Overall, we had a fabulous week leading up to Sunday's disappointing delays, and finally a rewarding set of race heats and finals.

The week started out as all do.. pits and crews filling up in the early days. Early on, it was obvious things were bigger and better than ever.

Thursday:
After a day of practice, there was a very nice event at the Dossin Museum. This event commemorated the Dossin family's contribution of the museum to the City of Detroit, along with their contributions to boat racing in general. Additionally, Chuck Thompson was inducted into the Hall Of Fame, and his son Chuck Jr. was on hand to accept the honors. At least 5 other HOF members were in attendance (by my recollection). I wish I had had the extra $20 to buy the prints of the artwork they had commissioned for the event, of Miss Pepsi. Both the nicely restored Miss Pepsi and a cute recent 2/3 scale boat modeled after it, named the.. Lil' Miss Pepsi (or similar, sorry) were on display. Built in 1995, this beautiful mahogany boat is powered by an automotive engine, probably one of the popular small-blocks.

Friday:
Record crowds for Friday came to the shores of the Detroit River to watch the testing and qualifying. They all stayed for the 5:15 Automotive Grand Prix, a new fan oriented race-off between the top Grand Prix and Unlimited Lights boats, with the UL's receiving the good end of the 15 second handicap. This was a great race, with GP-2 Pleasure Seekers (Jimmy King) edging out UL-1 Acutus (Mark Weber) in the final 'roostertail' turn at an average 95.867 mph.

Saturday:
A beautiful, almost perfect racing day in Detroit. The events in the initial heats were rather typical, until the accident in 3B. One factor I haven't seen mentioned was the weather.. for the first time all week, the wind was starting to come up out of the southwest, and this could have been a factor in the crash. Some of Mark's words were about 'we were racing along just fine... we've raced closer before... Then I saw Bud slide over, and next thing I knew, the right sponson bounced off my cockpit.'. Thank god they're both OK, Mark would have been in real trouble if he'd gotten flipped over (the canopy broken and the roll cage blocking his exit). I haven't heard the Joe's crew, nor anyone else lay any blame, so I get the idea this one was 'just racing'.

Sunday:
As mentioned... many delays leading up to the 7:30 final which started with a great half lap of deck-to-deck racing, then PICO pulling ahead a bit. Go Dave! Go PICO! The Grand Prix final was excellent, with tight competition. My biggest disappointment was as the time window for the live broadcasts came and went, with winds too high to be on the river. So sad, the weather was just 3 or 4 hours off, and this would have been a great shot in the arm for the sport.