Spokane Hydro In Uncharted Water After 18 Seasons On Outboard And Limited Circuits, Driver Tom Hindley Finally Gets His Chance To Pilot An Unlimited Boat

The money behind it is as modest as the goals that lie just ahead. Still, the debut of the latest Spokane-based unlimited hydroplane looms as the ride of Tom Hindley’s life.

When Hindley climbs into the Team Spokane boat for the July 30 Columbia Cup, the art of driving he mastered through 18 seasons on the outboard and limited circuits dissolves into uncharted water.

It’s not Hindley’s first trip in an unlimited - he ran the season opener in another boat in Phoenix - but the Tri-Cities race is his introduction to hydroplaning on a traditional 2-1/2-mile course.

Although he’s been on the Columbia River as a qualifying driver, jockeying an unlimited over an unpredictable lane at 150 miles per hour, with competition lined up six abreast, is a change of pace.

Hindley, 38, has waited on it most of his life.

As a boy he flew to Seattle to join the waves of fans on the log boom on Lake Washington, where he could see, hear and feel his favorite 1960s duo - the Miss Bardahl and Bill Schumacher - in all their front-running thunder.

This is where a roostertail - a mere annoyance in a limited race - becomes a potentially devastating wall of water, in some instances a weapon that can be turned on a novice.

Hindley’s unlimited experience is brief but he has plenty of resource material to draw from. His crew chief is John Walters, who piloted the innovative Pay ‘n Pak from 1980-82 when it became the first of the successful turbine-powered boats.

Walters, who retired after a 1982 crash in Seattle, drove through the highs and lows.

“These boats are fast and nimble and can turn quickly, but in comparison to a smaller limited they react very slowly,” Walters said. “It’s easy to lull yourself into believing that everything is OK and then boom! - it’s in your face and it bites you.

“Tom has had the opportunity to drive a lot of different classes of boats,” he added. “He’s also had some unlimited experience so he’s not going in completely in the dark. He knows that this is going to be different.”

While boat racing has kept technological pace with the times - there’s nothing of today’s Miss Budweiser, for example, to remind us of the three-point plywood, piston-driven original Bud - the sport has wallowed in the promotional wake of other speed events.

How to better market the vast visual potential of a competitive hydroplane event is a priority. Of course Hindley has more immediate concerns, starting next week when he puts the boat in the water for the first time.

“It’s my time to get to play,” Hindley said during a break from work on the boat that is stored in a Spokane Valley welding and machine shop.

Hindley still has to bide his time. The prohibitive expense of testing on water is keeping him out of the cockpit. Liability insurance and the cost of renting rescue personnel would run the cost of a practice run to $10,000, Hindley said.

And even if the team had the resources, the boat’s power plants - Lycoming T-55 L7 turbines - were still, as of Saturday, in various stages of disassembly in Seattle, where Walters was going through them.

The plan is to test the engines on the trailer here in the days prior to the opening of testing on the Columbia July 28.

Hindley doesn’t seem worried over the wait for time on the water.

“This boat has run in the high 140s and low 150s,” he said. “Qualifying minimum is 130 miles an hour. Qualifying shouldn’t be a problem. We hope to be in the middle of the field (after qualifying). Our goal is to be one of the six in the final heat.”

Hindley started the season in the U-99.9 Miss Rock in Phoenix, but left when the opportunity came up to run as many as four races in owner Bob Fendler’s 4-year-old boat, technically named the Appian Renegade, presented by Team Spokane.

The plan is to run the Tri-Cities, evaluate the effort, move on to Seattle for the Aug. 6 Seafair race and evaluate again. The boat will hit the last two stops of the season in San Diego on Sept. 17 and Honolulu on Oct. 15, if the first two races are encouraging, Walters said.

Hindley and the Spokane crew - Jim Herman, Bill Macklin, John Cornett, George Litton, Al Vawter and Scott Phipps - are deep into preparation.

“That group has worked 1,200 hours in four weeks to do the renovation of the boat,” Hindley said. “I’ve kept a log so I’d know who was doing what. I was stunned.”

At least the boat no longer suffers from attention deficit.

“Bob Fendler hasn’t had a permanent team,” Hindley said. “Usually it was just show up a week or two before a race and do what’s necessary to get into the water. The maintenance and care of the thing had been neglected.

“It’s nothing serious. We’ve replaced two 4-by-5-foot panels on the bottom of the boat and repaired damage from an engine fire from last October. We replaced some of the engine compartment walls that were delaminated from the fire. Other than that it’s just been routine maintenance - taking every system out and going through it.”

Would you catch Chip Hanauer pulling routine maintenance on the Bud?

“Chip takes care of public appearances and drives the boat,” Hindley said of Hanauer, the Washington State graduate who is hydroplaning’s top gun in the Budweiser.

“Our work is winding down,” Hindley added. “Almost everything is done.”

Walters outlined a conservative race plan.

“This is a new team with new people, in some cases first-time people,” he said. “We’re looking to run within our means. We have the potential to do pretty well. We also have the potential to try to do too much too soon.”

Trips to San Diego and Honolulu for the last two stops on the tour are attractive options.

“Those are both on salt water,” Walters said. “We have enough background that we can steer clear of the problems that salt water creates. We can put ourselves in a position to finish the heats and see where we end up, but if we’re having major problems in Tri-Cities and Seattle it may not be worth the effort to risk the equipment and not prove anything.”

Walters says he’s happy to be outside the boat looking in.

“There’s a part of driving I really miss,” he said. “I liked sizing up the competition. When we had starts with a 5-minute gun and the pie-faced clock there was lots of jockeying for position.

“I miss the competitive side of it. Going fast on water is always fun.” , DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Color Photos