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Veteran racer Gordy Gillmer of
Tacoma WA is working to return
to Unlimited Lights racing in
2006. His "labor of love" is
taking shape in his Pacific NW
shop and if completed next
season he'll continue a ULHRA
tradition. That is, new hulls
debuting in Unlimited Light
Hydroplane racing.
 
It may be difficult to see in
the photos, but when this boat
gets on the water the appearance
will be similar to Paul
Droullard's UL-9 American
Eagle. Both projects share
commonality. Droullard and
Gillmer have assisted each other
in their respective projects,
and many of the components share
the same lineage. Both projects
have been led by the principals,
in their "spare time" if there
is such a thing. Gillmer says
the summer of 2005 saw great
progress made and he's hopeful
of debuting his UL-60 next
season. In 2005 the new
construction debut was that of
the UL-19 Mz Zip Fizz Energy
Drink Mix, owned by Tom
Eckenburg and driven by Steve
Hook. In 2004, the debut was
that of Droullard's American
Eagle which went on to set the
all time Unlimited Lights lap
speed record in San Diego at
122.324 mph.
Labor of love? Absolutely. The
UL-60 has been a Gordy Gillmer
project; something he's wanted
to accomplish for quite some
time. It's taken a few years to
get to this point, and along the
way other teams made offers to
purchase the unfinished craft.
But now that he can see the
finish line he's glad he kept
the project for himself.
Droullard started from scratch
and 4 years later set a ULHRA
record in his first year. Could
history repeat in 2006? Stay
tuned.
In 2005, a total of 3 new race
craft made their first
appearance at ULHRA events. In
addition to the UL-19, the brand
new G-13 Victoria
Express-Security Race
Products/Tempo debuted in the
new American Challenge Cup
Series. The Tempo was built by
Dale Van Wierengen and
Impact Racing, is owned by Joe
Frauenheim and Phil Bononcini,
and was driven this year by
George Woods and Dick Lynch.
Also debuting was the G-55
Cobalt2, built by Ron Jones Jr.
for Justin Schaller of Detroit.
After running at Seafair in
Seattle, Schaller sold the craft
to Milton & Charley Wiggins of
Rainbow City AL, former owners
of the UL-10 High Pressure. The
Wiggins plan to campaign as a
G-Boat in 2006. At least one
other brand new craft is
expected to debut in ACCS next
season.
John Lynch
"Voice" of the Unlimited Lights
and ACCS.
Annual Meeting of ULHRA, Inc;
Saturday November 19, 2005
The re-numbered UL-33 is one of
the most successful hulls in
Unlimited Lights history. Built by
Ron Jones for Kim Gregory of Las
Vegas in 1997, this boat has 12
victories in Unlimited Lights
racing, the most recent being the
Graham Trucking Cup at Seafair in
Seattle in 2003, driven by Detroit's
Cal Phipps. Of those 12 victories,
the first 5 were by the late George
Stratton, then 5 for Charley
Wiggins, plus one each in 2003 for
Cal Phipps, and Valleyfield, Quebec
driver Patrick Haworth.
Aylesworth continues to progress. Looks forward to getting back to racing "one of these days"
Kevin
Aylesworth, critically injured in a
spectacular flip at the San Diego
Thunderboat Regatta in September,
continues his remarkable recovery.
Kevin tells
www.ulhra.org that he
sees doctors daily and does 90
minutes of cardiovascular workouts
in the gym each day. Doctors tell
him his lungs have recovered about
50% from the trauma of ingesting a
huge amount of salt water while
escaping the cockpit of the
overturned UL-5. He adds that
progress is being made daily.
The
always upbeat Aylesworth says he and
his entire team will be attending
the ULHRA's annual meeting and
Awards Banquet on November 19th in
Seattle. Aylesworth serves on the
Board of Directors of ULHRA Inc. in
addition to co-owning Freedom
Racing. He added, "I won't be the
last one on the dance floor, but I
will be the first!"
For an
update on Kevin's condition from the
Freedom Racing website, click here.
http://www.freedomracingteam.com/kevin.htm
John
Lynch
"Voice"
of the Unlimited Lights
New team owners in the Unlimited Lights series.
A Lighter
than LIGHTS team has stepped up to
ownership of an Unlimited Light, and a
brand new owner-driver has acquired a
team, both with plans to race
extensively in 2006.
Bob and
Janet Estes, driver and owners of the
NM-33 Instigator in the 8 cylinder
Modified series, have purchased the
UL-10 from Milton and Charley Wiggins of
Rainbow City AL. They will take
possession soon, and the boat will be
re-numbered to UL-33. The hull is the
first ever all Unlimited Light
hydroplane that was designed and built
by the renowned Ron Jones Sr. It began
racing as the Wildfire in the 90's with
the late George Stratton driving for Las
Vegas' Kim Gregory. After Gregory
entered Unlimited racing, he sold the
Wildfire to the Wiggins who campaigned
the boat through the 2005 season,
although the past couple of years they
had time to race only twice each season
at Evansville and Valleyfield. The boat
remained very competitive. It's the
predecessor to the UL-72, also built by
Jones, and it won twice in 2003, at
Valleyfield with Patrick Haworth
driving, and in Seattle with Cal Phipps
in the cockpit.
The Estes
have announced their 8 cylinder modified
hydroplane, one of the best in the
country in its class, is for sale.
The other
new team owner is J. Craig Fletcher of
Mercer Island, WA. Fletcher took
advantage of the availability and
purchased one half of the Pingree
Conflitti fleet in Port Angeles.
Fletcher has acquired the UL-559 which
was driven by Tacoma Washington's "Smokin
Joe" Souza at Port Angeles as the "7
Cedars Casino". It was Souza's first
drive in an Unlimited Light since the
Seattle Seafair race in 1995. He and
his UL-106 team return to UL racing in
2006.
The boat,
known as "Outlaw" was acquired by
Conflitti a year ago, joining his UL-58
"Union Dooz" in the series' only 2 boat
team. Conflitti and the "Dooz" are
returning to their Detroit area home
and the UL-58 remains for sale.
Conflitti hopes to return to the ULHRA
"family" once health issues in his own
family are resolved.
John Lynch
"Voice" of
the Unlimited Lights
Qualifying does matter.
In NASCAR stock
car racing, fans understand that each car
that leads a lap in a race earns 5 bonus
points. In addition, the car that leads the
most laps in a race gets an additional 5
bonus points. At the end of a 36 race
season, those bonus points can really make a
difference. Guess what? The same can
happen here in Unlimited Lights racing, and
this year it did happen.
Unlimited Lights
have qualifying sessions prior to races.
Qualifying wasn't mandatory in 2005 to enter
the race as all teams in the pits were
eligible to race. Bonus points are awarded
to the top 8 teams in qualifying. These
points do not affect the outcome of an
individual race but are applied to their
season long championship points total. The
bonus points represent 10% of the points
awarded in heat racing. Therefore, the top
qualifier gets 40 points, followed by 30
points for the second fastest qualifier.
The remaining points are 23 for third place,
17 for fourth, 13 for fifth, then 10, 7 and
5.
Yes, those
points DO matter. In 2005 according to
ULHRA Chief Statistician Ed Nelson, Michael
Flaherty scored 40 more points in heat
racing than did Greg Hopp, but Hopp
outscored Flaherty by 123 points in
qualifying over the course of the 8 race
season. Those qualifying points propelled
Hopp to his first ever driving title, and
the team's third consecutive title.
John Lynch
"Voice" of the
Unlimited Lights
Gold Cup Video at Port Angeles
It was the closest
finish in Unlimited Lights history. 83 points
decided the ULHRA Team and Driver titles for
2005, and those extra 83 points were held by
Greg Hopp and the UL-1 Mike's Hard
Lemonade-Happy Go Lucky.
Heading into the 3rd
annual Victoria Express Strait Thunder Regatta
at Port Angeles WA, Michael Flaherty knew what
he had to do. Driving the UL-72 Miss Boat
Electric, Flaherty trailed Hopp by 350 points.
The 2004 Rookie of the Year knew it would take a
virtual perfect weekend to have a chance, and
that's what the team did. 4 Heats, and 4 Heat
victories for 1600 points. The only flaw for
the team was not running a strong qualifying
lap, earning only 7 points for 7th place in
qualifying while Hopp earned 40 points as the #1
qualifier. That made the gap 383 points going
into the first heat section.
Hopp and Flaherty
both won their first heat so into the second
heat section the gap remained 383 points. Then
Hopp & Flaherty were matched in Heat 2A.
Flaherty won with Hopp in second. The gap then
was 283 points. In Heat 3, Flaherty again was
victorious with Hopp in second, with the gap now
down to 183 points. Flaherty had to win the
Final Heat, which he did in rough seas
with uncommon swells out of the northeast
angling across the 1 mile Strait of Juan De Fuca
race course. But Hopp also had a mission and
that was to finish no worse than third. He took
his 3rd consecutive second place finish of the
weekend to wrap up the 2005 title by a mere 83
points. Plus, Greg Hopp won his first ever
Driver's Championship, by the same 83 points
over Michael Flaherty. In the previous two
seasons when Hopp Racing won the title, because
Greg and father Jerry Hopp shared the driving
duties neither was in contention for the driving
title. This year, following twin knee
replacement surgery in the spring, "Grandpa"
Jerry Hopp managed the team and had son Greg
drive every points scoring heat race.
Third place, and
another strong outing, solidified 5th place in
the final standings for Thunder Valley Racing's
UL-40 Miss Red Dot Corporation driven by Harold
Mills. For Mills and the team, the 5th place
season finish are career bests in Unlimited
Lights competition. 4th place went to "The
Little Boat That Could", the UL-136 Wyatt's
Diamond Jewelers Presents La Cucaracha IV out of
San Diego, driven by Monroe Washington's Wil
Muncey. It was Muncey's second appearance in
Unlimited Light racing, but most certainly won't
be his last. The other two Final Heat
participants, Kerry Beynon in the UL-6 BCS
Enterprises, and Vince "X-Man" Xaudaro in the
UL-929 Conover Insurance, both were stopped by
large swells that swamped their engines, and
they did not start the Final Heat.
John Lynch
"Voice" of the
Unlimited Lights
Chaplain Jim Riley with his prize from Port Angeles  Port Angeles UL Final
Click here for updates from September, 2005
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