Lynch Line July
2010
ULHRA just concluded a most successful Graham
Trucking Cup for Unlimited Lights at Seafair in Seattle, presented
by Power Punch Performance Lubricants. To ask that event to go
any better would be asking too much. Suffice to say, "What
a weekend!"
Actually let's take it back before
Seafair weekend, to the weekend prior for the annual Torchlight
Parade in Seattle. Most years UL teams can't participate because
they are racing that weekend. However, this year there was a weekend
in between the Tri Cities and Seattle WA races.
One of the most pleasant sites in the parade was the UL-9
team representing the US ARMY. A pair of soldiers marched in the
parade with the team. Well, to be exact they "double-timed" the
entire parade route to keep up with the boat and hauler. All along
the route, these soldiers and the Army team were receiving huge
ovations and "high fives" from the more than 200,000 parade viewers.
Even more special was the moment when a pair of youngsters came out
of the crowd. The soldiers tried to give them a high five but the
kids would have none of it. They wanted to give the soldiers a hug
and the soldiers obliged.
UL-9 Team members,
including Driver/Team Manager "Smokin Joe" Souza were moved seeing
that kind of positive crowd response. For Souza this was extra
special because he doesn't promote the ARMY as a career choice
because he’s paid to do so. For Souza he chose this manner of
promoting the service because he doesn't just talk the talk, he
walked the walk, serving 12 years in the Army and finishing his tour
of service with the rank of Sergeant First Class.
Souza
is not alone in ULHRA in this regard. Retired Naval Aviator Paul
Becker emblazoned his
UL-14 Sammamish Mortgage-WWU College of
Science and Technology with a large GO NAVY. As Souza
said, they were moving the annual Army-Navy game to Lake Washington
in Seattle. Well, in the first edition, NAVY beat ARMY but both
services were the winners.
Then there was the
racing. As the actors used to say in the old commercial, "It doesn't
get any better than this". Paul Becker won in a brilliant Final Heat
on Lake Washington edging Kayleigh Perkins in the UL-72 Foster
Care - Triad Racing Technologies by less than a boat
length. For long-time fans, it took them back to 1973 in Seattle in
the Unlimited race where Mickey Remund dueled with Dean Chenoweth.
Remund had the lead on the inside going into the final turn, same as
Becker. Chenoweth made a run on the outside, later telling his owner
Bernie Little he thought he might flip but had to try, and Chenoweth
pulled even in the turn only to lose by less than a boat length. Ms
Perkins also made an aggressive run in the final turn, pulling even
with Becker as they reached the exit pin together. Becker won
the drag race to the finish line.
Before the
Final, there was great UL racing in the preliminary heats on
Saturday. Heat 2B was the best of the best as Vince Xaudaro showed
the "All Black All the Time" Hyundai Assurance is just about
all the way back. The hull was severely damaged three years ago
and now is about 75% new. The hull is a bit wider than before and
about a fo
ot longer; now just under 25 feet in length. Xaudaro has
long been one of ULHRA's best starters. He won the start and was
well on his way to victory. Trouble was Kayleigh Perkins didn't read
the Cinderella script, driving a magnificent heat and catching
Xaudaro with a half lap to go. Just as in the Final, it was a
drag race to the finish. This time Perkins came out ahead.
Throughout the preliminary heats and the Final,
two of the smallest hulls in UL racing made a big impression. Rod
Bourke in the UL-5 Vestus Foreclosure Group and Wil
Muncey in the UL-00 John Howie Steak both drove impressively.
Muncey finished second and Bourke third at Tri Cities and that's how
they started the final, right behind Becker. Bourke went on to a
solid third place finish while Muncey encountered difficulties with
his canard wing and had to settle for sixth place. Still they showed
that even small UL's could have success on the rough n tumble Lake
Washington Ted Jones race course.
Great
UL Final heats at Seattle, as evidenced by the Becker-Perkins
1-2 finish have become the norm. There was the 2002 race where four
teams took the white flag virtually dead even. The race became the
first ever UL victory for Jerry Hopp who would win six
more in his Unlimited Lights career, with Phil Bononcini second, who
won 12 races in his career, and third place to Dave Bender who won
four times in his career and just missed number five a year later.
The 4th driver was J.W. Myers who, while never having won a UL race
went on to drive with distinction in the Unlimited ranks, including
an amazing "save" at Detroit this year where he avoided crashing
into the pit area or injuring fans with deft driving after the skid
fin on his race craft broke.
2003 was the year when Dave
Bender, having already announced that the 2003 Seattle race would be
his last, drove a very inspired Final heat. Bender led all the way,
until his engine dropped a cylinder on the last lap and Cal Phipps
beat him to the line in another drag race to the checkered flag.
Then there was 2004 when the "old salts", Jerry
Hopp and George Woods Jr. battled deck to deck for 5 miles before
Hopp came away with the victory. In 2005, it was Greg Hopp racing
Kevin Aylesworth and they battled the entire distance before Hopp
won by less than a roostertail.
In 2007,
Becker looked to have the race won except for one thing. He'd jumped
the gun and received a one-minute penalty. Then going into turn 1 on
the final lap Becker's boat expired. Behind him, Greg Hopp was
leading a teenaged rookie. Hopp was outside and a half roostertail
in front. He went around Becker while the teenager cut inside
Becker's boat and moved alongside. Down the backstretch they raced
and into the final turn. At the line, it was Hopp, by a half
roostertail length for the win. The teenage rookie? The world has
come to know her as Kayleigh Perkins, just 19 years of age at the
time.
In 2008, Becker not only didn't jump the
gun, he hit the start on the money and raced to the victory by over
a roostertail length. Perkins held second until the exit pin of the
final turn when Hopp got by her for second place. A second close
call for Ms. Perkins but in 2009 she and her team delivered in what
would become her fifth consecutive race win; a ULHRA record as she
held off a pair of supercharged boats driven by Ryan Mallow and
Greg Hopp. Now, Kayleigh Perkins sits alone in fourth place in wins
among all Unlimited Lights drivers. She has ten trophies, trailing
only Greg Hopp with 20, and Phil Bononcini and Bo Schide each with
twelve. Perkins has amassed that total in less than four seasons of
racing.
The past few weeks have been good
times for the "small block/small boat brigade". I noted what Rod
Bourke and Wil Muncey had accomplished. Bob Smets picked up two heat
victories at Phoenix and another at Tri Cities
and another at
Seattle and was leading the points for a time until he couldn't
start the Seattle Final. Smets runs a big block V-8 but in the
shortest hull, that runs a big block. In Unlimited Lights racing,
hulls can range from 20 feet in length to 26 feet in length and
there are seven engine packages that teams can select including the
NASCAR Toyota engine that's being "auditioned" by the UL-72 this
year. The NASCAR engine won at Tri Cities when Muncey
finished second and Bourke third for the first ever UL 1-2-3 finish
by small block V-8 engines in ULHRA history.
Looking ahead more great competition can be expected, with a
terrific battle for the national championship as only 480
points separate first place Paul Becker from fourth place Wil
Muncey, with Kayleigh Perkins in second trailing Becker by 175
points and Smets just 99 points ahead of Muncey. For those not
familiar with ULHRA scoring the traditional hydroplane scoring
method is employed. Every heat except the B-Main awards 400 points
for a win, 300 for second, 225 for third, then 169, 127, 95, 72, and
53 points for an eighth-place heat finish.
Next on the schedule is Polson, Montana on picturesque Flathead
Lake, August 21 & 22nd. Catch all the action, right here.
John Lynch
"Voice" of ULHRA Racing
