Reprinted from The Seattle Times, November 19, 1978
The Pak will be back — with turbines.
David Heerensperger, chairman of the Pay 'n Pak corporation, has announced plans to re-enter unlimited hydroplane racing with a turbine-powered boat in the 1980 season.
The new boat will be built by Jim Lucero, now crew chief of the Atlas Van Lines, last season's national champion. Lucero will remain with the Atlas camp for the 1979 season.
The new turbine boat will be powered by a Lycoming T-55 L7 gas turbine, originally developed for military helicopters.
Chuck Lyford, who served a crew chief on the turbine-powered U-95, will be a consultant to the Pak camp. In 1974 the U-95 was heralded as the "boat of the future" but failed to win a race and sank after an accident at the Seafair Regatta. The turbine project was abandoned later when the boat's owner, Jim Clapp, died.
Heerensperger's Pay 'n Pak won national titles in 1973, '74 and '75. Heerensperger dropped out of hydroplane racing after the 1975 season, selling his boat and equipment to Bill Muncey. Racing under Atlas Van Lines sponsorship, Muncey won the national title in 1976. The boat raced last season as Miss Madison.
Heerensperger ranks fourth on the all-time list of owners' victories with 24.
The way for Heerensperger's re-entry into hydro racing was cleared at the recent Baton Rouge, La., meeting of the Unlimited Racing Commission. A rule was passed allowing turbine racing "without restrictions" for a four-year period beginning with the first season Heerensperger's new boat races, according to Sue Sponnoble, executive secretary of the commission.
A total of 10 races are on the 1979 unlimited schedule. New sites are Long Beach, Calif., a site outside Salt Lake City and El Dorado, Kansas. Dropping from the circuit is Owensboro, Ky., site of last year's Gold Cup.
The Seattle unlimited race will be held August 5.
Sunday, January 20, 2019
Monday, January 14, 2019
The sport meets a “Winged Wonder”
Reprinted from Unlimited NewsJournal, January 2019
The tranquility of Stan Sayres Park was interrupted on the afternoon of April 9, 1973, when a crowd of hydroplane groupies and reporters gathered to witness the christening of a craft that promised to introduce the latest in hydroplane technology: a boat named Pay 'n Pak.
A few details about the new boat began to emerge from Ron Jones’ Costa Mesa, California, shop while the thing was still under construction early in 1973. A press release said that it would be “new and revolutionary” and that it would look like Heerensperger’s previous boat, but much stronger and with other changes, such as aerodynamic cowlings.
But, the biggest innovation was under the deck. The entire structure was built with a strong but lightweight material called Hexcel, a sort of aluminum sandwich, thin sheets of the metal on the top and the bottom and a core made of aluminum and set in a honeycomb pattern.
As the boat arrived for the christening, the crowd saw that it had a wedge shape, an effect created by the aerodynamic cowling that seemed to enclose the cockpit more than usual. The color scheme also was eye-catching, brilliant white decks with the name “Pay 'n Pak” painted in large orange and black letters.
What really caught their eye, though, was something that hadn’t been discussed in the accounts of the boat’s construction: a wing.
Standing about five feet above the deck and resting atop two vertical tails was a horizontal stabilizer, a four-foot wide slab of Hexcel, plastic, and epoxy that was as long as the transom was wide.
According to crew chief Jim Lucero, who played a significant role in the boat’s design, the wing had two purposes: to add some lift to the rear of the boat and provide the hull better directional stability and control.
It also grabbed attention.
Fans argued over the merits of the wing. Would it cause the boat to become airborne? Would it come off when the boat hit high speed or ran into a large swell? It was just the kind of debate the sponsor side of Heerensperger dreamed about.
During a boat’s first season, especially a boat as innovative as Pay 'n Pak, there typically is a period of fine-tuning. The crew will try different props, shift the weight around, and make small changes to the sponsons. So, while the Pay 'n Pak team and the boat’s driver, Mickey Remund, worked on these things in 1973, their chief nemesis was their old boat, now painted Budweiser gold, red, and white and with Dean Chenoweth back in the team’s cockpit.
Remund and Chenoweth were locked in a struggle throughout the 1973 campaign. The Pay 'n Pak won the first race it entered, the Champion Spark Plug Regatta in Miami, then Chenoweth took his turn at the winner’s circle. And, so it went all year, with both boats winning four races. but, in the end, when all the points were tallied, Pay 'n Pak came out on top by a mere 275 points, giving Dave Heerensperger his first national championship.
Although the points race had been close, the record book was one-sided in favor of the new hydro. During the year, Pay 'n Pak had shattered 26 of 29 existing speed records.
In the years that followed, the Winged Wonder would win another national title in 1974 with George Henley behind the wheel and another the following year with Henley and Jim McCormick
sharing the driving duties. In three years of racing, the boat had won a total of 16 races.
Heerensperger pulled off another stunning deal after the 1975 season, this time selling his entire team to Bill Muncey. With the boat’s new owner behind the wheel in 1976, it won its fourth straight national title, this time with the name Atlas Van Lines painted on its hull.
In 1977, while Muncey raced a new boat, the Winged Wonder appeared in the two Pacific Northwest races as the Pay 'n Pak, but was showing its age. The sponsons came apart twice. Then it was sold to the City of Madison, Indiana, and spent the next 11 seasons as either the Miss Madison or carrying the names of various sponsors.
The tranquility of Stan Sayres Park was interrupted on the afternoon of April 9, 1973, when a crowd of hydroplane groupies and reporters gathered to witness the christening of a craft that promised to introduce the latest in hydroplane technology: a boat named Pay 'n Pak.
 |
| Dave Heerensperger, owner, Mickey Remund, driver, and Jim Lucero at the unveiling the revolutionary new Pay 'n Pak hydroplane in 1973. The "Winged Wonder" was the first hydroplane constructed of Hexcel honeycomb aluminum and to sport a horizontal stabilizer wing. |
But, the biggest innovation was under the deck. The entire structure was built with a strong but lightweight material called Hexcel, a sort of aluminum sandwich, thin sheets of the metal on the top and the bottom and a core made of aluminum and set in a honeycomb pattern.
As the boat arrived for the christening, the crowd saw that it had a wedge shape, an effect created by the aerodynamic cowling that seemed to enclose the cockpit more than usual. The color scheme also was eye-catching, brilliant white decks with the name “Pay 'n Pak” painted in large orange and black letters.
What really caught their eye, though, was something that hadn’t been discussed in the accounts of the boat’s construction: a wing.
Standing about five feet above the deck and resting atop two vertical tails was a horizontal stabilizer, a four-foot wide slab of Hexcel, plastic, and epoxy that was as long as the transom was wide.
 |
| Through Heerensperger’s most successful years of racing hydroplanes, Jim Lucero was there at his side as his crew chief. Known as one of the most innovative technicians the sport has ever known, Lucero washed parts for the Notre Dame crew in 1965, served on the crew of the radical Smirnoff, then joined the Heerensperger team midway through the 1970 season. The following winter, at only 24 years old, Lucero led the effort to transform the Pride of Pay ‘n Pak to Rolls Merlin power and would thereafter play a key role in fulfilling each novel idea Heerensperger would have until he left the sport in 1982. |
According to crew chief Jim Lucero, who played a significant role in the boat’s design, the wing had two purposes: to add some lift to the rear of the boat and provide the hull better directional stability and control.
It also grabbed attention.
Fans argued over the merits of the wing. Would it cause the boat to become airborne? Would it come off when the boat hit high speed or ran into a large swell? It was just the kind of debate the sponsor side of Heerensperger dreamed about.
During a boat’s first season, especially a boat as innovative as Pay 'n Pak, there typically is a period of fine-tuning. The crew will try different props, shift the weight around, and make small changes to the sponsons. So, while the Pay 'n Pak team and the boat’s driver, Mickey Remund, worked on these things in 1973, their chief nemesis was their old boat, now painted Budweiser gold, red, and white and with Dean Chenoweth back in the team’s cockpit.
Remund and Chenoweth were locked in a struggle throughout the 1973 campaign. The Pay 'n Pak won the first race it entered, the Champion Spark Plug Regatta in Miami, then Chenoweth took his turn at the winner’s circle. And, so it went all year, with both boats winning four races. but, in the end, when all the points were tallied, Pay 'n Pak came out on top by a mere 275 points, giving Dave Heerensperger his first national championship.
Although the points race had been close, the record book was one-sided in favor of the new hydro. During the year, Pay 'n Pak had shattered 26 of 29 existing speed records.
 |
| George Henley was the most successful driver Heerensperger would have, winning a total of 12 races. Photo by Bill Osborne. |
In the years that followed, the Winged Wonder would win another national title in 1974 with George Henley behind the wheel and another the following year with Henley and Jim McCormick
sharing the driving duties. In three years of racing, the boat had won a total of 16 races.
Heerensperger pulled off another stunning deal after the 1975 season, this time selling his entire team to Bill Muncey. With the boat’s new owner behind the wheel in 1976, it won its fourth straight national title, this time with the name Atlas Van Lines painted on its hull.
In 1977, while Muncey raced a new boat, the Winged Wonder appeared in the two Pacific Northwest races as the Pay 'n Pak, but was showing its age. The sponsons came apart twice. Then it was sold to the City of Madison, Indiana, and spent the next 11 seasons as either the Miss Madison or carrying the names of various sponsors.
The often forgotten “Pak”
Reprinted from Unlimited NewsJournal, January 2019
When Bill Muncey purchased the Pay 'n Pak team from Dave Heerensperger after the 1975 season, included in the package was an unfinished boat that was taking shape in Norm Berg’s shop near Tacoma.
It was a project that Heerensperger and Lucero started almost a year earlier, a craft that would take advantage of some of the lessons they had learned while running the Winged Wonder. It would be more streamlined, have a deeply cut pickle-fork bow, a low wing in the back, and the cockpit in the front.
Muncey would finally introduce the craft in 1977 and it would be forever known as “Blue Blaster” Atlas Van Lines. In five seasons of racing, it would win a total of 24 races, including three Gold Cups, and two national championships.
When Bill Muncey purchased the Pay 'n Pak team from Dave Heerensperger after the 1975 season, included in the package was an unfinished boat that was taking shape in Norm Berg’s shop near Tacoma.
 |
| Bill Muncey and the Atlas Van Lines during a test run in 1977. |
It was a project that Heerensperger and Lucero started almost a year earlier, a craft that would take advantage of some of the lessons they had learned while running the Winged Wonder. It would be more streamlined, have a deeply cut pickle-fork bow, a low wing in the back, and the cockpit in the front.
Muncey would finally introduce the craft in 1977 and it would be forever known as “Blue Blaster” Atlas Van Lines. In five seasons of racing, it would win a total of 24 races, including three Gold Cups, and two national championships.
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