Off topic but since the Unlimited Hydro boats get brought up from time to time here I just thought I would pass this on. I just saw a press release that Miss Budwieser is gone....at least the name. Bud announced they are pulling out of Unlimited Hydro racing all together. Talk about a long term deal coming to an end.......
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I was at the NHRA WinterNationals drag race last week and they were taking down all of the Budweiser signs. Bud pulling out of racing all together? -
Maybe so....although I know they are still on Bernstein's car and of course Dale JR (Who I am sure will be getting all the $$ that dropping Miss Bud etc will free up) Rant mode on: Damn Nascar taking over everything.....:rant mode offComment
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Excerpt from the Seattle Times:
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"In a statement, Anheuser-Busch said, "We constantly evaluate our marketing programs and have decided to reallocate our resources and not renew our series, team and event sponsorships after this season. Based on our long-standing relationship with the sport ... and the Miss Budweiser team, this was a very difficult decision."
But not one that was entirely unexpected as Bud's sponsorship had been tied to the company's close relationship with longtime boat owner Bernie Little, who died last April at age 77.
"We all knew this could happen when Bernie passed away," said Eric Radovich, director of public relations for Seafair.
The hydroplane race at Seafair, however, seems secure for the time being despite the loss of Budweiser's dollars. The race will have Chevrolet as its title sponsor for the next two years, including this year's Aug. 8 competition. And Radovich said Seafair earned "less than five percent" of its sponsorship dollars from Anheuser-Busch. "It will probably have a more significant impact at other sites," Radovich said.
Villwock said he thinks the decision of Anheuser-Busch to get out of the sport was based on more than just the passing of Little. Villwock indicated that Anheuser-Busch officials might have grown tired of always being called upon to bail out Hydro-Prop when a race needed money and that the company also might have felt it was no longer getting value for its sponsorship dollars.
Budweiser team members had also complained loudly in recent years about efforts by Hydro-Prop CEO Gary Garbrecht to bring more parity to the sport, most of which meant slowing down the Bud. It's been estimated the Bud had a budget of roughly $2 million to $3 million, dwarfing the budgets of other boats.
"You have to treat a sponsor with respect and a degree of fairness if they happen to be a competitor, and I don't know that that was the case," Villwock said.
But Garbrecht said he didn't look upon the loss of Budweiser's money "as a major thing" and said the loss of the Bud — and a team that was tough to compete against — might entice new sponsors into hydro racing.
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Don HattenComment
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Make Lemonade
I am sorry to hear about the loss for the boats.
I would hope that there is some air race team out there knocking on thier door as we speak trying to get some of that money.
Hint, Hint.Comment
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The gospel according to Budweiser
Griffonsrule might have more to say on this subject, but having been a former Miss Budweiser Racing Team employee, having won with them, and having won (and lost) AGAINST them, I've seen both sides.
Budweiser leaving the sport, while sad and unfortunate for the race sites who received annual support and sponsorship from Anhaeuser-Busch, is quite possibly the best thing that could happen to the sport of hydroplane racing. Budweiser leaving at the end of 2004 will bring more sponsors back into the fold of the sport.
Over the last 15 years, the mentality at the Miss Budweiser Racing Team went from "Win in a way that best promotes racing and our sponsor", to "Win at all costs at the expense of other sponsors, no matter how bad it hurts the sport". I've seen Budweiser representatives rip down team and race sponsorship banners for other companies in the pits, and blatantly put their own up. I've seen questionable tactics on the racecourse to ensure the red boat won when it needed to. And on more than one occasion, Budweiser (Bernie Little, specifically) would 'hire-away' any drivers who would beat them on the race course.....kind of like the New York Yankees of boat racing.
As a result, sponsors like Proctor & Gamble, Miller Brewing Company, Coors, Stroh's, RJ Reynolds, etc. pulled away.
Most of these companies have publically stated that if Budweiser ever went away, they would be very interested in coming back to the sport of hydroplane racing.
When cubic dollars win races, how can you compete with a budget that is three times yours (for some of the sponsorships listed above), let alone some of the lesser sponsorship values? Bernie Little and August Busch III were very close friends, and that is the ONLY reason the sponsorship lasted as long as it did, and was as expensive as it was.
The reality of the situation is, the majority of Miss Budweiser 'fans', were the casual fan who maybe had a cursory knowledge that the sport existed, and maybe watched on tv or hauled their beer coolers out to the beach once a year to watch the red boat 'kick ass'. But most insiders and 'die-hard' fans of the sport either stopped being Budweiser fans long ago, or never were, because they see/saw it for what it was.
The impact and contributions that Budweiser has had on hydroplane racing over the last 40 years is immeasurable. Unfortunately, the actions of the last 15-20 years did more to hurt the sport than it did to endear their legacy.
Is Budweiser's money going to be missed? Definitely. But their equipment and crew members are now going to be dispersed amongst the rest of the fleet...and that's going to mean much better competition in the future. The fun might be coming back again.
Just my .02
"Brad the Prospector"Comment
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I like watching ulimited racing when I catch it on TV. Anykind of racing for that matter. I have not seen much lately but I saw one race last year and it was won by a new Allison powed boat. Not turbine but recip! It souned so cool out on the course. It seems that all that latest restrictions had been placed only on the turbines and this one team went back to the recips and made it competitive. I have not heard any more about it lately. Anybody know any more info?
DavidComment
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Allison boat
Sorry Wayne, don't mean to be turning this into the Unlimited Hydroplane message board. :-)
The Turbo-Allison powered boat is nothing new. The team itself has been around since 1986, and has gone through the last 15 years perfecting their Allison setup. That has also gone through four separate boats over that time period...and when they built their current boat, it was a situation where the hull technology finally caught up to where the engine horsepower was. (Kind of like in NASCAR back in the mid-80's. Ernie Elliot was building very powerful engines for Bill Elliott's Ford...but the parts were breaking and the engines blowing up. But in '85, Ford came out with stronger parts, and suddenly Elliott's engines lasted the whole race, and he started winning left and right.) They went from a 10,000 lb boat affectionately called "Tubby", to the state-of-the-art boat they run now...which is 4000 lbs lighter. But the engines are still putting out the same amount of horsepower.
The U-3 won half the races on the circuit last year, but in no way were they "dominant". The races they won were because they were not only fast, but able to FINISH as well. That's not to say they're not fast or competitive...they are very much so. But the races they won were also races where the top turbine boats were involved in accidents or had mechanical failures.
This team is very exciting, and I think everyone is happy to see them do so well after paying their dues for so long. And ultimately, I think it will see a natural swing back to recip engines, and getting away from the turbines.
Brad the ProspectorComment
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Re: Allison boat
Hey Brad, knock yourself out!Originally posted by Unregistered
Sorry Wayne, don't mean to be turning this into the Unlimited Hydroplane message board. :-)
They "fly" over the water, after all
The board's got lots of room, we could even make a separate section for this, if it got too confusing for anyone..
Post away, I like the "thunder boats" especially if there were to be more of them!
There are a fair amount of those old Griff's out there in factory overhaul crates.. I LOVE the sound of al those cubic inches.. would love to see the "THUNDER" return to Hydro racin! We got a big river here in town, would love to see an event in PDX area!
WayneWayne Sagar
"Pusher of Electrons"Comment
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Yes, bring back the Thunder! Thanks for the quick info on the boat. I just did a little web searching and found that the twin turbo in the U-3 is making around 2500hp. Not bad at all.
What about this senario? Get the owner/builder of the U3 interested in Unlimited Air Racing. He already has a strong reliable powerplant and is evidently skilled in composite structures. We have the formula for a new "homebuilt" Unlimited Raceplane that should be very competive.
DavidComment
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.....and just how many engine builders and crew cheifs got their strt in boat racing?.......
.....you just may have heard of a few!.....
......time for you historians to fill in the blanks....Mayday51
Jim GallagherComment
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