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Lynch Line for February 2007
As I finish writing this on February 26th there’s a startling fact staring all of us in the face. Two months from today is Spring Training! In hydroplane racing two months to prepare is more like a two week deadline. ULHRA teams operate very professionally but they are not (yet) paid professionals. They work on their boats in the off season when time permits. Some teams have a crew day on the weekend. Others with more work ahead will have a weeknight or two devoted to preparing for the season plus a full weekend day or two…..every week till their work is done….which of course is never truly done. When they get to Spring Training they learn what they still need to do to be ready for the season opener 3 weeks later. They do this because they have a passion for the sport of ULHRA hydroplane racing. It’s an incredible time commitment and one that fans should recognize and appreciate for it’s the fans that these teams race. Spring Training this year moves to a new venue. Renton WA on Lake Washington is just a few miles from the Graham Trucking Cup at Seafair Ted Jones race course at Seattle. The location, Gene Coulon Memorial Park provides an optimum setting for teams wishing to test and for fans desiring an up close opportunity with ULHRA race craft. This year between Thunderboats (G) Unlimited Lights (UL) and Lighter than LIGHTS (LTL) there could be as many as 20 boats testing from 10:00am till 5:00pm on Thursday April 26th. ULHRA video will have live coverage on this website during Spring Training.  One
team that will debut that day is the new UL-20 of Bob Smets
from Wilsonville OR. Smets is a veteran inboard racer from
the Pacific NW and made his Unlimited Lights debut at the
wheel of Pingree Conflitti’s UL-58 Union Dooz at Port
Angeles WA in 2005. Now Smets steps into UL ownership and
will drive the former “Overtime” which he acquired from Kent
WA’s Wilsey Hamilton.
 The
boat last competed at the Seattle UL race in 2000. While
Hamilton didn’t enjoy great success in Unlimited Lights
racing his boat has always been regarded as one of the best
looking craft in UL history. Smets would appear to agree.
When asked if he’s going to paint it the Oregonian responded
calmly but firmly…….. NOOOOO!!!!! He went on to say he may
add a sponsor logo or two but the basic look of the UL-20
will be retained and he intends to enter most if not all of
the western ULHRA events. You saw on this website that another sale has been concluded. The UL-21 has been sold by Muncey Racing to Jim & Karon Wilmot and their company, Wilmot Performance Engineering & Metal Processing, LLC of Issaquah, WA.  The
21 team will be working alongside Muncey Racing and they
hope to debut their race craft by mid summer. Driver and
Crew Chief assignments will be announced later. The sale
will allow Muncey Racing to concentrate on their current
UL-83 (The Little Boat That Could) which finished 8th in the
Unlimited Light series in 2006, and work on bringing their
recently acquired UL-23 hull to fully race-ready condition.
This means that two if not three boats purchased out of
Mexico this off season will be racing in 2007; the other
being the Paul Becker purchased ex-UL-110 hull. Becker
subsequently sold his 33 year old UL-14 to Greg & Lora
Walden of Kennewick WA, creating the first UL team ownership
in the Tri Cities…..home of the HAPO Community Thunder Cup
in late July. Meanwhile interest continues to grow with
potential buyers of the UL-929 and GP-44 in Mexico but as of
right now those boats and trailers remain for sale. Details
are in the For Sale section of this website. I can’t say whom, yet, but recently a team sponsor asked about the availability of a UL boat number. Did they want to change numbers? Nope……they’d like to add another team in UL. Which boat and do they have a driver or crew? They didn’t say. Will it happen? Maybe. Will we know by Spring Training? Also a maybe. Do I know which boat this will be or who’s involved? Not a clue. Ah yes, the off season. I was also recently asked by a very devoted fan if I could tell them which teams will be going to  Regates
de Valleyfield this summer. I think I’d have almost as much
success in predicting the 216 million dollar lottery numbers
this week. Frankly in February it’s too early. Spring
Training time will be more conducive to determining which
teams will travel. It is not a small undertaking. I
personally drove the UL-14 from Valleyfield to Seattle in
2004 solo and that was only half the trip. You can put that
on my “been there, done that, don’t plan to do it again”
list. I’ll stick with the airlines and my microphone and
computer and leave the driving to…….somebody else. Last year, new Thunder & LIGHTS Editor Mark Sharley made the round trip with the UL-14 team. It’s a grind, that’s for certain. It’s more than 2500 miles each way. It’s several days on the road to and from,  or
it’s a “Cannonball Run” with multiple drivers sharing the
load and driving straight through. It takes up vacation time
for those on the road and for the rest of the team it’s a
flight to and from Montreal. Considering the cost of air
travel and gasoline & diesel on the road, plus hotels, food,
etc………..it’s quite a costly trip. Some teams have
sponsorship and others cover the costs themselves. But it’s
a trip that most teams who take it once hope to return again
and again. The Valleyfield event is special and the fans
are tremendous. Knowledgeable, respectful, and with the
Valleyfield pit layout the fans have the opportunity to get
close to the ULHRA teams. How many teams will go this
year? 12? 15? 18? All numbers are possible. We’ll see
how many teams can afford the time and expense of the
Valleyfield experience that is unlike any other in
hydroplane racing. John Lynch P.R. Director, ULHRA Inc.
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