By Jini Dolan
Reprinted from the
Tri-City Herald, July 22, 1974
“Hey Daddy - I cut my arm on a propeller.”
That was the victory greeting George Henley received from daughter Lori, 8, after winning the World Championship of unlimited hydroplanes Sunday.
And the reception in the pits for the Eatonville driver of Pay ‘N Pak continued in that vein.
The winner was the forgotten man in the brouhaha that followed the seven-boat final heat and the collision of the U-95 that no one can agree was a collision.
Owner Dave Heerensperger, however, jubilant in his third victory on the Columbia River course, had a magnum of champagne cooling for Henley.
He’d confidently placed it in the refrigerator that morning.
For Heerensperger, the win was a sweet one after watching his picklefork lose a propeller as it headed for the checkered flag in last year’s Gold Cup with Mickey Remund at the wheel.
He was sure he had it Sunday after the first heat in which Pak lead the pack, including the U-95.
Heerensperger gold Henley to cool it in the second heat, “go for a second or third” but when the epic five-lap duel with the U-95 started, the boat owner was noisily rooting for a U-1 victory.
Of Henley, Heerensperger said, “He drove a good race - and he stayed out of the trouble (in the final heat).”
Henley described his tight turns in Heat 2-C as he strove to compensate for the speed the U-95 was picking up on the straightaways.
“I felt like I could reach right out and touch the green buoy,” he said.
Disappointed U-95 driver Leif Borgersen described his impressions of starting a race amongst seven thunderboats:
“It was like being in one of those desert road races where 15,000 motorcycles take off at the same time - and all of a sudden they go into a funnel.”
Borgersen has been a driver for six years and has never won.
Chuck Lyford, U-95 crew chief reminded Heerensperger of his debt to the turbine team:
“Hey, remember that’s our prop, David,” he said after the race.
The Pak had borrowed the propeller on several other occasions.
Bad luck plagued several other camps.
On Saturday the Miss Madison caught fire.
On Sunday, electrical problems, after effects of the fire, kept the community-owned hydro from starting the first heat and contributed to a blown engine in the consolation race.
The crew of the Lincoln Thrift, damaged by an explosion late Saturday, worked in shifts until 6 a.m. Sunday to get the Phoenix-based boat running.
Owner Bob Fendler got permission to put it in the water for testing just before the race - but after that, it completed only one lap.
“It’s really tough.” said the dejected attorney. “We still have some kind of fuel problem but we honestly can’t figure out what’s wrong.”
The crew of the Solo from Australia watched from the official barge.
This is a spectacular sight,” said Colin Winton, the boat’s designer.
“Every once in a while I have to pinch myself to prove I’m really here. I’ve been reading about this for years,” he said.
Before the race, Henley said, “This is my favorite place to race.”
And afterward, finding himself 800 points ahead of the Budweiser in the national standings following his first win here. “Now I like it better than ever.”
“This is home.”
