Qualifying

Controversy Stirs the Inaugural Gold Cup

Something new, a lost boat, boats sinking and two-speed motors. Besides spray cheese and beef jerky, that was the story behind the 2001 Casper-Prop Gold Cup.

Plenty of new boats showed up for the inaugural race. Hank Kosciuszko brought 3 new boats, including the Thriftway Too (the Brien Wygle version, of course), the Notre Dame (with new owner Laura Kosciuszko, sporting a new "relaxed style of ownership") and the Miss U.S. 5. All were typically perfect. Greg Bazydlo, a new owner on the circuit, brought his Cabover Bardahl, which he had just purchased from Hank Kosciuszko. Mark Weber brought his 1963 U-40 Miss Bardahl (sans trim, but was approved by the contest board...or was that the bored contestants). Brad Dunn has his cool looking Miss Timex and Jeff Dunn made another feeble attempt at the U-3 Harrah's Club (looked cool, ran awful.) Last, but not least, Kathy Shuler brought her brand new Miss Madison. How appropriate that we had two Miss Madisons at our Gold Cup??

Carnage was the story. 20 DNF's! Props were lost, boats were sinking and colliding. The Miss Timex almost went "over the wall"!! The boat most responsible for most of the "questionable activity", not surprisingly, was the Miss Thriftway. Even in the absence of owner Tom Netschke, the bad boy certainly lived up to his reputation as it spun out several competitors - including the Thriftway Too!! Guest referee Bill Newton (aka Jim Dunn, who came to the race from Ohio) asked the boys to "give a little extra room...I'd like to see five lengths....". Of course, as most boat racers do, they ignored the referee and the plastic started flying!

Laura Kosciuszko's new Notre Dame was the star of the show, winning all heats. Mark Weber's brand new Miss Bardahl was also impressive in its debut, finishing second in the final heat after doggin' the Dame.

The most startling revelation was found after the race. Mark Weber entered the pit area and noticed the race winner, Notre Dame, was running all by itself on its trailer. Of course, all the other racers wanted to know what was going on. They finally discovered that Notre Dame had a TWO SPEED MOTOR!! Well...tempers flared, people started shoving...well OK..maybe not. The owner of the"lake" had a good laugh and we laughed too (ha ha ha!) No sarcasm here! Of course, this was obviously Hank's revenge for "losing the Tahoe Miss". The Tahoe, after a fne qualifying effort, was "somehow" left on the beach for the first two sets of elimination heats! The 2000 High Point champ came back to the race with a vengeance and scored well in the remaining heats.

Mike Millenbach's 1968 Bardahl retained the current, prestigious High Point lead, followed closely by the Mariner Too. The Miss Madison, the Bardahl's chief rival, had a couple of DNF's and fell back in the points.

We had a blast, as usual, as we sat around, ate hot dogs and drank beer. You gotta love this sport.

Gold Cup Final Point Standings

2001 Highpoint Standings after 3 Races

2001 Owner Highpoint Standings after 3 Races
(no awards or even honor...just interesting)