Reprinted from The Seattle Times, March. 30, 1969.
SPOKANE -- Tommy Fults, driving Dave Heerensperger's new, revolutionary unlimited hydroplane, Pride of Pay 'N Pak, will shoot for a mile straightaway speed record this spring on Lake Guntersville, Alabama.
The record is 200.419 miles an hour for a propeller-driven hydro. It was set on Lake Guntersville, April 7, 1962, by Roy Duby driving George Simon's Miss U.S. A new Miss U.S. presently is based in Seattle and driven by Bill Muncey.
The sanction period for the record attempts is May 19- 24.
The Spokane owner of the Pride of Pay 'N Pak, who has expanded his electrical-and-plumbing supply holdings to Denver and Seattle during the winter, plans to send the boat to Kawkawlin, Mich., for last-minute modifications and refinements by the builder, Les Staudacher, before the record runs in Alabama.
The new hydro, a replacement for Heerensperger's Miss Eagle Electric, was designed for straightaway-record attempts. The hydro, except for test runs this winter on the Columbia River in Tri-Cities, is untested, however, in competition.
"We're not going to Alabama simply to break the record," Heerensperger said. "We're determined to put the record out of reach for the next ten years."
Heerensperger purchased the unconventional hydro -- outrigger sponsons jutting out from the hull -- when the Eagle Electric was destroyed and Col. Warner Gardner killed in last summer's Gold Cup race on the Detroit River.
