1977 APBA Gold Cup
Muncey Claims Record Gold
By Mickey Kress
If there were any who doubted that Bill Muncey's new Atlas Van Lines belongs in the superboat class, the 1977 Gold Gup July 31 converted them. Muncey and his Blue Racer sent records tumbling as he swept all four heats, soundly beating the best of this year's fleet. Even a perfect running Miss Budweiser was no competition on the 2½ mile Tri-Cities course. In years past Mickey Remund's sparkling performance would have won the race; this year he was a distant second.
Remund and Muncey first hooked up in Heat 1-B. Entering the first turn nearly three-abreast with the surprising Chip Hanauer in Tad Dean's Body Shop, Remund powered through a superior turn on the inside of the U-22 and appeared to be on his way at the exit pin. Suddenly Muncey poked his nose ahead and in an instant had an awesome roostertail lead. Muncey had the heat salted away by the next turn, and his second lap at 124.309 set a Gold Cup record. Bob Miller in the U-66 Mark & Pak shut down on the back straight with a fire on board. Miller jumped into the water and the heat was halted after five laps. Jack Schafer couldn't start Miss Van's P-X.
Last year's national champion hull was leased by Dave Heerensperger and painted in the familiar white with orange and black Pay'n Pak colors. Ron Armstrong in the U-25 and Remund treated the estimated 60,000 fans to a deja vu barnstormer in Heat 2-C. An invisible hole midway between the starting line and the first turn sent both the Bud and Jon Peddle in Pay'n Pak and Miss Madison into wild, twisting leaps during the final warm-up lap. Everyone held their breath as the Pak, Bud and Miss M in lanes 1, 2 and 3 made perfect pedal-to-the-metal starts. All three boats took scarey bounces but no one let up to the first turn.
With the Pak on the inside and the Bud on the outside it was a classic 115-mph deck-to-deck battle reminiscent on their 1973-75 donnybrooks. For. three full laps each time Remund inched ahead Armstrong gave the Pak some juice. There was never more than a couple of boat lengths between the two. The dream match was shattered when the Pak’s left sponson runner tore loose in the lower turn. Armstrong limped to the pits with his mount listing badly, while Remund cruised to an easy win. Peddie was second and Tom Martin in R. Mikulski Advertising completed one lap.
The Pak made a triumphant return to the hydro wars in Heat 1-A. Armstrong got a perfect start and led Tom Sheehy in the Anheuser-Busch Natural Light into the first turn. Sheehy closed the gap to 100 yards for four laps before falling off the pace to finish second. Pete LaRock tried a new two-bladed prop on his U-96KYYX96 but he was never a factor in his third place finish.
Martin chugged in fourth in the RMA. The heat's other entrant, Ron Snyder in the U-7 Miss Lynnwood Equipment, entered the course, returned to the pits to have a loose waste gate tightened, then didn't get retsarted prior to the one minute gun. Snyder got the hook from Referee Bill Newton after a lap.
Heat 1-C promised to be a romp for Jerry Bangs driving Detroit's only representative in the classic, the U-64 Squire (sponsored by a men's clothing store chain). Bangs quickly moved ahead of Bill Wurster in the U-8 Oh Boy! Oberto (the former snub nose U-21 Valu-Mart). Peddie was a quarter lap late for the start and Bob Maschmedt couldn't start Bob Murphy's new single Chevy powered cabover, the U-4 Miss Tri-Cities. The salami boat conked out in the fourth lap and Bangs was headed for a comfortable 400 points when he lost power three-quarters of a lap from the finish. Before Bangs restarted Peddie passed him for the win. The Banger settled for second.
Young (23) Chip Hanauer again showed his remarkable ability to get a boat to the starting line with his foot to the floor in Heat 2-A. He was first to the turn buoy with Muncey on his hip, but with the Atlas' incomparable turning speed Muncey whipped around the east end of the course and was Zone. Hanauer managed to hold back Jack Schafer for a few laps but the kid just didn t have enough boat to keep the number two spot. Schafer was second and Hanauer third.
Maschmedt took one warm-up lap in the U-4 and shut down, much to the relief of most onlookers. The light (3,500 lbs.) hull's wild gyrations, even at lower speeds, were more than most folks wanted to see. By comparison the U-29 Lincoln Thrift was smooth and steady as the Bob-Lo boat.
Everyone was so early for Heat 2-B that down course fans wondered if another malfunctioning clock mess was in the works. Finally the roostertails were up and from the far outside lane Snyder blew across the line early, dragging Bangs with him. Sheehy laid back in an apparent third place. Snyder cranked out two of the best laps the Benning-Kiefer hull has ever run. His 61-mph speed for lap one was in fact his time for the early lap and the official first lap, which means he was in the 120-mph range.
Snyder’s chute pack came loose in the second lap and everyone passed him before he recovered. He retsarted only to grind to a smoking halt one lap later. Sheehy sailed home first and LaRock was second. Bangs stalled on his extra lap but restarted to take third. Oberto never left its trailer.
The amazing Hanauer was at it again in Heat 3-A when he won the race to the first turn. He was quickly overtaken by Snyder, running the race of his Unlimited life, and Remund. Snyder held an ever-so-slim lead over the Bud for three laps before Remund grabbed a 100-foot margin entering the lower turn. Although it was only the fourth lap the leaders were already overtaking Martin in the balky Mikulski.
Martin was in the third lane so Remund swung way outside. Snyder, keeping his Rs up, couldn't fit between Martin and the buoys and, with Martin s roostertail staring him in the face, had to back off. Snyder settled for second to Remund. The battle for first place overshadowed another scrappy duel between between Hanauer and Schafer. It took four laps for Schafer to claim the third slot, with Hanauer fourth. Following the lower turn incident Martin was "blackflagged, fined $300 and suspended" for what Newton termed driving in a reckless manner.
Following a fine three-abreast start Heat 3-A quickly turned into a parade. No one seemed anxious or able to challenge the next boat. At the chaeckered flag it was Muncey, Bangs, Sheehy, Peddle and LaRock. It looked so easy that few realized Muncey set a Gold Gup heat record with his 114.711 clocking.
By the time the final heat rolled around the winner was obvious. No one approached Atlas’ sterling performance ip the preliminaries. The Blue Streak did everything Muncey asked, carrying the 48-year-old driver to his golden victory. Remund was second, Bangs third and Peddle fourth. LaRock installed a fresh engine but DNFed in lap five, and the Natural Light three a row in the first lap.
Muncey’s records included his Gold Cup heat and competition lap marks, a 128.388 qualification lap, six Gold Cups and 43 career victories. With his unbelievable boat and today*s competition, don’t bet against Mr. Muncey notching number 50 some Sunday hext summer.
— Unlimiteds Detroit