Hydroplanes blow back into Las Vegas — literally

Friday, Sept. 19, 1997 | 11:27 a.m.

This weekend's Las Vegas Cup will mark the fourth installment of unlimited hydroplane racing on Lake Mead and naturally, the sport has changed a lot since a flame-belching boat called My Sweetie won the APBA Unlimited Trophy off Boulder Beach in 1950.

But one element that hasn't varied are the elements.

Lake Mead was big and windy back then and it'll be big and most likely windy again on Sunday, when the current fleet of turbine-powered, outrageously fast racing boats thunder toward the green flag for the start of the final heat -- weather permitting, of course.

And sometimes, the weather doesn't permit much of anything during hydroplane weekend on Lake Mead.

"Lake Mead has been known to bring out some crazy racing," said Mark Evans, driver of the PICO American Dream who has charged into a narrow lead in driver points heading into Las Vegas.

Crazy conditions make for crazy racing. Last year, when selected unlimiteds tried to put on an exhibition during the Professional Racing Outboard Performance tunnel boat main event, the Lake Mead water was more conducive to surfing than racing.

With high winds whipping up whitecaps all around the two-mile course, DeWALT Tools driver Mike Hanson set "fast" speed at 93.906 mph. That's roughly 107 mph slower than the unlimiteds are capable of under ideal conditions.

And when the tunnel boats tried to give the fans a show, they succeeded only in littering the lake with flotsam. The ones that didn't get upside down looked like the S.S. Minnow after its dubious three-hour cruise, with holes the size of The Skipper's waistline gouging their hulls.

It wasn't the first year the wind wreaked havoc with powerboat racing on Lake Mead. Virtually every event during the Silver Cup years (1986-90) was weather delayed, and the 1988 race wasn't completed until Monday morning.

The conditions on that day? In a word, perfect. The water was so calm that you could virtually see your reflection in Turn One.

Those on the docks say a morning race might be the way to go.

"I would run early in the day or at least start a little earlier on Sunday," said PICO crew chief Ken Dryden, suggesting that most fans probably would be happy to arrive at the lake earlier if it meant better racing.

Added Hanson: "You're not going to be able to put up a great, big wind screen out there ... so if you're going to do anything, you might want to change the date. We always run at the end of summer here and the winds are always high."

If preliminary weather forecasts are accurate, a great, big wind screen might not be enough shelter from the wind on Saturday, when gusts as high as 50 mph are expected. Sunday's forecast calls for lesser winds while Monday's weather -- you guessed it -- is expected to be calm.

So with an intense three-way championship battle between Miss Budweiser (driver: Mark Weber), PICO and Close Call (Mark Tate) beginning to take shape, it appears durability rather than speed may be the key ingredient here.

Either way, the PICO team, which will be shooting for its fifth straight win this weekend, likes its chances.

"This boat is probably the best rough-water boat out there," said Dryden, who has plenty of recent experience on which to base a rough-water setup. He said six of the eight races held so far this year were on water he would classify as rough.

Moreover, the PICO team brought three hulls to Las Vegas, each with different characteristics and setups. Rest assured that Evans will be assigned the best one for the prevailing conditions.

"But it still gets us kind of nervous," Dryden said, as the sky darkened and a few raindrops began to fall following Wednesday's downtown news conference.