Villwock Flaunts It in Victory

Dave Villwock clinched the Unlimited Hydroplane Racing Assn. championship for boat owner Bernie Little early in the day Sunday and then decided to have a little fun with his No. 1 rival, Chip Hanauer.

In the final heat of the San Diego Bayfair’s Muncey Cup--cut short because of a spectacular blowover by rookie driver Greg Hopp--Villwock kept pestering Hanauer in the two minutes before the start, chasing him back and forth across the 2 1/2 mile Mission Bay course.

“It’s a tactic as old as Bill Muncey, it’s just hard-nosed racing before the race starts,” said Villwock, who easily won the race. “The whole idea was to agitate Chip, to throw him off his game.”

The tactic worked.

“He kept cutting me off,” said Hanauer, a nine-time national champion in Miss Pico who was looking for win No. 62 to join his mentor, the late Bill Muncey, as the winningest unlimited drivers. “He had no reason to do it, he obviously had the fastest boat on the water. I lost a lot of respect for Dave. He kept trying to wet me down. I had to take evasive action for two minutes to keep from getting washed down.”

Villwock denied he was trying to wash down Hanauer’s boat, claiming it was a tactic created by the clock start, in which boats jockey for position in hopes of hitting the starting line as the gun goes off.

The big red Miss Budweiser was on its fourth lap of a five-lap final when Hopp’s boat, Miss Pontiac, caught too much air and blew up and over in front of the Crown Pointe portion of the 75,000 spectators on hand. Hopp, who never lost consciousness, was taken to University Hospital for X-rays and evaluation.

“He seemed fine,” said Dr. Lee Rice, race medical director. “While we were trying to get him out of the cockpit canopy, he gave us the thumbs up sign.”

The race was called with Villwock the winner, Hanauer second and Mark Weber third in York International.

Earlier in the day, Villwock had clinched a 19th championship for Little, which is 13 more than runner-up Ole Bardahl’s six.

“Give Bernie credit,” said Villwock, who last month clinched his third driver’s title in the last four years. “A lot of teams in other kinds of racing that were on top in the early ‘90s have struggled in the last couple of years. Bernie keeps current, he accepts change and he finds a way to adapt.”

In the winning heat, Villwock nailed the start and easily beat Hanauer and four-time national champion Mark Tate.

Hanauer had upset Miss Budweiser to win his 11th APBA Gold Cup, unlimited hydroplane racing’s Super Bowl, last July in Detroit. When Hanauer told reporters and friends that he owed his win to beating Villwock off the starting line, it apparently nettled Villwock.

“Chip’s supposed to be a great starter, but we left him on the line,” Villwock said. “He makes mistakes that cost him sometimes. . . . Today he was in the wrong position and the instant we hit the starting line, I knew he was out of it.”

Villwock, who had to start from the fourth lane, let the other five boats jockey for position while he kept Miss Budweiser well back.

“We not only hit the line in front, we had about 20 mph boat speed on them and from there we did just what we had hoped for, to win the heat, and the championship, and do it in style,” he said.