Reprinted from the Tri-City Herald, July 27, 1975
George Henley came out of retirement three races into the season to drive the Pay ‘N Pak again.
He caught a great deal from Pak owner Dave Heerensperger, which including a portion of the winning purse.
It was working so far, as Henley had won the last two races leading into the Tri-Cities.
Meanwhile, besides Henley and the Pak — which was the defending Gold Cup champ — the other favorite had to be Weisfield’s and driver Billy Schumacher.
They had also won two races headed into the Tri-Cities.
This was the Tri-Cities’ second Gold Cup race.
It was determined by the race committee that the minimum qualifying speed would by 95 mph.
Schumacher was the fastest qualifier at 122.630 mph.
He also came in as the national high-points leader, with a 1,062-point lead over second-place Lincoln Thrift.
Henley and Pay ‘N Pak were third at 4,439.
It was an interesting race day.
The Budweiser almost sank to the bottom of the river.
Henley himself lost his racing suits when someone stole them.
Someone found one of them under a truck the next day.
In the final, Tom D’Eath in the Miss U.S. won.
However, the Gold Cup winner that year was determined by the team with the most points over the whole weekend.
That belonged to Henley with 1,425 points.
In fact, he had the Gold Cup so well in hand that he coasted to a third-place finish in the final, knowing the Gold Cup was his.
By the time the weekend was over, Pay ’N Pak was in the national high-points lead.
While Schumacher ended up being the national champion driver, thanks to Henley missing those first three races, Pay ’N Pak was the national champion boat.
