The engine that could: The loved boat, U-3 draws admirers

The two men, crew members for one of the unlimited lights boats in the Stan Sayres Pits this weekend, walk up to the bright-red hydroplane, eyes wide open like an English soccer fan catching his first look at David Beckham.

"I just love this boat," one finally gushes to the other, running his hands over its hull like a proud owner of a new BMW.

It's a feeling shared by many on the unlimited hydroplane circuit this season, though the bright-red boat in question isn't perennial power Miss Budweiser, but rather the awkwardly named Vacationville Presents Kirkland Toyota.

That the boat has such a convoluted name, however, is part of its charm. Unlike the Budweiser and some of the other more well-financially endowed teams, the U-3 has to scramble from race site to race site to find a sponsor.

"Everybody loves the underdog," says owner Ed Cooper Jr.

A bigger reason for the boat's popularity is its roar, the earth-shattering sound of its turbocharged Allison engine, the only hydro on the circuit using a piston engine.

Such engines were the norm on the hydro circuit during the glory days in the 1950s through the early 1980s until being supplanted by the more dependable — and much more quiet — turbines.

Once the turbines took over, the roar of the piston engines that earned hydroplanes the nickname "thunder boats" gave way to a whirring sound, not unlike — Cooper says — a vacuum cleaner.

The U-3, many insist, is what a hydroplane is supposed to sound like.

"I love the sound of the Cooper boat — it takes me back to my youth," says Don Malstrom, Kirkland Toyota general manager, in announcing this week that he would sponsor the boat for today's General Motors Cup at Seafair race on Lake Washington.

For years, however, that's all the U-3 was — a trip back in time. A nostalgic novelty.

After winning the Columbia Cup in 1989, the U-3 spent the next 13 seasons bringing up the rear of the fleet, usually lucky just to make the final heat.

That changed last summer when Cooper unveiled a new, lighter hull, three years in the making, that finally allowed his boat to compete with the rest.

Since piston engines weigh about twice as much as turbine engines — roughly 1,800 pounds — the U-3 boat for years was at a severe disadvantage.

But Cooper, driver Mitch Evans and the rest of the crew finally came up with a hull that could stay on the water while still carrying the engine around.

Not only did Cooper have to account for the heavier engine, however, but also for the fact that piston engines use a different type of fuel than the turbines — methanol as opposed to kerosene — and need to carry more of it.

"We had to make our hull 1,400 to 1,500 pounds lighter than the rest," Cooper says.

The biggest weight-saving device was building the body of the boat out of carbon fiber, which is lighter than the fiberglass used in most boats, Cooper says.

But Cooper and his crew took weight off wherever they could. At one point, Cooper spent two hours machining a bracket to take off 20 grams. Cooper says a regular oil filter weighs 10 pounds, 8 ounces. Cooper found a company to make one for him that weighs 1 pound, 2 ounces.

"It was almost foolish the points we had to go to," Cooper says. The boat now weighs about 300 to 400 pounds more than a turbine — which comes in around 7,000 pounds — at the start of a race, when it's carrying all its fuel, and is about equal by the end of a race after burning most of its fuel.

The payoff for all the hours of work came last September in San Diego when the U-3 shocked everyone by running the fastest lap during qualifying at more than 160 mph, obliterating all records for a piston-powered boat.

The U-3 has continued to be a force this year, winning the season opener in Cooper's hometown of Evansville, Ind. — the boat was named Master Tire that day — and finishing a close third last week in the Tri-Cities.

Yesterday, the U-3 set a record for piston boats on a 2-mile course, with a one-lap speed of 153.266.

The U-3's success this season has inspired many questions, the biggest of which might be — Is this the boat that can save unlimited hydroplane racing?

The U-3 has become exactly the kind of feel-good story the circuit needed after years of talk that it is a dying sport with little future. The circuit is down to six races this season, at the six core sites that have sponsored races for years, and was almost down to a record-low five before the Gold Cup in Detroit was apparently saved. That race is scheduled to be run Aug. 24 after being postponed in June because of promoter problems.

And there are just 11 boat teams in Seattle this week, essentially the same 11 that have been running for about a decade now, in part because the scarcity of turbine engines makes it hard for a newcomer to get into the sport.

Just when the sport badly needed a boost, then, along came the U-3, reviving not only glorious memories of the past but appearing to make it possible for a boat to use alternate means to become a legitimate competitor.

"Am I lucky or what?" asks Gary Garbrecht, the chairman of Hydro-Prop Inc., the sport's governing body, who has taken sometimes-drastic measures the past three years to reinvigorate the sport. "That boat is the best thing going."

Says Cooper: "It's not like we are on some mission to save the sport. We were just building a boat. But one of the nice things to come out of it is that it has created renewed interest."

No one thinks, however, that the success of the U-3 will lead to a massive revival of piston-powered boats, including Cooper.

"It looks kind of easy but it's not," Cooper says, pointing out the time — this is his fourth boat since he became an owner in 1986 — and effort it took for him to get it right. "It takes a dedication that's way beyond human."

Boats with piston engines also tend to be harder to drive, one reason they aren't as fast. The engines ride up higher, for instance, making turns more difficult.

"And have you ever looked in the cockpit of one?" asks Mark Evans, who drives the turbine-powered Llumar Window Film. "It's intimidating as hell. There's just a mess of gauges over there."

Cooper cautions that the success of the U-3 isn't because the engine as much as it is to the hull itself, which is modeled after the Bud in many ways.

"People see the motor and focus on the motor," Cooper says. "But what we've really done is build a really good racing hull. That's the biggest thing."

And while the U-3 is the fastest piston-powered boat in history, some point out that it might still struggle to compete if not for Garbrecht's attempts at increasing parity — namely, reducing fuel flow — that have slowed some of the faster boats, primarily the Bud.

"They (the U-3 crew) are doing a phenomenal job, no question," says legendary driver Chip Hanauer, who will work as a television analyst for today's race. "But the only reason they can actually be competitive with the turbines is because the turbines are being restricted. If you took the restrictions off the turbines, it would be no contest."

To that extent, however, the U-3 is actually causing Garbrecht some problems. Because of the differences in the engines, it's harder to put limitations on the piston engine than the turbines. Garbrecht says he's now in the somewhat odd position of making sure he gives the Bud, E-Lam and the other top turbine boats enough power to stay with the U-3.

"I knew they'd be (competitive)," Garbrecht says of the U-3. "But I didn't know how (competitive)."

Such statements — just like the roar of the piston engine itself — are music to Cooper's ears.

Seeing the success of his boat is the culmination of a lifelong dream. Cooper, 53, grew up in Madison, Ind., one of the fixtures on the hydroplane circuit, where his dad worked as a volunteer for the races. As a teenager he worked on the crew of the Miss Madison, which at the time was wholly owned by citizens of the city.

For the past 28 years, he's been a junior-high history and geography teacher in Evansville. But the racing bug never left him. He bought an old hydro in 1986 along with his dad, Ed Cooper Sr., and formed his own boat team.

When the turbines took over the sport in the late '80s and early '90s, Cooper stuck with the pistons. That meant years of mediocrity and generally serving as nothing more than a fun conversation piece.

Asked why, Cooper points to one of the turbine boats.

"Ever seen anybody excited about that?" he says. Then he points to his boat. "Now ever seen anybody excited about that? It's absolutely amazing how fans have been drawn to this thing from the beginning."

A turbine engine, Cooper points out, doesn't look like much to a fan looking in from afar, with what looks like a garbage can sticking out of its back.

But a piston engine, Cooper says, looks like what an engine is supposed to look like.

"I have 10,000 people a day come and ask me if they can put that in their car," he says. "Nobody ever asks that of a turbine."

Whenever Cooper might have gotten frustrated building his new boat, he remembered a talk he often gives to his students about the importance of spending your life doing what you love.

"Part of doing this was listening to my own lecture," he says. "I always said it would be neat if I had a boat that had a chance. I finally got it done."

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com