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CHRYSLER JEEP SUPERSTORES APBA GOLD CUP
Another Gold Cup is in the history books! It was an eventful
weekend and the piston-power win by Mitch Evans in the Fox Hills
Chrysler Jeep / Sun Coating seems fitting for the APBA's 100th
Anniversary.
The Detroit River Regatta Association would like to deeply thank
everyone involved, from the sponsors and vendors all the way to
the volunteers and spectators. A special thanks goes to
Developers Choice for our web hosting, and to MLive for carrying
our Public Address audio on the Internet. Watch our website
later this week for many photos by DRRA photographer Robert
Peters and others.
The detailed DRRA Timing & Scoring report is available on our
News page.
*** MITCH EVANS THRILLS CROWD WITH PISTON POWERED VICTORY
(Detroit, Mich.) - Mitch Evans won today's Chrysler-Jeep
Superstores APBA/Hydro-Prop Gold Cup at Detroit, Michigan, the
fifth race of the Budweiser Unlimited Hydroplane Series
presented by Boat Shopper magazine. Today's victory marks the
second win for the piston powered boat this season after they
took the opening race of the season at Evansville.
Evans' victory today ended a twenty-year drought for a non-
turbine winner of the Gold Cup. The last non-turbine powered
Unlimited to win the Gold Cup was Chip Hanauer in 1983 driving
the Rolls-Royce Merlin-powered Atlas Van Lines.
With today's victory, Evans and Ed Cooper, Jr. and Sr., owners
of the U-3 Miss Fox Hills Chrysler Jeep - Sun Coatings, each
have three Unlimited Hydroplane wins to their credit. It took the
trio14 years to produce their second victory while only four
races to achieve their third.
"This boat can really fly," said Evans. "Coming into this season
I knew we had a chance to run with the top Unlimiteds. But there
is so much parity among the boats that any little mistake can
cost you the victory. These victories are a complete team effort
and I am so proud to be apart of this team. I can't wait for next
years Gold Cup when I can come back and defend my title at the
100th Anniversary of the APBA Gold Cup."
"To become the first non-turbine powered Unlimited to win the
Gold Cup in twenty-years is a remarkable accomplishment,"
continued Evans. "To win the Gold Cup is a career achievement but
to win with a non-turbine is off the charts. Hopefully, we can
take this momentum to San Diego and produce another victory. We
are basically out of the championship but at least we can go to
the season finale and make it interesting for the top
championship contenders."
Evans victory was wire to wire after nailing the start perfectly.
He was challenged briefly in the first lap by Dave Villwock in
the U-1 Miss Budweiser and Michael Hanson in the U-9 Al Deeby
Dodge. But Evans was not going to be denied his victory as he
increased his lead to almost seven boat lengths. After the third
lap it became a battle for second and third. Nate Brown in the
U-16 Miss Elam Plus made a brief surge but lost power and could
not challenge for a podium finish. Villwock ended up finishing
second and Hanson in third. Steve David in the U-6 Oh Boy! Oberto
followed in fourth.
* Thrilling Heat Action at Gold Cup
The eight preliminary heats at this year's Gold Cup produced some
of the most thrilling and competitive races this season. Six
different drivers produced heat victories with Michael Hanson,
Steve David, Dave Villwock and Mark Evans each winning one heat
while Mitch Evans and Nate Brown won two a piece.
* O'Doul's High Point World Championship Standings
With his second place finish today along with four strong
preliminary heat finishes, Dave Villwock still leads the O'Doul's
High Points World Championship. Villwock currently leads the
championship with 674 points over Mark Evans with 517 points. The
current top five include:
O'Doul's High Points
* Chrysler-Jeep Superstores APBA-Hydro-Prop Gold Cup Results:
Did Not Make Final:
The Chrysler-Jeep Superstores APBA/Hydro-Prop Gold Cup will be
televised on SPEED Channel on Sunday, September 14 at 2:00 PM (EDT).
* Unlimited Hydro Championship Will be Decided in Season Finale
The season-long battle for the Unlimited Hydroplane World
Championship will go to the final stop on the Budweiser Unlimited
Hydroplane Series presented by Boat Shopperr magazine. San
Diego's beautiful Mission Bay, will be the determining factor for
the championship with the running of the Washington Mutual
Thunderboat Regatta. Practice and qualifying will begin Friday,
September 19 with the finals scheduled for Sunday, September 21.
*** THOUGHTS ABOUT THE 2003 GOLD CUP - FROM STEVE MONTGOMERY
It was truly something special. It wasn't the biggest crowd in
Gold Cup history, with the reschedule and all. But when Mitch
came out of the first turn beside the U-9 and then passed Mike
Hanson, the crowd stood and didn't sit down until the checkered
flag. You could hear them above the boats....even the U-3.
We had a great moment on the dock, right after Scott Pierce
interviewed Mitch. Someone handed Mitch a cell phone connected
to Mark. All he could say is, "that's for you little brother."
Then he broke up. What a rollercoaster day for Ma Evans in
Chelan.
We just came from the hospital after spending some time with
Mark and Elaine. He is definitely hurting, but he's a tough
guy. He is very conscious and giving visitors a rather subdued
version of the normal Evans personality. I told him now he knew
how I felt after he took me snowmobiling.
They are going to do surgery on his right leg tomorrow morning
to repair a spiral fracture....and will know more about a bad
disc in his back after that. It sounds like the contortions his
body went through in the cockpit were absolutely incredible.
If you had been here, you probably would not have seen the flip.
Like most of us, you would have seen the leader (Mike Hanson)
spin at the exit pin of the Roostertail Turn. Mark and Steve
David were just coming by the yacht club, and as Steve's
roostertail settled, we saw Mark coasting into the space between
the big yachts. We speculated that he might have lost some
hardware or something, as it appeared he had just slowed down
and turned right.
Then I heard his radio man in the corral above us (not sure if
it was Pyro) saying he had seen the boat go over. It did a 360
and landed on the right rear corner. Then bounced to the left
front corner, swapped ends and settled. That was about when
most of us saw that something was wrong. The highest part of
Steve's roostertail had been between us and the flip.
It was a bad one, and I am very thankful that Mark came through
it as well as he did. The boat has some problems as well, and is
questionable for San Diego. The crew will have to get it to
Seattle and get a better look inside before they decide whether
to try a fix.
The damage to the U-10 is devastating. Picture a jagged hole
about 2 feet wide from the firewall to the transom on the bottom
of the boat. The gear box case is in several pieces. I think
they have already decided to run the old boat in San Diego.
The entire front wing was blown off the Bud in 4-B. The attach
point on the left end was damaged, and the crew did their usual
great job to get Dave back in the water. That crew had a much
tougher weekend than their norm.
It was a Gold Cup we'll all remember. Thrills, spills, rough
water, some great racing and a very popular victory for Ed
Cooper and Mitch Evans. There wasn't a dry eye in the house on
the winner's dock.
Steve
*** THE APBA GOLD CUP: "The Ultimate Prize"
By Fred Farley - APBA/HYDRO-PROP Unlimited Historian
The APBA Gold Cup is to power boat racing what the Super Bowl is
to football, what the Kentucky Derby is to horse racing, what the
World Series is to baseball, and what the Indianapolis 500 is to
automobile racing.
Officially known as the "American Power Boat Association
Challenge Cup," it is the ultimate prize that every competitor
strives to win at least once.
The Gold Cup's long and fascinating history is one of the great
sports stories.
A truly definitive history of the "Golden Goblet" has yet to be
written and could fill many volumes. There have been many, many
highlights, too numerous to be retold here.
The very first Gold Cup race took place in June 1904 on the
Hudson River in New York. In those days, the boats plowed through
the water rather than skim over the surface of it. The winning
boat, the STANDARD, owned and driven by Carl Riotte, averaged
just over 23 miles per hour. Measuring 59 feet in length with an
8-1/2-foot beam, the craft used a 110-horsepower Standard motor
that resembled a miniature steam engine with its steel columns
and open frame.
For the first--and only--time in Gold Cup history, two races were
run in the same calendar year. VINGT-ET-UN II, a displacement
boat, driven by Willis Kilmer, won the second Gold Cup in
September 1904 using a Simplex engine for power. Kilmer's best
heat was just over 25 miles per hour.
Starting in 1905, a handicap system was utilized which took into
account each boat's power and size. The use of this system
enabled CHIP, owned and driven by Jonathon Wainwright, to win on
corrected time at about 15 miles per hour--even though CHIP was
the next-to-slowest boat in the fleet!
Protests from losing entrants resulted in the scrapping of the
controversial handicapping system after 1907. Beginning in 1908,
the Gold Cup was a "wide open" race. E.J. Schroeder's DIXIE II
captured the cup that year and posted a fastest heat speed of
over 30 miles per hour.
The first hydroplane hull to win the Gold Cup was MIT II in 1911
with J.H. Hayden at the wheel. The hydroplanes with their
underside "steps" and their ability to plane over the surface of
the water spelled the end of the displacement era.
The first Gold Cup race to be run on the Detroit River was in
1916. This was by virtue of the community-owned MISS DETROIT
winning the Cup in 1915 on Manhasset Bay in Upstate New York and
earning the right to defend it on home waters.
MISS DETROIT was a single-step hydroplane, equipped with a 250
horsepower Sterling engine. The designer was the distinguished
Christopher Columbus Smith of Chriscraft fame. As things
developed, MISS DETROIT's debut was almost an unmitigated disaster.
Scheduled to pilot the Motor City entry in the big race was a
prominent Detroit yachtsman who shall remain forever nameless.
As the countdown for the first heat got under way, MISS DETROIT's
driver could not be found. A crewmember named Johnny Milot
offered to step in as relief pilot.
Milot did not have time to put on any protective gear. He just
jumped into the cockpit along side riding mechanic Jack Beebe
and headed for the race course.
Being unfamiliar with the course layout, Milot followed the
other boats around the buoys for the first few laps. The water
was awfully rough and Johnny endured a terrific pounding. By the
end of the heat, Beebe was driving after Milot had succumbed to
seasickness. But by some miracle, they had managed to finish in
first-place.
And at day's end, the heroes of the day were Johnny Milot and
Jack Beebe. MISS DETROIT had won the Gold Cup and a racing
dynasty had begun.
In the years that followed, Detroit displaced New York as the
Boat Racing Capital of North America.
Beginning with the 1917 Gold Cup in Minneapolis, Gar Wood--the
sport's first superstar--rose to prominence. Named after two
U.S. Presidents, Garfield Arthur Wood seemingly became the
personification of power boat competition in the eyes of the
world. He won the 1917 race at the wheel of MISS DETROIT II.
This was Wood's first of five consecutive victories as a driver
in "the race of races."
In 1920, at the wheel of his twin Smith-Liberty-powered MISS
AMERICA, Wood averaged a phenomenal 70.412 miles per hour in the
30-mile Final Heat on a 5-mile course. The record would stand
until 1946.
In the 1921 Gold Cup, Gar was simply unbeatable and made a
shambles of the opposition
For the next two decades, Gold Cup racing was restricted--
supposedly for safety but obviously to stop Gar Wood's
domination, and also to put the sport into the range of more
pocketbooks than had previously been the case. Hydroplane hulls
were outlawed and the engine size was limited to 625 cubic
inches. Hydroplanes were re-admitted in 1929 and the cubic inch
displacement was eventually raised to 732.
A field of thirteen "gentlemen's runabouts" appeared in the 1922
Gold Cup at Detroit. The winner was Jesse Vincent in PACKARD
CHRISCRAFT with a 90-mile race average of 40.253. The race also
marked the debut of the Packard Gold Cup engine, which would hold
sway for the next fifteen years.
One of the more bizarre chapters in Detroit Gold Cup history
occurred at the 1924 contest. Canadian sportsman Harry Greening
had apparently won with his RAINBOW IV, which was seen by some as
being a hydroplane rather than a displacement hull. The craft's
bottom was of lapstrake construction, which was technically
permitted by the rules.
The APBA decided, however, that the strakes had been installed
for the express purpose of achieving a hydroplane effect. In
other words, Greening had followed the letter of the rules but
not the spirit of them. As a result, RAINBOW IV was disqualified
and Caleb Bragg's BABY BOOTLEGGER was moved from an overall
second to first position.
Outraged, Greening returned to Canada and never raced for the
Gold Cup again.
The most prominent Gold Cup boat of the 1930s was EL LAGARTO,
owned and driven by George Reis of Lake George, New York, which
became the cup's first three-time consecutive winning hull in
1933-34-35. Nicknamed "The Leaping Lizard," EL LAGARTO, in 1933,
turned the fastest heat (60.866) since the cubic inch piston
displacement limitation of 1922.
The first Gold Cup victory by a three-point hydroplane occurred
in 1939. Unlike the step hydroplanes, the three-pointers rode on
the tips of two pontoon-like running surfaces called sponsons
and a completely submerged propeller. (Not until the late 1940s
would the boats start to "propride.") The concept would forever
alter the course of competitive power boating.
MY SIN, a product of the famed Ventnor Boat Works of Ventnor,
New Jersey, won all three heats of the 1939 race at Detroit with
owner Guy Simmons driving. The other three-pointers in attendance
were Bill Cantrell's WHY WORRY, Lou Fageol's SO-LONG, Marion
Cooper's MERCURY, and George Davis's HERMES IV.
The Ventnor company had popularized the three-point design when
they introduced MISS MANTEO II, a successful 225 Cubic Inch Class
hydroplane with vestigial sponsons, in 1936.
MY SIN repeated as Gold Cup winner in 1941 and again in 1946 as
Guy Lombardo's TEMPO VI.
After time out for World War II, Gold Cup racing resumed with a
rejuvenated format in evidence. The 732 cubic inch piston
displacement limitation was abandoned. And the introduction of
converted Allison and Rolls-Royce Merlin aircraft engines,
developed for the war effort, produced new enthusiasm for
America's premier power boat racing event.
Although the 1946 race went to the Miller-powered TEMPO VI, Dan
Arena's MISS GOLDEN GATE III, which used an Allison V-12, raised
the Gold Cup lap record to over 77 miles per hour on a 3-mile
course.
A two-step Allison-powered craft, the John Hacker-designed MY
SWEETIE, raised the 30-mile Gold Cup heat record to 78.645 in
1949 with "Wild Bill" Cantrell driving. And this was just a few
years after a speed in excess of 70 miles per hour was considered
almost "impossible."
During the first half of the 20th Century, no boat representing a
yacht club from west of the Mississippi River was ever victorious.
All of that changed in 1950 when SLO-MO-SHUN IV from Seattle
finally turned the trick at Detroit. SLO-MO owner Stan Sayres,
driver/designer Ted Jones, and builder Anchor Jensen thoroughly
debunked the well-publicized impression that three-point
suspension hulls become hopelessly uncontrollable at racing
speeds--especially in the corners.
SLO-MO IV wasn't the first hydroplane to "prop-ride" on a semi-
submerged propeller. (Jack Schafer's SUCH CRUST II and Morlan
Visel's HURRICANE IV had both experimented along those lines.)
But SLO-MO-SHUN IV was the first craft to reap championship
results in the application of the concept. The days when a
hydroplane could win with a fully submerged propeller were
numbered.
For the next two decades, the boats had to pretty much use a
SLO-MO-type design, or they simply weren't competitive.
Overnight, competition speeds of over 100 miles per hour and
straightaway speeds of over 150 were commonplace.
When Sayres was presented with the Gold Cup, following his 1950
Motor City triumph, the cynics wagged that the Cup was "only
being loaned" to him. The "loan" proved to be of long duration
as Sayres went on to become the first five-time consecutive
winning owner of power boating's Holy Grail. And he introduced
Gold Cup racing to the Pacific Northwest. Not until 1956 would
another Gold Cup contest be staged on the Detroit River.
For pure boat racing, it's hard to top the classic 1954 Gold Cup
at Seattle. Indeed, boats ran head-to-head with each other all
day long on that memorable August 7.
SLO-MO-SHUN V, driven by Lou Fageol, finished first in all three
30-mile heats. But Lou had to win them the hard way--especially
in Heat Two, when SLO-MO-SHUN V, SLO-MO-SHUN IV, and MISS U.S.
shared the same roostertail for seven of the eight laps.
SLO-MO-SHUN V was also the first boat to achieve competitive
results with a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. (All of the Gold Cup
winners from 1947 to 1953 used Allison power.) The Rolls was
more powerful than the Allison but was more temperamental.
Lee Schoenith and GALE V from Detroit finally broke up the
Seattle Yacht Club's five-year monopoly of the Gold Cup in 1955.
GALE V won a disputed decision over Bill Muncey and MISS
THRIFTWAY, which involved Bonus Points and 4.536 seconds in
total elapsed time.
Defending champion Fageol turned a complete backward somersault
at 165 miles per hour with SLO-MO-SHUN V, while attempting to
qualify for the 1955 race.
For sheer acrimony, nothing tops the protest-ridden 1956 Gold Cup
at Detroit, which took 85 days to settle. MISS THRIFTWAY and
Muncey were eventually declared the winners (after the cup had
initially been presented to the Detroit-based MISS PEPSI and
Chuck Thompson) and the race went back to Seattle for 1957.
Following and as a result of the 1956 Gold Cup, the Unlimited
Racing Commission (now HYDRO-PROP, Inc.) was formed to administer
Unlimited hydroplane activity, instead of the Inboard Racing
Commission. All but nominal ties with the parent American Power
Boat Association were severed.
Edgar Kaiser's HAWAII KAI III, designed by Ted Jones, was
arguably the greatest race boat of the 1950s. With Jack Regas
driving, the KAI won five races in a row and the National High
Point Championship and raised the mile straightaway record from
178 to 187 miles per hour in 1957.
Following a brief retirement, Regas and HAWAII KAI III came back
to save the Gold Cup for Seattle in 1958. (This was after the
Bill Muncey-chauffeured MISS THRIFTWAY lost her rudder and
crashed into a U.S. Coast Guard utility boat at the start of
Heat 2-A.)
The KAI had her work cut out for her that year. The MAVERICK and
driver Bill Stead, who represented the Lake Mead Yacht Club of
Las Vegas, Nevada, had won their two most recent races in 1958
and qualified fastest with a Gold Cup record of 119.956 for three
laps around the lake Washington 3-mile course.
But on race day, August 10, HAWAII KAI III rose to the challenge
and beat MAVERICK hands down. This guaranteed a Gold Cup race for
Seattle in 1959 as well.
For the first--and only--time in its history, the APBA Gold Cup
was declared "No Contest" in 1960. The Lake Mead Yacht Club had
won the right to host the race, following MAVERICK's victory in
the 1959 renewal. But high winds churned the lake into an
unraceable froth after the completion of only one preliminary
heat.
It took three days, but the 1961 Gold Cup--after numerous delays--was finally completed. Bill Muncey and MISS CENTURY 21 emerged
victorious in the only Gold Cup race ever run on Pyramid Lake,
near Reno, Nevada, and did so without winning a heat MISS CENTURY
21 posted three second-place finishes for a total of 900 points;
Don Wilson and MISS U.S. I had two first-places and a "Did Not
Finish" for a total of 800 points.
Starting in 1963, the Gold Cup race location was determined by
the city with the highest financial bid, rather than by the yacht
club of the winning boat. The race format was also changed from
three heats of 30 miles to four heats of 15 miles. (NOTE: The
current Gold Cup format calls for two heats of 7-1/2 miles and
three heats of 12-1/2 miles.)
The high bid in 1963 was by Detroit. In the years since, more
Gold Cups have been run on the Detroit River than any other
location. Since 1990, all Gold Cup races have been contested in
the Motor City.
Ron Musson and MISS BARDAHL established a Gold Cup dynasty in
1963 for owner Ole Bardahl. This was after a battle with second-
place Bill Cantrell in GALE V. Musson went on to repeat as Gold
Cup winner in 1964 and 1965.
When Musson was fatally injured in the 1966 President's Cup at
Washington, D.C., new MISS BARDAHL driver Billy Schumacher picked
up where Ron had left off with victories of his own in 1967 and
1968.
After seven years of trying, MISS BUDWEISER owner Bernie Little
garnered his first Gold Cup in 1969 on San Diego's Mission Bay.
(Thirteen more victories would come Little's way over the next
three decades, en route to becoming the winningest Gold Cup owner
in history.) MISS BUDWEISER pilot Bill Sterett had to battle
rival Dean Chenoweth and MYR'S SPECIAL in 1969 not only for the
Gold Cup but also for the National High Point Championship.
In 1971, the community-owned MISS MADISON and driver Jim
McCormick made their claim for immortality with a richly
sentimental triumph before 110,000 partisan fans on the Ohio
River in Madison, Indiana, on that memorable Fourth of July.
The 1971 Gold Cup almost wasn't run in Madison at all. Because
of a technicality and a misunderstanding, Madison's smaller-than-
usual bid for the race was the only one submitted in time.
Never before had the Gold Cup been run in so small a town
(population 13,000).
Down to their last Allison engine, having blown the other in
trials, the aging under-financed MISS MADISON ran conservatively
in the preliminary heats and then "let it all hang out" in the
15-mile finale. MISS M beat such top-flight Merlin-powered teams
as Terry Sterett in ATLAS VAN LINES II, Chenoweth in MISS
BUDWEISER, and Schumacher in PRIDE OF PAY `n PAK.
McCormick moved to the inside lane before the start, took the
lead coming out of the first turn, and streaked to victory. This
was a triumph for the amateur, for the common man--a win that
everyone could claim as his own.
Delays, controversy, and rough water marred the running of the
1974 Seattle Gold Cup, which was contested at Sand Point instead
of the usual location, south of the Old Floating Bridge.
The on-shore difficulties not withstanding, the race still had
much to offer the fans in terms of excitement. George Henley in
the "Winged Wonder" PAY `n PAK and Howie Benns in the MISS
BUDWEISER battled all day long in some of the finest competition
ever witnessed in the long history of power boat racing. The
outcome was in doubt, right down to the final checkered flag.
PAY `n PAK ultimately prevailed and won the cup--but only after a
titanic struggle.
The 1976 Gold Cup at Detroit was reminiscent of 1971 when a
hometown favorite claimed its own particular piece of the pie.
Tom D'Eath held off a gutsy challenge from the Muncey-chauffeured
ATLAS VAN LINES (former PAY `n PAK) on extremely rough water in
the winner-take-all Final Heat.
Designed by Ron Jones, Sr., MISS U.S. was the first Gold Cup
winner with a cabover--or forward-cockpit--hull configuration.
(A cabover can generally corner better and faster than its rear-
ockpit/forward-engine-situated predecessor.) Since 1976, every
Gold Cup winner has steered from the front.
Following the death of eight-time Gold Cup winner Bill Muncey in
the World Championship Race at Acapulco, Mexico, in 1981, Lee
"Chip" Hanauer took over as driver for the ATLAS VAN LINES team,
now owned by Fran Muncey (Bill's widow).
Hanauer and crew chief Jim Harvey pulled off a heart-stopper of a
victory at Detroit in 1982. The new Rolls-Royce Merlin-powered
ATLAS almost blew over during a Final Heat battle with defending
champion Dean Chenoweth and the Rolls-Royce Griffon-powered MISS
BUDWEISER, which boasted much more horsepower than the ATLAS VAN
LINES.
After trailing for the first few laps, Chip executed a daring
maneuver and ducked inside of Dean. This forced the BUDWEISER to
run a wider--and longer--track.
When the roostertails subsided, Hanauer and ATLAS had added a
new chapter to American sports legend. This was the first of
eleven Gold Cups won by Chip between 1982 and 1999.
Bill would have been proud.
Over the years, quite a few boats have won three APBA Gold Cups.
Several of these have even won three Gold Cups in succession. But
not until 1987 did any boat ever win four Gold Cups. This amazing
craft won in 1984 as ATLAS VAN LINES and in 1985-86-87 as MILLER
AMERICAN. The ATLAS/MILLER was also the first Gold Cup winner to
utilize turbine power.
Heading into the 1988 race at Evansville, Indiana, Chip Hanauer
had an incredible win streak of six consecutive Gold Cups. But
for a few brief moments, that victory string appeared to be at an
end. Hanauer's MILLER HIGH LIFE entry suffered hull damage in a
collision with another boat and had to be withdrawn.
But then Chip was offered the seat in the other Fran Muncey
hydroplane, the MISS CIRCUS CIRCUS, which had been driven in the
first two heats by John Prevost. Hanauer stepped in and won the
last two heats, including the winner-take-all finale, to claim
Gold Cup victory number seven since 1982.
Hometown Detroit driver Mark Tate made a vivid impression with a
pair of Gold Cup triumphs in 1991 and 1994 for owner Steve
Woomer. In 1991, driving WINSTON EAGLE, Tate outran George Woods
in EXECUTONE and Mike Hanson in VALVOLINE MISS MADISON. And in
1994 with the same boat (renamed SMOKIN' JOE'S), Tate reeled of
victories in all five Gold Cup heats.
Only two drivers in the modern era have managed to score back-to-
back Gold Cup victories with two different teams. The first was
Danny Foster, who won in 1947 with the Dossin brothers' MISS
PEPS V and in 1948 with Albin Fallon's MISS GREAT LAKES. The
other was Dave Villwock, who tied down his first Gold Cup with
PICO AMERICAN DREAM, owned by Fred Leland, in 1996 and his second
with Bernie Little's MISS BUDWEISER in 1997.
Villwock has since claimed three additional Gold Cups for owner
Little in 1998, 2000, and 2002. Dave's racing career almost ended
following a serious accident in the 1997 Columbia Cup at the Tri-
Cities, Washington. MISS BUDWEISER "blew over" in the Final Heat
and Villwock suffered the loss of two fingers on his right hand.
But when the starting gun fired for the 1998 season-opener at
Evansville, there was Dave Villwock, back in the MISS BUDWEISER
cockpit, maintaining his familiar first-place.
One of the most popular Gold Cup wins in recent years was Mike
Hanson's 2001 triumph with TUBBY'S GRILLED SUBMARINES, owned by
Mike and Lori Jones.
The Jones boat had suffered major structural damage the week
before at Madison, Indiana. So extensive was the damage that the
team's appearance at the Gold Cup in Detroit seemed unlikely.
But instead of heading for home and missing the most important
race of the year, driver Hanson--who is a boat builder by
profession--sparked a round-the-clock repair effort. For several
days, Mike and his crew hardly slept at all. But when the
starting gun fired at Detroit, the boat was ready to race. And
what a race it was!
Hanson and TUBBY'S GRILLED SUBMARINES exited the first turn of
the Final Heat and pulled away to a decisive lead. The boat,
which few had expected to even be there, was on its way to the
bank. Greg Hopp and ZNETIX ran a distant second.
The 2001 Gold Cup marked the first-ever victory in the Unlimited
Class by the Jones Racing Team. Owner Mike Jones, who was the
President of the American Power Boat Association at the time,
became the first sitting APBA President to win the APBA's Crown
Jewel since Jonathon Wainwright in 1905.
The 2002 race at Detroit marked the fourteenth win by MISS
BUDWEISER owner Bernie Little in the Gold Cup series and his
fourth with driver Villwock. Little's previous pilots include
Bill Sterett (1969). Dean Chenoweth (1970-73-80-81), Tom D'Eath
(1989-90), and Chip Hanauer (1992-93-95).
- Brian Reed
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All contents Copyright © 2003 Detroit River Regatta Association, except where noted.
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