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1997 Bayfair Muncey Cup UNLIMITED LIGHTS FIRST HEAT 1A (3 laps, 5 miles) 1. Dennis Macy, Garden
City, Mich., The Menace, 87.023 1B (3 laps) 1. Randy Haas, Toledo, O., Miss
LeRoi, 101.220 In the Unlimited Light Racing Series preliminary heat, it was the Summer of '96 all over again, with last year's rookie of the year, Dennis Macy, and last year's ULRS driving champ, Randy Haas, receipting for wins in the respective sections. UNLIMITED LIGHTS SECOND HEAT HEAT TWO (3 laps, 5 miles) Seven boats scheduled to run together. The field will be minus Dennis Macy's UL-445 hull, beset by motor woes. George Stratton's UL-125 Wild Fire is repaired following some serious rudder bracket damage incurred during Friday testing. 1. Bo Schide, Dayton, O., Alamo,
101.148 Unlimited Lights Final Although George Stratton of Las Vegas won his second straight Unlimited Light Racing Series event in the Wild Fire, Bo Schide of Dayton, Ohio, and his Alamo clinched the season title for the ULRS with one race remaining. And now for more on the final... As the Turbine Turns The Unlimited Light Racing Series finale Sunday afternoon in San Diego was a strange one, to say the least. Just two seven-liter boats, and the Dick Sanders-owned, Scott Schotz-driven six-liter, finished the championship heat. Most of the rest failed to finish the first lap. Doug Brow, in the Pocket Mechanic when Phil Bononcini was called back home due to the death of a close relative, was dead in the water before the field hit the starting line. Randy Haas, still getting the benefit of some hull revisions made by his crew which helped get the Miss Leroi up on a higher plane, ran solidly, but was never going to get George Stratton, who has turned out to be the big story at the last three ULRS events. The Las Vegan, in his first season after a career spent mostly racing flat bottoms, waited patiently while his crew laboriously repaired some serious transom (rudder bracket) damage incurred during Friday testing. The Wild Fire sat out Saturday's heat and Sunday's second preliminary, but was Jack the Bear in the final -- especially when arch-rival Bo Schide and the Alamo came up early croppers. Never mind, for the latter. Schide and the Alamo have clinched the season championship after some superlative early season efforts. Even if the six-boat field expected for Honolulu runs four heats (likely) and gets double points (as per ULRS "stimulation" rules, which also happened to lure boats to Valleyfield in July), owner Ned Allen's first-year effort with the brand new, Ft. Lauderdale-based boat is a rousing success. But, when it came to giving the big Mission Bay crowd the usual, deck-to-deck Light final heat, Sunday wasn't the time or place. Tow boats had to use all available rope to pull the Alamo, Cal Phipps' Miss Leroi II, Dave Bender's B&B Racing and Brow back to the pits. Dennis Macy, after the Saturday heat win (which he was awarded when Brow received a one-minute penalty for veering into another lane as he struggled to refit his oxygen mask), was the victim of a fouled engine. It froze after the Saturday heat and The Menace required a tow back. Nonetheless, the assembled competitors (notably absent, per usual, was the Pacific Northwest contingent, save for Bononcini's always-there Pocket Mechanic) were grateful to Alamo Rent Car for sponsoring the Lights final and look forward to a nice season-ender at Pearl Harbor ... (Reprinted from the UHRA ThunderLetter Vol.3 no.301 September 15, 1997)
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