Muscatel, Harvey team up to race the U-2.25

Published 9:00 pm Saturday, August 5, 2006

SEATTLE – Dr. Ken Muscatel was ready to take the year off. Unlimited hydroplane racing is a costly and time-consuming endeavor, and Muscatel was ready for a break after 16 years in the sport.

Muscatel sold his hull and prepared to spend the season as an interested observer rather than a full-time participant.

But then the itch hit. The opening of the season was near, the sound of roaring engines grew louder in his ears and Muscatel decided maybe another year wouldn’t be so bad.

So just before the start of the season, Muscatel approached veteran owner Jim Harvey about taking over Harvey’s U-2 Graham Trucking hull. Harvey agreed to lease Muscatel the boat this season, with Harvey remaining as the boat owner. The boat was renamed the U-2.25, a combination of the U-2 and Muscatel’s old U-25.

For Muscatel, it’s a little different not being the sole owner of the boat.

“It’s more of a collaboration,” Muscatel said. “But it works well because there’s a lot of trust between Jim and I. We value what each other has to say. There’s more people available now to work out issues that may come up.”

Both boat and driver are looking for a breakthrough as the season winds down to an end. The boat hasn’t won a race since 1995 and Muscatel has never won a championship race. He began his unlimited career in 1990 as the driver of Miss Northwest and was the URC Rookie of the Year in 1991 as the driver of Jackpot Food Mart. Muscatel eventually founded Superior Racing and his team set a world 1-mile straightaway speed record of 205.494 miles an hour.

“It’s tough to be an owner in this sport,” Muscatel said. “There isn’t a lot of money to be made so you have to have some pretty strong backing. It takes a great love of the sport to run a boat year after year.”

Muscatel has long been viewed as one of the sports’ top ambassadors, serving as the URC commissioner and president of the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum board of directors. In addition, Harvey has been a longtime fixture on the circuit, serving in a variety of roles for several teams, including the Miss Budweiser and Miss Circus Circus.

“It’s really an advantage for us to be working together,” Muscatel said. “I’ve always had a lot of respect for Jim. This can only be good for us.”

The U-2 was driven by J. Michael Kelly last year and struggled, finishing seventh in points, making two finals. Mechanical trouble plagued it at Seafair last year. This year Muscatel is seventh in the drivers standings. He was the leader after the first day of elimination heats at the Detroit Gold Cup a few weeks ago and ultimately finished fifth.

In his heat race Saturday, Muscatel finished fifth in a six-boat field.

Theoret not feeling the pressure: U-37 driver Jean Theoret took the unlimited series by storm as a rookie last season. The Maple Grove, Quebec native won three of seven races in the U-8 Llumar Window Film, including the Seafair Chevrolet Cup. At the end of the season, U-8 owner Bill Wurster sold his hull to legendary driver/owner Bill Schumacher, who renamed the boat the U-37 Miss Beacon Plumbing.

Theoret, last year’s rookie of the year, has picked up right where he left off, winning the Detroit Gold Cup this year. He entered Seafair fourth in driver points and sixth in the boat standings.

Theoret, the winningest Grand Prix class driver ever with six national championships, said his boat is fast but there are other fast boats.

“This year there is a lot more competition,” Theoret said. “Every week there are so many fast boats that you can’t say that any boat should be the favorite. Anyone can win. We know we have a good boat that has won here before. But it’s hard to do it two years in a row.”

A screeching halt: The UL-18 Pacific Rim Brewing Company spun out during a heat race Saturday. Driver Joe Turner got the boat going again but it stalled out and was unable to finish. The boat started to take on water and sank, but was eventually dragged back to shore.

G Boats in the house: Five teams entered boats in the second-year G class, including Snohomish veteran Jerry Hopp in the G-12 Happy Go Lucky.

Also in the field is the G-13 Tempo with driver R.W. Lynch, the G-19 Mz ZipFizz Energy Drink of Ryan Mallow, the Baker Equipment Company G-329 of David Warren and the G-555 GP 50 Racing of Ken Brodie II.

The G Boats are similar in size to the unlimited boats, but they run on automotive power. Some in the sport believe that they are the future of hydroplane racing.

Racing for a cause: The U-21 boat owned by Jeffrey Michael Johnson and driven by Kevin Aylesworth is racing as The Plumbing Joint U-21 this weekend. Normally, the boat is the Miss Simpatico, sponsored by Simpatico Beer.

The name change is to benefit the Hydrocephalus Research Guild of Seattle’s Children’s Hospital. The Plumbing Joint is a Renton-based company. The U-21 team made an appearance at Children’s Hospital earlier this week.

Hydrocephalus is a neurological disorder with no known cure that often requires multiple brain surgeries to keep children alive and allow them to develop. It affects one out of every 500 births.

Today’s schedule: Unlimited testing starts at 8:30 a.m. Unlimited lights testing starts at 9:20 a.m. Opening ceremonies are at 10:05 a.m. The G-Boat race is at 10:35 a.m. Unlimited heats are at 10:55, 11:10, 12:25 and 12:40. Unlimited provisional heat is at 2:30 p.m. Unlimited lights B Main is at 2:45 p.m. Unlimited lights final is at 4:15 p.m. Chevrolet Cup final is at 4:30 p.m.