New Hydro Type Announced

Reprinted from The Seattle Times, November 11, 1969

Dave Heerensperger, chain-store operator, announced yesterday he has commissioned construction of a low-profile, rear-engine hydroplane to operate in the unlimited racing class in 1970.

The hydroplane will be powered by twin Chrysler hemi engines. The boat will retain the name "Pride of Pay 'n Pak."

The craft, described as being the first unlimited built along low-profile lines with auto engines in the rear, by Heerensperger, is to be completed in April and testing is to begin at Lake Elsinore, Calif. Final tests will be conducted on Lake Washington.

The new Pride of Pay 'n Pak, replacing the disappointing outrigger model, will be 28½ feet long, with a so-called pickle-fork bow with the center section cut out for safety. It will be 12 feet 8 inches wide and weight about 5,500 pounds.

The engines are designed to deliver about 1,100 horsepower.

Pak owner, driver reach $ impasse; Remund out

Reprinted from The Seattle Times, September 26, 1973

Associated Press — An impasse in contract negotiations probably will keep Mickey Remund, national unlimited-hydroplane championship driver, away from the controls of the Pay 'n Pak next summer, Dave Heerensperger, the boat's owner, said yesterday.

Heerensperger, who said he's "in the market for a new driver," said Remund had demanded a 400 percent salary hike and call the demand a case of "the tail wagging the dog."

"I'm a hard-nosed guy. If I make an offer and my driver doesn't accept it, well that's it," he said in Seattle. "I'm still running the show."

He said he and his crew chief have not gone beyond the initial look at five prospective drives but added, "I don't think we'll have any trouble finding the right driver, with a national-championship boat and a great crew."

Remund, 36, had an established record as a limited-hydro pilot before joining the Pay 'n Pak team. The machinist from Palm Desert, Calif., was chosen to replace Billy Sterett, who retired from racing last year.

Pak driver progressing in recovery from crash

Reprinted from The Seattle Times, August 31, 1982

John Walters is "showing significant progress" in recovering from injuries suffered Aug. 8 when the unlimited hydroplane he was driving crashed on Lake Washington, a Harborview Medical Center spokeswoman said yesterday.

Walters, 28, of Renton, was injured during the Emerald Cup race when his boat, the Pay 'n Pak, and two other hydros, the Executone and the Squire Shop. collided during an early heat. No other driver was seriously injured.

Walters is in satisfactory condition, following the expected course of recovery "for someone who suffered severe frontal lobe contusions (head injuries)," said Lita Edwards, the spokeswoman.

The injuries initially caused "confusion, an inability to communicate effectively and for which recovery is usually slow but expected," she said.

"Most of the time now, Walters is alert and converses with his family and hospital staff," she said.

He is in a body cast for his broken back, but not paralysis has been detected, she said. he also suffered a broken arm and leg.

Walters will probably stay at Harborview for sever more weeks, she said.

Two days after the accident, David J. Heerensperger, Pay 'n Pak board chairman, announced the retail firm was dropping its unlimited hydroplane sponsorship immediately. In 1980, Walters was hospitalized for two weeks after an accident in a race at Pasco.

Heerensperger said, "Although it is a very exciting sport, after two accidents involving Pay 'n Pak in the last three years, I do not want to continue."

Pak's 122.616 is '74 top qualifying speed

Reprinted from The Seattle Times, September 21, 1974

SAN DIEGO — George Henley yesterday pushed the Pride of Pay 'n Pak to the fastest qualifying time of the current unlimited hydroplane season in qualifying for tomorrow's San Diego Cup regatta.

Henley qualified the Pak at 122.616 miles per hour, bettering his mark set on the Gold Cup course at Seattle by one-tenth of a mile per hour.

Yesterday saw Dean Chenoweth back in the cockpit of the Miss Budweiser, the boat he piloted to national honors in past seasons before retiring. Chenoweth returned to active duty as a hydro jockey when Howie Benns, Budweiser driver, was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident earlier this month.

Chenoweth was on the course four times, but the best he could do in a qualifying run was 110.089 mph. He tried different propellers each time and still isn't satisfied he's found the proper one for the course here, which is considered to be the fastest on the circuit.

Qualifying speeds: Pay 'n Pak, 122.616; Valu-Mart, 120.321; Atlas Van Lines, 119.363; Red Man, 112.219; Miss Budweiser, 110.089; Sunny Jim, 101.810; Miss Technicolor, 100.223; and Kirby Classic, 98.908. Lincoln Thrift and Super Cinder have not qualified yet.

Accident mars Pay 'n Pak's chances in hydroplane race

Reprinted from The Seattle Times, July 12, 1981

Pay 'n Pak, driven by John Walters, for the first time this season topped Miss Budweiser in qualifying, but whether the Pacific Northwest boat can regain that form in time for today's Thunder on the Ohio III race remains in doubt.

As the Pay 'n Pak completed her record-breaking run of 131.627 miles an hour over the 2-mile course near Evansville, Ind., she struck a submerged log, which damaged a skid fin and sponson.

"We repaired it as best we could, but we're not sure how it's going to affect the boat in competition," said Jim Lucero, Pay 'n Pak crew chief.

Miss Budweiser, with Dean Chenoweth driving, earlier in the day averaged 131.148. Other qualifiers yesterday included Squire Shop (Chip Hanauer) at 127.208, Atlas Van Lines (Bill Muncey) at 124.352, Miss Madison (Milner Ervin) at 110.940, Miss Great Scot (Scott Pierce) at 109.589, and Miss Kentuckiana Paving (Ron Snyder) at 98.495.

Minimum qualifying speed is 95 m.ph.

Nine boats have qualified for the race. The draw for Heat 1A (10 a.m. Seattle time): Captran Resorts (Bobbie Howard), 100.279; Pay 'n Pak; Gilmore Chevy Special (Terry Turner), 104.803; Squire Shop; Miss Kentuckiana Paving. Heat 1B (10:30 a.m.): Miss Budweiser, Miss Madison, Miss Great Scot, Atlas Van Lines.

Remund named Pak driver

By Del Danielson
Reprinted from The Seattle Times, April 9, 1973

Mickey Remund, who gained his boat-racing fame in the cockpit of a 5-liter limited hydroplane, will pilot the unlimited Pride of Pay 'n Pak during the 1973 season.

The announcement that Remund will drive the Pride came at a press conference at noon today, but Remund has been employed by the Pay 'n Pak camp for several months. The Pride is fresh out of the shop, and Remund has been working with Ron Jones, the build, during construction.

Remund left for southern California after testing the Pride on Lake Washington this afternoon. He will attend his mother's funeral tomorrow, then return the Pacific Northwest. The Pride is scheduled for more testing — on the Columbia River at Pasco — later this week.

Three drivers saw duty in the Pride of Pay 'n Pak last summer. Bill Sterett, Sr., took over one race with Billy Schumacher quit at midseason. Billy Sterett was the pilot for the final three races of the year and wan the Washington D.C. President's Cup.

The Sterett family — including Billy's brother, Terry — has retired from unlimited racing.

This is not the first unlimited ride for Remund. He way limited duty in the Van's P-X in 1970 and '71.

Remund, of Garden Grove, Calif., holds the world straightaway record in the 5-liter class. In November, 1971, Remund pushed the Jones-designed Going Thing to 152.130 miles an hour through the kilo traps at Parker, Ariz.

On several occasions, Remund and the Going Thing were "over" the world competition record, only to stall because of mechanical failure. Two near misses were on Green Lake the past two summers.

"This is something I've wanted for quite a while," Remund said yesterday. "I really liked driving the Going Thing, but a guy can't make a living in a 5-liter."

"I think the Pride of Pay 'n Pak will be competitive in its first year. Jones builds a great boat, and the crew is top-notch. If we get enough testing time in, I think we can have the bugs worked out by Miami."

The unlimited season will begin May 20 in Miami's Marine Stadium.

"During testing, it really helps to have a regulation course set up. They've got that in Pasco, so we'll do a lot of work over there."

Remund's appointment fills the unlimited fleet's last vacancy for the coming season.

Ron Larsen, once the driver of the Pride of Pay 'n Pak, will pilot the Notre Dame. Dean Chenoweth, last year's Notre Dame driver, has returned to the Budweiser camp.

Bill Muncey, 1972 national champion, will return with the Atlas Van Lines. The backup Atlas of last season, still looking for a 1973 sponsor, will  make a the full circuit with Fred Alter at the wheel.

Charlie Dunn will again be the Miss Madison chauffeur. Jim McCormick hopes to compete at all '73 regattas, but is looking for a sponsor. Timex bailed out as McCormick's sponsor after last season.

Bill Wurster, a rookie last year will return in Bob Gilliam's Valu-Mart.

Henley says he's through as a driver

By Chuck Ashmun
Reprinted from The Seattle Times, March 12, 1976

George Henley's hydroplane-racing career has ended — again.

The popular pilot of the Pay 'n Pak unlimited today said he does not plan to return to boat racing now that the craft he steered to two consecutive national championships has been sold.

"We had our fun, but I don't have any plans to drive any more," Henley said.

"Don't say I've retired. That sounds like a fella who's sitting back and got it made. Let's just say I'm gonna play it cool for a while. I'm not out looking."

Henley was wooed out of a brief retirement by the Pay 'n Pak owner, Dave Heerensperger, after the second race of the 1975 season and steered the Pak to the national point title by winning five of the last six races on the circuit, including the prestigious Gold Cup regatta.

"I kind of felt responsible to the Pay 'n Pak people last year," Henley said of this sudden return to the sport. He also was enticed by a lucrative contract."

"But now that he (Heerensperger) is out of the sport, it's really easy for me to get out too."

Heerensperger recently sold his racing equipment — a package that included a new hull under construction, last year's championship hull, one other hull and some 30 engines — to Bill Muncey and Atlas Van Lines. The deal reportedly amounted to a high six-figure sum.

Henley, of Eatonville, said he has not been contacted by Muncey, also a driver, about piloting either the new, aluminum-hulled craft or the boat which won the title last season.

Asked if he might again change his mind and return to racing if made the right offer, he said:

"I don't think so. It would be hard to beat what we did last year. That was a real challenge, bringing the boat up from the bottom of the ladder to the top after the season had started. I don't know if I could ever get that enthused again."

Henley said he met with Heerensperger after the final race of the 1975 campaign and agreed to drive for him again this year.

"But I've lost that do-do-it drive since then," he said. "It's sort of a relief to be out of it."

From outboards to the Gold Cup

By Ranny Green,
Reprinted from The Seattle Times, Pictorial Magazine, July 28, 1974

Since childhood, boating has intrigued Eatonville’s George Henley.

Eatonville's George Henley

He has raced powerboats from outboards to unlimited hydroplanes. His boating also has included operating a jet boat on river excursions and salmon fishing at Westport.

This summer the 36-year-old family man has raced about the country as an unlimited-hydroplane jockey and jet-boat salesman.

Next Sunday on Lake Washington the amiable Henley, who has been racing since 1954, will be at the helm of the Pay ‘n Pak, the defending national champion in the Gold Cup regatta.

“I have two big obligations this summer — driving the Pak and boosting sales for my employer, Turbo Pac, Inc., (a Tacoma firm which sells jet-powered boats),” Henley said. “But sometimes there just don’t seem to be enough hours in the day.

“Fortunately, Pay ‘n Pak has a great racing team,” he continued. “My only obligation is to drive. Jim Lucero, the crew chief, is a genius at repairing the boat. If there’s the slightest thing wrong, I tell him and he attempts to correct.

“The team did its home work during the winter months and the boat was marvelously prepared. We had some rudder trouble in preseason testing but it was corrected. Preparation was the key in the early races because I had very few laps in the boat before the first race.”

Dave Heerensperger, the boat owner, and Henley agreed last spring that Henley would be allotted sufficient time to continue “my main obligation as sales and public-relations manager for Turbo-Pac.

“This is a different arrangement than Mickey (Remund, 1973 Pay ‘n Pak driver) had. He was employed by Pay ‘n Pak and available at virtually any time for testing the boat and for public appearances.

Prior to this season, Henley was winless in unlimited competition. That drought ended on the Potomac River when he captured the coveted President’s Cup in early June.

“That still ranks as my biggest thrill,” he said. “The first win is always the one you remember, and once you get the taste of victory, you don’t want to give it up.”

The glamour of that initial win will be increased, since he and his Pak mates will go to Washington D.C., in the fall to receive the cup from President Nixon at the White Houses.

Despite racing virtually at sea level, Henley senses plenty of pressure in the cockpit of the Pak. but it’s not air pressure, rather psychological.

“There’s a certain amount of pressure to keep the title that Mickey earned,” Henley explained. “But what business in the world doesn’t have pressure? I enjoy it.

“I hadn’t planned to go racing this season, but this was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. David and I have a one-year agreement that I’ll drive the boat. If something happens and he wants to change drivers, that’s his opinion. But I hope to prove myself as a winner so he won’t have to exercise that option.”

Henley, a longtime limited-hydro driver, became somewhat disenchanted with the unlimited’s lifestyle and personnel shortly after making the jump to the big boats in the early 1970s.

“I’ve changed a lot of my opinions since then,” he confessed. “But unlimited racing has changed, too. There’s the Fan Plan (where the winner of the final heat is declared the race victor), there are more limited drivers moving into unlimiteds, there are more boats and the competition is much improved.”

He concedes his change of heard may in part be due to his association with one of the sport’s top racing camps.

“When you’re not winning or contending, a season can become pretty long,” he said.

Because the spring and summer are prime sales periods for Turbo Pac, Henley spends virtually every available minute concentrating on selling the Hamilton jet boats.

“All of my family enjoys boating,” Henley said. “When I am not out selling or racing, we’re on the Nisqually River or some other body of water.”

His summer timetable is well organized and tightly scheduled. Commuting 27 miles to the Tacoma boat shop when he isn’t racing, Henley spends a typical work day on the phone and at marinas informing potential clients about this product.

“It’s amazing how racing and jet-boat sales complement each other,” he added. “Everywhere I go in business, people ask about the unlimited. I’m convinced that any recognition I gain in racing is helpful to business.”

Born in Ketchikan, Alaska, Henley comes from a family of five children. His parents operate Silver Lake resort near Eatonville, where he has resided most of his life. His wife, Mary, has seven sisters, one of whom is married to Ron Jones, Southern California unlimited-hydroplane builder.

Discussing his interest in boats, Henley quipped: “I guess I was born with webbed feet. Ever since I was a small boy, I’ve been around boats. I think racing really began to attract me when I was a first-grader and my family was living at Spanaway Lake, south of Tacoma.

“The reason I recall it so well is that one day I walked down to a dock, about a block from my home, to watch a race. My parents called and called for me, but I didn’t hear them. When they finally found me, they gave me a good paddling for wandering away from home without permission.”

His racing ventures began in a B stock hydro in 1954. Then he graduated to the 136-, 155- and 280-cubic-inch limited-hydro categories. In the late 1950s he was a crew member of the Tacoma-based unlimited Miss B & I. and the Coral Reef. In 1969 he captured the national 225 crown in Miss Tide Air. Later, henley drove the famed seven-liter Record 7 after the late George Babcock retired.

His previous unlimited rides, from 1970 to ‘73 were the Burien Miss, Lincoln Thrift and Red Man.

Although the sport has been tragedy marked in recent years, Henley said: “It’s no more dangerous than driving down the highway at midnight some Friday or Saturday night. In fact, these drivers are a heck of a lot better than any you’ll see on the freeway.”

He has been involved in two narrow scrapes with death, one a flip in his 225 on Lake Sammamish in 1970 and a nose dive in the Link Thrift at the 1972 Gold Cup on the Detroit River.

“George is a great starter,” Heerensperger said. “Even when he wasn’t in a top hull he’d always be in a good position at the start. He’s got a bunch of desire and he’s chomping at the bit in our boat.”

Henley added: “There’s considerable strategy in racing. We videotape most of our test and trial runs to determine how the boat is riding and how I can improve my position on the course.

“Much of my preparation for each event is aimed at timing the start. I spend a couple of days working on positioning myself in relation to the starting clock.

“Like Howie Benns (Miss Budweiser driver) and Ron Armstrong (Valu-Mart pilot), I want the inside lane. That means that all jockeying for position begins well before the one-minute gun, for whoever has that lane by the turn buoy heading into the straightway, owns the position.

“Unquestionably the start and the first turn are crucial phases of every race. If you can get past those in the lead and have comparable power to the rest of the boats, you’re usually in pretty good shape.

“But racing these big hydros is more than simply putting your foot down and letting the boat go. It’s as much psychological as it is physical.

“From a physical standpoint, I attempt to stay in good condition the year around by jogging and driving the jet boats.”

This week Henley will begin a quest for the prestigious Gold Cup, a title that has eluded the Pay ‘n Pak team in its six years of racing.

“My chief ambition this season is to take the unlimited points championship,” Henley said, “but there is no race I’d rather win than the Gold Cup right here on our home course.”

Heerensperger noted, “I’m confident George can win it. He has all the tools to become a great driver, and we have a sound boat capable of helping him get to the winner’s circle.”

The Pak is Back!

Story and photo by Herman Marchetti

Kennewick, Wash. — Friday, June 2nd was the official testing for the H1 Unlimited hydroplanes in the Tri-Cities. This year the Hydroplane & Raceboat Museum in Kent, Washington showed off their newest absolutely beautiful, restoration, the 1973 Pay 'n Pak unlimited hydroplane.

Dr. Ken Muscatel leaves the Neil F. Lampson Pits for the first
running of the newly restored Pride of Pay 'n Pak from 1973.

With oversight from Museum director David Williams, the restoration team, and drivers Dr. Ken Muscatel and Mike Hanson, the Pak made four runs on the Columbia River in their first public showing.

A large crowd was on hand to witness the event and they were not disappointed. On the final run of the day, Mike Hanson buzzed the shoreline to the total delight of the fans. When Mike stepped of the boat he said, "Sometimes you just gotta have some fun.

Also on hand was the U-1 HomeStreet Bank with champion Jimmy Shane, U-9 Jones Racing Les Schwab with Andrew Tate, u-21 PayneWest Insurance with Brian Perkins, U-440 with Dustin Echols, and Grand Prix West GP-15 with Greg Hopp.

All the boats made multiple runs and no major issues came up. it was a great day on the shores of the Columbia River.

The Pak is officially back

June 2, 2017 — Tri-Cities — It's official! The Pak is really back!

After a 40 year hiatus, the 1973 Pay ‘n Pak returned to the Columbia River. Participating in H1 Unlimited’s annual Spring Training test session, the “Winged Wonder” made its official public debut following an extensive four-year restoration.

The 1973 Pak 'n Pak, with crew chief Mike Hanson driving, roars down the Columbia River.
Photo by Steve Connor.

Dr, Ken Muscatel purchased the Pay 'n Pak from the Dave Bartush collection in Detroit in 2012. The legendary hull was restored at the Hydroplane & Raceboat Museum, in Kent, Wash., under the supervision of crew chief Mike Hanson.

Mary Henley, wife of former Pay ‘n Pak and Hall of Fame driver George Henley, was on-hand for the champagne christening of the boat before both Muscatel and Hanson put it through its paces with several runs throughout the day.

“We're approaching it (testing) in steps because we're still figuring out the props and making sure we don't melt down the engine - fuel, air, water, etc.,” explained Muscatel. “Mike (Hanson) and I had a plan that we followed Friday, and we got to 130+ MPH. But the props were pitched enough and the engine would over-speed at a little more than 1/2 throttle.”

“This is why you test (to anyone who doesn't think we put the gas pedal down, this is why),” continued Muscatel. “Both Mike and I have qualified turbines over 158 MPH on that course so we know which way the gas pedal goes.”

A crowd of dedicated hydroplane fans were on hand to view the spectacle. “A great day of unlimited testing in the Tri-Cities,” exclaimed an excited fan holding camera with a large telephoto lens. “Beautiful weather, catching up with old friends, making new ones, and witnessing the rebirth of a legend!”

David Williams, the executive director of the Hydroplane & Raceboat Museum, was quick to share the same enthusiasm. “These guys ROCK! It was a great day testing the Pak on the Columbia river. We went out four times and tried three different propellers. Learned a lot and it is always a very special time when you see a new Museum crew learn to work together and become not just a team, but a real band of brothers.”

Designed and built by master hydroplane build Ron Jones, the Pay 'n Pak ranks among the all-time great thunderboats with 22 race victories. It stands as the first hydroplane of any shape or size to be built of aluminum honeycomb, rather than marine plywood. It was also first hull to sport a horizontal stabilizer wing.

The hull’s debut was a success and it is scheduled to return in July for the 2017 HAPO Columbia Cup as a part of the vintage exhibition.

Pak again wins Ohio hydro race

Reprinted from The Seattle Times, July 14, 1975

DAYTON, Ohio — (Special) — Seattle's Billy Schumacher had a grand view of the final heat of the Hydroglobe race yesterday, but the price of admission was rather costly.

While Schumacher stood aboard his powerless boat and watched, George Henley of Eatonville, Wash., drove the Pay 'n Pak to its second straight Hydroglobe victory.

The Weisfield's (left) duels the Pay 'n Pak (right) during the final heat of yesterday's
Hydroglobe race in Dayton, Ohio. The battle was shorted lived, as the
Weisfleld's would soon break a propeller shaft and withdraw from the race.

Henley's winning ride in the last heat turned into little more than an around-the-lake cruise after the Weisfield's, driven by Schumacher, dropped out in the first lap with a broken propeller shaft.

Schumacher steered into the infield and watched as the Pay 'n Pak easily defeated the second-place finisher, Miss U.S., driven by Tom D'Eath.

Pay 'n Pak and Weisfield's each had scored a pair of decisive wins in preliminary heats as Henley set a course record for one lap of racing and Schumacher set another for a five-lap heat.

That setup the final-heat showdown: Pay 'n Pak, defending national champion, vs. Weisfield's, the 1975 point leader, for the $16,600 first place prize.

Henley had the Pak a boat length in front of the Weisfield's heading out of Turn No. 3 of the first lap when Schumacher suddenly dropped out.

"I'm sorry Billy blew an engine," Henley said shortly after the race, at that time unaware of the Weisfield's difficulty, "because I think we could have really had some fun out there.

"Our boat's running well now; I'd say a little better than last year."

Henley drove the Pay 'n Pak to seven victories in 11 unlimited races in 1974, but the Seattle-based boat encountered difficulties on this year's tour until Henley steered it back into the win column earlier this month at Madison, Ind.

The 39-year-old Henley pushed the Pak to its record lap of 107.463 miles an hour in Heat 1B yesterday, bettering his year-old race-day mark of 106.195 m.p.h for a tight, two-mile Hydroglobe course.

Schumacher, this season's only other double winner among the thunderboat drivers, set his heat record of 102.246 m.p.h. while easily winning 2B.

Henley's 1,200-point performance here moved the Pay 'n Pak into third place in the national point standings, ahead of another Seattle-based boat, Miss Budweiser.

The Pak, which trailed first-place Weisfield's by 1,524 points a week ago, cut the difference to 1,124 points with its final-heat win here. Lincoln Thrift, eliminated from a final-heat spot when Milner Irvin was unable to get his engine started for Heat 2C, remains in second place in the standings but is only 162 points ahead of the Pay 'n Pak.

The points totals are: Weisfield's 5,563; Lincoln Thrift 4,601, and Pay 'n Pak 4,439.

The crews started heading west today. Their next meeting will be July 27, at the Gold Cup race in Tri-Cities, Wash. The Seattle Seafair race will follow, on August 3.

Dual at Columbia Cup

Tri Cities, 1981 — The Miss Budweiser, with Dean Chenoweth driving, takes out the Pay 'n Pak with a wide drift out in the last preliminary heat knocking the Pak out of the final heat. The Pak was running hot all day until this.

Photo by Bill Osborne

"It was both frustrating and encouraging," recalled Pak driver John Walters. "I think that was pretty much the first time in a while, and that year, that anyone had been able to run with Dean and the Bud, especially from the outside.

"It was not the first time that year that I had to deal with getting pushed around and bullied. In Evansville that year we were fast, setting qualifying, course, and world records. But we still had some handling issues in rough water. So in the final, Chip (Hanauer) took one turn, and Dean the other. They spent a good portion of the five minute period almost off plane circling to churn up the water."

"In Dean's defense", continued Walters, "something weird was going on in the engine for me that heat. There were times the engine would decelerate, and lack throttle response. It got worse in this turn, and at this point the engine went to ground idle, and it would not accelerate. At that time it is hard to steer.  Had this not happened, I would have drifted out with Dean and maintained the boat speed."

"We will never know if I would have been able to beat him off the pin to the finish line," continued Walters. "But that was my plan and thinking when we entered that last turn. And for the record, the p-3 line fitting on the fuel control broke. That was what was going on earlier in the heat and it failed here. "

"The move by Dean was not surprising to me," added Walters. "He would do that occasionally. It was especially effective in Detroit with the wall there."

Memories of double flip remain with Pak camp

By Glenn Nelson
Reprinted from The Seattle Times, July 26, 1981

PASCO — One year ago today was meant to be the culmination of a revolutionary experiment. The turbine-powered Pay 'n Pak was to compete in its first unlimited race.

Even before race day, the Pak had created a splash here on the Columbia River. Radio stations interrupted regularly-scheduled programming for reports on sightings of the new boat on the highway. When the Pay 'n Pak finally pulled into the pits during qualifying week for the Columbia Cup, people cheered and clapped. When the craft finally hit the waters for a test run, drivers and crewmen on other boats halted activity to watch.

But on that ill-fated Sunday, the day of the regatta, John Walters, the Pak's rookie driver, took the boat for one last test run. Walters was traveling about 160 miles an hour on the front straightaway what the boat's rear stabilizer failed and the Pak went airborne. The double flip was one of the most spectacular ever in the sport. Walters suffered a fractured left hip socket and sprained his left shoulder, elbow, and knee. He was hospitalized for about two weeks.

But the Pak is back. The boat, its crew and driver have returned to the scene of that horrible nightmare — all in one piece and primed to continue the grand experiment.

John Walters takes the Pay 'n Pak onto the Columbia River yesterday in preparation for today's
Columbia Cup. Walters survived a bad accident on the day of this race a year ago.

Back too are the troubling memories. After completing his first qualifying run, at 126.923 m.p.h., Walters admitted that flashbacks to last year's accident had occurred.

"Leading up to racing her, I thought about the flip," said the 27-year-old Renton resident. "On the beach, waiting for my first time out, I thought about it again. When I reached the starting line, I had some flashbacks. But during the course of the run, my mind was occupied enough. I didn't have time to wander off and think about the accident. Plus, the ride was stable enough that I had no insecure feelings."

Rib contusions suffered as Walters was tossed against the driver's seat when the Pak hit two swells in the Ohio River during a  preliminary heat in Evansville two weeks ago, added to the discomfort.

"I had some trouble on the turns," Walters said. "It did hurt trying to make the corners. It wasn't a constant pain. It shouldn't affect me in the race."

Experimentation with the turbine engines from Vietnam-era helicopters began but failed with the U-95 in 1973. The use of turbine engines is considered revolutionary because they are about one-third the weight of the Allison and Rolls-Royce engines used in most hydros today.

The Pak hull was built extra light so the boat's total racing weight is 5,200 pounds — 1,000 to 1,500 pounds lighter than most boats on the circuit.

Considered even more important than its weight is the engine's longer life expectancy and low maintenance. Though the use of turbines commands a larger startup cost than other power-plants, the cost of maintaining a set of them over a season will be considerably lower.

Jim Lucero Pak crew chief and designer, spend the off-season pouring over videotapes of the flip with Walters in an effort to determine the cause of the accident and methods to prevent its recurrence. What the Pak team discovered was that the head created by the engine's hot startup process caused the machinery to flex and deform. The pressure began loading up in the stabilizers and the wing folded up. Now, the engine is never started without the placement of a thermal blanket on the wing.

"I'll be the first to admit that our testing regimen was considerably slowed because of what happened," Walters said. "We were extremely cautious in our testing. Instead of increasing speeds by 5-10 mile an hour increments, we increased by 2-5.

"But I think we're benefiting by it. It took a little longer to get the kind of results we wanted. But we also got more time on the equipment and I got more time in the boat."

Lucero, for one, has put the past behind him.

"We are not consumed by the accident," he said. "We've come into a new season looking forward to new things. We have to get to the business of winning races."

This amounts to a hometown race for the Pak with hundreds of the chain's employees and longtime Pak fans on the shore. With such a winning tradition (three national championships in earlier boats), there are high expectations for the Pak here.

Those expectations were heightened by Walter's 2-mile world qualifying record set at Evansville.

"The record is kind of a compromise situation," said Walters. "It did raise expectations for us. But the fact that I went out and did it hopefully helps other drivers believe I'm qualified enough to handle the equipment. The very best thing that came from the record is that it boosted team morale considerably. We had put a lot of work into this boat, but we were thrashing about, suffering setback after setback. Not that anyone lost any confidence in the project but it gave us a chance to savor a moment of glory for a change."

A good showing in today's race will at least establish some consistency in the seemingly snake-bitten Pak program this year. The season began auspiciously enough for the team with a second-place finish in the circuit's opener in Miami. But the engine was doused with water in the first heat in the next race in Detroit and the Pak couldn't muster the points to make the final. In Madison, the next week, the Pak suffered the same kind of mishap in the final and Walters was forced to shut down in a preliminary heat due to an abnormally high reading on his exhaust-temperature gauge. Then where was the sponson damage and Walter's resulting injury in Evansville.

Pak makes surprise appearance

May 4, 2017 — In an unannounced test session, Dr. Ken Muscatel and Mike Hanson each took turns testing out the newly and beautifully restored 1973 Pay 'n Pak out for a couple laps on American Lake, south of Tacoma, WA.

Mike Hanson tests out the newly restored Pay 'n Pak.

The session, amid sun, rain, and thunderstorms, provided the crew with a shakedown test in preparation for its public debut on June 2nd at Tri-Cities, WA. at the H1 Unlimited testing session on the Columbia River.

Heerensperger eyes speed record for Pak

By Craig Smith
Reprinted from The Seattle Times, November 25, 1978

The new Pay ‘n Pak turbine-powered hydroplane won’t be ready for a test run until December, 1979, but it’s owner already is dreaming of a national speed record.

Dave Heerensperger, chairman of the board of Pay ‘n Pak Corp., said he is thinking of trying to break the straightaway speed record if the boat performs up to his expectations in races. The record is 200.419 miles an hour set in 1962 by Miss U.S. I.

Heerensperger dropped out of hydroplane racing three years ago after winning three consecutive national titles with a Miss Pay ‘n Pak that campaigned last season as Miss Madison. He said the resurgence of the sport was a big factor in his decision to resume racing.

“Two years ago the sport looked like it was in trouble,” he said. “But now there are five pretty fast boats . . . And I think some people are realizing the value of commercial sponsorship.”

Heerensperger added that his company has grown in the past three years and the cost of racing “isn’t as significant to the company as it used to be.”

In 1974 the U-95 raced with a turbine but never won a race. The boat sank in the Seafair Trophy Race and the project was abandoned later when the owner, Jim Clapp, died. The U-95 hull raced last season a the U-96 with a Rolls-Royce aircraft engine.

Why does Heerensperger think he can succeed when the U-95 failed?

“One big reason is weight,” Heerensperger said.

Heerensperger want the Miss Pay ‘n Pak to weigh less than 5,000 pounds. He suspects the U-95 weighed about 7,000 pounds. One reason the new boat will weigh less is because it will have one large turbine engine instead of two smaller ones, he explained.

Heerensperger added that the entire project “is going to have a lot of new technology in it.”

The turbine will be a Lycoming, T-55 L-7 gas turbine, originally developed for military helicopters. The Pay ‘n Pak camp says the engine has a 2,600-plus horsepower rating.

Heerensperger noted that the U-96 went faster when it was turbine-powered than it ever has with Roll-Royce power.

The new Pay ‘n Pak, to be designed by Jim Lucero, will be built in Kent. Lucero will remain as crew chief  of Bill Muncey’s Atlas Van Lines through the 1979 racing season. Asked the reaction of Bill Muncey, owner-driver of the Atlas Van Lines, about losing Lucero, Heerensperger quipped, “It aged him a little.”

Heerensperger said he thinks the turbine can be much more dependable than the piston aircraft engines of other hydroplanes.

“This is a jet engine,” he said. “Look at jet engines on airplanes. They run for thousand and thousands of hour without hardly any maintenance.”

Heerensperger added, “We won’t be running this engine any harder than it was designed for helicopter use. The Rolls-Royce engines are run twice as hard as they were designed for airplane use. You are really straining them.”

Heerensperger said the new boat itself will cost less than $100,000 and he put a $50,000 tag on the gearbox. He wouldn’t divulge the cost of the turbine engines.

The owner said there are no plans to name a driver until after the boat is tested.

The unretiring pilot and a stabilized Pak

By Georg N. Meyer
Reprinted from The Seattle Times, June 30, 1975

The favorite to win Seattle Seafair's hydroplane race — again — is the little man who didn't expect to be here, George Henley.

Henley retired last year, remember — after driving Pay 'n Pak to a record seven victories, including the Gold Cup off the un-baked, cussed-out shores of Sand Point.

George Henley

At 38, George flashed his infectious grin and said he was more interested in the jet boats he peddles in Tacoma than the snorting monsters he had piloted, with mounting success, since 1970.

"I had to access my future," said the 1974 national point champion when he retired. "I decided my future wasn't in hydroplanes. I'd come home from a race with a lot of publicity, but nobody was out getting orders for jet boats. I was 12 weeks off the job."

So, for the 1975 season, Dave Heerensperger, the Pak's owner, signed on another veteran thunderboat driver, Jim McCormick of Owensboro, Ky.

For one reason or another, McCormick and the Pak never really got on a first-name basis. In two races, Jim was unable to get the thing around corners pointed in the right direction.

The Pak's crew had experimented with a new horizontal stabilizer, but the boat reacted neither horizontally nor with stability.

"McCormick was in a spot," Henley said here yesterday.

"He told me the it wanted to swap ends on the corners. As a new driver of the boat, he didn't feel he ought to tell the owner the boat was no good."

Sensing a lack of rapport between boat and driver, Heerensperger sent out an S.O.S. for the return of Henley.

George loves his jet boats and his family life in Eatonville. His ears flapped reluctantly at Heerensperger's summons.

Whatever business loses —  real or feared — Henley might suffer back in the cockpit, Heerensperger took care of it. The way he put it, after George agreed to back to the Pak, was:

"When you give a leg, an arm, the pen and the checkbook, I guess I know how Bill Russell feels."

That is the Bill Russell who has to negotiate contracts with instant millionaires of the Seattle SuperSonics.

Henley returned to the Pak in time for the Governor's Cup regatta in Owensboro. He told me about his reunion with his hydroplane.

"In the first lap, on a corner, she swapped ends. I caved in a sponson. Then she blew an engine," Henley said. "That was my first heat."

"We decided there MUST be something wrong with the boat."

A witness to all that was Jim McCormick.

Henley said McCormick came to commiserate with him. "He told me: 'I hate to see that happen George — but it made me feel good.'"

Since then, operating again with the stabilizer property horizontalized, the Pak was behaving more obediently. That is, Henley's Gold Cup recapture last week in Pasco was his third victory in a row.

At that race, George may retire again this year.

Walters, Pak in first hydro win

June 15, 1982, GENEVA, N.Y. — John Walters piloted the Pay 'n Pak to his first ever unlimited hydroplane victory in yesterday's weather-delayed Thunder in the Park regatta at Sampson State Park in update New York.

The second-year driver from Renton, Wash., averaged 120.887 miles-per-hour over the five-lap, 10-mile final heat. The victory was also the first ever for the turbine-powered Pay 'n Pak.

Miss Madison, driven by Tom Sheehy, was the only other boat to finish the winner-take-all final. its average speed was 88.106.

The race was originally scheduled for Sunday, but 25-mph winds and choppy waters caused a post-ponement to yesterday.

"We tweaked the engine up (for the final heat)," explained Pay 'n Pak crew chief Jim Lucero. "I don't think anyone ever worked harder for his first win. John just drove the heck out of the boat."

Walters gunned the Pak over the starting line and in initial turn in first place. The Atlas Van Lines, which Chip Hanauer had maneuvered into the inside lane, was washed down by the roostertail of Miss Budweiser, driven by Dean Chenoweth. The Atlas' cowing and left wing support were knocked loose and Hanauer retired to the pits after one lap. The Bud was penalized one lap for the incident.

Halfway through the first lap, the favored Miss Budweiser pulled even and overtook the Pay 'n Pak in the second turn. At the beginning of the second lap, as the Bud's engine began to pop and smoke, Walters regained the lead for good. Not realizing the Budweiser had blew an engine, and had been earlier penalized, Walters pushed the Pak to 124.783 mph in the third lap, the fastest of the day.

"I kinda suspected he (Chenoweth) was having some problems when I went by on the front straight," Walters explained. "I got it up a little in the corner (when racing side by side with the Bud). It (the turbine engine) was making good power all day long."

Pak drops fortune in props in river

July 21, 1974, Kennewick, Wash., (AP) — Dave Heerensperger, owner of the Pay 'n Pak unlimited hydroplane, has seen $3,000 worth of his propellers sink to the bottom of the Columbia River this week.

But, with Heerensperger and the rest of the Pak's racing team here for today's World Championship Regatta, it isn't the money but the principle of the thing that bothers them.

The Pay 'n Pak, like most other unlimited hydros on the circuit, use props — also called "wheels" that are hand-forged in Italy and cost about $1,500 each. The Pak lost two in the first two days of qualifying for today's regatta.

"We're not breaking them," Heerensperger said. "They're just coming off."

Pay "N Pak driver George Henley said, "we've had no problem all season until this week."

The problem, Heerensperger and crew chief Jim Lucero decided, must be in the propeller shaft rather than the prop itself. So, they decided late Friday to switch to a different kind of shaft — a kind Heerensperger feels is potentially weaker and more likely to lead to a break in the prop were it connects with the shaft.

But, "we can't take the chance it will happen again," Heerensperger said as he discussed the disappearing propellers.

Pak still boat to beat

By Hec Hancock
Reprinted from Tri-City Herald, August 4, 1974

SEATTLE - The format for today's Gold Cup race on Lake Washington will be essentially the same as it has been for most of the year, i.e., catch the Pride of Pay 'n Pak, and the latest driver to join the thunderboat fleet, Billy Schumacher, is confident he is up to the task.

"We needed a more experienced driver," Les Rosenberg, owner of the Valu-Mart, explained Saturday as he replaced first-year driver Ron Armstrong with the veteran Schumacher.

The winner of the national championship and the Gold Cup in 1967 and '68 responded by increasing Valu-Mart's qualifying speed from 115.017 m.p.h. to 119.051 m.p.h., good enough for fourth place and a spot in the five-best fastest heat.

"We'll take first or second if we can stay together," an optimistic Rosenberg predicted. A confident Schumacher didn't see any reason to disagree with his new boss. "I'm favorably impressed with the boat," he said. "I wouldn't be driving if I didn't think we could win. I didn't take much adjustment since it feels pretty much the same as the Pak did.

Schumacher was the driver of the Pay 'n Pak when he quit hydroplanes in 1972.

Catching the Pak, however, could prove to be something else. The winner of the World Championship at the Tri-Cities two weeks ago is running at top form and a smiling George Henley appeared unperturbed by the rough water off Sand Point as he sped to the top qualifying time of 122.531 m.p.h.

The defending national champion was trailed by Lincoln Thrift driven by Mickey Remund.

Remund, whose boat was plagued by troubles at Tri-Cities, expressed satisfaction with his craft's performance Saturday but voiced concern over the race course.

"It's almost as bad as Detroit," he said. "The water just misses coming over the bow, and that's when people get hurt. It looks like all right from the shore and it's fine in the morning, but later in the day there are swells that make it rough."

Stan Jones, driver of the Australian champion, Solo, concurred but added, "It's the type of course we're used to. In fact, it's just about the same as what we have at home except there are no flies, and needless to say, we don't miss that aspect."

After breaking two propellers including their best one at Tri-Cities, the Solo crew had a borrowed replacement flown up from Australia.

Jones was satisfied with the engine but pointed out that the attitude of the boat would have to be changed because of the greater amount of fuel needed for the longer course.

The turbine-powered U-95, which appeared ready to challenge the Pak at Tri-Cities before being crippled by a collision with a still-unidentified boat, qualified in the second heat along with the Atlas Van Lines, piloted by Bill Muncey.

The U-95 is running without a tail assembly and, in spite of a tendency to bounce around the course, posted a speed of 115 m.p.h. easy, but the ride could be much better.

As Borgersen pointed out, the boat is nearly 300 pounds lighter without the tail assembly, and air can now get under the stern causing the boat to rise up in the water.

And whether the U-95 as well as the rest of the roostertail crowd can make the needed adjustments to catch the front-running Pak remains to be seen. Heat 1-A of today's $52,500 Gold Cup starts at noon.

Remund's Hydroplane Wins At Record Speed in Miami

May 20, 1973, MIAMI (AP) —Mickey Remund established stadium record of 111.150 miles an hour in his Pay ‘n Pak unlimited hydroplane today on the way to capturing the $25,000 Champion Spark Plug Regatta.

Dean Chenoweth in Miss Budweiser holds the inside lane on Mickey Remund
in Pay 'n Pak as the pair go around the first turn at Miami's Marine Stadium.

George Henley, driving the Lincoln Thrift and Loan, was second and Jim McCormick finished third in his Red Man. The defending regatta and national champion,. Bill Muncey, was forced out of the race with engine trouble and minor injuries. He was treated for facial burns after being covered with hot oil from his engine.

Remund broke the previous record for the 2½-mile course twice. In the first heat he clocked a speed of 106.867 m.p.h., which also broke the mark of 105.448 m.p.h. set last year by Muncey.

Chenoweth, Bud win first Tri-Cities Gold Cup

Takes advantage when Pay ’n Pak breaks down with lead in the final.

Reprinted from Tri-City Herald, July19, 2015

July 22, 1973: The first Gold Cup race on the Columbia.

Dean Chenoweth picked up his second career Gold Cup victory, driving the Miss Budweiser to some record times.

The Bud set marks for a 15-mile heat race (111.386 mph) and for a 60-mile average (105.354 mph) as the Gold Cup was held on the Columbia River for the first time.

But it had to be the Pride of Pay ’n Pak and driver Mickey Remund as the oddsmaker’s favorite going into the final heat.

Remund had driven the Pak to first-place finishes in all three of his heats, giving the team a field-best 1,200 points entering the final.

Chenoweth and Bud, meanwhile, along with Bill Muncey and the Atlas Van Lines, each had 1,100 points after three heats, winning twice and placing second once.

In the final, Remund had the lead early and was dominating before the propeller broke on the Pak.

That left the battle for first between Chenoweth and Muncey, who were dueling hard for the lead.

But Chenoweth had the lead the entire way on Muncey, although the latter was always within a roostertail.

“I knew that if we pushed hard, somebody would have to break,” Chenoweth told the Herald after the race. “So I stuffed my foot into it and went as fast as I could.”

It was heartbreak for the Pak team, which lost the national high-points lead and headed to Seattle trailing the Bud by 100 points.

“I don’t know what happened,” Remund said after the race. “Everything from the gear box to the prop is destroyed. The damage is almost the same as we had in Detroit.”

Part of the prop flew off and gouged a hole in his boat.

Things would get better for Remund and the Pak, as the team eventually regained the national high-points lead and won the season championship.

Henley qualifies with Pay 'n Pak

June 29, 1974, DETROIT (AP) — George Henley's Pride of Pay 'n Pak and Bill Muncey's Atlas Van Lines U-71 head Sunday's field in the Spirit of Detroit unlimited hydroplane race for the Gar Wood trophy.

Muncey's U-71 ended up on the bottom of the Detroit River when he was here in May, but six weeks of rebuilding helped him turn in the second-best qualifying time over a shortened course.

Muncey pushed the U-71 to an "official" speed of 132.352 m.p.h. over the 2½-mile course Friday. However, officials are computing speeds based on the normal three-mile run for unlimited hydroplane races.

The course over the often treacherous river was shortened Thursday in the interest of safety. The major changes was the removal of the sharp "roostertail" turn.

Henley piloted the Pay 'n Pak to a 133.044 m.ph. qualifying run Thursday to notch the fastest qualifying speed.

Others making the cut in the final qualifying heats Friday were Milner Irvin in Miss Madison, Fred Alter in Atlas U-44, Roger D'Eath in Miss Cott Beverage, Tom Martin in Sunny Jim and Tom Kaufman in Mr. Fabricator.

Although the speeds turned in during qualifying and the race will not have any historic basis because of the shortened course, Muncey was all smiles.

"It was the first time we had it in the water since I crashed it and it was just beautiful. And we had plenty left," he said.

The Atlas U-71 and Pay 'n Pak will be joined in the "fast" heat of Sunday's race by Miss U.S., Miss Budweiser and Miss Madison.

The first heat will feature Savair's Probe, Atlas U-44, Sunny Jim, Miss Cott Beverage and Mr. Fabricator.

CU-22, piloted by Bob Schroeder, is an alternate in case one of the top 10 qualifiers is unable to run.

Muncey, No Longer No. 1, Will Try Harder

By Parton Keese
Reprinted by The New York Times, June 3, 1973

The question this year in unlimited hydroplanes is: Can Bill Muncey come back? Last year the question was: Can Bill Muncey be stopped? He wasn't much last year — winning every race except one in the Atlas Van Lines boat, but this year Muncey was beaten in the opening race at Miami after an extra curricular effort in an outboard had resulted in several broken ribs.

With at least eight of the 200-mile-an-hour thunderboats convening on the Potomac River in Washington this weekend for the President's Cup regatta, the new hero, so far, is Mickey Remund. He won the Champion Spark Plug regatta in Miami and set a course record doing so, 119.363 miles an hour for one lap and 119.048 for a five-lap average.

Remund has the helm of Pride of Pay 'n Pak, the new Ron Jones‐design. Also in the race are the two hydros that gave Remund his toughest competition before succumbing to engine trouble: Miss Budweiser (last year's Pride of Pay 'n Pak) and Lincoln Thrift, now with a new driver, Gene Whipp of Dayton, Ohio.

Others running are Gale's Roostertail, Red Man, Notre Dame (new driver, Ronnie Larson), Miss Madison and Atlas, with Muncey reportedly recovered from his wounds. Not entered are Miss U.S. and Valu-Mart.

For a new boat on the seven-race circuit, victory in the first regatta is a surprise, while a record is shocking. There were even a few snickers in the pits when the Pay 'n Pak crew announced that the low-profile pickle hull had been clocked unofficially at 119 miles an hour-plus on her first practice run.

“Don't you think that's exaggerating just a little bit?” replied one of the other drivers. This is a pretty tight course. Are you trying to tell me Remund broke Muncey's record by an honest 6 miles an hour?”

Mickey answered his critics later, of course, when he made the record official. Although Muncey drove despite his aching body, Pay 'n Pak's most serious challenger turned out to be Dean Chenoweth, the former national champion, in Budweiser.

In the second heat at Miami, Remund and Chenoweth tangled in a thrilling three-lap duel, which ended when the Bud's engine blew in a sheet of flames on the back stretch.

In the Atlas Van lines camp, there were signs that all was not well beside Muncey. The new fuel-injection system developed by Jim Kerth and Lee Schoenith, the owner, was one source of problems.

“With the cold weather we've been having up in Detroit,” Schoenith said, “we have not had a chance to do enough testing. I would say that we're 90-percent home free, and I'm sure we'll have it worked out as the season goes on.”

Another new boat that has caught spectators' attention is Lincoln Thrift, a turbocharged cabover design. Although it had its problems trying not to spin out on the tight Miami Stadium turns, it is tremendously fast. If Lincoln can straighten out and Budweiser's engine holds up and Pay 'N Pak continues hot and Muncey gets back in the winning groove, the Potomac could be boiling before the day is over.

Master hydroplane builder Ron Jones Sr. dead at 84

He reportedly built more than 500 boats, championed the enclosed canopy on unlimiteds and moved drivers to the front in a radical redesign.

By Bob Condotta
Reprinted from The Seattle Times, January 31, 2017

Ron Jones Sr. once estimated he built more than 500 boats in many different classes of racing.

But it was the more than two dozen unlimited hydroplanes he constructed — some that helped usher in the age of the enclosed cockpits and forward-seating boats that remain the dominant design today — that Jones might have been best remembered for when he passed away on Jan. 19 of natural causes at the age of 84.

Ron Jones in 2006.

Legendary driver Dave Villwock, though, said it would be impossible to point to just one boat or design as his greatest legacy.

“There was a little bit of him in all of them,’’ said Villwock, the winningest driver in unlimited history, of Jones’ impact on hydroplane boat design.

Jones, a 1950 graduate of Highline High School in Burien, was the son of Ted Jones, the legendary driver and race-boat designer whose win in the 1950 Gold Cup helped bring unlimited hydro racing to Seattle.

When Ted Jones piloted the Slo-mo-shun IV to a win in the Gold Cup in Detroit that year, Seattle got the right to host the Gold Cup in 1951. There has been a hydro race in Seattle every year since, with the course now named in Ted Jones’ honor.

While Ron Jones once said he drove every boat he built at least once, he preferred to build and not drive.

One of his first significant hulls was the 1958 Miss Bardahl that topped the hydroplane national points standings. Maybe his most famous was the Pay ’n Pak, nicknamed the Winged Wonder, which dominated the sport from 1973-76.

Longtime driver Chip Hanauer said he marveled at the artistry in the boats that Jones designed.

“He was a master,’’ Hanauer said. “As a driver, I was the violinist. But he was Stradivarius. A violinist, when they play a Stradivarius, they know that they are not just playing an amazing instrument but a work of art.’’

Hanauer and Villwock, though, said Jones also cared deeply about safety, which ultimately might be his greatest contribution to the sport.

He was among the first to champion the idea that cockpits should be in front of the engine instead of behind it, which he thought would make the boats more aerodynamically sound.

Jones introduced a Miss Bardahl boat with that design to much fanfare in 1966. The boat, though, was involved in an accident on the sport’s worst day at the President’s Cup in Washington, D.C., when it lost a propeller and took flight and then nose-dived into the water, killing driver Ron Musson. Two other drivers would also be killed that day.

Jones once told The Seattle Times he lost 50 pounds in the three months after the accident, and it was said he didn’t build another unlimited for four years.

“He cared so much about the people and the drivers that were in his boats,’’ Hanauer said. “I think that was very difficult for him. He did everything he could with the technology available to try to improve driver safety.’’

By the ’80s, the forward-seating hull had become the primary design, with Jones at the forefront of another innovation that greatly improved safety in the sport — enclosed cockpits.

“Ron was a guy that really pushed to the fully-enclosed canopy,’’ said Villwock, who worked with Jones designing boats for a time in the late 1980s.

Jones installed an F-16 canopy on the Miss Budweiser and the Miss 7-Eleven in the mid-’80s in the wake of the death of Miss Budweiser driver Dean Chenoweth in an accident in the Tri-Cities in 1982, and within a few years the safety capsules were mandatory.

Only one unlimited hydroplane driver has been killed since then.

“If I haven’t done anything else, getting canopies on boats that would allow drivers to survive has been something of a great accomplishment,” Jones, whose son Ron Jones Jr. would also become a famed boat designer, told The Seattle Times in 1999.

“He was a brilliant guy that had some good ideas and was willing to open his mind to what others had to say, as well,’’ said Villwock of Jones, who was inducted into the hydroplane racing Hall of Fame in 2004. “And the result was something revolutionary.’’

Muncey Takes Off With Seafair Cup

August 7, 1972, Seattle, Wash. (UPI) - If baseball parlance can be applied to unlimited hydroplane racing, veteran driver Bill Muncey did more than have a perfect game, he nearly had a perfect season.

When Muncey ran away from the field in the Atlas Van Lines for an amazingly easy victory in the Seattle Seafair Trophy race Sunday, he chalked up the following statistics at the end of the unlimited season:

• Six wins in seven races.
• National championships for driver and boat.
• Winner of 22 of 25 heats for the season.
• Finisher in every heat he started.
• Trailed in his one losing race by one 3 seconds at at finish. 

With more than 100,000 fans lining the lake shore in a record 91-degree heat wave, Sunday’s Seafair Race was billed as a season-ending showdown between the Atlas Van Lines and the Pride of Pay ’n Pak, which had been chasing the Atlas across the finish line all year.

That bit of anticipated excitement never materialized. The Pay ’n Pak, with Bill Sterett, Jr, at the wheel, blew engines at the start of two preliminary heats and never reached the final or even got racing.

Muncey, of San Diego, wrapped up national championships for himself and the Detroit-based Atlas Van Lines in his very first heat with a coasting second-place finish. He won his next preliminary heat and roared away from the field in the final competition for the easy victory.

Pay 'n Pak 'salts' away second place in Miami

Reprinted from Pay 'n Pak Racing Team News, July 28, 1981

"For today, second place is not all that bad," said Dave Heerensperger, owner of the turbine-powered Pay 'n Pak unlimited hydroplane after driver John Walters guided the boat to a second place in the first race of the season at Miami, FL, in the eleventh annual running of the Champion Spark Plug Regatta.

Walters, running in his first unlimited race ever, and driving the Pak in its maiden race, picked up a win in the first heat of competition, and then with a little luck in the final finished second to the powerful Miss Budweiser when Bill Muncey in the Atlas Van Lines went dead in the water after the first lap.

Emotions at Miami ran the gamut from deep frustration when the team had
problems getting motors running to jubilation when the Pak took a second
place finish in the final. Photo by Bill Moore.

Beset by a number of problems from the opening day of testing and qualifying, Walters gave a great deal of credit to the crew, noting, "We had a lot of problems and the crew did a hell of a job. They could have quit a number of times but they just kept plugging away. Without their dedication I don't think we would have made it out of the pits."

Trouble for the Pak stemmed from salt water, high temperatures, and humidity resulting in numerous motor failures during testing and qualifying. Salt water was the major problem, as the salt in the water crystallized on the blades of the compressor causing what is known a a compressor stall in the world of turbine engines.

After a day of thrashing on the boat Friday, the team got the boat running well enough to get the "whoosh" machine to qualify at just of 95 mph. later in the day Walters upped that to just over 105 mph; and on Sunday prior to the race, upped that speed to just under 107 mph.

And just for the sake of definition, a thrash, in this instance, means that Walters, the crew, and crew chief Jim Lucero, had the boat in the water 17 times for test runs prior to the running of the first head of racing on Sunday.

Changes that were made for racing in the salt water of Miami included sealing the ram scoops in the front of the boat and running the boat without the cowling.

The Pak did get the luck of the draw, which saw the Budweiser and Atlas Van Lines matched in both preliminary heats. Walters won his first heat, but failed to start in the second due to an engine that the salt had overcome.

In that first heat, Walters started on the outside and went into the first furn with Miss Madison and Michael's Pride and faltered momentarily when he ran into another compressor stall. This time the motor stayed lit, however, and Walters reeled in both Miss Madison and Michael's Pride much to the favor of the 16,000 fans on hand for the event.

In the final head, Walters found himself on the inside, in a place where he didn't want to be, and he backed off going into the first turn to make sure that he didn't get "washed down" - something that would have been fatal for the Pak since it was running without its cowling.

Meanwhile, Bill Muncey in his Atlas Van Lines and Dean Chenoweth in the Bud were battling for the lead with Muncey holding the upper hand until the two exited turn four and Muncey's engine gave way leaving the lead to the Bud. Walters passed the Madison going up the back stretch earning second place when Muncey went dead in the water.

"The Budweiser was obviously the boat to beat in the final so our strategy was to take the safe lane into the first turn with a good start and make the motor live," said Walters.

Both Heerensperger and Lucero had praise for Walter's driving performance, as he not only kept the boat out of trouble on the race course but showed plenty of skill in guiding the turbine-powered hull to first and second place finishes.

Heerensperger also gave credit to Lucero and his Pak crew for their notable performance at the Miami race. "Our crew really busted their tails to get the boat in the race, and I just can't say too much about their performance, "Heerensperger said.

Schumacher solve travel trouble

Reprinted from Tri-City Herald, June 18. 1972

There is a lot to be said for the good life of professional athletes. Their hours are relatively short and the pay is high.

About the only negative factor, most athletes agree, is the extensive traveling they have to do.

Billy Schumacher, driver of the hydroplane "Pride of Pay 'n Pak," in the Tri-Cities for the Atomic Cup race July 23, has found a solution to the pro athlete's travel woes.

Billy Schumacher and his wife Cindee discuss racing strategies with
Bernie Little (left), of the Miss Budweiser racing team, and Dave Heerensperger (top).

His home is on wheels, a spacious top-of-the-line motor home, complete with sleeping quarters for up to six, a fully equipped kitchen, dinette, full bath and modern decor featuring teak and Formica.

Schumacher and his pretty wife, Cindee, recently bought the Revcon 250 so they "wouldn't have to live out of a suitcase anymore."

"It's really great," Schumacher said, predicting motor home travel will soon become routine for traveling athletes, entertainers, salesmen and construction workers who are on the road most of the time.

"The better motor homes today have all the accommodations of motels, but you don't have to pack and unpack, hustle for cabs, and try to beat time tables," he said.

"This rig," he said, "is just great driving too. It's built for the professional traveler or the guy who can afford some builtin features to ease his fatigue. It has front-wheel drive, power steering, automatic transmission, and it's got an aluminum body so it weights and handles like a car."

"For me, that's important," he said. "It means I'm not all bushed when  I arrive so I can save my best driving for the water."

Billy the Kid, as he is know to his fellow hydro pilots, and his family are traveling throughout the country this summer in their "home on wheels" during the hydroplane racing campaign.

Relaxing with all the comforts of home, Schumacher discussed his racing career which started when he was eight years old. Since his first race, in a utility outboard, Schumacher has competed in virtually every boat racing class. His record at all levels of competition is impressive.

Schumacher is a two-time national unlimited hydroplane champion and Gold Cup winner. He was recipient of the coveted "Driver of the Year" award in 1968 and 1968.

The personable 29-year-old hydroplane driver from Seattle has set 10 world records ranging from outboards to unlimited hydroplanes. Last year, he established the world record for a three-mile course (121.076 m.p.h).

Schumacher chauffeured the "Pride of Pay 'n Pak" to more wins last year than any other boat on the unlimited hydroplane circuit despite an early season accident.

Many members of the racing fraternity are picking Schumacher as the favorite for this year's campaign.

"Pride of Pay 'n Pak" is sponsored by David J. Heerensperger, chairman of the board of Pay 'n Pak Stores, a Seattle-based electrical and plumbing supply chain operating in the western United States.

The unlimited hydroplane weighs 7,000 pounds and measures 28 feet 6 inches in length and 13 feet 9 inches at the beam. A 2,500 horsepower Roll-Royce Merlin aircraft engine powers the boat to top speeds of 175 m.p.h.

The 1972 unlimited hydroplane schedule opened June 4 in Miami. Other racing events include: The Governor's Cup at Owensboro, Ky., June 11; Gold Cup at Detroit, Mich., June 25; the World Championship, Madison, Ind., July 2; the President's Cup, Washington D.C., July 19; the Atomic Cup, Tri-Cities, Wash., July 23; the Seafair race, Seattle, Wash., August 6; and the Diamond Cup, Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, Aug. 13.

With this busy schedule, Bill Schumacher will be a man on the move during the summer months - in his "Pride of Pay 'n Pak" hydroplane on the water and in his Revcon 250 on the highway.

Pay 'n Pak edges Miss Bud to win Gold Cup

August 5, 1974, SEATTLE (AP) - Sunday's Gold Cup Regatta for unlimited hydroplanes resulted in a well-earned victory for the Pay 'n Pak, some very angry boat owners and drivers and a tired and sunburned crowd that was just a fraction of previous Seattle race-day gatherings.

Two boats headed the casualty list. One sank, and the other burned.

Pak jockey George Henley of Eatonville, Wash., fought off a hard challenge by Howie Benns in the Miss Budweiser to win the championship head in rough waters and approaching darkness.

It capped a marathon day on Lake Washington in which delays forced the final heat back until 8:10 p.m. PDT, as the sun was setting.

It was the first Gold Cup for Pay 'n Pak owner Dave Heerensperger, who in 10 years of racing had won plenty of other trophies with his Eagle Electric and Pay 'n Pak boats.

George Henley in the Pay 'n Pak duel Howie Benns in Miss Budweiser in Heat 1-C of the
Gold Cup Regatta on Lake Washington in Seattle. Photo by Bill Osborne.

There were no injuries Sunday, but the U-95, the first competitive turbine-powered unlimited in the history of boat racing, sank in more than 150 feet of water during Heat 1-C.

In an attempted re-run of that heat, the new Miss U.S. of Detroit, piloted by Tom D'Eath, blew an engine in the second lap of the six-lap event, then caught fire and was totally destroyed.

In both cases volunteer race workers manning rescue boats around the 2½-mile course were strongly criticized by race participants and spectators who felt they did not act fast enough to save the respective boats.

D'Eath said the blaze which eventually gutted the Miss U.S. beyond repair started "as a minor fire" in a hard-to-get spot under the engine but rescue crews "were squirting it from 30 feet away."

"A $50,000 boat has been ruined because they had a bunch of chickens on the course handling fire equipment."

Despite the controversy, the Pay 'n Pak had a perfect day, winning three preliminary heats and the championship finale.

The Gold Cup place finishers:

1. Pay 'n Pak, Seattle, driven by George Henley.
2. Miss Budweiser, Lakeland, Fla., Howie Benns.
3. Pizza Pete, Detroit, Fred Alter.
4. Atlas Van Lines, Detroit, Bill Muncey.
5. Kirby Classic, Seattle, Bill Wurster.

An estimated 35,000 spectators attended the event, held this year for the first time off the Sand Point Naval Support Facility rather than the Stan Sayres Memorial pits farther south on Lake Washington. The switch was to facilitate collecting admission fees. The race has been free in the past.

But the site was not as attractive nor as sprawling as the old one and the crowd was well below the 100,000-plus of past years.

Henley's victory Sunday widened the Pak's lead in national point standings over the second place Budweiser. He now has 7,000 to the Budweiser's 5,713.

Henley's championship heat victory was anything but certain for the first two laps. The Pak and the Bud were locked in a deck-to-deck duel as they roared around the course at speeds of over 150 miles per hour on the straightaway stretches.

At times the two three-ton thunderboats were so close it appeared the drivers could have shaken hands.

The Pak was pulling ahead slightly near the end of the second lap when it went up on on sponson and appeared in danger of bumping into the Budweiser. Bud driver Howie Benns appeared to back of just slightly at that point and it may have cost him the race. He never caught up.

Earlier, in the best single head of the day, the same two were locked into battle for 5½ laps of the six-lap Heat 1-C before the Pay 'n Pak pull away to win.

The sinking of the U-95 could mean an end to turbine-powered hydroplanes. The boat was sponsor-less and reportedly had no assurance of financial backing beyond Sunday's race. Now it appears questionable whether the boat could be raised from the lake floor and made ready to run again this year anyway.

A spokesman for the boat said over $500,000 had been spent in just developing the revolutionary craft.

There were other, less spectacular, casualties.

The Lincoln Thrift, which had the second fastest qualifying time during the days of pre-race testing, withdrew from competition before the opening gun. Owner Bob Fendler, of Phoenix, Ariz., said the boat was not riding smoothly and was potentially dangerous.

And the Australian Solo, representing the first foreign entry in U.S. unlimited racing in a quarter century, did not finish a heat all day.

Heartbreaks in Preparing for the Unlimiteds

Reprinted from Motor Boating, August 1969.

Just an example of what an Unlimited owner goes through, let us review the log of Dave Heerensperger's Pride of Pay 'n Pak. Prior to the Alabama Dixie Cup, at Guntersville, Dave made a number of attempts to break the world water speed record but failed. All of his attempts fell far short of the record set by Roy Duby driving Miss U.S. 1 on the same lake in 1962 when he made 200.419 mph on the one-mile straightaway. APBA says that this lake has the best water in the United States for the temperamental nature of the monstrous 7,000-pound thunderboat. This man-made lake, of the TVA chain, has little sailing, because of its natural calmness and lack of consistent winds to stir up the water.

Here is the log of the Pride of Pay 'n Pak's attempts:

1st day		Engine break in
2nd day		Thick fog; no morning runs possible
	6:32 p.m.	146.939 mph south to north
		148.78 mph north to south
3rd day	6:37 a.m.	147.90 mph S to N
		149.626 mph N to S
	7:45 a.m.	155.844 mph S to N
		156.213 mph N to S
	4:10 p.m.	161.943 mph S to N
4th day	6:40 p.m.	172.162 mph S to N

Between these attempts were "bone-grueling hours of changes to engines, propellers, struts, and shafts and literally hundreds of consultations, conferences and discussions between crew, driver, owner, and specialists on hand for supply companies and other racing experts."

The Pak is back; but more of a survivor than winner

By Hec Hancock
Reprinted from Tri-City Herald, August 5, 1974

The 1974 Gold Cup race on Lake Washington Sunday must be one of the most expensive demolition derbies in the annals of sports.

It was a calamity atop disaster, blended with catastrophe and sprinkled with confusion.

When it was over, the race course made the aftermath of Omaha Beach in the Normandy landings of World War II look like a manicured putting green.

"The only thing that didn't happen today," Phil Cole, co-referee, observed, "was that the creek didn't go dry."

George Henley, driver of the Pride of Pay 'n Pak wasn't so much a winner as the sole survivor.

"Whew, it was sure a long day," Henley, never one to throw words around needlessly, commented after winning four straight heats and presenting boss Dave Heerensperger with the coveted Gold Cup as a wedding present.

But before Henley took the checkered flag in the championship heat eight and one half hours after racing got under way - havoc was widespread.

The smartest move of the day had to be that of the Lincoln Thrift, which withdrew before the racing started. After posting the second fastest qualifying time, owner Robert Fendler and driver Mickey Remund declared the boat unsafe and said "forget it fellas."

The U-95 sank in more than 150 feet of water during Heat 1-C of the Gold Cup hydroplane race Sunday on Lake Washington. Driver Leif Borgersen, in the water beside the boat, escaped without injury. (AP)

If the U-95 which took the Lincoln Thrift's place in the fast heat had followed suit, it wouldn't be sitting at the bottom of Lake Washington with a two-foot hole in its hull caused by an explosion in its turbine engine.

"I heard a loud explosion," driver Leif Borgersen related, "and fragments started flying around. I grabbed the fire extinguisher to start putting out the fire, but saw we were sinking so fast that the water would take care of it. I waved that I was alright and wend over the side."

The U-95 crew was able to but had to get a line on it but had to cut it when it wasn't long enough for the 180 foot depths. An effort will be made Monday to raise the sunken boat.

The third fastest qualifier, the Miss U.S. burned nearly to the waterline when firemen failed to respond quickly enough to what was originally a harmless blaze. An enraged Tom D'Eath, driver of the Miss U.S., said he had gone out into the water per instructions when the fire broke out.

"It could have been put out with a fire extinguisher but they seemed frozen," he said of the firemen on the patrol boat. "They were afraid of an explosion, and alcohol fires don't explode."

Valu-Mart, which had assumed the dark horse role when Bill Schumacher was named to drive it, was the next victim, withdrawing after a sponson started leaking in the rough waters.

But whether anyone could have caught the smiling Henley in the smooth-running Pak is doubtful.

"It was beautiful," he said with a grin. "It was rough but all water gets rough when you race on it."

Henley reported he felt he had the big cup sewed up when he looked back and couldn't see the pursuing Miss Budweiser.

Just as it has been for the past two years the race was a two boat affair between the Pak and Miss Bud. However, on the first of four concentrations between the two boats was close. In heat 1-C the Pak rapped the bear boat on the final lap by scant seconds.

Following the race, Mary Henley, wife of the winning driver from Eatonville, summed things up pretty well when she greeted her spouse with a big hug and said "Great going, dear."

As Bernie Little, runner up today, but winner of three World Cups, put it, "It was Dave's turn. He deserved it."

Billy bows out

Schumacher retires. Pay 'n Pak names Bill Sterett Jr. as driver 

July 8, 1972, WASHINGTON (AP) - Billy Schumacher announced his retirement from unlimited hydroplane racing yesterday and Owensboro's Bill Sterett Jr. was hired to replace him as driver of the Pride of Pay 'n Pak.

Sterett, who drove the Notre Dame hydro in 1971, will make his debut aboard the Pay 'n Pak in the President's Cup Regatta on the Potomac River here today and Sunday.

Schumacher, a 29-year-old Seattle resident, refused to drive in the World Championship race at Madison, Ind., last Tuesday, claiming the course was unsafe because of scattered driftwood and debris.

In the Madison race, Sterett's father former national champion Bill Sterett Sr. guided the Pay 'n Pak "as a favor to a friend." owner Dave Heerensperger.

Among others, young Sterett will be competing against his brother, Miss Budweiser driver Terry Sterett, in the President's Cup Regatta.

Hydro's Assault Readied

Reprinted from The Daily Chronicle, April 19, 1969

SPOKANE (Special) - Dave Heerensperger, owner of the Pacific Northwest's Pride of Pay 'n Pak unlimited hydroplane, said here today that his crew chief has completed the design of a revolutionary propeller which should add from 10 to 15 mph to the boat's assault on the world water speed record for one mile. The attempt will take place on Lake Guntersville, Alabama, May 19th.

“Jack Cochrane ordered three of these propellers, each with different degree of pitch. One will do the job, of that I'm sure," Heerensperger said. The propellers will be hand-forged in Italy to the specifications laid down by Cochrane and by Joe Mascari, internationally renowned propeller expert. Mascari expects to make a personal trip to Italy supervise completion of the wheels.

Heerensperger explained that the new propellers will be an improved version of the familiar "elephant ear" design now in use on several unlimiteds. "These elephant ears will look like they come from African elephants, they're so big," said Heerensperger. The particular design provides for much more blade surface than conventional propellers, with a corresponding increase in thrust potential and speed.

The Pay 'n Pak owner said propellers with 19.21 and 22 inches of pitch have been ordered. All will be 13 inches in diameter. "Slide rule calibrations indicate to us that the 22 inch propeller will be the one to use. After all, we're trying to break a record of 200.419 mph.

"I'd use the biggest wheel we can to get as much top speed as possible," the owner stated. He also revealed that Cochrane and Pay 'n Pak crew members have completed work on most of the 12 engines reserved for the record attempt.