Reprinted from The Seattle Times, August 5, 1973
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| The Pay 'N Pak threw up a long roostertail on Lake Washington as Donald Writesman, Coast Guard petty officer from Port Angeles, kept a watchful eye on the record run from his perch in the rescue helicopter circling the three-mile race course. Fourteen boats will start in pursuit of the $50,000 in prize money at noon today. |
With the fun and games of the "fan plan follies" completed and a world record tucked in Mickey Remund's locker, the nation's unlimited hydroplane fleet today is poised on Lake Washington's shores awaiting the noon start of the $50,000 World Championship regatta.
Fourteen boats met a somewhat nebulous qualifying standard. Two hydros - including the U-95 turbine boat - are NOT official entries. The U-95 arrived in the pits after the course closed yesterday and a request for qualifying time this morning was denied.
Remund fell short of the much talked about time-trial average of 130 miles an hour. He did, however, drive the Pay 'N Pak to a world mark for the fastest qualifying speed ever - 126.613 m.p.h.
Remund's speed topped the qualifying ladder used to determine the heat assignments for today's race. The fan-plan rules put the top qualifiers in the same heat, 1C; the "middle boats together and the slow craft in a third flight.