Design, Safety Improvements Made Hydroplane Racing Faster, but Some Question Whether They Made It Better - Is It Too Hot to Handle?
It’s hard to know whether technology is doing unlimited hydroplane racing a service or sending it into a territory too advanced for its own good.
Fatalities and serious injuries have all but been eliminated in recent years, since cockpits were covered to prevent drivers from being thrown at high speeds. But with each year, the needle on the speedometer is creeping up, making it more difficult for drivers to prevent boats from taking off like airplanes, flipping through the air and crashing.
Boats making qualifying runs today for the three-day Budweiser American Power Boats Assn. Gold Cup on Mission Bay will likely average more than 160 m.p.h. per lap, roughly eight m.p.h. faster than last year.
Jim Kropfeld, who drove Miss Budweiser for the first five races this season before being replaced by veteran Tom D’Eath, says the boats are not designed to handle properly at these speeds. Certainly, Kropfeld has had more than his share of experiences, crashing several times since 1985. He broke his neck in an accident last year, spent 14 weeks wearing a variety of body braces and was forced to sit out the remainder of the season.
“The speed doesn’t bother me,” said Kropfeld by phone from his home in Cincinnati. “I’ve been the fastest one on the race course. What concerns me is going upside down all the time. Somebody is going to come down in front of somebody else some time. If we can’t design a boat that will not go upside down, then we better slow them down until we figure out how to do it.”
Kropfeld says he doesn’t want to comment yet on exactly why he and the Budweiser team parted. But sources say he was asked to step aside by owner Bernie Little because of a disagreement over Kropfeld’s contention that there were safety problems that needed to be ironed out. D’Eath, who took Kropfeld’s place after the injury last year, has driven in the past three races, including a victory at Syracuse. He will finish the season and likely become the Miss Budweiser’s full-time driver next year.
Kropfeld says he plans to return to racing, but “I guarantee it won’t be for Budweiser.”
And he’ll also say this with regards to his early exit this season: “I did not quit. I’ve never quit anything in my life.”
D’Eath says he hasn’t spoken with Kropfeld since he replaced him. “From what I understand,” D’Eath said, “he just didn’t want to race anymore, and he told Bernie he wanted to quit.”
Little was unavailable for comment.
If there is confusion surrounding Kropfeld’s departure, there are also differing opinions on just how safe the sport is.
D’Eath says it has never been safer, although he thinks fans are still unaware of this and have come to expect the worst when they see an accident. He compares it to stock car racing, where today’s drivers frequently walk away from high speed collisions. But Kropfeld says boats are being pushed past their limitations and that it will take either a driver strike or a tragedy to jar owners into taking a serious look at design problems.
“I can almost guarantee you nothing will happen unless the drivers band together and all decide that enough is enough and that they want to put the competition back into the drivers’ hands, rather than who has the most money and who is the fastest boat on the water.” Kropfeld said. “Every driver feels that way. It’s just that some of them are in a bind where they can’t say anything. They may lose their ride, or they’ve been instructed to keep their mouths shut.
“If the drivers can’t accomplish it, then it’s going to take a tragedy to do it.”
This sport is not unaccustomed to tragedy. In 1981, Bill Muncey, the all-time leader in career victories with 62, was killed in an accident in Acapulco. A year later, Dean Chenoweth, a four-time national champion, also was killed.
While granting that safety features have been improved since then, Kropfeld says that increased horsepower is making flips more frequent. Surprisingly, higher speeds haven’t made unlimited hydroplane racing more popular, and perhaps the competitive aspect of the sport is fading as quickly as the speed rises.
There is a significant class distinction between turbine and piston-powered boats (the turbines qualify at approximate speeds of 160 m.p.h., pistons at about 100), meaning less and less suspense in races. APBA officials say spectator turnout has remained essentially the same over the past years (no exact figures are available). Corporate sponsorship has not swelled significantly.
Kropfeld voices a concern that most drivers probably have.
“I had to stop and say ‘What’s going on here?’ ” he said. “Why do we have to keep going faster if we’re not gaining anything?”
If nothing else, drivers are gaining respect for the elements. The slightest gust of wind, the smallest ripple in the water can send a boat flying. There is almost no margin for error. Chip Hanauer, the Circus Circus driver who will attempt to win his eighth consecutive Gold Cup this weekend, demolished his boat in a flip at Syracuse but escaped with just a bloody nose and an increasing awareness of the fine line between winning and wrecking.
“You’re paid to win,” he said, “but that window that you’re trying to hit between winning and catastrophe is very narrow. The slightest misjudgment or change in conditions can have drastic results.”
HYDROPLANE FACTS WHERE: Mission Bay
WHEN: Today, Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Gates open at 7 a.m., close at 7 p.m.
ADMISSION: Tickets for all three days available for $12; no charge for children 12 and under. Gates are located on East Vacation Island and Fiesta Island. Admission on Crown Point Shores is free.
HISTORY: Since 1964, there have been 22 unlimited hydroplane races on Mission Bay. Bill Muncey, the sport’s all-time winning driver with 62 victories, was one of 18 to enter the first race. The original purse was $20,000. This weekend’s is $166,000, a season high.
OUTLOOK: As usual, the hot topic among turbine teams is saltwater, which traditionally has given them fits. Last year, Chip Hanauer’s Miller High Life boat barely made it out of the pits on race day, hampered by overheating and compressor stalls. Hanauer, current leader in driver points (7,334), earned a berth in last year’s championship race as an alternate, but his boat quit after just one warm-up lap.
Miss Budweiser, driven by Tom D’Eath and atop the standings in boat points (8,427), clocked Mission Bay’s fastest lap on the first day of qualifying last year but stalled midway through the final, allowing George Woods Jr. to come from far back in Oh Boy! Oberto for the victory.
Word is that salt won’t be as much of a problem this year because of design improvements, but a lot of people said that last year.
Thirteen boats will compete on the 2 1/2-mile course, regarded as one of the fastest in the circuit because of its wide turns. “San Diego is going to be astronomically fast,” said Hanauer, now driving for Circus Circus and going for his eighth consecutive Gold Cup victory. “I’m looking for speeds to simply go through the ceiling.”
Other top challengers are Mr. Pringle’s Scott Pierce, winner at Miami, Larry Lauterbach, Winston Eagle driver who won in Evansville, Ind. and Mitch Evans, Cooper’s Express driver who won at Tri-Cities, Wash.
