1996 Budweiser Columbia Cup
Flip Destroys Appian Boat, Injures Driver
By Paul Lindberg and Eric Degerman
KENNEWICK, Wash. -- The fullest day of unlimited hydroplane racing on the Columbia River in 31 years was interrupted Sunday when the U-19 Appian Jeronimo boat Tom Hindley was driving flipped near the apex buoy on the west turn during the first lap of the provisional heat.
Hindley was in third place heading around the turn when his right sponson hit a roller and lifted out of the water, taking the black and yellow hull with it.
All that was visible was a wall of water as the boat landed between two other roostertails, sending pieces of the boat all over the course and tearing the front of the cockpit away from Hindley.
Hindley was taken to Kennewick General Hospital. A hospital official said he would be held overnight for observation in the intensive care unit.
Kathy Dios, patient care coordinator at KGH, said hospital policy did not allow anyone to speak to someone in ICU. She did say Hindley suffered three broken ribs and was in stable condition.
"The driver is fine, and that's the most important thing as far as we're concerned," said Bob Fendler, U-19 owner, standing in front of the empty trailer in the pits. "Everything else can be fixed. All the safety stuff we had on the boat worked, and Tom is a great driver, a real trooper."
U-99 Performance Mortgage driver Larry Lauterbach and U-14 Computers & Applications driver Ken Muscatel were behind Hindley on the turn and had the closest views of the blowover.
"I couldn't hardly miss it because it was right in front of me," Lauterbach said. "(Hindley) hit what we call a roller, just a hole in the water. His right sponson went up, some air got under the boat and there it goes."
Muscatel thought the Appian Jeronimo was going to land on him.
"I was only about 40 to 50 yards away," said Muscatel, who turned sharply trying to avoid the flying boat and ended up breaking his wing near the right stabilizer. "He went up right in front of me and then he was on me, and I quickly maneuvered to avoid him."
Pieces of the boat, each sponson and the main hull were recovered and returned to the pits. The tattered hull sat on the trailer, missing the nose and exposing the black driver's seat.
"I've never seen a boat come apart like that before," said U-98 driver Scott Pierce. "It must have hit the water in all the wrong ways."
PICO crew chief Ken Dryden, a boat builder and a survivor of two blowovers as a driver, surveyed the damage and wasn't optimistic. "That's probably it for the boat."
Fendler wasn't so sure it was a total loss after assessing the damage himself. "This is rebuildable and I will rebuild it. It may be a winter project, but I will rebuild it."
Fendler said he intended to lease a boat and would enter it in Seattle this weekend.
"We might lease him one from our team," Dryden said, "and get him back on the water next weekend."
(Reprinted from the Tri-City Herald, July 29, 1996)