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Lynch Line July 2011 Why do we do this? Why do team owners and drivers and crews spend their own money and vacation days to go racing, and why do the volunteers spend their own money and vacation days to conduct races? For the fans!I was reminded of this at two events, in June & July. Both were at locations nicknamed River City; Chamberlain & Oacoma, South Dakota, and Madison, Indiana. I wouldn't miss the South Dakota event and it is an honor to be their announcer. Founder Tom Davis first contacted me in 2006 about getting a racing event going there. After attending his first race, in Seattle no less, he returned to South Dakota and told his fellow committee people "We can do this". And despite a population base of less than 3,000, yes they can and yes they have! Mother Nature conspired against them the past two years but they found a way to get the race in this year on Father's Day weekend. It's a good thing. Any later and they could not have run. While the boat count was disappointing due to news reports around the country of flooding everywhere on the Missouri River, the race fans had a good time. You want a race site to visit you haven't attended? Make it Chamberlain-Oacoma SD in 2012. You can't miss it. It's right on Interstate 90 where it crosses the Missouri River at Lake Francis Case in South Dakota.. You will not be disappointed. South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard visited this year and was given a ride in a vintage pro stock runabout. It was his second trip to the event. As Lt. Governor in 2008 he attended the first race. Next year with the plan of hosting the North American Championships, the boat count at South Dakota should meet or exceed what that race site deserves.......and that is the best in ULHRA and inboard hydroplane racing. Population is small but their efforts are huge. As they say there, "Great Faces, Great Places" and I add "Great Races":, South Dakota! Give it a try in 2012. Oh Gov Daugaard? How about adding "Great Races" to the jingle next year? Fourth of July weekend was different for me. In mid week Mrs. Lynch said, "why don't we all go to the Madison race for your birthday"? For those who know Mrs. Lynch, she's generally not the type to make such a suggestion as boat racing is my volunteer passion, not hers. Still, since Monday the 4th was a non work day, we researched and discovered we could get to Madison IN in about 12 hours driving time from our home in Omaha NE. Here in the Midwest I've found that driving many hours for entertainment is mere routine. It's six hours to Chamberlain from our home and that race attracts fans from at least seven states. So does Madison IN. So we, including our 16 year old son, packed up the car and headed out Friday afternoon, arriving at Madison around noon on Saturday after an overnight stay in Peoria IL. This had to be the first time in nearly 20 years that I attended a race just to watch. Yes, many were surprised to see me there till they remembered we no longer lived in the Seattle area. I told them "consider me Lt. Weinberg in the movie A Few Good Men". Lt. Weinberg commented "I have no responsibilities whatsoever". And that was me at the Ohio River race. I was there to watch the race along with the huge throng of fans; no microphone, no script, not even a purple shirt. But I did wear "the hat". I had heard of the Madison race all my life, and of course watched the movie, and heard stories of this 13,000 person town expanding to over 100,000 on race weekend. Well, driving into Madison I thought I was on the back lot at Paramount or MGM. What a great looking town, and all decked out for the 4th of July! I saw ULHRA historian Fred Farley, a fellow former resident of Bellevue WA who moved to Madison upon retirement. He said the crowd this year was like every year. The crowd at Madison is, in a word, awesome. Not only big, but they are there for the event and the experience, and they really root for their home town Miss Madison Oh Boy Oberto, while also being very appreciative of every team's effort. Yes, we do this for the fans. I see it at various ULHRA stops. I see little girls flocking to Kayleigh Perkins Mallory and walk away wanting to race hydroplanes. I see kids of all sizes approach one of the best ambassadors for boat racing, Wil Muncey. Watch him interact with fans, especially young fans whom he routinely puts behind the wheel of his race boat so they can see what it's like. Parents take photos of their kids in the cockpit and they all become fans. In Madison I saw Jerry Hopp for the first time in a while. He too is great with fans of all ages. He was honored as one of a select group of living race drivers who drove the Miss Madison. I saw Phil Bononcini with his daughter Bianca who's just starting out in Unlimiteds after being a winner in the Lighter than LIGHTS Series, and remembered how well Phil interacted with fans when he was winning 12 events and 4 driver championships in ULHRA. I saw JW Myers who was a leader of the Hydroplane & Race Boat Museum's effort to get kids racing in J-Stock hydros that Myers helped build. He's now driving the U-11 Peters & May and while I didn't see Dave Bender, I recalled that Dave was instrumental in helping "J-Dub" and Scott "Pyro" Raney put together the deal to acquire that race team. Dave was always good with fans when he was driving and winning races in his UL-38. Then, I remembered 2002; Seattle WA, UL Final Heat. The white flag flies as 4 boats cross the line with one lap to go, virtually dead even and all with a great shot to win. Who were the drivers? Jerry Hopp, Phil Bononcini, Dave Bender, and JW Myers. It was a real honor to announce the race on KIRO TV that day, and to know these men and many others in boat racing who again at Madison reminded me why we do this...............for the fans! Now from the "Things I'd like to see" dept. I'd like to see a return of the G-Class. 26 to 28 feet in length with big, powerful, supercharged engines. I still believe, as was demonstrated in the Final Heat at San Diego in 2009, that there is a place in the racing landscape for this concept. So, how about a Match Race to relaunch the series at Seattle in August? Bring in Milton & Charley Wiggins spectacular G-10 with Cal Phipps driving, and Mike Eacrett's terrific looking G-24, the Joe Frauenheim-Phil Bononcini owned G-13, known in Chamberlain SD as "the big green boat" driven by RW Dick Lynch. Add to that threesome, from the GPW ranks the 19 Miss Everett of Tom Eckenberg that Ryan Mallow drives so competitively. The 19 fits the size requirements. And for a 5th entrant running in the outside lane to make for more equitable competition, and running on the shorter UL course for the same reason, the turbocharged Allison powered "Big Red Turbinator" U-3 of Ed Cooper Jr. and driven by Jimmy King. Not only would I like to see, and hear that match race, I'd really like to announce that race. So, what do you say, Beth Knox and Eric Corning at Seafair Inc? I saw Ed Cooper and his wife Barbara at Madison. While it's unfortunate that he's not currently racing, I reminded him of his team's "other title". At Tri Cities when he was competing, Ed routinely parked the U-3 with the other piston boats.......the Unlimited Lights. So, I decided we'd give Ed's team the designation of "Honorary Unlimited Light - Heavy Division". We like piston powered race boats, here. I'd like to see not only the G-Class reborn, I'd like to see the G's and the Unlimited Lights, as the UL's used to be before the split, all racing at Madison where those fans deserve more great racing, heat after heat after heat all weekend. And that goes for Chamberlain-Oacoma, too! Something else I'd like to see, as this year marks 30 years since the last time the late Bill Muncey raced at Seattle, is to commemorate that date with his son, UL-00 driver Wil Muncey, testing the Ted Jones race course in a turbine Unlimited. Wil drove in the Unlimiteds in the 1980's but never had the opportunity to drive equipment of the championship caliber his had father raced. Then again, Bill never drove a turbine so this would be a Muncey family, first. One thing the Muncey Racing team is doing is bringing back the "blue blaster" paint scheme on their UL-00 sponsored by Evergreen Moving Systems, an Atlas Van Lines Agent. Remembering Bill Muncey is to remember one of, if not the most successful and certainly tireless "promoters" of hydroplane racing. Bill knew all about "the fans" and entertaining. My one and only Bill Muncey interview was conducted as he stepped out of the Atlas Van Lines hydroplane at Seattle following a test run in 1980. This was shortly after Dean Chenoweth in the Miss Budweiser had a serious accident in practice and the "Bud" was out of the race.. While this practically assured Bill of the win that weekend, and yes he did win, Muncey knew what it meant. The fans would lose out on a very good race between these two rivals and that loss for the fans was certainly felt and expressed by Bill in the interview. Something else I'd like to see. If you watch Indycar racing, they have a two seater open wheel racer that starts every race. It's driven by a legend, such as Mario Andretti and a fan gets to experience what it's like to start an Indycar race. What if we could do that in hydroplane racing, with legendary drivers such as Chip Hanauer taking a fan on the ride of their life!. If they can do it in Indycar, I would think the insurance concerns could be addressed. Of course there's the cost of a two seater Unlimited Light hydroplane, maintaining it, getting it from race to race, etc. but, as I said, it's something I'd like to see. Finally, I'd like to see an end to the bickering between racing groups off the course, and get back to racing on the course. H1 Unlimited has turned around their fortunes impressively, and they are to be congratulated. ULHRA was on a solid upward path through 2006, but that tide turned. GPW was formed by disenchanted supercharged engine team owners a couple years ago and neither group today puts on races of the boat count and racing quality as when there was only one group in the mid part of the last decade. It's like the split in Indy car racing between Champ Car and the Indy Racing League. That was in 1995 and only now is open wheel racing finally on the rebound, sixteen years later. I'd hate for that to happen to automotive powered hydroplane racing. Remember 2004? ULHRA conducted three Unlimited races, for the local organizations in Evansville, Tri Cities and San Diego. ULHRA had the talented personnel (volunteers) then to get the job done, and if that caliber could be brought together then, it can also be done today. Exactly how to put it all back together again I really don't know but it too is "something I'd like to see". And one thing is absolutely certain.
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