By Bill Purcell
Reprinted from Tri-City Herald, March 8, 1972
If one of Andy Granatelli's Indy 500 cars spun around a track somewhere at record speed, the news would leak out soon enough. He might even incorporate it in one of his STP TV ads.
But in the clandestine sport of unlimited hydroplane racing, where the fleet of competitors is one-fifth as large, record speeds are preferably only hinted at.
Thunderboat owner Dave Heerensperger, the cautious owner of such a record on the 2½-mile watery oval of the Columbia River, explained why.
"If we let everybody know how fast we really went out there," avowed the 35-year-old hydroplane magnate, "we would lose our competitive edge.
"Suffice it to say, that we went considerably faster than we ever have on the Columbia. But that's all."
"Considerably faster," in this case was something between 116 and 118 m.p.h, according to the bits and pieces of veiled information coming from the pit crew, driver Billy Schumacher and his wife Cindy in the wake of an unofficial record run around the Atomic Cup course Monday by the Pride of Pay 'n Pak.
Although the Columbia has proven the most hospitable watering hole on the hydroplane circuit for Heerensperger - he won the race with Miss Eagle Electric on 1968 and with Lil Buzzard in 1970 - the president of the Pay 'n Pak store chain has good cause for caution.
Not only did racing accidents claim the lives of Eagle driver Warner Gardner and Buzzard pilot Tommy Fults, but Heerensperger was denied a third Atomic Cup when his crew gambled and lost with a new engine in the championship heat of last year's race.
After winning its first two heats by a dozen roostertails in 1971, the Pride was fitted out with a new engine before the final heat.
Recalling the abortive decision, Mrs. Schumacher, a dark-haired beauty more lovely to look at than any hydroplane, said the crew was afraid their usually trusted old Rolls would blow before the heat was over.
"How ironic," said Cindy, "that the new engine blew up instead and that Billy set a new qualification time with the old engine on Lake Washington (in Seattle) two weekends later."
Heerensperger brought his boat to the Tri-Cities, hoping such last-minute decisions could be avoided at this year's Atomic Cup, set for July 29.
"The more tinkering that can be done during the offseason," said Heerensperger, "the better prepared we can be for what might happen when the boat hits the water for real."
The red-and-gold sister ship to Lil Buzzard is not exactly the same unlimited which finished fifth behind Jim McCormick's Miss Madison in 1971's Atomic Cup.
The radically-designed sponsons have been cut back six inches, the boat has been lightened 400 pounds and a new prop has been installed.
Driver Schumacher, who has been competing on the water for 21 of his 29 years and has set 10 world record times, declared Tuesday, "This boat has never run better. We're going to win a lot with it this year."
Crew chief Jim Lucero, honored as the best in the business by the Unlimited Commission last year, was busy testing a new prop to replace the one that sank to the bottom of Lake Washington on a recent test run. Both crew chief and owner were surprised the new prop so closely approximated the performance standards of the old one.
Heerensperger admitted that the almost ideal conditions on the Columbia didn't hurt either.
"This is better water to test on than in Seattle," he said. "We always know what to expect here, and besides the Tri-Cities have usually been lucky for us."
As luck would have it, Schumacher almost had his racing career interrupted during a regatta in Parker, Ariz., on the Colorado River last month. His boat flipped, but a co-driver was in the cockpit.
The same thing didn't happen to veteran driver Bill Muncey on the same course, when his boat also flipped but a co-driver was likewise handling the controls.
Schumacher had another close call at Miami in 1971. The bugs hadn't yet been worked out of the Pride of Pay 'n Pak and the boat overturned in the water. Schumacher got a dunk, but not much more.
Asked if those experiences and the deaths of two Heerensperger pilots is enough to scare the Schumachers away from unlimited racing, Cindy replied, "My trepidation magnified 100-fold after the Miami incident, but since then I'm getting used to it.
"There is always danger in any high-speed sport, but Billy has the reputation of being one of the safest drivers in the business."
