By Bill Knight, Boating Editor, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Reprinted from Pipe Yard Gazette, January/February 1976
In 1964, Dave Heerensperger got out of unlimited hydroplane racing, vowing he’d be back.
The other day, the owner of the Pay ‘n Pak camp winner of the last three national championships, sold his boats and equipment and retired again, suggesting the challenges of the sport - at least for him - was gone.
Timing was critical on both occasions.
When he departed the first time, Heerensperger lacked the resources to campaign a competitive boat. “I couldn’t play their game,” he explained later.
More recently, it was a matter of bowing out while he was still at the pinnacle in a sport the Pak racing team has dominated to the point of his losing enthusiasm fo fit.
“I’ve had a lot of fun but the challenge is not there anymore,” he said candidly. “Besides, where to we go from here? What more can we do? We’ve won three straight national championships. After we got our act together last season we took everyone on head on and trounced ‘em.”
A couple of other factors played a part in the decision, which caught most of the boat racing world by surprise.
— Added responsibilities, demanding more of his time, in the management of his growing empire of building supplies, auto and sporting goods stores.
— Growing concern over the possibility of a backlash against the Pak camp because it has won so much in recent years. It’s the same undercurrent which prompts many to cheer against a big winner, regardless of the endeavor. Maybe it’s because more people identify psychologically with undergoes than champions. Heerensperger has been wary of this since the Pak hit the top and, in face, has often voiced concern over the lack of opposition.
— Billy Muncey’s offer - with the support of five-year financial backing by Atlas Van Lines - to buy all of Heerensperger’s boats, engines, props, gearboxes and the like.
Sport in Decline?
What Heerensperger didn’t say - he’s not the type to take a blast at the sport which has treated him well - is something that which could be even more critical in his decision. With the emergence of major league sports in the Seattle area, boat racing could decline to the point where the exposure it will get via press and TV won’t justify the rising cost of putting an unlimited on the circuit.
Highly regarded in the sport, Heerensperger’s departure is hardly a good omen. An innovative type, he will best be remembered for leading the sport into a new era of low profile, picklefork hulls which were faster and safer. The Pak hydro which finished its third season last year is the winningest hull in the sport’s history - 16 wins in 30 races.
He pioneered the use of honeycomb aluminum in hydros and the “wing” tail section and the rest of the fleet followed his example. Not all of this experiments worked. The “outrigger” was a dismal failure. His twin-automotive engine cab over was a flop at first. But Heerensperger didn’t flinch at trying new ideas and his innovations paid off.
Jim Lucero, the Pak crew chief Heerensperger credits with much of the team’s success, converted the twin-Chrysler hydro into Rolls power and rebuild the bottom and it became the hottest boat on the circuit.
Winningest Hydro
But the next Pak, new in ‘73, was even better and Heerensperger rates the boat - his 6th hull in 10 seasons - as his greatest contribution to the sport. The hull smashed records all across the country and won more races than any single boat, more than any of the legendary Slo-Mo’s, Thriftways, Gales, Tempo’s, or Bardahls. Before the next season, build Ron Jones was flooded with orders to duplicate the ‘73 Pak.
It brought Heerensperger his first national championship and his first Gold Cup.
Yet Heerensperger’s most emotional achievement goes back to 1968 when he was still campaigning the Eagle Electric out of Spokane.
“We went to Guntersville, Ala., in the first race of this season with Colonel Gardner driving and we won the Dixie Cup” he recalls. “When we came back to Spokane there was a crowd of 500 to 1,000 people at the airport to greet us and the Shadle Park High School band was playing. I’ll never forget that one.”
Heerensperger will devote more time to the business now and he’s in the process of building a new home. He plans to attend the hydro races in Tri-Cities and Seattle as a spectator. “I won’t be upset and nervous and as ugly to live with,” he chucked.
He said the Pak will continue to sponsor a softball team with is “a pitcher and one or two players away from a national championship.”
But Dave Heerensperger is bowing out of boat racing as a winner and the sport is the loser.