Belatedly, Miss Bud Prevails Poor Weather, Controversy Mark Annual Unlimited Hydroplane Race

Mother Nature took control over the proceedings of the Texaco Cup at Seafair on Sunday.

The weather and controversy both strained emotions up and down the Stan Sayres Pits.

Rain and fog that rolled in over the Lake Washington course forced much of the problem. An inadvertent flare shot off an Unlimited Racing Commission official’s boat after a collision in Heat 2B also contributed.

In the end, the championship final was run more than an hour late. When it was run, Chip Hanauer took the final checkered flag in the Miss Budweiser with an average lap speed of 138.047 for his fourth victory of the season and 57th of his illustrious career. It puts Hanauer five victories behind career leader Bill Muncey, who won 62.

Nate Brown in the Pizza Time/Exide Nautilus Batteries finished second. He also was second in the Tri-Cities a week ago.

“People talked about the dominance of the Bud last week, and how it was over,” Hanauer said. “It’s not. Friday, our boat was not very good. But we went back that night and came in here and got it done.”

The victory pulled the Miss Budweiser to 156 points in the race for the national championship. Smokin’ Joe’s, which got hung up on the churning water created by the PICO American Dream in the final and fell to fifth, still leads that race, 11,091-10,935.

“We retain control of our own destiny,” Smokin’ Joe’s driver Mark Tate said. “On this given day, we didn’t perform in the final as we expected or wished. But now we need to win every heat we run from here on out and we’ll win the national championship.”

The Miss Bud victory also was victory No. 100 for Budweiser owner Bernie Little.

“What can you feel when you accomplish the impossible?” Little said. “And this was the impossible because it’s never been done. These things are important to me in my life.”

The victory did not completely erase the effects of a laborious race day in bad weather, however.

It reportedly was the worst weather since a similar downpour dampened Seafair in 1973. Even then, though, there was no delay in racing. The only time this race has ever been postponed was in 1959, when Bill Stead in the Maverick won on the Monday following Seafair Sunday.

The controversial moment this year was caused by events in Heat 2B, as the boats entered the race’s first turn. That’s when the Miss Elam Plus ran through the rooster tail of the Chaplin’s Bellevue Volkswagen.

Driver Ken Dryden’s boat lurched out of its Lane 3 position, veered in and hit Jerry Hopp driving the Miss Cascade Homes in Lane 2. Dryden was fined $500 and disqualified from the heat for the infraction.

“I didn’t feel any contact,” Dryden said.

“I knew something was going on,” Hopp said. “We took on enough water that the windshield turned green.”

When the boats went dead, an Unlimited Racing Commission official in a boat at the corner of the course fired a flare inadvertently.

The heat continued, though it should have been stopped, and Hanauer ran away from the field. Mark Evans in the KISW Miss Rock said he saw the flare and immediately came off his throttle.

“I thought somebody was over, and got scared,” Evans said. “I don’t give a damn if it was intentional, you get off the throttle.” The heat was rerun, without Dryden. The Bud won again, but Hanauer still was not happy.

“That was a complete disregard for people’s safety, and the officials made a horrible mistake,” Hanauer said about re-running. “I’m very upset. I have to forget it now, but I want to talk to them.”

Series commissioner Bill Doner and Hanauer then had another disagreement at the draw for Heats 3A and 3B. And winning did not erase that feeling in Hanauer.

“We still ran six more miles than everyone else on our equipment,” Hanauer said. “They made a bad mistake. We have to run so hard, and they decide to let us go. Then they decide to do the thing all over again.”

Just for good measure, Mike Hanson then protested the results of the rerun heat. The driver of the DeWalt Tools dropped from second to third behind the Rock.

“This sport is always controversial,” Hanson said. “It’s a tough day for all of us. Bad officiating just make things out even worse.”