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.