1986 Budweiser Unlimited Hydroplane Championship
‘Bud’ takes race without a grain of salt
By Craig Davis, Outdoors Writer
MIAMI — It had to figure that if anyone could find a way to keep a turbine hydroplane engine from choking on salty air it would be the brewery-backed Miss Budweiser team.
Having spent nearly two years on the problem, the brew crew unveiled the solution impressively Sunday in winning the 16th annual unlimited hydroplane regatta, which it sponsors. Jim Kropfeld’s victory in the new Miss Budweiser was the first for a turbine-powered boat in saltwater.
It was an exultant day all around for team owner Bernie Little and his minions. There wasn’t a dry throat in Miami Marine Stadium.
“The only disappointment was that we wanted a 1-2 finish,” Little said, noting that his older Griffon-powered boat placed third in the final behind Miss Madison.
Salt spray and humidity have been the undoing of every other turbine boat that has raced here. Defending national champion Miller American and the highly regarded Miss 7-Eleven joined the list of victims Sunday.
Meanwhile, nothing fazed Miss Budweiser. which ran as smooth as a Swiss watch all weekend. After posting the fastest qualifying time, Kropfeld was in command of every race, winning both of his preliminary heats and keeping Miss Madison comfortably at bay in the final while averaging 102.495 mph.
"It was something my crew came up with to separate the salt from the air,” Kropfeld said. "We knew we could do it. We just had to get out on the race course and prove it.”
Naturally, the mechanism responsible for keeping salt out of the turbine is a secret. A key to its success involves keeping a trap door on the air intake closed when the boat starts up to prevent water from being scooped into the engine as the bow plows up out of the water. Until the boat levels onto plane, air needed to cool the turbine is sucked out of the bilge.
Although this was the first time the boat has competed, it was launched last November and underwent extensive testing at Seattle. However, the South Florida environment is a stickier beast than the turbine faced on the West Coast. Kropfeld was wary when he saw salty clouds hanging over the water as five boats churned around the 1⅔-mile course in the final.
"I did my best to run around the clouds, but the separator must have been working because I was going through some of them and nothing happened,” he said.
Indeed, Miss Budweiser made it look almost too easy, and in the process sent a sobering message to its rivals.
Chip Hanauer, who will try for a record-tying fifth consecutive Gold Cup in Detroit on June 29, was unable to even get Miller American to the starting line. He came out for the first heat, saw that the turbine was overheating almost immediately and shut it down. He and his crew decided to retire for the day rather than risk destroying equipment and jeopardizing their season.
Kropfeld was as disappointed as Hanauer.
“I’ve finally got something that can run with you, and now you don’t even give me a chance to beat you," Kropfeld quipped to his counterpart.
Steve Reynolds nursed Miss 7-Eleven through two heats with the turbine sputtering and complaining all the way. It never attained competitive speed and was unable to start in the final.
Only the persistence of Ron Snyder in the spunky old Miss Madison kept the contest from turning into dueling Budweisers. Driving a 13-year-old hull — featuring the outmoded configuration in which the driver sits behind the engine — Snyder pulled the surprise of the day when he beat Scott Pierce in the piston-powered Miss Budweiser in the second heat of the day. That despite his turbocharged Allison engine spotting 1,500 horsepower to the Bud's Rolls-Royce Griffon.
Miss Madison emerged as the crowd favorite when it ran side-by-side with the turbine Miss Budweiser in its next heat. Clearly, Kropfeld was toying with Snyder and probably could have pulled away at any time, but Miss Madison hung in until the last turn.
After a thunderstorm delayed the final for an hour, Snyder nailed his third perfect start of the day and led until midway down the backstretch when the choppy course bounced him right off the throttle and Miss Budweiser whooshed past.
“I felt sorry for poor Ron bouncing around in that old boat. I asked him if he had Velcro on the seat of his pants,” Kropfeld said with a chuckle.
Nonetheless, that old boat is a classic, having won 22 races and four national championships. Its first victory came in its debut at Miami in 1973. Now owned by the citizens of Madison, Ind., and campaigned by a crew of volunteers, Miss Madison seemed reborn after a winter overhaul.
“Maybe it was the new paint job,” said happy team manager Bob Hughes.
“Going on 14 years and it's still a good boat. It’s the best conventional [design] boat ever built,” said Snyder, who returned for his fifth season in the cockpit after a year off.
This regatta also marked a comeback of sorts for Bernie Little and Co. Last year his piston boat arrived in Miami brand new and full of bugs. Kropfeld failed even to qualify. This time the Budweiser team returned with enough sophisticated floating equipment to storm Libya’s Line of Death.
“Miami is my second home. To put on a show like that last year in front of all my friends was totally embarrassing,” Little said.
The rest of 1985 wasn’t much better for his crew as it struggled to perfect several experimental features on the boat. This year, with a new boat already running like a champ and another turbine under construction in Seattle, the Budweiser gang figures to be pouring more suds of celebration than sorrow.
“The last time we started out winning here [1984], we won six races and ended up U.S. 1,” Kropfeld warned.
Having exorcised the saltwater demons from the turbine, perhaps they can next offer some insight into the Space Shuttle’s O-ring problem.
| Miami/Budweiser Unlimited Hydroplane Regatta Unlimited Class 1 Miss Budweiser (turbine). Jim Kropfeld, Cincinnati. 102 495 mph. 2 Miss Madison, Ron Snyder, Piqua, Ohio, 98.438 mph. 3 Miss Budweiser (Griffon), Scott Pierce, Seattle. 95.551 mph. 4 Pantry Pride, Todd Yarling, Hanover. Ind 91.082 mph. 5. Miss MerCruiser, John Prevost, Baton Rouge. La. 72 928 mph. 2.5 litre class 1 Kelly's Hero, Bob Thrash, Miami. 59.032 mph. 2 Intensity, Rick MacNeilly, Boca Raton, 3 DCT Special, Gordon Oakley, Lake Worth 5 litre class 1 Take Five, Lenny Rubmo, Hollywood, 72 646 mph. 2 Flying Sorcery, Gary Brown, Cocoa Beach, 3 Hail-Fast, Peter Beals, Lauderhill. 7 litre class 1 Protect 7, Chuck Woodruff, Miami, 94 212 mph. 2 Jerry Scheldt, Miss Prime Mover, Fort Lauderdale, 3 Steeter, Steve David, Pompano Beach. Jersey Speed Skiffs 1 Southern Comfort, Mike Doud-Cliff Tait, Port St Lucie, 63.269 mph. 2 For The Birds Bob Birdsall, Dick Birdsall, West Palm Beach, 3 Stir Crazy, Ed Scaia-Daryl Sudderth, West Palm Beach. |
(Reprinted from the Fort Lauderdale News, June 16, 1986)