1992 Season Review

By Fred Farley – Unlimited Hydroplane Historian

A lot of things come to mind when I think of the 1992 season.

On a personal level, heading into the 1992 campaign, I had recently lost my mother. Going on the circuit that year was good therapy for me.

George Woods’ come-from-behind victory at Seattle with THE TIDE was certainly a highlight.

The 1992 Gold Cup at Detroit was also memorable.

After racing against each other for fifteen years, owner Bernie Little and driver Chip Hanauer joined forces. Their first Gold Cup collaboration was a victorious one. Hanauer and MISS BUDWEISER (Turbine-3) scored a decisive victory at Detroit over second-place Woods and THE TIDE.

This was the eighth Gold Cup victory for both Little and Hanauer. Chip had now equaled Bill Muncey’s record of Gold Cup wins by a driver.

Hanauer had sat out the entire 1991 season, following the retirement of the MISS CIRCUS CIRCUS team in 1990.

Chip won the 1992 season-opener at Miami, the week before Detroit, with MISS BUDWEISER (Turbine-3). However, he was beaten in two out of four heats at Miami by Mark Tate and WINSTON EAGLE, which posted the fastest heat of the race at 135.054–7 miles per hour faster than MISS BUDWEISER.

Somewhere between Miami and Detroit, Hanauer and crew chief Ron Brown found some additional speed that put them in a class by themselves. MISS BUDWEISER (Turbine-3) set a record for Gold Cup qualifying with a 2-lap/5-mile average of 168.937 miles per hour. This included a world lap speed record of 169.523.

The previous world lap speed record was 168.128, set by Hanauer and MISS CIRCUS CIRCUS at San Diego in 1990.

No one was even close to MISS BUDWEISER during qualifying at the 1992 Gold Cup. Defending champions Tate and WINSTON EAGLE were the next fastest with a 5-mile average of 160.821 and a single lap of 163.191. Woods and THE TIDE checked in at 151.078 for two laps, followed by Mike Hanson and KELLOGG’S TONY THE TIGER (alias MISS MADISON) at 149.056.

MISS BUDWEISER took first-place in all four preliminary heats. Only in Heat 4-A was there a close finish for first and second.

THE TIDE started first in lane-one with MISS BUDWEISER on the extreme outside in Heat 4-A. THE TIDE exited the first (Belle Isle Bridge) turn first with BUDWEISER second. Chip Hanauer caught George Woods midway down the first backstretch. MISS BUDWEISER and THE TIDE ran close together all the way with neither holding an advantage. Hanauer, on the outside, outran Woods to the finish line by one and three-quarter seconds.

Heading into the Final Heat, MISS BUDWEISER had 800 points, followed by RACE ROCK MOTOR CITY DINER and Mark Evans with 650, KELLOGG’S TONY THE TIGER with 547, THE TIDE with 526, WINSTON EAGLE with 513, and MISS D.O.C. and Mitch Evans with 348.

RACE ROCK MOTOR CITY DINER was the former 1984 ATLAS VAN LINES, now owned by Ron Jones, Jr.

The Allison-powered MISS D.O.C., owned by Ed Cooper, Sr., and Ed Cooper, Jr., was the only piston boat to qualify for the Final Heat of the 1992 Gold Cup.

The warm-up period for the Final Heat was tense. WINSTON EAGLE grabbed lane-one. MISS BUDWEISER, which almost spun out before the start, settled for lane-four. BUDWEISER led WINSTON by less than a roostertail throughout lap-one.

Coming off the Belle Isle Bridge turn on lap-two, MISS BUDWEISER and WINSTON EAGLE bumped. According to Hanauer, “I didn’t feel anything with the WINSTON, because the water was so rough. I didn’t even see him.”

WINSTON EAGLE then went dead in the water after getting caught in MISS BUDWEISER’s roostertail. The BUDWEISER went on to win by a large margin, even though MISS BUD’s tail assembly collapsed during the final lap.

MISS BUDWEISER averaged 136.282 for the 12-1/2-mile distance. THE TIDE checked in at 127.405, followed by KELLOGG’S TONY THE TIGER at 123.884, RACE ROCK MOTOR CITY DINER at 113.683, and MISS D.O.C. at 106.970, with WINSTON EAGLE failing to finish.

George Woods had now finished in second-place overall at four consecutive Gold Cups.

There could be no doubt that “Champion Chip” was back and as competitive as ever, his one-year layoff not withstanding. Hanauer would go on to win seven out of nine races on the 1992 Unlimited tour- -four with MISS BUDWEISER (Turbine-2) and three with MISS BUDWEISER (Turbine-3). Unfortunately, Chip was hospitalized twice during 1992 after crashing Turbine-3 at Seattle and San Diego.

Throughout his five-year tenure as MISS BUDWEISER driver, Hanauer let it be known that he preferred Turbine-2, although the crew chose to emphasize Turbine-3. Turbine-2 had not blown over since 1988, but Turbine-3 kept putting him in the hospital.

The 1992 Gold Cup Regatta was marred by a fatality in the Grand Prix Class, which raced between heats of the Unlimiteds at Detroit. Paul Smith, driver of HYDROPHOBIA, was pronounced dead after crashing his boat on the front straightaway during the first heat of Grand Prix racing on Saturday. This was the first racing-related death on the Detroit River since Warner Gardner in 1968 with the Unlimited Class MISS EAGLE ELECTRIC.

The crews of both the Grand Prix and Unlimited hydroplanes wore red and white ribbons, the colors of Smith’s boat, in his memory.