H1 Unlimited's Greatest Races: 1999 Detroit Gold Cup Final Heat

Detroit, MI (July 11, 1999) - Returning to competition after a nearly three year hiatus, Chip Hanauer, driving the U-100 Miss PICO, held off three-time defending APBA Gold Cup Champion Dave Villwock in the U-1 Miss Budweiser to capture his eleventh career APBA Gold Cup. Hanauer has taken the Detroit sponsored Miss PICO to victory in three of the five 1999 Ralph's Unlimited Hydros Thunder Tour presented by Las Vegas events. "My first Gold Cup here in 1982 with Fran Muncey and Atlas Van Lines was the most satisfying of my career, but this is very special and ranks number two," said Hanauer. "We had a pretty tough week. When I got here to the pit area at 8:00 Thursday morning, our boats weren't here yet. Later, I learned that we had scraped up a sponson on a freeway overpass. We never got to run our primary boat on Thursday, and then it was too windy to run on Friday. We were using the preliminary heats just to learn how to set the boat up for the final. Once we got the lead on the start, we were able to control the racecourse. Once you have the lead here, you can make it very tough for the guy behind to pass." Hanauer's win capped off an exciting Hydros final that saw Dave Villwock in the U-1 Miss Budweiser chasing Hanauer to the finish line only to finish second. U-10 York International & Young Country present Miss Detroit Yacht Club driver Mark Weber, from nearby St. Clair Shores, gave his hometown crowd something to cheer about by finishing third in this year's Chrysler Jeep APBA Gold Cup. Rookie Greg Hopp again demonstrated why he is the odds-on favorite for Rookie of the Year honors, winning Heat 4-B and bringing home the U-15 R.S. Eastin Hotels in fourth place in the final. Hanauer's 1999 Chrysler Jeep APBA Gold Cup victory places him just one win away from Bill Muncey's all-time career wins record of 62. Already a member of the Motorsports Hall of Fame, Hanauer's Gold Cup record is impressive.

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