1977 Hydrofair [Kentucky Governor's Cup]
Muncey And Atlas Set Records In Winning Kentucky Governor’s Cup
July 10 on the Ohio River at Owensboro, Kentucky was a banner day for Bill Muncey, O.H. Frisbie, and the entire Atlas Van Lines team as Bill won his fifth Kentucky Governor’s Cup, The perfect score victory was also Muncey’s 42nd career win.
Tough racing luck plagued the Bernie Little/ Budweiser team even before the race was run. Bernie’s no.2 boat, the Anheuser-Busch Natural Light was damaged severely the morning before the race as former Bud driver Bill Sterett took the boat out to test the new configuration of the course, lengthened from 2 miles to around 2¼ miles. Sterett was overcome by carbon monoxide fumes from the Rolls-Merlin engine and the boat rammed the shoreline at around 100 mph. Sterett*s wife, Mickey, was also in the cockpit when the accident occurred. Neither Bill nor his wife were hurt seriously. The U-12 was rushed to Seattle for emergency repairs to her ripped open left sponson and damaged transom. Atlas won the first heat on race day at a 110.565 mph clip over U-7, running as the interim Natural Light, Miss Madison and Dionysus.
Heat 1-B went to Miss Budweiser , with Miss Esquire second, Jim McCormick third in Santa Rita Homes (U-81), and Kirby Classic (U-66) was fourth.
Muncey breezed through Heat 2-A as the Madison was the only other finisher. Santa Rita Homes and Natural Light scored DNF and DNS respectively.
Mickey Remund coasted in for first in Heat 2-B after a one lap duel with Jerry Bangs in Miss Esquire. Dionysus and Kirby Classic trailed.
The. Final Heat, run on very choppy water, saw Atlas Van Lines whip into an early lead on the outside at the start, cut across the field to the inside and set a lap record of 119.403 mph. Remund got caught behind a wall of roostertails approaching the start and could not find a clear lane. By the time he got untracked, Muncey was gone. Remund managed to finish second, with Esquire third, Madison fourth and Dionysus fifth. Atlas also set a course record of 111.043 mph for a 10 mile heat.
| Final Standings | td>|||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | U-1 | Atlas Van Lines / Muncey | 1200 |
| 2. | U-12 | Miss Budweiser / Remund | 1100 |
| 3. | U-64 | Miss Esquire Prod. / Bangs | 825 |
| 4. | U-6 | Miss Madison / Peddie | 694 |
| 5. | U-22 | Dionysus / Maschmedt | 521 |
| 6. | U-66 | Kirby Classic / Martin | 394 |
| 7. | U-13 | Natural Light (U-7) / Snyder | 300 |
| 8. | U-81 | Santa Rita Homes / McCormick | td> td> 225 225|
| X. | U-70 | C & H Special / Zapf | Dns |
| X. | U-13 | Natural Light / Sheehy | Withdrew |
— Unlimiteds Detroit