Hydroplanes: Bud boats back in water

If last summer's hydroplane tour felt a little like Bud Dry, the famous red boat having finally been beached, then consider this season more like Bud Light.

As the season gets under way this weekend in Evansville, Ind., the Bud is back — sort of — to add some much-needed fizz to the second year the tour is being operated by the American Boat Racing Association.

Three former Bud hulls have been sold to other teams and will race this season for the first time since the Bud called it quits in 2004. That has helped the tour boost the count of boats expected to make all seven races this year to 11.

"Getting that quality of stuff back [on the water] was wonderful," said Oh Boy! Oberto driver Steve David, who won the season driver points title last year.

One of the former Bud hulls — known as the T-3 and which was a reserve boat in the final years — was bought by longtime owner Kim Gregory and will race as the U-10 USA Racing, driven by Nate Brown, who returns to the tour after a year away.

Two of the other hulls — the T-5 and T-6, which the Bud used as its main boats at the end — were purchased by Ted Porter of Decatur, Ind., and will be sponsored by FormulaBoats.com, a powerboat manufacturing company run by Porter's family.

Mike Weber, who will drive the U-5 FormulaBoats.com, said the Seafair race a year ago helped convince Porter and FormulaBoats.com to enter the circuit full time.

"They had a display boat at all the races and they didn't even have a dealer in the Seattle area, but they were able to sell three boats just from fans walking by," Weber said. "They thought, 'This could really be something. This really hits our target market.' "

The other former Bud boat will race as the U-7 FormulaBoats.com II and be piloted by newcomer Mike Allen.

FormulaBoats also bought much of the Bud's former equipment and has one of the Bud's former crew members heading up the U-5 team, which immediately makes them one of the boats to beat.

"Obviously, there's a little bit of pressure involved in taking over equipment like that," said Weber, who has been on the circuit since 1998 but has never won a race. "But the most important thing we have to do is grow as a team and get the guys together. We have to learn a lot about how to drive the boats and how to set them up."

Neither of the boats, purchased from Bud owner Joe Little, have yet hit the water under their new names.

And until FormulaBoats shows it can take over where the Bud left off, the favorite will be the U-1 Miss Elam driven by Dave Villwock, the Bud's driver from 1997-2004. Villwock returned to the circuit midway through last season and helped guide the Elam to the national points title, including a win in the Tri-Cities.

Also back, though driving a hull with a new name, is last year's rookie sensation, Jean Theoret, who captured the Seafair Trophy in the Llumar Window Film. Legendary hydro driver Billy Schumacher bought the boat from Bill Wurster in the offseason and renamed it the U-37 Miss Seattle as a tribute to the 50th anniversary of the original Miss Seattle.

Filling out the lineup are the likes of the piston-powered U-3 Cooper Racing (driven by Jimmy King), last year's Gold Cup champ, the U-13 Spirit of Detroit (driven for now by J. Michael Kelly while Terry Troxell recovers from a stroke) and Fred Leland's U-100 American Spirit (driven by Greg Hopp). Also back is owner-driver Ken Muscatel, who looked to be out of the sport when he sold his U-25 to a San Diego team headed up by driver Kevin Aylesworth. That boat will race as the U-21 Kenny Kent Chevrolet.

But last month, Muscatel got back in the game when he leased the U-2 boat operated for years by owner Jim Harvey. Muscatel will run it as the U2.25 Superior Racing. For now, he will split driving duties with David Williams, who has no competitive experience but has logged many hours driving vintage boats in exhibition heats in his role as director of the Hydroplane and Race Boat Museum in Kent. Williams won't be a full-time driver but wants to run at least one heat in the Gold Cup next month.

Drivers say they expect the return of the Bud hulls to create the most competitive season the sport has seen in years, if not decades.

"The competition is going to be murder out there," said Muscatel. "To make a final heat is going to be a major accomplishment."

Notes

• The San Diego race is having trouble finding sponsorship, with the U-21 team leading a last-ditch attempt to raise enough to save the race for this season.

• Leland suffered a heart attack June 11 and underwent triple bypass surgery and won't be at the Evansville race, with no timetable set for his return.