Drivers Jimmy Shane and J. Michael Kelly will be battling for supremacy Sept. 12-14 when the unlimited hydroplanes return for the sport’s 50th anniversary on Mission Bay.
Shane, piloting the Oh Boy Oberto boat, and Kelly, with the Graham Trucking boat, have each won a pair of races in the H1 Hydroplane series of San Diego Bayfair.
Since 1964, when legendary hydro driver Bill Muncey convinced the City Council that the bay was the right place for hard-charging, rooster-tail spewing unlimited hydroplanes, the racing-entertainment festival has entertained an estimated five million spectators.
The 2.5-mile racecourse is the longest and fastest on the H1 Unlimited hydroplane circuit.
The local event, which flew San Diego Thunderboat and Bayfair banners, has experienced its high and low tides, but the Bayfair board of governors kept it afloat.
Muncey, who would win 63 races in his career, actually mortgaged his Mt. Helix home to finance the first race with Mariner Too, driven by Warner Gardner, the unlikely winner. Gardner described it as a bucking bronco.
Although it never won another race, the hull was used for the first turbine experiment, a powerful engine that became the sport’s nameplate.
The biggest news in the last 25 years became the dominance of jet-turbine power. Since 1984, most races have been won by boats using the Lycoming T-55 L-7C engine, intended for use in the Vietnam era’s Chinook helicopter. Lap speeds increased from 140 to 170 miles per hour.
The so-called glory days came under an Anheuser Busch sponsorship. But the Bayfair oversight body would pay a price because Bernie Little’s Budweiser boats dominated, winning 12 races with several pilots.
The door had opened to major corporate involvement in unlimited racing. In 1964, Little introduced the first in his long line of Miss Budweiser hydroplanes, sponsored by Anheuser-Busch. His drivers won 141 races between 1966 and 2004.
Still, San Diego lost out on the racing sponsorship twice. The bay was silent in 1971-73 and 2009.
Muncey had been tough elsewhere, but it took him eight years to post a victory here. He won one more before losing his life in an Acapulco hydroplane crash in 1981.
Chip Hanaur, another Hall of Fame driver, was approaching Muncey’s overall record but chose retirement rather than topping his old friend’s record.
That wasn’t the case with Dave Villwock, who eventually would win 67 races.
Ironically, it was Muncey’s widow, Fran, who recommended Villwock, a fresh rookie, for the Circus Circus boat. It was Bill Muncey’s old Atlas Van Lines boat renamed.
Villwock set the world lap speed record of 173.384 mph in 1999 at Bayfair. Villwock has won a record nine Bill Muncey Cups, including his first unlimited hydroplane race victory.
Fran, often called the “Grande Dame” of hydroplane racing, continued as a boat owner until 1988, then took a position on Bayfair’s board of governors. Currently, she owns two restaurants in Chula Vista.
Fran Muncey said the hardest decision she ever had to make was to continue with the racing industry. At the time, she said she was very angry and did not want to keep racing, but did it for him “because he loved the sport so.”
In 1988 the San Diego race drew nationwide attention when the Circus Circus and Miss Madison — buffeted by a wind gust — did simultaneous back-flips on the main straight. They were saved from serious injury by cab-overs, which recently had been introduced to the sport.
The roll call of winning drivers on the Bay included Ron Munson, Hanaur, Bill Sterett, Dean Chenoweth, Mickey Remund,Tom D’Eath and Steve David.
A 20-foot-high sculpted tail fin, dedicated to Muncey by the Thunderboats Unlimited of San Diego, stands near the boat pits.
Executive director Gregg Mansfield said H1 Unlimited expects to have 10 boats ready for the heat races. Additionally, they anticipate six or seven Grand Prix West piston-powered entries to see action off Ski Beach.
Fifty to 60 smaller class boats will compete at Crown Point.
