1988 Budweiser Unlimited Hydroplane Championship
Bud, Pringle's Crash - Kropfeld, Pierce Hospitalized After Miami Race [Version 1]
MIAMI - Scott Pierce is sore, stiff and glad to be alive the day after his unlimited hydroplane crashed into another boat and flipped during the championship heat of the Budweiser Regatta in Miami.
He also is eager to return to unlimited hydroplane racing and could be back in harness for Sunday's race on the Detroit River.
Pierce's Mr. Pringle's hydro slammed into the Miss Budweiser coming out of the first turn of the tight 1⅔-mile Miami Marine Stadium course during yesterday's final heat race.
Jim Kropfeld, driver of the Miss Budweiser, is listed in guarded but stable condition with a "cervical dislocation" in Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital.
A hospital spokeswoman, Joyce Goldberg, said Kropfeld is being treated by the hospital's ortho-spine team.
"He's awake and alert," said Goldberg.
Dr. John Wright, who heads Jackson's trauma unit, said, Kropfeld "has an excellent prognosis, but his injury has the potential for grave physical problems. If he is treated properly, he will be totally well."
Pierce, who also was held in the hospital overnight, said he has talked with Kropfeld, who is in traction, since the collision.
Pierce said he had no idea how fast his boat was going when it struck the Bud broadside.
"I was too busy racing to watch the gauges," he said, via telephone from the hospital. "They squeezed four boats on the course, and two of us were going real fast.
"Jim was inside of me, and we were behind two piston boats. We went through the corner and somehow Jim ended up sideways in front of me."
The regatta winner was George Woods Jr., who claimed the first unlimited-class hydroplane victory of his career and the first in the 13-year history of Seattle's Oh Boy! Oberto racing team.
Pierce said doctors want him in the hospital because he is especially susceptible to pneumonia after ingesting saltwater.
"My lungs are real tender," he said. "I was heaving a lot of blood, but that's under control now. I'm lobbying to get out. If I get out by Wednesday, I'm sure I'll be able to race Sunday."
Pierce was effusive in his praise of the plexiglass canopies that protected both Kropfeld and Pierce from more serious injury.
"The canopies saved our lives," said Pierce. "It (the collision) was really wicked. You don't live through something like Jimbo and I went through yesterday without one. Jim's canopy took a direct hit, but he didn't."
Pierce said the Pringle's crew is working to have its new boat ready in time for the Detroit race, but could fall back on last year's hull.
The Budweiser team left for Detroit this morning. That crew will use its backup boat in the Detroit River regatta and will try to repair the damaged No. 1 boat in time for the June 26 Gold Cup in Evansville, Ind.
A member of the Budweiser team said Tom D'Eath has been asked to drive Miss Budweiser in Detroit. Whether he will replace Kropfeld beyond that race will depend on Kropfeld's recovery.
Kropfeld and Pierce entered the final heat with two victories each after four preliminary heats.
Chip Hanauer, three-time national champion, failed to make the final heat because of fuel-line problems in the Miller High Life.
Miss Budweiser, in lane 2 leaving the first turn of the final, hooked to the outside and was struck broadside by Pierce in Mr.
Pringle's, extensively damaging the Bud's canopy and the upper surface of the right sponson.
Pierce's boat went over the top of the Budweiser, became airborne, then landed upside down.
"After he hit the Budweiser, Scott (Pierce) did an inside barrel roll," said Scott Smith, publicist for the Pringle's team.
It took rescuers 20 minutes to remove Kropfeld from his boat, which remained upright. Pierce was able to open the escape hatch under his seat, but had to be helped from the overturned Mr. Pringle's by rescuers.
"He (Kropfeld) took a direct hit to the cockpit area," said Dr. Richard Swanson, who is a member of the Unlimited Racing Commission's emergency medical team. "All of the (safety) equipment worked, and it worked well. Both drivers were conscious when they were loaded in the ambulances."
Last season, the boat Kropfeld drove yesterday had two blowovers and caught fire once. Yesterday's regatta was the first for Pierce's new hull.
Smith said the collision "punched a hole in the (Mr. Pringle's) right sponson and ripped the skid-fin bracket off the left side of the hull. And the boat's electrical system will have to be completely rewired - the saltwater ruined all the gauges."
(Reprinted from The Seattle Times, June 6, 1988)