ULHRA Annual Meeting Report
 
 
The 2011 schedule and rules changes have been approved by the membership of ULHRA, Inc. and posted on this web site.
 
At the annual meeting on February 19th, certain adjustments were made in Unlimited Light racing rules. One change affects teams that have multiple hulls. One portion of the new rule allows for teams to have multiple boats under one Unlimited Light registration number. The "backup hull" could be raced under a different UL registration number if the team owner desires. In the case where a multiple hull team owner registers both boats under different numbers, hulls can swap numbers between races, if desired by the team owner. There are certain conditions that apply and these are spelled out in the 2011 Racing Rules now posted.
 
For several seasons all supercharged teams have been required to start each Unlimited Light heat outside of the carburetor teams. Categorized as "Engine Option Six" these "blower motor" teams will see a change in this requirement. Now, any supercharged Unlimited Light can start from any lane, if the race boat weighs more than 2,950 lbs. Most, if not all of the UL's that have raced with supercharged engines since 2001 weigh more than 2,950 lbs. Any "blower motor" team that weighs less than 2,950 lbs will continue to start outside of the carburetor teams and also outside of the over 2,950 lbs Engine Option Six teams.
 
Supercharged engine rules, in effect for several years, remain. Teams racing a "blower motor" will have a 468 cu.in maximum displacement with a 6-71 supercharger set at 80% or "twenty under". That means the supercharger will be turning 20% slower than the engine crankshaft. This is the same configuration that the UL-12 raced to a pair of victories at the end of the 2009 season, and the same configuration used when the current UL single lap and competition heat speed records were set at 126+ and 119+ mph.
 
These rules adjustments are in line with ULHRA's continuing effort to provide an equitable opportunity to compete for all six engine options racing in the Unlimited Lights series. Last year a "first" occurred in UL racing, at the Tri Cities WA event. Three small block (360 cu. in or less) engine teams finished the event 1, 2, 3 with three distinctly different small block engines.
 
The 2011 schedule has now been posted, beginning with Spring Training on Thursday, April 21st. Spring Training is held on Lake Washington in Seattle and provides ULHRA teams with an opportunity to test prior to the first race of the year.
 
The first race is a new event for ULHRA, in conjunction with the annual Apple Blossom Festival in Wenatchee, Washington, May 7th and 8th, followed by River City Racin's annual Pepsi Racing Power Cup Challenge in Chamberlain - Oacoma South Dakota on June 18th & 19th.
 
A new event is being developed with the Foss Maritime Association in Tacoma WA on July 16th & 17th on Commencement Bay. Tacoma is about 40 minutes south of Seattle.
 
Then the series moves to the two televised races, at Tri Cities WA annual Water Follies Thunder Cup, July 29-31, and then the Seafair Graham Trucking Cup for Unlimited Lights, August 5-7.
 
The Copper Cup returns for a 4th straight year at Polson, Montana on Flathead Lake, August 20th & 21st. and the season concludes in 2011 with the Salmon Days Regatta, October 1st & 2nd on Lake Sammamish in Issaquah WA, just east of Seattle.
 
John Lynch
"Voice" of ULHRA Racing