 |
| Mickey Remund and the Pay 'n Pak. |
When former athletes get together, the rule of thumb is: The older they get, the better they were.
Similarly, the outcomes of legendary hydroplane races get more obscured as time passes.
"When people complain about how strung out and predictable today's races have become, it's usually because they are remembering how great that 1973 Seafair race was," said Bob Williams of the Unlimited Museum.
"That was a classic duel. People always think of the past as the golden days, but most of the races way-back-when were not close at all. The Slo-Mos, the Hawaii Kais and Bardahls used to bury people by bigger margins than today's boats."
In many ways, the 1973 Seafair World Championship hydro race was a bummer:
-- It was the first year racegoers had to pay for the privilege of seeing "their" race from the shoreline. Adults were charged $1 (either for a ticket or a Skipper pin).
-- Seattle Police kept overnight campers out of the parks near Lake Washington, another first. The party-all-night, puke-all-day set hated it, but homeowners near the lake loved the innovation.
-- It rained all day, causing a big drop in attendance.
Seafair officials, who estimated the crowd at 65,000, reported a $35,000 loss, as only $2,568 of Skipper pins were sold.
Those who braved the conditions, or watched the race on television, witnessed what is generally regarded as the best hydroplane regatta in history.
The Pride of Pay 'n Pak, with Mickey Remund at the helm, and Miss Budweiser, with the late Dean Chenoweth aboard, raced around Lake Washington's old three-mile course at world-record speeds for three heats.
In the championship final, Remund had a four-second lead after one lap, but claimed the checkered flag by a mere 25 feet. His average speed was 117.238 mph to Chenoweth's 117.086.
"If the race had been 50 yards longer," said one official after the race, "Chenoweth would have won it."
That may explain why Seafair officials, in this year's program, implied that Miss Budweiser won the 1973 regatta.
The Bud has won 10 national titles, including the past three, but the Pak won the 1973 race in Seattle and a stirring rematch at the Sand Point course in 1974.
The Bud did win the fastest heat of the 1973 race, Heat 1C, with a then world-record average speed of 122.504 mph. The Pak averaged 120.697.
In Heat 1C, Remund zoomed to a one-lap world-record speed of 124.424 mph trying to overhaul Chenoweth, who started from the inside lane.
In the next heat, 2C, the boats raced deck-to-deck for several laps before the Bud conked out to give the Pak an easy victory.
Then Remund turned the tables in the winner-take-all final when he outfoxed Chenoweth and grabbed the inside lane at the start, then held on for the victory.
Hydroplane driving was more arduous in the early 1970s. The best boats were conventional designs with the driver sitting behind the engine. The only turbine in the pits was the experimental U-95, which never left the beach. None of the pilots were protected by canopies.
The rain was hazardous. Because few drivers had helmets that offered full-face protection, most covered the lowered halves of their faces with bandanas.
After the race, many drivers, especially those in the back of the pack, believed the race should not have been held.
"That rain felt like being hit in the face with with a BB gun," said Tom D'Eath, who was the rookie driver of Miss U.S. in 1973.
"The visibility couldn't have been more than a couple of feet."
"I was really lost out there," said Chuck Hickling. "I could not see a thing. I had no idea which way to steer. That's scary."
But others, like Bill Muncey, who was driving the Atlas Van Lines that day, were philosophical about the elements.
"Visibility (for the drivers) was virtually nil, but an awful lot of people came out to see a race," Muncey said.
Remund said race conditions were not that far from normal.
"One thing about this sport is that you never can see that well," said Remund. "You have only about 80 percent visibility on a clear day."
D'Eath, who will drive Miss Budweiser in Sunday's Rainier Cup, said the next best heat involved Miss Budweiser and Miss Circus Circus driven by Chip Hanauer, on Syracuse's 2-mile course July 16. D'Eath won the heat with a 150-mph average. Hanauer later crashed his boat in the final heat while in the lead.
"The biggest difference between the 1973 heat and the one in Syracuse is the size of the course," said D'Eath. "Seattle was a 3-mile course in those days. If Chip (Hanauer) had hooked up on a 2½-mile course, we could have averaged 160. On a 3-miler, we would have run 170 per lap."