Thoughts on The Gauntlet, just about concluded.
OK, class, raise your hand if you really believed that after 5 races in 2009 there would be only 1 winner and that 1 winner would be Kayleigh Perkins.
Quite an accomplishment for the 21 year old third year racer to this point. Yes Greg Hopp missed the South Dakota race but after he returned and was joined by Ryan Mallow and Paul Becker and J. Craig Fletcher did anyone expect that Ms. Perkins would be 5 for 5? Win some, certainly. Win them all? I doubt too many people would've put much stock in that happening but for the rest of the Unlimited Lights fleet so far in 2009, Kayleigh Perkins and the UL-72 Foster Care-Vitamin Water has been The Perfect Storm.
Look at it this way. Three of the 5 races this year, Polson MT, Tri Cities WA and Seattle, Ms Perkins had never won. It seemed, particularly at the big courses in Washington State that her team was at a disadvantage to the supercharged hydros. Not this year! I guess she just was putting the competition right where she wanted them because, despite crossing the starting line in the middle of the pack at both races, by the end of lap 1 she led and pulled away for the win. At Seattle in the Final she ran the fastest heat of the weekend. With two races to go one would naturally surmise that she has the national championship wrapped up but that's when surprises happen. ULHRA doesn't race on paper and Yogi Berra was on the mark when he said "it ain't over, till it's over".
This weekend The Gauntlet concludes at Silverdale WA on Saturday and Sunday, August 15th & 16th. Dyes Inlet has been kind to Perkins, in fact she's won both times she's raced at Silverdale including 2007 which was her first ever Unlimited Lights victory. Kind to others? Not exactly. Paul Becker blew over while leading the Final last year. Vince Xaudaro's boat wrecked while racing in third in 2007. Greg Hopp lost two races there, both to broken propellers. Other teams have come away from the Silverdale Thunder Regatta with wounds to heal. For all of the teams, ending The Gauntlet this weekend and then a several week break till the season finale is just what the hydro doctor ordered.
Why? You know why if you've been on this site over the past few days. ULHRA is returning to San Diego for the 2009 Finale on September 19th & 20th. That's a big change in the ULHRA schedule. The Port Angeles Strait Thunder Regatta has decided to stand down this season to prepare for 2010 and San Diego beckons the Unlimited Lights to Mission Bay. The UL teams will be racing for the historic Bill Muncey Trophy. Racing conditions are usually ideal and on Mission Bay the fastest Unlimited Lights single lap and heat speeds have been run. Will those marks be beaten? Stay tuned.
One of the really intriguing aspects of the San Diego race is it's a collaboration of the San Diego committee, APBA and ULHRA. There will be a variety of APBA classes including those that include ULHRA's Lighter than LIGHTS, plus the event will feature both the Unlimited Lights, and the NACCS G-Class "Thunderboats" in The Westport Series. San Diego will be the ULHRA finale for 2009 so no team will be holding back. Plus, with this kind of collaboration and the Mission Bay venue, the event has the exciting potential in the future to become an American version of the famed Valleyfield Regatta in Quebec. Lots of racing, lots of race craft, lots of excitement, huge fan turnout, plenty of other activities over the course of the weekend and, as Albert Hammond sang "It never rains in Southern California". (Sorry, a flashback to my radio DJ days).
It's one thing to win races as a woman driver in ULHRA, and with her record we should now simply refer to Kayleigh Perkins as a driver. But when one of the victories comes in front of a million TV viewers and a couple hundred thousand fans around Lake Washington in Seattle, that's a BIG deal. Perkins' victory received almost as much media coverage as the Unlimited winner (Dave Villwock) and the frenzy continues. Right before this weekend's Silverdale Thunder event Perkins has been invited to throw out the first pitch at a Seattle Mariners game. Oh, did I mention she's engaged to be married?
This has been an historic run. No Unlimited Lights driver before Perkins' current streak has ever won 5 consecutive races in one season. Plus, Perkins winning streak has vaulted her into 4th place in the Unlimited Lights Driver's Victory column with 9 wins, behind only Greg Hopp (20) and Phil Bononcini and Bo Schide, each with 12. If ULHRA's 2009 season had one more race and Perkins won them all she'd have a 3 year total of a dozen wins matching the victory total of Schide in his 3 years of UL competition, 1997 - 1999 in the U-16 Alamo Rent - Car. That same hull has propelled to Greg Hopp to most of his 20 career victories. 1999 was quite a year in the Unlimited Lights. While Schide won 5 races, Charley Wiggins won 4 times and the other two were captured by Randy Haas; three "greats" from the early days of Unlimited Lights racing.
I can't say enough about the River City Racin' group in Chamberlain-Oacoma SD. Veteran race observers agree. This two year old Pepsi Racing Power Cup Challenge looks like it's been around for 20 years, and it's one of the nicest and friendliest places to race along with being extremely "fan friendly". Teams that have been there know, this is a "destination race". If you haven't "been there & done that", make it a point to be there and do that at Chamberlain-Oacoma SD in July 2010.
A few things I remember from the trips to the South Dakota and Montana. One, the drive from Omaha to Chamberlain is a simple 5 1/2 hour run, and quite enjoyable. There was a lot of enjoyment on the drive from Omaha to Polson MT, Flathead Lake also, especially the exquisite beauty that is Flathead Lake and that part of Montana. Unfortunately I didn't really research the distance till it was too late to change plans and fly. Omaha to Polson is the equivalent drive of Seattle to San Diego. Next year, I'll fly to Montana. But the scenery along that drive is terrific so if you have the opportunity to attend both the South Dakota and Montana races next year, make the drive and enjoy that special part of the USA.
Yes, you'll see seemingly hundreds of billboards for Wall Drug, another South Dakota icon. In fact you'll see hundreds of all kinds of billboards along that route. But my favorite billboard this trip was for a freeway exit diner which, as Mr. Spock would say "if memory serves", was fairly close to Sioux Falls SD. Since I drove that route twice over two weekends, I was able to confirm the billboard copy and it gets the John Lynch award for the direct approach to advertising. It read;
SNOTTY WAITRESSES
work elsewhere. DITTY'S DINER.
I just may have to leave some time to check out Ditty's next year.
Oh, and one more story from the road, the kind you can only hear from race teams that make those long drives, sometimes virtually non stop through the night to get to the next race. One team changed hauler drivers in the evening in Montana and the replacement driver, a college graduate by the way, was told to take the shortcut before reaching Wyoming and to watch for the signs for the Custer Battlefield.
When the team manager awoke and saw they missed the shortcut and were almost to Sheridan, Wyoming he asked, "how come you didn't turn at the Custer Battlefield"? The reply..."Never saw it. The only sign was for the Little Big Horn Battlefield".
And on that note, with apologies to the education community, see you in Silverdale and San Diego. Both races will be shown live by ULHRA Video on this website.
John Lynch
"Voice" of ULHRA Racing
