1992 Budweiser APBA Gold Cup

Hanauer Ties Muncey's Gold Haul

DETROIT - Chip Hanauer, piloting Miss Budweiser, tied the late Bill Muncey by winning his eighth APBA Gold Cup and his seventh straight on the Detroit River yesterday.

"I just wanted to win one Gold Cup in my life," said Hanauer. who won his first Gold Cup for unlimited hydroplanes in 1982. -To win eight is pretty hard to believe."

Hanauer, 37, won with an average speed of 136.282 mph. His fastest lap was 151.770 mph. The victory gave him a total of 1,740 points after winning last week's season opener in Miami.

Attendance over the two-day event was estimated at nearly 400,000.

Hanauer skipped across the water to the finish line after bumping into Winston Eagle driven by Mark Tate coming off the second turn in the second lap of the five-lap final heat. That turn is the widest on the 2½-mile course.

"I didn't feel anything with the Winston because the water was so rough," Hanauer said. "I didn't even see him."

The Winston Eagle went dead in the water after getting caught in Budweiser's spray.

Hanauer coasted across the finish line after Miss Bud's tail section collapsed during the final lap.

Before the final heat, Tate and Hanauer jockeyed for position to cross the starting line. The race in Detroit is the only one with a clock start; the others this season will have a flag start as in auto racing.

Tate managed to grab Lane 1 while Hanauer, who almost spun around just before the start, settled for Lane 4.

With Tate sitting on the edge of the course, the door was open for The Tide, driven by George Woods Jr., to come in second. It was the fourth consecutive second-place finish at the Gold Cup for Woods, who averaged 127.405 mph.

Woods offered a simple formula for winning a Gold Cup; "All we got to do is get out in front and we won't get pushed around and we won't get roostertails and that's the name of the game."

Mike Hanson driving Kellogg's Tony the Tiger was third with an average speed of 123.884. Hanson was followed by Mark Evans in Race Rock Motor City Diner with an average speed of 113.683 mph. DOC Acuvue, driven by Mitch Evans, was fifth with an average speed 106.970 mph.

Earlier in the day, Jimmy King, driving Race Rock Café, claimed the 1992 Spirit of Detroit Silver Cup Grand Prix. His winning time was 2:57:76, and he had an average speed of 101.260 mph. Flags along the river were raised at half-staff in memory of Grand Prix driver Paul Smith, 42, who was pronounced dead yesterday morning after his boat crashed during the first heat of racing Saturday. Crews of both the Grand Prix and unlimited hydroplanes wore red and white ribbons, the colors of Smith's boat, in his memory.

(Reprinted from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 15, 1992)