SEATTLE – The only prediction driver Dave Villwock will make for the future of the Miss Budweiser unlimited hydroplane race team is that it will be in San Diego Sept. 17-19.
Beyond that, the outlook for the most dominant team in motorsports is up in the air. Anheuser Busch announced earlier this year that it will no longer sponsor the team after this season, putting an end to a dynasty the late Bernie Little started with the beer company 42 years ago.
Villwock said the team is doing its best not to make next season’s uncertainty a distraction. Will the crew and driver disband and join other race teams? Will owner Joe Little find a suitable sponsor and keep the team together?
No one knows. Villwock says the idea is to block out all the swirling questions and concentrate on the task at hand.
“The whole team’s racing pretty hard,” he said. “We’ve taken a little different focus. We’re focusing on the fans, first and foremost. We try to race as hard as we can each and every time. We’ll do that from the first race to the last race.”
The Miss Bud legacy is, indeed, impressive.
In its record 363 races in 42 years, the Miss Bud has notched 234 top-three finishes, 137 victories, 23 world championships and 14 American Power Boat Association Gold Cups.
Since Villwock joined the team eight years ago, the Bud has won 32 races, six world championships and four APBA Gold Cups.
Budweiser’s dominance has created some jealousy among other teams. Yes, it has the best driver, best crew and most stable ownership, but it also is the team with the most financial backing.
Many blamed the Bud for the sport’s loss of fans and sponsorship money. In turn, Little and Villwock said it was up to other teams to improve performance.
So dominant has the Bud been that Gary Garbrecht, who has headed Hydro-Prop for four years, decided to even the playing field by slapping fuel-flow restrictions on the previous race’s winner. It was an attempt to slow the Bud, make the races more competitive and, Garbrecht hoped, bring back fans and sponsorship money.
At the time, Villwock likened the move to the PGA forbidding Tiger Woods to use his putter.
Today, Villwock hopes the team will remain intact next season.
“That’s the best-case scenario,” he said. “Our hope is that there is a fair and equitable entity to run those boats. If that would happen, that’s certainly something that would be good.”
This week’s twist won’t make it any easier, Villwock said.
Hydro-Prop chief operating officer Tom D’Eath announced Monday that he has scheduled a points race in Detroit Sept. 17-19, a deliberate attempt to conflict with a race in San Diego set up independently of Hydro-Prop.
How the pro-Hydro-Prop and anti-Hydro-Prop owners will distribute their boats is unknown, but Villwock says it does nothing for the sport’s credibility.
It also may turn away sponsors interested in backing the Bud team next season.
“We have to have a circuit to sell,” he said. “We have to have a number of things to sell for a major motorsport to exist. With Hydro-Prop and APBA making the moves to do what they’re doing in conflict with San Diego, I think, is counterproductive to the future of the sport.”
Whatever happens to the Bud team, there is no shortage of opinions as to what should occur.
Mark Evans, longtime driver who now does color commentary on television, believes the team should split up into two, thereby, theoretically, adding depth to the sport.
“I’d just as soon see that team split up and see the talent go to two different teams, with two different sponsors,” Evans said. “If Bud’s going to leave, go ahead. It’s been fun. Let’s get two good teams and get two more good sponsors.”
Terry Troxell, driver of the U-16 Miss Elam Plus, would like to see the team stay intact.
“I’d love to see a soft-drink company buy them up and go back racing,” Troxell said. “Dave and I have our differences, but I respect the guy. Their crew has been mentors to all of us. It’s always been a stable force in boat racing. I think you need that. There’s a lot of whining about it, but Dave is probably the all-time best boat racer in unlimiteds.”
Old boats to run: Four vintage boats will compete Saturday and Sunday at the Chevrolet Cup at Seafair. The 1980 Miss Budweiser, the 1982 Atlas Van Lines, the Hawaii Kai III and the Miss Burien will vie in the “Classic Colors” competition.
Maybe 11: A late, possible 11th entry may come from Terry Martin of Hermiston, Ore., owner of the U-20. His driver, veteran inboard racer Dick Lynch, would be in the cockpit should Martin get the boat to Seattle.
Brown back: Nate Brown, who didn’t have a ride at the beginning of the season, will pilot the U-10 Miss Emcor. He has run two races following an injury to driver Mark Weber, who hurt his back in the season opener at Madison, Ind.
Brown’s first race was a controversial win in the Gold Cup in Detroit, considered the sport’s Super Bowl. He recorded his first career victory two years ago at Seafair, driving the Miss Elam Plus.
“That was a dream come true,” Brown said of the Seattle victory.
New blood: Three rookies are slated to compete for the first time at Seafair.
Outboard national champion J. Michael Kelly, 25, will drive the U-2 Harvey Motorsports boat. Also, Steve Hook and Vince Xaudaro, will race in the U-99 Miss Beacon Plumbing and the U-00 Skyway Park Bowl and Casino, respectively.
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