By Joanne A. Fishman
Reprinted from The New York Times, May 22, 1983
Unlimited hydroplane racing is without question a high-risk sport. The light boats are the fastest afloat, propelled by massive airplane engines to speeds approaching 200 miles an hour. Yet, after the death of Bill Muncey and Dean Chenoweth, the sport's foremost drivers, within a year of each other, some wondered whether the risk justified the rewards.
After replacing Muncey as the driver for the Atlas Van Lines team last season in a new boat, Chip Hanauer succeeded beyond expectations, winning the national title. But he, too, had his doubts at the end of the season.
Hanauer decided he would continue driving, but he would seek to reduce the risks. During the offseason, Hanauer, who has been racing power boats since the age of 9, and Jim Lucero, the boat's designer and builder, redesigned Atlas Van Lines, making it aerodynamically cleaner and incorporating unusual safety features.
As a result, a safer and faster Atlas Van Lines will compete today in the opening of the 10-race unlimited circuit, the $100,000 Missouri Governor's Cup Race in Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri.
The cockpit was lowered below deck level to give the driver a better chance of surviving a serious accident. Also, a five-point seat belt system was added, similar to the one used by Indianapolis Raceway car drivers.
Hanauer said that he and Lucero had studied the last few fatalities in the sport. In Muncey's case, he said, the boat flipped, landing on top of him, with his body absorbing the impact. The force of the water then pushed him through the dashboard and cockpit cowling.
Chenoweth was thrown from the boat and then ''got tangled up with his boat as it tumbled across the water,'' said Hanauer, a 28-year old former school teacher.
Two other drivers, Tom Fults and Jerry Bangs, were killed in recent years when they were thrown from their boats. Last season, John Walters, driver of the Pay 'n Pak turbine-powered hydroplane critically injured when he was thrown out of his cockpit in Seattle. In every case, with the exception of Muncey's, the cockpit remained intact.
''That leads us to believe if the driver stays in the cockpit, he stands a good chance of surviving the accident,'' Hanauer said in a telephone interview before a preliminary heat Friday.
The redesigned cockpit affords greater protection. Formerly, Hanauer was sitting above deck level, surrounded by an eighth-inch layer of non-protective fiberglass designed merely for effective airflow. With the cockpit below deck level, the engine and the deck, rather than the driver, absorb the impact. And the fiberglass cowling has been replaced by a strong honeycomb aluminum shell.
Changes to the front end to improve straightaway speed combined with the lower center of gravity caused by lowering the cockpit have given the craft far greater stability and less drag. Atlas Van Lines, 28 feet long, is powered by a supercharged Rolls-Royce Merlin engine generating 2,800 horsepower.
Last year, Hanauer said that he couldn't run more than 135 miles per hour without using ''fences.'' These are plastic pieces directing air flow downward to prevent a blow-over. They also cause drag. In his first preliminary run Thursday, Hanauer said he went more than 170 m.p.h. without needing fences.
Hanauer should face strong competition from Miss Budweiser, driven by Jim Kropfield. Renault, the French automaker, is making its debut in unlimited competition this season with Miss Renault, driven by Milner Irvin and built by Jon Staudacher, whose boats hold most of the current limited-class hydroplane records. The only unlimited race in the northeast is the Atlas Van Lines Cup scheduled for June 12 on Lake Seneca at Sampson State Park in Seneca Falls, N.Y.
As Hanauer seeks to defend his title, he says he has accepted the dangers of the sport. What makes it worthwhile, he says, is ''the concentration, the intensity, the competition. If it wasn't difficult, it wouldn't be worth it. But it's a tremendous challenge: myself against the other drivers and the challenge to reach my own potential, to drive the perfect race.''
Showing posts with label 1983. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1983. Show all posts
Friday, May 31, 2019
Sunday, March 4, 2018
Walters' hydro-racing future no longer unlimited
By Kathy McCarthy
Reprinted from The Seattle Times, March 23, 1983
In the end, it was the battered body of hydroplane driver John Walters that dictated the decision his wife, his elder daughter and the doctor who "saved his life" hoped he would make — he quit racing.
"My back injuries make me so much more vulnerable that on a minor accident, or a good hard bump and I could very possibly never walk again," Walters said.
"I've been luck twice now . . . but I'm able to look back and see just how close I was to not making it at all."
So Walters, 30, is turning from a lifelong dream of unlimited hydroplane racing to build a new future with employer, Pay 'n Pak this time as a management trainee.
Pay 'n Pak boss Dave Heerensperger left the sport before his driver, announcing within days of Walters' near-fatal crash last August, that Pay 'n Pak no longer would field an unlimited boat.
A Lake Washington collision between the Pay 'n Pak and the Executone put Walters in a hospital for two months and in a body cast for six.
Walters' back was broken in three places, is right elbow "scrambled" and his left leg had to be reassembled with metal pins and wire. He had a respirator for a week and suffered brain damage.
Fearful that he would not survive the succession of operations he needed immediately, a team of doctors at Harborview Medical Center undertook a surgical marathon to fix everything at once.
"They put me under on time and did all of the surgeries," Walters recalled. "It was like putting the straw man back together in the Wizard of Oz."
Walters still faces three more operations on his leg and elbow. He probably will never regain more than 50 percent mobility in the elbow, because of calcium deposits.
And the man who made a living piloting boats at high speeds now is working to regain his car driver's license. His license was voided because of the brain damage. He must pass psychological tests and a physical driving demonstration to regain it.
Walters' tortuous recovery — he was freed from his body cast only a month ago — gave him an in-depth medical education he finds fascinating, but would't want to repeat."
"I've gained a vast amount of knowledge about medicine . . . and how the body can repair itself even after you abuse it so badly."
It also helps with the homework for daughters Katrina, 11, and Maciva, 9. "I know the names of almost every bone in the skeletal system," Walters said.
Katrina and Walters' wife, Arlene, were among those who let Walters know even before his last accident that they would like him to stop driving.
Walters, 1981 rookie of the year on the unlimited circuit, survived two spectacular crashes in his 2½-year career, the first an eye-popping "blowover" in 1980 at Pasco.
Katrina told her father after Dean Chenoweth's death earlier last August that she hoped "'We can finish out the season without nobody else getting hurt and then I'd like you to stop,'" he recalled.
Arlene says she wanted her husband to stop driving ever since Bill Muncey's death in 1981. "I couldn't ever say, 'You're going to quit.' But he knew how I felt."
Dr. Michael Oreskovich, who headed the Harborview medical team that "reassembled" Walters after the crash, put it even more bluntly in a letter to his patient.
"You and Arlene thanked me and my team for 'saving your life,'" Oreskovich wrote. "The ultimate gratitude could come in the form of a statement that you will never drive a hydroplane again."
Walters' traumas did not stop when his hospital stay ended. While he was still hobbled by crutches and a body cast, Walters' garage door fell on him as he left his car after an evening dinner with his parents. Back to Harborview for the evening.
Nor have the family traumas been limited to Walters. His wife required a gall bladder operation and shoulder surgery during his convalescence.
"John got to take care of me," she said.
Walters is disappointed he never will win a national championship, but there is no bitterness about the crash.
When his health permits, Walters will begin management training to become a store manager with Pay 'n Pak.
"There isn't really any solid or stable future in hydroplanes," Walters said. "With Pay 'n Pak, the sky's the limit. I can go as far as I have the ability and desire to go."
But Walters, who has been fascinated by hydroplanes since he was his first race at age 9 in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, does not plan to turn his back on the sport.
Walters, a hull specialist, said the boats are "exceeding their design limitations by going so fast." The ultimate solution is better design, the best interim solution is limiting the course size — to a maximum of two miles, he said.
Walters said his fellow drivers share his safety concerns but often cannot voice those opinions because of pressure from owners and/or sponsors.
Walters says he hopes he can act as a representative for active drivers and lobby the cause of safety to the Unlimited Racing Commission.
"There is no question the drivers want to be as safe as possible," he said. "We all realized going in there were a fair amount of risks involved, but anything we can do to decrease those ricks is what the drivers want."
Reprinted from The Seattle Times, March 23, 1983
In the end, it was the battered body of hydroplane driver John Walters that dictated the decision his wife, his elder daughter and the doctor who "saved his life" hoped he would make — he quit racing.
"My back injuries make me so much more vulnerable that on a minor accident, or a good hard bump and I could very possibly never walk again," Walters said.
"I've been luck twice now . . . but I'm able to look back and see just how close I was to not making it at all."
So Walters, 30, is turning from a lifelong dream of unlimited hydroplane racing to build a new future with employer, Pay 'n Pak this time as a management trainee.
Pay 'n Pak boss Dave Heerensperger left the sport before his driver, announcing within days of Walters' near-fatal crash last August, that Pay 'n Pak no longer would field an unlimited boat.
A Lake Washington collision between the Pay 'n Pak and the Executone put Walters in a hospital for two months and in a body cast for six.
Walters' back was broken in three places, is right elbow "scrambled" and his left leg had to be reassembled with metal pins and wire. He had a respirator for a week and suffered brain damage.
Fearful that he would not survive the succession of operations he needed immediately, a team of doctors at Harborview Medical Center undertook a surgical marathon to fix everything at once.
"They put me under on time and did all of the surgeries," Walters recalled. "It was like putting the straw man back together in the Wizard of Oz."
Walters still faces three more operations on his leg and elbow. He probably will never regain more than 50 percent mobility in the elbow, because of calcium deposits.
And the man who made a living piloting boats at high speeds now is working to regain his car driver's license. His license was voided because of the brain damage. He must pass psychological tests and a physical driving demonstration to regain it.
Walters' tortuous recovery — he was freed from his body cast only a month ago — gave him an in-depth medical education he finds fascinating, but would't want to repeat."
"I've gained a vast amount of knowledge about medicine . . . and how the body can repair itself even after you abuse it so badly."
It also helps with the homework for daughters Katrina, 11, and Maciva, 9. "I know the names of almost every bone in the skeletal system," Walters said.
Katrina and Walters' wife, Arlene, were among those who let Walters know even before his last accident that they would like him to stop driving.
Walters, 1981 rookie of the year on the unlimited circuit, survived two spectacular crashes in his 2½-year career, the first an eye-popping "blowover" in 1980 at Pasco.
Katrina told her father after Dean Chenoweth's death earlier last August that she hoped "'We can finish out the season without nobody else getting hurt and then I'd like you to stop,'" he recalled.
Arlene says she wanted her husband to stop driving ever since Bill Muncey's death in 1981. "I couldn't ever say, 'You're going to quit.' But he knew how I felt."
Dr. Michael Oreskovich, who headed the Harborview medical team that "reassembled" Walters after the crash, put it even more bluntly in a letter to his patient.
"You and Arlene thanked me and my team for 'saving your life,'" Oreskovich wrote. "The ultimate gratitude could come in the form of a statement that you will never drive a hydroplane again."
Walters' traumas did not stop when his hospital stay ended. While he was still hobbled by crutches and a body cast, Walters' garage door fell on him as he left his car after an evening dinner with his parents. Back to Harborview for the evening.
Nor have the family traumas been limited to Walters. His wife required a gall bladder operation and shoulder surgery during his convalescence.
"John got to take care of me," she said.
Walters is disappointed he never will win a national championship, but there is no bitterness about the crash.
When his health permits, Walters will begin management training to become a store manager with Pay 'n Pak.
"There isn't really any solid or stable future in hydroplanes," Walters said. "With Pay 'n Pak, the sky's the limit. I can go as far as I have the ability and desire to go."
But Walters, who has been fascinated by hydroplanes since he was his first race at age 9 in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, does not plan to turn his back on the sport.
Walters, a hull specialist, said the boats are "exceeding their design limitations by going so fast." The ultimate solution is better design, the best interim solution is limiting the course size — to a maximum of two miles, he said.
Walters said his fellow drivers share his safety concerns but often cannot voice those opinions because of pressure from owners and/or sponsors.
Walters says he hopes he can act as a representative for active drivers and lobby the cause of safety to the Unlimited Racing Commission.
"There is no question the drivers want to be as safe as possible," he said. "We all realized going in there were a fair amount of risks involved, but anything we can do to decrease those ricks is what the drivers want."
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Heerensperger sells boat fleet
Reprinted from the Spokane Chronicle, October 20, 1983
Former Spokanite Dave Heerensperger, chairman of the board of directors of Pay ‘N Pak, has sold his entire unlimited hydroplane operation for reportedly between $500,000 and $1 million to Steve Woomer, owner of Competition Specialties Inc., a high-performance auto parts distributorship in Kent, Wash.
Former Spokanite Dave Heerensperger, chairman of the board of directors of Pay ‘N Pak, has sold his entire unlimited hydroplane operation for reportedly between $500,000 and $1 million to Steve Woomer, owner of Competition Specialties Inc., a high-performance auto parts distributorship in Kent, Wash.
 |
| Steve Woomer (left) and Jerry Verhauel looking over the Pay 'N Pak inventory. Photo by Rusty Rae. |
Heerensperger left unlimited hydroplane racing and put his turbine-powered boats up for sale after an accident that seriously injured driver John Walters of Renton in the 1982 Emerald Cup on Lake Washington. Walters has retired from racing.
Woomer originally planned to race a new boat powered by automotive engines, but it won’t be ready for the season opener. The Pay ‘N Pak operation includes the boat in which Walters flipped (left) and a new one that never has seen the water (right).
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