GRAND PRIX OF LONG BEACH : Drivers Leave Boats, Bikes to Drive Cars

For as far back as either can remember, Chip Hanauer and Bob Hannah dreamed of driving a race car--on the bricks at Indianapolis, on the high banks at Daytona or on the twisting circuits of Formula One.

Their environment worked against them. Hanauer grew up around the lakes and bays of Seattle, and his thirst for speed was satisfied by powerboats. Hannah is from Quartz Hill, where his backyard looked out on the Antelope Valley desert--just the place to race through the sagebrush on a motorcycle.

Both became the best in their field. Hanauer won seven consecutive Gold Cups in unlimited hydroplanes and is national champion for the fourth time. Hannah won 27 stadium Supercross and 35 national championship outdoor motocross events, more than any rider.

Saturday, in the pro-celebrity race of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Hanauer and Hannah will have their dreams come true, for a few laps at least, when they drive Celica GT-S Liftbacks around the same 1.67-mile, 11-turn course on which Indy car drivers will perform Sunday.

“From Day 1, driving a race car is something I wanted to do,” Hanauer said between practice laps on the shoreline course. “My first idol as a young boy was Jimmy Clark (a two-time world Formula One champion and 1965 Indy 500 winner). I had pictures of him plastered on the walls in my room. I have no idea where I got my love for racing, because there wasn’t much of it in Seattle, and neither my father nor my friends were interested in it.”

Hanauer, 35, took to the water, however, and by age 10 he was racing outboard hydroplanes. At 14 he drove in his first national championship race. Ten years later, he replaced the late Bill Muncey as driver of the Atlas Van Lines unlimited hydro, and in 1982 began an unparalleled seven-year reign over the Gold Cup--motorboating’s version of the Super Bowl.

“Even when I was racing boats professionally, when I had an off weekend I’d fly all over the country to watch (auto) races in person,” he said. “I followed drivers like Danny Sullivan and Mario Andretti and Little Al (Unser) as closely as I could.”

Celebrity drivers in Saturday’s race went through a four-day school at Willow Springs Raceway to prepare for the 10-lap event. When it was over, Hanauer noted similarities between racing a boat and a car.

“In a boat (at speed), the access is vertical,” he said. “The boat wants to fly. In a car, the access is lateral. The car wants to slide. But you use the same sensors to gauge how far you can take it. The sensitivity is the same, only the access is different.

“Driving a car requires more precision, however. In a boat, unless you’re in very tight quarters, there is little penalty if you miss your line through a corner. If you miss your line on the course in Long Beach, before you can say Toyota, you’re into the cement.

“People always ask about the speed, but that’s not where the story is. We all went around 115 (m.p.h.) at Willow Springs, but that was the easiest part. The really tough part is trying to negotiate Turn 11 at Long Beach when you’re going about 15 m.p.h. That’s when what you do is really critical, getting in and out of that turn as quick as you can without making a mistake.

“The more I drive the car, and the more I watch the pros drive, the more in awe I am of their talents. Until you experience the feeling of driving to the limit of your ability, you can’t imagine the artistry these guys display.”

Among the drivers in the pro-celebrity race will be former Indianapolis 500 winners Bobby Rahal and Johnny Rutherford.

Monday, it will be back to business for Hanauer. A new model Circus Circus boat is waiting to be tested at Tri-Cities on the Columbia River.

“Ron Jones designed a boat that is quite radical,” Hanauer said. “The idea is to decrease front-end lift, so that instead of taking off and flying, the front end will settle back down in the water, but it will take a lot of testing before we know if it’s better than last year’s boat.

“Early testing takes on extra meaning this year, because the Gold Cup is the second race (June 10 on the Detroit River), and we want to make sure we have our best boat ready. The old boat set the Gold Cup course record last year in San Diego in qualifying, but we broke in the race.”

That ended Hanauer’s streak of seven consecutive victories, but he compensated by winning three races--at Detroit, Seattle and Las Vegas--and the national championship.

The 1990 season will start June 3 in Miami.

Hannah, 33, has retired from motocross competition, but the remarkable reflexes that made him such an enduring champion have caught the attention of his race-driving instructors.

“He’s absolutely a natural,” said Jim Snelling, driving instructor for the Sports Car Club of America. “He’s as fast as any driver--including the pros--that we’ve ever had at our school.”

Hannah drove a desert buggy briefly in off-road racing and has driven in the Formula Russell series, but he has never seriously tried auto racing.

“I was so busy motocrossing that I couldn’t afford to take the time to race cars,” Hannah said. “I’m still too busy for this, but Suzuki decided it would be good exposure for me to drive, so here I am. At first, I told Toyota I couldn’t accept, but then Suzuki told me I should be here, so here I am.”

Hannah, known as Hurricane in cycle circles, retired in July after riding in the U.S. 250cc Grand Prix at the Unadilla course, near New Berlin, N.Y. He won a world championship 250cc race there in 1986.

“I still love racing, but I just got too old,” he said. “I thrashed myself seven days a week for 15 years. All that Supercross takes its toll on a rider, and you can’t take a single day off if you want to stay sharp.”

Hannah is a test rider in Suzuki’s research and development program on the national scene.

“We’ve got some strong riders in Ron Tichenor, Guy Cooper and Larry Ward, who are going to make their mark,” Hannah said. “Cooper won the Hangtown 125 race last month, and Ward won a Supercross this year. It’s my job to make the bikes as strong as possible, and help the riders when I can. It means a lot of travel. . . . But I enjoy it.”

Hannah has lived near Sun Valley, in Ketchum, Ida., for the past 12 years. He flies from Idaho to Suzuki headquarters in Brea and its test track in Adelanto, near Victorville, in his own plane.

“It takes a little longer since I sold my Cessna 210, but there’s nothing like skimming over the desert in my little Piper Cub bush plane. I cruise along 50 to 100 feet above the ground chasing bighorn sheep or antelope through the canyons or buzzing wild horses in the Nevada desert.”

The pro-celebrity race will start at 1 p.m. Saturday.