John Walters makes history at Seneca Lake, New York, becoming the first driver to win an unlimited hydroplane race using turbine power!
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Monday, August 20, 2012
The "Winged Wonder" flies again
Reprinted from http://thunderthebridge.blogspot.com.
News has broken recently that Ken Muscatel has purchased the former Pay 'N Pak "Winged Wonder" hydroplane with the intention of restoring it for the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum. This is, no doubt, a fitting home for one of the most successful and innovative boats in the history of the sport. In fact, with its record of four championships and twenty two race wins, the 1973-25 hull holds the distinction of being the most successful piston powered boat in the history of Unlimited Hydroplane racing.
On a more personal level, however, this boat holds the distinction of one of the first hydroplanes I have a personal recollection of. To give away my age, I don't remember the boat's glory days of the 1970's because I hadn't been born. As many readers of this blog will know, I grew up in Madison and make no secret of the fact that I am a fan of the Miss Madison team. Because of this, the old Pay 'N Pak boat is effectively the first boat I was able to get up close and personal with, as it was the Miss Madison boat during the time I was growing up. Therefore this post is going to be part history of the hull and part personal recollection with my main focus being on the boat's later years.
The story of the Winged Wonder began its life on the draftboards of master boatbuilder Ron Jones. The number of innovations involved with this boat are numerous. Although there had been a couple of Unlimited Hydroplanes that had sported the pickle fork design since the 1960's, this boat represented the first true breakthrough for the design that would soon become the norm in hydroplane racing. Seemingly overnight, the spoon nosed design was obsolete. It was also the first boat to use aluminum honeycomb as a primary building material, which made the boat much lighter than its competitors. Most apparent, however, was its use of a horizontal stabilizer which immediately set the boat apart from everything else in the pits and gave the boat a decided advantage, especially in the turns. Perhaps never before or never since has a boat represented such a separation from what was the conventional accepted design in the Unlimited class at the time, and went on to be an unheralded success.
This success came almost immediately. When a new boat is built any team can expect a period of time to "work out the bugs" so to speak and hold judgment on the boat's success until the hull is dialed in. As a sign of things to come, however, the "Winged Wonder" bucked this trend and won its very first race out of the box. With Mickey Remund at the wheel the Pay 'N Pak won all three heats at the 1973 season opener in Miami, but then would face stiff competition the rest of the season from Dean Chenoweth and the Miss Budweiser. At the end of the season, the Pay 'N Pak would win four races and edge the Miss Budweiser by less than 300 points to win the championship.
In 1974, the Pay 'N Pak took five of eight races with George Henley at the wheel and ended the season with a considerable lead over second place Miss Budweiser in the High Points. Things didn't come as easy in 1975. Jim McCormick was named the new driver of the Pay 'N Pak, but after he struggled in the season's first two races owner Dave Heerensperger coaxed former driver George Henley out of retirement to take over driving duties.
The bad luck didn't stop there, however, as the boat turned over at Owensboro and the boat didn't score any points. Four races into the season, the Pay 'N Pak found itself with no race wins and was well behind the Miss Budweiser and Weisfield's in the High Point standings. The season would turn after crew chief Jim Lucero returned the boat to the setup used in previous seasons and the team returned to its winning ways. Winning five of the season's final six races of the season with victories in Madison, Dayton, the Gold Cup in Tri-Cities, Seattle, and San Diego, the Pay 'N Pak completed one of the most dramatic comebacks in Unlimited Hydroplane history and captured the championship.
1976 would bring more changes as Bill Muncey bought out Dave Heerensperger's team and the Winged Wonder got a new paint job and a new home. Now racing as the Atlas Van Lines, the boat picked up where it left off and won five of nine races on the year, including a string of four straight first place finishes, on its way to the High Point championship. After four years of racing, the Winged Wonder's spot in history had been solidified. Its twenty one first place trophies made the boat the winningest hull in the history of the sport at that point. It was also the only hull to win four consecutive High Point championships up to that point. Although that feat would later be eclipsed by the T-3 then the T-5 and T-6 Miss Budweiser hulls, it should be noted that these hulls always won their titles in a "tandem" with the other hulls on the team whereas the Winged Wonder won all of its titles on its own. In only four seasons, the 1973-25 had made its mark on the sport for years to come.
In 1977, a new Jim Lucero designed hull became the primary hull for Bill Muncey's racing team and the Winged Wonder found itself on the sidelines for the majority of the season. The boat's only appearances for that season came in the Washington races, wearing the old Pay 'N Pak colors. With inexperienced driver Ron Armstrong at the wheel and working with a limited crew, the Pay 'N Pak's appearance at the Gold Cup in Tri-Cities and the Seafair trophy in Seattle were expected to be little more than a cameo for the Winged Wonder. In Heat 1A of the Gold Cup, however, the old Winged Wonder hull showed it was still a force, winning the heat going away. Then in Heat 2-C the Pay 'N Pak once again found itself going head to head with the Miss Budweiser for three laps until it's day ended with a violent hook that damaged the hull's left sponson. The following week at Seattle, Armstrong and the Pay 'N Pak won Heat 2A but then failed to finish the Final Heat on a day that was overshadowed by a tragic accident in Heat 1A involving the Squire Shop that ended the life of Jerry Bangs.
1978 saw another change of address for the Winged Wonder. The Miss Madison team was in desperate need of upgrading their equipment so the decision was made to acquire the 1973-25. The Miss Madison's previous hull, known as the Miss Madison III or 1972-06, was only a year older than the Winged Wonder but might as well have been built in a different era. The third Miss Madison boat was never the same after an accident saw the boat sink to the bottom of the Detroit River of the 1972 Gold Cup. The team spent the rest of the season in the garage repairing the badly damaged hull, then the next season the Winged Wonder debuted and the Miss Madison team found itself racing with a suddenly obsolete hull. Indeed, the Miss Madison III would turn out to be the last hull to be built with the old spoon nosed design built for racing in the Unlimited class (although a few other spoon nosed replicas of hydroplanes have been built for the intention of vintage exhibitions). Although I have never seen anything official in terms of the sale price, multiple sources have claimed that Bill Muncey effectively donated the boat to the Miss Madison team and sold the boat for $1. No doubt this was an act of goodwill on the part of Muncey but it would be hard to claim that Muncey would miss the old hull. In a bit of irony, the Miss Madison team was buying the hull that had made its previous hull obsolete, but that boat had itself been rendered obsolete by Bill Muncey's cabover "Blue Blaster" hydroplane, so once again the Miss Madison team would find itself racing with a boat that was certainly an upgrade over its previous hull but still dated in terms of Unlimited racing. A new team also brought the most dramatic changes to the boat in its history, as the hull was refitted to be powered by an Allison powered engine as opposed to the Rolls Royce Merlin engine which the boat had been powered by up to that point. With its new less powerful engine and the fact that the boat was now becoming dated as more and more cabovers were showing up in the pits, it is sometimes easy to forget about the old Winged Wonder's time with the Miss Madison team. As is often the case in Unlimited Hydroplane racing, however, the hull had a long career long after it was at the front of the pack. It should not be forgotten that of the sixteen years that the 1973-25 boat was in the pits and racing, for eleven of those years the boat was carrying the Seal of the City of Madison, Indiana.
1978 will always be remembered as a season in which Bill Muncey dominated the field in a fully dialed in Atlas Van Lines hydroplane. The tone was set in the season's first race when the Atlas Van Lines was not only the winner but also the only starter of the Final Heat. Muncey would win six of the season's seven races, his only loss coming due to a blown engine in the Final Heat at Tri-Cities. So despite being overshadowed on that season the Miss Madison still turned in a decent season, with a second place in the Gold Cup in Owensboro with Madison native Jon Peddie at the wheel and a second place in Tri-Cities with Milner Irvin at the wheel en route to a fourth place finish in the High Point standings.
1979 saw the Miss Madison team race a partial schedule, not making any appearances after finishing sixth at the Gold Cup race in Madison. In 1980 the team once again raced a full national schedule and, after struggling through the season's eastern tour, turned heads with a string of four straight podium finishes that was highlighted by a second place finish in the only Unlimited race to take place in Ogallala, Nebraska. 1981 was another banner year for the Winged Wonder and the Miss Madison. Despite no wins and only one second place finish in Evansville, the Miss Madison was a consistent finisher all season long, finishing on the podium in seven of nine races and finishing second in the High Point standings. In 1982 Tom Sheehy took over driving duties after Milner Irvin left racing for a year but the team continued its consistent ways, finishing second in Romulus, New York (ironically finishing behind the Pay 'N Pak, which was back in the sport after a hiatus and in the process becoming the first team to win with turbine power) and in Madison (the team's highest finish in its hometown race since that fateful day in 1971) en route to a fourth place High Point finish.
Ten years after its debut, the Winged Wonder had gone from the undisputed leader of the pack to a consistent if not spectacular racer on the Unlimited tour. By 1983 it was no secret that the best days were well behind the hull, but the boat was still making its mark as a solid performer for the Miss Madison team. In an era when the shelf life for many hydroplanes didn't exceed more than six or seven years, the Winged Wonder was finishing on the podium years after its initial construction. As if to show the boat wasn't completely obsolete, the Winged Wonder scored what was undoubtedly its most unlikely and arguably its most memorable victory in the 1983 season opener at Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. At the Final Heat, Jim Kropfeld in the Miss Budweiser and Chip Hanauer in the Atlas Van Lines were so preoccupied with one another that the Bud blew its engine and the Atlas got off to an awful start. Ron Snyder, driving the Miss Madison (sponsored by Rich Plan) wired a perfect start and led the race from the onset. The Atlas Van Lines gave chase but succumbed to a blown engine of its own, giving the Rich Plan a clear path to victory. A decade after its debut, the Winged Wonder had scored its twenty third and most unlikely victory. It was also a race that solidified Ron Snyder's well earned reputation as a driver who was able to get the most out of underpowered equipment. As for the rest of 1983, the Rich Plan finished second in Detroit and finished an overall fourth in the High Point standings.
1984 saw another name change as the Miss Madison team secured the sponsorship of American Speedy Printing for the duration of the season. The season started well for the team with a third place finish in Miami and a third in Syracuse and the season ended well with a second place finish at the World Championship race in Houston. The rest of the season, however, was an exercise in frustration that saw the team finish no higher than fifth and included a four race stretch where the boat failed to score point in three races and could only muster a twelfth place finish in the other race. As a result of the dramatic mid-season swoon, the team finished seventh in the High Points and, for the only time in its history, found itself looking up in the standings at another Madison based boat. Jim Sedam's U-22 finished fourth in the High Points in its debut season. In 1985 the Miss Madison opened the season with back to back runner up finishes at Miami and Syracuse and closed the season with a third place in San Diego but was befelled by another midseason swoon (although not as dramatic as the season before) that relegated the team to a sixth place finish in the High Points, although it did earn the distinction of driver Andy Coker capturing the Rookie of the Year honors for that season. Miss Madison opened 1986 with another second place finish, and continue the season as a consistent performer. Driver Ron Snyder returned, but then was involved in an accident that saw him being thrown from the boat in Evansville. Despite the accident, Snyder and the Miss Madison closed the season out with a third place finish at the season finale in Las Vegas and finished the season fourth in the High Points.
Holset returned as sponsor for 1987 and the Winged Wonder continued its consistent ways. It was also about this time that I, as a resident of Madison, became aware of the hydroplanes. As I am sure is the case with many hydroplane fans, I inherited much of my fandom from my dad. At least once a year we would stop by the Miss Madison shop, where the crew has always welcomed visitors even to this day. Because of this, the 1973-25/Winged Wonder/Miss Madison IV was the first boat that I ever saw up close, even sitting in the cockpit at one point. The Holset Miss Madison turned in another solid season, although it scored only one podium finish, a third place in the Madison race that was cut short by the horrific accident involving the Cellular One that ended the driving career of Steve Reynolds. It was also announced during the season that the Miss Madison team would be debuting a new hull for 1988, so the 1987 season was meant to be something of a "farewell tour" for the historic craft. For the final race of the year, the team even entered the hull as the "Holset Mrs. Madison" to signify that this would be the final race for the hull. The Mrs. Madison finished fourth at the season finale in Las Vegas and its consistent performance throughout the season meant the team would finish third in the overall High Point standings.
Despite having what was supposed to be its "farewell" race at the season finale in 1987, construction delays to the new boat meant that the Winged Wonder would be pulled out of the garage for one final curtain call. Once again Ron Snyder and the team got more than seemingly possible out of the now ancient hull by scoring a surprise second place finish in Miami. After a fourth place finish in Detroit, the boat failed to make the cut for the Final Heat for the remainder of the Eastern tour. The 1973-25, once the most advanced boat in hydroplane racing, now looked more like a museum piece. The boat was the last conventional hull to race in the Unlimited class, and was one of the last boats to not have a canopy. Despite the boat being terribly antiquated in comparison to its competitors in 1988, designer Ron Jones and others who had been involved in the Winged Wonder throughout the years had to take pride in the fact that many of the innovations that this boat represented, including the horizontal stabilizer and the pickle fork design, had now become commonplace in the sport. The old hull had its last race at the 1988 Syracuse race, where the team failed to score any points. Despite its underwhelming finale, the boat no doubt had made its mark on hydroplane racing as a whole. After all, at the time of its retirement the boat still held the record for most race victories by a hull (that record would later be broken by the T-3 Miss Budweiser). The new Miss Madison hull was ready in time for the Tri-Cities race and at long last, the Winged Wonder was retired.
Over the next few years the 1973-25 would largely do display work around Madison, then sometime in the early 1990's the boat was sold to Dave Bartush who was at the time building up a collection of hydroplanes and keeping them in a warehouse in Detroit. It sat in the warehouse for the better part of twenty years, still in the Miss Madison colors. Then earlier this year new begin to leak that Bartush was looking to sell off some of his collection, which is where the Ken Muscatel and the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum comes in. With that the Winged Wonder now awaits restoration into its original form. Although I have to admit I'll be kind of sad to see the Miss Madison paint come off the hull it's fitting that the boat will wear the colors that it made such a huge splash and broke so many records in the early 1970's. Also, since H.A.R.M. makes a concerted effort to keep all of its boats in racing condition, the possibility of seeing the Pay 'N Pak "Winged Wonder" on the water again is certainly exciting. So while the boat won its championships and made its history years before, for a generation of fans around Madison this was the first hull that many of us saw and will always hold a place in our hearts.
News has broken recently that Ken Muscatel has purchased the former Pay 'N Pak "Winged Wonder" hydroplane with the intention of restoring it for the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum. This is, no doubt, a fitting home for one of the most successful and innovative boats in the history of the sport. In fact, with its record of four championships and twenty two race wins, the 1973-25 hull holds the distinction of being the most successful piston powered boat in the history of Unlimited Hydroplane racing.
On a more personal level, however, this boat holds the distinction of one of the first hydroplanes I have a personal recollection of. To give away my age, I don't remember the boat's glory days of the 1970's because I hadn't been born. As many readers of this blog will know, I grew up in Madison and make no secret of the fact that I am a fan of the Miss Madison team. Because of this, the old Pay 'N Pak boat is effectively the first boat I was able to get up close and personal with, as it was the Miss Madison boat during the time I was growing up. Therefore this post is going to be part history of the hull and part personal recollection with my main focus being on the boat's later years.
The story of the Winged Wonder began its life on the draftboards of master boatbuilder Ron Jones. The number of innovations involved with this boat are numerous. Although there had been a couple of Unlimited Hydroplanes that had sported the pickle fork design since the 1960's, this boat represented the first true breakthrough for the design that would soon become the norm in hydroplane racing. Seemingly overnight, the spoon nosed design was obsolete. It was also the first boat to use aluminum honeycomb as a primary building material, which made the boat much lighter than its competitors. Most apparent, however, was its use of a horizontal stabilizer which immediately set the boat apart from everything else in the pits and gave the boat a decided advantage, especially in the turns. Perhaps never before or never since has a boat represented such a separation from what was the conventional accepted design in the Unlimited class at the time, and went on to be an unheralded success.
This success came almost immediately. When a new boat is built any team can expect a period of time to "work out the bugs" so to speak and hold judgment on the boat's success until the hull is dialed in. As a sign of things to come, however, the "Winged Wonder" bucked this trend and won its very first race out of the box. With Mickey Remund at the wheel the Pay 'N Pak won all three heats at the 1973 season opener in Miami, but then would face stiff competition the rest of the season from Dean Chenoweth and the Miss Budweiser. At the end of the season, the Pay 'N Pak would win four races and edge the Miss Budweiser by less than 300 points to win the championship.
In 1974, the Pay 'N Pak took five of eight races with George Henley at the wheel and ended the season with a considerable lead over second place Miss Budweiser in the High Points. Things didn't come as easy in 1975. Jim McCormick was named the new driver of the Pay 'N Pak, but after he struggled in the season's first two races owner Dave Heerensperger coaxed former driver George Henley out of retirement to take over driving duties.
The bad luck didn't stop there, however, as the boat turned over at Owensboro and the boat didn't score any points. Four races into the season, the Pay 'N Pak found itself with no race wins and was well behind the Miss Budweiser and Weisfield's in the High Point standings. The season would turn after crew chief Jim Lucero returned the boat to the setup used in previous seasons and the team returned to its winning ways. Winning five of the season's final six races of the season with victories in Madison, Dayton, the Gold Cup in Tri-Cities, Seattle, and San Diego, the Pay 'N Pak completed one of the most dramatic comebacks in Unlimited Hydroplane history and captured the championship.
1976 would bring more changes as Bill Muncey bought out Dave Heerensperger's team and the Winged Wonder got a new paint job and a new home. Now racing as the Atlas Van Lines, the boat picked up where it left off and won five of nine races on the year, including a string of four straight first place finishes, on its way to the High Point championship. After four years of racing, the Winged Wonder's spot in history had been solidified. Its twenty one first place trophies made the boat the winningest hull in the history of the sport at that point. It was also the only hull to win four consecutive High Point championships up to that point. Although that feat would later be eclipsed by the T-3 then the T-5 and T-6 Miss Budweiser hulls, it should be noted that these hulls always won their titles in a "tandem" with the other hulls on the team whereas the Winged Wonder won all of its titles on its own. In only four seasons, the 1973-25 had made its mark on the sport for years to come.
In 1977, a new Jim Lucero designed hull became the primary hull for Bill Muncey's racing team and the Winged Wonder found itself on the sidelines for the majority of the season. The boat's only appearances for that season came in the Washington races, wearing the old Pay 'N Pak colors. With inexperienced driver Ron Armstrong at the wheel and working with a limited crew, the Pay 'N Pak's appearance at the Gold Cup in Tri-Cities and the Seafair trophy in Seattle were expected to be little more than a cameo for the Winged Wonder. In Heat 1A of the Gold Cup, however, the old Winged Wonder hull showed it was still a force, winning the heat going away. Then in Heat 2-C the Pay 'N Pak once again found itself going head to head with the Miss Budweiser for three laps until it's day ended with a violent hook that damaged the hull's left sponson. The following week at Seattle, Armstrong and the Pay 'N Pak won Heat 2A but then failed to finish the Final Heat on a day that was overshadowed by a tragic accident in Heat 1A involving the Squire Shop that ended the life of Jerry Bangs.
1978 saw another change of address for the Winged Wonder. The Miss Madison team was in desperate need of upgrading their equipment so the decision was made to acquire the 1973-25. The Miss Madison's previous hull, known as the Miss Madison III or 1972-06, was only a year older than the Winged Wonder but might as well have been built in a different era. The third Miss Madison boat was never the same after an accident saw the boat sink to the bottom of the Detroit River of the 1972 Gold Cup. The team spent the rest of the season in the garage repairing the badly damaged hull, then the next season the Winged Wonder debuted and the Miss Madison team found itself racing with a suddenly obsolete hull. Indeed, the Miss Madison III would turn out to be the last hull to be built with the old spoon nosed design built for racing in the Unlimited class (although a few other spoon nosed replicas of hydroplanes have been built for the intention of vintage exhibitions). Although I have never seen anything official in terms of the sale price, multiple sources have claimed that Bill Muncey effectively donated the boat to the Miss Madison team and sold the boat for $1. No doubt this was an act of goodwill on the part of Muncey but it would be hard to claim that Muncey would miss the old hull. In a bit of irony, the Miss Madison team was buying the hull that had made its previous hull obsolete, but that boat had itself been rendered obsolete by Bill Muncey's cabover "Blue Blaster" hydroplane, so once again the Miss Madison team would find itself racing with a boat that was certainly an upgrade over its previous hull but still dated in terms of Unlimited racing. A new team also brought the most dramatic changes to the boat in its history, as the hull was refitted to be powered by an Allison powered engine as opposed to the Rolls Royce Merlin engine which the boat had been powered by up to that point. With its new less powerful engine and the fact that the boat was now becoming dated as more and more cabovers were showing up in the pits, it is sometimes easy to forget about the old Winged Wonder's time with the Miss Madison team. As is often the case in Unlimited Hydroplane racing, however, the hull had a long career long after it was at the front of the pack. It should not be forgotten that of the sixteen years that the 1973-25 boat was in the pits and racing, for eleven of those years the boat was carrying the Seal of the City of Madison, Indiana.
1978 will always be remembered as a season in which Bill Muncey dominated the field in a fully dialed in Atlas Van Lines hydroplane. The tone was set in the season's first race when the Atlas Van Lines was not only the winner but also the only starter of the Final Heat. Muncey would win six of the season's seven races, his only loss coming due to a blown engine in the Final Heat at Tri-Cities. So despite being overshadowed on that season the Miss Madison still turned in a decent season, with a second place in the Gold Cup in Owensboro with Madison native Jon Peddie at the wheel and a second place in Tri-Cities with Milner Irvin at the wheel en route to a fourth place finish in the High Point standings.
1979 saw the Miss Madison team race a partial schedule, not making any appearances after finishing sixth at the Gold Cup race in Madison. In 1980 the team once again raced a full national schedule and, after struggling through the season's eastern tour, turned heads with a string of four straight podium finishes that was highlighted by a second place finish in the only Unlimited race to take place in Ogallala, Nebraska. 1981 was another banner year for the Winged Wonder and the Miss Madison. Despite no wins and only one second place finish in Evansville, the Miss Madison was a consistent finisher all season long, finishing on the podium in seven of nine races and finishing second in the High Point standings. In 1982 Tom Sheehy took over driving duties after Milner Irvin left racing for a year but the team continued its consistent ways, finishing second in Romulus, New York (ironically finishing behind the Pay 'N Pak, which was back in the sport after a hiatus and in the process becoming the first team to win with turbine power) and in Madison (the team's highest finish in its hometown race since that fateful day in 1971) en route to a fourth place High Point finish.
Ten years after its debut, the Winged Wonder had gone from the undisputed leader of the pack to a consistent if not spectacular racer on the Unlimited tour. By 1983 it was no secret that the best days were well behind the hull, but the boat was still making its mark as a solid performer for the Miss Madison team. In an era when the shelf life for many hydroplanes didn't exceed more than six or seven years, the Winged Wonder was finishing on the podium years after its initial construction. As if to show the boat wasn't completely obsolete, the Winged Wonder scored what was undoubtedly its most unlikely and arguably its most memorable victory in the 1983 season opener at Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. At the Final Heat, Jim Kropfeld in the Miss Budweiser and Chip Hanauer in the Atlas Van Lines were so preoccupied with one another that the Bud blew its engine and the Atlas got off to an awful start. Ron Snyder, driving the Miss Madison (sponsored by Rich Plan) wired a perfect start and led the race from the onset. The Atlas Van Lines gave chase but succumbed to a blown engine of its own, giving the Rich Plan a clear path to victory. A decade after its debut, the Winged Wonder had scored its twenty third and most unlikely victory. It was also a race that solidified Ron Snyder's well earned reputation as a driver who was able to get the most out of underpowered equipment. As for the rest of 1983, the Rich Plan finished second in Detroit and finished an overall fourth in the High Point standings.
1984 saw another name change as the Miss Madison team secured the sponsorship of American Speedy Printing for the duration of the season. The season started well for the team with a third place finish in Miami and a third in Syracuse and the season ended well with a second place finish at the World Championship race in Houston. The rest of the season, however, was an exercise in frustration that saw the team finish no higher than fifth and included a four race stretch where the boat failed to score point in three races and could only muster a twelfth place finish in the other race. As a result of the dramatic mid-season swoon, the team finished seventh in the High Points and, for the only time in its history, found itself looking up in the standings at another Madison based boat. Jim Sedam's U-22 finished fourth in the High Points in its debut season. In 1985 the Miss Madison opened the season with back to back runner up finishes at Miami and Syracuse and closed the season with a third place in San Diego but was befelled by another midseason swoon (although not as dramatic as the season before) that relegated the team to a sixth place finish in the High Points, although it did earn the distinction of driver Andy Coker capturing the Rookie of the Year honors for that season. Miss Madison opened 1986 with another second place finish, and continue the season as a consistent performer. Driver Ron Snyder returned, but then was involved in an accident that saw him being thrown from the boat in Evansville. Despite the accident, Snyder and the Miss Madison closed the season out with a third place finish at the season finale in Las Vegas and finished the season fourth in the High Points.
Holset returned as sponsor for 1987 and the Winged Wonder continued its consistent ways. It was also about this time that I, as a resident of Madison, became aware of the hydroplanes. As I am sure is the case with many hydroplane fans, I inherited much of my fandom from my dad. At least once a year we would stop by the Miss Madison shop, where the crew has always welcomed visitors even to this day. Because of this, the 1973-25/Winged Wonder/Miss Madison IV was the first boat that I ever saw up close, even sitting in the cockpit at one point. The Holset Miss Madison turned in another solid season, although it scored only one podium finish, a third place in the Madison race that was cut short by the horrific accident involving the Cellular One that ended the driving career of Steve Reynolds. It was also announced during the season that the Miss Madison team would be debuting a new hull for 1988, so the 1987 season was meant to be something of a "farewell tour" for the historic craft. For the final race of the year, the team even entered the hull as the "Holset Mrs. Madison" to signify that this would be the final race for the hull. The Mrs. Madison finished fourth at the season finale in Las Vegas and its consistent performance throughout the season meant the team would finish third in the overall High Point standings.
Despite having what was supposed to be its "farewell" race at the season finale in 1987, construction delays to the new boat meant that the Winged Wonder would be pulled out of the garage for one final curtain call. Once again Ron Snyder and the team got more than seemingly possible out of the now ancient hull by scoring a surprise second place finish in Miami. After a fourth place finish in Detroit, the boat failed to make the cut for the Final Heat for the remainder of the Eastern tour. The 1973-25, once the most advanced boat in hydroplane racing, now looked more like a museum piece. The boat was the last conventional hull to race in the Unlimited class, and was one of the last boats to not have a canopy. Despite the boat being terribly antiquated in comparison to its competitors in 1988, designer Ron Jones and others who had been involved in the Winged Wonder throughout the years had to take pride in the fact that many of the innovations that this boat represented, including the horizontal stabilizer and the pickle fork design, had now become commonplace in the sport. The old hull had its last race at the 1988 Syracuse race, where the team failed to score any points. Despite its underwhelming finale, the boat no doubt had made its mark on hydroplane racing as a whole. After all, at the time of its retirement the boat still held the record for most race victories by a hull (that record would later be broken by the T-3 Miss Budweiser). The new Miss Madison hull was ready in time for the Tri-Cities race and at long last, the Winged Wonder was retired.
Over the next few years the 1973-25 would largely do display work around Madison, then sometime in the early 1990's the boat was sold to Dave Bartush who was at the time building up a collection of hydroplanes and keeping them in a warehouse in Detroit. It sat in the warehouse for the better part of twenty years, still in the Miss Madison colors. Then earlier this year new begin to leak that Bartush was looking to sell off some of his collection, which is where the Ken Muscatel and the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum comes in. With that the Winged Wonder now awaits restoration into its original form. Although I have to admit I'll be kind of sad to see the Miss Madison paint come off the hull it's fitting that the boat will wear the colors that it made such a huge splash and broke so many records in the early 1970's. Also, since H.A.R.M. makes a concerted effort to keep all of its boats in racing condition, the possibility of seeing the Pay 'N Pak "Winged Wonder" on the water again is certainly exciting. So while the boat won its championships and made its history years before, for a generation of fans around Madison this was the first hull that many of us saw and will always hold a place in our hearts.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Even the winner sunk
Reprinted from the Tri-City Herald, July 29, 1979
Stroll around the pit area of Columbia Park and you can’t help but be impressed with the vast array of hydroplanes, engines, trucks and vans.
No figures are kept on these things, but if you guessed it was the most valuable unlimited hydroplane armada ever assembled, who could say you were wrong?
The total runs into several million bucks in no time at all.
Bill Muncey, for instance, puts a $350,000 price tag on the Atlas Van Lines, including boat and support equipment.
Bernie Little says the new Miss Budweiser cost him something like $250,000.
Kenny Thompson has a six figure investment in Miss Tri-City Tile and Masonry.
Some folks say Circus Circus is the best financed operation on the circuit.
It wasn’t always that way. Like most sports, the so-called good ol’ days weren’t so hot.
Back in 1948, all of 21 boats showed up for the Gold Cup in Detroit. In the wake of World War II, there had been a rash of backyard boat building, as owners strove to take advantage of surplus machinery and equipment.
The enthusiasm of the new boat builders, however, outstripped their expertise. Out of 21 entries, 20 boats didn’t finish the race.
And the winner of the race, Miss Great Lakes, sunk at the dock during the trophy presentation.
It’s also interesting to note, the winning speed was a blinding 46.845 miles per hour.
True, it was a 90-mile course, but that speed equates better with ski boats. Maybe even sail boats.
Faster, even faster
But as fast as today’s championship heat might be, it’s just a rung on the ladder as the hydroplaners strive for higher and higher speeds.
In fact, the successor to day’s hot boats could be taking shape right now in Seattle.
Developing a turbine powered boat that is supposed to be ready in the 1980 season in Dave Heerensperger.
“It’s going to be either the biggest think to ever happen to hydroplane racing, or the biggest bust,” said Heerensperger who was in the Tri-Cities for the running of the Columbia Cup. “And if it’s a bust, it’ll probably be the most expensive one in history,” he adds.
Heerensperger, however, hasn’t been associated with many failures. It was Heerensperger, for instance, who had the winningest boat in the history of the sport – the U-25 Pay ‘N Pak.
He also developed the U-1 Atlas Van Lines, which has now won seven straight races going back to last year.
A little over three years ago, he sold the kit and caboodle to Muncey. “Muncey made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. It’s been a bargain for Bill too.”
He attributes his withdrawal from the sport to the pressure of is business, plus the fact he didn’t like the direction in which the sport was headed.
“You had to spend most of your time raising funds to hold the Seafair race. Now with Bob Steil and the Squire Shop underwriting it, Seafair is in good shape for the first time.”
There are some obvious advantages to the turbine. For one thing, the turbines, used in military helicopters, are about 15 percent lighter than the Rolls Royces currently in favor. The other thing, of course, is the face that they can produce about 1,000 more horsepower.
Gearing the power down so it’s adaptable to hydroplanes is the big problem.
Six years ago, the late Jim Clapp pioneered a turbine boat. It wasn’t a bad but his widow, Pam Clapp, gave up on the project after two seasons.
“The boat was too heavy,” reports Heerensperger. “Instead of two turbines, we’ll use just one. That greatly simplifies things.”
Better in the turns
People who have heard the high whine of turbine associate it with great speed.
“Actually, turbines generate more power at the low end than they do at the high end. In other words, they supply the power you need in the turns where you need it. Getting speed on the straight away has never been a problem.”
The project has reunited Heerensperger with his former crew chief Jim Lucero. Lucero, who designed the U-1 Atlas Van Lines while he was with the Pay ‘N Pak team, is designing the new boat.
Initial reports had Lucero rejoining his old boss next year on a full time basis. Now, however, it’s believed that he’ll set up his own consulting business and be available to several clients.
That’s the shape of things to come. For the present, marring mishap, we have what could be the fastest championship final ever assembled.
Picking a winner is tough. My last prediction was that the price of gasoline would go down.
The only think I’ll go on record with is that we won’t have 20 DNF this afternoon, and the winner won’t sink at the dock.
Now, that’s progress.
Stroll around the pit area of Columbia Park and you can’t help but be impressed with the vast array of hydroplanes, engines, trucks and vans.
No figures are kept on these things, but if you guessed it was the most valuable unlimited hydroplane armada ever assembled, who could say you were wrong?
The total runs into several million bucks in no time at all.
Bill Muncey, for instance, puts a $350,000 price tag on the Atlas Van Lines, including boat and support equipment.
Bernie Little says the new Miss Budweiser cost him something like $250,000.
Kenny Thompson has a six figure investment in Miss Tri-City Tile and Masonry.
Some folks say Circus Circus is the best financed operation on the circuit.
It wasn’t always that way. Like most sports, the so-called good ol’ days weren’t so hot.
Back in 1948, all of 21 boats showed up for the Gold Cup in Detroit. In the wake of World War II, there had been a rash of backyard boat building, as owners strove to take advantage of surplus machinery and equipment.
The enthusiasm of the new boat builders, however, outstripped their expertise. Out of 21 entries, 20 boats didn’t finish the race.
And the winner of the race, Miss Great Lakes, sunk at the dock during the trophy presentation.
It’s also interesting to note, the winning speed was a blinding 46.845 miles per hour.
True, it was a 90-mile course, but that speed equates better with ski boats. Maybe even sail boats.
Faster, even faster
But as fast as today’s championship heat might be, it’s just a rung on the ladder as the hydroplaners strive for higher and higher speeds.
In fact, the successor to day’s hot boats could be taking shape right now in Seattle.
Developing a turbine powered boat that is supposed to be ready in the 1980 season in Dave Heerensperger.
“It’s going to be either the biggest think to ever happen to hydroplane racing, or the biggest bust,” said Heerensperger who was in the Tri-Cities for the running of the Columbia Cup. “And if it’s a bust, it’ll probably be the most expensive one in history,” he adds.
Heerensperger, however, hasn’t been associated with many failures. It was Heerensperger, for instance, who had the winningest boat in the history of the sport – the U-25 Pay ‘N Pak.
He also developed the U-1 Atlas Van Lines, which has now won seven straight races going back to last year.
A little over three years ago, he sold the kit and caboodle to Muncey. “Muncey made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. It’s been a bargain for Bill too.”
He attributes his withdrawal from the sport to the pressure of is business, plus the fact he didn’t like the direction in which the sport was headed.
“You had to spend most of your time raising funds to hold the Seafair race. Now with Bob Steil and the Squire Shop underwriting it, Seafair is in good shape for the first time.”
There are some obvious advantages to the turbine. For one thing, the turbines, used in military helicopters, are about 15 percent lighter than the Rolls Royces currently in favor. The other thing, of course, is the face that they can produce about 1,000 more horsepower.
Gearing the power down so it’s adaptable to hydroplanes is the big problem.
Six years ago, the late Jim Clapp pioneered a turbine boat. It wasn’t a bad but his widow, Pam Clapp, gave up on the project after two seasons.
“The boat was too heavy,” reports Heerensperger. “Instead of two turbines, we’ll use just one. That greatly simplifies things.”
Better in the turns
People who have heard the high whine of turbine associate it with great speed.
“Actually, turbines generate more power at the low end than they do at the high end. In other words, they supply the power you need in the turns where you need it. Getting speed on the straight away has never been a problem.”
The project has reunited Heerensperger with his former crew chief Jim Lucero. Lucero, who designed the U-1 Atlas Van Lines while he was with the Pay ‘N Pak team, is designing the new boat.
Initial reports had Lucero rejoining his old boss next year on a full time basis. Now, however, it’s believed that he’ll set up his own consulting business and be available to several clients.
That’s the shape of things to come. For the present, marring mishap, we have what could be the fastest championship final ever assembled.
Picking a winner is tough. My last prediction was that the price of gasoline would go down.
The only think I’ll go on record with is that we won’t have 20 DNF this afternoon, and the winner won’t sink at the dock.
Now, that’s progress.
Bitten by the Big Bad Boat Bug
The zealots who cannot shake the unlimited hydroplane habit open the new season in the certain knowledge that heartbreak lies around the bend.
By Coles Phinizy
Reprinted from Sports Illustrated, June 2, 1975
After 15 honest years of handling lesser brutes, in 1973 Tom D'Eath, a 29-year-old Michigan boat driver, got his first try in an unlimited hydroplane. When he moved up into the biggest class of them all, D'Eath joined an elite group of boat owners, drivers and mechanics of assorted genius and curious disposition.
In the Kentucky Derby a jockey named Shoemaker once stood in his stirrups too soon, costing his irate backers a bundle. At the Masters a golfer named de Vicenzo once signed an incorrect scorecard, thereby losing a chance at a green blazer and a bundle. In 1908 a base runner named Merkle blew a pennant by failing to touch a bag, and in 1929 a California football player named Riegels lost the Rose Bowl by running the wrong way. Such freakish turns of fate, occasional in other sports, are commonplace in unlimited hydroplaning. Scantily defined, an unlimited hydroplaner is a mystical mix of optimist and masochist. To survive he must believe in winning while reveling in the fact that at any moment, for one unforeseen reason or a hundred others, he may end up with egg on his face.
Two years ago, when Tom D'Eath joined the unlimiteds, or "thunderboats" as they are also called, he brought with him the sort of track record and bloodlines that horse fanciers respect. He had won three national titles in the 2.5 liter class and held the straightaway record in that category. His father was a thunder-boat hero of the Guy Lombardo era; his brother has a winning record in three limited classes. As might be expected, in his rookie season D'Eath finished in the ruck driving Miss U.S., an old boat owned by George Simon, a Detroit tool manufacturer. Despite his bloodlines and competence, last year in a spiffy new Miss U.S. furnished by Simon, D'Eath did even worse. He got into the water by the one-minute warning gun for only 10 of the 34 heats run that year, and on four of those 10 occasions never made it across the starting line. In one race Miss U.S. began handling like a berserk hay wagon, in another her throttle cable froze and in another her battery failed - such are the ills that these boats are heir to.
Midway in the season in her opening heat for the Gold Cup, the classic contest of unlimited hydroplane racing, by the luck of it poor Miss U.S. came up against the hottest boats in the fleet: Pay 'N Pak, the 1973 champion; Miss Budweiser, the 1973 runner-up; Atlas Van Lines, driven by Bill Muncey, the biggest winner of all; and an experimental turbine-powered boat called U-95. D'Eath led for two laps, or until U-95 blew up and sank, stopping the action. In the rerun of the aborted heat D'Eath was again in the lead when his gear box disintegrated, blowing hot metal through a fuel cell and burning Miss U.S. to the waterline.
Any thoroughbred horse that performs as badly as Miss U.S. did last year runs the risk of being shipped to a meat-packer, but thunderboating is a different kind of sentimental game. And to judge by the record, George Simon, owner of Miss U.S., is the gamest kind of sentimentalist. He has owned unlimited hydros for 20 years. Back in 1962 Roy Duby piloted one of his hulls to and fro over a straight mile at an average speed of 200.419 mph to set a world propellered-craft record that still stands. His boats have won almost every unlimited honor, but never the cherished Gold Cup or the annual title. Bernie Little, owner of rival Miss Budweiser, says of Simon, "George gets inspired. When he hears his boat firing up, he is ready to bet a bundle on it, and when he is in that kind of inspired condition, the rest of us can pluck him like a chicken."
Be all that as it may, this past winter Simon had Miss U.S. rebuilt. Last week in Miami in the Champion Spark Plug Regatta, the first race of the 1975 season, Miss U.S. went back into action with Tom D'Eath again at the wheel. And how did they do? Worse than ever. On the first turn of the first lap of the first heat Miss U.S.'s ignition failed; her intake took in water. In the second heat, while boiling along at a comfortable 150 mph seconds before the gun, Miss U.S. was washed out by the rooster tail of an overeager rival.
Nobody should consider getting into thunderboating unless he is willing to be unlucky. The anxious mother who does not want her boy to become a driver should take the following precautions: first, never let the kid get his hands on any outboard motor, not even the tiniest Evinrude. One horsepower often leads to another and before you know it the kid has a helmet and life vest. Second, never take a child near Seattle or Detroit in the summer. The unlimited hydro bug is particularly virulent in those areas at that time.
A boy may grow up devoted to stamp collecting and fern pressing, but that does not guarantee that he will not later succumb to a pastime like thunderboating. There is a bit of the motor-mad Toad in many adult males, and no one can be sure when or how the mania will crop out. Consider the case of 39-year-old David Heerensperger. From his teens on, in the process of carving out a living, Heerensperger, present owner of two-time champion Pay 'N Pak, rarely had time for anything more frivolous than high school baseball in Longview, Wash. In 1963, three years after he opened his first electric store, he saw a news item about a sunken hydro, Miss Spokane, that had been salvaged and was going for $5,000. For reasons he does not try to explain, Heerensperger momentarily lost his good business sense and went for it.
For two years he campaigned the boat, renaming it Miss Eagle Electric, after his business. He spent $28,000 and won nary a purse. Realizing that to campaign properly would cost more than his whole business was then worth, Heerensperger got rid of the boat. He swore off even attending races, but the bug still had him. After two years of total abstinence he was back.
Because of all the twists of luck, now and again an upstart driver in a lesser boat outscorches the top dogs, but the life span of such supernovas is usually brief, their exits often made with a loud bang as half a dozen connecting rods burst through the walls of their old and overtaxed engines. The only adequate power plants available today are antique Allison and Rolls-Royce engines made 25 and more years ago for fighter planes. In wartime the engines were designed to cruise at about 2,200 rpm and were red-lined around 3,500. In hydros they are pushed up to 4,500 rpm to turn propellers at better than 13,000. When so pushed the old engines frequently blow. Broken rods and broken hearts are the order of the day. Coming out of a turn when his blower is behind schedule, so to speak, the driver of a modern thunderboat caresses a button on his steering wheel two or three times, adding nitrous oxide, a heady compound better known as laughing gas, to his fuel to effect a faster burn. If he is a pennyweight too heavy on the button, within five seconds it is goodby engine. The old engines, which originally cost around $30,000, could be bought just after World War II for $125. Off the shelf they now go for $5,000 and, race-prepared, for twice that.
The three-point hulls used today are still undergoing change by the tedious process of trial and error. Whatever breakthroughs the future may hold, the hulls forever will be a compromise between what runs well flat-out on a straight and what is necessary to survive in the brawling uncertainties of the turns. Today when boats are hitting 180 mph on straights and lapping at 115, the driver Who does not back off enough and catches a sponson in one of the queer holes that suddenly appear in the troubled water of a turn can easily spin his boat full circle and end up on the obituary page. For all its whims thunderboating is still a percentage game, and the owner or sponsor who is not willing to put $125,000 into it annually is not apt to get anywhere.
It is logical enough that a town like Spokane, in a heartland of the sport, might have a community-sponsored hull named Miss Spokane, but no one visiting Madison, Ind. would suspect that such a quiet old town could be similarly afflicted by the bug. In the early 19th century, before the railroads went west, Madison was a busy Ohio River port. Today it is in large part a memory, a showplace of gracious architecture by early 19th century masters. A bawling hydro no more fits into the Madison scene than a stable of Indy cars would in Colonial Williamsburg. Nonetheless the town has harbored, patched, repatched and campaigned a succession of Miss Madisons for 14 years, winning almost nothing. The most that can be said for the effort is that some of Miss Madison's drivers have gone on to greater things. One of them, George (Buddy) Byers, is now the commissioner of thunderboating. Another, Jim McCormick, drives Pay 'N Pak.
McCormick is a mechanical contractor by trade, a boat driver by preoccupation. Before he bought a 280-cu.-in. inboard racer by mistake in 1963, casual water sports were his recreational bag. (His wife Bonnie remembers that he spent an inordinate portion of their honeymoon wearing a face mask in the bathtub to find out how long he could hold his breath underwater). McCormick never saw a boat race, real or televised, before he ran in one in 1963 against two dozen hot-shot 280-inch hydroplaners at the Calvert Trophy regatta in Louisville. McCormick took fifth in his heat to make the final round. In the finals, running third, he popped his propeller shaft 100 yards from the finish line. His score for the day was DNF, but he was hooked.
When McCormick applied for the job aboard Miss Madison, his wife cottoned to the idea. Working on his own boat had consumed much of his spare time; if he became the exalted jockey of a thunderboat, he would have loyal monkeys to tinker it into shape for him. The Miss Madison management apparently entertained some doubt about how long its association with McCormick might last. Despite his suggestion that his name be painted on the boat, as is the custom, they declined to do so.
At Tampa in 1966 McCormick won his very first heat in an unlimited hydro, blowing off great ones like Miss Budweiser and Miss Smirnoff. When he ended up third overall in the three-heat race, the Miss Madison management wrote his name on the hull with a felt-point pen. His next race was the President's Cup in Washington, and McCormick relates, "In the first heat I break out ahead. I am blowing and going. Then I hit the first turn and scattered our only engine all over the Potomac. In a word, I really garbaged it." It was not only a bad day for McCormick, but also the darkest day in more than a half century of unlimited racing. Three of the 13 drivers were killed. "That one bad day," McCormick says, "cooled my wife off real quick."
Although the money didn't mean much to him, the following season McCormick left Miss Madison for better rides in hulls like Notre Dame and Atlas Van Lines. By 1970, however, he was back with Miss Madison. But as if there were not enough freakish disasters on the racecourses, Miss Madison's chances were dashed before the season began. While the crew was trailering her through Georgia en route to the first race in Tampa, a drunk driver coming out of a side road broadsided them and knocked the 28-foot hull off her rig.
The following year was Miss Madison's finest. After the first three races the 12-year-old boat stood second in championship points. The classic four-heat Gold Cup competition is bid for annually by interested communities, and in 1971 by fluke the consistently low-bidding town of Madison was the only one that made an offer by the deadline. Going into the last heat with a solid chance to take the Gold Cup in its home waters, the crew told McCormick, "We are either going to win or blow you sky high." They drilled out the nitrous oxide orifice and the fuel orifice and added nitromethane to the fuel, and somehow the quivering bomb held together. "When Miss Madison won the Gold Cup right in Madison," McCormick remembers, "they damn near burned down the whole town."
At the next race, in Pasco, Wash., Miss Madison won again to take the lead in championship points. Apparently giddy with success, at a race in Seattle the crew got the engine timing off 180 degrees and blew out the front end. "The dream ended about there," McCormick says. "We finished second that year, which is not bad for a volunteer crew, an antique boat and a fouled-up driver."
The winner of the first race of 1975 in Miami last week was a boat called Weisfield's, which unsuccessfully campaigned in 1974 as Valu-Mart (the whimsies of thunderboat naming would give a horse breeder fits. Not only do drivers jump from boat to boat, but boats change names with abandon. For example, the latest Miss Budweiser, the seventh so named, was Pay 'N Pak a few years ago and the Valvoline now active on the circuit ran last year as Miss Technicolor and sometimes as Miss Colt Beverages and also as Miss Northwest Tank Service).
Bill Schumacher, the two-time national champion who drove Weisfield's to her Miami win, led the sort of early life that worries mothers. He was bombing around racecourses in five-hp outboards at 30 mph at the age of eight. Before moving up to beefier stuff he won three national titles and set competitive and straightaway records in the 9- and 12-year-old classes. By the time he was 15 he was driving four different hulls in eight classes. In one weekend regatta at Devils Lake, Ore. young Schumacher ran 30 heats in 11 different classes.
Schumacher has been in and out of thunderboats for a dozen years, injuring himself seriously only once. In 1971 on the same Miami course where he won last week his rudder linkage failed while he was traveling 155 mph, putting the boat into a 360-degree spin and throwing him out. A year later he quit a boat in mid-season because he considered the debris-filled waters of a racecourse too dangerous. "There is risk enough in the sport," he says. "I am not interested in playing Russian roulette."
It was expected that the 1975 season would be a red-hot competition between the defending champion, Pay 'N Pak, and Miss Budweiser, Atlas Van Lines and Weisfield's, but in Miami Weisfield's had it all her way. She won both her heats and the final round for a perfect score of 1,200 points. Only one boat got within two mph of her hot pace in qualifying and competitive laps. In thunderboating, for sure, one race does not a season make. Given enough time and the usual quota of freakish bad luck, even the best of the big boats may blow up, wash out or spin out. Now and for all time it is a game with slings and arrows aplenty, a game where the only certainty is uncertainty.
By Coles Phinizy
Reprinted from Sports Illustrated, June 2, 1975
After 15 honest years of handling lesser brutes, in 1973 Tom D'Eath, a 29-year-old Michigan boat driver, got his first try in an unlimited hydroplane. When he moved up into the biggest class of them all, D'Eath joined an elite group of boat owners, drivers and mechanics of assorted genius and curious disposition.
In the Kentucky Derby a jockey named Shoemaker once stood in his stirrups too soon, costing his irate backers a bundle. At the Masters a golfer named de Vicenzo once signed an incorrect scorecard, thereby losing a chance at a green blazer and a bundle. In 1908 a base runner named Merkle blew a pennant by failing to touch a bag, and in 1929 a California football player named Riegels lost the Rose Bowl by running the wrong way. Such freakish turns of fate, occasional in other sports, are commonplace in unlimited hydroplaning. Scantily defined, an unlimited hydroplaner is a mystical mix of optimist and masochist. To survive he must believe in winning while reveling in the fact that at any moment, for one unforeseen reason or a hundred others, he may end up with egg on his face.
 |
| Storming over Miami's Biscayne Bay at 150 mph, Weisfield's wins the 1975 opener. |
Two years ago, when Tom D'Eath joined the unlimiteds, or "thunderboats" as they are also called, he brought with him the sort of track record and bloodlines that horse fanciers respect. He had won three national titles in the 2.5 liter class and held the straightaway record in that category. His father was a thunder-boat hero of the Guy Lombardo era; his brother has a winning record in three limited classes. As might be expected, in his rookie season D'Eath finished in the ruck driving Miss U.S., an old boat owned by George Simon, a Detroit tool manufacturer. Despite his bloodlines and competence, last year in a spiffy new Miss U.S. furnished by Simon, D'Eath did even worse. He got into the water by the one-minute warning gun for only 10 of the 34 heats run that year, and on four of those 10 occasions never made it across the starting line. In one race Miss U.S. began handling like a berserk hay wagon, in another her throttle cable froze and in another her battery failed - such are the ills that these boats are heir to.
Midway in the season in her opening heat for the Gold Cup, the classic contest of unlimited hydroplane racing, by the luck of it poor Miss U.S. came up against the hottest boats in the fleet: Pay 'N Pak, the 1973 champion; Miss Budweiser, the 1973 runner-up; Atlas Van Lines, driven by Bill Muncey, the biggest winner of all; and an experimental turbine-powered boat called U-95. D'Eath led for two laps, or until U-95 blew up and sank, stopping the action. In the rerun of the aborted heat D'Eath was again in the lead when his gear box disintegrated, blowing hot metal through a fuel cell and burning Miss U.S. to the waterline.
Any thoroughbred horse that performs as badly as Miss U.S. did last year runs the risk of being shipped to a meat-packer, but thunderboating is a different kind of sentimental game. And to judge by the record, George Simon, owner of Miss U.S., is the gamest kind of sentimentalist. He has owned unlimited hydros for 20 years. Back in 1962 Roy Duby piloted one of his hulls to and fro over a straight mile at an average speed of 200.419 mph to set a world propellered-craft record that still stands. His boats have won almost every unlimited honor, but never the cherished Gold Cup or the annual title. Bernie Little, owner of rival Miss Budweiser, says of Simon, "George gets inspired. When he hears his boat firing up, he is ready to bet a bundle on it, and when he is in that kind of inspired condition, the rest of us can pluck him like a chicken."
Be all that as it may, this past winter Simon had Miss U.S. rebuilt. Last week in Miami in the Champion Spark Plug Regatta, the first race of the 1975 season, Miss U.S. went back into action with Tom D'Eath again at the wheel. And how did they do? Worse than ever. On the first turn of the first lap of the first heat Miss U.S.'s ignition failed; her intake took in water. In the second heat, while boiling along at a comfortable 150 mph seconds before the gun, Miss U.S. was washed out by the rooster tail of an overeager rival.
Nobody should consider getting into thunderboating unless he is willing to be unlucky. The anxious mother who does not want her boy to become a driver should take the following precautions: first, never let the kid get his hands on any outboard motor, not even the tiniest Evinrude. One horsepower often leads to another and before you know it the kid has a helmet and life vest. Second, never take a child near Seattle or Detroit in the summer. The unlimited hydro bug is particularly virulent in those areas at that time.
A boy may grow up devoted to stamp collecting and fern pressing, but that does not guarantee that he will not later succumb to a pastime like thunderboating. There is a bit of the motor-mad Toad in many adult males, and no one can be sure when or how the mania will crop out. Consider the case of 39-year-old David Heerensperger. From his teens on, in the process of carving out a living, Heerensperger, present owner of two-time champion Pay 'N Pak, rarely had time for anything more frivolous than high school baseball in Longview, Wash. In 1963, three years after he opened his first electric store, he saw a news item about a sunken hydro, Miss Spokane, that had been salvaged and was going for $5,000. For reasons he does not try to explain, Heerensperger momentarily lost his good business sense and went for it.
For two years he campaigned the boat, renaming it Miss Eagle Electric, after his business. He spent $28,000 and won nary a purse. Realizing that to campaign properly would cost more than his whole business was then worth, Heerensperger got rid of the boat. He swore off even attending races, but the bug still had him. After two years of total abstinence he was back.
Because of all the twists of luck, now and again an upstart driver in a lesser boat outscorches the top dogs, but the life span of such supernovas is usually brief, their exits often made with a loud bang as half a dozen connecting rods burst through the walls of their old and overtaxed engines. The only adequate power plants available today are antique Allison and Rolls-Royce engines made 25 and more years ago for fighter planes. In wartime the engines were designed to cruise at about 2,200 rpm and were red-lined around 3,500. In hydros they are pushed up to 4,500 rpm to turn propellers at better than 13,000. When so pushed the old engines frequently blow. Broken rods and broken hearts are the order of the day. Coming out of a turn when his blower is behind schedule, so to speak, the driver of a modern thunderboat caresses a button on his steering wheel two or three times, adding nitrous oxide, a heady compound better known as laughing gas, to his fuel to effect a faster burn. If he is a pennyweight too heavy on the button, within five seconds it is goodby engine. The old engines, which originally cost around $30,000, could be bought just after World War II for $125. Off the shelf they now go for $5,000 and, race-prepared, for twice that.
The three-point hulls used today are still undergoing change by the tedious process of trial and error. Whatever breakthroughs the future may hold, the hulls forever will be a compromise between what runs well flat-out on a straight and what is necessary to survive in the brawling uncertainties of the turns. Today when boats are hitting 180 mph on straights and lapping at 115, the driver Who does not back off enough and catches a sponson in one of the queer holes that suddenly appear in the troubled water of a turn can easily spin his boat full circle and end up on the obituary page. For all its whims thunderboating is still a percentage game, and the owner or sponsor who is not willing to put $125,000 into it annually is not apt to get anywhere.
It is logical enough that a town like Spokane, in a heartland of the sport, might have a community-sponsored hull named Miss Spokane, but no one visiting Madison, Ind. would suspect that such a quiet old town could be similarly afflicted by the bug. In the early 19th century, before the railroads went west, Madison was a busy Ohio River port. Today it is in large part a memory, a showplace of gracious architecture by early 19th century masters. A bawling hydro no more fits into the Madison scene than a stable of Indy cars would in Colonial Williamsburg. Nonetheless the town has harbored, patched, repatched and campaigned a succession of Miss Madisons for 14 years, winning almost nothing. The most that can be said for the effort is that some of Miss Madison's drivers have gone on to greater things. One of them, George (Buddy) Byers, is now the commissioner of thunderboating. Another, Jim McCormick, drives Pay 'N Pak.
McCormick is a mechanical contractor by trade, a boat driver by preoccupation. Before he bought a 280-cu.-in. inboard racer by mistake in 1963, casual water sports were his recreational bag. (His wife Bonnie remembers that he spent an inordinate portion of their honeymoon wearing a face mask in the bathtub to find out how long he could hold his breath underwater). McCormick never saw a boat race, real or televised, before he ran in one in 1963 against two dozen hot-shot 280-inch hydroplaners at the Calvert Trophy regatta in Louisville. McCormick took fifth in his heat to make the final round. In the finals, running third, he popped his propeller shaft 100 yards from the finish line. His score for the day was DNF, but he was hooked.
When McCormick applied for the job aboard Miss Madison, his wife cottoned to the idea. Working on his own boat had consumed much of his spare time; if he became the exalted jockey of a thunderboat, he would have loyal monkeys to tinker it into shape for him. The Miss Madison management apparently entertained some doubt about how long its association with McCormick might last. Despite his suggestion that his name be painted on the boat, as is the custom, they declined to do so.
At Tampa in 1966 McCormick won his very first heat in an unlimited hydro, blowing off great ones like Miss Budweiser and Miss Smirnoff. When he ended up third overall in the three-heat race, the Miss Madison management wrote his name on the hull with a felt-point pen. His next race was the President's Cup in Washington, and McCormick relates, "In the first heat I break out ahead. I am blowing and going. Then I hit the first turn and scattered our only engine all over the Potomac. In a word, I really garbaged it." It was not only a bad day for McCormick, but also the darkest day in more than a half century of unlimited racing. Three of the 13 drivers were killed. "That one bad day," McCormick says, "cooled my wife off real quick."
Although the money didn't mean much to him, the following season McCormick left Miss Madison for better rides in hulls like Notre Dame and Atlas Van Lines. By 1970, however, he was back with Miss Madison. But as if there were not enough freakish disasters on the racecourses, Miss Madison's chances were dashed before the season began. While the crew was trailering her through Georgia en route to the first race in Tampa, a drunk driver coming out of a side road broadsided them and knocked the 28-foot hull off her rig.
The following year was Miss Madison's finest. After the first three races the 12-year-old boat stood second in championship points. The classic four-heat Gold Cup competition is bid for annually by interested communities, and in 1971 by fluke the consistently low-bidding town of Madison was the only one that made an offer by the deadline. Going into the last heat with a solid chance to take the Gold Cup in its home waters, the crew told McCormick, "We are either going to win or blow you sky high." They drilled out the nitrous oxide orifice and the fuel orifice and added nitromethane to the fuel, and somehow the quivering bomb held together. "When Miss Madison won the Gold Cup right in Madison," McCormick remembers, "they damn near burned down the whole town."
At the next race, in Pasco, Wash., Miss Madison won again to take the lead in championship points. Apparently giddy with success, at a race in Seattle the crew got the engine timing off 180 degrees and blew out the front end. "The dream ended about there," McCormick says. "We finished second that year, which is not bad for a volunteer crew, an antique boat and a fouled-up driver."
The winner of the first race of 1975 in Miami last week was a boat called Weisfield's, which unsuccessfully campaigned in 1974 as Valu-Mart (the whimsies of thunderboat naming would give a horse breeder fits. Not only do drivers jump from boat to boat, but boats change names with abandon. For example, the latest Miss Budweiser, the seventh so named, was Pay 'N Pak a few years ago and the Valvoline now active on the circuit ran last year as Miss Technicolor and sometimes as Miss Colt Beverages and also as Miss Northwest Tank Service).
Bill Schumacher, the two-time national champion who drove Weisfield's to her Miami win, led the sort of early life that worries mothers. He was bombing around racecourses in five-hp outboards at 30 mph at the age of eight. Before moving up to beefier stuff he won three national titles and set competitive and straightaway records in the 9- and 12-year-old classes. By the time he was 15 he was driving four different hulls in eight classes. In one weekend regatta at Devils Lake, Ore. young Schumacher ran 30 heats in 11 different classes.
Schumacher has been in and out of thunderboats for a dozen years, injuring himself seriously only once. In 1971 on the same Miami course where he won last week his rudder linkage failed while he was traveling 155 mph, putting the boat into a 360-degree spin and throwing him out. A year later he quit a boat in mid-season because he considered the debris-filled waters of a racecourse too dangerous. "There is risk enough in the sport," he says. "I am not interested in playing Russian roulette."
It was expected that the 1975 season would be a red-hot competition between the defending champion, Pay 'N Pak, and Miss Budweiser, Atlas Van Lines and Weisfield's, but in Miami Weisfield's had it all her way. She won both her heats and the final round for a perfect score of 1,200 points. Only one boat got within two mph of her hot pace in qualifying and competitive laps. In thunderboating, for sure, one race does not a season make. Given enough time and the usual quota of freakish bad luck, even the best of the big boats may blow up, wash out or spin out. Now and for all time it is a game with slings and arrows aplenty, a game where the only certainty is uncertainty.
Friday, May 25, 2012
After two near-fatal crashes, why return to racing?
Reprinted from The Day, October 6, 1982
Lately, it seems that half the stories I’ve written about powerboat racers should have been handled by a medical writer – grim tales of injury and death that make for depressing reading, especially when they are about people you know and like.
That’s why I was disturbed recently to hear John Walters, upon leaving the hospital, say that he hadn’t given up the idea of getting back into the cockpit of Pay ‘N Pak, the unlimited hydroplane that nearly killed him six weeks ago.
If you lined up 20 men, Walters, 28, would be one of the last you would select as a top practitioner of possibly the world’s most dangerous sport. He’s slender and not very tall, and his back mustache seems designed to make him look older.
Walters is quietly confident and not given to bragging about what he does, which is guiding two tons of hydroplane on the ragged edge of disaster, taking turns at 120 miles an hour and going down straight-aways at nearly 200.
He has stepped over the edge twice.
The first time was three summers ago, when, in the glow of seemingly perfect initial runs, he took an untested, radical turbine boat out for a run that was expected to blow everyone else away. The boat did a double back flip at 170 mph.
The second time was August 8 in Seattle, when another boat spun out in front of him and he turned over after colliding.
“I don’t know for sure what I’m doing to do,” Walters said when asked about his future. “I’ll have to wait until I’m healed before I’ll know if I can drive the boat again, but the doctors say it will be six months to a year before I can even drive a car.”
Away from the boat, his life centers on wife Arlene and their two daughters, Katrina, 11, and Maciva, 9. They live in Renton, Wash., in the heard of unlimited country and only a short distance from the test waters where 99 percent of the new unlimited boats and drivers get their baptism.
Walters said that Arlene “knew from the time we were married, when I was still building unlimiteds, that I wanted to drive them. She knows what the risks are and she accepts them . . . no, I guess I have to admit that she’s not terribly pleased with the idea of me driving again.”
After thinking for a moment, Walters added, “I don’t know if I’ll want to drive again. I’ll have to see how I feel when the time comes. I’ve been extremely lucky twice. Right now, I’m not sure what I want.”
John Walters is lucky that even without driving, he can still be intimately involved with the sport he loves so much. Walters’ first connection with the unlimiteds was in designing and building the boats. When he started to drive them, he turned his mechanically inclined mind toward learning all he could about the boat’s jet turbine engine.
All forms of motor sport are familiar with the gentleman driver, the guy who doesn’t know where the engine is but can make the machine go like a bat out of hell. That’s not Walters’ style.
“As a driver, it was to my advantage to be able to come back and talk to the guys working on the motor and say this is what I think it’s doing and why it’s doing it,” Walters said.
Crew Chief Jim Lucero, the man who designed many of the competitive boats on the circuit, pays Walters the ultimate mechanic’s compliment by saying he is “a darned good wrench.”
It has been a tough couple of years for unlimited hydroplane racing. Since November 1981, the sport has seen Bill Muncey and Dean Chenoweth, probably the two best drivers who ever lived, killed in accidents. The wreck that hospitalized Walters also smashed two other boats, although their drivers escaped without serious injury.
A number of drivers, owners and others connected with the sport are casting worried eyes at Chip Hanauer, the 27-year-old pilot of Atlas Van Lines. Hanauer is a bright, vibrant and articulate driver who is one of the most competitive human beings ever to strap himself into a boat seat.
He has a new boat and is virtually guaranteed the 1982 national unlimited title, but he shows no inclination to play it safe.
Knowledgeable observers say Hanauer is so competitive that, in the words of one friend and fellow driver, “He doesn’t seem to even think about the danger. It’s like he has a switch in his head that he turns off when it comes to his own safety. On land, he’s very smart. It’s hard to believe he’s the same guy when he gets in the boat. I guess he’s trying to prove something, that he really is the best.”
Walters left the hospital in a body cast after his most recent crash, and he worries more about walking normally than when he will be able to drive again. And even if the body heals to the point that he doesn’t look any different than before, there is no guarantee that he’ll still have the almost superhuman reflexes and high-speed judgment that mark top drivers in every form of motor sport.
John Walters has nothing to prove to anyone – not to his pears, not to the fans who line the riverbanks and lakeshores by the hundreds of thousands, certainly not to himself.
Lately, it seems that half the stories I’ve written about powerboat racers should have been handled by a medical writer – grim tales of injury and death that make for depressing reading, especially when they are about people you know and like.
That’s why I was disturbed recently to hear John Walters, upon leaving the hospital, say that he hadn’t given up the idea of getting back into the cockpit of Pay ‘N Pak, the unlimited hydroplane that nearly killed him six weeks ago.
If you lined up 20 men, Walters, 28, would be one of the last you would select as a top practitioner of possibly the world’s most dangerous sport. He’s slender and not very tall, and his back mustache seems designed to make him look older.
Walters is quietly confident and not given to bragging about what he does, which is guiding two tons of hydroplane on the ragged edge of disaster, taking turns at 120 miles an hour and going down straight-aways at nearly 200.
He has stepped over the edge twice.
The first time was three summers ago, when, in the glow of seemingly perfect initial runs, he took an untested, radical turbine boat out for a run that was expected to blow everyone else away. The boat did a double back flip at 170 mph.
The second time was August 8 in Seattle, when another boat spun out in front of him and he turned over after colliding.
“I don’t know for sure what I’m doing to do,” Walters said when asked about his future. “I’ll have to wait until I’m healed before I’ll know if I can drive the boat again, but the doctors say it will be six months to a year before I can even drive a car.”
Away from the boat, his life centers on wife Arlene and their two daughters, Katrina, 11, and Maciva, 9. They live in Renton, Wash., in the heard of unlimited country and only a short distance from the test waters where 99 percent of the new unlimited boats and drivers get their baptism.
Walters said that Arlene “knew from the time we were married, when I was still building unlimiteds, that I wanted to drive them. She knows what the risks are and she accepts them . . . no, I guess I have to admit that she’s not terribly pleased with the idea of me driving again.”
After thinking for a moment, Walters added, “I don’t know if I’ll want to drive again. I’ll have to see how I feel when the time comes. I’ve been extremely lucky twice. Right now, I’m not sure what I want.”
John Walters is lucky that even without driving, he can still be intimately involved with the sport he loves so much. Walters’ first connection with the unlimiteds was in designing and building the boats. When he started to drive them, he turned his mechanically inclined mind toward learning all he could about the boat’s jet turbine engine.
All forms of motor sport are familiar with the gentleman driver, the guy who doesn’t know where the engine is but can make the machine go like a bat out of hell. That’s not Walters’ style.
“As a driver, it was to my advantage to be able to come back and talk to the guys working on the motor and say this is what I think it’s doing and why it’s doing it,” Walters said.
Crew Chief Jim Lucero, the man who designed many of the competitive boats on the circuit, pays Walters the ultimate mechanic’s compliment by saying he is “a darned good wrench.”
It has been a tough couple of years for unlimited hydroplane racing. Since November 1981, the sport has seen Bill Muncey and Dean Chenoweth, probably the two best drivers who ever lived, killed in accidents. The wreck that hospitalized Walters also smashed two other boats, although their drivers escaped without serious injury.
A number of drivers, owners and others connected with the sport are casting worried eyes at Chip Hanauer, the 27-year-old pilot of Atlas Van Lines. Hanauer is a bright, vibrant and articulate driver who is one of the most competitive human beings ever to strap himself into a boat seat.
He has a new boat and is virtually guaranteed the 1982 national unlimited title, but he shows no inclination to play it safe.
Knowledgeable observers say Hanauer is so competitive that, in the words of one friend and fellow driver, “He doesn’t seem to even think about the danger. It’s like he has a switch in his head that he turns off when it comes to his own safety. On land, he’s very smart. It’s hard to believe he’s the same guy when he gets in the boat. I guess he’s trying to prove something, that he really is the best.”
Walters left the hospital in a body cast after his most recent crash, and he worries more about walking normally than when he will be able to drive again. And even if the body heals to the point that he doesn’t look any different than before, there is no guarantee that he’ll still have the almost superhuman reflexes and high-speed judgment that mark top drivers in every form of motor sport.
John Walters has nothing to prove to anyone – not to his pears, not to the fans who line the riverbanks and lakeshores by the hundreds of thousands, certainly not to himself.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
John Walters is do-it-all in hydroplane racing
Reprinted from The Madison Courier, February 6, 1987
To say Miller American Racing Team crew chief John Walters is something of a utility man in unlimited hydroplane racing would be something of an understatement. After all, Walters has been a boat owner, boat builder, crewman, driver, engine specialist, and crew chief during his boat racing career.
As an 11-year-old he began racing outboards with his father, graduated to the larger, limited inboard hydroplanes a few years later.
He took a bit step in 1974 by going to work for boat builder Ron Jones, who has crafted many top unlimited as well as other racing craft over the years.
Later, he became a member of the late Bill Muncey’s Atlas Van Lines crew. It was while he was working for Muncey that Walters gained invaluable experience in his driving career. Walters was having a good career in the late 1970s in the limited inboard ranks.
“I learned as much standing on the dock watching Bill drive a race boat as you can ever learn sitting behind the wheel of your own,” he said. “Bill kind of took me under his wing at several of my limited events. He came out and watched me and said, ‘Why did you do this?’ or ‘Next time you might want to do this,’ and just kind of pointed me in the right direction,” Walters notes.
“He was a real good critic and somebody who really knew what was going on, and I really had a lot of respect for his ideas and thoughts on things. There’s no question but what it helped me out a great deal,” Walters adds.
Because Muncey lived in San Diego, and Walters lived in Seattle where the Atlas boat was headquartered, Muncey sometimes let the youth drive in practice runs on Lake Washington. Walters even drive the “Blue Blaster” in two exhibition heats in Oregon.
It was while he worked with the Atlas crew that Walters came into a strong working relationship with former Atlas team manager/boat builder Jim Lucero. In fact, Walters worked with Lucero on the development and construction of the Pay ‘N Pak turbine craft.
When Dave Heerensperger and Pay ‘N Pak voiced an interest in getting back into racing again, they wanted to do it with Jim as the team manager,” Walters said. “We wanted to work on boats together and to build boats for other people and when Jim formed his own company, he asked me if I’d participate in helping build the boat and everything.”
Walters’ driving career in the limited class was going great guns in 1979. “At that point in time I was winning lots of races in lots of different classes and managed to put together a national championship that year,” he remembers. Heerensperger saw him race in one of the most prestigious limited events on the west coast and said, “It looks to me like you’re about ready to drive a big boat and if you’re interested in doing it, I’m interested in having you do it,” Heerensperger told him.
Walters and the Pak turbine experienced a spectacular blow-over flip on the Columbia River before the boat ever saw its first competition. The accident, at the 1980 Columbia Cup race, “is still very clear in my mind and I get to see it enough on television that it keeps bringing it back,” he says today. “I still wake up in the middle of the night sometimes upside down and backwards over the Columbia River and I don’t have any control over that one.”
Walters recovered from his injuries, the boat was repaired and the Pak returned to competition in 1981. At the 1982 Syracuse race, he became the first driver to ever win an unlimited hydroplane race aboard a turbine-powered hydroplane. But later in the season his driving career was abruptly ended when he was seriously injured in a crash with George Johnson and the Executone.
Walters suffered “pretty substantial head injuries” and other problems as a result of the crash. “I was hurt pretty severely and had to go through a real long process of getting better and healing up. The physical trauma is one thing; the mental trauma is something different.”
Walters’ driving days were over. Pay ‘N Pak owner Dave Heerensperger retired from the sport because (in the wake of the Bill Muncey and Dean Chenoweth fatalities and then the crash of his own boat) he claimed it had become too dangerous. Walters, without a job, began the long recovery process.
“I kind of feel like the rug was pulled out from under me right when we were getting the boat to a point where we could go out and win races consistently and really fulfill a lot of goals that I had set for myself as a driver,” the 34-year-old reflects today. “I had that all taken away from me. Being able to say that I was the first driver in the history of the sport to win a boat race in a turbine certainly is a feather in our cap and makes me feel real good.”
Following Heerensperger’s second retirement from the sport, Lucero rejoined the Atlas Van Lines team in late 1982 as team manager and later as co-owner. His friend Walters would join the team a couple of years later, returning to contribute in yet another capacity to the sport he enjoys to much.
To say Miller American Racing Team crew chief John Walters is something of a utility man in unlimited hydroplane racing would be something of an understatement. After all, Walters has been a boat owner, boat builder, crewman, driver, engine specialist, and crew chief during his boat racing career.
As an 11-year-old he began racing outboards with his father, graduated to the larger, limited inboard hydroplanes a few years later.
He took a bit step in 1974 by going to work for boat builder Ron Jones, who has crafted many top unlimited as well as other racing craft over the years.
Later, he became a member of the late Bill Muncey’s Atlas Van Lines crew. It was while he was working for Muncey that Walters gained invaluable experience in his driving career. Walters was having a good career in the late 1970s in the limited inboard ranks.
“I learned as much standing on the dock watching Bill drive a race boat as you can ever learn sitting behind the wheel of your own,” he said. “Bill kind of took me under his wing at several of my limited events. He came out and watched me and said, ‘Why did you do this?’ or ‘Next time you might want to do this,’ and just kind of pointed me in the right direction,” Walters notes.
“He was a real good critic and somebody who really knew what was going on, and I really had a lot of respect for his ideas and thoughts on things. There’s no question but what it helped me out a great deal,” Walters adds.
Because Muncey lived in San Diego, and Walters lived in Seattle where the Atlas boat was headquartered, Muncey sometimes let the youth drive in practice runs on Lake Washington. Walters even drive the “Blue Blaster” in two exhibition heats in Oregon.
It was while he worked with the Atlas crew that Walters came into a strong working relationship with former Atlas team manager/boat builder Jim Lucero. In fact, Walters worked with Lucero on the development and construction of the Pay ‘N Pak turbine craft.
When Dave Heerensperger and Pay ‘N Pak voiced an interest in getting back into racing again, they wanted to do it with Jim as the team manager,” Walters said. “We wanted to work on boats together and to build boats for other people and when Jim formed his own company, he asked me if I’d participate in helping build the boat and everything.”
Walters’ driving career in the limited class was going great guns in 1979. “At that point in time I was winning lots of races in lots of different classes and managed to put together a national championship that year,” he remembers. Heerensperger saw him race in one of the most prestigious limited events on the west coast and said, “It looks to me like you’re about ready to drive a big boat and if you’re interested in doing it, I’m interested in having you do it,” Heerensperger told him.
Walters and the Pak turbine experienced a spectacular blow-over flip on the Columbia River before the boat ever saw its first competition. The accident, at the 1980 Columbia Cup race, “is still very clear in my mind and I get to see it enough on television that it keeps bringing it back,” he says today. “I still wake up in the middle of the night sometimes upside down and backwards over the Columbia River and I don’t have any control over that one.”
Walters recovered from his injuries, the boat was repaired and the Pak returned to competition in 1981. At the 1982 Syracuse race, he became the first driver to ever win an unlimited hydroplane race aboard a turbine-powered hydroplane. But later in the season his driving career was abruptly ended when he was seriously injured in a crash with George Johnson and the Executone.
Walters suffered “pretty substantial head injuries” and other problems as a result of the crash. “I was hurt pretty severely and had to go through a real long process of getting better and healing up. The physical trauma is one thing; the mental trauma is something different.”
Walters’ driving days were over. Pay ‘N Pak owner Dave Heerensperger retired from the sport because (in the wake of the Bill Muncey and Dean Chenoweth fatalities and then the crash of his own boat) he claimed it had become too dangerous. Walters, without a job, began the long recovery process.
“I kind of feel like the rug was pulled out from under me right when we were getting the boat to a point where we could go out and win races consistently and really fulfill a lot of goals that I had set for myself as a driver,” the 34-year-old reflects today. “I had that all taken away from me. Being able to say that I was the first driver in the history of the sport to win a boat race in a turbine certainly is a feather in our cap and makes me feel real good.”
Following Heerensperger’s second retirement from the sport, Lucero rejoined the Atlas Van Lines team in late 1982 as team manager and later as co-owner. His friend Walters would join the team a couple of years later, returning to contribute in yet another capacity to the sport he enjoys to much.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Big hydro crash on the Columbia
Reprinted from the Associated Press, July 29, 1980
KENNEWICK, Wash. – “You can’t win if you don’t play,” said Pay ‘N Pak hydroplane driver John Walters after a test of his new machine one day before the Columbia Cup race.
He may have played too hard. The boat that had electrified a large crowd on Saturday horrified those gathered for Sunday’s race on the Columbia River.
Walters took the Pay ‘N Pak for a test spin around the course shortly before the day’s first scheduled heat at noon.
Accelerating hard down the straightaway in front of the south bank of the river, the boat apparently got caught by the wind, turned on its heels and went hurtling some 30 feet into the air.
If flipped backward 2 ½ times, hit the water on its nose and flipped backward again, coming to rest upside down in the water.
Walters was ejected on the first flip. The rescue barge was at his side 55 seconds after the start of the crash and divers were helping the injured driver out of the water 10 seconds later.
Walters, an experienced limited hydroplane driver making his debut on the unlimited circuit, was rushed to Kennewick General Hospital where he was treated for a broken hip socket and a rash of cuts, bruises and sprains.
The boat’s damage was concentrated on its right side, where the front portion of the sponson was sheared off. The deck was smashed. Crew chief-designer Jim Lucero estimates damage may run to $30,000, but said the boat was not a total loss.
“I think he was going 160-plus (mph) when he flipped. But he wasn’t anywhere close to being full out,” owner Dave Heerensperger said.
On Saturday, he said the boat and crew were not as prepared as they’d like to have been for the race.
“But we owe it to our fans and to the sport to be here,” he said.
Lucero said he couldn’t define all the problems and damage until he disassembled the boat in Seattle later this week.
“But our first concern is with John,” he added.
Lucero and crew had worked day and night to get the turbine boat ready for the race. It wasn’t brought to Kennewick until Saturday, the last day for qualifying.
“We came over here to test the boat and to give John a chance to get a feel for it.” Lucero said. “We had no plans to compete with Atlas or Budweiser.”
KENNEWICK, Wash. – “You can’t win if you don’t play,” said Pay ‘N Pak hydroplane driver John Walters after a test of his new machine one day before the Columbia Cup race.
He may have played too hard. The boat that had electrified a large crowd on Saturday horrified those gathered for Sunday’s race on the Columbia River.
Walters took the Pay ‘N Pak for a test spin around the course shortly before the day’s first scheduled heat at noon.
 |
| The Pay 'N Pak, with driver John Walters, goes into a double somersault during a practice run prior to Sunday's Columbia Cup on the Columbia River in Kennewick, Wash. Walters was hospitalized with a broken hip socket. |
If flipped backward 2 ½ times, hit the water on its nose and flipped backward again, coming to rest upside down in the water.
Walters was ejected on the first flip. The rescue barge was at his side 55 seconds after the start of the crash and divers were helping the injured driver out of the water 10 seconds later.
Walters, an experienced limited hydroplane driver making his debut on the unlimited circuit, was rushed to Kennewick General Hospital where he was treated for a broken hip socket and a rash of cuts, bruises and sprains.
The boat’s damage was concentrated on its right side, where the front portion of the sponson was sheared off. The deck was smashed. Crew chief-designer Jim Lucero estimates damage may run to $30,000, but said the boat was not a total loss.
“I think he was going 160-plus (mph) when he flipped. But he wasn’t anywhere close to being full out,” owner Dave Heerensperger said.
On Saturday, he said the boat and crew were not as prepared as they’d like to have been for the race.
“But we owe it to our fans and to the sport to be here,” he said.
Lucero said he couldn’t define all the problems and damage until he disassembled the boat in Seattle later this week.
“But our first concern is with John,” he added.
Lucero and crew had worked day and night to get the turbine boat ready for the race. It wasn’t brought to Kennewick until Saturday, the last day for qualifying.
“We came over here to test the boat and to give John a chance to get a feel for it.” Lucero said. “We had no plans to compete with Atlas or Budweiser.”
Henley in comeback
By Mike Harris, AP Sports Writer
Reprinted from The Day, July 6, 1975
MADISON, Ind. (AP) – Two months ago George Henley was sitting home “feeling pretty bad,” but Sunday he and his Pride of Pay ‘N Pak were back among the frontrunners in the unlimited hydroplane world.
Henley “retired” at the end of last season after driving the Pak to her second straight unlimited hydroplane national championship in his first year at her helm.
The 39-year-old Eatonville, Wash., drive made his quick comeback complete Sunday by coming up with his first victory of this season in the 24th Indiana Governor’s Cup race here.
“Quiet George,” a marine public relations and sales executive, took home about $6,300 and some salve for his ego after outdueling Billy Schumacher and current national standings leader Weisfield’s in two of three heats.
After winning seven of 11 thunderboat races in 1974 it took owner Dave Heerensperger’s crew five races this year to finally “get it together.” They did it well enough Sunday to give Heerensperger his third straight Governor’s Cup triumph and permanent possession of the sterling silver trophy, the third such cup in the series.
The key was a sensational second heat in which the Pak and Weisfield’s went head-to-head all five laps and each broke the old heat and one-lap records on the 2 ½ Ohio River course.
“All I knew was I had to go pretty fast to stay ahead of Billy. I didn’t have much left,” Henley said with a happy smile. “I haven’t had too many races like that even in limited racing where there’s more of that.
The two top boats dueled brilliantly in the opening preliminary heat but had to settle for second and third, with the Pak second, because both were penalized a lap for jumping the starter’s gun.
Then came the race that seemed as hot as the sun that baked more than 100,000 spectators. In that second battle, Henley averaged 115.148 miles per hour for the heat and had a top lap of 116.883. Weisfield’s was clocked at an average of 115.060.
The records, both set last year by Henley, were 110.892 and 114.796, respectively.
Reprinted from The Day, July 6, 1975
MADISON, Ind. (AP) – Two months ago George Henley was sitting home “feeling pretty bad,” but Sunday he and his Pride of Pay ‘N Pak were back among the frontrunners in the unlimited hydroplane world.
Henley “retired” at the end of last season after driving the Pak to her second straight unlimited hydroplane national championship in his first year at her helm.
The 39-year-old Eatonville, Wash., drive made his quick comeback complete Sunday by coming up with his first victory of this season in the 24th Indiana Governor’s Cup race here.
“Quiet George,” a marine public relations and sales executive, took home about $6,300 and some salve for his ego after outdueling Billy Schumacher and current national standings leader Weisfield’s in two of three heats.
After winning seven of 11 thunderboat races in 1974 it took owner Dave Heerensperger’s crew five races this year to finally “get it together.” They did it well enough Sunday to give Heerensperger his third straight Governor’s Cup triumph and permanent possession of the sterling silver trophy, the third such cup in the series.
The key was a sensational second heat in which the Pak and Weisfield’s went head-to-head all five laps and each broke the old heat and one-lap records on the 2 ½ Ohio River course.
“All I knew was I had to go pretty fast to stay ahead of Billy. I didn’t have much left,” Henley said with a happy smile. “I haven’t had too many races like that even in limited racing where there’s more of that.
The two top boats dueled brilliantly in the opening preliminary heat but had to settle for second and third, with the Pak second, because both were penalized a lap for jumping the starter’s gun.
Then came the race that seemed as hot as the sun that baked more than 100,000 spectators. In that second battle, Henley averaged 115.148 miles per hour for the heat and had a top lap of 116.883. Weisfield’s was clocked at an average of 115.060.
The records, both set last year by Henley, were 110.892 and 114.796, respectively.
Familiar Face Back
Reprinted from the Spokane
After three years “on the beach,” Dave Heerensperger is
ready to return to unlimited hydroplane racing.
Chairman of the board of the Kent ,
Wash.-based Pay ‘N Pak chain, Heerensperger
got into the unlimiteds in the mid-1960s when he took over the old Miss Spokane
and was to produce three straight national champions before retiring in 1976.
After returning from the recent American Power Boat
Association meetings in Baton Rouge ,
La.
Jim Lucero, former crew chief of the three-time national
champion Pay ‘N Pak, will supervise building of the new boat this summer. At
the same time, he’ll continue as crew chief for 1978 national champion Atlas
Van Lines.
Known for his innovative departures, Heerensperger indicated
new materials and designs would be used in the new boat. A first model revealed
two wings, one in front as well as the rear wing. But many changes could be
made before the hull is built.
Charles Lyford, the expert behind the only turbine powered
hydroplane to compete on the unlimited circuit in the past, the ill-fated U-95,
will be the consultant on the engine requirements and features. Before the U-95
sank in 1974, it was hailed as the “boat of the future.”
The turbine will be a Lycoming T-55 L-7 gas turbine,
developed from military helicopters and said capable of producing 2,600-plus
horsepower.
Friday, May 11, 2012
Pay ‘n Pak Wins It!
Reprinted from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 5, 1974
Dave Heerensperger received a Gold Cup as a wedding present yesterday. It was something he’d always wanted.
George Henley piloted the unlimited hydroplane Pride of Pay ‘N Pak to a perfect Gold Cup victory on Lake Washington yesterday, then handed the golden goblet to Heerensperger, head of the Seattle racing team, who had been married just 24 hours earlier.
Pay ‘N Pak won all four races in which it was entered yesterday, including the winner-take-all finale, which ended in the dusk after eight-and-a-half hours of racing, before an estimated 35,000 spectators who had paid their way into the new Sand Point hydro area.
Accidents contributed greatly to the delay. The turbine-powered U-95 of Seattle sank in 180 feet of water when its engine exploded, and shrapnel punched a hole in the bottom of the experimental unlimited. In a rerun of that same heat an hour later, Miss U.S. of Detroit caught fire when hot metal from a blown engine ignited fuel in the boat’s bilge. Driver Tom D’Eath was uninjured, but highly critical of the operators of course-patrol craft, for failing to immediately quench the flames.
Dave Heerensperger received a Gold Cup as a wedding present yesterday. It was something he’d always wanted.
George Henley piloted the unlimited hydroplane Pride of Pay ‘N Pak to a perfect Gold Cup victory on Lake Washington yesterday, then handed the golden goblet to Heerensperger, head of the Seattle racing team, who had been married just 24 hours earlier.
Pay ‘N Pak won all four races in which it was entered yesterday, including the winner-take-all finale, which ended in the dusk after eight-and-a-half hours of racing, before an estimated 35,000 spectators who had paid their way into the new Sand Point hydro area.
Accidents contributed greatly to the delay. The turbine-powered U-95 of Seattle sank in 180 feet of water when its engine exploded, and shrapnel punched a hole in the bottom of the experimental unlimited. In a rerun of that same heat an hour later, Miss U.S. of Detroit caught fire when hot metal from a blown engine ignited fuel in the boat’s bilge. Driver Tom D’Eath was uninjured, but highly critical of the operators of course-patrol craft, for failing to immediately quench the flames.
Pak’s 122.531 M.P.H. Run Tops Field
By Del Danielson
Reprinted from The Seattle Times, August 2, 1974
Hydroplane drivers, in search of "good water," were out early today in the second of three qualifying sessions for Sunday’s Gold Cup race on Lake Washington.
Unlike yesterday, the 2½-mile Sand Point course was a placid pond this morning.
Bill Muncey, who complained of hazardous swells after two test runs yesterday, was the first on the course today. He qualified the Atlas Van Lines at a speed of 115.830 miles an hour, faster than any boat went yesterday.
Within an hour two drivers were ahead of Muncey on the speed ladder.
Top so far is a 122.531 run posted by George Henley in Pay ‘N Pak. Tom D’Eath, driver of the Miss U. S., ranks second at 119.366.
Ron Armstrong increased the Valu-Mart’s qualifying speed by turning two laps at an average of 115.017.
Yesterday’s leader, Howie Benns in the Budweiser, now ranks fifth.
Yesterday, a din dissatisfaction on the part of spectators was matched by a chorus of complaints from drivers.
Fans out to watch time trials at Sand Point found no drinking water, no shade, no comfortable spot to sit and a limited view of the course.
The drivers’ grievances concerned the course: Groundswells, hardly noticeable from the shore, make for a rough and hazardous ride.
"There are swells all over the course," Muncey said after two test runs in the Atlas Van Lines. "I hit one going into the first corner and another three fourths of the way through the turn. And more on the backstretch.
"I watched the other boats and every, one of ‘em that got any speed at all was seriously out of attitude."
Henley echoed Muncey’s comments.
"It’s going to be a slower race than usual, that’s for sure," Henley commented. "I just didn’t dare go over 150. You go over those swells and get to bouncing."
Henley felt the course, although far from perfect , was better in the morning than in the afternoon.
Henley got the Pak qualified with a two-lap average of 114.650 miles an hour in one of two morning runs.
Benns, aboard the Budweiser, edged Henley for the top qualifying speed (and $750) by going 114.869 m. p. h. later in the day.
Ten drivers braved the 2½-mile course for test runs; six of them reached the qualifying minimum of 90 m. p. h.
D’Eath, third best qualifier in the Miss U. S., wasted no words in the assessment of the layout:
"This is a terrible spot!"
Armstrong, after five practice runs, got the Valu-Mart officially in with an average of 104.774 m. p. h. Bill Wurster drove the Kirby Classic to a speed of 93.653 m. p. h., and Bob Saniga qualified the Australian Solo at 90.785 m. p. h.
Muncey is concerned, gravely, about the condition of the course and voiced a plan — providing the groundswells continue through tomorrow.
"I wouldn’t be ashamed at all to ask all the drivers to go — as a group — and ask that we race earlier on Sunday," Muncey said. "Maybe even two or three hours earlier.
"If it is ascertained that the course is going to be like this, we can’t afford not to consider something."
Qualifying continued today.
Reprinted from The Seattle Times, August 2, 1974
Hydroplane drivers, in search of "good water," were out early today in the second of three qualifying sessions for Sunday’s Gold Cup race on Lake Washington.
Unlike yesterday, the 2½-mile Sand Point course was a placid pond this morning.
Bill Muncey, who complained of hazardous swells after two test runs yesterday, was the first on the course today. He qualified the Atlas Van Lines at a speed of 115.830 miles an hour, faster than any boat went yesterday.
Within an hour two drivers were ahead of Muncey on the speed ladder.
Top so far is a 122.531 run posted by George Henley in Pay ‘N Pak. Tom D’Eath, driver of the Miss U. S., ranks second at 119.366.
Ron Armstrong increased the Valu-Mart’s qualifying speed by turning two laps at an average of 115.017.
Yesterday’s leader, Howie Benns in the Budweiser, now ranks fifth.
Yesterday, a din dissatisfaction on the part of spectators was matched by a chorus of complaints from drivers.
Fans out to watch time trials at Sand Point found no drinking water, no shade, no comfortable spot to sit and a limited view of the course.
The drivers’ grievances concerned the course: Groundswells, hardly noticeable from the shore, make for a rough and hazardous ride.
"There are swells all over the course," Muncey said after two test runs in the Atlas Van Lines. "I hit one going into the first corner and another three fourths of the way through the turn. And more on the backstretch.
"I watched the other boats and every, one of ‘em that got any speed at all was seriously out of attitude."
Henley echoed Muncey’s comments.
"It’s going to be a slower race than usual, that’s for sure," Henley commented. "I just didn’t dare go over 150. You go over those swells and get to bouncing."
Henley felt the course, although far from perfect , was better in the morning than in the afternoon.
Henley got the Pak qualified with a two-lap average of 114.650 miles an hour in one of two morning runs.
Benns, aboard the Budweiser, edged Henley for the top qualifying speed (and $750) by going 114.869 m. p. h. later in the day.
Ten drivers braved the 2½-mile course for test runs; six of them reached the qualifying minimum of 90 m. p. h.
D’Eath, third best qualifier in the Miss U. S., wasted no words in the assessment of the layout:
"This is a terrible spot!"
Armstrong, after five practice runs, got the Valu-Mart officially in with an average of 104.774 m. p. h. Bill Wurster drove the Kirby Classic to a speed of 93.653 m. p. h., and Bob Saniga qualified the Australian Solo at 90.785 m. p. h.
Muncey is concerned, gravely, about the condition of the course and voiced a plan — providing the groundswells continue through tomorrow.
"I wouldn’t be ashamed at all to ask all the drivers to go — as a group — and ask that we race earlier on Sunday," Muncey said. "Maybe even two or three hours earlier.
"If it is ascertained that the course is going to be like this, we can’t afford not to consider something."
Qualifying continued today.
Remund Sets 126.613 Hydro Qualifying Mark
By Del Danielson
Reprinted from The Seattle Times, August 4, 1973
Mickey Remund today set a Lake Washington record qualifying for tomorrow’s $50,000 World Championship unlimited hydroplane regatta.
Remund drove the Pay ‘N Pak to a three-lap average of 126.613 miles an hour, eclipsing the 125.874 mark set last year by Billy Sterett in another boat, Pride of Pay ‘N Pak.
It was Remund’s third qualifying run, upping his speed from a previous best of 124.568 m.p.h. Thursday he qualified at 122.728. Today, Remund was attempting to reach a 130-m.p.h., average.
A quick glance at the qualifying ladder might lead one to believe the Pay ‘N Pak and Budweiser are far and away the fastest of the 15 hydroplanes lining up for the race.
They are. And they aren’t.
The confusion is part of a little game called "fan plan follies" now in progress at the Stan Sayres Memorial Pits on the shore of Lake Washington.
The Fan Plan is the innovative format to match boats of like speed in preliminary heats, leading to a winner-take-all final.
Like cream, the Pay ‘N Pak and Budweiser went right to the top. After one day of qualifying, the Pak had a mark of 122.728 miles an hour. The Bud was close with a 121.901 m.p.h. average.
Nine other hydros were bunched between Pizza Pete at 100.022 m.p.h. and Shakey’s Special at 106.299 m.p.h. For all but a few of the hydro camps, the "sandbagger" label fits.
The numbers did spread out a bit yesterday, but there was no hurry to get into the "hot dog" flight, Mickey Remund moved the Pak’s speed up to 124.568 m.p.h.
The five fastest qualifiers will be in Flight-C tomorrow. The middle group will go in Flight B and the five slowpokes (or best sand-baggers) will start in Flight A.
Lee Schoenith, owner of the Pizza Pete and Atlas Van Lines, is an admitted sandbagger.
"There’s as much money up for winning Flight B as there is for running third in C. And the points are better."
As it stood this morning, Schoenith will send Bill Muncey out with the Atlas in Flight B. Fred Alter will pilot the Pizza Pete in the C section.
Schoenith may be trying to prove a point by keeping Muncey out of the speediest competition.
"I think the fan plan stinks," Schoenith said. "But I can play games too, if that’s what they want."
For a while, Muncey was in the top group with a qualifying average of 105.059 m.p.h.
When Tom Sheehy got the Miss Madison "in" with a two-lap average of 112.737 m.p.h., Muncey was dropped to fifth. And when Jim McCormick improved his speed in the Red Man I to 109.202 m.p.h., Muncey and the Atlas were put in the medium grouping.
"I got bumped!" Schoenith hollered in elation when McCormick’s speed was announced on the public-address system.
PIT STOPS: The average of 112.737 m.p.h. which put the Miss Madison in the fast flight did not bother Tom Sheehy, the driver. "We just go out and run and let the chips fall . . .," Sheehy said. "Sometimes you can over-engineer a project. Fool around with sandbagging too long and you can back yourself in a corner." . . . For some of the boat camps, it’s a matter of getting one problem solved and then finding something else to worry about. The Notre Dame blew an engine yesterday. The crew got things back in order and just as the crane lowered the craft to the water, the course was closed for the day . . .
Red Man II (former Country Boy) team solved an oil-pressure problem which had plagued George Henley on several test runs for a day and a half. With that fixed, the turbocharger attached to the big Allison engine decided to go "out of time." . . . Col. Jack Brown was scheduled to go through a driver’s qualification test today, running against the clock in a simulated start. If Brown doesn’t make it, Gene Whipp is the designated replacement to drive the Lincoln Thrift . . . Tomorrow's first heat of racing will begin at noon.
Reprinted from The Seattle Times, August 4, 1973
Mickey Remund today set a Lake Washington record qualifying for tomorrow’s $50,000 World Championship unlimited hydroplane regatta.
Remund drove the Pay ‘N Pak to a three-lap average of 126.613 miles an hour, eclipsing the 125.874 mark set last year by Billy Sterett in another boat, Pride of Pay ‘N Pak.
It was Remund’s third qualifying run, upping his speed from a previous best of 124.568 m.p.h. Thursday he qualified at 122.728. Today, Remund was attempting to reach a 130-m.p.h., average.
A quick glance at the qualifying ladder might lead one to believe the Pay ‘N Pak and Budweiser are far and away the fastest of the 15 hydroplanes lining up for the race.
They are. And they aren’t.
The confusion is part of a little game called "fan plan follies" now in progress at the Stan Sayres Memorial Pits on the shore of Lake Washington.
The Fan Plan is the innovative format to match boats of like speed in preliminary heats, leading to a winner-take-all final.
Like cream, the Pay ‘N Pak and Budweiser went right to the top. After one day of qualifying, the Pak had a mark of 122.728 miles an hour. The Bud was close with a 121.901 m.p.h. average.
Nine other hydros were bunched between Pizza Pete at 100.022 m.p.h. and Shakey’s Special at 106.299 m.p.h. For all but a few of the hydro camps, the "sandbagger" label fits.
The numbers did spread out a bit yesterday, but there was no hurry to get into the "hot dog" flight, Mickey Remund moved the Pak’s speed up to 124.568 m.p.h.
The five fastest qualifiers will be in Flight-C tomorrow. The middle group will go in Flight B and the five slowpokes (or best sand-baggers) will start in Flight A.
Lee Schoenith, owner of the Pizza Pete and Atlas Van Lines, is an admitted sandbagger.
"There’s as much money up for winning Flight B as there is for running third in C. And the points are better."
As it stood this morning, Schoenith will send Bill Muncey out with the Atlas in Flight B. Fred Alter will pilot the Pizza Pete in the C section.
Schoenith may be trying to prove a point by keeping Muncey out of the speediest competition.
"I think the fan plan stinks," Schoenith said. "But I can play games too, if that’s what they want."
For a while, Muncey was in the top group with a qualifying average of 105.059 m.p.h.
When Tom Sheehy got the Miss Madison "in" with a two-lap average of 112.737 m.p.h., Muncey was dropped to fifth. And when Jim McCormick improved his speed in the Red Man I to 109.202 m.p.h., Muncey and the Atlas were put in the medium grouping.
"I got bumped!" Schoenith hollered in elation when McCormick’s speed was announced on the public-address system.
PIT STOPS: The average of 112.737 m.p.h. which put the Miss Madison in the fast flight did not bother Tom Sheehy, the driver. "We just go out and run and let the chips fall . . .," Sheehy said. "Sometimes you can over-engineer a project. Fool around with sandbagging too long and you can back yourself in a corner." . . . For some of the boat camps, it’s a matter of getting one problem solved and then finding something else to worry about. The Notre Dame blew an engine yesterday. The crew got things back in order and just as the crane lowered the craft to the water, the course was closed for the day . . .
Red Man II (former Country Boy) team solved an oil-pressure problem which had plagued George Henley on several test runs for a day and a half. With that fixed, the turbocharger attached to the big Allison engine decided to go "out of time." . . . Col. Jack Brown was scheduled to go through a driver’s qualification test today, running against the clock in a simulated start. If Brown doesn’t make it, Gene Whipp is the designated replacement to drive the Lincoln Thrift . . . Tomorrow's first heat of racing will begin at noon.
Did Pak violate right-of-way rule?
By Del Danielson
Reprinted from The Seattle Times, August 6, 1973
Delayed reports of a possible rule infraction during the final heat of yesterday’s World Championship unlimited-hydroplane race led to the suspension of an assistant referee last night.
Arnold Green of Seattle, a long-time competitor and boat-race official in the Pacific Northwest, was banned from unlimited-class officialdom by Bill Newton, chief referee.
Green did not relay to Newton a reported violation of the lane-change rule by Mickey Remund, winner of the $50,000 race.
"We cannot tolerate such action," Newton said when the matter was taken up several hours after the finish of the race.
Newton and Buddy Byers, unlimited commissioner, last night issued a statement which said four course referees reported to Green that the Pay ‘N Pak violated the right-of-way rule by cutting too sharply on the Budweiser in the fourth turn of the second lap.
Green, contacted at his home last night, said a course referee did call the barge, but "I did not talk to him. I got his report second-hand., And I was watching the north turn, I felt there was no violation of any rule, I believe I was in a better position to see than a judge in a boat and I did not relay the incident to Newton.
"I made a decision. I guess I should have passed it on and let Newton handle it."
Newton’s statement said the incident happened in the "second lap." Actually, Mickey Remund in the Pay ‘N Pak moved to the inside lane and forced the Budweiser to the outside on the fourth turn of the first lap.
"I saw the Pay ‘N Pak move in," Green said. "But in my estimation he left enough room for the Budweiser so I didn’t pass it on."
The Budweiser camp did not say anything about a possible violation nor did they file a protest after the race. Chenoweth did not complain about being "cut off" when he returned to the pits after the heat.
Newton said he was watching the Budweiser and Pay ‘N Pak at the point in question and saw no violation.
Reprinted from The Seattle Times, August 6, 1973
Delayed reports of a possible rule infraction during the final heat of yesterday’s World Championship unlimited-hydroplane race led to the suspension of an assistant referee last night.
Arnold Green of Seattle, a long-time competitor and boat-race official in the Pacific Northwest, was banned from unlimited-class officialdom by Bill Newton, chief referee.
Green did not relay to Newton a reported violation of the lane-change rule by Mickey Remund, winner of the $50,000 race.
"We cannot tolerate such action," Newton said when the matter was taken up several hours after the finish of the race.
Newton and Buddy Byers, unlimited commissioner, last night issued a statement which said four course referees reported to Green that the Pay ‘N Pak violated the right-of-way rule by cutting too sharply on the Budweiser in the fourth turn of the second lap.
Green, contacted at his home last night, said a course referee did call the barge, but "I did not talk to him. I got his report second-hand., And I was watching the north turn, I felt there was no violation of any rule, I believe I was in a better position to see than a judge in a boat and I did not relay the incident to Newton.
"I made a decision. I guess I should have passed it on and let Newton handle it."
Newton’s statement said the incident happened in the "second lap." Actually, Mickey Remund in the Pay ‘N Pak moved to the inside lane and forced the Budweiser to the outside on the fourth turn of the first lap.
"I saw the Pay ‘N Pak move in," Green said. "But in my estimation he left enough room for the Budweiser so I didn’t pass it on."
The Budweiser camp did not say anything about a possible violation nor did they file a protest after the race. Chenoweth did not complain about being "cut off" when he returned to the pits after the heat.
Newton said he was watching the Budweiser and Pay ‘N Pak at the point in question and saw no violation.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Construction Slated on David Heerensperger’s Turbine-Powered Pay ‘n Pak
Jet age Unlimited hydroplane expected to make debut in 1980.
Seattle, Wash. – Construction on David Heerensperger’s turbine-powered Pay ‘N Pak Unlimited hydroplane is expected to begin early this spring. Project manager Jim Lucero unveiled a scale model of his newest design, a streamlined cab-over with a front spoiler and a rear stabilizer wing. Built of lightweight aluminum and wood, the jet age Pay ‘N Pak is expected to race for the first time in 1980.
Lucero will soon begin extensive modifications on the helicopter engines that will power the low profile Pay ‘N Pak. The turbine engines selected by Heerensperger and Lucero are expected to considerably reduce the long term engineering and maintenance expenses for Unlimited hydroplane teams.
The Unlimited Racing Commission, A.P.B.A., has granted unrestricted clearance to the turbine project for testing and competition for four years beginning with its first race.
Seattle, Wash. – Construction on David Heerensperger’s turbine-powered Pay ‘N Pak Unlimited hydroplane is expected to begin early this spring. Project manager Jim Lucero unveiled a scale model of his newest design, a streamlined cab-over with a front spoiler and a rear stabilizer wing. Built of lightweight aluminum and wood, the jet age Pay ‘N Pak is expected to race for the first time in 1980.
The Unlimited Racing Commission, A.P.B.A., has granted unrestricted clearance to the turbine project for testing and competition for four years beginning with its first race.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Heerensperger sells boat fleet
Reprinted from the Spokane Chronicle, October 20, 1983
Former Spokanite Dave Heerensperger, chairman of the board of directors of Pay ‘N Pak, has sold his entire unlimited hydroplane operation for reportedly between $500,000 and $1 million to Steve Woomer, owner of Competition Specialties Inc., a high-performance auto parts distributorship in Kent, Wash.
Former Spokanite Dave Heerensperger, chairman of the board of directors of Pay ‘N Pak, has sold his entire unlimited hydroplane operation for reportedly between $500,000 and $1 million to Steve Woomer, owner of Competition Specialties Inc., a high-performance auto parts distributorship in Kent, Wash.
 |
| Steve Woomer (left) and Jerry Verhauel looking over the Pay 'N Pak inventory. Photo by Rusty Rae. |
Heerensperger left unlimited hydroplane racing and put his turbine-powered boats up for sale after an accident that seriously injured driver John Walters of Renton in the 1982 Emerald Cup on Lake Washington. Walters has retired from racing.
Woomer originally planned to race a new boat powered by automotive engines, but it won’t be ready for the season opener. The Pay ‘N Pak operation includes the boat in which Walters flipped (left) and a new one that never has seen the water (right).
Remund Rolls In Regatta
Naples Daily News - Monday, May 21, 1973
MIAMI (AP) - Mickey Remund's domination of the season-opener $25,000 Champion Spark Plug Regatta has established his revolutionary Pride of Pay 'N Pak as the boat to beat in this year's Gold Cup series for unlimited hydroplanes.
Remund, of Palm Desert, Calif., twice pushed the Pay 'N Pak through the old Miami Marine Stadium record in Sunday's event, winning all three heats, 1,200 points and $6,500. He clocked 106.867 miles per hour in the first heat and 111.150 in the second, both times bettering the mark of 105.448 set last year by defending champion Bill Muncey.
Pay 'N Pak, owned by Dave Heerensperger of Seattle, features a new design with a horizontal stabilizer fin of the type usually seen on racing cars. The boat's hull is made of honeycomb magnesium and titanium to give lightness and strength.
Finishing second in the five-boat final was George Henley in Lincoln Thrift and Loan. He earned 900 points and $4,500.
Jim McCormick in Red Man was third for 794 points and $3,000, and Dean Chenoweth was fourth in Miss Budweiser for 569 and $2,350. Defending regatta and national champion Muncey was last, earning 300 points and $2,046 in his Atlas Van Lines.
But it was Muncey who gave Remund the closest competition.
MIAMI (AP) - Mickey Remund's domination of the season-opener $25,000 Champion Spark Plug Regatta has established his revolutionary Pride of Pay 'N Pak as the boat to beat in this year's Gold Cup series for unlimited hydroplanes.
Remund, of Palm Desert, Calif., twice pushed the Pay 'N Pak through the old Miami Marine Stadium record in Sunday's event, winning all three heats, 1,200 points and $6,500. He clocked 106.867 miles per hour in the first heat and 111.150 in the second, both times bettering the mark of 105.448 set last year by defending champion Bill Muncey.
Pay 'N Pak, owned by Dave Heerensperger of Seattle, features a new design with a horizontal stabilizer fin of the type usually seen on racing cars. The boat's hull is made of honeycomb magnesium and titanium to give lightness and strength.
Finishing second in the five-boat final was George Henley in Lincoln Thrift and Loan. He earned 900 points and $4,500.
Jim McCormick in Red Man was third for 794 points and $3,000, and Dean Chenoweth was fourth in Miss Budweiser for 569 and $2,350. Defending regatta and national champion Muncey was last, earning 300 points and $2,046 in his Atlas Van Lines.
But it was Muncey who gave Remund the closest competition.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Sheared prop shatters Pay 'n Pak hull
Monday, July 23, 1973
PASCO, Wash. (AP) — Jim Lucero, crew chief of the Pay 'N Pak unlimited hydroplane, stood a few feet away from the partially mangled boat and said, "There is only so much time in the life of a propeller. This one's time came faster than most."
With the record-shattering Gold Cup regatta just completed and the Miss Budweiser crew and driver Dean Chenoweth of a few yards away celebrating their victory, Lucero delivered what may have been the understatement of the day:
"When a hydro propeller is turned 12,000 revolutions per minute and a blade snaps off, it is severely out of balance."
As Lucero talked, one blade of the Pay 'N Pak's $1,500 hand-forged propeller was lying on the bottom of Columbia River. Lucero said it had been used in just one previous race.
The mishap to the Seattle-based hydroplane occurred in the first turn on the second lap of the championship heat Sunday. With Mickey Remund driving, the propeller blade sheared off—and the propeller shaft immediately wound around itself like a pretzel, tearing up the underside of the Pay 'N Pak hull.
If that wasn't already enough, the half-inch thick metal gear box near the engine immediately broke apart, leaving Remund and the boat that had been the national point leader dead in the water.
Chenoweth, who had been six seconds behind the Pak, and the Atlas Van Lines driven by Bill Muncey, both shot past the disappointed Remund.
Then, in the liveliest extended competition of the day, Muncey chased close behind the beer wagon for 2 1/2 laps at speeds around 160 miles per hour before the Bud finally pulled away to win the heat, the Gold Cup and the lion's share of $41,150 in prize money.
The Bud also collected 1,500 points over four heats of thunderboat racing, making the Lakeland, Fla.-based hydroplane the new national leader with two regattas left this year. The Pak collected 1,200 for the day and dropped to second in national standings. The Bud has 6,283 points, and the Pak 6,138.
Second Sunday was Muncey in the Detroit-based Atlas with 1,400.
PASCO, Wash. (AP) — Jim Lucero, crew chief of the Pay 'N Pak unlimited hydroplane, stood a few feet away from the partially mangled boat and said, "There is only so much time in the life of a propeller. This one's time came faster than most."
With the record-shattering Gold Cup regatta just completed and the Miss Budweiser crew and driver Dean Chenoweth of a few yards away celebrating their victory, Lucero delivered what may have been the understatement of the day:
"When a hydro propeller is turned 12,000 revolutions per minute and a blade snaps off, it is severely out of balance."
As Lucero talked, one blade of the Pay 'N Pak's $1,500 hand-forged propeller was lying on the bottom of Columbia River. Lucero said it had been used in just one previous race.
The mishap to the Seattle-based hydroplane occurred in the first turn on the second lap of the championship heat Sunday. With Mickey Remund driving, the propeller blade sheared off—and the propeller shaft immediately wound around itself like a pretzel, tearing up the underside of the Pay 'N Pak hull.
If that wasn't already enough, the half-inch thick metal gear box near the engine immediately broke apart, leaving Remund and the boat that had been the national point leader dead in the water.
Chenoweth, who had been six seconds behind the Pak, and the Atlas Van Lines driven by Bill Muncey, both shot past the disappointed Remund.
Then, in the liveliest extended competition of the day, Muncey chased close behind the beer wagon for 2 1/2 laps at speeds around 160 miles per hour before the Bud finally pulled away to win the heat, the Gold Cup and the lion's share of $41,150 in prize money.
The Bud also collected 1,500 points over four heats of thunderboat racing, making the Lakeland, Fla.-based hydroplane the new national leader with two regattas left this year. The Pak collected 1,200 for the day and dropped to second in national standings. The Bud has 6,283 points, and the Pak 6,138.
Second Sunday was Muncey in the Detroit-based Atlas with 1,400.
Walters First On the Waters
Reprinted from the Syracuse Post-Standard, June 15, 1982
ROMULUS (AP) - John Walters scored his first-ever unlimited hydroplane race victory Monday when he piloted his Pay 'N Pak boat to victory in the $75,000 Thunder in the Park race at Sampson State Park here.
The 28-year-old, second-year driver from Renton, Wash., won $135,000 after completing the five lap, 10-mile race at an average speed of 120.887 mph. The victory was the first ever for a turbine-powered unlimited hydroplane.
Only two boats in the six-boat final finished the race. Miss Madison, sponsored by Rich Plan Food Service of Utica, and driven by Tom Sheehy of Miami, finished second at an average speed of 86.106 mph.
Walters took the early lead in the final and fought off a last-second challenge from the Dean Chenoweth-piloted Miss Budweiser before gliding to the victory.
Chenoweth, of Tallahassee, Fla., finished fourth. He received a one-lap penalty for cutting off another boat before blowing his engine after completing four laps.
Earlier in the day, Chenoweth defeated Walters in a five-lap heat at an average speed of 116.732 mph.
In the final, The Squire Shop, piloted by Tom D'Eath of Fair Havern, Mich., finished third.
Atlas Van Lines and driver Chip Hanauer of Seattle finished fifth, while Miss Rock, skippered, by Bob Miller of Everett, Wash., placed sixth.
Miss KYYX, driven by Brenda Jones of Seattle, was disqualified in the heat for insufficient speed and placed seventh overall.
ROMULUS (AP) - John Walters scored his first-ever unlimited hydroplane race victory Monday when he piloted his Pay 'N Pak boat to victory in the $75,000 Thunder in the Park race at Sampson State Park here.
The 28-year-old, second-year driver from Renton, Wash., won $135,000 after completing the five lap, 10-mile race at an average speed of 120.887 mph. The victory was the first ever for a turbine-powered unlimited hydroplane.
 |
| The Pay 'N Pak (left) in a deck-to-deck battle with Miss Budweiser. |
Only two boats in the six-boat final finished the race. Miss Madison, sponsored by Rich Plan Food Service of Utica, and driven by Tom Sheehy of Miami, finished second at an average speed of 86.106 mph.
Walters took the early lead in the final and fought off a last-second challenge from the Dean Chenoweth-piloted Miss Budweiser before gliding to the victory.
Chenoweth, of Tallahassee, Fla., finished fourth. He received a one-lap penalty for cutting off another boat before blowing his engine after completing four laps.
Earlier in the day, Chenoweth defeated Walters in a five-lap heat at an average speed of 116.732 mph.
In the final, The Squire Shop, piloted by Tom D'Eath of Fair Havern, Mich., finished third.
Atlas Van Lines and driver Chip Hanauer of Seattle finished fifth, while Miss Rock, skippered, by Bob Miller of Everett, Wash., placed sixth.
Miss KYYX, driven by Brenda Jones of Seattle, was disqualified in the heat for insufficient speed and placed seventh overall.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
The Pak Is Back - Really!
One of the sport's winningest, most important boats arrives back in Seattle this week. Dr, Ken Muscatel purchased the 1973 Pay 'N Pak (Atlas Van Lines, Miss Madison) from the Dave Bartush collection in Detroit. The famous hull make a brief appearance at the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum before being moved Ken's Burien, Washington shop today. Ken's plans are to restore the boat to its original Pay 'N Pak livery.
The "Winged Wonder" Pay 'N Pak ranks among the all-time great Thunderboats with 22 race victories. It stands with designer Ron Jones, Sr.'s other big winner, the 1980 Rolls-Royce Griffon-powered Miss Budweiser, which likewise captured 22 first-place trophies. The 1973 Pay 'N Pak, which became Bill Muncey's Atlas Van Lines in 1976, 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 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 [crew chief] 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."
Perhaps the most eloquent showcase of the talents of Ron Jones occurred at the 1973 World's Championship Race in Seattle. Despite mist and rain, the competition was superb and unforgettable. The honeycomb Pay 'N Pak and its 1970 predecessor (renamed Miss Budweiser) ran side-by-side. Drivers Mickey Remund and Dean Chenoweth 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."
That 1973 campaign was the first season in which hulls designed by Ron won the majority of Unlimited races (eight out of nine). Pay 'N Pak and Miss Budweiser both had four wins and finished one-two in National High Points. 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.
The famous Pak-Bud rivalry continued into 1974. Pay 'N Pak won seven races and Miss Budweiser won four to sweep the eleven-race campaign.
The 1975 season was another banner year for the Ron Jones hulls. That's when the Billy Schumacher-chauffeured Weisfield's (former Valu-Mart) had the defending National Champion Pay 'N Pak on the ropes in the first three races. But Pay 'N Pak driver George Henley overcame an almost insurmountable point lead by winning five of the last six races of the season to retain the championship.
Never before or since has the momentum of one boat been so surely halted by the performance of another challenger.
 |
| The 1973 Pay 'N Pak in Miss Madison form. |
The "Winged Wonder" Pay 'N Pak ranks among the all-time great Thunderboats with 22 race victories. It stands with designer Ron Jones, Sr.'s other big winner, the 1980 Rolls-Royce Griffon-powered Miss Budweiser, which likewise captured 22 first-place trophies. The 1973 Pay 'N Pak, which became Bill Muncey's Atlas Van Lines in 1976, 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 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 [crew chief] 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."
Perhaps the most eloquent showcase of the talents of Ron Jones occurred at the 1973 World's Championship Race in Seattle. Despite mist and rain, the competition was superb and unforgettable. The honeycomb Pay 'N Pak and its 1970 predecessor (renamed Miss Budweiser) ran side-by-side. Drivers Mickey Remund and Dean Chenoweth 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."
That 1973 campaign was the first season in which hulls designed by Ron won the majority of Unlimited races (eight out of nine). Pay 'N Pak and Miss Budweiser both had four wins and finished one-two in National High Points. 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.
The famous Pak-Bud rivalry continued into 1974. Pay 'N Pak won seven races and Miss Budweiser won four to sweep the eleven-race campaign.
The 1975 season was another banner year for the Ron Jones hulls. That's when the Billy Schumacher-chauffeured Weisfield's (former Valu-Mart) had the defending National Champion Pay 'N Pak on the ropes in the first three races. But Pay 'N Pak driver George Henley overcame an almost insurmountable point lead by winning five of the last six races of the season to retain the championship.
Never before or since has the momentum of one boat been so surely halted by the performance of another challenger.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
The Real Turbine Story
Reprinted from Russ's Hydroplane Page.
With the arrival in 1984 of not one but three turbine-engine-powered thunderboats, the interest of media and fan alike quickened. Who? Was the first person to think of a turbine? What? Was the year when the first turbine hit the water? When? Did this initiation take place? Where? Was the site of the first turbine's test? Why? Did the sport of hydro racing gravitate toward turbines?
Veteran hydro fans may remember the name Jim Herrington. An Irish face, pug nose and all. An Irish personality, a drinking man's drinking man. You get the idea. Herrington was active in the sport during the 1960's and very early 1970's. His Mariner Too and Miss Lapeer hydros won their share of the marbles and were always front runners. Miss Lapeer won the Sacramento Cup in 1966, and Herrington started thinking about a new Miss Lapeer. Loathe to stand still and not make progress, he began an investigation of turbine engines, and decided in 1967 to try to make one go. First he retired the older of his two boats - the Mariner Too.
Then, he transported that boat to Les Staudacher's boat shop in Kawkawlin, Michigan. Staudacher, renowned builder that he was, made changes in the Mariner Too, moving the driver's seat forward and making room in the back for 11 feet of engine. The engine dwarfed the boat. More properly, both engines dwarfed the 30-foot long boat.
Herrington engaged the services of master mechanic Charles Voelker to put together the power package. After much discussion, Herrington commissioned Voelker and Staudacher to marry two turbine engines. The First was a General Electric J-25 used in a Navy seaplane. This tidy little "hair dryer" was used to produce gas pressure to operate the larger engine. The larger, free turbine, engine was a Westinghouse J-46, also used in Navy aircraft
The two engines took two years to perfect and were installed in the Mariner Too which was taken to Guntersville, Alabama to run on the placid lake there. Tests by driver Fred Alter were far from conclusive but the idea looked good. Herrington next commissioned Staudacher to build a new boat. The result was a new U-99 Miss Lapeer completed in 1971. She had to be 34 feet long to handle 11 feet of engines. The extra length required extra width, 14 feet to be exact. As a result the entire rig weighed 7,250 pounds. A behemoth.
Today's turbine engines are about three to four feet long. The 2,800 pounds worth of engines developed 3,200 horsepower, but in this configuration lay the seeds of the Miss Lapeer's demise. As Staudacher recalls it, the "gas producer engine" was "about 17% shy" of having even pressure to produce a well-balanced machine. "Had we been 17% over, things would have been great, but we weren't, is his recollection.
Taken to Detroit for a race in 1971, the Miss lapeer, as owner Herrington put it, "just putt-putted around" and the lack of enough gas pressure caused the engine to overheat and destroy itself. End of Miss Lapeer. End of turbine power for the present. End of Jim Herrington as an unlimited owner.
But the idea wouldn't die. Watching Herrington's project from the sidelines was Don Edwards, of Santa Barbara, California. Edwards, a drag boat racer, in 1967 commissioned Rich Hallett to build him a 30 foot boat which was modeled after jet speed record holder Lee Taylor, of Downey, California (later killed in a jet powered boat trying for a water speed record at Lake Tahoe, California).
Hallett's product was called Golden Commotion, named after Edward's drag boat of the same name. Edwards worked on it and installations were completed in the garage and driveway of his home. For power, Edwards chose two Allison T-40 turboshaft engines. They were supposed to deliver 5,000 horsepower and 14,000 RPM's. In 1968, all systems installed, Edwards decided on a trailer test. There was a major malfunction of the engines and the whole kit and caboodle exploded and then burned. Scratch another hopeful.
About the time Herrington was overloading his Lapeer turbine on the Detroit River, Jim Clapp, Seattle business and investment executive decided he might have a go at a turbine powered boat. He engaged the services of Chuck Lyford, well known flyer soldier of fortune and Dwight Thorn, another aircraft engine bug. Lyford also had connections with hydroplaners and it wasn't long, comparatively speaking, till Ron Jones turned out a beautiful 30 foot long three-tailed speedster called the U-95. No Sponsor. Just a number. U-95.
Driven by Leif Borgersen, the U-95 was powered by two Lycoming T-53 engines, the sort used in Huey Helicopters. In 1974, the U-95 made its racing debut. Clapp had more success than anyone else, even winning a heat now and then. But, misfortune again struck a turbine pioneer. Clapp contracted a terminal illness and died. There was still no solution, as yet, to the main problems of the turbine engines in boats - heat! Sequestered down in the hull (as opposed to out in the open on airplanes) the turbines simply could not operate effectively when overheated.
It was 1980 before another owner took a shot at turbine power. Dave Heeresperger, President, Chairman of the Board and absolutely the ultimate in where the buck stops at Pay 'N Pak stores, had been a force with which to contend for several years, winning Gold Cups, races and National Championships with almost diffident ease. He commissioned crew chief Jim Lucero to build him a new boat - and it, too was to be a turbine with Jim Lucero the crew chief and engine master.
Lucero chose a T-55 Lycoming, grandchild of the T-53. The progeny was more powerful than the antecedent. The T-55 Lycoming developed 2,200 horsepower and weighed about 600 pounds. The two T-53's could develop only 900 horsepower each. The T-55 was also a helicopter engine, and was mounted in Chinook (CH-47) helicopters that whizzed over Vietnam jungles.
Lucero and driver John Walters had a hair raising experience the first time at a race. The Pay 'N Pak got airborne and did 2 complete 360 degree flips enroute to an accident. Repaired, the Pay 'N Pak picked up the first turbine-powered hydroplane victory ever in New York in 1982 - and then crashed in August 1982 in a first lap melee at Seattle. Scratch Heerensperger, who left the sport with a blast at everyone. Scratch the turbine. Scratch the Pay 'N Pak.
Not quite. Advance the calendar two years. The 1984 Season. Turbines were busting out all over. Steve Woomer, Seattle auto parts dealer, purchased Heerensperger's old boat and a brand new hull that was waiting to make its debut. It, too, used the T- 55 Lycoming engine. Woomer completed installations, testing and Steve Reynolds drove the boat. Lucero, Winner of many national championships and world championships with Pay 'N Pak, and Atlas Van Lines, decided to take the turbine plunge again in 1984.
Again T-55 Lycoming. Again Lucero built the boat. In 1984 driver Chip Hanauer won two races and raised the lap record to almost 146 MPH and in general convinced everyone that when the turbine Atlas finished, it won! But the biggest chunk was bitten out of the turbines by Houstonian R.B. "Bob" Taylor, who won one race as a freshman owner in 1983. Armed with a new sponsor, Lite Beer, from Miller, Taylor commissioned Lucero to build the Lite All Star and adapted a General Electric T-64 (4,000 horsepower) to run his new mount.
Problems. Wouldn't start. Weird installations of various systems. Heat. Unable to start because of required high pressure. There's more, but it's redundant. It took four races into the season before the Lite All Star qualified for a race. It took several changes in personnel to come down with a reliable team. But once the Lite All Star qualified it was steady, and marginally, competitive. Since the year of 1984 turbines have won every race but seven - and the last time a boat won that wasn't turbine-powered was 1989 in Tri-Cities, Washington.
With the arrival in 1984 of not one but three turbine-engine-powered thunderboats, the interest of media and fan alike quickened. Who? Was the first person to think of a turbine? What? Was the year when the first turbine hit the water? When? Did this initiation take place? Where? Was the site of the first turbine's test? Why? Did the sport of hydro racing gravitate toward turbines?
Veteran hydro fans may remember the name Jim Herrington. An Irish face, pug nose and all. An Irish personality, a drinking man's drinking man. You get the idea. Herrington was active in the sport during the 1960's and very early 1970's. His Mariner Too and Miss Lapeer hydros won their share of the marbles and were always front runners. Miss Lapeer won the Sacramento Cup in 1966, and Herrington started thinking about a new Miss Lapeer. Loathe to stand still and not make progress, he began an investigation of turbine engines, and decided in 1967 to try to make one go. First he retired the older of his two boats - the Mariner Too.
Then, he transported that boat to Les Staudacher's boat shop in Kawkawlin, Michigan. Staudacher, renowned builder that he was, made changes in the Mariner Too, moving the driver's seat forward and making room in the back for 11 feet of engine. The engine dwarfed the boat. More properly, both engines dwarfed the 30-foot long boat.
Herrington engaged the services of master mechanic Charles Voelker to put together the power package. After much discussion, Herrington commissioned Voelker and Staudacher to marry two turbine engines. The First was a General Electric J-25 used in a Navy seaplane. This tidy little "hair dryer" was used to produce gas pressure to operate the larger engine. The larger, free turbine, engine was a Westinghouse J-46, also used in Navy aircraft
The two engines took two years to perfect and were installed in the Mariner Too which was taken to Guntersville, Alabama to run on the placid lake there. Tests by driver Fred Alter were far from conclusive but the idea looked good. Herrington next commissioned Staudacher to build a new boat. The result was a new U-99 Miss Lapeer completed in 1971. She had to be 34 feet long to handle 11 feet of engines. The extra length required extra width, 14 feet to be exact. As a result the entire rig weighed 7,250 pounds. A behemoth.
Today's turbine engines are about three to four feet long. The 2,800 pounds worth of engines developed 3,200 horsepower, but in this configuration lay the seeds of the Miss Lapeer's demise. As Staudacher recalls it, the "gas producer engine" was "about 17% shy" of having even pressure to produce a well-balanced machine. "Had we been 17% over, things would have been great, but we weren't, is his recollection.
Taken to Detroit for a race in 1971, the Miss lapeer, as owner Herrington put it, "just putt-putted around" and the lack of enough gas pressure caused the engine to overheat and destroy itself. End of Miss Lapeer. End of turbine power for the present. End of Jim Herrington as an unlimited owner.
But the idea wouldn't die. Watching Herrington's project from the sidelines was Don Edwards, of Santa Barbara, California. Edwards, a drag boat racer, in 1967 commissioned Rich Hallett to build him a 30 foot boat which was modeled after jet speed record holder Lee Taylor, of Downey, California (later killed in a jet powered boat trying for a water speed record at Lake Tahoe, California).
Hallett's product was called Golden Commotion, named after Edward's drag boat of the same name. Edwards worked on it and installations were completed in the garage and driveway of his home. For power, Edwards chose two Allison T-40 turboshaft engines. They were supposed to deliver 5,000 horsepower and 14,000 RPM's. In 1968, all systems installed, Edwards decided on a trailer test. There was a major malfunction of the engines and the whole kit and caboodle exploded and then burned. Scratch another hopeful.
About the time Herrington was overloading his Lapeer turbine on the Detroit River, Jim Clapp, Seattle business and investment executive decided he might have a go at a turbine powered boat. He engaged the services of Chuck Lyford, well known flyer soldier of fortune and Dwight Thorn, another aircraft engine bug. Lyford also had connections with hydroplaners and it wasn't long, comparatively speaking, till Ron Jones turned out a beautiful 30 foot long three-tailed speedster called the U-95. No Sponsor. Just a number. U-95.
Driven by Leif Borgersen, the U-95 was powered by two Lycoming T-53 engines, the sort used in Huey Helicopters. In 1974, the U-95 made its racing debut. Clapp had more success than anyone else, even winning a heat now and then. But, misfortune again struck a turbine pioneer. Clapp contracted a terminal illness and died. There was still no solution, as yet, to the main problems of the turbine engines in boats - heat! Sequestered down in the hull (as opposed to out in the open on airplanes) the turbines simply could not operate effectively when overheated.
It was 1980 before another owner took a shot at turbine power. Dave Heeresperger, President, Chairman of the Board and absolutely the ultimate in where the buck stops at Pay 'N Pak stores, had been a force with which to contend for several years, winning Gold Cups, races and National Championships with almost diffident ease. He commissioned crew chief Jim Lucero to build him a new boat - and it, too was to be a turbine with Jim Lucero the crew chief and engine master.
Lucero chose a T-55 Lycoming, grandchild of the T-53. The progeny was more powerful than the antecedent. The T-55 Lycoming developed 2,200 horsepower and weighed about 600 pounds. The two T-53's could develop only 900 horsepower each. The T-55 was also a helicopter engine, and was mounted in Chinook (CH-47) helicopters that whizzed over Vietnam jungles.
Lucero and driver John Walters had a hair raising experience the first time at a race. The Pay 'N Pak got airborne and did 2 complete 360 degree flips enroute to an accident. Repaired, the Pay 'N Pak picked up the first turbine-powered hydroplane victory ever in New York in 1982 - and then crashed in August 1982 in a first lap melee at Seattle. Scratch Heerensperger, who left the sport with a blast at everyone. Scratch the turbine. Scratch the Pay 'N Pak.
Not quite. Advance the calendar two years. The 1984 Season. Turbines were busting out all over. Steve Woomer, Seattle auto parts dealer, purchased Heerensperger's old boat and a brand new hull that was waiting to make its debut. It, too, used the T- 55 Lycoming engine. Woomer completed installations, testing and Steve Reynolds drove the boat. Lucero, Winner of many national championships and world championships with Pay 'N Pak, and Atlas Van Lines, decided to take the turbine plunge again in 1984.
Again T-55 Lycoming. Again Lucero built the boat. In 1984 driver Chip Hanauer won two races and raised the lap record to almost 146 MPH and in general convinced everyone that when the turbine Atlas finished, it won! But the biggest chunk was bitten out of the turbines by Houstonian R.B. "Bob" Taylor, who won one race as a freshman owner in 1983. Armed with a new sponsor, Lite Beer, from Miller, Taylor commissioned Lucero to build the Lite All Star and adapted a General Electric T-64 (4,000 horsepower) to run his new mount.
Problems. Wouldn't start. Weird installations of various systems. Heat. Unable to start because of required high pressure. There's more, but it's redundant. It took four races into the season before the Lite All Star qualified for a race. It took several changes in personnel to come down with a reliable team. But once the Lite All Star qualified it was steady, and marginally, competitive. Since the year of 1984 turbines have won every race but seven - and the last time a boat won that wasn't turbine-powered was 1989 in Tri-Cities, Washington.
Monday, February 20, 2012
The Master Speaks - An Interview with Ron Jones Sr.
By Anne McRayde
Reprinted from Skid Fin Magazine, 2003, Vol 1, No. 1
Reprinted from Skid Fin Magazine, 2003, Vol 1, No. 1
 |
| Ron Jones in 2010. |
How did you first begin building boats?
You could say I was born with it. My father was Ted Jones, who invented the three-point hydroplane, as we know it today. As a little boy, I was able to go with Dad, and my three sisters, and Mom to the lake and watch Dad test. When he was out testing my three sisters, who are marvelous people, screamed and hollered. I stood there very stoically and quietly. At the end of the dad my Mother would tell my Father, “I don’t think Ron’s interested in those boats, you know the girls just scream, but Ron just stands there.” Well I was just dying inside to be a part of it, but didn’t know how to say it. My Dad was insistent that I not do this that he locked the basement door where he kept his hydroplanes and wouldn’t let me in there. Of course I figured out a way to get in on my own. When he was at work I would go in and study what was going on. I was born with it and made it a part of my life ever since. This is my 53rd year; I’ve been building hydroplanes a long time.
Did your father encourage you once he saw how interested you were?
Actually no. He did his best to stop me from getting involved. My Dad had a lot of heart-breaking experiences in the business realm of hydroplane racing. He warned me that if I did this there would be a lot of heartbreak and little pay. He believed that when all was said and done I would look back and say, “Why did I do that?” Well, mostly he was right, but I am very thankful that I did it. I have lots and lots of wonderful friends and family as a result of hydroplane racing. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
You mentioned that your father discouraged you from building hydroplanes. Your son, Ron Jones, Jr., is a boat builder as well. Did you encourage your son or take the same approach as your father?
I did what I hoped was right. I encouraged him in the sense that when he was very young, we made sure that he and his two sisters went with us to the races. I noticed at the races a lot of times Ron, Jr., was over on the swings or on the slide. I wasn’t sure about his interest, just as my Mom wasn’t sure about mine because I didn’t yell and scream. But, Ron Jr., did have an interest, which he developed throughout his high school years. When he was in high school he worked in my shop a few hours. He developed into a marvelous boat builder. Today he has his own facility where he builds things out of composite. He builds airplane parts and hydroplanes. To be very honest, business-wise he’s far more successful than I. He’s constructed a wonderful business that’s very profitable and growing. Not only does he build great hydroplanes, but he has a contract to build doors for airplane cockpits. I admire him greatly; he has wonderful abilities and he is a very, very bright young man.
Can you explain the process you take when building a boat?
I usually start with a piece of blank white paper. I draw one line and that’s the baseline. From there I construct the hydroplane in my head as I am drawing. As I begin to draw the boat all the things I’ve done in the past go through my mind. I remember the things that did and didn’t work. I try to think of new things that will be better. Eventually I have a drawing on a piece of paper. I let the paper sit for three or four days. I come back, look at it and say, “Oh no, that can’t be right.” It takes quite a while just to draw it. Then the actual construction begins. We build hydroplanes today of composite material, which is very much like aerospace material. Due to that, we have a lot of molds and tooling already prepared. Even so, with two good men working hard, it takes about six months to prepare an Unlimited Light from start to finish and get it ready to go into the water.
If you recall the days of the Slo-mo-shun and the old boats powered by airplane engines, we think of those as the “glory days.” The Unlimited Lights, that are built today, run with much smaller engines. As a result, the Unlimited Light is a very complex, fast, difficult piece of equipment. It’s easy to build a hydroplane; lots of people do it. The secret is to keep the propeller hooked up to the water and the boat stable on the water so bad things won’t happen and ruin your afternoon.
What inspiration do you have as you begin to design a boat?
When I sit down with that white piece of paper, before I draw the baseline, I pray. Because I know the extent of what’s going to happen, so I ask the Lord to help me put down the right lines and not the wrong ones. I would say that it’s the grace of God, if there is any success, it would be because of him. Now people obviously say, if every boat builder asked him for help, how can one boat win and not the other? I didn’t say that I ask him to win, I don’t. I ask him to let me do my best and to have the safest boat that I can possibly produce. I’m thankful for that because he has been faithful to help me.
Is each component specialized for every hydroplane you build?
Yes that is the secret for not making money. Don’t ever build the same boat twice, build everything differently. I have been criticized for that a good deal. But you see for me, after I build a boat, I am very proud of it. For example, after building Barbara Michael’s 5-Liter boat, I went to the races and watched it. I was very excited about it. In my mind I was thinking of all the things I would do to make the next boat better.
Every boat is a custom boat in the most intense sense of the word. Rudder shapes, propellers, shafts, skid fins, all the components of a boat are each unique. Eventually, the parts become unique to that boat. You don’t call up the hydroplane store and order parts. There is no hydroplane store, you’re it. Therefore you get to design all the pieces and build them one at a time. Because you had something fail ten years ago, this sticks in your mind and you never want to do it again, so you make this part a little better than you have ever made it before. Automatically you become a metallurgist because you have to learn what this metal will or won’t do. Then you have to learn about heat treatment of metal. You learn about paint, sub-painting, sanding, and wood.
In the old days we learned all about wood and what it could and could not do. Then once I decided that hydroplanes should be made out of composites we had to learn a whole new discipline. That was a whole new world to learn. We love composite because in the old days with the wood boats, if it crashed it was usually finished for the season. With the composite boat, they turn it upside down and sometimes race in the next heat. The structure is wonderful so you learn composite. You learn how to make the boat comfortable and user-friendly for the driver.
All the parts of a boat then, work together as one.
That is absolutely right. It takes a lot of pieces, a lot of thought. I love the sport, but I get the biggest kick out of designing a boat with this blank piece of paper and seeing it come to life. The boat becomes this living entity. Then I get to go see it run and I tell myself, “ I am going to make the next one better.” That’s what keeps me going.
You mentioned boats moved from being built with wood to composite materials. What do you see as the future material for boats?
Right now everybody is familiar with Tupperware, which is a wonderfully modern plastic, but you surely could not build a boat out of it; it wouldn’t take the abuse. However, there are people in the plastics industry working on a material like Tupperware. They take a big sheet of flat plastic, already made, put it on a form and place it in an oven in a vacuum. As the heat rises the sheet of plastic takes the shape it was around. You pull it and the end result is the final shape. That sounds far-fetched, but it is being worked on right now. That would be marvelous because you could mold a boat in a few hours, instead of a few weeks. Maybe in two or three days you would have a bare hull. That is a goal, which will hopefully be achieved.
There are many other wonderful products available to improve even on our composite structure, but composites generally take a long time to put together. Let’s say that Unlimited Light racing became so popular that 20 people came to me and all wanted a boat for next season. Short of a miracle, that won’t happen. But in the method I previously described, it’s possible that production could be set up to do something that well.
From the time you built your first hull to now, technology has dramatically advanced. Was it more fun back in the old days when you were building boats in your garage out of wood?
Not really, I have just as much fun today, 53 years later, as I did in my Dad’s basement at home. I built my first hydroplane based on some little drawings and a few numbers my Dad sketched on the back of an old envelope. I was 16 years old when I looked at that envelope; I didn’t have a clue what was going on. My Dad left then to go to Detroit and race the Slo-mo-shun. He was gone for a number of months. In that basement I built a little 48 c.i. hydroplane or what we call today a 1.5-Litre. I built that little boat all by myself out of wood. I was nearly done when a local fellow racing in that class heard about it and came to see it. The fellow looked and the boat and said, “I’d like to buy that.” I replied that I was building the boat for myself and was naming it Pop’s Chip, for chip off the old block. He said he would give me $300 for it. As a 16-year-old in 1948 this sounded like a really good idea.
I had a lot of fun with that boat, but it launched me into building other boats for people. I am 69 years old and having a ball building Barbara Michael’s Unlimited Light hull. I started with a piece of white paper. I put a baseline on it and all the lines are new, not like ones I’ve built before. It’s not radically different and most people won’t notice a difference, but I notice. There is a lot of difference. It’s a lot of fun and I can’t wait to get the boat in the water and have Barbara drive it.
How did you keep up with the rapidly changing technology?
I learned to build the first few boats by observing through a peephole in the basement while my Dad was working. While I wasn’t able to look firsthand, he did, like I said, drew a little boat on the back of an envelope. He did that a number of times.
I built the 1958 Miss Bardahl Unlimited hydroplane, my first Unlimited, under those exact circumstances. My Dad had a contract with Mercury Marine; he was a close friend of the owner. My Dad got a big contract to go back east for a number of months. He was just getting ready to go to the airport, I was driving him, when the phone rang. It was Ole Bardahl and he said, “Mr. Jones, I’d like you to build me a boat.” My father replied that he was just leaving to go back east on a big contract. Ole persisted; he wanted an Unlimited hydroplane. My Dad said he would fix him up. Meanwhile, I was standing outside waiting and becoming worried because we were late. On the way to the airport I drove and on an envelope he pulled from his pocket, my Dad drew some lines and numbers that became the Miss Bardahl.
You either learn or you aren’t going to make it. I learned technology by doing. My education is limited; I’m a high-school graduate. For a time, I attended Seattle Pacific University during the day, and because I had a family I also worked nights at Boeing. On my way to school after working all night at Boeing I woke up driving down Rainier Avenue. I was driving down the avenue and cars were honking and swerving on both sides of me. I realized this was not the way to live. I chose boats rather than education.
While I’m not formally educated I made it a goal of mine to study aerodynamics and hydrodynamics. I am layman when it comes to those topics. I understand pretty well what goes on in the water and the air. That turns out to be the most difficult technological discipline on the face of this planet.
For instance, the Russians when it was the Soviet Union, spent billions of dollars and years of testing technology and wind tunneling trying to build a boat that would fly and thus reduce the cost of transportation. After the Cold War was over they invited Americans of a similar discipline to come and see what they had done. Seven Americans went over and got a ride in this boat. It was a 325 mph part boat and part airplane. The pilot of this boat/airplane seated the American and Russian passengers and away they went. Once they hit 250 mph, the pilot took his hands off the wheel, turned around and said, “What do you think boys?” As he had turned around, the boat suddenly ran over a big wave and it pitched them up into the air. The pilot panicked, turned around and shoved the yoke forward as you would with an airplane. The boat/airplane nosed in at 250 mph. Fortunately, only one person died and several others had injuries. I say fortunately because it could have been much worse. The Russians lost this multi-million dollar craft. Why did I tell this story?
Because the discipline of building a boat that’s really an airplane and having it maintain both hydrodynamic and aerodynamic contact in one phase, is the most difficult thing to learn. We have a long way to go, but we’ve learned a lot. I suspect the next leap forward in technology will be a hydroplane that goes very fast, does all the things we want it to do and cannot blow over. One of my goals before I die is to make that happen.
When you build a boat for somebody, how closely do you work with the customer?
We try to make that a valid part of every boat. First of all, in boat racing my customer’s end up being my friends. Immediately, I am concerned about them. I become concerned about the owner if they should not happen to be the driver, because obviously he is invested a great deal of money. He chose me because he thinks I can do what it is that he wants done. If he has a driver or even if he is the driver, I become doubly concerned about their safety.
In the case of Gary and Barbara Michael, they have placed their confidence in me, which I appreciate more than anyone would ever know, but I want to reciprocate. I want to a part of that boat. As I said, I want that boat to become a living entity. I want to be a part of that entity all the time. Occasionally, I do get a customer who will buy a boat and then disappear and not consult with me. Usually what ends up happening is that they are not successful and sell the boat. The new owner calls me and says, “What should I do?” They become successful, set world records or whatever. Consequently, we like to be part of the boat all the time.
You were a major force behind developing safety concepts in hydroplane racing. Can you explain some of the concepts you developed?
The sport, unfortunately, has had a dangerous and difficult path. Many people lost their lives in hydroplanes. I did not want to attend any more funerals; it was too tragic. There was one day when three drivers died in Unlimited hydroplane racing. I made up my mind that somehow there has to be a better way. At the moment, I didn’t know what that was, but I kept looking into things that could work better.
It was safety that drove me my whole life to change things the way I do. I have been pushing the canopy idea since the mid-or-late ‘60s. It was hard for that to be accepted. People thought they would be like a marble in a glass jar, and when the boat crashed they would be rattled around and pulverized. They didn’t want any part of it. They assumed that they would drown in a canopy. I received all kinds of resistance, but I become so concerned for the people, that we developed things we think are better and safer, and make the sport better for everyone.
I have tried to make the boats safer, aerodynamically, which is a big problem. These boats like to be airplanes and fly away at unspoken moments. We have made safety features to prevent that from happening. But I think the biggest thing we have done is develop an environment in which the driver can survive a vicious crash. We chose to call it the enclosed safety canopy. It looks very much like a fighter plane canopy, which is where I got the idea. I bought a book on all the world’s fighter planes and I looked at every one carefully to see which one had something that we could utilize in the race boats. At that time I was doing this for Unlimited hydroplanes. I saw the F-16 fighter plane; the Air Force calls it the “Flying Falcon.”
The F-16’s canopy was a marvelous shape for us because it had a one-piece all plastic canopy with no structure. I knew that was what we had to have. I used that idea as my basis for developing the Unlimited canopy. Originally, I put F-16 canopies directly onto Unlimiteds. I made a structure that would hold it on the boat.
It was a while before we learned how it worked. We learned accidentally in a boat called the 7-Eleven. Steve Reynolds, a local driver, was testing in Pasco. He made a hard turn as he was supposed to do. The skid fin, which is a big piece of steel that hangs down on the left side of the boat preventing slides in the turns, broke off. The boat did an inside roll. It went clean over and lit right side up. The crew had radio contact with Steve and once it settled down he said to them, “Hey fellas I think I just spun out, I saw a lot of water.” He didn’t even realize what had happened. Meanwhile, the crew told him to sit there and they came right over.
That event started it, it set the program in motion. Everybody realized that the canopy was a good concept and we had better do it. I’ve graduated from putting a one-piece F-16 canopy to building an all-composite structure. I don’t put F-16 canopies directly on boats anymore because they are subject to deterioration by ultraviolet rays. We build a composite canopy with a minimum number of windows in it and they have been very successful. The windows are made like the F-16 itself, but these windows, the windshield and two side windows, are just large enough to see out of.
For once in my life, after building canopies I can attend a race and semi-relax instead of standing there with my fists clenched wondering if someone is going to be hurt. It’s a good feeling to know that the canopies have saved a number of lives.
Throughout your career, approximately how many boats have you built?
I don’t have an exact number, but it is over 500. Maybe 65 to 70 percent of those were built in the “old days” when we used wood. I love working with wood. It is a marvelous material and it has wonderful qualities. However, wood won’t take the constant abuse that hydroplanes give it. If you crash one it’s usually kindling. These days, by graduating to composite material, the boats last indefinitely. We really don’t know how long they will last, some of them have been around for 15 years and are still running. They can take crashes and be re-built very quickly. The most important aspect is that the structure is safe. Drivers can live through horrible crashes. The composite material is very wonderful for what we do.
So even though we have built many boats, we haven’t built that many composite boats yet. In 1974 I realized composite was the way we must go. It was 1984 before I could convince anyone and even then people called it the “Tupperware boat.” But the Tupperware boats are now the boats of today’s standards.
Out of the 500 boats or so you have built, do you have one in particular that is your favorite?
I knew you would ask that! You know, every year I have a favorite boat and then next year I have a new favorite boat. I will say this, there was a time when the Unlimited hydroplane, Miss US, stood out in my mind as on of my all-time favorites. For many years, it remained a favorite.
Then I built a boat called the Miss Madison. It was a piston-engine boat when the turbines became popular. In its first race it beat the turbines and the Miss Madison became a real favorite. My little girl, who is 21 months old, is named Madison; perhaps there is some connection there.
When I built the Wildflower Unlimited Light, I thought I had achieved everything; then we built one that was better. They are all my favorites. All the people are lovely people and my friends. I admire the owners and sponsors for putting up the money, but most of all I admire all the drivers. I wish I could do what they do, but I am happy and content to do the part I do.
I do have many favorites. Unfortunately, I can’t really stop at one, there are so many.
How many world records have the boats you’ve built held?
Well, I haven’t kept score. My father died just two years ago in January. At his memorial service the Hydroplane Museum presented part of the program. In a beautiful video they presented, they said between Ted Jones and his son they hold over 3,000 world records. I know my Dad was somewhere in the 700 to 800 figure, which means mine is between 2,200 to 3,000.
I am probably the only boat builder that I know who builds such a variety boats. For example, I have built inboard and outboard drag boats. I built the first outboard drag boat to ever go over 100 mph in a quarter-mile. I built the first successful tunnel boat in the world and the first ocean-racing tunnel hull. Besides Unlimiteds, Unlimited Lights and hydroplanes like the 5-Litre, I built boats in many other classes. Consequently, this allowed me the opportunity to hold many world records.
Can you talk about a special moment that stands out in your mind?
I would have to say that the day the Miss Madison Unlimited boat ran for the first time was a memorable moment. The reason is the Miss Madison team is poorly funded. The citizens of Madison, Ind., love their hydroplane, but they have to scrape to keep the boat together. Well, they came to me to buy a new boat and I knew that was a tough nut to crack. I was very enthusiastic about doing a good job for them, but the lighter turbine boats were already successful and the Miss Madison was stuck with an old airplane engine, which weighed 2,500 pounds (a turbine engine weighs just 600 pounds), so right away we had a big disadvantage.
When I sat down with a white piece of paper and drew the baseline all these thoughts passed through my mind. This little town, the owner was a businessman himself, but I knew it was costing him dearly to build this, and the team couldn’t really afford to pay a driver. So while I was building the boat I had all these thoughts in my mind. I’ll tell you we worked hard to make that boat come out as light as it could possibly be, because that was the only chance we had. Of course, I had a deal with them. They agreed not to race the boat until we tested it, because no matter how much experience you’ve had building boats you wonder if it’s even going to float. Well guess what? They didn’t follow through on their end of the bargain. The first time it was ever shown to the public was at the Pasco Race Event. I was a wreck. I shook for three days waiting for race day wondering what this boat was going to do. I didn’t even know if it would get up into a plane. Well the Miss Madison not only got up into a plane on its first heat, it beat the turbines and this old man broke down into lots of tears. So I’d have to say that was a real memorable moment, which I’ll remember for a long time.
Did you ever want to drive?
I used to drive almost every boat I built. I wonder how in the world, except for the grace of God, I am even here today. I would build a boat, put the engine in it, and take it to Lake Washington alone to ran and test it. Then I would call the customer and tell him his boat was ready to go. Today you wouldn’t dare test a hydroplane without a bunch a support crew including a rescue team and boat.
I used to do that all the time however and thought nothing of it, but I’ll be honest and say I discovered very soon that driving wasn’t my bag. I watched other people drive and they were much better than I was. I wrestled with myself for quite a while before I decided I didn’t want to be a driver. I wanted to build the boat and learn from the driver. I used to drive the boats on purpose so I could feel with the seat of my pants what was going on. I’ll have to say, without the seat of your pants; it’s pretty hard to know what’s going on. Now I can watch a boat and observe it and see what’s happening. The seat of the pants had much to do with my success, if there is any, and what I am doing today.
Do you have more aspirations to build and develop?
I have thought about hydroplanes so much that they consume a majority of my thinking time. The concept of blowing over wears so heavily on me it’s hard to explain. I want to build a boat that’s even faster, yet safer and no matter what the driver does, the boat won’t blow over. Now that’s asking a lot, but if you were to have asked me when I built Pop’s Chip would I see what I do today, I would have said no way. But we’ve gotten here, so I believe it’s going happen.
What are your hopes for the future of hydroplane racing?
Honestly, hydroplane racing in general, is on a decline. There are a number of reasons for that. In the ’50s when my Dad was popular and hydroplanes were “the thing” in Seattle, there were no Sonics, nor Mariners, or Seahawks. There were very few, if any, professional sports to attend. As a result, hydroplane racing became a very big, important event. They were big worldwide.
Now we have a lot of competition for entertainment dollars. We have people who say the boats are too noisy. We have all kinds of problems with hydroplanes.
My hope for the future is that the public will see what I see. They will be excited, as I am excited. They will realize, yes this is a sport. It has been said by some vindictive sports writers in newspapers, “Oh hydroplane racing isn’t a sport, it’s just a big promotion event.” When you put a driver in the boat, place the seatbelt around them, close the canopy lid, and push them away; they are all alone. If the fans could learn how much of a sport this really is and how much depends on the driver’s ability that would help. If we as a sport begin to promote our drivers as entities and let the public know who they are, I think we will improve.
The Unlimited Light class to me is the most exciting things I have seen and this is my 53rd year. The Unlimited Light class shows me that it can be done. The people behind it are doing the right thing. The people involved as participants are so excited they can’t wait to get to the races. That excitement is going to pay-off. The little light boats have small Chevrolet engines, but they are going 150 mph; that’s exciting! I believe the future is in Unlimited Light hydroplane racing.
What type of legacy, do you think, you will have on hydroplane racing?
That is difficult for me to answer, but I hope that people will remember me as someone that was not only serious about his work, but sincere, and when I talked about safety, I mean I am really concerned about safety. When I talk about advancing hull design, it’s usually with the driver in mind, to make the boat easier and safer to handle. Obviously boats have to go through all types of difficulties. I want to be remembered as one who planned each one of those difficulties, tried to plan the boat around them, and make the boat get through things that other boats couldn’t. That makes the boat more successful. I would like to be remembered as one who built quality boats, that were meant to last, meant to be safe, handle well and meant to do the job they were called upon to do.
How do you feel when you hear people call you a master builder?
Obviously, it’s a wonderful thing to hear, but being the person that I am, I immediately think of all the other boat builders who are very good. There are some fellows who are just excellent. My son is a boat builder and he is really, really good at it. There are many other folks around that build boats and do it well. So when you say, “He’s the master,” maybe, but I have trouble with that. I can’t even answer your question.
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