THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 18, 1996 TAG: 9608180195
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BRIAN J. FRENCH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: 79 lines
For the average regatta fan, there is no danger watching a powerboat race.
To the thousands who packed the bridges and beaches around Fort Monroe for the Hampton Cup Regatta Summer Nationals Saturday, it was something akin to a hybrid of street festival, beach party and high-speed chase.
Vendors hawked anything from crabcakes to cigars to mayonnaise samples, radio stations blared country and classic rock from strategically placed speakers and grandstands strained under the weight of enthused fans watching boats zip along, creating curtains of sea water in their wake.
For the fan, it's a beautiful, sun-splashed day at the races.
For the drivers, it's something else entirely.
With as many as 12 boats racing at a time at speeds of up to 150 miles per hour, one wrong turn or ill-timed wave can turn a nautical waltz into a duty-dance with death.
Just ask Dennis Macy.
Three years ago last week on this very same Mill Creek course, Macy - then driving in the 5-Litre class - was involved in a three-boat accident on the first turn.
``One boat hit me,'' ``and turned me in the air upside-down,'' Macy said. ``I then landed on another boat, and the impact threw me into the water.''
Macy sustained a broken leg, extensive knee damage, a severed main artery between the knee and ankle, a shoulder injury that required surgery and a hole in the eardrum - all the injuries on the right side of his body.
``My right side was really torn up,'' Macy said.
After three years of rehabilitation, Macy returned to racing this summer in the Unlimited Lights, also known as the Grand National Hydroplanes. He won once, finished second in drivers points for the season and was named Unlimited Lights rookie of the year.
Macy noted that ``nine times out of 10, the accidents will happen on the start and the first turn, when everyone tries to get to the fast start.''
For most racers, the primary concern is flipping over, either by catching a wave or hitting another boat. Drowning is another fear.
But for drivers in the 2.5 Litre Modified and K Racing Runabouts, there lies a threat invisible to the naked eye.
Both boats run on methanol, and if the engine catches on fire, the driver won't be able to see it before he feels it.
Said George Stratton, defending K racing Runabout national champion: ``We have three closed capsules to cut down the threat of being thrown out of the boat. But the controversy with that is with the methanol fire. You can't bail out like you used to.''
Stratton has been in what he called ``three minor accidents.''
``I've been very lucky,'' Stratton said. ``I knew one guy who spent eight months in the hospital last year after an accident.''
The American Power Boat Association, which sponsors the races and is the sport's governing body, requires the capsules on K Racing Runabout boats and internal fire systems which spray the chemical halon on the engine if it reaches a certain temperature.
The APBA also requires smaller boats to install seat belts and roll bars, which Macy said cut down on the number of fatalities. There have been none in the last two years.
``We had about 10 guys killed in the past few years before the new rules,'' Macy said.
But while racing has its dangers, it also can't be the primary focus of a powerboat driver.
``Most drivers think of the excitement in racing, not the danger,'' Macy said. ``It (safety) is on their minds, but not in the forefront.''
``There are some drivers out for which the danger element is in the forefront of their minds,'' said Super Stock racer Chuck Palm.``But they're not the front-runners. They're not the ones who you're racing with.'' ILLUSTRATION: MIKE HEFFNER/VIRGINIAN-PILOT Photos
``Fission,'' a K-238 powerboat driven by Norm Woods, leads George
Stratton, driving his K-12 ``Wildfire,'' during a K-Racing Runabout
heat Saturday.
Terry Troxell drives his powerboat, ``Stinger'' around turn four
during a qualifying heat for the National Modified race during the
70th annual Hampton Cup Regatta Saturday. by CNB