Serious News
08-27-2015, 11:56 PM
by Mike Brudenell
At Sinbads restaurant on Sunday night, the powerboat racing set was enjoying cocktails and perch sandwiches when Mark Weber walked into the iconic Detroit riverside establishment.
Ray Dong, a former boat competitor and longtime volunteer at APBA Gold Cup races on the Detroit River, rose from his table, clapped his hands and led a cheer for Weber, who had spent the last 60-odd days pulling a boat race together.
Weber, a former top-notch powerboat racer himself, was overwhelmed by the show of appreciation, looking tired but not yet ready to call it a night.
Weber and his newly formed Detroit Riverfront Events group had made it happen against the odds.
They'd staged the UAW-GM Spirit of Detroit HydroFest race event just when Unlimited Hydroplane racing here looked to be sunk early this year.
With the financial support of the UAW-GM Resources Center, Weber and his team worked around the clock with the H1 Unlimited Hydroplane Series to bring 12 boats, the most in 30 years, to the Detroit River this past weekend.
And Grand Prix and F2 tunnel boats joined in the action.
Next Aug. 20-21, Weber, a Grosse Pointe resident, and his band of volunteers will welcome the Centennial Gold Cup back to Detroit. Because of financial uncertainty after last year's Cup in the Motor City, the 2015 Gold Cup was held in the Tri-Cities in Washington in July.
"We got at least 80 days to prepare for next year's Gold Cup," Weber joked to the room. "Seriously, we got this thing done, and it was a great race."
Sunday's Unlimited Hydroplane final was.
It was ripping.
It was gripping.
You wondered how eventual winner Jimmy Shane (U-1 Oberto) and runner-up J. Michael Kelly (U-5 Graham Trucking I) could keep their boats under control on the choppy Detroit River surface at 200 miles per hour, side by side, over five breathtaking laps.
I've seen the Indy 500, the Daytona 500, the Pure Michigan 400 and the Red Bull Air Races.
Shane and Kelly put on a show — a spectacle on water — that rivaled any of them.
I look forward to the return of the Gold Cup in 2016 to the Detroit River.
The Unlimited Hydroplanes date traces its roots back to 1916 and Gar Wood, one of the best drivers and most brilliant minds to ever race a powerboat.
It is a Motor City classic.
It once attracted over half a million spectators to the river.
It must be protected and the revival must continue.
Weber and drivers such as Shane and Kelly are doing their part.
I urge Detroiters and suburbanites get behind the 2016 Centennial Gold Cup and make it an event to remember.
Contact Mike Brudenell: mbrudenell@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mikebrudenell. Be sure that you follow Freep Sports on Twitter (@freepsports) and Instagram and like us on Facebook.
http://www.freep.com/story/sports/motor/2015/08/24/mike-brudenell-hydrofest-gold-cup/32290099/
At Sinbads restaurant on Sunday night, the powerboat racing set was enjoying cocktails and perch sandwiches when Mark Weber walked into the iconic Detroit riverside establishment.
Ray Dong, a former boat competitor and longtime volunteer at APBA Gold Cup races on the Detroit River, rose from his table, clapped his hands and led a cheer for Weber, who had spent the last 60-odd days pulling a boat race together.
Weber, a former top-notch powerboat racer himself, was overwhelmed by the show of appreciation, looking tired but not yet ready to call it a night.
Weber and his newly formed Detroit Riverfront Events group had made it happen against the odds.
They'd staged the UAW-GM Spirit of Detroit HydroFest race event just when Unlimited Hydroplane racing here looked to be sunk early this year.
With the financial support of the UAW-GM Resources Center, Weber and his team worked around the clock with the H1 Unlimited Hydroplane Series to bring 12 boats, the most in 30 years, to the Detroit River this past weekend.
And Grand Prix and F2 tunnel boats joined in the action.
Next Aug. 20-21, Weber, a Grosse Pointe resident, and his band of volunteers will welcome the Centennial Gold Cup back to Detroit. Because of financial uncertainty after last year's Cup in the Motor City, the 2015 Gold Cup was held in the Tri-Cities in Washington in July.
"We got at least 80 days to prepare for next year's Gold Cup," Weber joked to the room. "Seriously, we got this thing done, and it was a great race."
Sunday's Unlimited Hydroplane final was.
It was ripping.
It was gripping.
You wondered how eventual winner Jimmy Shane (U-1 Oberto) and runner-up J. Michael Kelly (U-5 Graham Trucking I) could keep their boats under control on the choppy Detroit River surface at 200 miles per hour, side by side, over five breathtaking laps.
I've seen the Indy 500, the Daytona 500, the Pure Michigan 400 and the Red Bull Air Races.
Shane and Kelly put on a show — a spectacle on water — that rivaled any of them.
I look forward to the return of the Gold Cup in 2016 to the Detroit River.
The Unlimited Hydroplanes date traces its roots back to 1916 and Gar Wood, one of the best drivers and most brilliant minds to ever race a powerboat.
It is a Motor City classic.
It once attracted over half a million spectators to the river.
It must be protected and the revival must continue.
Weber and drivers such as Shane and Kelly are doing their part.
I urge Detroiters and suburbanites get behind the 2016 Centennial Gold Cup and make it an event to remember.
Contact Mike Brudenell: mbrudenell@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mikebrudenell. Be sure that you follow Freep Sports on Twitter (@freepsports) and Instagram and like us on Facebook.
http://www.freep.com/story/sports/motor/2015/08/24/mike-brudenell-hydrofest-gold-cup/32290099/