By Hec Hancock
Reprinted from the Tri-City Herald, February 6, 1976.
Some things are very predictable.
You know, stuff like the sun coming up every morning, higher taxes, prices increasing and George Henley, the smiling unlimited hydroplane driver from Eatonville, nodding a cheery assent to a question and saying, “That’s great.”
It shouldn’t, therefore, come as any great surprise that Henley was in hearty agreement with Dave Heerensperger’s decision to sell the three-time national champion unlimited hydroplane Pay ‘N Pak to Bill Muncey.
“It’s sure alright with me,” Henley told Heerensperger when informed of the sale to Muncey, “I think it’s a great time to step out.”
His only reservation, he said later when he learned of the large amount of money involved - reportedly in high six figures - was that he hadn’t held out for a portion of it.
“I probably could have if I had thought about it. I was under contract to drive this year,” he explained.
Even so, Henley sounded relieved.
The thought of starting preparations in about another month for the upcoming season, he admitted, had been causing him a few butterflies in his stomach.
For one thing, Heerensperger was having a new boat built. “It’s going to be a real beauty. They’re using honeycombed aluminum and it’s going to be very light,” he added.
However, he didn’t relish the prospect of breaking in a new boat saying, “I don’t like being a test pilot.”
Behind the placid outward demeanor Henley revealed there were inward tensions.
“You’re going too fast,” he says of the speeds attained by the thunderboats, “and I’m concerned about thing breaking. Like our stabilizer last here here in the Gold Cup race.”
Henley explained that you haven’t much time to think of such matters during a race but said he dwelt on them considerably afterwards.
After coming out of retirement following the first three races of last season he had an even more enjoyable year than in 1974 when he drove the Pak to its second national title and on the driver’s championship in the process.
“I thought I had experienced everything but that wasn’t the case,” he said.
For one thing he silenced critics who wrote off his success in 1974 to luck.
And he enjoyed the head-to-head duels he had with Billy Schumacher in the Weisfield’s.
“We really went at it for three heats at Madison. We were doing things we shouldn’t have been. I’d look out and Bill would be there, just a few feet away. I just kept wishing that he’d let up,” he said.
It never entered his mind that he could have broken off himself.
That was the turning point in the Pak’s uphill climb to win its third championship.
The Pak jumped from third place in the national point standings to first place following the Gold Cup race in the Tri-Cities.
Henley lost the lead when he beached the Pak on an island in the small lake used for a course at Phoenix and had to win the final race of the year at San Diego to earn the championship.
Now with Muncey, with the backing of Atlas Van Lines, having purchased the Pay ‘N Pak boats, engines, and machine shop, Henley appears to have retired for keeps.
There have been published reports that Muncey would like Henley to drive the old Pak, the one that has won three championships.
Henley says he hasn’t heard from Muncey but makes it clear he’s not interested in driving would would be the No. 2 boat.
“Besides,” he adds, “Muncey will probably sell it. Tom Kaufman who has Mr. Fabricator is looking for a boat and would probably jump at the chance to by the Pak.”
But if he isn’t going to be racing he’s still enthusiastic about the change in the racing format adopted by the American Power Boat Association.
Since he suggested it, he should be.
Under the new plan there will be no changes to the heat system, but the winner of the final heat takes home all the marbles.
It will eliminate situations such as occurred at the Gold Cup where Henley and the Pak, needed only a second place finish to clinch the victory, took it easy to be sure of finishing.
“I told people when they complained that I would have preferred going all out in the final heat but under the rules couldn’t afford to. Besides I had a bonus riding on the Gold Cup,” he said.
The advantage of the new plan over the unlamented fan plan, according to Henley, is the fact it brings together the three fastest boats.
“Under the fan plan some of your fastest boats can be eliminated. It’s possible that the biggest point winner might not be the actual winner but that is just more incentive for going all out all the way through,” he explained.
But if Henley isn’t racing, it doesn’t mean he won’t be around boats or on the water.
As a representative of Jetcraft Inc., a distributor of jet propelled boats, he’s been in the Tri-Cities all week for the boat show at Columbia Center.
“This is where my future is,” he said with his familiar grin. “I’m on the water a great deal of the time and I really enjoy what I’m doing. If Dave wanted to sell, that’s sure alright with me.”
At least he doesn’t have to dwell upon what could happen if the wrong thing breaks when you’re roaring along at 170 miles per hour.
