1995 Seafair Texaco Cup
Race Summary
SEATTLE (Aug. 6) -- After another heated, see-saw battle between the Miss Budweiser and Smokin' Joe's for qualifying honors -- with defending Seattle champion Villwock cutting some fast laps, too, in the PICO -- Hanauer emerged on top of the time trial ladder. He also powered through to a pair of heat wins before catching Tate and the Smokin' Joe's in Heat 3-A. That duel went to the latter, but the elements were fast catching up with everyone.
Race day for the Texaco Cup at SEAFAIR came up damp and drizzly, with the weather worsening at a rapid rate. By mid-afternoon, conditions were miserable, with visibility so bad that the race was delayed for an hour. Heaped upon this was an inadvertent flare which went off in Heat 2-B, when Ken Dryden's Miss E-Lam Plus tangled with Jerry Hopp's Miss Cascade Homes and both boats went dead in the water. A turn judge thought he saw fire aboard Dryden's craft and set off a red flare.
Officials tried to override the flare, knowing there was not cause for same, and the heat was, indeed, completed with Hanauer receiving the trophy. But cooler heads at last prevailed and it was decided that the heat must be re-run, largely due to an unfair advantage gained by Mike Hanson in the DeWalt Tools (formerly the Miss Jasper) over Mark Evans' Miss KISW Rock. It was re-run, with an angry Hanauer protesting -- but still winning. Evans, this time, finished ahead of the DeWALT.
Bad weather scrubbed out the provisional heat, but the final came off shortly before 5 p.m. with Hanauer, Little and the Miss Budweiser receipting for the team's long-sought 100th victory. The win was all the more important when Tate ran out of room and temporarily stalled the Smokin' Joe's, finally re-starting to finish fifth. This left the two boats 156 points apart heading for San Diego, now with the Bud back on top in pursuit of an unprecedented fifth straight high points title. And, again, Nate Brown pushed the Pizza Time 'N Exide to second place, followed by the hard-running Evans in the Miss KISW Rock.
(Reprinted from the URC Electronic Thunderletter No. 29 September 28, 1995)