Thunderboat Regatta : Hanauer’s Day Is Full of Problems

Eleven years of unlimited hydroplane racing have taught Chip Hanauer about coping with problems. And for him, Saturday at Mission Bay was one big problem.

Hanauer, the defending champion of the Miller High Life Thunderboat Regatta, sizzled in the morning and fizzled in the afternoon.

In his first run, he qualified for today’s race with a 145.584-m.p.h. lap. Then, his Miller High Life boat couldn’t cut the salt. Two subsequent runs were hampered with stalls. Hanauer said he ran his boat at about 85% of its capabilities, finishing behind Miss Budweiser, 154.242 m.p.h.; Miss Circus Circus, 146.939 m.p.h., and Mr. Pringles, 146.867 m.p.h., in the day’s standings.

It was tough for someone like Hanauer, who is usually easygoing. His friends barely recognize him on race days. A negative comment brings him down, a positive one lifts his spirits. He’s hard on himself. Everything that goes wrong becomes his fault.

At a race Aug. 7 in Seattle, Hanauer got off to a bad start and lost. He apologized to the crew over and over. Yet when something goes wrong with the boat, he’s always the first one to say, “Mistakes happen.”

“I always feel I should be able to overcome any limitations with the boat,” he said.

Miller High Life owner Fran Muncey, widow of the sport’s all-time winner, Bill Muncey, has seen the change in Hanauer in the six years he has raced for her team. She once hired a psychiatrist to talk him into calming down for races.

“Sometimes, I thought he was going to be physically sick because he would get so caught up in it,” she said. “He’s so intense. He lives it much more than other drivers.”

But Hanauer said he learned a lot from his friendship with Bill Muncey.

“I think what made Bill the great racer that he was is the same thing that killed him,” Hanauer said. “I think Bill, to a degree, felt that if he didn’t win every race, he didn’t deserve to breathe the same atmosphere (as everyone else).”

So Hanauer is trying to put racing in perspective. At 34, he’s beginning to look to the future. He has many interests, including golf, skiing and radio and television broadcasting, and realizes he’ll have another career when he retires from driving.

And he’s aware of danger. He still has desire to win but refuses to let it get in the way of his good judgment.

“I used to die a small death at each race,” he said. “It’s not that way now. My priorities have changed. I hope there’s more to me than racing.”

Hydroplane Notes

The Budweiser team, which is in first place in boat points, figures to be a heavy favorite today, though Miss Budweiser didn’t appear to be running well Saturday afternoon. But crew chief Ron Brown said he has no concerns. . . . Both Mr. Pringles, driven by Scott Pierce, and Miss Circus Circus, another Fran Muncey boat driven by John Prevost, made strong runs Saturday morning but had problems with the saltwater in the afternoon. . . . Racing starts at 10 a.m. today.