1995 Unlimited Lights
in Review PHOENIX - GILA RIVER CASINO UNLIMITED CUP Dave Bender's GNH 38 Pay-N-Play seemed able to consume the opposition with ease as the Unlimited Lights -- support series to the Unlimited Racing Commission's 10-race, 1995 tour -- made their official debut at the Gila River Casino Unlimited Cup on Firebird Lake near here. Bender's Pontiac-powered, Ron Jones-designed hull cruised past 1994 NASBOAT champion Miss Blockbuster Video, driven by Mike Mammano, in Heat 1B, conducted on Saturday of the three-day race weekend. Bender came right back in Heat 2A to pin yet another loss on Mammano and the Grand National Hydro defending champ Pegasus, driven by Mark Weber of Detroit. In Sunday's final, it was more of the same. Pay-N-Play cruised around the 1.5-mile course at an average speed of 101.906 mph to once again best Weber and Mammano, with Randy Haas of Toledo in the Miss LeRoi International coming home in fourth. Paul Droullard of Seattle, in the Miss Bev-Tek and the only Pacific Northwest entry to make the championship heat, was a DNF. Only eight boats made the trek to Phoenix, but series organizer Alan Vordermeier Sr. promises a full field for June 1-2-3-4 and the APBA Gold Cup weekend at Detroit. While they were not strong in numbers, the Lights -- so dubbed by URC Commissioner Bill Doner -- did provide some good side-by-side racing and their big stock-block engines made some dandy noises for the Firebird Lake assemblage, which later watched Miss Budweiser and Chip Hanauer roar to victory in the big boats' portion of the season opener. Chevrolet was the power plant of choice for the eight-boat Light lineup, with fully five of the entries so powered. There were two Pontiac engines, including runner-up Weber in the Pegasus, and the lone Ford of Miss Blockbuster Video. HEAT 1A: 200 Pegasus, Mark Weber, Detroit, average: 87.862 mph HEAT 1B: 200 Pay-N-Play, Dave Bender, El Dorado CA, average: 100.106 mph HEAT 2A: 200/400 Pay-N-Play, Bender, average: 101.659 mph HEAT 2B: 200/285 Miss Bev-Tek, Droullard, average: 83.783 mph LAST CHANCE: 1. Miss Bev-Tek, Droullard CHAMPIONSHIP: 400/800 Pay-N-Play, Bender, average: 101.906 mph Mike Mammano of Webster, N.Y., driving the Bob Thibideau Ford Special, won the championship heat of the Unlimited Lights Racing Series on Gold Cup Sunday. With Lap speeds above 93 miles an hour, Mammano fought a deck-to deck battle with the Spirit of Detroit entry driven by local racer Mike Weber until the latter lost power close to the end of the first lap. Randy Haas of Toledo, Ohio, in the Miss Leroi came on for second place, followed by Cincinnati's Steve Kuhr in the Irishman and Charlie Wiggins of Gadsden, Ala., in High Preassure. John Grigg Jr. of New Haven, Mich., was fifth in Wanna Bee Racing, followed by Patrick Sankuer, Jr.'s Andiamo Bender of EL Dorado, Calif.-- winner of the season opener in Phoenix--unable to finsh and placed eighth. KANSAS CITY - TEXACO STAR MART PRESENTS KC HYDROFEST The winner of the Unlimited Lights event at Kansas City was Mike Weber aboard Terry Dudley's UL-7 Pride of Detroit. The Southfield MI-based craft averaged 98.379 mph to win the final. EVANSVILLE - PONTIAC THUNDER ON THE OHIO 1. Mike Mammano (Webster NY) 102.673 mph MADISON - BUDWEISER INDIANA GOVERNOR'S CUP 1. Charley Wiggins High Pressure 99.585 mph Six race teams from the Unlimited Lights Racing Series competed at this year's Texas Hydrofest. As the day finally began to cool off, things got hot on the race course. In the end it was Unlimited Lights race team of Milton & Charley Wiggins in "High Pressure"taking the win and moving up to 4th place in the overall Unlimited Lights point standing. Plenty of confusion marked the start as the six teams made the first corner after the start of the race with Mike Mammano in the locally sponsored "Village Ford" failing to negotiate the corner, causing him travel from lane 2 to lane 6. There he collided with Randy Haas in the "Miss Leroi". At the same time, Jimmy Deel in the "Deel Me In" also failed to make the corner causing the rest of the field to scatter. By the time the fleet made the back chute, Mammano was in the lead with Mark Weber in Bob Larimore's "Pontiac Pegasus" in pursuit. Deel lead the rest of fleet, followed by Wiggins, Haas and Tony Stalder in the "Jasper Marine Special." Randy Haas continued to race though there was significant hull damage from the collision. After the four laps were complete and the referees sorted out the calls, Mammano and Deel found themselves disqualified with zero points for Final heat. Saturday's qualifications were marked by two disqualifications in Heat 1A with Jimmy Deel driving his own boat, "Deel Me In" making an improper lane change at the beginning of the heat and Tony Stalder's in Chip Reiter's boat "Jasper Marine Special" taking out a buoy on lap 3 of this 1.25 / 4 lap course. When the action cleared at the end of the heat, "Pontiac Pegasus" with Mark Weber at the helm came across the finish line first with an average speed of 78.336 mph. Randy Haas, driving his father's boat, the "Miss Leroi", came from his lane draw position of lane six and moved steadily through the field, finishing 2nd overall. Stalder crossed the finish line 3rd though his disqualification left him out of the points running and Mike Mammano in the locally sponsored "Village Ford" took fourth. The biggest disappointment in the heat was Charley Wiggins in the "High Pressure" boat. Deel's problems early in the heat put him so far outside the course that he never really had a chance to catch the field. After discussions with referees, Deel made the decision to put Mark Weber of St. Clair Shores into his boat "Deel Me In" for Heat 2A. Weber, the designated driver for Bob Larimore's "Pontiac Pegasus" GNH 1 and winner of Heat 1A, had the heat off as Larimore wanted a shot at the helm anyway. With Larimore's blessing, Weber took the wheel of Deel's boat and lead throughout the heat, taking the win. Lead changes occurred throughout the race behind him however and, after several laps of close competition Charley Wiggins came from fourth place to take 2nd overall in the "High Pressure"; Randy Haas in the "Miss Leroi" came in 3rd and Mike Mammano dropped from second to finish fourth overall. Larimore brought home his boat in 5th place and Tony Stalder placed 6th. The breaking story at the beginning of the weekend was the damage of both boats and motors from the previous weekend in Valleyfield, Quebec Canada where several Unlimited Light Teams competed for the North American Grand National Championship. Jimmy Deel in his boat, "Deel Me In" survived the collisions and blown motors to capture this very prestigious and covenanted title. Bob Larimore watched both "Pontiac Pegasus" power plants blow up and Randy Haas was upside down after a collision on the race course, losing his right sponson on the "Miss Leroi" during a qualifying heat. While motors can be replaced, sponsons take a little longer and boat owner Carl Haas wrangled a "new" boat before he left Valleyfield. Race fans may recognize the boat as the former "Pride of Detroit" owned by Teddy Dudley. Haas plans to leave Texas and head straight for the Washington state and the continuation of the Unlimited Lights circuit. He should have his original boat back by San Diego. HEAT 1A GNH-1 Pegasus Pontiac Mark Weber 1/400/400 78.336 mph HEAT 2A GNH-8 Deel Me In Mark Weber 1/400/400 85.354 mph * FINAL HEAT TRI-CITIES - BUDWEISER COLUMBIA CUP HEAT 1A GNH-11 Flyin' Hawaiian Brian Reynolds 1/200 86.213 mph HEAT 2A GNH-11 Flyin' Hawaiian Brian Reynolds 1/200/400 87.893 mph FINAL HEAT - 7/30/95 GNH-11 Flyin' Hawaiian Brian Reyonlds 1/400/800 95.111 mph SEATTLE - TEXACO CUP AT SEAFAIR This morning's test session for the Unlimited Lights caused lots of grins on the docks for several teams. Dave Bender in the GNH-38 "Pay-N-Play" was so happy with the "big chief" they installed last night they are putting back in the "little chief" for qualifying today in hopes of offering some surprises to the rest of the field on Sunday. The GNH-13 "Overtime" of Wilsey Hamilton looked really good in practice today also, apparently with all the carburetor problems of yesterday fixed. Officials on the docks were smiling thanks to the efforts of Carl Haas' team with the GNH-111 "Miss Leroi", Joe Tate's ride this weekend. Using a hastily assembled team, seems that everything necessary to run the engine wasn't all hooked up for Tate's first try at testing. "Been there, done that" stated the Unlimited Lights official on the docks. His second attempt to run was cut short by an empty fuel tank causing more grins on the docks. Teams in the "southern" Unlimited Lights pits are also busy this morning Gregg Hopp's GNH-14 "Miss Graham Trucking" were finishing their final tuning in hopes of making a test run and Ken Smith in the GNH-16 "Wake Walker" will he making a test run this morning hoping the engine gremlins of last night are gone. Ready to go racing this afternoon is Howie LaBrie's GNH-45 "Hey Baby". After a great session yesterday, LaBrie has "nothing to fix" today while waiting for the 2:00 qualifying heat. Heat 1A Position Boat # Boat Name Driver Avg. MPH Heat 1B Position Boat # Boat Name Driver Avg. MPH Note: The GNH-13 was competing for the lead when it suddenly gained an HEAT 2A Pos Boat # Boat Name Driver Avg. MPH HEAT 2B Pos Boat # Boat Name Driver Avg. MPH FINAL HEAT Pos Boat # Boat Name Driver 1. Mark Weber, Springfield OH, Red Dog Beer
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