1988 Budweiser Indiana Governor's Cup
Mr. Pringle's triumphs as Murphy's Law prevails
Favored boats get fouled up or fouled out
By Jim Terhune, Staff Writer
MADISON, Ind. — Considering the crashes, spins and blowovers that unlimited hydroplane racing has been living in recently, yesterday was a day on the Ohio River beach. Until the final heat of the Madison Regatta.
Until the Miller High Life drifted away from the dock with an engine that wouldn't stay alive.
Until Larry Lauterbach in Competition Specialties climbed a 60-degree wall in turn three of lap one, returned to the water and busted itself up.
Until the race was red-flagged because of Lauterbach's wreck and restarted 50 minutes later with a fire-breathing Miller allowed back in the hunt.
Until Circus Circus driver John Prevost misjudged the start by a mile. Literally.
Until the Miller, looking at sure victory, died 400 yards from the checkered flag;
Until second-place Miss Budweiser crossed the finish line first but was penalized a lap for bearing out.
And until Scott Pierce in Mr. Pringle's, about a mile behind the other two after apparently being washed out of the 12½-mile chase in the first turn, came tooling down the lane and got his third career victory before an estimated crowd of 90,000.
A calm day was suddenly bizarre.
"Racing is bizarre," Pierce said.
So ended the Indiana Governor's Cup in a flurry of people spouting angry words.
Still, it was not as bad as what happened at Madison last year, when Cellular One took Steve Reynolds on a horrifying ride, rendering him unconscious for weeks and leaving him with short-term memory loss still. The wrecked Competition Specialties, ironically, is the old Cellular One.
Or as bad as last week at Evansville, when boats collided twice and another flipped.
But bad enough. Surprises began when Chip Hanauer couldn't get Miller started at the dock. The crew quickly removed the cowling and started the engine. It died as Hanauer drifted away and continued to roar then die as water washed over the cowling-less turbine.
The one-minute-to-race gun sounded, and Hanauer was out of it. Or so he thought.
The final heat began, and Circus Circus, Competition Specialties and Mr. Pringle's were within yards of each other heading into turn three of the first lap. Suddenly, Competition's right side lifted about 60 degrees into the air and slammed back to the surface, bending and reshaping almost everything on the top and the right sponson.
"The boat did a little skip sideways and I got into Johnny's roostertail," said an upset Lauterbach of Prevost and Circus Circus. "John Prevost pinched me in real tight. He left a legal amount of room, but we have a common courtesy rule to leave about two lanes. I didn't get that."
Prevost said: "I knew he was on the inside of me. I felt I left plenty of room. I'd never do anything to harm or put in danger anybody out there."
A red flag came out and a flare was fired to stop the race. Miller would get a second chance, because rules allow a boat back in if it didn't do anything to stop the heat.
Miller's crew had 50 minutes to get the engine in order, and it did. Out it went for the restart.
Hydros have to time the start of each race, circling through the course, getting to top speed and trying to hit the starting line the second the gun fires.
As they began to line up, Circus Circus made one more turn through the center and found itself in turn one, two miles from the start with less than a minute to go. When the gun sounded, it was still on the back-stretch, almost half a lap behind.
"I was disoriented," said Prevost, 49, a rookie in the unlimiteds. "I broke a routine that I had established and felt comfortable with. It was really stupid. I have no excuse."
Meanwhile, Miss Budweiser grabbed the lead from Miller as Mr. Pringle's was washed far off track by the roostertails in the three-boat blast to the first two turns.
"I probably lost half a chute (turn)," Pierce said. "They were accelerating up to 175, 180 and I'm sitting back there at 80."
But Unlimited Racing Commission officials decided Miss Budweiser bore out too much and it was penalized a lap.
"I still don't know why they threw me out," said driver Tom D'Eath. "I don't think I did anything wrong. I found out about the fourth lap when Loren (Sawyer, a crew member) radioed me. I pretty much gave up after that."
Miss Budweiser owner Bernie Little considered a protest. "Nobody can tell me where or when," he said. "I went down and talked to Chip (Hanauer). He said he felt we carried him clear to the beach, so that's it. Chip's a straight shooter."
Hanauer said: "He kind of pushed me all over. He was going everywhere from lane one to lane nine. But I got by him anyway so justice was done."
Hanauer and the Miller began to close in on lap three of the five-lap race, caught Miss Budweiser in turn one of lap four and sizzled to a solid lead on the front straight after D'Eath got word of the penalty.
It was all Miller until the boat suddenly lost all power coming out of the last turn for home.
"I felt the engine starting to go away with a half-lap to go," Hanauer said. "I tried to baby it to the finish. I couldn't. The compressor broke. But I've had other races end like that."
Suddenly it was all Pierce and Mr. Pringle's, motoring along on their last propeller — "and not a very good one," Pierce said on the backstretch.
And motoring home to collect about $25,000 of the $121,000 purse.
(Information for this story also was gathered by staff writer Gary Schultz, Louisville Courier-Journal, July 4, 1988)