Hydroplanes / Seafair -- Drivers Are Lucky: Just Close Calls So Far -- Some Think Fans Come Only For The Danger

Wait until you see the footage, Dave Villwock said. If the on-board camera captured what he confronted from the cockpit of the Miss Budweiser, it's must-see TV.

The spray on his windshield didn't wash away as fast as usual last Sunday in Kelowna, B.C. Maybe the roostertail coming from the outside lane was too close. Maybe it wasn't. All Villwock knows was when his windshield cleared in the first turn of the second lap, all he saw was a big, yellow hydroplane motionless straight ahead. And it took his best driving to avoid ramming it.

"Spooky," said Nate Brown, who watched helplessly from the cockpit of the Miss Llumar Window as Villwock's right sponson practically jumped over his left sponson. "I don't want to see it (the video)."

There have been other close calls this season. Mark Tate came closer to hitting the stone retaining wall in Detroit than any other driver. But for the first time since 1992, none of the first five races has been marred by accidents. No flips. No collisions. Only close calls.

Nobody is sure why the hydroplanes have stayed on the water. Mostly luck, they say, before tapping on the nearest bench for superstition's sake. But whether the sport is better off without the flips and freak accidents - or whether it needs this streak of good fortune to end in order to prosper - depends on whom you talk to.

"Certainly danger is an element that people are attracted to," said Bill Doner, commissioner of the Unlimited Hydroplane Racing Association. "If the matador never got hit, nobody would go to the bullfight. But we don't have enough depth to have them get hit."

Perhaps the most spectacular crash in hydroplane history occurred in San Diego in 1988, when two boats simultaneously flipped backward. Race promoter Jim Kidrick remembers selling tickets and sponsorships was easier the next year.

This week's Seafair races, which began today, have experienced a similar boom. It might be no coincidence that last year's race, in which Mark Evans flipped in an early heat before winning the final and two hydroplanes nearly drifted piggy-back into a pack of pleasure boats, was one of Seafair's most memorable.

The log boom sold out Wednesday, the earliest in the event's history. The hospitality tents are sold out and the captain's club seats - the hydro equivalent of baseball's box seats - were in such high demand that Seafair built a second section and sold it out, too.

Not all the credit for the increased ticket sales can be attributed to last year's crashes. The Blue Angels are back, and the weather is expected to be wonderful. But one of the first sections to sell out in the log boom was near where the Miss E-Lam and Miss Budweiser finally stopped.

"If you put out a good product, the fans will come," Seafair President Beth Wojick. "But, obviously, we got a lot of publicity from that."

When asked if they could be guaranteed a similar accident to Evans' last year, in which he was unhurt and the boat was repaired in time to race again that day, three of four race directors surveyed by The Times said they'd take it.

So did Doner, though he claimed accidents aren't good for his heart. And so did Evans.

"Heck yeah," Evans said. "But this time I'd want flames shooting out the back. People like the thrill. It's that emotional roller coaster. You're on the edge. I think they're for that."

John Hostvedt isn't so sure. He grew up in West Seattle a big hydro fan. And he brought his nephews to the pits yesterday to meet some of the people, like Miss Budweiser owner Bernie Little, he followed so closely during his childhood.

Hostvedt misses the roar of the old piston engines more than the crashes that killed 14 people between 1951 and 1982. Watching boats flip and endanger driver's lives does not make him buy tickets. Competition is what he craves.

"On the commercials, they show (flips) all the time," Hostvedt said. "They don't necessarily have to have that. I like the competition. We come down for the thrill of it all."

They root for the drivers to get through the corners, which have been unusually safe this season.

The UHRA, however, is better regulating RPM limits this season. That has slowed boats. So has the lack of competition at the front of the field. Two of the top four drivers from last season - Tate and Mike Hanson - aren't racing, and the pressure on the Miss Budweiser to run hard didn't exist until last weekend.

The drivers escaped Kelowna, but the pressure, and the odds of an accident, will be even greater this weekend. This is their hometown race, so they drive harder. They take more chances, which has made Lake Washington the most accident prone course on the circuit over the past 11 years.

But even if there are no crashes this weekend, the teams know the next flip isn't far off.

"We're running the boats looser than we ever have," said Villwock, whose flip in the Tri-Cities was the story of last season and made his recovery the biggest story of this season. "It will happen."

And when it does, you can bet the cameras will be there to capture it.

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Hydro quick facts

Tickets: Today, free. Tomorrow, $12; Sunday, $18; two-day pass (good Saturday and Sunday) $25; admission free for persons with active military ID and children under 12 with parent. Advance two-day passes, $15 (at participating Texacos). Pit passes available today and tomorrow, $20; three-day (also good for Sunday) for $35; guided pit tours, $5.

TV: Sunday - KIRO (Channel 7), 10 a.m.

Radio: Sunday - KJR (950 AM), 10 a.m.; KUBE (93.3 FM), 10:45 a.m.

Parking: Free shuttle parking provided tomorrow and Sunday at the Boeing parking lot on East Marginal Way, just south of the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field. Buses leave parking lot every 10 minutes beginning at 7:30 a.m. Last bus departs 1 1/2 hours after championship heat on Sunday from race site.

Today's schedule: Unlimited testing, 9 a.m.; US West Air Show preview; drivers autographs, 11:30 a.m.; Blue Angels practice, noon; unlimited qualifying 1 p.m.; unlimited testing, 3 p.m.

Tomorrow's schedule: Unlimited testing, 8:30 a.m.; unlimited qualifying, 9:30 p.m.; US West air show, 11:30 a.m.; driver's autographs, 11:45 a.m.; U.S. Navy Blue Angels performance, noon; unlimited qualifying, 1 p.m.; US West air show, 2 p.m.; unlimited lights heat 1A, 3:10; heat 1B, 3:30 p.m.; unlimited testing, 3:40 p.m.; unlimited lights heats heat 2A, 4:45 p.m.; heat 2B, 5:05 p.m. Sunday's schedule: Unlimited testing, 9 a.m.; US West air shows, 10 a.m., 11:25 a.m., 1:35 p.m., 3:30 p.m.; opening ceremonies, 10:30 a.m.; heat 1A, 11 a.m.; heat 1B, 11:25 a.m.; U.S. Navy Blue Angels, noon; heat 2A, 1 p.m.; heat 2B, 1:25 p.m.; heat 3A, 2:15 p.m.; heat 3B, 2:40 p.m.; unlimited lights final, 3 p.m.; provisional heat, 3:20 p.m.; Texaco Cup final heat, 4:10 p.m.

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. SAFE SEASON, BUT WILL IT LAST? . The first half of the 1998 season has been hydroplane racing's safest since 1992. (Key - A: accidents at halfway point of season; TA: total accidents).

. Year A TA .

. 1987 1 2 . 1988 0 2 . 1989 1 1 . 1990 0 0 . 1991 1 1 . 1992 0 2 . 1993 2 3 . 1994 2 4 . 1995 1 1 . 1996 2 2 . 1997 3 4 . 1998 0 - .

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. BITE OF SEATTLE . Hydro accidents since 1986. (Key - A: accidents).

. Race Site A .

. Seattle 6 . Tri-Cities 5 . San Diego 4 . Detroit 3 . Madison, Ind. 2 . Evansville, Ind. 1 . Honolulu 1 . Norfolk, Va. 0 . Kelowna, B.C. 0 . Las Vegas 0 .