Saturday, November 29, 2014

Turbines May Alter Hydroplane Racing

By Joanne A. Fishman
Reprinted from The New York Times, January 29, 1984

Unlimited hydroplane racing took a strong new tack last week with the announcement of plans for two turbine- powered craft for the 1984 national circuit. The use of turbine engines in the boats, both being built by major teams, is a departure from the traditional means of propulsion, the Rolls- Royce aircraft engines.

Some believe turbine engines, which had met with only marginal success in unlimited competition since first being used a couple of years ago, will now become the primary power source.

Lycoming T-55 L-7 turbine engine.

With these two new craft, one from Atlas Van Lines and the other from the Miller Brewing Company, which is making its debut as an unlimited sponsor, there are expected to be eight highly competitive teams on hand when the 10-race circuit opens June 10 in Miami. A race in Seneca, N.Y., is scheduled for June 17.

In recent years, the Atlas Van Lines and Miss Budweiser teams have dominated the sport, which usually has 12 to 15 teams. But this dominance is expected to be challenged with an influx of new, better designed and faster craft. Almost Airborne

The unlimiteds, 28 feet long, are the fastest boats afloat, capable of reaching speeds of more than 200 miles an hour. They become almost airborne, riding on the tips of two sponsons, and the propeller. Delicate and innovative, these craft combine principles of aerodynamics and hydrogen dynamics. And, having no neutral gear, they idle at about 40 or 50 m.p.h.

Three of the four new boats on this year's circuit, including the new Atlas Van Lines and Miller's Lite Beer, have been designed and built by Jim Lucero of Seattle. The fourth boat is the new Miss Budweiser being built by Ron Jones.

Lucero was the first to use turbines in Pay 'N Pak a couple of years ago. From that experience, he said, he learned that ''the engines never let us down. Whenever he had motor problems, it was through our own mistakes.''

The advantage of the turbine engine is that it provides greater horsepower for its weight than does a piston engine. And for unlimited racing, one doesn't need "a stable full of engines, hopefully," Lucero said. Normally each unlimited team has 10 engines that it constantly rebuilds, using them at the rate of one a race. But often they only last for one heat. Atlas Van Lines, on the other hand, will have four turbine engines on hand this year. More Efficient Motion

The turbine engine is the more efficient engine because it has a rotating type of motion, whereas the piston engine must first convert linear motion into rotating motion, Lucero explained. The turbine also has constant combustion, but in a typical four- stroke engine, such as that in a car or a more conventional boat, only one stroke produces power and the other three are users of power. With the turbine, all motion produces power.

The Miller Lite boat will be driven by Tom D'Eath and campaigned by the R. B. Taylor racing team. The craft has a General Electric T-64 turbine engine capable of producing more than 4,000 horsepower.

Atlas Van Lines, driven by Chip Hanauer, the defending national champion, is powered by an Avco- Lycoming turbine that generates more than 3,000 horsepower.

Last year, using the small block, 1,650-cubic-inch Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, Atlas Van Lines set the fastest lap recorded on a two mile oval - 133.7 m.p.h. At 5,000 pounds race- ready, the new boat weighs 10 percent less than last year's boat. Lucero estimates this should add 5 m.p.h. on the race course.

With the trend toward lighter and faster boats, builders are also trying to make them safer. Lucero, for instance, took a cue from the aerospace industry and incorporated an aerodynamic trim device on the new Atlas Van Lines to help prevent it from becoming airborne and flipping over. The device is similar to the spoilers on an airplane wing, which affect the plane's lift.

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Turbine Hulls and Configurations

1980 Pay 'N Pak

This is the original Pay 'N Pak turbine unlimited hydroplane. It blew over during qualifying in Tri-Cities, Washington and was done for the year.

1981 Pay 'N Pak

During the winter, Jim Lucero redesign the front of the boat to have adjustable canards to help hold the boat down. The team ran the front wings at some times, but mostly the boat ran without them.

To add a bit more to the story, the canard arrangement was found to be more of a problem than running without it.  What was discovered was that due to the short distance between the rear of the canard and the bull nose, it actually increased the generated lift at the front of the boat. 

As explained by driver John Walter, "We tried this in an effort to give a little more control of the boat ride. As you can see, they are very close to the leading edge of the hull. So close in fact they acted more like a fence or air dam. They disturbed the air flow to the point it was more difficult to control and in some cases had the opposite effect. We removed them and found that just removing that much surface area made the boat better than using the wings."

The following year, Jim Lucero built the new Atlas Van Lines using a larger spacing between the rear of the fixed canard and bull nose.  It was not only found to work, it set the pattern used on almost all new boats until the mid 90's.

1982 Pay 'N Pak

After running on saltwater race courses they found that the front intakes caused problems with water ingestion. So during the winter they redesigned the front cowling intakes and added a top intake with head rest.

The same hull ran all three years. A second hull was built in the 1982 and was planned to be run in 1983. However, in 1982 at Seattle, the original hull suffered a devastating accident. The accident severely injured driver John Walters and owner Dave Heerensperger suffered a heart attack due to the accident. After that, the team went up for sale and was bought mid season 1983 by Steve Woomer. In 1984 the new hull was run as the Tosti Asti.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

The Legend of "Billy the Kid"

By Brad Haskin

Billy Schumacher

Unlimited Hydroplane racing is an old man's game. Bill Muncey earned the first of his seven National High Point titles at the age of 32. Jim Kropfeld was 43 for his. Even young Chip Hanauer was a finely aged 28 when he took his first honors in 1982. But there was a time when a youngster grabbed the boat racing world by the collar, and came to be one of the most legendary all-around Champions in the history of powerboat racing.

Born and raised in Seattle, William (Billy) Schumacher III was exposed to water sports at a very early age. Billy's father, Bill Schumacher Jr., in addition to running the family bakery in Seattle, was a champion water skier. His dad was also a founding partner in Roostertails, Inc. during Seattle's early hydroplane years. Billy learned to water ski at the age of six, and his love affair with the water began.

Fueled by his father's competitive spirit and demand for perfection, Billy began racing Outboard hydroplanes at the age of 8. He won the first race he entered in a Junior Runabout named "Lil' Bill". For the next several years, Billy and the entire Schumacher family traveled the country, racing on the different Outboard class circuits. The family dedication paid off to the tune of five National Championships, two Canadian Championships, and countless Competition and Straight-a-way records.

In the late 1950's, Billy's father bought him a 280 Class Inboard named "Dough Baby" from Bill Muncey. In the following years, Billy again tore up the Inboard circuit, setting several more records. He earned another National Championship, and engaged in several memorable races with Mira Slovak and the "Wee Wahoo". At the tender age of 18, Billy was already turning the heads of the boat racing world.

In the summer of 1961, young Billy stepped up to the Unlimited Class for the first time. Bob Miller was looking for a top driver to handle the driving duties of his U-1230-910 "Cutie Radio". Billy signed on to drive the boat at the Diamond Cup on Lake Coeur d'Alene. Though he managed to steer the former Gale IV hull to a third place finish in the race, he resigned his ride after the race, stating, "all I do is cruise around the course at 70 miles an hour". Undaunted, two weeks later Billy returned in the seat of a different Unlimited, Dave Johnson's U-5 "Miss Tool Crib" in Seattle. There he took the U-5 to a runner-up finish behind Bob Gilliam in the Seafair Queen's Trophy race.

Billy had no ride for the 1962 season, but in late 1963 he was offered the seat of Bill Schuyler's new U-21 "$ Bill". Though the first effort ended in a DNF, the ride was extended through the 1964 season, where Billy turned in several consistent finishes. It was not enough. Billy was not content with just driving an Unlimited, he wanted a competitive ride, and was willing to sit and wait for one.

Billy Schumacher's talents had not gone unnoticed by the rest of the racing world. In the spring of 1966, Ole Bardahl and Ron Musson enlisted Billy's help in designing and testing the radical new cabover "Miss Bardahl". Billy even test drove the boat when Ron Musson was out of town on a business trip, becoming the only person other than Musson to ever drive the ill-fated hull. Several weeks later Musson was killed on the infamous "Black Sunday" at the President's Cup in Washington, D.C.

Though Ole Bardahl seriously considered walking away from the sport, he regrouped for 1967 and returned with a vengeance! Billy, just 24 years-old, was offered the seat of a brand new Ed Karelson designed hull. After the accident in 1966, most of the "Bardahl" crew had retired from the sport. For 1967, Bardahl hired young Jerry Zuvich to lead a crew of young, relative newcomers on the team. Quickly dubbed the "Teeny Boppers" (all being in their early twenties), the "Miss Bardahl" team dominated the 1967 season, virtually rewriting every record in the book. The shy, unassuming Schumacher (now popularly known as "Billy the Kid" by fans and friends alike) steered the "Blonde Bombshell" to victories in 6 of 8 races, including the Gold Cup on Billy's home course in Seattle, and the 1967 National Championship.

Having won everything in sight and accomplishing everything he had ever dreamed during the 1967 season, Schumacher stunned the hydroplane world by quitting the sport. He found it difficult to motivate himself to his original level of enthusiasm. The retirement was short lived, however, as his competitive spirit ate away at him enough to sign with the Bardahl team again for the '68 campaign.

Again, "Billy the Kid" and the "Miss Bardahl" dominated the season. Dubbed the "Checkerboard Comet" to reflect it's new yellow and black paint scheme, the "Bardahl" engaged in a season long battle with Col. Warner Gardner in the "Miss Eagle Electric". The effort culminated in another Gold Cup victory and National Championship for Schumacher and the team. Ole Bardahl disbanded the team after the successful '68 season. Billy sat out the 1969 season, concentrating instead on his Limited racing, and helping his father run the family bakery. But it didn't take long to get him back in the seat of an Unlimited.

For 1970, Billy was hired to drive Laird Pierce's new "Parco's O Ring Miss", which was a virtual copy of the '67 "Miss Bardahl". Pierce purchased Ole Bardahl's inventory of Rolls Merlin engines, and hired Jerry Zuvich and most of the old "Teeny Boppers" to campaign the new hull. The entire season, however, proved to be an exercise in futility. The star-spangled "Parco" was a rough riding hull which thoroughly disenchanted Schumacher, and no amount of tweaking by the crew could help. Despite setting the fastest overall speed at the President's Cup in D.C., the best Billy could muster for the '70 season was a pair of 2nd place finishes.

The Pride of Pay 'N Pak

In the spring of 1971, Billy signed on with Dave Heerensperger's "Pay 'N Pak" team. Having been reconfigured from cabover to conventional hull, as well as reengined with a Rolls Merlin over the winter by Crew Chief Jim Lucero, the "Pak" struggled through the early part of the season. A violent hook pitched Billy out of the boat in Miami, and several mechanical failures resulted in DNF's. Starting at the Seattle race, though, everything fell into place. Billy and the "Pak" became the first combination to qualify at over 121 mph on a 3-mile course, and swept the last three races of the season.

1972 looked to be more of the same, but tension was developing amongst the team. The hull set-up was not right. Billy wanted the hull to be "glued down" like a Karelson-style hull, while Lucero felt the boat would perform best "flying". The tension came to a head at the World Championship race in Madison, Indiana. Due to bad weather and debris, the race had to be postponed until Monday. The delay helped, but the water conditions were still atrocious. In Billy's own words, " the debris-ridden water and stormy currents were too dangerous for boat racing. Those conditions motivated me to decline to drive in the race. This was a common sense decision, not a question of courage. Unfortunately, not everyone understood my decision primarily, the "Pay 'N Pak" team. Billy and the "Pak" team parted ways.

Shortly after leaving the U-boats in the summer of 1972, Billy was asked to drive Rick Keller's Outboard Tunnel Hull. The combination proved fast right off the bat, and the team won several races. This performance led to an invitation to race an OMC Tunnel Hull in the Paris 6-Hour Grand Prix. The OMC team flew to Europe, and proved to be one of Billy's most memorable racing experiences. Racing on the Seine River, right in front of the Eiffel Tower, Billy and co-driver Johnny Sanders outduelled 106 other boats to bring home the Paris Grand Prix Championship.

Billy continued to race Outboard Tunnel hulls through '72 and '73, including the "Seafair 225" in Seattle in 1973. Held the weekend before the Unlimited races, on the same 3-mile Lake Washington course, the race consisted of 75 laps around the circuit. Additionally in 1973, Schumacher was approached by Jim Clapp to drive Clapp's radical new U-95 turbine Unlimited hydroplane. Billy spent many months researching the project and helped Clapp convince the Unlimited Racing Commission to grant a two-year experimental period to test the turbine concept. In the end, however, personality conflicts between Schumacher and members of the crew led Billy to leave the team, never having driven the boat.

Again, Billy dedicated the "off time" to running the family bakery. It was not long until another opportunity came along that was too good to pass up. For the 1974 season, Seattle businessman Les Rosenberg had debuted a state-of-the-art Ron Jones hull named "Valu-Mart". The U-74 had struggled during the entire season at the hands of rookie Ron Armstrong. When the boats came to Seattle for the Gold Cup, Rosenberg persuaded Schumacher to come out of retirement (at the "old" age of 31!). Rosenberg also hired Billy's old friend Jerry Zuvich to turn the wrenches on the hull. Though the boat withdrew from the event with hull damage, the rest of 1974 proved that the combination had what it took to be a front runner.

Renamed "Weisfield's" for 1975, Billy and the U-74 won two out of the first three races of the season, and jumped out to a huge lead in National points.

As the season wore on, the mighty "Pay' n Pak" team gathered steam and started eating away at Schumacher's point lead. In one particularly close duel at Madison, the "Weisfield's" and "Pak" hooked up in a match that saw both boats literally run deck to deck for the entire 5 laps. After losing by inches to George Henley and the "Pak", Billy commented to historian Fred Farley that he had "never worked so hard for second place" in his life! Unfortunately, as the season ran on, the "Weisfield's" team ran out of strong equipment. Despite holding a slim lead going into the final race in San Diego, the "Pak" team was able to overtake them to win the National Championship. "The Kid" managed to hang on to win his third National Driver's Championship.

For the 1976 campaign, Billy and the team, now running as "Olympia Beer" again looked strong. They won the second race of the year in Washington D.C., and were leading National High Points going into the Gold Cup at Detroit when tragedy struck. Charging for the start of a heat race, the "Olympia Beer" stuffed a sponson into a swell on the notorious Detroit river. The impact tore off the right sponson, and the boat sank. Billy and the team raced a replacement hull at several Mid-West races while the primary hull was being rebuilt. Though the team was able to quickly repair the hull, it was never able to perform to it's pre-accident potential. Crew Chief Zuvich tried everything to get the boat back to form, but the boat was consistently 10-15 mph slower. Schumacher managed to win the final race of 1976 in San Diego when Bill Muncey and the Atlas Van Lines jumped the gun. After the season, Les Rosenberg disbanded the team, and sold the hull.

Once again having truly accomplished everything he set out to do, Billy decided to hang it up for good, and as such, went out a true champion, winning his final race. With the exception of a brief test session at the wheel of Pete LaRock's U-96 "KYYX" in 1977, Billy has never set foot in an Unlimited again. After retiring, he dedicated his time to operating the family bakery in Seattle. Today, Billy Schumacher is Vice President of 2nd Home Hotel Company, in Dallas, TX.

When reflecting back over his long career, Billy cites such names as Lynn Ivey, Al Benson, Hugh Entrop, Bill Muncey, Ron Musson, Jack Regas, and numerous others as his influences. In his own words, "All of my heroes inspired me in many ways. I learned a great deal from their exceptional talents. Some of my heroes spent time with me and advised me on the best methods of driving. Others I studied closely while they were racing." Asked who he sees as the best driver's of recent times, Billy said, "I always enjoyed watching Chip Hanauer race, because he was the best, in my opinion. Tom D'Eath was also exceptional. Chip's professionalism and competitiveness were unmatched, as was Tom's."

Chip Hanauer was equal in his own praise for Schumacher: "Billy was my hero in powerboat racing when I was growing up. We have always had a wonderful relationship, and I will always value the fact that I had the opportunity to race against a childhood idol."

Though out of the sport for over twenty years now, Billy still likes to follow the Unlimiteds. "As I travel around the country, I often see waterways which make me think 'what a great place for a hydroplane race'." He also gets the urge every now and then to try his hand at racing one of the modern, encapsulated, turbine Unlimiteds of the 1990's. "The cabover "Bardahl" and the Tunnel Hulls I raced were driven from in front. I liked the control from that position", he commented. Asked his opinion on the current state of the sport, he responded, "My prognosis for the future of Unlimited hydroplane racing is very good. I believe the UHRA needs some new blood, new national sponsors, and more race sites, the expanded media exposure will follow."

Sunday, June 1, 2014

1982 Unlimited Hydroplane Season Review

The 1982 Unlimited Hydroplane season in review, which includes the 1982 Seafair SeaGalley Emerald Cup Seattle race where the Pay 'N Pak turbine hydroplane, driven by John Walters, crashed with the Executone.

Saturday, May 31, 2014

1974 APBA Gold Cup

1974 Seattle Gold Cup Heat 1C

Delays, controversy, and rough water marred the running of the 1974 Seattle Gold Cup, which was contested at Sand Point instead of the usual location, south of the Old Floating Bridge.

The on-shore difficulties not withstanding, the race still had much to offer the fans in terms of excitement. George Henley in the "Winged Wonder" PAY 'N PAK and Howie Benns in the MISS BUDWEISER battled all day long in some of the finest competition ever witnessed in the long history of power boat racing. The outcome was in doubt, right down to the final checkered flag.

PAY 'N PAK ultimately prevailed and won the cup-but only after a titanic struggle.

Winged Wonder

By Fred Farley - Unlimited Unlimited Historian

1973 UIM World Championship Final Heat

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.