The Defense Department\u2019s budget cutback has forced the Air National Guard to withdraw its title sponsorship of the H1 Hydroplane series on Mission Bay, but local officials say the withdrawl won\u2019t alter plans for the 49th Bayfair races Sept. 13-15.
\nThe Air National Guard was hit by the same circumstances that forced cancellation of Miramar\u2019s Air Show \u2014 at least involving military aircraft \u2014 and presumably will curtail sponsorships in other sports areas.
\nBayfair board of governors spokesman Gregg Mansfield said he anticipates a representative field of 10 hydroplanes, headed by driving champion Steve David. Chief challengers this year should be Jimmy Shane, Kip Brown. J. Michael Reilly and Jon Zimmerman.
\nThe race will be without the sport\u2019s win-leading pilot, Dave Villwock, who announced his retirement earlier this year.
\nHowever, there were mixed feelings about that since the owner of the Spirit of Qatar said he released Villwock\u2019s contract after a race accident in January.
\nVillwock was disqualified in a heat race after veering off course, causing the boat to hit several corner buoys and damaging the hydro.
\n“Dave Villwock has retired from our team,”said Erick Ellstrom, owner of the Spirit of Qatar. “We had a great run together and celebrated many victories together. We are not aware of his future plans, but we wish him nothing but the best.”
\nVillwock won 11 national titles and broke Bill Muncey\u2019s all-time career record with 64 victories.
\n“I think I’m all done with it,” Villwock said last month when asked if he would be back. “It’s just another reason I\u2019m not excited about it (Unlimited Hydroplane racing) anymore. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll be there.”
\nMansfield said there would be a few changes in the three-day format.
\n“The Lucas Oil Series drag boats will not be returning to Crown Point,” he said. “They decided to move to Firebird Raceway in Phoenix, performing the same day as Bayfair.”
\nHe said negotiations are under way to schedule a freestyle motocross that he hopes will be a mainstay in that location for several years.
\nMeanwhile, Grand Prix West, a small hydroplane division, will see action this year, as well as an armada of other racing craft.
\nIn another change, a stage will be added at Crown Point. So, with the other stage at the main entrance, Mansfield said he anticipates 50 bands will entertain during the three days.
\nIn the past, Mansfield said Bayfair has received $80,000 from the tourism industry to help run the event.
\n“I believe that money has been diverted to the planning for the 2015 Centennial in Balboa Park,” he said. However, he said the hydroplane event\u2019s sales venues have held up pretty well.
\nBayfair has attracted sizable crowds over the years, reaching 100,000 visitors at times. Last year\u2019s event drew a reported crowd of 98,000.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Defense Department\u2019s budget cutback has forced the Air National Guard to withdraw its title sponsorship of the H1 Hydroplane series on Mission Bay, but local officials say the withdrawl won\u2019t alter plans for the 49th Bayfair races Sept. 13-15. The Air National Guard was hit by the same circumstances that forced cancellation of Miramar\u2019s […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":278614,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11559","_seopress_titles_title":"Air National Guard abandons powerboat-race sponsorship after budget cuts","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11559,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-278613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beach-bay-press","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}