DATE: Saturday, August 9, 1997              TAG: 9708090687

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BOB HUTCHINSON, OUTDOORS EDITOR 

DATELINE: HAMPTON                           LENGTH:   76 lines

HAMPTON REGATTA SOARS WHILE OTHERS SINK CIVIC PRIDE AND A NATIONAL REPUTATION LURE A RECORD FIELD.

Larry Lauterbach is pretty certain he knows why the Hampton Cup Regatta has attracted a record field this weekend when similar hydroplane races around the country are falling by the wayside.

``There are two reasons,'' said the raceboat builder and Portsmouth native, who has won several national championships in various hydro classes.

``First, these folks put on a pretty good show. The city of Hampton wants the races and the Phoebus Civic League, the sponsor, does a great job raising prize money. It's a great festival.

``Second, this is the Summer Nationals, and it's as close as you can get to a true national championship race anymore. That's why you have boats here from all over the country.''

The race is big enough that Lauterbach, 50, who now lives in Kent Island, Md., passed up a chance to pilot a 210 mph Unlimited class hydro in another race this weekend.

``I told them I'd love to do it, but not this weekend, that I was going to be in Hampton,'' he said.

The Hampton Cup Regatta, which runs through Sunday on Mill Creek, is in its 71st year, making it the nation's oldest hydro race.

Rodney Brogden, 76, of Newport News, and Henry Lauterbach, 78, of Portsmouth, Larry's father, weren't there for the first one but have missed few since.

Brogden first raced in the regatta in 1947 and ended his driving career there in 1965. Since then, the retired NASA aeronautical technician has served as crew chief for his son, Douglas, who lives in Jacksonville, Fla., and still competes.

The elder Brogden never won a national championship but did register several Hampton Cup wins in various classes over the years.

The elder Lauterbach dominated hydroplane racing, including the Hampton Cup, for several years, building his own hydros, as well as scores for other racers. He competed here from 1954 to 1959.

``I still love the entire scene,'' Brogden said. ``But when I quit, it was time to stop driving. When you have to think about what you're going to do next, when it doesn't come automatically, it's time.''

Brogden is delighted to see the Hampton Cup prosper when so many other race sites are folding the tents.

``This is one of the great places to race. When we started, we didn't get much outside help. We were lucky to have 15 boats in five classes. Now there are 120 boats and I can't even count the classes, they keep changing so.

``But the folks behind the scenes do a great job and the city of Hampton couldn't be more cooperative.''

Like Brogden, the elder Lauterbach loves what he sees at Hampton - a loud, colorful, dynamic event with a huge field.

``These folks really know how to put on a race, and with more than $40,000 in prize money, it's a major event,'' he says. ``This is an expensive sport and most racers can use every penny they win.''

Still, he doesn't like some of the things that have happened to the sport in recent years.

Lauterbach said he is delighted to see the Grand Prix class back for the Hampton Cup after an absence of 20 years. Next to Unlimiteds, Grand Prix boats are the sport's biggest and fastest, 22 feet long and capable of speeds in excess of 165 mph.

Brogden and the elder Lauterbach remember when the race attracted Unlimiteds, at least those of the day. That was in 1933 to 1935, when automobile magnate Horace Dodge put up enough money to lure the boats, then 100 mph craft, to Hampton Roads. Dodge owned a boat-building firm in Newport News.

This year, the Unlimiteds returned to Virginia for the first time since Dodge's days and to the East Coast for the first time since 1977. Last month's Virginia Is For Lovers Cup saw 10 of the 210 mph craft racing on Willoughby Bay.

An estimated 25,000 watched the Norfolk races. Almost as many could be in Hampton today and Sunday, Larry Lauterbach predicted. ILLUSTRATION: MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/The Virginian-Pilot

From both sides of the shore, Rodney Brogden, left, and Larry and

Henry Lauterbach have seen the Hampton Cup Regatta prosper and grow.

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