Apple Cup Regatta Pro-Lite Shootout Scheduled for this Saturday & Sunday

Spring Hydroplane Racing returns to Lake Chelan

By Dennis Rahm

Lake Chelan ended a four-year run of hosting unlimited hydroplane races in 1960 as the Apple Cup Regatta came to an end. Fast forward to the Spring of 2018 and once again hydro’s will be racing on the lake during this weekend’s Apple Cup Regatta Pro-Lite Shootout series featuring 5-litre limited boats as well as several other categories of limited inboard and outboard hydroplanes.

The race will take place this Saturday and Sunday with Chelan being the second stop on this years Pro-Lite Shootout. The series opened last weekend at Lawrence Lake in Yelm with Jeff Bernard in the Clack Motorsports E9 sweeping both days of racing.

Anywhere from 9-11 classifications are expected to race this weekend with up to as many as 40 boats. The race will be staged at Don Morse Park and is free to the public. Admittance to the pits does require the purchase of a pass and the signing of a waiver. A beer garden will also be featured throughout the weekend.In addition to the Pro-Lite class, other race classes include the popular Vintage Limited, the Outboard Performance Class, Inboard flat bottom, 1 liter, 2.5 stock and the 2.5 mods.

The race is an event of the Seattle Inboard Racing Association and is sanctioned by the American Power Boat Association. Race sponsors of the $10,000 Shootout series are Destination Harley Davidson and Jet Chevrolet. Race Director Gordy Cole is excited for May hydroplane racing in Chelan to return to its roots.

Race promoters indicate that the Pro-Lite Hydroplanes race at over 120 miles per hour, using 350 small block engines, and at times are racing within one foot of each other. They are considered to be the most exciting class to watch with “loud throaty engines, rooster tails over 20 feet high and professional racers who like to put on a great show.” Local race organizers include John Walcker and former unlimited drivers Mark and Mitch Evans, all from Chelan.

The original Apple Cup was started in 1957 with the help of Norm Evans (Mitch and Mark’s father) and Jack Lafferty. Evans won the 1958 race on his home course at the wheel of the Miss Bardahl, a new boat at the time that was designed by Ted Jones and built by Ron Jones.

Evans would finish second in the final Apple Cup in 1960 driving the Nitrogen and finishing behind winner Bill Muncie.

Historians report the race eventually outgrew the small community of Chelan. Increasing sponsor expenses and crowd control issues were also reported as contributing factors.

The weather forecast is calling for mid to upper 70’s this weekend which should be ideal for racing as long as the wind doesn’t become a factor.