Champion Spark Plug Regatta at Miami, Florida, with Lincoln Thrift.
Then came the historic 1974 racing season, when Henley joined forces with owner Dave Heerensperger and crew chief Jim Lucero on the "winged wonder," Pay 'n Pak. After having paid his dues with the low-budget teams, Henley had a ride that was truly commensurate with his ability. The Pay 'n Pak already had won four races and the National High Point Championship in 1973 with Mickey Remund as driver. It was up to Henley to do it all over again.
In his first appearance with Pay 'n Pak in Miami, Henley experienced mechanical difficulty after winning both of his preliminary heats. But a week later in Washington, D.C., Henley won the President's Cup on the Potomac River, beating the likes of Bill Muncey in Atlas Van Lines, Leif Borgersen in U-95, and Howie Benns in Miss Budweiser. He followed that win with victories at Owensboro, Kentucky; Tri-Cities and Seattle; Dayton, Ohio; San Diego; and Madison, Wisconsin, becoming the first driver to win seven High Point races in a single season.
After a stellar 1974 campaign, Henley decided to retire from unlimited hydro racing and to concentrate on his Eatonville-based marina business. But boat owner Heerensperger had a hard time replacing Henley in the cockpit of Pay 'n Pak, so he agreed to make Henley his partner if he would drive again. Following his brief retirement, Henley rejoined the Pay 'n Pak team at the third race of the 1975 season in Owensboro. In the short time that Henley had been away, Weisfield's, driven by Bill Schumacher, had garnered most of the glory and appeared likely to unseat Pay 'n Pak from its national championship throne. On the first lap in the first heat at Owensboro, Henley's boat spun out and then went on to blow an engine. Pay 'n Pak was forced to withdraw, and the race went to Weisfield's.
Despite a formidable deficit in points, however, George sparked Pay 'n Pak to one of the great comebacks in hydroplane history. The 'Pak took third at the next race in Detroit, and then found the winning combination a week later in Madison, where Henley retained his title in the Indiana Governor's Cup, decisively beating Weisfield's. This was followed with victories in Dayton, Tri-Cities, Seattle, and San Diego. The end result was a third-straight season title for Pay 'n Pak.
In his last season of Unlimited Class participation, "Smiling George" won more races than any other driver and averaged more points per race than anyone else. His legacy to the sport is a standard of competitive excellence that few drivers in any racing category have ever achieved.
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