Reprinted from facebook.com
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| The 1970 Pay 'n Pak’s Lil Buzzard. Photo by Kirk Pagel. |
As I look back at my experiences as a Seattle hydroplane fan in the early 70’s, the image of the Pay 'n Pak’s famous Gold and Orange paint scheme stands out as a favorite of mine. I remember the first time I saw the U-00 Pay 'n Pak’s Lil Buzzard (1969-25b) at the 1970 Seafair Trophy race, hoisted high on a crane as I entered the racecourse with my family. Even as the sun was hidden behind a blanket of clouds, her sparkly Gold and Orange paint caught my youthful eyes. She was the big “buzz” in the pits after her victory at the Atomic Cup two weeks previous. Pitted next to the Lil Buzzard was the other half of the sparkle machine, the twin auto powered cab-over 1970 U-25 Pride of Pay 'n Pak (3).
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| The 1970 Pride of Pay 'n Pak. Photo by Kirk Pagel. |
After the first round of heats were done, the twin auto Pak driven by Ron Larsen had 300 pts from her 2nd place finish in 1A and the Lil Buzzard had 400 points from her victory in 1B with Tommy Fults at the helm. Well, that was enough to hook me and the other thousands of race fans. Whomever came up with that paint scheme was a genius. Unfortunately heat 2 was a complete bust and neither hull scored a single point, the auto Pak DNF’d and the Buzzard DNS’d. I would see both hulls one more time in the Consolation heat where Tommy Fults opened up the Lil Buzzard, running the fastest heat of the entire day at 108.433mph. Larsen’s auto Pak finished in third place at 100.037mph. “The paint job” was now burned into my memory banks forever.
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| The 1971 Pride of Pay 'n Pak. Photo by Kirk Pagel. |
The Pride of Pay 'n Pak returned in 1971 completely transformed. She was now a conventional and had a knarly Rolls Merlin in her belly. But the paint job was still the same! She did not disappoint as the new look Pride with her new look pilot Billy Schumacher took home the coveted 1971 Seafair trophy, which was run twice due to an accident by the Notre Dame. Schumacher handily won both finals including the last two races of the 1971 season.
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| The 1972 Pride of Pay 'n Pak. Photo by Kirk Pagel. |
The sky was the limit as the Dave Heerensperger owned Pride of Pay 'n Pak rolled into the ’72 season as a clear favorite but Joe Schoenith had other plans. His U-71 Atlas van Lines driven by the crafty champion Bill Muncey became the boat to beat. Before the Pak returned to Seattle, Schumacher had been replaced by Billy Sterett Jr. Sterett then picked up a convincing win in Washington DC at the 1972 Presidents Cup as he out-dueled Muncey in the final heat. When they came to Seattle, all the talk was on three boats, the U-1 Miss Budweiser (6) driven by Terry Sterett, the mighty Atlas driven by Bill Muncey who had already picked up 5 wins and of course the Pride of Pay 'n Pak with Billy Sterett Jr. At last, we would finally see who was mightier. Sadly, it would not be the Pak’s weekend. Three blown engines in two days put one of the favorites on the beach for most of the event without a single earned point. Much to my chagrin, the Atlas rolled over everyone to claim the ’72 Seafair trophy and the eventual national championship. The day after the Seafair race, the disappointed Heerensperger sold the hull and engine stock to Bernie Little who was looking to update his aging three-time champion Miss Budweiser.
And just like that, one the greatest paint schemes of all-time was gone, never to return. However, “never” is a very long time. After coming back home from her extended stay in Australia as the Miss Bud, this revolutionary hull quietly sits in storage waiting for an undetermined future restoration down the road. If it was up to me, this hull would be returned to her former glory as the Pride of Pay 'n Pak (3) with her trademark paint job that took Seattle by storm. I sure do miss those days but thanks to the late great Kirk Pagel, many of those fond memories were forever captured on film and are now presented here for your viewing pleasure. Until next time, see you at the races.