50 years in 50 days: Hanauer’s final race ends with flip
Editor’s note: There are 37 days until the APBA HAPO Gold Cup Heat 1A race takes place on the Columbia River. At the same time, the Tri-City Water Follies’ annual event is celebrating its 50th year of racing unlimited hydroplanes. So the Herald will take a daily look at past storylines leading up to the Gold Cup. These are in no particular order:
Aug. 1, 1999: Hanauer flips out.
Chip Hanauer is one of unlimited hydroplane racing’s greats, and outside of Dave Villwock’s eight wins on the Columbia River, he has seven victories himself in the Tri-Cities.
In 1999, Hanauer decided to make a return to hydro racing after being retired for the three previous seasons.
The retirement happened after he suffered a pre-race accident driving the Miss Budweiser in 1996. With other personal problems, Hanauer decided to get away from the sport.
“I needed to get away and get my health back,” Hanauer told the Herald three years later. “That’s what I’ve done. It took some time, but I’ve basically reinvented myself.”
Hanauer held no hard feelings against owner Bernie Little or the Miss Budweiser team.
“I’m glad I drove the Miss Budweiser, and I’ll be grateful to Bernie forever for giving me that opportunity,” Hanauer said. “They have the best racing team in the sport, and I was glad I had a chance to be a part of it. I guess I’m just more in my element (with the PICO). It’s a lot more fun when you can actually exceed the expectations.”
Both Villwock and Hanauer had three victories that season before coming to the Tri-Cities, with Hanauer taking the prestigious Gold Cup in Detroit and Villwock, driving the Bud, winning at Norfolk, Va., in the last race before the western swing.
But in 1999, in his final driving appearance in the Tri-Cities, Hanauer flipped the Miss PICO hydroplane.
Hanauer won his first two heat races of the day. But he did it without racing against the rival Budweiser team.
Finally, the fans on the shore got a chance to see the two boats do battle in Heat 3A. It didn’t last long.
During the first lap, in the west turn, Hanauer hugged the inside lane while Villwock had lane 2.
Hanauer’s right sponson hit Villwock’s roostertail, and the force lifted the boat into a somersault 60 feet in the air.
Hanauer suffered a sore back and neck, and he would never race competitively on the Columbia again.
Villwock and Little were two of the first people to reach Hanauer when the rescue boat brought the PICO driver in from the river.
“Our hearts go out to Chip,” Little said. “He’s a member of our family.”
PICO crew chief Ken Dryden and his team pulled off a heroic effort, however, getting the boat fixed in time to run in the final heat with Mike Weber driving as backup.
Villwock and Bud were perfect on the day, but PICO and Weber finished the day in second place.
The Miss Budweiser driver set a Columbia Cup course qualifying record of 170.471 mph on Saturday.
Then on Sunday, he easily outdistanced his foes in three preliminary heats before doing the same in the winner-take-all final for his fourth victory of the unlimited hydroplane season.
The victory was Villwock’s 25th of his career, tying him with one of his idols — Dean Chenoweth.
“I wanted to match his record in the Tri-Cities for obvious reasons,” Villwock said. Chenoweth died during a qualifying run on the Columbia River on July 31, 1982.
Little, who for years would begin race day by scooping up some water from the Columbia River and kissing it, skipped that practice for the second straight year.
And for the second straight year, Budweiser won the Columbia Cup.
For Little, who lost Chenoweth to the river 17 years ago, and nearly lost Villwock in a blowover two years ago, his love affair with the Columbia is gone.
“This river,” Little said, “owed me.”
This story was originally published June 18, 2015 at 11:22 PM with the headline "50 years in 50 days: Hanauer’s final race ends with flip."