New Hull Gets Another Test

When Steve David takes to the water in San Diego’s Mission Bay with his Miss T-Plus unlimited hydroplane this weekend, at least two distinctions will set him apart from other drivers.

First, he is the only one in the Texaco Star Mart Cup who has won a race in the unlimited hydroplane series this season other than perennial champion Chip Hanauer in Miss Budweiser. David, 38, won the series opener last May in Lewisville, Tex. Hanauer has won all seven since.

Second, he will be the only one in a new tandem-wing hull designed by famed boat builder Ron Jones Sr. and constructed of aluminum and a space-age carbon composite. The design is intended to reduce drag while increasing stability. The hull has two airfoils, one behind the other, allowing the air to flow over or under the foils.

“We know we have an engine capable of a winning speed--we set the record last year--but the boat wasn’t stable above 180 m.p.h.,” David said. “With the new hull, we get up to 210 very quickly, and it still feels stable.”

The downside, however, is that the two-wing concept makes turning more difficult, and all the races are run on oval configurations. The Bill Muncey Memorial course on Mission Bay is 2.5 miles.

“The new boat is harder to handle, so far at least,” David said. “It rides different, much higher off the water, but in the turns it tends to get belligerent. It floats along just nice until the apex. That’s where it sort of falls away and comes down heavy on the sponson, which makes it very difficult to control.

“San Diego, which has much wider turns than normal, and saltwater, should help us. The saltwater gives us more buoyancy and if we can get through the corners, we’ll be in great shape. The boat has phenomenal speed on the straight and the new design has reduced the possibility of a blowover--still the thing we worry most about.”

There have been six blowovers this year--boats getting airborne and flipping--but with the enclosed capsule cockpits, there have been no life-threatening injuries. In the early days of the sport, a blowover often meant a fatality.

“We think Jones’ new design will be the wave of the future,” said Jim Harvey, owner of Miss T-Plus. “By being out first, we feel we will have an advantage over the others.”

Howard Leendertsen, whose Hilton Oil company of Seattle sponsors the boat, said, “Next year is going to be an incredible year for us.”

With the old conventional hull last season, David ran the world’s fastest competition lap of 166.236 m.p.h. in Hawaii, although the boat finished third.

“It was the final heat and we’d been chopped off by the Coors boat and got a dose of saltwater,” David said. “By the third lap, we had it really going and got our 166, but then the engine started to go away with salt buildup and we couldn’t stay up with the Winston Eagle.”

This will be only the third race with the tandem wing. The new boat made its debut at Evansville, Ind., where it qualified well, but in the final, David had to return to the dock with the left sponson barely hanging onto the main body of the hull.

David raced the old hull in Kansas City while repairs were being made to prepare the new boat for the Columbia Cup at Tri-Cities in Washington. The boat started last, 700 feet behind the rest of the fleet, because it qualified poorly, but David managed to finish third.

“Two hulls went airborne in separate heats that weekend, due to the violent water conditions, and I commend the crew because we had pieces of T-Plus scattered all over the course and still finished,” he said.

Win or lose, David is happy to be in San Diego this weekend--away from his regular business.

“As a Century 21 franchise owner in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., this is not a good time for us,” he said. “All the talk about tourists getting killed in Florida has definitely been a downer, and I hate to think how it’s going to affect us.”

Qualifying is set for Friday and Saturday from 10-11 a.m. and 1-3 p.m. The first heat Sunday will start at 11:30 a.m., with the championship final at 4:10 p.m.

Briefly

STOCK CARS--Grand American modifieds will be featured Saturday night at Saugus Speedway. . . . Orange Show Speedway will hold its final Winston Racing Series races for pro stocks and street stocks Saturday night, along with a train race. . . . Bakersfield Speedway will have late models and IMCA modifieds Saturday night. . . . The 14th and final round of the Kragen series at Santa Maria Speedway for late model stocks, California dirt cars, hobby stocks and four-bangers is scheduled Saturday night. . . . Cajon Speedway will hold the Mac Tools Sportsman Grand Prix on Saturday night. . . . Blythe Speedway will return to action Saturday night with sportsman and street stocks.

SPEEDWAY BIKES--The second and third rounds of the national championship qualifying series will be run Friday night at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa and Saturday night at Speedway USA in Victorville. These races will help determine the 14 riders who will compete in the Coors United States Speedway Final on Oct. 2 at Costa Mesa. Two riders who compete in England, probably newly crowned world champion Sam Ermolenko and Billy Hamill, will complete the field of 16 for the final. After the opening qualifying round at Auburn, Robert Pfetzing is leading, followed by Mike Faria, Charlie Venegas and Scott Brant. . . . The junior national championship will be held Sunday at Speedway USA, starting at noon.

MOTOCROSS--The Southern California team of Jeff Emig, Mike Kiedrowski and Jeremy McGrath brought the United States its 13th consecutive victory in the Motocross des Nations last Sunday in Austria. Emig, of Highland, won the 125cc class overall to pace the Americans to a one-point victory over Belgium. . . . When Jacky Martens of Belgium won the world 500cc championship on a Husqvarna last week, he became the first rider to win on a four-stroke bike since Jeff Smith on a BSA in 1965 and the first to win on a non-Japanese machine since Heiki Mikkola on a Husqvarna in 1974. . . . A combined motocross and off-road program is scheduled Saturday night at Ventura Raceway.

INDY CARS--Chevrolet announced it will not provide racing engines for Indy cars next season, but the end result may be only cosmetic. Ilmor Engineering, the British firm that designed and built the engines for Chevrolet, announced at the same time that it will continue to develop and build engines for all present customers.

MISCELLANY--Paula Murphy, the first woman to reach 200 m.p.h. in a dragster and twice holder of the women’s world land-speed record, will appear Saturday for the fourth annual Motor Monarchs Hod Rodders Reunion at Steckel Park in Santa Paula. The event honors the memory of drag racing’s early years in Goleta, where some historians say the first organized side-by-side competition began in early 1951. . . . The Willow Springs Motorcycle Club will hold the fifth round of its Grand Prix road racing series Sunday at Willow Springs Raceway. . . . The final events of the Firestone/TNN drag racing series at Los Angeles County Raceway in Palmdale and Bakersfield Raceway will take place Saturday night.

WATER SKIING--A group of Southern California skiers, headed by national champions Lori Dunsmore of Lomita, Debbie Nordblad of Newbury Park and Cheryl Ruston of La Palma will compete in the World Water Ski Championships in France. Competition will start Sunday and conclude Sept. 26.