S

-3

p'sEh" 47.

/"

ASSAULT ON THE MISSISSIPPI

offshore marathon record with Smith onthe Sea of Cortez in 1970, but nixed theproject because the new boat would beoutfitted with Arneson surface drives.Cook, who is currently developing herown surface drive unit, felt there was a

conflict of interest.Enter Reagan, who had taken his

biggest boat racing feather in 1967 whenhe, Rudy Ramos and Bill Cooper teamedto win the then-prestigious OutboardWorld Championships at Lake Havasu,Ariz. 3ut it surely wasn't Reagan's rustyracing credentials that Smith was in-terested in as much as his name and theobvious media draw.

Reagan's first reaction to the run, whenhe was approached at last February s

Los Angeles Boat Show, was slightlYskeptical. He was concerned with howthe national press would view such a"stunt" after its attacks of other businessventures in which he was involved.Reagan liked the idea and was itching toget back into racing, but the notion ofmerely setting a record for the sake ofattracting piggyback publicity wasn'tappealing. There had to be more.

Reagan, who serves as co-chatrman ofthe United States Olympic fund-raisingcommittee, agreed to become involved in

the challenge if he could make the recordrun a fund-raiser for the upcoming 1984Olympic Games, d la Bob Nordskog'searlier Canadalo-Mexico run on behalf ofGuide Dogs for the Blind. How could thepress possibly find fault with a mom-and-apple-pie project like raising moneyfor the Olympics?

The instant Reagan got involved, thepromotional wheels started turning. Aouick check of the record books revealedihat the run up the Mississippi was rich in

history. At 11:14 a.m. on Monday, July 4,

1870, the 297-foot-long, 86-foot-wideRobert E. Lee steamed into St. Louisusing eight powerful engines - threedays, 18 hours and 14 minutes af ter it leftNew Orleans. A specially built chal-lenger, tf'e Natchez, finished six hoursand 33 minutes later ln what historians

regard as the most famous duel in riverhistory.

The Fobert E. Lee reigned as king ofthe Mississippi until 1929, when wealthySt. Louis industrialist Edward Koenig is-sued the challenge and designed a per-petual Lroohy to encourage future recoi'dallempts. No sooner had Koenig rnadethe of fer Ihan Dr. Louis !-eroy piloted hls33-foot Chris-Craf t cruiser up the river toset a new mark of 87 hours, 3l minutes.

Since the steamboat days of the FoberfE. Lee, over .1

,C00 attempts on the recordhave been made, only 13 of them suc-cessf ul. On July 23, 1972, Bill Tedford ofLittie Rock. Ark.. and his Robert E. Lee Vl

- after having set records of 41 :57 in1956 and 29 22 in'64 - made the trek in26 hours, 50 minutes. Tedford, who atage 60 drove the 16Joot Tower Cat withtwin 125-horsepower Evinrudes with hisson, retireC the famed Koenig Cupin'72,the only driver to set the l.ecord on threeeonarrlo nnclqinnq

With the Koenig Cup on Ted{ord's man-tie. Reagan had ihe 26:50 record to shootat, but no perpetual trophy . . . so he insti-tuted a new one. Before he even saw the38-footer he was slated to drive, Reaganconvinced W.R, Grace & Co, to donate$102 700 ($100 per mile) to the USOCand establish a new perpetuai cup. "The

Grace Challenge Cup will stand as apermanent symbol of the incredible athle-tic and technical achievement rep-resented by the New Orleans tc St. Louisqnoori rr rn ' cai.l Rnhprt Cnnrrillotteuvvvv I u,,!

executive vice-president of Grace. "lt isone of the most grueling endurance testsin America,"

The Grace Co. tie-in was a natural: ltowns the Robert E. Lee riverboat restaur-ant that would serve as the home for thetrophy and the site of the victory celebra-tion at the conclusion of Reagan's run,Once the first sponsorship hurdle wascleared, other companies fell in line,including Marriott Hotels, JusticeBrothers Automotive Chemicals, Stan-dard Communications, Chipwich Sand-

Twenty-five hours, seven minutes after he left New Orleans, Reagan reached St. Louis.

KOENIG TROPHY RECORD HOLDERS

July 25, 1929Sept.28, 1931

July 5, 1953

Oct. 8, 1953Aug. 15, 1954Aug.5, 1955June 24, 1956July 22, 1956Aug.25, 1956July 13, 1957July 23, 1964July 7, 1968

July 23,1972

Dr. L. LeroyG.F. SchomillerRoy F. SmithF.G. BurkharthLee SawyerRoy LoetscherRoy CullumBill TedtordLee SawyerRoy CullumBill TedfordLou CooleyBill Tedford

Chris CraftEvinrude IIMark TwainCrscoHuck FinnLoetscher SpecialRamblerRobert E. Lee lllHuck FinnRambler llRobert E. Lee VMicro-LubeRobert E. Lee Vl

87:31794679i1261:2256:5652:3347:2041:5739:4131:1t29:2229:0526:50

16|POVERBOAT

w

Mike wondered what the press would say.

wiches, Descente and Du Pont.Reagan continued to pound the

sponsorsn p trai , inlenL o- .'laK,ng lhe runa rnonetary success for ihe Olympics.After recrurting offshore and uniimitedhydroplane owner Bernie Litlle to pavethe way, Reagan rnade contact with theBudwe'ser corporate otfices and askedfor help to defray the cost of the event.Budweiser, already heavily invoved in

supporting the Olymplc Games, couldn't.esisr an oneralion i1,rT i^volveo lhe Pres-ident's son. Green light.

Always thinking of new promotional:.rnlpc Rean:n rrser^l hiS CoaneCl onS [oarrange a f und-raiser luncheon to kick of fthe event in New Orleans, and scheduleda w'ap-up dinner in St Lo"is f o low ng therun.

Reagan didn't plan your usual ho-humrubber chicken [und-raising banquet,either. Vice Pres;denl George Bush wasinvited to be the guest speaker in NewOrleans, and Reagan asked his f ather topresent Augusl Busch lll the OlympicCommittee's "Sportsman of the Year"award at the $250-per-plate dinner. The\,Vhite House readily agreed to both invita-tions. anxious [o snow ils support of the'84 Olympics, particularly after formerPresident Jimmy Carter had insisted on ahnrinnft ^f tho 1oRo l\/ln--- ,.,-scow games.

While Reagan was busy promoting theevent into bigger proportrons tnan any-

nne thnrnhl nossihlc work on the boatin^ nr a {^,,^'i^n ^^^^ n,,+vvq) PrugrgD)il r9 dr d rvvsrrJ'r PquE. vur-

fitted with twin 3208 rurbochargedCaternillar nicselq the 38-fooLer wasbeing rigged by SwiftShips in New,Or-leans. On July 9, two weeks before thescheduled departL,re. Reagar planredto make a shakedown cruise from NewOrleans [o Baton Rouge. With the p'ess inelronrl:nno rr'o Rlt.1 / inhl m:do il loqc

lhan two miles upriver belore losi-g alrancmiccinn na:r Rp:c-- ^l-rr^l ^^rI vuur . I ruugor'.Jror tgu vcr-ting nervous.

"The problem I had was that, if any-t^ ng. we d done too good a job on thenrnmnlinnel cido crrrc Roen:n :hnr rr

why he went ooking for backup har.d-ware. "The onJy person who could haverailed on tl-e rLn was M,ke Reaga^ Bud-we,se'would have cont;nued lo selr beer,Wellcraft sti I wou d have been sel ingboats and Larry Smith still would haveheen sp.linn Sc212hs . it wouldn t hur L

rhnco nneratinnq Rr rr the nreqq \A/ar rld \/o

had a field day with 'Mike Reagan Fails."'Feagan went shopprng for an rnsur-

ance polrcy. He knew that OMC andWellcraft had jointly built a 38-footer for

open crass off srore racing with three ex-perimental V-Bs on the transom. Theblack mark was that former national Pro-duction class cha-pion David Alberl.along with crewman Chris Smith, hadhoon kilod toclinn thp hnet nr nr ln the

Bacardi Classic lhree montns earl e, At-tributing the incident more to driver errorthan a mechanical malfunciion with theb,oat. Reagan was -ore tha^ willing touse the triple engine V-B in case thediesel didn't make it to the starting line.For good measure, OMC also sent a 30-foot Wellcraft with three V-6 engines onlhe transor that had been used as t'.edarralnnmonl hnet fnr thi,-, .,,3 Open crass '19.

On Juy 16, Reagan returned to NewOr,eans wit^ the diesel st, l the n"mberone machine, but he had reservations.His skenr rl qrr con'inrrol 19 rgg611 yylgnthp Rttd l inht q lio h:r [g11rygen the twOdrives oroke on lwo conseculive days.Wirh less than a weeh lo go. lhe dieselhadn't run more than 30 miles without ap'oolem. lhe Ar neson dr ves are a greatp'oducl. bur we kept hav ng tro;b e withnrckel-and-dlme parts," says Reagan.''As we got closer and c ose lo ltre day oI

\r\ r'o ' ,# 'n"'"""i{';l

T

fr

&w

*,

These experimental outboards powered the 38-footer built jointly by OMC and Wellcraft.

SEPTEMBER '1982117

ASSAULT ON THE MISSISSIPPIthe event, I knew we'd have to go with theoutboards.

''When you .ook back. there have onlybeen 13 records in a thousand attempts,so the odds of making it were not in ourfavor," he continues. "Also, the weatherpatlerns this year changed the rivercompletely, This was only Lhe secondri-^ i^ ,h^ r^^+ I I .,^^"^ that the fjVef WaSU|rY iltUtu td-L | | ygarJnninn rrn \A/hon it nnoq I'n il F.inno rll nfgvil rv uv. vvrrurr .r vvuo uP. rr urrrrvJ orr ulthe debris. trees and logs of f lhe shore."

Faced with an uncooperating Missis-sippi, a seemingly jinxed diesel machineand a swelling crowd oI r.edia types, theRt td I iaht tpam dpcido^ ih.i .ll +hr^^uuv LiVt tL ruqr rr uvvrugU Ll ldL dll tl llVvboats wouid starl the run together, withReagan jumping behind the wheel ofwhichever boat was running at the end.Also. atter hours of painstaking debate.rhe oecision was made lhat Reaganwould start the challenge behind thewheel of the triple engine OMC/Wellcraft,as he was stlll not confident that the dleselwouid do the trick.

The last-minute switch to outboardsnncod irrrn nrnhlomc trirct tho hin \/-Rq

have a healthy fuel diet and would requireihrao mnro nit ctnnc lh2n lha eiiocol Qno-u(vvu 'l^i^l ^"^.,:^i^^^ h^i +^ h^ maAn alnnn thnutdt ptuvi)rut r) rrqu tu uY r tduY otvt t9 rr rs

river to retuer the Bud Light, as regularRQ-nnlane nrrmn oasnline mixed withoutboaro fuel wouldn l be readily avai'-abre (Lhe tow oarges all use diesel). Sec-ondly, because of wind squalls. fuel con-sumpl;on [ests and added equipmentthat noadad ln ho rinoad Roen:n rlidn'l

have a chance to test-drive the powerfultriple engine outboard until the morningof the event,

The decision to run all three boatssimultaneously also prompted somechanges in the crew. Along with Reaganin the cockpit of the newly assignednumber one boat was 33-year-old Johnny

Mann, an OMC outboard technician fromStuart, Fla., who had done much of thedevelopment work on the V-8-poweredScarab during the previous 1B months.Mann would work the throttles. ln lhe alr-important navigator's seat Reagan wasaccompanied by Mlke Low, a grain twobarge pilot wilh 15 years of experience onthe river. Low makes approximately 18round trips from New Orleans to St. Louiseach year.

Because the outboard only had roomfor three passengers. Larry Smith andhotel magnate Bill Marriott Jr., who wereoriginally scheduled to ride with Reagan,retained their seats in the diesel, nownhriclonarl Rt tr'l I inht i / anhh', t'ahnn aful llloLsl rou uuu Ltgt il rt. uuuuy vr tdt I ul

Rnzior l\/rnhinonr rnr]o.o +h^ ^i^.^lI ru1 rsr rvrourilrrsr y rvu9 oJ (rrg urvJvl

mechanic, and Tom George, a seasonedriverboat pilot, tooh care of the naviga-tional chores. The crew on the Wellcraft30-fool backup-tolhe-backup includedGus Anastasi of Wellcraft, Tom lrelarrdand Ron Baker of OMC and Rick Black-m2 n : 2Q-vo: r-nlrl rivorhnat nilnl t ho

navigator.Normally, on long-distance marathon

runs the start is made at the first hint ofmorning sunlighl so participants canminimize dangerous running time atnight. On the Mississippi, however, themost treacherous leg is from Memphis toSt. Louis because of the heavy debris inthe water. Reagan & Co. left from the foot

When the boats were in, the team took off from the bottom of Esplanade St. at 3 p.m.

*uu',

Ready for the start are (from left) the triple V-6-powered, 3O-foot Wellcraft, the diesel 38-footer and the OMC/Wellcraft proiect.

18/POWERBOAT

Originally pegged as the top boat, the diesel proved a disappointment in trial runs.

of Esplanade Street in New Orleans at 3p.m. on Wednesday, July 21, so theywould be abie to navigate the Memphis-to-St. Louis leg in daylight

With Mann working the throttles andLow handling the boat s radar equip-ment, Reagan gained a surprisinglynrrink lool fnr tha lrinlo-onnino \A/ollnreftr}Jrv vr rv''

Because he had released his assignedSecret Service agents during the run, theonly aerial escort the Bud Light had wasintermittent checks by a film crew fromABC's American Sportsman program,Averaging speeds close to 70 mph,Reagan hit his first fuel stop at BatonRouge without any problems. The 3O{ootV-6 Bud Light lll followed him into port,

while the Bud Light // diesel kept right onchugging, So far, so good. Next stoplVicksburg, Miss.

Although the water conditions duringthe early part of the run were favorable fora 38Jooter, Reagan constantly had to beon the lookout for floating debris. About30 miles away f rom the second fuel stopthe Bud Lighl hit a tree stump, cutting il intwo but knocking out a lower unit in thenro.pqq Rocarrse of all lhe debris in thewater, the switch to the outboards proveda stroke of genius. OMC's new V-8s arean ideal oowerplant for record runs be-cause the powerlo-weight ratio is f ar bet-ter than any inboard engines. Using onlytwo engines, Reagan still had no problem

Although it stopped for fuel in Memphis, the Bud Light lett iust a few gallons short.

KOENIG TROPHY RULES

't. Boat must be driven by water pro-peller (no jets, air boats, etc.).

2. Boat may be powered byany numberof inboard or outboard engines.

3. Engines may be repaired but not re-olaced.

4. Spare or idle engines may not be car-ried or used, but spare parts may.

5. Boat may be repaired but not re-olaced.

6. Crew members may be dropped butnot replaced.

7. Boat. motors or crew may not betowed uostream. lf such are removedfrom the river, they may not re-enterthe river at any point upstream fromthe point of removal.

8. There is no limit to the horseoower.size of boat, amount of fuel carried, orthe number in the crew.

9. Boat or engines may be changedmechanically or modified in anymanner.

10. Contestants must notify in writing theSecretary of the Koenig Trophy Rac-ing Committee not later than 10 daysprior to the start of the race, advisingof the date and hour of departurefrom New Orleans, names and ad-dresses of all crew members, de-scription and registry number of boat,serial numbers of all engines andtheir description, and location of allfuel stops. Attached to this notifica-tion must be an entry fee of twentydollars ($20.00) which will not be re-turned if the race is started. Allchecks are to be made payable to theKoenig Trophy Racing Committee.

1 1 . The starting point of the race shall beat the Coast Guard fireboat at the footof Esplanade Street in New Orleans,Louisiana, and the time of departuremust be entered in the log of that boatand certified by the Duty Officer.

12. The finish line of the race shall be theCoast Guard Base located on theMississippi River at the foot of lronStreet in St. Louis, Missouri, and thetime of arrival must be entered in therecords of the Base and certified bythe Duty Officer.

13. Before the start of the race, it shall bethe responsibility of the contestantsconcerned to clarify with the Secre-tary of the Racing Committee anyquestions not answered in the aboverutes.

14. Failure to comply with any of theabove rules will automaticallv dis-qualify the offenders.

KOENIG TROPHY RACING COMMITTEE

Roy Cullum Jr., ChairmanLyndon GrahamCharles LoetscherRaymond LoetscherWilliam L. Tedford Sr.William L. Tedford Jr.R.N. CiollJohn R. Springmeyer

William L. Tedford, Secretary5000 Country Club BoulevardLittle Rock, Arkansas 72207

SEPTEMBER 1982119

ASSAULT ON THE MISSISSIPPImaintaining a 60-mph pace.

Despite the lower unit problem,Reagan arrived in Vicksburg at 8:30 p.m.,a full 90 minutes ahead of schedule. Re-pair work on the lower unit began im-mediately. While filling the boat's tanks,however, the crew accidentally spilledseveral gallons of gasoline into the bilge.After a hurried mop-up, Ihe Bud Lightcontinued upriver at 9:50 p.m., havinglosl most of its time advantage. Mean-while, the 3OJoot backup boat continuedto keep pace, but the diesel struck a log,forcing the boat on the trailer for severalhours while the Arneson drive was re-placed.

Because of strong fumes in the bilgefrom the spilled fuel, Reagan hesitated toturn on the boat's generator, opting in-stead to run in the dark without lights.Cruising at night, without the aide of a fullmoon, at speeds close to 60 and relyingstrictly on Low's hand signals from theradar, Reagan barely missed a tree - nota stump, but an entire tree - about anhour out of Vicksburg. Time for a deci-sion: Should they run without lights andrisk destroying the boat by hitting sub-merged debris, or chance becoming aMolotov cocktail and turn on thegenerator? Reagan decided that if the runhad to end, he'd rather go out in a ball offire with cocktails. He hit the generatorand, fortunately, the only thing that ig-nited was the lights.

Other than the fume problem, the runfrom Vicksburg to Greenville, Miss., wasuneventful, with the Bud Light maintain-ing its 55- to 60-mph average. After aquick stop for fuel in Greenville, Reaganset his sights on Memphis, with a stop inHelena, Ark., for fuel. The worst was yet tocome. About 30 miles away from Mem-phis, theBudLight lost another lower unit,coasting in the last half hour on two en-gines.

Arriving in Memphis aI 4'.25 a.m.,Reagan was still more than two hoursahead of schedule despite the logjams.With the support crew suffering from Iackof sleep, the fuel stop in Memphis almostcost Reagan the record. After changingthe lower unit, crew members mistakenlythought they filled the tanks when a vaporlock caused gasoline to push backthrough the f iller nozzle.In reality, the BudLight lefl Memphis for the 210-mile leg toWickliffe, Ky., approximately 200 gallonsof fuel short.

With daybreak fast approaching,Reagan, Low and Mann left Memphisconfident that the record would be theirs.Meanwhile, the diesel had been repaired,but shortly after leaving Vicksburg it hadfurther mechanical problems and wasdeclared finished. The Reagan insurancepolicy had paid off. On the other hand,the 30Jooter had been staying close tothe V-8 machine until it lost two lower unitssimultaneously just outside Memphis.2OlPO}/ERBOAT

The Bud Light lll would eventually finishthe run, but not in time to break the Ted-ford record.

racer hears things no one else does.Reagan almost swallowed his tongue 40miles from St. Louis when the oearcase

Reagan didn't find out that he'd beenshortchanged on fuel until he was about90 miles away from Wickliffe and the boatcame to a stop in mid-stream. Thanks tosome quick radio work by Low and a re-serve tank in the bow that had anemergency 90 gallons in it, the Bud Lighttrio was able to beach the boat on thesandy shores of New Madrid, Mo. Afterseveral pleading telephone calls, a fueltanker was located and dispatched to thesite. By this time Bernie Little, AugustBusch and Bill Marriott, who'd been f lyingoverhead in the corporate helicoper,Ianded, wondering why there had beenan unscheduled pit stop. Panlc time.

After locating the fuel, the next projectwas finding the needed two-cycle oil tomix with the gasoline. The local marinestore in New Madrid shortly sold moremarine oil in two minutes than it had allyear.

Amazingly, the unscheduled pit stoponly cost Reagan about 90 minutes, andalthough he couldn't make St. Louis bynoon, he still had a cozy safety cushion.As if he hadn't already been throughenough, about five minutes after leavingNew Madrid the Bud Lighf lost the star-board lower unit and bent all of the earson the port engine's prop. On to the finalfuel stop.

In Wickliffe, the OMC crew hurriedlychanged lower units and props. This timecrew members also made sure they had afull load of fuel on board for the final184-mile leg to St. Louis. Supporters of-fered advice to the bone{ired crew. "Thelast thing (Wellcraft President) Bob Longsaid to us," Reagan remembers, "was,'Guys, it's 1.17 in the afternoon. You'vegot until 5:50 to get there and set therecord. You don't have to run 80 mph.Just cruise and make sure you get theboat there.' Johnny and I looked at himand said 'OK Bob,' then got in the boatand sprinted to St. Louis at near full throt-tle."

The last 100 miles of the Assault on theMississippi were the most nerve-wracking Ior the Bud Light team becausewith every creak and methodical rpm ofthe motor, they just knew the boat wasgoing to stop and the record would slipthrough their hands. Every out-inJront

on the center engine let go, and he had tofinish the run on only two very tiredmotors.

Despite all of the headaches, Reagansped beneath the St. Louis Gateway ArchaI4:07 p.m., 25 hours and seven minutesafter he'd left New Orleans. "The last '1 85miles, all I could do was think about whatreaction I'd have when we finally reachedSt. Louis," says Reagan. "When we finallygot there I was tired, but I was still hypedup. The only thing I could think of when wecrossed the finish line was. 'Bov I'm sureglad to be here."'

The Bud Lighl completed the 1,027-mile run at an average speed of 41 .08mph, impressive considering its finish ontwo.engines and the fact that its crewchanged lower units three times and hadto make an unexpected fuel stop. Theevent was extremely successful for theOlympic fund-raising committee, withgross contri butions exceeding $S00,000.With the President's son as the drawingcard, the "Assault on the Mlssissippi" re-ceived nationwide exposure far exceed-ing any other boating event this year.

For Reagan, the run was important notonly because of the funds gendrated forthe Olympics, but because he had a pointto prove both to himself and to a marineindustry with which he's been associatedfor more than 17 years. "l think most of thecompanies that were lnvolved went into itbecause of the public relations that thePresident's son could give the wholeprogram," muses Reagan. "l think mycompetitive nature was always there; it'sjust that every week it came out more andmore. I think the more serious everyonesaw me - not just sitting back and say-ing, 'Hey guys, l'll drive your boat andtake all of the accolades' - they all of asudden realized there's more to MikeReagan than news, weather and sports."

In racing circles Reagan has alwaysbeen recognized as a good mediaattention-grabber, but most peoplenaturally felt that he was along for the ridebecause of who he was, not what hecould do. When questioned aboutwhether he could put the same type ofprogram together if his father wasn't thePresident, Reagan replies, "lt's hard tosay, because he's always been famous,

In a sudden fuel crisis, 90 gallons of reserve got the boat to the New Madrid beach,

so you're afways living under the aus-pices of Ronald Reagan. So whether he'sa g.overnor or an actor or, now, the Pres-ident . . . and now Mom (actress JaneWyman, Mike's mother) has her own tele-vision show, Falcon Cresf, so she's backin the limelight . . . I'm always the son ofsomebody. The only change I'd Iike to

make is that someday they're 'my pa-rents' instead of me always being 'theirson.' And I can do that through racing.

"Sure, I have a lot to gain out of settingthe record. But what I'm gaining is myown identity," Reagan conlinues. l'Theworst thing that can happen when yougrow up in a family that's so well recog-

nized is that everybody'thinks your firstname is 'The,'your middle name is 'Presi-dent's'and your last name is'Son.'Maybeit's easjer to put these programs togetherbecause of who I am, but, remember: TheMississippi River didn't give a damn whowas driving."

F