Detroit Free Press – Monday
Dave Villwock and 1 Spirit of Qatar 96 high in the air as Steve David pursues in 6 Oh Boy! Oberto. Photo by Chris Denslow - H1
Article by 2011 H1 Journalism Award Winner Mike Brudenell in the Detroit Free Press.
There’s gold right under your nose in Detroit. Oddly enough, it has been overlooked or ignored by many here in recent years.
I’m talking the APBA Gold Cup hydroplane races that concluded Sunday on the Detroit River with Dave Villwock, the Dale Earnhardt of power boat racing, driving to his 10th victory in the event.
The Gold Cup should need little introduction in this town. It has attracted the greatest boat racers in history, including Gar Wood, Danny Foster, George Reis, Bill Muncey, Ron Musson, Bill Shumacher, Dean Chenoweth, Chip Hanauer and Villwock among them.
Celebrated bandleader Guy Lombardo won the race on the Detroit River in 1946 with style and grace in his Tempo VI.
The Gold Cup dates back almost 110 years, longer than any other such trophy handed out in motorsports around the world.
The Motor City owns the Gold Cup — for now. But for the fund-raising efforts of the Detroit Yacht Club and individual donations, it would be gone, believe me.
Sunday’s race was run without a title sponsor. Organizers had to cut corners to host it. Yet it produced some of the most breathtaking racing I’ve ever seen, with Villwock saving his U-1 Spirit of Qatar from taking off at 180 miles per hour in front of the DYC and then crushing the field despite his rear stabilizer wing being shredded.
Villwock and the rest of the unlimited drivers are the bravest I’ve seen in motorsports.
They match NASCAR drivers at Michigan International Speedway and IZOD IndyCar Series racers at Belle Isle in courage, intensity and skill. They shake it off after “blowovers” that leave them upside down in their cockpits in the water.
Despite the show they put on, within sight of the RenCen, local media outlets this past weekend were more interested in covering men with creaky knees and bad backs hitting a little white ball around.
The Gold Cup isn’t dead in the water, however.
Traffic was backed up for an hour along Jefferson Avenue following the event — not like the old days of the race, but heavy nevertheless.
Ticket sales were up 16-17%, according to organizers, and the hydroplane racing — particularly in the heats on Saturday and Sunday — was the best in years.
Yachting magazine in 1946 described Lombardo’s victory this way:
“Lombardo finished by finding good rhythm and conducted to a fine crescendo, rather like as if he were directing Ravel’s Bolero.”
Maybe a fitting description of Villwock’s aggressive, head-banging and spectacular drive on Sunday might be the chorus and music to the AC-DC classic “T.N.T.”:
“I’m dynamite, T.N.T.; I’m power-load, T.N.T.; Watch me explode.”
The Gold Cup will hopefully return to Detroit in 2013. It’s precious stuff, and you can get a piece of it.
Contact Mike Brudenell: 313-222-2115 or [email protected] .
Detroit Free Press – Monday
Dave Villwock and 1 Spirit of Qatar 96 high in the air as Steve David pursues in 6 Oh Boy! Oberto. Photo by Chris Denslow - H1
Article by 2011 H1 Journalism Award Winner Mike Brudenell in the Detroit Free Press.
There’s gold right under your nose in Detroit. Oddly enough, it has been overlooked or ignored by many here in recent years.
I’m talking the APBA Gold Cup hydroplane races that concluded Sunday on the Detroit River with Dave Villwock, the Dale Earnhardt of power boat racing, driving to his 10th victory in the event.
The Gold Cup should need little introduction in this town. It has attracted the greatest boat racers in history, including Gar Wood, Danny Foster, George Reis, Bill Muncey, Ron Musson, Bill Shumacher, Dean Chenoweth, Chip Hanauer and Villwock among them.
Celebrated bandleader Guy Lombardo won the race on the Detroit River in 1946 with style and grace in his Tempo VI.
The Gold Cup dates back almost 110 years, longer than any other such trophy handed out in motorsports around the world.
The Motor City owns the Gold Cup — for now. But for the fund-raising efforts of the Detroit Yacht Club and individual donations, it would be gone, believe me.
Sunday’s race was run without a title sponsor. Organizers had to cut corners to host it. Yet it produced some of the most breathtaking racing I’ve ever seen, with Villwock saving his U-1 Spirit of Qatar from taking off at 180 miles per hour in front of the DYC and then crushing the field despite his rear stabilizer wing being shredded.
Villwock and the rest of the unlimited drivers are the bravest I’ve seen in motorsports.
They match NASCAR drivers at Michigan International Speedway and IZOD IndyCar Series racers at Belle Isle in courage, intensity and skill. They shake it off after “blowovers” that leave them upside down in their cockpits in the water.
Despite the show they put on, within sight of the RenCen, local media outlets this past weekend were more interested in covering men with creaky knees and bad backs hitting a little white ball around.
The Gold Cup isn’t dead in the water, however.
Traffic was backed up for an hour along Jefferson Avenue following the event — not like the old days of the race, but heavy nevertheless.
Ticket sales were up 16-17%, according to organizers, and the hydroplane racing — particularly in the heats on Saturday and Sunday — was the best in years.
Yachting magazine in 1946 described Lombardo’s victory this way:
“Lombardo finished by finding good rhythm and conducted to a fine crescendo, rather like as if he were directing Ravel’s Bolero.”
Maybe a fitting description of Villwock’s aggressive, head-banging and spectacular drive on Sunday might be the chorus and music to the AC-DC classic “T.N.T.”:
“I’m dynamite, T.N.T.; I’m power-load, T.N.T.; Watch me explode.”
The Gold Cup will hopefully return to Detroit in 2013. It’s precious stuff, and you can get a piece of it.
Contact Mike Brudenell: 313-222-2115 or [email protected] .