SEATTLE That guy you see panting heavily and bent over at the waist like he just ran a marathon this weekend at Genesee Park? There’s a good chance that’s Greg Hopp.
The unlimited hydroplane driver from Lake Stevens will be in for a long, taxing weekend when the Seafair Chevrolet Cup begins this morning.
Hopp will pilot both the Hopp Racing unlimited lights UL-1 Mike’s Hard Lemonade/Happy Go Lucky boat and the unlimited U-100 Todd Hoss American Dream for owner Fred Leland. In addition, he’ll be the radio man for his dad, veteran driver/owner Jerry Hopp, when Jerry drives the Hopp Racing boat in the second-year G-Boat class.
Hopp has been racing both boats regularly so he’s used to it, not that it makes all that much easier. This weekend should be at least slightly better than last week in Tri-Cities, where the lights pits was farther away from the unlimiteds pits than they are at SeaFair.
“It gets draining,” said the 38-year-old Hopp. “You’re pretty physically tired at the end of the day. A lot of it depends on how the pit layout is. In Tri-Cities, they’re at opposite ends so I was having to sprint back-and-forth a long way. It’s hard enough driving the boats, to have to run a ways to get to them, that’s what makes it toughest.”
Hopp wouldn’t do it if he didn’t think he could keep both boats in contention, but the fact is, he believes he can. And for the most part, he’s been right. Last year, Hopp won the lights drivers championship and the UL-1 won the boat title. It is consistently at the top of its class, winning the Silver Cup in Detroit a few weeks ago and winning in Tri-Cities last week. The UL-1 won the Graham Trucking Cup at Seafair last year.
The U-100 hasn’t been quite as successful, dealing with mechanical issues most of the season. Hopp and the boat are both in 10th place in the points standings and not in contention for a title. But that doesn’t mean Hopp couldn’t pull off a victory this weekend, despite having a cold spell the past couple years.
“It’s been hit-and-miss throughout the year,” Hopp said. “We’ve been fighting a new front wing system. But we showed signs of promise at Tri-Cities. We’ve been running well and then something will happen that will take us out of it. It gets quite frustrating.”
Last week was a good example of the luck (or lack of) Hopp and the Leland boat has been dealing with.
Hopp was running strong in Heat 3B when the U-13 Acura of Bellevue with J. Michael Kelly driving flipped behind Hopp. Hopp’s radios went dead, and he didn’t know that Kelly had flipped, and the sun made it difficult to see that a red flag had come out. Hopp continued to run, and was disqualified, keeping him from the final.
“Otherwise, we would have had a good chance in the final,” Hopp said. “We had a great boat and were going good. It’s things like that that really frustrate you.”
The weekend wasn’t all bad for Hopp. In fact, he described it as great, despite the bad luck of the U-100. Hopp got the win in the unlimited lights race, and Jerry Hopp won the G-Boat class.
“We went into the weekend down around 400 points (in the lights series) and came out ahead by about 200,” Hopp said. “That was a great weekend for us.”
So which of the rides is more important to Hopp? After all, the lights class is the family boat and is in a championship race. The U-100 is owned by Leland and is out of the championship running, but it is also the big leagues of hydro racing.
“It’s like NASCAR (Nextel Cup) and the Busch Series,” Hopp said. “Our Busch team is running for the national title, our unlimiteds is out of it. It’s a weird deal because our priorities are kind of opposite. About the only thing I haven’t done in racing is win an unlimiteds race. I’ve been close and I’d love to do it. But in the lights, we’re just barely ahead in the points race and that’s really important to us.”
Winning an unlimiteds final will be even tougher now, with three new former Miss Bud hulls on the circuit, raising the number of competitive boats significantly. Hopp knows he’s going against some top-notch equipment and some talented drivers, but he says it adds to the excitement when the racing is so fast. He said racing in his hometown also brings an extra edge to the excitement level.
“All the races are big but it’s always great to run in the hometown,” Hopp said. “There’s probably a little extra pressure with more friends and family and sponsors there. And it’s the biggest race for Mike’s Hard Lemonade. You always want to do well when you’re racing in front of so many people you know and who are pulling for you.”
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