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.
