Gold Cup Qualifying : An Old Boat Helps Hanauer Set Record

Salt water and turbine blades, which have never been compatible in unlimited hydroplane racing on Mission Bay, meshed Friday for a Gold Cup record.

Chip Hanauer brought Fran Muncey’s four-year-old turbine-powered Miller American out of mothballs--with modifications by crew chief John Walters--and averaged a record 141.788 m.p.h. around the Bill Muncey Memorial course.

The record Hanauer broke was his own, set in the same boat, in the 1985 Gold Cup on Seattle’s Lake Washington.

“This is the same boat, but then again it’s quite different from anything we’ve ever run,” Hanauer said. “It ran nice and cool with no apparent problems from the salt buildup we had last year.”

National champion Jim Kropfeld, who tested the salty waters with Miss Budweiser for a surprising 11 laps early in the windy afternoon, posted a qualifying speed of 139.752.

“I was cruising around, looking for reference points,” said Kropfeld, who draws a map of the course and tapes it in his cockpit before the race. “My memory isn’t what it used to be, so I need a map to know where I’m at.”

Kropfeld has won five of the six unlimited races this year, and a win Sunday would clinch his second straight national championship.

Neither Hanauer nor Kropfeld have won a heat here since their teams switched from pistons to turbines two years ago. In fact, since turbines were introduced into the sport in 1974, only one, Miss 7-Eleven last year, has ever won a heat on Mission Bay.

Last year, neither Hanauer nor Kropfeld even made it into to the final.

Nine boats qualified for Sunday’s 80th annual Gold Cup, America’s premier powerboat race. Another four or five are expected to make the 105 m.p.h. qualifying minimum today.

Oh Boy Oberto, with George Woods driving, was the fastest piston-powered boat at 126.139 m.p.h. The only other turbine boat on the water, Mr. Pringles, was qualified by Scott Pierce in seventh place at 115.943.