 The third race of the ERCU 2025 Championship Series is the President’s Cup, set for Saturday, May 3, 2025, at Irene Rinehart Park in Ellensburg. Here is all you need to know to be prepared for the third event of the year.
LOCATION Irene Reinhardt Park, 1081 Umptanum Road, Ellensburg, WA 98926 CONTEXT The President's Cup was contested by unlimited hydroplanes between 1926 and 1977, with time out for World War II (1941-1945). After 1977, the Presidents Cup became a limited event for several years. A man named William A. Rogers is the "father" of the Presidents Cup Regatta. Rogers convinced his fellow Corinthian Yacht Club members to host the race and persuaded President Calvin Coolidge to sponsor the trophy. Most of the Presidents Cup races were contested on the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., adjacent to Hains Point, except for a few pre-war races that were run in Annapolis, Md. The first-place trophy was traditionally presented to the winner by the nation's chief executive. The president that demonstrated the keenest interest in the race was undoubtedly Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose love for aquatics is well known. FDR watched the 1938 race from the deck of the presidential yacht Potomac. Mr. Roosevelt was so thrilled by the close finish in the last heat that he sent for the drivers of the first and second-place boats (Theo Rossi of Alagi and George Seay of Miss Manteo II) so that he could congratulate them in person for their good sportsmanship and excellent driving. The original winner of the Presidents Cup was L. Gordon Hammersley in his $60,000 duraluminum Cigarette IV. The winning speed was around 55 miles per hour. Please join ERCU at Irene Rhinehardt Park in Ellensburg on Saturday May 3 and relive those golden days of yesteryear if only in 1/10 & 1/7 scale. REGISTRATION Pre-Registration for the Presidents Cup at Irene Reinhardt Park is now open. To find the pre-registration form, navigate your web browser to www.ercu-hydros.com/presidents-cup.html, where you will find the pre-registration link in a blue box just under the race site map. You may also pre-pay your entry fees online by following the PayPal directions at the bottom of the page. Pre-registration will close at 10 p.m., FRIDAY, May 2, 2025. After that deadline, please register in person on site before 8:30 a.m. RACE OFFICIALS
WHAT TO EXPECT (All times approximate, and subject to change)
RACE FORMAT
FLIGHT SCHEDULE
HEAT DRAWS Heat draws will be completed just prior to the drivers meeting. The first heat draw will be conducted at approximately 9 a.m. and will be read verbally at the drivers meeting as a roll call. Succeeding heat draws will be conducted between flights. All heat draws will be printed and posted, and displayed on the TV screen, whenever possible. No re-draws of heats will be done. STARTING CLOCK A 1-minute 30-second clock will start as soon as all drivers are in the driving area and will not be stopped for any reason other than health or safety (including stubborn waterfowl). Please plan ahead for your upcoming heats, including getting your own spotter, and be ready when the chase boat comes back. A trailer boat shall not cross the start line less than five seconds after the start gun. Rookie drivers who have not yet earned 1,200 career points must start from the trailer position. RACE DAY MORNING It will be our intent to have the course open by 8 a.m. so that testing can commence once boats are registered for the event. Boat owners should prepare to have time for inspections and to be ready to race. The water will be open for testing until approximately 9:30 a.m. DRIVERS MEETING The drivers meeting is mandatory for ALL divisions and all classes and will begin at the scorer’s table within five minutes of the closing of time trials. Drivers who do not attend the drivers meeting will be scratched from the first heat regardless of whether they are pre-registered and pre-paid. Drivers arriving after the drivers meeting will not be added to the event until the draw for the second flight of heats. 2024 PRESIDENTS CUP RESULTS
INSPECTIONS In 2025, all boats will be inspected before the first race they run at. We ask that you print out the Hull Inspection Form and complete the member information at the top of page one prior to arriving at the race site. Please also remember to bring a photo of the real boat (a photo on your phone or tablet is acceptable) that your boat. VISITING DRIVERS ERCU welcomes new members to the club and visiting racers from other clubs. Rookie driver testing will be offered during the open water period as needed. The course will be closed for rookie driver tests. Visiting racers may not take home an ERCU perpetual trophy, in the event they win the race. POST-RACE CLEANUP AND AWARDS PRESENTATION Club equipment cleanup and re-packing the trailer will take priority once the race is over. Once the trailer is re-packed, awards will be presented. Awards will be given to the first, second and third place finishers, winners. All members have a responsibility to help with set up and breakdown of club equipment. As a courtesy to your fellow racers, please stick around for the awards presentation whether you’ve won one or not. RESTROOMS There will be a portable toilet delivered on site specifically for our event. ELECTRICITY There is no access to electricity in the pits. It would be wise to bring a generator or other power source if you will need to charge batteries during the day. photos by Dennis Caines OLYMPIA – For the second straight year, Dennis Caines and the community in which he and Linda live, put on one helluva show at the ERCU Diamond Cup.
It was stop two on the 2025 ERCU Championship Series. The Diamond Cup featured Scott Lake community support and enthusiasm unmatched by any other events on the ERCU race circuit. Through Dennis’s drive and passion for not only racing, but also his community and Scott Lake, the event was truly a festival, with 29 scale hydroplanes as the main event. Vintage and modern firetrucks, firemen, face painting and other activities for the kids filled out the park and a first-class concession stand with everything from pulled pork sandwiches to root beer floats was amazing. Tenth scale modern started things off with Paul Dunlap piloting Nelson Holmberg’s Bucket List racing to the heat one victory and 400 points but would be the only heat the Bucket List would compete in as technical issues resulted in DNS in heat two followed by scratches for the remainder of the day. That left just David Newton’s 2004 Budweiser and David Heilbrunn’s 2015 Dalton Industries in the class. There were no surprises here as Miss Budweiser took the checkers in heat 2, 3 and the winner take all final. 1/10 classic featured a field of five with one visiting driver making some big waves. From the racing McKeon clan, Tyler McKeon made his occasional pilgrimage to ERCU and threw down with his 1977 Natural Lite. Four heats, four wins for a 1,600-point day for Tyler. The rest of the field divvied up the crumbs Tyler left in his wake with Jerry Dunlap and Jim Hagan and Dray Newton each scoring over 700 points on the day and Gary Dawn had a bummer day with his 1983 Gilmore Special, tallying 450. A reduced field made up the 1/10 vintage class as just three entries were able to make the trip. Paul Dunlap, David Heilbrunn and Dray Newton came to race. The preliminary heats were all won by David Heilbrunn and his 1964 Blue Chip. The Exide picked up a DNF in the first and second heats and Dray Newton’s Hawaii Kai was second in both. Headed in the third and final preliminary heat the pressure was on Dunlap as another DNF would take him out of contention for the winner take all final heat, Dunlap of course responded and finish second in the third punching his ticket and entry into the final. Heilbrunn entered the final heat with a perfect day, 1,200 points and his first-ever ERCU opportunity at a perfect day. Alas, this was not to be as Heilbrunn fought valiantly but crossed the finish line a second or two behind Dunlap’s Exide. Dray Newton tallied 1,050 points which when added to his 821 from the first race this season brings Dray to 1,871 and the lead in 1/10 vintage season points headed into the next race coming up in three weeks in Ellensburg. The combined 1/7 modern and classic class featured an event-high nine boats at the beginning of the day. McKeon brought his 2010 Peters & May and he and Mike McIntosh with his 2024 Beacon Plumbing each won preliminary heats 1A and 1B. The second and third flight, Heats 2A, 2B, 3A and 3B would each be won by McKeon’s Peters & May and Heilbrunn’s 2024 Goodman Real Estate. The winner-take-all final was set to be a barnburner with McKeon, Heilbrunn, McIntosh and three new members; John Havens Jr.’s 1976 U-95 Miss Budweiser, Scott Whitestine’s 1972 Notre Dame and Carl Lewis’s 1975 Lincoln Thrift. The final was neck-and-neck for the first two laps with Peters & May and Goodman slugging it out for the lead. Fast forward to lap number three where the Peters & May and Goodman came together in turn two with the Goodman boat getting the worse of it, taken out by a chewed-up propeller from the incident. McKeon recovered and finished the heat ahead of Budweiser good enough for his second 1,600 point day. That left just 1/7 scale vintage class with seven entries. This one would be David Newton and his 1958 Hawaii Kai going four for four, scoring 1,600 points. His closest competition would be provided by Caines’ 1968 Miss Eagle Electric, McKeon’s 1967 Miss Lapeer and McIntosh’s 1967 Miss U.S. V. ERCU moves over the Cascades next for its third race – the Presidents Cup – of the season on Saturday, May 3 in Ellensburg, the 2025 Presidents Cup. Pre-registration is already open, and can be done by clicking here.  Skidfin Consulting, a new startup created by Nelson Holmberg, has joined the ranks of sponsors of ERCU.
Skidfin is a strategic planning, public relations, marketing and management consultancy targeted at motorsports teams, events and organizations. "Building a startup business is a wild ride," Holmberg said. "And motorsports are a wild ride. I've always been incredibly proud to be a member of ERCU and I'm thrilled to introduce my new business as a partner of this amazing club. I truly appreciate the opportunity." Nelson's practical experience in motorsports includes public relations, sponsorship and crew work on three different unlimited hydroplane racing teams, officiating in H1 Unlimited, ownership and driving a C-class outboard hydroplane; and leadership, strategic services, public relations and administration of ERCU. More broadly, Nelson has wide-ranging experience in sports marketing & public relations, leadership and management in top-tier college athletics (football, tennis, basketball, crew, softball and golf), professional sports (women's basketball and baseball), and touring championship level junior golf. Nelson is a graduate of the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University in Pullman. His major is in public relations and he earned a minor in sport management.  The second race of the 2024 ERCU Championship Series is the Diamond Cup, set for Saturday April 12, 2025, at Scott Lake in Olympia. Here is all you need to know to be prepared for the second event of the year.
Location Scott Lake Park, 2520 Scotlac Drive SW, Olympia WA 98512 Context For a decade, the North Idaho resort town of Coeur d’Alene, had played host to “Water Racing’s Greatest Show” – the unlimited hydroplanes – starting in 1958. The Coeur d’Alene race always attracted a large crowd of spectators. And a lot of people from Seattle could be counted upon to line the shores of Lake Coeur d’Alene for the annual Diamond Cup. In 2013, the Diamond Cup was reborn for another go with teams based in Madison, Ind.; Decatur, Ind.; Reading, Penn. and Seattle. Unfortunately, it lasted just one season. That race, over Labor Day Weekend, was won by the Indiana-based U-5 Graham Trucking which enjoyed its only perfect weekend of the season, on its way to the 2013 national championship with Jimmy Shane at the helm. The ERCU Diamond Cup has been run every year but three across the 26-year history of the club. The Diamond Cup is one of the club’s “nomad” races, having been run in numerous locations from Longview to Friday Harbor and now in ERCU Diamond Cup Nomad tradition will see its third annual race at Scott Lake in Olympia. Rick Lentz purchased and donated perpetual trophies years ago with the Lucite at the head of the trophy engraved with an image of the original Diamond Cup that was awarded in Coeur d’Alene in its early years. REGISTRATION Pre-Registration for the Diamond Cup at Scott Lake is now open. To find the pre-registration form, navigate your web browser to www.ercu-hydros.com/diamond-cup.html, where you will find the pre-registration link in a blue box just under the race site photo. You may also pre-pay your entry fees online by following the PayPal directions at the bottom of the page. Pre-registration will close at 10 p.m., FRIDAY, April 11, 2025 After that deadline, please register in person on site before 8:30 a.m. Race Officials
What to Expect (All times approximate, and subject to change)
Race Format
FLIGHT SCHEDULE
HEAT DRAWS Heat draws will be completed just prior to the drivers meeting. The first heat draw will be conducted at approximately 9 a.m. and will be read verbally at the drivers meeting as a roll call. Succeeding heat draws will be conducted between flights. All heat draws will be printed and posted, and displayed on the TV screen, whenever possible. No re-draws of heats will be done. STARTING CLOCK A 1-minute 30-second clock will start as soon as all drivers are in the driving area and will not be stopped for any reason other than health or safety (including stubborn waterfowl). Please plan ahead for your upcoming heats, including getting your own spotter, and be ready when the chase boat comes back. A trailer boat shall not cross the start line less than five seconds after the start gun. Rookie drivers who have not yet earned 1,200 career points must start from the trailer position. Race Day Morning It will be our intent to have the course open by 8 a.m. so that testing can commence once boats are registered for the event. Boat owners should prepare to have time for inspections and to be ready to race. The water will be open for testing until approximately 9:30 a.m. Drivers Meeting The drivers meeting is mandatory for ALL divisions and all classes and will begin at the scorer’s table within five minutes of the closing of time trials. Drivers who do not attend the drivers meeting will be scratched from the first heat regardless of whether they are pre-registered and pre-paid. Drivers arriving after the drivers meeting will not be added to the event until the draw for the second flight of heats. 2024 DIAMOND CUP RESULTS
Inspections In 2025, all boats will be inspected before the first race they run at. We ask that you print out the Hull Inspection Form and complete the member information at the top of page one prior to arriving at the race site. Please also remember to bring a photo of the real boat (a photo on your phone or tablet is acceptable) that your boat. Visiting drivers ERCU welcomes new members to the club and visiting racers from other clubs. Rookie driver testing will be offered during the open water period as needed. The course will be closed for rookie driver tests. Visiting racers may not take home an ERCU perpetual trophy, in the event they win the race. Post-Race Cleanup and Awards Presentation Club equipment cleanup and re-packing the trailer will take priority once the race is over. Once the trailer is re-packed, awards will be presented. Awards will be given to the first, second and third place finishers, winners. All members have a responsibility to help with set up and breakdown of club equipment. As a courtesy to your fellow racers, please stick around for the awards presentation whether you’ve won one or not. Restrooms There are public restroom facilities on site at Vance Creek Park and they are expected to be open. Electricity There is no access to electricity in the pits. It would be wise to bring a generator or other power source if you will need to charge batteries during the day. |
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