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Lynch Line June 2007
It's not that far. (oh, yeah?) It's actually less than 3,000 miles from Seattle where most of the ULHRA teams are home ported. It attracts over 100,000 avid racing fans every year. It's the annual Molson Dry Regates de Valleyfield in Salaberry Valleyfield Quebec, not far from Montreal. Bay St. Francois is the site on the St. Lawrence River. As race courses go it's not that big. If you're into NASCAR racing, Valleyfield is best described as the boat racing equivalent of Martinsville VA......essentially 2 drag strips connected by hairpin turns. There is no place quite like Valleyfield. A narrow bay with permanent grandstand seating on both sides and a Public Address system that covers the race course makes it easy for the fans to stay on top of the action. And "on top of the action" is an apt description of the fans viewpoint from the grandstands, and also their access to the teams in the pit area. The pit is a large park with some shade trees and the teams are towed to the cranes by a fleet of tractors. Racers have learned over the years that they must be ready when the tractor comes to attach to their trailer.........or the Pit Area P.A. Announcer will quickly announce their team as "SCRATCHED!" Because of the large number of racing classes that Valleyfield features which attracts upwards of 100 race teams each year there are no second chances. Racers are ready on time or they miss their heat, it’s that simple. The tractor brigade which some have dubbed “The John Deere Ballet” is a marvelously efficient operation with helpful, friendly and highly skilled tractor operators who do a great job; same story with the crane operators. It’s a very long weekend for both but they keep coming back year after year. Combine everything and it's no wonder that when a ULHRA team attends Valleyfield for the first time, they vow to return. If you’ve been keeping up with the news here at www.ulhra.org you’ve seen that Hopp Racing and Xaudaro Racing and Thunder Valley have all added impressive new sponsorships for the upcoming Graham Trucking Cup for Unlimited Lights at Seafair. Rob Graham, owner of Graham Trucking has told this columnist that in addition to enjoying the corporate support he provides to ULHRA Racing and ULHRA Teams, one thing he’d like to see is his own sponsored boat on the Graham Trucking Cup trophy. So, as he did last year, he’s doubled his opportunity to win by signing with Hopp Racing for Seafair as the UL-1 Graham Trucking GT along with his season long support of the UL-33 Miss Graham Trucking of Bob & Janet Estes. Greg Hopp in the UL-1 and Mark Echols in the UL-33 give Graham a formidable combo when Seafair weekend begins on Friday August 3rd. Vince Xaudaro has taken on new sponsorship for the UL-929, but with these new sponsorships my “all black all the time” moniker might have to be parked for a while. There may be too much color! And that good news for Vince, off to his best start in Unlimited Lights competition. The “First Tech Credit Union Presents Microsoft Office Project 2007 should be a top contender at Seafair. And how about this “whammer deal”? Suburban Seattle appliance retailer “King & Bunny’s” has signed on with Chuck Dow’s Thunder Valley Racing Team. The UL-40 King & Bunny’s driven by Detroit’s Cal Phipps can be expected to contend as this program continues to improve. Phipps is a seasoned, competitive driver whose lone victory in the Unlimited Lights series happened in Seattle in 2003 behind the wheel of the current UL-33 hull. A key reason Phipps has only one UL victory is due to the fact he’s had very few opportunities to compete in ULHRA events over the past several years. This season he’s in for the duration with Thunder Valley, and with Wiggins Hydroplane Racing out of Rainbow City AL. Phipps will be driving the G-10 High Pressure in the North American Challenge Cup Series along with the UL-40 King & Bunny’s both at Valleyfield and at Seattle. Torchlight Parade fans rejoice! ULHRA will be there. Due to difficult financial times faced by the Tri Cities Water Follies organization the Unlimited Lights will not be competing at the annual end of July event in Kennewick WA. However accompanying this disappointing news from the east side of the Cascades is excellent news from the west side. For the first time in several years ULHRA will be able to participate in the huge Seafair Torchlight Parade the weekend prior to the Graham Trucking Cup for Unlimited Lights in Seattle. Friday night July 29th ULHRA racing teams will be glistening under the lights and the stars in downtown Seattle before 150,000 parade attendees and an even larger live TV audience. If there was sufficient time and space you could expect more than 20 ULHRA teams to participate. Unfortunately both time & space in the parade are at a premium so a select group of ULHRA teams will be presented. It’s been several years since ULHRA teams have had the opportunity to be in front of this audience and the teams are really looking forward to the opportunity. Seafair week in Seattle will include the 2nd annual Hydro Mania event at the popular Seattle Center, site of the 1962 World’s Fair. Several ULHRA teams will be on display at the Center from 3pm till 8pm on Tuesday July 31st as a major prelude to the teams moving into the Stan Sayers Pits on Thursday August 2nd and the start of testing and qualifying on Friday, August 3rd. For the first time in ULHRA history there are more teams wanting to and being capable of racing at the Graham Trucking Cup for Unlimited Lights than there is space available in the pit area. Fourteen Unlimited Lights and 6 Thunderboats (G) in the North American Challenge Cup Series will comprise 20 ULHRA entries at Seattle. After two races there are 14 UL teams with points. In addition to roughly 200,000 people attending the race another 1 million race fans will watch the Graham Trucking Cup live on KIRO TV Channel 7 in Seattle. Two teams with no points in 2007 are taking the nearly 6,000 mile round trip to Valleyfield in hopes of scoring sufficient points to move into the top 14 and gain Graham Trucking Cup eligibility. Two other teams just inside the top 14 are going to Valleyfield to maintain their position in the points in order to avoid getting “bumped”. Racing on Bay St. Francois should be very interesting, indeed. How can I write “it’s not that far” to Valleyfield? Because I drove that route in 2004, towing the then UL-14, today’s UL-98 Miss Atomic Screen Printing. Yes, it’s not that far……….it seems even farther! Driving solo towing an Unlimited Light across North America is some kind of experience. Would I do it again? If I’m driving Jerry Hopp’s old pickup truck again, nothing personal Jerry but thanks, I’ll pass. However, if I were driving one of those marvelous Renegade Custom Coaches manufactured by ULHRA Contingency Sponsor Kibbi LLC…..I could handle that just fine! As they say in French speaking Quebec…….well actually I don’t know what they say in French speaking Quebec since I don’t speak French but………for hydroplane racing fans language is universal and Regates de Valleyfield is one show you don’t want to miss. If you’re not there in person log on here to the ULHRA live web casts all weekend long, July 6, 7 & 8. John Lynch P.R. Director and “Voice” of ULHRA Racing
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