Unlimited hydroplanes returning to Evansville

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — Standing in the Hadi Temple parking lot in downtown Evansville, near the riverfront, Ed Cooper Jr. was smiling following Thursday's news conference.

It was a moment he didn't know would ever happen again — the announcement that he would return to unlimited hydroplane racing as part of ShrinersFest 2014.

Ed Cooper Jr.'s U-3 Master Tire and the U-11 Peters & May will take part in a two-boat exhibition. They will practice on June 13 and compete in a heat race and final on June 14. No unlimiteds have raced in Evansville since 2009.

"It has not always been easy," Cooper told the Evansville Courier & Press. His U-3 Master Tire hydro formed the backdrop for the news conference, along with the team's truck.

"It's a nice big toy and fun to play with," Cooper said.

Jimmy King will again return to the cockpit of the U-3, owned by Cooper, a Posey County resident.

Local businessmen Ryan Hobby and Dennis Wright, who formed Evansville Hydroplanes LLC, had been working with Nauticpromo.com about returning the unlimiteds to Evansville for about four months and had been working on the project for nearly a year overall. Sian Holley is managing director of Nauticpromo, a sports marketing company based in London, England, which is promoting the exhibition. Her husband, David Holley, is managing director/president of Peters & May USA, which sponsors the U-11.

Hobby and Wright noted that Evansville had a rich hydroplane history from 1979-2009 and has a beautiful riverfront with the best spectator view of any on the circuit.

"Our ultimate goal is to use this as a test to see the community's support for a full-blown race in 2015," Hobby said.

Even before becoming Evansville's mayor in January 2012, Lloyd Winnecke said people kept asking him, "Are the boats ever going to come back?"

He was approached six to eight weeks ago by Evansville Hydroplanes LLC and was receptive to their proposal.

"Their enthusiasm impressed me and their determination impressed me," Winnecke said.

Thunder disbanded following the 2009 race because of financial problems and dwindling attendance.

Cooper's U-3 was leading that race at the end of the third lap when it was felled by a broken propeller.

"If you talk to anybody who races, there are a lot more stories about those kind of things that happened than when you won," Cooper said.

When the U-3 won Thunder for the only time, in 2003, Mitch Evans overcame his share of obstacles in driving to victory.

"The boat had a cracked propeller, but it didn't fail," Cooper said.

Little did Cooper know that Thunder '09 would be the last time his boat would race. His team pulled out of the pits during Madison Regatta weekend in 2010 because of a dispute with H1, the sport's governing body, and has not hit the water since. Cooper said he has no plans to return to the H1 circuit's season opener July 4-6 in Madison, his hometown.

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Information from: Evansville Courier & Press, http://www.courierpress.com