1968 UIM World Championship
Lake Washington, Seattle, Washington, August 4, 1968

Hydroplane Handicap
John Owen, P.I. Sports Editor

History of Thrills, Spills Gardner, Eagle Electric Miss Speed Record by Tick Muncey Qualifies Miss U. S. High on Ladder 1968 Unlimited Hydroplane Roster A Persistent Game Miss U.S. Fastest Entry in 1B Bardahl, Eagle Electric in Same Heat Hydro Ladder Hydroplane Handicap Regatta Rules Time the Hydroplanes Bill Muncey Wins Hydro Title Muncey Luck Changes for Better Consistency Paid Off Feverish Battle Waged Backstage in the Pits Gardner Pushes Electric to Near-Record 120.267 ‘Mom’s Going to be Upset’ But Wracked-Up Regas Won’t Retire Muncey, Simon Celebrate Miss U.S. Victory Patriotic Parable Steady-Running U.S. Hydro Champ Miss U.S. Wins World Championship Hydro Race It's Diamonds For Miss Bardahl Statistics

The checkered hydro will get the checkered flag at the conclusion of racing on Lake Washington today, UNLESS Miss Bardahl blows an engine in the final heat. That could happen. And if it does, the World Champion unlimited hydroplane should be Miss Eagle Electric. But if you like to bet longshots, wager a six pack on Miss Budweiser. And if none of these three hydros performs as advertised, send 25 cents in coin for an instruction sheet showing you how to convert today's P-I sports section into a novel paper sun hat. The above predictions are based upon an exhaustive study of form sheets, extended conversations with drivers and mechanics, and a slight dizzy spell, brought on by either sunstroke or mal de mer. These calculations have resulted in The 1968 P-I Hydro Handicap, as follows:

"Ridiculous," is the way Mira Slovak describes the situation surrounding Jack Regas this week. Nobody, including Regas, seemed to know until late in the week whether Jack, or a replacement, would drive the Notre Dame Sunday. "Regas has more ability and experience than anybody out there," S1ovak says. "A driver has enough to worry about without something like this — without putting him in a position where he has to go out and prove something" . . . Slovak, recovering from near-fatal injuries suffered in a plane crash, becomes a television commentator today. Friday afternoon he "relaxed," by going flying with pilot-pal Ernest Gann

Bill Muncey isn't the only politician in the pits. Norm Evans, who hopes to return to racing next summer, is now campaigning for a seat on the Chelan County Commission . . . Early last week an APBA spokesman said a race on Lake Tahoe in September is officially "on." It isn't. The people from Reno, who should know, say the race will not be held .. Is Eagle Electric really faster in competition than Miss Bardahl? People around the Bardahl camp warn not to be misled by the final heat in Pasco. They claim Bardahl raced with a new engine, that the rings weren't properly seated, and that Billy Schumacher can run a whole lot faster than he showed then. This is one of the smallest fields of hydros for a Seattle race but APBA measurer Don Merz says it's probably the safest, best-built fleet of boats ever to appear here.

(Reprinted from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 4, 1968)