Lee Edward “Chip“ Hanauer (born July 1, 1954) is the third most successful Unlimited Hydroplane racer in history. He has won the APBA Gold Cup a record 11 times….and was the driver of one of the most famous boats in APBA history, the Miss Budweiser, in the early to mid-1990’s. He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1995 as their youngest inductee. In 2005, he was inducted into the International Motorized Vehicles Hall of Fame. In 1991, he temporarily left the waters for auto racing only to return a season later.
In 1982 Hanauer became the driver for Atlas Van Lines after replacing owner/driver Bill Muncey….who died in the final race of the 1981 season….when Muncey asked his widow, Fran, to continue the race team if he died….so, Fran selected Hanauer, who was reportedly picked by Bill to replace him. Hanauer went on to win his first Unlimited National and World Championship. In 1985 he won his fourth consecutive Gold Cup and another National Championship. In 1986 Hanauer tied Garfield Wood’s record for the most consecutive Gold Cup wins. In 1987 he won his sixth consecutive Gold Cup….thus breaking Gar Wood’s record. He won a seventh consecutive Gold Cup victory in 1988….and in 1990 he again won the National Championship.
Tom D’Eath is an American hydroplane and race car driver from Michigan. Tom D’Eath (pronounced deeth) won three American Power Boat Association Gold Cups and three the Prince Edward Canadian Gold Cups. He remains the only three-time winner of both. He has also won National Championships in virtually every other class of hydroplane racing. D’Eath also competed on land, by driving in the USAC Formula Vees from 1977 to 1981 and midget cars from 1982 through his retirement from racing in 1991. Arguably his most memorable victory was in the bicentennial 1976 APBA Gold Cup unlimited hydroplane race….which was held on the Detroit River. D’Eath piloted the Miss US to a narrow upset victory over Bill Muncey in the Atlas Van Lines….which was a hull that won the two previous Gold Cups and the three previous APBA National Championships. In addition to being D’Eath’s first Gold Cup win…. it was the first Gold Cup win for a turbocharged V-12 Allison aircraft engine….and the first for a cabover unlimited hull….as well as the first Gold Cup win for Miss US owner George Simon….who had competed in unlimited hydroplane racing since 1953.
