WILD WEATHER, CRASHES WIPE OUT H1 HYDRO OPENER
Guntersville, AL – June 8, 2025 – The 2025 H1 Unlimited season kicked off under turbulent skies and intense moments as Guntersville Lake HydroFest, presented by Pinnacle Peak Consulting, delivered both thrilling speeds, unpredictable weather but ultimately no champion.
High winds and afternoon thunderstorms on Saturday halted additional racing. On Sunday, winds continued to disrupt the event, preventing all boats from entering the water and leading to the cancellation of the day’s schedule.
The race had no winner according to H1 spokesperson, Janick Tétreault-Moïse who indicated there were not enough heats run due to hazardous conditions. The last race in Unlimited hydroplane racing where there was no official winner was the event at the Tri-Cities in 2009. The race was declared a “no race” after a major incident involving several boats, including Miss Alumax, caused it to be canceled.
There was, however, plenty of excitement. Friday’s schedule featured testing and time trials, where Andrew Tate stole the spotlight late in the day with a blistering lap at an average speed of 171.04 mph in the U-91 Goodman Real Estate.
Tate came just shy of breaking the all-time Guntersville qualifying speed of 171.294 mph, set by Dustin Echols in 2023 driving the U-40 Bucket List Racing. The difference? Just 30 feet —roughly the length of a single boat —separated Tate from a new course record.
Adding to the significance of the moment, Tate’s father, Mark Tate, was the first driver to ever break the 170-mph average on Detroit’s waters in 1993, driving the Winston Eagle and reaching 170.087 mph. With Andrew now joining the elite “170 mph Club,” the Tates become the first father-son duo to achieve this milestone in H1 Unlimited history.
Saturday’s racing began with Heat 1A, featuring Andrew Tate in the U-91 Goodman Real Estate, Corey Peabody in the U-9 Beacon Plumbing, Jamie Nilsen in the U-11 Miss FLAV-R-Pac, and Dave Villwock in the U-27 Miss Apollo.
On the opening lap, Nilsen led the pack, but the race took a dramatic turn when the U-27 Miss Apollo lost control, resulting in a violent crash. Peabody’s boat was also damaged, impacted by the heavy spray and debris caused by the incident. Had weather permitted, a return to the water may have been possible, though without its front canard.
Thankfully, no injuries were reported. Team owner Bruce Ratchford of BWR Racing confirmed that the U-27 will return for the Madison Regatta.
If repairs to the primary hull aren’t completed in time, the team will field its backup boat, ‘Sharky, the same hull previously driven by Andrew Tate in 2023 and campaigned for over a decade by Steve David and Jimmy Shane. The team remains committed to taking the necessary time to properly restore the U-27.
Despite the challenges, H1 Unlimited extends its sincere thanks to the fans, sponsors, volunteers, and the Guntersville Lake HydroFest organizing committee, including Marshall County Tourism & Sports, for their unwavering commitment and passion for boat racing,” H1 said a statement.
The teams now turn their focus to Madison, Indiana, where one of the sport’s most celebrated events will mark its 75th anniversary on the Ohio River from July 4–6.
Capps, Torrence, Anderson, Gadson Win at Thunder Valley
BRISTOL, Tenn. (June 8, 2025) – Three-time Funny Car world champion Ron Capps became the all-time wins leader at Bristol Dragway on Sunday, snapping a 33-race winless streak by defeating Paul Lee in the final round of the 24th annual Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.
Steve Torrence (Top Fuel), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Richard Gadson (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won the eighth of 20 races during the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.
Capps made the best run of his weekend in the finals, going 3.957-seconds at 328.06 mph in his 12,000-horsepower NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra to chase down Lee and win for the eighth time at Bristol Dragway, surpassing Tony Schumacher for the most in track history.
It also gave Capps a huge sigh of relief, snapping a long winless streak. His last victory before Sunday came at Indianapolis in 2023, but the veteran found his groove on Sunday in Thunder Valley, winning at the scenic track for the third time in four years. Capps knocked off Matt Hagan, Epping winner J.R. Todd and Dave Richards to reach the final, turning in a classic performance to get his 77th career win and moving to fourth in points.
“We’re a single car team, and we can’t lean on other teams so it’s been a little more difficult,” Capps said. “Even when we were struggling, I never once questioned Guido [crew chief Dean Antonelli]. I just knew we had to get better, and we stuck with the plan.
To reach the final, Torrence got past Dan Mercier, Clay Millican and points leader Tony Stewart, defeating Stewart by .002 in a thrilling side-by-side semifinal duel.
On a historic day, Anderson earned his 1,000th round win in the Pro Stock semifinals and followed with his fourth win of the season, defeating teammate Dallas Glenn in the championship round with a weekend-best run of 6.623 at 205.91 in his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro. Anderson now has 110 career wins and joins John Force as the only drivers in NHRA history win 1,000 career rounds wins.
“This is pretty magical. I think I could call it a day and ride off into the sunset but I’m having too much damn fun right now,” Anderson said. For the first time, Richard Gadson is a winner in the Pro Stock Motorcycle ranks, defeating teammate Gaige Herrera in the final round, taking the holeshot victory on his RevZilla/Mission Foods/Vance & Hines Suzuki with a run of 6.884 at 196.30. Herrera went a quicker 6.882, but Gadson’s stout .014 reaction time proved to be the difference at the finish line.
“The first thing is I’m exhausted. This has been hands down the most exhausting thing I’ve ever done I always knew I could do it. I really needed to win this for me,” Gadson said. The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action June 20-22 with the fifth annual American Rebel Light Virginia NHRA Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park in Richmond, Va.
Lighting Upgrade Completed for Qlispe Raceway Drag Strip
Airway Heights, Wash. (June 8, 2025) — After possibly a half-century of use, the original lighting system installed at Spokane Raceway Park in 1975 has been upgraded.
According to operations manager Ben Zimmerman of what is now known as Qlispe Raceway under ownership of the Kalispel Tribe, “We’ve installed all new LED stadium lights for the drag strip,” he wrote in an email, adding, “Now you can see way past the finish line and into the long straight at turn 2 of the road course.”
The actual install started two weeks ago and as far as staff could tell they were the original light fixtures on those poles. “I cannot verify 100%,” Zimmerman said.
Other updates included finish line wiring having to be replaced and brought down from 480v to 240v. Installing them tripled the lumen output from the old ones.
“We took 7 fixtures down from each pole and replace with 6,” Zimmerman reported. “So, total there are 24, 1200w LED stadium lights now.
Crews from the Kalispel Tribe also replaced the east side walkway lights with LEDs. Along with some solar powered lights at the turn stations around the road course.
“The cost of operation should go down significantly,” Zimmerman said.
The track still needs some road course lights out there, “But we’re making improvements at Qlispé Raceway Park,” Zimmerman said.
Upcoming events at QRP include No-Prep Racing on Fri. June 13 followed by the first pair of the track’s season championship bracket events, June 14-15.
Hamlin Offers Master Class in Fuel-Saving to Win at Michigan
Brooklyn, MI (June 8, 2025) — Ultimately Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota had just enough fuel to claim the checkered flag at Michigan International Speedway and do one celebratory series of burnouts in front of the huge grandstand crowd before running out of gas on his encore celebration and needing a tow to his ultimate destination: Victory Lane.
The 44-year-old put on a master class in fuel saving and end-of-race pressure at the two-mile oval - taking his third win of the season and 57th of his career. Hamlin crossed the line 1.099-second ahead of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher and his JGR teammate, Ty Gibbs, after the day’s most dominant driver, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron had to pit for fuel on the last lap.
“No, not really,’’ Hamlin said, insisting he wasn’t overly worried about running out of fuel in the closing laps. “I wanted to get the lead and obviously he [William Byron] was doing a really good job defending.
With 20 laps remaining, Hamlin had made his way from 11th place to fifth in the running order, behind the day’s most dominant cars - Carson Hocevar in the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet and Byron in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
Both Hocevar, a Michigan native racing for his first career NASCAR Cup Series win, and Byron were told by their crew chiefs they were going to run out of fuel before the end of the race. Instead of a fuel issue however, Hocevar, who led 32 laps, had to pit from the race lead with 19 laps remaining for a flat tire.
Byron, who led a race best 98 of the 200 laps, inherited the lead from Hocevar and then had to try to fend off Hamlin - who methodically started moving forward - racing Byron hard and forcing the championship leader out of any sort of fuel-save mode.
Hamlin got by Byron with four laps to go and Byron dove down pit road for fuel on the final lap, having to settle for a 28th place finish. Hocevar finished 29th.
Bubba Wallace drove the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota – a team Hamlin co-owns – to fourth place. Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson was fifth.
There were 13 lead changes among 11 drivers and Hamlin led only five laps on the day.
With 11 races remaining in the regular season, Byron holds a 41-point lead over Larson in the championship points standings. There have been nine race winners. Team Penske’s Austin Cindric currently holds the 16th and final spot in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs point standings.
The NASCAR Cup Series will make its first international points-paying trip next weekend with Sunday’s Viva Mexico 250 at Mexico City’s renowned Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez road course (3 p.m. ET, Amazon Prime, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, MAX).
