Pride of Pay 'n Pak Cup Winner

June 10, 1974. WASHINGTON (AP) - Defending national champion Pride of Pay ’N Pak, driven by George S. Henley of Eatonville, Wash., won the 43rd President’s Cup Regatta for unlimited hydroplanes Sunday although she finished third behind Miss Budweiser in the final heat.

Pay ’N Pak scored 1,025 points in winning first place in the heats on Saturday and earlier Sunday to edge Atlas Van Lines, driven by Bill Muncey, of San Diego, which scored 900 points for finishing second in three heats, including the final one.

Miss Budweiser, with rookie Howie Benns of Grand Island, N. Y., at the wheel, won the final heat and the 400 points that goes with it to enable her to move into fourth place behind U-95 in the final standings. Budweiser, winner of the initial regatta of the season last Sunday in Miami, won a heat Saturday but broke a supercharger linkage during the second lap of an early heat Sunday and did not finish the race.

The pit crews, however, were able to repair the trouble in time to get the thunderboat back into the final heat. U-95, driven by Leif Borgersen of Seattle, Wash., finished fifth in the final heat but placed third overall in the regatta after winning the first heat of her career earlier Sunday on top of a 2nd-place finish Saturday which gave the ship 827 points.

The final standings for the President’s Cup were Pay 'N Pak, winner two years ago here, 1,025 points; Atlas Van Lines, 900; U-95. 827; Miss Budweiser, 800; Mr. Fabricator, driven by Tom Kaufman of Carrollton. Ohio, 489; Miss U.S.£ driven by Tom D’Eath, Detroit, 225; Lincoln Thrift, driven by Mickey Remund of Palm Desert, Calif., 225; and Sunny Jim, driven by Tom Martin, Bellevue, Wash., 169.

Lincoln Thrift was withdrawn from the final day’s heats because owner Bob Fendler said the ship was having handling problems. Fendler said the boat would return to Costa Mesa. Calif., for modifications before the new hydroplane was returned to the circuit, probably at Detroit.

Remund powers Pay ‘n Pak to win

July 9, 1973.  MADISON, Ind. (AP) - “Mr. Cold” has struck again, only now he’s also becoming known as “The Winged Wonder.”

Mickey Remund, the driver of the Pride of Pay ‘N Pak unlimited hydroplane, is the one collecting nicknames, but they don’t concern him. He just drives the boat and wins a lot.

Sunday, he won all three of his heats in the 26th Madison Regatta. The performance was good for a perfect 1,200 points, keeping him on top of the American Power Boat Association standings. He also set three course records and took home the 22nd Indiana Governor’s Cup.

The victory also won his team $4,725 of the total $25,000 purse.

The “Mr. Cold” moniker comes to the 34-year-old Palm Desert, Calif., driver from observations of this coolness on race day.

The thunderboat he drives is the cause of the second nickname, since the Rolls Royce-powered craft is the first of the hydroplane fleet to sport a horizontal stabilizer wing.

Remund, who also piled up 1,200 points in winning the season opener at Miami, Fla., broke the two-race victory string of Miss Budweiser and her driver, Dean Chenoweth of Xenia, Ohio.

A second-place finish Sunday kept Miss Bud in second place in point standings.

Both the powerful boats easily won a pair of preliminary heats and battled closely for two laps in the championship head. But Pay ‘N Pak, stabilized better in the narrow turns on the 2 ½-mile Ohio River course because if it’s wing, took over at that point and on the six-lap race going away.

“It is never easy to be Miss Budweiser or Dean,” Remund said. “We have had some good races and sometimes I win…sometimes he does.”

“That’s two wins for us, two for Bud and one for Lincoln Thrift, and we’re only 200 points ahead (in the standings). It’s going to be close all season,” Remund said.

Asked about his big surge in the championship heat, Remund said, “I stepped on the gas and nitrous oxide the first time and I found a good piece of water.”

Remund and the Pay ‘N Pak put on quite a show for the crowd of more than 50,000 that lined the Indiana and Kentucky banks of the Ohio in sweltering, mid-80 temperatures.

In this first heat, Remund drove his boat to an average speed of 104.126 miles per hour, breaking the old mark of 104.026 set by Jack Regas in Notre Dame in 1968.

In his second heat, that record climbed to 106.888 m.p.h as the Pay ‘N Pak hit a top lap of 112.080, breaking the old lap record of 109.489 set by Bill Muncey in the Atlas Van Lines in 1971.

Remund won the final heat by duplicating his first-heat average and wound up with an overall average for 45 miles of competition of 105.044 m.p.h., breaking the old record of 101.606 set in 1968 by Billy Schumacher in Miss Bardahl.

Muncey, the defending champion, was not among the final heat competitors. His Atlas boat finished second to Miss Bud in an earlier heat but blew an engine and failed to finish its second heat.

To make the whole thing even more interesting, Remund won the final heat with a bit of a handicap. While jockeying for starting position, the outside part of his aluminum steering wheel broke apart in his hands.

He drove the straights at more than 150 m.p.h., held the 35-foot boat steady through the rough turns and out-dueled Miss Bud using the spokes of the steering wheel.

Another triumph for "Mr. Cold."

Madison Winner!

July 8, 1973. MADISON, Ind. (UPI) - Mickey Remund (bottom), shown piloting the unlimited Pay ‘N Pak hydroplane, passes the mark ahead of Dean Chenoweth (top) in Miss Budweiser in the final 15 mile heat of the Madison Regatta for unlimited Hydroplanes. Remund smashed a series of records in winning the 22nd annual Indiana Governor’s Cup race. Like their counterparts in auto racing, the wing shown on the winning boat apparently has added speed to these already fast boats. Remund, shown here skimming the water at over 150 miles per hour, won both heats and the final in record time.

Pay 'n Pak Sets New Madison Regatta Mark

July 9, 1973. MADISON, Ind. (UPI) - The winged Pay 'N Pak dominated the field Sunday to win the Indiana Governor’s Cup for unlimited Hydroplanes.

The $25,000 cup race is the main prize at the two-day Madison Regatta on the Ohio River. An estimated 100,000 spectators line the Indiana and Kentucky shorelines to watch the event in sunny, 90-degree weather.

Pay 'N Pak, driven by Mickey Remund, Palm Desert, Calif., roared to a record 104.106 miles per hour to finish one-half lap ahead of Miss Budweiser in second place. The two “thunderboats” were tied entering the 150 mile finale after each pickup a pair of heat victories.

Miss Budweiser was driven by Dean Chenoweth, Xenia, Ohio.

Third in the five-boat final was Lincoln Thrift, followed in fourth by Redman and in fifth by Mr. Fabricator.

Pay 'N Pak accumulated 1,200 points for the afternoon with Budweiser getting 1,100. Lincoln Thrift had 675, Redman 525 and Mr. Fabricator 469.

Sentimental favorite and community-owned Miss Madison was sixth with 352 points earned in heat races. Gale’s Roostertail was seventh with 300. Valu-Mart and Atlas Van Lines competed, but failed to score points.

Atlas was the defending Regatta champ and the No. 1 boat in the American Power Boat Association races last season. But driver Bill Muncey, San Diego, Calif., experienced mechanical problems all week and his craft went dead in the water while leading a preliminary heat.

Pay 'N Pak passed Muncey and Atlas en route to a record 106.888 winning average in that heat.

Mechanical problems plagued many of the other boats in the nine craft event, but there were no accidents or sinkings.

Earlier in the week Pay 'N Pak - the first “thunderboat” to utilize the stabilizer wing - roared to a qualifying record on the 2 ½ mile Ohio River course. Remund posted a 115.908 clocking Thursday.

Dave Heerensperger's Unlimited Results

Date	Race	Finish	Driver	Boat
1982
6/6/1982	Champion Spark Plug Regatta	5th	John Walters	U-25 Pay 'N Pak (2)
6/13/1982	Thunder-In-The-Park	1st	John Walters	U-25 Pay 'N Pak (2)
6/27/1982	APBA Gold Cup	6th	John Walters	U-25 Pay 'N Pak (2)
8/1/1982	Columbia Cup	5th	John Walters	U-25 Pay 'N Pak (2)
8/8/1982	Emerald Cup	DNF	John Walters	U-25 Pay 'N Pak (2)
1981
6/7/1981	Champion Spark Plug Regatta	2nd	John Walters	U-25 Pay 'N Pak (2)
6/28/1981	Stroh's Silver Cup	7th	John Walters	U-25 Pay 'N Pak (2)
7/5/1981	Indiana Governor's Cup	5th	John Walters	U-25 Pay 'N Pak (2)
7/12/1981	Thunder On The Ohio	8th	John Walters	U-25 Pay 'N Pak (2)
7/26/1981	Columbia Cup	8th	John Walters	U-25 Pay 'N Pak (2)
8/9/1981	APBA Gold Cup	2nd	John Walters	U-25 Pay 'N Pak (2)
10/18/1981	World Championship	3rd	John Walters	U-25 Pay 'N Pak (2)
1980
7/27/1980	Columbia Cup	W/D	John Walters	U-25 Pay 'N Pak (2)
1975
5/18/1975	Champion Spark Plug Regatta	6th	Jim McCormick	U-1 Pay 'N Pak (1)
6/1/1975	President's Cup	3rd	Jim McCormick	U-1 Pay 'N Pak (1)
6/15/1975	Kentucky Governor's Cup	DNF	George Henley	U-1 Pay 'N Pak (1)
6/29/1975	Gar Wood Trophy	3rd	George Henley	U-1 Pay 'N Pak (1)
7/6/1975	Indiana Governor's Cup	1st	George Henley	U-1 Pay 'N Pak (1)
7/13/1975	Hydroglobe	1st	George Henley	U-1 Pay 'N Pak (1)
7/27/1975	APBA Gold Cup	1st	George Henley	U-1 Pay 'N Pak (1)
8/3/1975	Seafair Trophy	1st	George Henley	U-1 Pay 'N Pak (1)
9/14/1975	Desert Thunderboat Regatta	5th	George Henley	U-1 Pay 'N Pak (1)
9/21/1975	Weisfield's Trophy	1st	George Henley	U-1 Pay 'N Pak (1)
1974
6/2/1974	Champion Spark Plug Regatta	4th	George Henley	U-1 Pay 'N Pak (1)
6/9/1974	President's Cup	1st	George Henley	U-1 Pay 'N Pak (1)
6/16/1974	Kentucky Governor's Cup	1st	George Henley	U-1 Pay 'N Pak (1)
6/30/1974	Gar Wood Memorial	2nd	George Henley	U-1 Pay 'N Pak (1)
7/21/1974	World Championship	1st	George Henley	U-1 Pay 'N Pak (1)
8/4/1974	APBA Gold Cup	1st	George Henley	U-1 Pay 'N Pak (1)
9/1/1974	Hydroglobe	1st	George Henley	U-1 Pay 'N Pak (1)
9/15/1974	Desert Thunderboat Classic	5th	George Henley	U-1 Pay 'N Pak (1)
9/22/1974	San Diego Cup	1st	George Henley	U-1 Pay 'N Pak (1)
10/13/1974	Indiana Governor's Cup	1st	George Henley	U-1 Pay 'N Pak (1)
10/20/1974	Admiral's Cup	2nd	George Henley	U-1 Pay 'N Pak (1)
1973
5/20/1973	Champion Spark Plug Regatta	1st	Mickey Remund	U-25 Pay 'N Pak (1)
6/3/1973	President's Cup	3rd	Mickey Remund	U-25 Pay 'N Pak (1)
6/17/1973	Kentucky Governor's Cup	5th	Mickey Remund	U-25 Pay 'N Pak (1)
7/1/1973	Gar Wood Memorial	2nd	Mickey Remund	U-25 Pay 'N Pak (1)
7/8/1973	Indiana Governor's Cup	1st	Mickey Remund	U-25 Pay 'N Pak (1)
7/22/1973	APBA Gold Cup	4th	Mickey Remund	U-25 Pay 'N Pak (1)
8/5/1973	World Championship	1st	Mickey Remund	U-25 Pay 'N Pak (1)
9/2/1973	Clearwater Cup	1st	Mickey Remund	U-25 Pay 'N Pak (1)
9/9/1973	National Champions Regatta	2nd	Mickey Remund	U-25 Pay 'N Pak (1)
1972
6/4/1972	Champion Spark Plug Regatta	2nd	Billy Schumacher	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (3)
6/11/1972	Kentucky Governor's Cup	2nd	Billy Schumacher	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (3)
6/25/1972	APBA Gold Cup	2nd	Billy Schumacher	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (3)
7/4/1972	World Championship	6th	Bill Sterett	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (3)
7/9/1972	President's Cup	1st	Billy Sterett Jr.	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (3)
7/23/1972	Atomic Cup	3rd	Billy Sterett Jr.	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (3)
8/6/1972	Seafair Trophy	DNF	Billy Sterett Jr.	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (3)
1971
5/23/1971	Champion Spark Plug Regatta	DNF	Billy Schumacher	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (3)
6/6/1971	President's Cup	5th	Billy Schumacher	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (3)
6/13/1971	Kentucky Governor's Cup	2nd	Billy Schumacher	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (3)
6/27/1971	Horace Dodge Memorial	8th	Billy Schumacher	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (3)
7/4/1971	APBA Gold Cup	3rd	Billy Schumacher	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (3)
7/25/1971	Atomic Cup	4th	Billy Schumacher	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (3)
8/8/1971	Seafair Trophy	1st	Billy Schumacher	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (3)
8/15/1971	Emerald Cup	1st	Billy Schumacher	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (3)
9/26/1971	Atlas Van Lines Trophy	1st	Billy Schumacher	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (3)
1970
5/31/1970	Suncoast Cup	6th	Tommy Fults	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (3)
6/7/1970	President's Cup	7th	Tommy Fults	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (3)
6/28/1970	Horace Dodge Memorial	4th	Tommy Fults	U-00 Pay 'N Pak’s Lil Buzzard
		5th	Ron Larsen	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (3)
7/5/1970	Indiana Governor's Cup	7th	Ron Larsen	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (3)
		9th	Tommy Fults	U-00 Pay 'N Pak’s Lil Buzzard
7/19/1970	Atomic Cup	1st	Tommy Fults	U-00 Pay 'N Pak’s Lil Buzzard
		6th	Ron Larsen	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (3)
8/2/1970	Seafair Trophy	7th	Tommy Fults	U-00 Pay 'N Pak’s Lil Buzzard
		9th	Ron Larsen	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (3)
9/20/1970	APBA Gold Cup	6th	Ron Larsen	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (3)
		W/D	Tommy Fults	U-00 Pay 'N Pak’s Lil Buzzard
1969
6/8/1969	Dixie Cup	8th	Tommy Fults	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (1)
6/15/1969	Kentucky Governor's Cup	7th	Tommy Fults	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (1)
6/29/1969	World Championship	DNF	Tommy Fults	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (1)
7/20/1969	Atomic Cup	3rd	Tommy Fults	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (1)
8/3/1969	Seafair Trophy	6th	Tommy Fults	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (1)
9/28/1969	APBA Gold Cup	4th	Tommy Fults	U-25 Pride Of Pay 'N Pak (2)
1968
6/2/1968	Dixie Cup	1st	Warner Gardner	U-25 Miss Eagle Electric (2)
6/16/1968	Wisconsin Cup	DNF	Warner Gardner	U-25 Miss Eagle Electric (2)
7/7/1968	Indiana Governor's Cup	2nd	Warner Gardner	U-25 Miss Eagle Electric (2)
7/21/1968	Atomic Cup	1st	Warner Gardner	U-25 Miss Eagle Electric (2)
8/4/1968	World Championship	3rd	Warner Gardner	U-25 Miss Eagle Electric (2)
8/11/1968	Diamond Cup	4th	Warner Gardner	U-25 Miss Eagle Electric (2)
8/25/1968	President's Cup	1st	Warner Gardner	U-25 Miss Eagle Electric (2)
9/8/1968	APBA Gold Cup	5th	Warner Gardner	U-25 Miss Eagle Electric (2)
1967
8/19/1967	British Columbia Cup	6th	Norm Evans	U-21 Miss Eagle Electric (2)
9/17/1967	Sacramento Cup	DNF	Norm Evans	U-21 Miss Eagle Electric (2)
9/24/1967	San Diego Cup	DNF	Norm Evans	U-21 Miss Eagle Electric (2)

Henley forgotten man in hubbub following victory

By Jini Dolan
Reprinted from the Tri-City Herald, July 22, 1974

“Hey Daddy - I cut my arm on a propeller.”

That was the victory greeting George Henley received from daughter Lori, 8, after winning the World Championship of unlimited hydroplanes Sunday.

And the reception in the pits for the Eatonville driver of Pay ‘N Pak continued in that vein.

The winner was the forgotten man in the brouhaha that followed the seven-boat final heat and the collision of the U-95 that no one can agree was a collision.

Owner Dave Heerensperger, however, jubilant in his third victory on the Columbia River course, had a magnum of champagne cooling for Henley.

He’d confidently placed it in the refrigerator that morning.

For Heerensperger, the win was a sweet one after watching his picklefork lose a propeller as it headed for the checkered flag in last year’s Gold Cup with Mickey Remund at the wheel.

He was sure he had it Sunday after the first heat in which Pak lead the pack, including the U-95.

Heerensperger gold Henley to cool it in the second heat, “go for a second or third” but when the epic five-lap duel with the U-95 started, the boat owner was noisily rooting for a U-1 victory.

Of Henley, Heerensperger said, “He drove a good race - and he stayed out of the trouble (in the final heat).”

Henley described his tight turns in Heat 2-C as he strove to compensate for the speed the U-95 was picking up on the straightaways.

“I felt like I could reach right out and touch the green buoy,” he said.

Disappointed U-95 driver Leif Borgersen described his impressions of starting a race amongst seven thunderboats:

“It was like being in one of those desert road races where 15,000 motorcycles take off at the same time - and all of a sudden they go into a funnel.”

Borgersen has been a driver for six years and has never won.

Chuck Lyford, U-95 crew chief reminded Heerensperger of his debt to the turbine team:

“Hey, remember that’s our prop, David,” he said after the race.

The Pak had borrowed the propeller on several other occasions.

Bad luck plagued several other camps.

On Saturday the Miss Madison caught fire.

On Sunday, electrical problems, after effects of the fire, kept the community-owned hydro from starting the first heat and contributed to a blown engine in the consolation race.

The crew of the Lincoln Thrift, damaged by an explosion late Saturday, worked in shifts until 6 a.m. Sunday to get the Phoenix-based boat running.

Owner Bob Fendler got permission to put it in the water for testing just before the race - but after that, it completed only one lap.

“It’s really tough.” said the dejected attorney. “We still have some kind of fuel problem but we honestly can’t figure out what’s wrong.”

The crew of the Solo from Australia watched from the official barge.

This is a spectacular sight,” said Colin Winton, the boat’s designer.

“Every once in a while I have to pinch myself to prove I’m really here. I’ve been reading about this for years,” he said.

Before the race, Henley said, “This is my favorite place to race.”

And afterward, finding himself 800 points ahead of the Budweiser in the national standings following his first win here. “Now I like it better than ever.”

“This is home.”

Henley - a household word

By Jini Dalen
Reprinted from the Tri-City Herald, July 18, 1974

George Henley’s name isn’t even mentioned in the American Power Boat Association listing of major hydroplane race victories through 1973.

Bill Muncey’s wins take up the better part of two pages.

But, said Henley today, “We’re having our fun this year.”

The 37-year-old Eatonville, Wash., driver of the U-1 Pay ‘N Pak after four races is the points leader in the 1974 national standings.

Howie Benns of the Miss Budweiser is just six points behind with 3,894 and the veteran Muncey, Atlas Van Lines, 1750 points behind with 2,144.

This is Henley’s first season in a top-ranked hydro and he’s loving it.

“I feel good in this boat. The crew gives me a lot of confidence - the way they inspect the hull, keep the equipment in shape.”

At first, he said, he had some difficulty getting used to the Pak itself, sitting far back behind the engine, almost under the wing-like stabilizer on the tail.

“But every race I learn a little more so now I’m comfortable,” said Henley, who took the checkered flag at Washington, D.C. and Owensboro, second place at Detroit.

Naturally enough, Henley considers the Budweiser his Championship race Sunday.

“They’ve been giving us a good go-round all year,” he said.

And with the “fan plan,” which pits fast boats against fast boats in preliminary head, “We’ve got to beat the Bud in the qualifying heats to stay on top in the points race,” he said.

But Henley doesn’t foresee a two-boat context.

“I know the Valu-Mart and the Miss U.S. can move. The Lincoln Thrift is capable of taking it. So’s the U-05.

“And it’s gonna be fast.”

Henley, who heads sales, service and promotion for Hamilton Jets, Tacoma, manufacturers of marine propulsion systems, has been racing since 1954, starting with outboards and moving to inboards in the early 60’s.

He was the 225 class National High Points Champion in 1969, then piloting the unlimited Burien Lady in 1970 and switched to the Lincoln Thrift Special one year later.

The soft-spoken father of two got into racing “because I’ve always loved boats - speed boats, fishing boats, charter boats - all kinds of boats.”

And he’s pleased to see a revival in unlimited racing, a sport thought to be dying only a few years ago.

“All the sudden we have good competition,” he said. “This season we have 11 races - that’s good even for limiteds.”

“And there’s lots of new drivers coming up. It makes me feel good to race with them and to be competitive.”

This year, said Henley, the boats are running fast like they’re supposed to. “They’re not breaking up.”