Move over, ya big bully!

Atlas, Muncey may be upstaged by Pay 'n Pak today

By Gary Schultz, Courier-Journal & Times Staff Writer
June 17, 1973

OWENSBORO, Ky. — Atlas Van Lines was the bully of the unlimited hydroplane fleet in 1972, winning a phenomenal six of seven races and taking first in 18 of 21 heats.

That was last year.

This summer the Atlas is fast becoming just one of the boys, a troubled boat like many others, showing promise at times and then proving a disappointment when the big moment comes.

But if the Atlas and driver Bill Muncey are ever going to come alive again, it would seem today might be the day. That's because the Muncey-Atlas duo is back in what you might call friendly confines.

The Ohio River. The Kentucky Governor's Cup race. Muncey has owned 'em both for three straight years, winning aboard Myr's Sheet Metal in 1970 and then steering Atlas Van Lines to victory in both 1971 and '72.

So tradition is on Muncey's side . . . but what about the more necessary ingredients — what about the equipment?

"We're running pretty well," Lee Schoenith, the Atlas owner, said yesterday, "but it might not matter how well we're running because the Pay 'n Pak is running fantastic. We're fast enough to beat the others — but the Pay 'n Pak . . . well, it'll be so-o-o tough."

Photo by Hank Kosciuszko 

"After going through 21 heats last year and never breaking down even once, it's been pretty unbelievable what's happened this year," Schoenith said.

"At Miami, for instance, our nitrous oxide valve broke. That's the first time I've ever heard of one breaking. And then at Washington, the drive on the oil pump broke. It's been little things, nickel-and-dime stuff."

The little things, meanwhile, have been holding together just fine for the Pay 'n Pak and driver Mickey Remund.

It's almost a rule that a brand-new boat — like the Pay 'n Pak — does not meet with success in its first season. The inaugural campaign is supposed to be one of "working out the bugs."

Not so with the Pay 'n Pak. It collected a perfect score of 1,200 points with three consecutive heat victories in the season opener at Miami. Then, in the second race, on the Potomac River at Washington, D.C., the Pay 'n Pak tacked on two more heat wins before running forth in the finale and finishing third overall.

Today's competition, which begins at noon (CDT), is the third stop of the year on the hydro circuit. Pay 'n Pak leads the national championship standings with 2,169 points. Lincoln Thrift, the Washington winner, is second with 1,925 and Miss Budweiser third with 1,569. Atlas Van Lines is a distant fifth with 825.

Having trouble in the corners

Remund figures the Pay 'n Pak's stiffest challenge today will come from Dean Chenoweth and Miss Budweiser.

"If Muncey wasn't having a lot of minor problems," the Pay 'n Pak driver said, "I'd be most worried about him. As it stands, though, I'd have to say the Budweiser is the one to watch. They seem to be coming on nicely."

Bernie Little, the always-optimistic owner of Miss Bud, agrees with Remund's size-up.

"The favorite has to be the Pay 'n Pak," he says. "But we're ready to cause some trouble (the Bud finished fourth in Miami and second at Washington).

"Our boat's got 'em all beat down the chutes - we're getting 160 (m.p.h). Where we've been getting hurt is in the corners. Dean's been slowing down too much — but that's understandable, because he's only driven this boat in two races.

"But he's got the hang of it now - he's going to keep scooting all the way. We're going to be okay."

If two other boats — the Valu-Mart and Mr. Fabricator — meet the 95 m.p.h qualifying minimum before the course opens, the Owensboro Regatta will have 10 starts. Each boat will compete in two 15-mile preliminary heats with the five highest point-getters moving on to the final.

Bowing Out a Winner

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.

Fastest field ever set for Columbia Cup

By Hec Hancock
Reprinted from Tri-City Herald, June 28, 1980

After three days of qualifying that saw almost as many records broken as political promises after an election year, the fastest fleet of unlimited hydroplanes ever assembled is poised for today's Columbia Cup regatta.

Let by Dean Chenoweth in the Miss Budweiser, which set a world record on the two-and-a-half mile Columbia Cup course of 138.248 miles per hour, the 11 qualifiers averaged over 116 mph making it the fastest field ever assembled for a hydroplane race.

That average, incidentally, would be a mile faster — 117 mph— had the top speed of the new Pay 'n Pak turbine boat of 123.796 mph been allowed. That speed, however, was clocked before driver John Walters successfully passed his qualification test as an unlimited driver.

Saturday's unveiling of the Pay 'n Pak drew plenty of attention and ovations from the large crowd around the pit area.

As it was, the long awaited arrival and performance of Dave Heerensperger's Pay 'n Pak was the highlight of Saturday's qualifying activities. A crowd that lined the bank of the Columbia River burst into applause as the Pay 'n Pak, sounding more like a departure of a Hughes Airwest flight than a boat, roared away from the dock.

The boat's performance, particularly in view that it had only one test run and that as last as Thursday, was impressive. Walters turned in laps of 109.091, 123.796 and 114.943.

"Absolutely unbelievable," a happy Heerensperger said. "We have a lot yet to learn about the boat but this was a big step."

"I only used about 50 percent of my horsepower," Walters reported after the run. "It handles very well."

The Miss Budweiser opened the onslaught on the record book by posting a speed of 134.128 mph on its first warmup run Thursday. That broke the old mark of 133.929 set by Bill Muncey at San Diego in 1979.

On Thursday, Muncey regained the record, if only briefly, by averaging 126.364 mph.

Exactly 14 minutes later, however, Miss Bud had the record back having toured the course at 138.248.

However, despite the predictions by Bernie Little, owner of the Miss Bud, that the boat would do 140 mph Chenoweth and the rest of the beer boat team were content Saturday to settle for testing in preparation for today's race.

Fastest lap of the day was the 132.159 mph turned in by Steve Reynolds shortly before the course closed for qualifying.

The Miss Budweiser and the Pay 'n Pak, the two glamour boats of the fleet, won't have to wait long before their paths cross. Both boats are included in Heat 1A. Rounding out the six-boat heat are the Squire Shop, Kawaguchi Travel Service, Miss Tempus, and the Barney Armstrong Machine.

In Heat 1B will be Dr. Toyota, Atlas Van Lines, Circus Circus, Oh Boy! Oberto and Don Campbells' Food Service.

Heat 1A will start at 12 noon and followed by Head 1B at 12:45 p.m.

There will then be a redraw with Heat 2A to start at 2 p.m. and Heat 2B at 2:45 p.m.

The six leading point earners will then meet in the winner take all championship at 4 p.m.

A crowd of more than 40,000 is expected to line the banks of the Columbia River for the 15th running of an unlimited hydroplane race in the Tri-Cities.

The Muncey Era Comes to a Sad End

By Joanne A. Fishman
Reprinted from The New York Times, October 25, 1981

''Dangerous? This is defined as one of the cruel sports. We figure anything less than death is a minor accident.'' So said Bill Muncey of unlimited hydroplane racing two years ago. Then, at the age of 50, Muncey was preparing to embark on his 29th year on the circuit.

Bill Muncey standing on the deck of the Atlas Van Lines in Acapulco, Mexico, in 1981.

Tomorrow on the shores of San Diego's Mission Bay, not far from his La Mesa, Calif., home and where Muncey last year set the record of 140 miles an hour for a 2.5-mile oval, an outdoor funeral service will be held for this driver who dominated the sport. In the process, he collected an unprecedented seven national championships and 62 career victories in unlimited hydroplane racing.

With airfoils and stabilizer wings, the unlimiteds are the fastest boats afloat, capable of reaching speeds in excess of 200 miles an hour. Skimming the surface, the boats become almost airborne, riding only on the tips of two sponsons and half a propellor. And to hear their 3,000-horsepower airplane engines blast is to know forever why they are called Thunderboats.

No Accidents in 20 Years

Muncey had not had a serious accident in 20 years, although he had two notable ones prior to that. In the 1958 Seattle race, he lost his steering and drove his boat into a Coast Guard cutter at 100 miles an hour, puncturing the cutter's steel hull. Then two years later, in a race at Madison, Ind., his boat disintegrated beneath him.

A determined competitor, Muncey stepped on an oil patch and slipped off his boat's deck in the pits during the Detroit race a few years ago, breaking a bone in his right foot, recalled John Crouse, a longtime friend. Refusing medication, Muncey had his crew lower him into the boat and then went out and won three straight heats with that broken foot on the throttle.

This year had not been one of his outstanding seasons, though. Muncey had won only one race and was third in the national standings behind Dean Chenoweth of Miss Budweiser and John Walters of Pay 'n Pak. During the first two heats of the $175,000 world championship in Acapulco, Mexico, last Saturday, Muncey had finished second and fourth.

Tried to Make Adjustment

Muncey felt his boat, called Atlas Van Lines, was sticking to the water too much, and before the third and final heat, he had some adjustments made to make it ''a little more flighty,'' related Sam Cole of the American Power Boat Association.

Chenoweth recalled that the boats were ''flighty all day long.'' ''In the first heat,'' Chenoweth explained, ''my boat was all over the place, and they said Bill's boat was, too. We made a modification and ours got better after the first heat.''

Yet, Pay 'n Pak took off like an airplane in the second heat, traveling about 100 feet at about 10 feet off the water, said Chenoweth.

''All day long these boats were just acting wild like that and for no apparent reason,'' he said. ''There was no rough water, no wind, and no current.''

Classic Muncey Start

The conditions in the lagoon were perfect, with the surface as smooth as glass. In the third heat, Muncey made one of his classic starts, hanging back behind the other four boats as they approached the starting line and searching for a hole. Then, accelerating all the way, he ducked inside, left the others sitting at the start, and shot out to a five-second lead.

Muncey increased his lead as he pulled out of the first turn. Two-thirds of the way up the backstretch, his boat rose into the air, did a complete revolution and landed upside down. Muncey, who remained in the cockpit, was fatally crushed on impact, his spinal column severed, according to Cole, who was at the race.

Why did Muncey, who was vice president of marketing for Atlas Van Lines, persist in such a high-risk sport? After all, the monetary rewards were not predominant for him, because it cost several hundred thousand dollars to campaign a boat for a season, and the most the team could hope to make from prize money was about $125,000.

The lure was speed, certainly. But more, as Muncey put it two years ago, when he acknowledged that a racing person in his fifties is not the norm.

''It sounds irresponsible,'' he continued, ''but I don't feel that way. I'm feeling strong, and I expect to be competitive. There is still the child in me; I like to run and play like all the other kids.''

Pay 'n Pak Wins Hydroplane Regatta

WASHINGTON, June 9, 1974 (AP) — The defending national champion, Pride of Pay 'n Pak, driven by George S. Henley of Eatonville, Washington, won the 43rd Presidents Cup Regatta for Unlimited hydroplanes today, although finishing third behind Miss Budweiser in the final heat.

Pay 'n Pak scored 1,025 points in winning heats yesterday and earlier today. Second place went to Atlas Van Lines driven by Bill Muncey of San Diego, which scored 900 points for finishing second in the heats, including the final one.

Miss Budweiser, with a rookie, Howie Benns of Grand Island, N.Y. at the wheel, broke a supercharger yesterday but won the final heat today to move into fourth place behind U-95 in the final standing.

Memories of the 1975 Season

By John Woodward
Reprinted from Facebook, April 10, 2019

Today, our throwback goes back to a pivotal time during the 1975 season, the first two races on the western circuit, Tri-Cities and Seattle. Not having instant news or the Internet like we do now, I had no idea what was at stake when the boats were en route to the 1975 Gold Cup in the Tri-Cities.

The Seattle Post Intelligencer, Monday August 4th, 1975. 

I was a nerdy 16-year old who occasionally watched the Sunday evening news on TV or saw a clip in the newspaper here and there but nothing I heard or saw indicated the battle that was forthcoming.

I was not aware that the U-74 Weisfield’s driven by Billy Schumacher held a sizable lead of 2,335 points over the Pay 'n Pak after the first three races and was pretty much picked to win the national championship. I also had no clue that Jim McCormick was hired to drive the Pay 'n Pak and was then replaced after just two races.

But when I heard that George Henley was back in the seat, I knew that it was not good for the rest of the field. After Schumacher won in Owensboro, the advantage started to shift. Heading into the Tri-Cities, the points race between the Weisfield’s and the Pak had been cut in half thanks to Henley and the surging Pay 'n Pak team.

I remember being riveted to my transistor radio as I listened to Jim Hendricks call the race live from the Tri-Cities.

Surprisingly, the other player in the middle of that points race was one of my personal favorites, the turbo-charged, Allison powered U-55 Lincoln Thrift driven by Milner Irvin. If it had not been for a loose distributor wire in heat 2B, the Lincoln Thrift could have easily swept all three heats and quite possibly the Gold Cup.

The other surprise was the Bud's quick exit when the hull suffered structural damage and sank in heat 1B. By virtue of the Weisfield’s misfortunes and the Pak's good fortune, by days end the Pak had taken the lead in the points race over the Weisfield’s and the Gold Cup belonged to George Henley for the second straight year.

The next day, the newspaper made reference to several infractions called on Billy Schumacher by head referee Bill Newton. Even though it appeared that the war of words had been cleared up, it was apparent that tension still existed as the fleet headed west.

The 1975 Seafair trophy race in Seattle a week later would be billed as a “destruction derby.” Before heat 1A had even started, the U-6 Hamm’s Bear bumped the Pak causing significant damage to the hull’s left side.

In a bizarre set of circumstances, every boat except for the Atlas jumped the gun. It was pretty much hand Bill Muncey the win. Ironically, it was not meant to be. All the other boats DNF’d except for the busted up Pay 'n Pak. Muncey’s huge lead quickly evaporated as the U-71 Atlas Van Lines (7) ran out of gas nearing the end.

The damaged Pak passed the Atlas and limped across the line for the unbelievable win and 400 points. And that was only the first heat! In 1B, the Miss U.S. nailed the start and was way out in front when the boat suddenly slowed to a stop with a lost prop as the culprit. Schumacher claimed the victory along with the much needed 400 points.

Heat 2A would be the game changer for the Weisfield’s as the crafty Milner Irvin in the U-55 Lincoln Thrift grabbed the inside lane and held off Schumacher for several thrilling deck to deck laps until the Thrift pulled away as the Weisfield’s engine soured with a burnt piston. Billy only got 225 points as the Atlas snuck by to grab the extremely critical 300 second place points.

In 2B, the Miss U.S. caught fire for the second year in a row. Not as bad as Sand Point the year before but bad enough to end their day.

Those points lost earlier by the Weisfield’s now weighed heavy in the Pak’s favor. Thanks to the “fan plan”, Henley could place 2nd in the final and still win the Seafair Trophy.

The start of the final heat only added to the carnage and controversy surrounding Muncey and his driving style as the slower Atlas Van Lines chopped the Lincoln Thrift off going through the first turn causing injury to Irvin and damage to the hull. Karma came quickly calling when Muncey’s bold and brazen move would not be enough to overtake the dynamic duo as Schumacher and Henley would leave the Atlas far behind in their roostertail mist.

The race was exciting for several laps, but Henley, knowing what was at stake eventually yielded the race to Schumacher and settled for second place which was enough to claim the trophy making it Pay 'n Pak’s fourth straight win.

These two action packed events proved to be a major factor in deciding the 1975 National Champion.

The final race in San Diego was the exclamation point for the Weisfield’s up and down season, finishing in a distant 7th place as smiling George Henley and the mighty Winged Wonder took home the 1975 “Weisfield’s Trophy race” (Bill Muncey Cup) along with the Pay 'n Pak’s third straight National Championship.

Billy Schumacher did end up with something as he won the drivers title based on points. It would be many years before I realized how important these two crazy races were, both of which were soaked in driver/referee controversy.

It sure was a great time to be a kid in Seattle, or in Madison or Detroit or wherever the pied piper caravan of fire breathing thunderboats lead you!

Until next time, see you at the races.

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.

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.

Selling the Pride of Pay ’n Pak

By A.J. Muntz
Reprinted from At the Ragged Edge

Everything clicked for Bill Muncey in 1972. He won both preliminary heats at the season’s first race in Miami and was about to head onto the course for the final when he received sage advice that he would follow to the letter for the rest of the year. With a serious look on his face, his crew chief, Bill Cantrell, leaned over the cockpit and, in his deep, Kentucky drawl, told Muncey to “get out in front and then improve your position.

The 1972 Pride of Pay 'n Pak. Photo by Bill Osborne.

He not only followed Cantrell’s instructions in Miami, but also continued running ahead of the field at each race, winning in Owensboro, Detroit, Madison, the Tri-Cities, and in Seattle. The Detroit victory had been the most satisfying, giving him his fifth Gold Cup, a mark that tied him with the great Gar Wood.

It seemed Muncey and Atlas Van Lines could do nothing wrong that year. The team won 18 of the 21 heats started, placed second in the other three, set a number of lap, heat, race, and qualifying records, and earned Muncey his fourth national driver’s championship. “We didn’t expect to have this kind of a season,” Muncey said. “Who’d ever believe 10 years ago that I’d bring Lee Schoenith a national championship?”

As Muncey dominated everything in Atlas Van Lines, Bill Schumacher and Billy Sterett, Jr. combined to take runner-up honors aboard the Pride of Pay ’n Pak. In the process, the team also won  the only race Muncey didn’t, the President’s Cup, and set a world record qualifying time of 125.874 miles per hour.

Meanwhile, Bernie Little’s Karelsen-designed Budweiser began to show its age. With Terry Sterett at the wheel, the three-time national champion managed only two second-place finishes and ended the 1972 season a distant third in the national standings.

Bernie Little didn’t like being third in anything, so he again turned to the same strategy he used in 1966 when he bought Miss Exide and again in 1969 when he enticed Dean Chenoweth to join his team: He acquired the very thing he couldn’t beat.

The day after the season’s final race, Little announced that he had purchased the Pride of Pay ’n Pak from Dave Heerensperger for $30,000.

Heerensperger was willing to part with the boat because he already had plans for a new hydroplane. Months earlier, he had asked Ron Jones to design and build a new Pay ‘n Pak that would be even better than the “Pride.” Jones did just that, producing a boat that would stun the hydro-racing world and become one of the most successful race boats in history.”

Bill Sterett Jr. Wins on Potomac

Pay 'n Pak Substitute Does 109 M.P.H. -- Muncey Next in President's Cup Race

By Parton Keese
Reprinted from The New York Times, July 10, 1972

WASHINGTON, July 9—Little-known Bill Sterett Jr. put an end to Bill Muncey's reign in unlimited hydroplanes today when he drove Pride of Pay' N Pak to a record-breaking 200-yard victory in the President's Cup.

Driving at an average speed of 109.090 miles an hour for the six-lap, 15-mile race, Sterett set a record for a 2½-Mile course. He had to—Muncey's second-place finish at 108.324 also broke the mark he himself had set here yesterday.

The 24-year-old Sterett surprised Muncey as well as 80,000 spectators lined along the Potomac shore. He was given the helm after the two-time national champion, Billy Schumacher, quit last week, apparently tired of catching Muncey's roostertail spray during race after race.

The Muncey-Sterett duel gave a shot in the arm to the President's Cup race, which had been lacking luster throughout the weekend because of a curtailed fleet that was battered and torn by the Gold Cup race two weeks ago. Four damaged boats were missing, leaving seven to race here, only three of which had any zip.

A Family Affair

Sterett is one of two driver sons of Bill Sterett of Owensboro, Ky., who twice won national titles in Budweiser. Terry Sterett, 25, has been driving Budweiser this season and finished third today, a half-mile behind the leader.

“They made an agreement with me last year,” the senior Sterett said, “that they would race unlimited only two years and then retire. Billy was sit ting this year out to race next season, so I guess we won't count this as a full season.”

Asked if the new driver had made the difference in Pay ‘n Pak's becoming a winner rather than an also-ran, Dave Heerensperger the owner, said. “Well, we didn't change anything else. Does that answer your question?”

Muncey, who had won 13 of 14 races and had set three speed records while winning all four this season in Atlas Van Lines, got a good start, but could not pass Billy Sterett, who stayed a length in front for 2½ laps.

When Muncey shot by Sterett on the far turn and took a 100-yard lead, it looked like the excitement was over. But in a marvelous stretch battle, Sterett proved Pay ‘n Pak slightly faster on the straightaway and won going away.

Henley, Pak 'boys' do it again

By Chuck Ashmun
Reprinted from The Seattle Times, August 4, 1975

George Henley wrapped up the Seafair Trophy by driving the patched-up Pay 'n Pak to a
second-place finish in the final heat of unlimited-hydroplane racing yesterday on Lake Washington.
Weisfield's, piloted by Billy Schumacher, took the final heat, but the Pak increased its national point
lead by picking up 1,100 points during the afternoon.

Ho hum . . . just another race.

The Seafair Trophy Race had two fires, two accidents, a rhubarb, many mechanical casualties, a near drowning, and . . .

George Henley and Pay 'n Pak won.

If all of that seems familiar, it's because there have been controversies, collisions, infernos and conk-out hydroplanes before.

And Henley, Mr. Nice Guy on the roostertail roster, also was the winner of last year's hydro happening here.

"The boys did their work," Henley said. "That's why we won today. That's why we've been winning."

Yesterday, however, it took more than an oil change by Henley's "boys," the Pay 'n Pak crew put the bandaged Pak on top of the pack in a accident filled regatta.

"It'll take two weeks of work to repair the back end," said Dave Heerensperger, Pak owner, as he surveyed the damaged boat.

"We just patched it up, as well as the sponson, before heats."

Heerensperger, whose hydros have won three straight Seattle races and four of the past five here, was asked: "Do you own this water?"

"I can't walk on it," he replied.

Henley won with handicaps. The Eatonville driver crossed the starting line early, with his boat already damaged, in the first heat race of the day.

And he finished the final heat with the engine leaking oil.

In addition to collecting his fourth consecutive triumph, Henley put the Pak farther ahead of the Weisfield's in their season-long struggle for the national championship.

Pay 'n Pak picked up 1,100 points yesterday, while Weisfield's, which finished second, collected 1,025. The Pak's point total, with two races remaining, is 6,964. Weisfield's has 6,813.

The attrition rate much have been embarrassing to race sponsors. Nine boat — the smallest field since 1954 — started. Five finished.

After two heats of racing, only three boats had scored a point. And nine crews found the whole day point-less because of mechanical malfunctions.

Drivers were so eager to get going they took to the water about 2½ hours early — that is, five unqualified  throttle pushers attempted to qualify before the scheduled noon start, violating Seafair's contract with the city by doing so.

All that resulted from that impropriety was that Tom Kaufman, owner-driver of Mr. Fabricator, suffered shoulder and arm burns when his craft caught fire near the start-finish line.

The qualifiers also were too eager to get started. As they swarmed into the north turn, vying for position in the opening heat, Pay 'n Pak and Hamm's Beer collided, causing the damage which kept Henley's crew busy.

Still eager, four drivers crossed the starting line prematurely, leaving Bill Muncey, in Atlas Van Lines, as the only legal starter.

But Muncey's thirsty engine couldn't tolerate such a gift. He ran out of fuel nearing the finish line of the final lap, even though his crew had pumped 100 gallons into the boat which usually carries 80.

Muncey got the black flag, since his boat was creating a wake. Henley, penalized a lap for jumping the gun, scooted around the course a sixth time to take the checkered flag.

The next fire broke out on the Miss U.S. — the second time in as many years George Simon's boat had burned here.

This time, the firefighters got there quicker, but not before the cockpit was destroyed. The driver, Tom D'Eath, blown out of the cockpit by the explosion, was rescued from the water, unhurt.

That blaze delayed the start of Heat 2B, the only heat in which fans got excited about a two-boat duel.

Mickey Remund, Miss Budweiser's pilot, caught up with the Pak in the second lap and engaged in a brief battle before pulling up lame with a broken propeller

Except for that skirmish, and a brief Lincoln Thrift-Weisfield's exchange in Heat 2A, the racing was confined to fans dashing towards their cars after the regatta.

How many were there? Probably no more than one-fourth of the pre-race prediction of 200,000.

The other accident, which led to the controversy, came in the last heat.

Lincoln Thrift, which could have won the regatta by winning the final dash, got washed down as Milner Irvin fought for survival in a south-turn lane-changing incident.

The water blew off Irvin's windshield and face guard, injuring the driver and knocking the Thrift out of contention. But no foul was called.

Weisfield's won the final heat. Pay 'n Pak was second, but Henley had enough points accumulated to take the trophy.

Few fans seemed upset with the outcome — even though the winner of the last heat did not win the race.

It has happened before — at three other regattas this season.

And this was just one more race.

Henley qualifies with Pay 'n Pak

June 29, 1974, DETROIT (AP) — George Henley's Pride of Pay 'n Pak and Bill Muncey's Atlas Van Lines U-71 head Sunday's field in the Spirit of Detroit unlimited hydroplane race for the Gar Wood trophy.

Muncey's U-71 ended up on the bottom of the Detroit River when he was here in May, but six weeks of rebuilding helped him turn in the second-best qualifying time over a shortened course.

Muncey pushed the U-71 to an "official" speed of 132.352 m.p.h. over the 2½-mile course Friday. However, officials are computing speeds based on the normal three-mile run for unlimited hydroplane races.

The course over the often treacherous river was shortened Thursday in the interest of safety. The major changes was the removal of the sharp "roostertail" turn.

Henley piloted the Pay 'n Pak to a 133.044 m.ph. qualifying run Thursday to notch the fastest qualifying speed.

Others making the cut in the final qualifying heats Friday were Milner Irvin in Miss Madison, Fred Alter in Atlas U-44, Roger D'Eath in Miss Cott Beverage, Tom Martin in Sunny Jim and Tom Kaufman in Mr. Fabricator.

Although the speeds turned in during qualifying and the race will not have any historic basis because of the shortened course, Muncey was all smiles.

"It was the first time we had it in the water since I crashed it and it was just beautiful. And we had plenty left," he said.

The Atlas U-71 and Pay 'n Pak will be joined in the "fast" heat of Sunday's race by Miss U.S., Miss Budweiser and Miss Madison.

The first heat will feature Savair's Probe, Atlas U-44, Sunny Jim, Miss Cott Beverage and Mr. Fabricator.

CU-22, piloted by Bob Schroeder, is an alternate in case one of the top 10 qualifiers is unable to run.

Muncey, No Longer No. 1, Will Try Harder

By Parton Keese
Reprinted by The New York Times, June 3, 1973

The question this year in unlimited hydroplanes is: Can Bill Muncey come back? Last year the question was: Can Bill Muncey be stopped? He wasn't much last year — winning every race except one in the Atlas Van Lines boat, but this year Muncey was beaten in the opening race at Miami after an extra curricular effort in an outboard had resulted in several broken ribs.

With at least eight of the 200-mile-an-hour thunderboats convening on the Potomac River in Washington this weekend for the President's Cup regatta, the new hero, so far, is Mickey Remund. He won the Champion Spark Plug regatta in Miami and set a course record doing so, 119.363 miles an hour for one lap and 119.048 for a five-lap average.

Remund has the helm of Pride of Pay 'n Pak, the new Ron Jones‐design. Also in the race are the two hydros that gave Remund his toughest competition before succumbing to engine trouble: Miss Budweiser (last year's Pride of Pay 'n Pak) and Lincoln Thrift, now with a new driver, Gene Whipp of Dayton, Ohio.

Others running are Gale's Roostertail, Red Man, Notre Dame (new driver, Ronnie Larson), Miss Madison and Atlas, with Muncey reportedly recovered from his wounds. Not entered are Miss U.S. and Valu-Mart.

For a new boat on the seven-race circuit, victory in the first regatta is a surprise, while a record is shocking. There were even a few snickers in the pits when the Pay 'n Pak crew announced that the low-profile pickle hull had been clocked unofficially at 119 miles an hour-plus on her first practice run.

“Don't you think that's exaggerating just a little bit?” replied one of the other drivers. This is a pretty tight course. Are you trying to tell me Remund broke Muncey's record by an honest 6 miles an hour?”

Mickey answered his critics later, of course, when he made the record official. Although Muncey drove despite his aching body, Pay 'n Pak's most serious challenger turned out to be Dean Chenoweth, the former national champion, in Budweiser.

In the second heat at Miami, Remund and Chenoweth tangled in a thrilling three-lap duel, which ended when the Bud's engine blew in a sheet of flames on the back stretch.

In the Atlas Van lines camp, there were signs that all was not well beside Muncey. The new fuel-injection system developed by Jim Kerth and Lee Schoenith, the owner, was one source of problems.

“With the cold weather we've been having up in Detroit,” Schoenith said, “we have not had a chance to do enough testing. I would say that we're 90-percent home free, and I'm sure we'll have it worked out as the season goes on.”

Another new boat that has caught spectators' attention is Lincoln Thrift, a turbocharged cabover design. Although it had its problems trying not to spin out on the tight Miami Stadium turns, it is tremendously fast. If Lincoln can straighten out and Budweiser's engine holds up and Pay 'N Pak continues hot and Muncey gets back in the winning groove, the Potomac could be boiling before the day is over.

Muncey Takes Off With Seafair Cup

August 7, 1972, Seattle, Wash. (UPI) - If baseball parlance can be applied to unlimited hydroplane racing, veteran driver Bill Muncey did more than have a perfect game, he nearly had a perfect season.

When Muncey ran away from the field in the Atlas Van Lines for an amazingly easy victory in the Seattle Seafair Trophy race Sunday, he chalked up the following statistics at the end of the unlimited season:

• Six wins in seven races.
• National championships for driver and boat.
• Winner of 22 of 25 heats for the season.
• Finisher in every heat he started.
• Trailed in his one losing race by one 3 seconds at at finish. 

With more than 100,000 fans lining the lake shore in a record 91-degree heat wave, Sunday’s Seafair Race was billed as a season-ending showdown between the Atlas Van Lines and the Pride of Pay ’n Pak, which had been chasing the Atlas across the finish line all year.

That bit of anticipated excitement never materialized. The Pay ’n Pak, with Bill Sterett, Jr, at the wheel, blew engines at the start of two preliminary heats and never reached the final or even got racing.

Muncey, of San Diego, wrapped up national championships for himself and the Detroit-based Atlas Van Lines in his very first heat with a coasting second-place finish. He won his next preliminary heat and roared away from the field in the final competition for the easy victory.

Schumacher retirement bolsters Muncey's lot

Reprinted from Tri-City Herald, July 9, 1972

Even if Bill Muncey doesn't win today's President's Cup Regatta on the Potomac River, the 44-year-old unlimited hydroplane veteran is virtually assured of this fourth national championship.

The only unlimited pilot with a real chance of catching Muncey for the national points standings was Billy Schumacher, who stunned hydroplane racing last week with his resignation from the crew of Seattle-based Pride of Pay 'n Pak.

Schumacher's decision to call it quits, at least for the seven-race, 1972 schedule, leaves him with 3,725 points. Muncey, two-time defending President's Cup champion, has 4,700. No other driver is close to Muncey's leading point total.

Schumacher was openly critical of racing conditions during the last two events. The Detroit Gold Cup was held on the flood-swollen waters of the Detroit River, and last Tuesday's Madison, Ind., World Championship Race was postponed from Sunday because of floating debris on the Ohio River caused by tropical storm Agnes.

Schumacher, a five-time world champion at only 29, will probably be replaced by either Bill Sterett, Sr., who came out of retirement to pilot the Pay 'n Pak at Madison, or by Billy Sterett, Jr., whose brother Terry drives Miss Budweiser.

Schumacher, of course, will not be here for the seventh annual Atomic Cup on the Columbia, July 23. Schumacher won the Atomic Cup aboard Miss Bardahl in 1967 and last spring set an unofficial lap record while testing the Pay 'n Pak on the Columbia.

The Pay 'n Pak went into the 1972 unlimited season as just about everybody's favorite to end Miss Budweiser's string as national champion at three years. Schumacher had finished the 1971 season by winning the last three races.

But in Detroit, the Atlas Van Lines crew, headed by former driver Bill Cantrell, spent the winter putting modifications on Muncey's boat. Atlas won the first three races of 1972, setting speed records wherever it went.

Muncey, who has never won the Atomic Cup, is the clear favorite to win his sixth President's Cup overall. His stiffest competition is expected from Pay 'n Pak, Miss Budweiser and the GoGale, the Atlas sister ship out of Detroit which is also listed as Atlas Van Lines II to distinguish it from Muncey's boat.

Other boats checked into the pits by late Friday afternoon were Timex, Towne Club, and Country Boy.

There had been some concern whether debris on the Potomac could be cleared in time for the regatta. Apparently it was.

Al Bauer, one of the race officials, said Friday, "The river's in better shape than I've seen it in 38 years."

Schumacher Likely to Give Muncey Run for Gold Cup on the Detroit Today

DETROIT, June 24, 1972 — “This course is the roughest and toughest challenge in hydroplane racing,” asserted Bill Schumacher on the eve of tomorrow's $44,000 Gold Cup race.

“It also has the weirdest turns and the crookedest chutes [straightaways], is filled with driftwood and debris, has groundswells coming in from the lake, plus all of our wakes splash waves back at us from the bulkheads along the shore.

“Besides all this, the river current runs into the wind, which creates all kinds of ripples and waves, any one of which can flip your boat and snuff out your life before you know it.”

Despite his protestations of the Detroit River, where nine of the fastest propeller driven boats in the world will vie for the American Power Boat Association's coveted Gold Cup, Schumacher has won the big race twice, in Seattle in 1967 and in Detroit in 1968.

Switching Boats

His vehicle then was Miss Bardahl, the checkered thunderboat now retired. After a year with Parco O-Ring Miss, Schumacher moved to Seattle, got married and signed a contract to drive Dave Heerensperger's Pride of Pay 'n Pak, a revolutionary-designed unlimited named for a chain of West Coast department stores.

Totally unsuccessful at first with the radical pickle fork boat designed by Ron Jones, Schumacher worked with Heerensperger and his crew chief, Jim Lucero, and brought Pay 'n Pak to a point last year where it swept the last three races of the season and finished a close second to Miss Budweiser for the national championship.

This year, only the fabulously successful Bill Muncey, at the helm of two-year-old Atlas Van Lines, has managed to top Schumacher and Pay 'n Pak. And Muncey has won the Gold Cup four times, so he must remain the favorite.

Moves Backfire

Two other Gold Cup winners are competing: Jim McCormick, last year's victor in Miss Madison, and Dean Chenoweth, Miss Budweiser's driver last year. Both drivers have changed boats, however, and both have experienced little luck as a result.

McCormick is driving his own Miss Timex, preferring the dual role of owner-driver, but he has not come close to winning. Chenoweth took on the job of driving Notre Dame, a new Jones-designed boat which has also failed to win.

Why did Chenoweth, a Gold Cup winner, a two-time national champion and a victor in almost every race on the circuit in Miss Budweiser, quit a winning combination?

“I wanted a challenge, I guess,” said the Xenia, Ohio, automobile dealer. “Shirley [Mendelson McDonald, the owner] has been trying to put together a winner for 10 years, and now she's starting in all over again.”

Terry Sterett, one of the two driver sons of former champion Bill Sterett, is now the pilot of Budweiser, whose owners, Bernie Little and Tom Friedkin, seemed to have ignored the maxim, “Don't fool with a winning combination.”

After three years of domination, Budweiser's crew revised the sponsors and hull, but instead of improving her performance, it seemed to make it worse.

“The trouble was we never had proper conditions on the Coast to test those new ideas,” said Bill Sterett, “Now we've got her back to the way she was when I was driving and I think you'll see the difference Sunday.”

Muncey also has the advantage of a second Atlas Van Lines acting as a teammate in the fleet. Muncey drives U‐71 and Tom Sheehy drives U-70, which is the former Myr's Special and Miss Smirnoff and two years older.

“We've instructed Tom to push those other guys as hard as he can even though he doesn't win,” Muncey said.

Other boats and drivers in contention include Pizza Pete, with Bob Gilliam; Lincoln Thrift, a turbocharged boat, with George Henley, and Towne Club, with Fred Alter.

The next Miss Madison turned over and sank yesterday on a test run, thus denying the Gold Cup race a defending champion Her driver, Charlie Dunn, was not hurt seriously.

Maiden voyager Billy Sterett steers by Muncey to win President's Cup

July 10, 1972, WASHINGTON (AP) - Billy Sterett Jr. of Owensboro, Ky., driving the Seattle-based Pride of Pay 'n Pak for the first time in competition, defeated previously unbeaten Bill Muncey and the Atlas Van Lines yesterday in the President's Cup unlimited hydroplane regatta at Washington, D.C.

Sterett, who just drove the boat for the first time Friday, beat Muncey by only 3½ seconds after securing the lead on the next-to-last turn.

The Sterett brothers: Terry (left) and Bill Jr. (right).

Yesterday's program consisted of two other 15-mile preliminary heats plus the final. Sterett and Muncey, who is from San Diego, Calif., went into the final heat tied with 800 points.

Sterett led the fleet at the start and was first out of the initial turn. Muncey took the lead coming out of the second of the six laps. The two battled bow to bow for the next three laps before Sterett took command.

The next race on the circuit is the Tri-Cities Atomic Cup at Pasco, Wash., July 23.

Pak ended up with 1,200 points to the Detroit-based Atlas Van Lines' 1,100. Third was Miss Budweiser with 825, followed by Pizza Pete with 619.

Sterett and Muncey won the two President's Cup heats contested Saturday. Muncey was seeking his fifth cup victory of the season in the races on the Potomac River. Sterett won the final heat at an average speed of 109.090 mph.

Sterett, who drove the Notre Dame hydro in 1971 but didn't have a driving assignment for the first four races this year, was hired to guide the Pay 'n Pak after veteran Billy Schumacher announced his retirement Friday.

Other point winners in the race were Towne Club of Detroit with 525 and Miss Timex of Owensboro, Ky. with 300.

Despite the setback, Muncey and the Atlas still hold a comfortable lead in the national championship battle, owning 5,800 points to the second-place Pay 'n Pak's 4,925.

About time for Atomic Cup luck, says race winner

By Bill Purcell
Reprinted from Tri-City Herald, July 24, 1972

When it was suggested to Bill Muncey on Sunday afternoon that luck as much as speed decided 1972's Atomic Cup, he had a jovial retort.

"Well, it's about time Bill Muncey had a little luck on the Columbia. I've been trying to win this race for a long time, and I'm real happy we put it all together here."

For the 44-year-old hydroplane jockey with 32 regatta championships to his credit, the $4,500 he pocketed for first place in the Tri-Cities was only part of his winning story. His Atomic Cup victory, the first in seven tries, guaranteed Muncey of the unlimited hydroplane national point championship.

Although Muncey established three Atomic Cup and two world speed records before an estimated 50,000 fans, it is unlikely he would have won the race without Lady Luck interfering.

In the sixth and final lap of the championship heat, Muncey and his Atlas Van Lines were embarrassingly behind by some 13 seconds to favored Billy Sterett Jr. in the Pride of Pay 'n Pak. But, with the heat and the race nearly in the record books, Bob Gilliam was thrown from his hand-me-down boat, Pizza Pete, and the heat had to be restarted.

Forty-five minutes' worth of engine-changing and second-guessing later, Atlas and Pay 'n Pak resumed the fight. But no sooner had the two boats hit the starting line than Pay 'n Pak stopped dead in the water as a result of what the crew later diagnosed as a frozen supercharger.

Crew chief Jim Lucero, driver Billy Sterett Jr., and owner
Dave Heerensperger of the Pride of Pay 'n Pak racing team.

So, while the Pay 'n Pak floated helplessly downstream in the final heat of a race it had virtually won earlier in the afternoon, Muncey coasted around the 2 1/2-mile course for his fifth victory in six races on the unlimited circuit this year.

Muncey said later that it was not until his second lap that he knew "we were on our way to the bank."

"Going through the corner of the first lap of the rerun, I didn't know he (Sterett) was down. I was wondering to myself on the first backstretch where his boat was, but I said to myself, "I've got a good lead and I'll keep on pushing.'"

In a unprecedented tribute to the racing fans, many of whom, Muncey admitted, weren't exactly rooting for him, the San Diego native toured the course one last time in a victory lap, clapping his hands with glee as he passed the official barge.

Sterett and Pay 'n Pak owner Dave Heerensperger, Kent, were appropriately glum-faced after the race. It was Billy Sterett Sr., however, who offered the most appropriate analysis. He said to Gilliam after the Pizza Pete driver had been safely brought back to shore, "If that happens again, please fly through the air for at least 30 seconds more."

Gilliam was scratched up a bit, but that's all. He finished fifth, behind Muncey, Terry Sterett in Miss Budweiser, Billy Sterett in Pay 'n Pak and defending Atomic Cup champion Jim McCormick in Miss Timex.

Muncey set new records for fastest lap, 115.979 m.p.h. fastest heat, 110.655, and race average, 107.417. The first two records are world as well as Atomic Cup standards.

Atlas and Pay 'n Pak won their respective heats so handily earlier in the afternoon that it was not until their long-awaited confrontation that the sun-drenched throng had much to get excited about.

In the "first" championship heat, Pay 'n Pak beat Atlas to the first buoy, Sterett outmaneuvered Muncey at the upstream turn and led by two seconds at the end of lap one. By the end of lap two, Sterett's lead was 11 seconds, and the issue was apparently decided.

But when Gilliam was tossed out of his boat four laps later, Muncey had his chance.

"It wasn't his (Sterett's) fault and it wasn't mine," said Muncey. "It's a shame this had to happen, but things like this have happened to me many, many, many times in this strange world of unlimited racing."

Muncey buys Pay 'n Pak

January 29, 1976, Seattle (AP) - Hydroplane racer Bill Muncey says he has purchased the champion unlimited Pride of Pay 'N Pak from Dave Heerensperger, who is reportedly leaving the sport.

Heerensperger, of suburban Mercer Island, was in Denver and unavailable for comment Wednesday night, but Muncey confirmed from San Diego he had purchased the craft "lock, stock and barrel for a high six figure price...just under seven figures."

The exact price was not disclosed.

Jim Lucero, who has been Heerensperger's crew chief for six years, said, "Yes, Dave is getting out, but we'll keep the same mechanical crew together for Muncey."

Bill Muncey

The Pak won the unlimited hydro high-point championship for the last three years, the Gold Cup for two straight years and the Seattle Seafair hydroplane race for three years.

Muncey said the total purchase from Heerensperger included three boats - last year's Pak, a new hydro Lucero is building and the Li'l Buzzard - 30 engines, eight gear boxes, two trucks, a trailer and a complete machine shop.

Lucero said business considerations may have prompted Heerensperger to sell.

"If he wanted to run his boats effectively next season he would have gone all summer," Lucero said. "Dave just doesn't have that kind of time."

Heerensperger added more business responsibilities in November when he was elevated from chairman of the board to president of Pay 'N Pak Corp.

Heerensperger first started in hydro racing in 1963-64 when he purchased the Miss Spokane and renamed it the Eagle Electric, for the Eagle Electric plumbing supply business he then had in Spokane. He was figured in hydro racing circles on and off ever since.

Atlas Crew Solves Engine Troubles; Sterett Criticized

By Walt Parietti
Reprinted from The Seattle Times, August 7, 1972

A disappointed Billy Sterett sat alongside the Pride of Pay 'N Pak cockpit yesterday
as the boat was towed back to its dock.  Sterett, expected to give Bill Muncey a race,
never got a chance because of two engine failures.

"We didn’t expect to have this kind of season," Bill Muncey said. "Who’d ever believe ten years ago that I’d bring Lee Schoenith a national championship?"

Muncey just had completed his greatest season in 17 hydroplaning years, riding aboard his white charger, Atlas Van Lines, to his sixth win in seven races before one of the largest Seafair Trophy Race crowds in recent years.

Muncey did it by shattering the lap and 15-mile-heat records on the three-mile Lake Washington course that he had set in Miss Thriftway 10 years earlier. He hinted the records might fall early yesterday afternoon after finishing second in Heat 1 B.

"The lid’s off now. We can go racing," balding Bill had said.

His crew chief, Jim Kerth, put a new power plant in the Schoenith-owned Atlas, and Muncey ran the first lap in Heat 213 at 115.139 miles an hour. He later upped the mark to 117.137 in the final heat runaway.

The longtime Seattleite, who now lives in San Diego, said, "I wouldn’t have given us a 5-2 chance to win this race Saturday."

Muncey’s happy wife, Fran, chimed in: "Saturday night the engines were all apart here. Things went wrong Saturday."

Among the problems, Bill said, was a broken blower section from Saturday’s final tuneup session.

"We didn’t have all the spare stuff we needed here from Detroit," Muncey said.

Kerth said, "You find things like that by testing. It’s great working with Muncey. It’s just the way he drives. He’s superb. I never worry once he leaves the dock. There’s nothing you can do after that."

The unexpected elements in the race were the complete fold-up by the Pride of Pay ‘N Pak — two broken engines without a full lap run and the strong, third-place showing by the patch-quilt Van’s P-X team.

"It just wasn’t our day," said a dejected Billy Sterett, Jr., Pay ‘N Pak driver.

"These engines were strictly race engines. They were built up for this race. We broke them in like we usually do. We ran three laps this morning and thought we were ready to go.

"This kind of blows you out of the water. I just don’t know about next year yet. We had the Pasco race won and now we’ve gone three straight heats without a finish. That’s pretty bad."

Dave Heerensperger, Pay ‘N Pak owner, said in frustration: "We break three engines in two days. I’d like to run a 120-mile-an-hour heat right now just to show the people."

Of the first-heat failure, he added, "the back four cylinders were not firing and they finally blew. They loaded up with fuel. Billy should have cleared it out."

Heerensperger intends to stick with Sterett for 1973. "If Billy wants to drive, he’ll be my driver. It’s his decision," Heerensperger said.

Heerensperger said the sale of his Pride of Pay ‘N Pak boat had "nothing to do with the performance" yesterday. The boat was purchased yesterday for $30,000 by Bernie Little, who will campaign the hull as Miss Budweiser next year.

Heerensperger said he will build a new boat for next season, virtually a cop, "but hopefully a lighter-type boat."

The Van’s P-X got the job done with some help from Gary Crawford, Timex crew chief, who formerly worked alongside Jerry Zuvich on the old Bardahl national-championship boat.

"They’ve got half our motor in there," Crawford said. "We gave them the stuff they needed a gear box, wheel housing and quills, most of the front section."

"That’s not a bad effort for three weeks’ work," Zuvich said.

Leif Borgersen, P-X pilot, said, "The crew told me, ‘If you can’t win, get third place.’ So I did." Borgersen, close behind the second-place Notre Dame at the finish, added, "After that many heats in that rough a water, I don’t think I could have held on much longer."

"The cockpit temperature out there today must have been 150 degrees," said Muncey. "It was a lot easier running out front than where Leif was running."

Wild Bill Cantrell, longtime hydro driver and boat manager of the Atlas, said, "I wish we could have hooked up with the Pay ‘n Pak. Now we’ve got to sit all winter long and not know how we’d have done."

Schoenith, the boat’s designer, won the Gold Cup on Lake Washington in 1955, edging Muncey with the help of a disputed "bonus points" system. The result added fuel to the Seattle-Detroit battle in which Schoenith was the "bad guy" from the East and Muncey was Seattle’s "hero."

"We’ll go with this hull again next year," Schoenith said. "I’m happy with it. I don’t know now what I’d do different if I were going to build a new boat."

Cantrell said, "There’ll be a couple new Detroit boats next year. George Simon is building a new Miss U. S., with a turbo-charged Rolls engine. And Jim Herrington’s building a gas-turbine job. They’ve been testing the engine for a year in the old Mariner, but they haven’t raced it."

Muncey, commenting on the Pay ‘N Pak’s miseries, said, "I’m sorry for them, but I’m not disappointed they didn’t run. Racing involves everything, not just qualifying.

"We came to Seattle wanting that qualifying record; but when they (Pay ‘N Pak) went 125.8, we felt there was no way. So we started shooting for a victory today.

"Our goal was to do exactly as we did."

John Walters is do-it-all in hydroplane racing

Reprinted from The Madison Courier, February 6, 1987

To say Miller American Racing Team crew chief John Walters is something of a utility man in unlimited hydroplane racing would be something of an understatement. After all, Walters has been a boat owner, boat builder, crewman, driver, engine specialist, and crew chief during his boat racing career.

As an 11-year-old he began racing outboards with his father, graduated to the larger, limited inboard hydroplanes a few years later.

He took a bit step in 1974 by going to work for boat builder Ron Jones, who has crafted many top unlimited as well as other racing craft over the years.

Later, he became a member of the late Bill Muncey’s Atlas Van Lines crew. It was while he was working for Muncey that Walters gained invaluable experience in his driving career. Walters was having a good career in the late 1970s in the limited inboard ranks.

“I learned as much standing on the dock watching Bill drive a race boat as you can ever learn sitting behind the wheel of your own,” he said. “Bill kind of took me under his wing at several of my limited events. He came out and watched me and said, ‘Why did you do this?’ or ‘Next time you might want to do this,’ and just kind of pointed me in the right direction,” Walters notes.

“He was a real good critic and somebody who really knew what was going on, and I really had a lot of respect for his ideas and thoughts on things. There’s no question but what it helped me out a great deal,” Walters adds.

Because Muncey lived in San Diego, and Walters lived in Seattle where the Atlas boat was headquartered, Muncey sometimes let the youth drive in practice runs on Lake Washington. Walters even drive the “Blue Blaster” in two exhibition heats in Oregon.

It was while he worked with the Atlas crew that Walters came into a strong working relationship with former Atlas team manager/boat builder Jim Lucero. In fact, Walters worked with Lucero on the development and construction of the Pay ‘N Pak turbine craft.

When Dave Heerensperger and Pay ‘N Pak voiced an interest in getting back into racing again, they wanted to do it with Jim as the team manager,” Walters said. “We wanted to work on boats together and to build boats for other people and when Jim formed his own company, he asked me if I’d participate in helping build the boat and everything.”

Walters’ driving career in the limited class was going great guns in 1979. “At that point in time I was winning lots of races in lots of different classes and managed to put together a national championship that year,” he remembers. Heerensperger saw him race in one of the most prestigious limited events on the west coast and said, “It looks to me like you’re about ready to drive a big boat and if you’re interested in doing it, I’m interested in having you do it,” Heerensperger told him.

Walters and the Pak turbine experienced a spectacular blow-over flip on the Columbia River before the boat ever saw its first competition. The accident, at the 1980 Columbia Cup race, “is still very clear in my mind and I get to see it enough on television that it keeps bringing it back,” he says today. “I still wake up in the middle of the night sometimes upside down and backwards over the Columbia River and I don’t have any control over that one.”

Walters recovered from his injuries, the boat was repaired and the Pak returned to competition in 1981. At the 1982 Syracuse race, he became the first driver to ever win an unlimited hydroplane race aboard a turbine-powered hydroplane. But later in the season his driving career was abruptly ended when he was seriously injured in a crash with George Johnson and the Executone.

Walters suffered “pretty substantial head injuries” and other problems as a result of the crash. “I was hurt pretty severely and had to go through a real long process of getting better and healing up. The physical trauma is one thing; the mental trauma is something different.”

Walters’ driving days were over. Pay ‘N Pak owner Dave Heerensperger retired from the sport because (in the wake of the Bill Muncey and Dean Chenoweth fatalities and then the crash of his own boat) he claimed it had become too dangerous. Walters, without a job, began the long recovery process.

“I kind of feel like the rug was pulled out from under me right when we were getting the boat to a point where we could go out and win races consistently and really fulfill a lot of goals that I had set for myself as a driver,” the 34-year-old reflects today. “I had that all taken away from me. Being able to say that I was the first driver in the history of the sport to win a boat race in a turbine certainly is a feather in our cap and makes me feel real good.”

Following Heerensperger’s second retirement from the sport, Lucero rejoined the Atlas Van Lines team in late 1982 as team manager and later as co-owner. His friend Walters would join the team a couple of years later, returning to contribute in yet another capacity to the sport he enjoys to much.