I had to travel on Sunday so, all that I knew about was from Saturday, Dick.
Until this morning, I had no idea what happened. On Saturday, there was one heat where the boats were on the course and were called back in. A freighter was coming down the river and had priority. They came back in, refueled, waited, and finally ran the heat. Not a great way to start the race.
This entire year must be the worst in Unlimited history (at least since '82 or '66).
Venues breaking away, teams not racing, ownership swapped, and much more.
I looked at the major Detroit newspaper on Sunday, looking for something about the results from Saturday. Not one single word! The race site is within 1 hour of Detroit and not one word. I even wonder if anyone associated with the race made any effort at all to get TV time or print space in the papers. The organization is a complete and total embarrassment. Even the timing of the Speed Channel coverage is lame. Anyone attending the St. Clair race could only see the Seattle race (on Speed Ch) if they setting up a VCR or TyVo at home. Just stupid timing!
They need to get rid of these two-day events. It is pathetic that they went that way, trying to force fans into spending an entire weekend sitting on their duffs waiting for heats, in races that cannot fill one day on their own. The Detroit races were far superior when they were run only on Sunday. The hardcore fans could always attended several days prior for the qualifications.
