Yahoo Sports Who’s favored & what to watch for at the 2024 Columbia Cup hydroplane races in Tri-Cities
This weekend marks the exact middle of the 2024 H1 Unlimited hydroplane season as the Apollo Columbia Cup takes place in the Tri-Cities.
Columbia Cup race director Aaron Stephens said last week the Water Follies group that organizes it is ready for the 58th running of what has been the Tri-Cities’ largest sports event.
“We’re getting there,” said Stephens, who has spent seven years as the Columbia Cup’s race director. But this will likely be his last, as he steps into the president-elect position of the Water Follies board for the next two years.
Stephens says Lampson Pits in Columbia Park will be busy, with as many as 34 boats of various classification setting up camp.
That’ll include eight unlimited hydroplanes — the most at any race site so far this season.
They are:
U-1 Beacon Electric with driver J. Michael Kelly. Kelly is the defending national champion.
U-9 Beacon Plumbing with driver Corey Peabody, who doubles as the team manager for both the U-1 and U-9 as part of Strong Racing. Tri-Citians Darrell and Vanessa Strong own both the U-1 and U-9.
U-11 Miss Mercury’s Coffee with driver Jamie Nilsen. Scott and Shannon Raney own the boat, with Scott doubling as the crew chief.
U-12 Graham Trucking and driver Bobby King. Rob Graham is team owner, and the team is making their 2024 season debut in the Tri-Cities.
U-21 Go Fast Turn Left and driver Gunnar O’Farrell. The team will also be making its 2024 season debut here.
U-27 Miss Apollo and driver Dave Villwock. Team owner Charley Wiggins has been rebuilding this boat for a few years now, and Villwock has helped him with the build. Villwock drove the boat in late June in the Guntersville, Ala., race, basically for a shakedown to get it ready for Tri-Cities and its new sponsor.
U-40 Bucket List Racing and driver Dustin Echols. The team will be sponsored in the Northwest by Flav-R-Pac.
U-91 Miss Goodman Real Estate and driver Andrew Tate. This is the Miss Madison boat, and the group is only running one boat this season rather than the two it has the past few seasons.
The eight boats also mean there will be a heat A and B set of heats, rather than the round-robin format used in the season’s first two races.
“Basically, it was everybody at testing in the Tri-Cities in May,” said Stephens. “After watching the first two races, the Goodman team is really quick.”
Stephens is also expecting an eight-boat field for the Grand Prix boats — with the possibility of a ninth boat coming out to make its debut.
“There should also be five 2.5-liter stock boats competing, and seven E350s set up in the pits,” he said. “We added another class this year to try to have something on the water every 20 minutes.”
Stephens also got six vintage hydroplanes in the pits — the 1958 Bardahl, the Blue Chip, the Pay N Pak, the Griffon Budweiser, the Miss Wahoo, and the Notre Dame.
That should make for excellent photo opportunities for hydro fans.
What the race director really wants in his final year in his position is safety.
“It’ll be a successful weekend if everyone goes out and comes back to the pits under their own power,” he said.
Standings coming into Race 3
Here are the standings after the first two races, which were in Guntersville, Ala., on June 29-30; and Madison, Ind., on July 5-7:
1. U-91 Miss Goodman Real Estate, Andrew Tate, 2,850 points.
2. U-1 Beacon Electric, J. Michael Kelly, 2,375.
3. U-11 Miss Mercury’s Coffee, Jamie Nilsen, 2,092.
4. U-9 Beacon Plumbing, Corey Peabody, 2,014.
5. U-40 Bucket List Racing/Flav-R-Pac, Dustin Echols, 1,576.
6. U-27 Apollo Racing, Dave Villwock, 744.
Tate has won the first two races of the season.
In Guntersville, Tate was the fastest qualifier and he won one of the four preliminary heats, while Kelly won two and Nilsen the other.
But Tate had the U-91 going on all cylinders in the final to take the checkered flag.
In Madison, it looked like Peabody had the boat to beat. He drove the U-9 to the fastest qualifying time and in fact won three out of the five preliminary heat races.
Tate won the other two — one in which Peabody wasn’t in.
But in the final, with teammates Kelly and Peabody starting in lanes 1 and 2 and Tate in lane 3, Tate got a great start.
Meanwhile, Peabody had a rough first lap and could not recover. And Tate outran Kelly for the victory in the final.
Here’s your megaguide to the 2024 Tri-City Water Follies. Schedule, prices, parking, more
Remaining H1 schedule
With the A/B heat race format, there will be a lot more season points available to teams. That means teams in the middle of the pack have a chance to gain on the leaders.
Guntersville had qualifying and five points races total. Madison had qualifying and six total points races.
Tri-Cities will have qualifying and seven points races total.
After this weekend, the fleet will head to Seattle for the Seafair Apollo Mechanical Cup, set for Aug. 2-4.
The season ends with the APBA Gold Cup in San Diego, called the San Diego Bayfair/APBA Gold Cup. That race takes place Sept. 13-15.
Next year
Mike Denslow, who is chairman for H1, told the Herald he’s optimistic that there will me more boats on the circuit next season.
“I can tell you there are owners of other hydroplanes (currently not racing) watching what we’re doing,” Denslow said. “They want proof of what we’re doing before they get in.”
The new group, called Hydrotown, is the leadership after taking over the reins for H1.
“There is a culture change working with race sites, rather than working against them,” said the Tri-Citian. “We’ve invested in the sport. It feels like we have a different relationship — H1, teams and race sites.”
Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Tri-City Herald.
