Powerboat racing series returns to east Mission Bay for 57th time

They are not as loud as they once were when powered by 12-cylinder, World War II airplane engines.

But the turbine-propelled Unlimited Hydroplanes are still spectacular, trailing their 200-foot-long and three-story-high roostertails.

This weekend, the historic powerboat racing series returns to east Mission Bay for the 57th time. And while the tour no longer has the significance of past decades, each of the five boats in the East Vacation Isle pits still have a shot at the season championship going into the season finale, which is extremely rare.

Usually, the tour reaches the Bayfair event on Mission Bay with only one or two boats still in title contention. But this year there is only an 800-point spread from first to fifth with 200 points going to the winner of each of the five races.

Andrew Tate and the U-91 leads the standings coming into Mission Bay, although the sentimental favorite could be Dave Villwock, a longshot entering the weekend in fourth place.

Villwock is the all-time leader with 68 race wins in Unlimited Racing. He has also captured 10 National High Points championships and last month won the sport’s premier race – the American Power Boat Association Gold Cup – for the 11th time to tie Chip Hanauer for the most in the sport’s 120-year history.

Winning on Mission Bay would be nothing new for the 71-year-old Villwock. His nine San Diego wins are the most by any driver and he has been the top qualifier on the sport’s only saltwater course a record 12 times. His 1999 qualifying lap of 173.364 mph before the era of fuel-flow restrictions remains the fastest ever in the sport.

But Tate has the inside track at winning the title entering the weekend. With 4,075 points and two wins, he has a 424-point lead over J. Michael Kelly in the U-8.

Corey Peabody is in third place. Villwock is next with 3,354 points. The fifth San Diego entry is Jamie Nilsen’s U-11 with 3,277 points.

Tate could have been returning as a three-time San Diego winner. He crossed the finish line off Fiesta Island first last September but was disqualified, handing the race win to Peabody. Tate scored back-to-back wins on Mission Bay in 2017-2018.

Kelly is a three-time winner on Mission Bay, finishing first in 2014 and scoring back-to-back wins in 2019-2021. There was no race in 2020 (due to the pandemic) and 2023.

The small field of five boats will create a different racing schedule for 2025.

There will be five preliminary, three-lap heats with each boat competing in four of the five on the 2.5-mile Bill Muncey Memorial Course between Fiesta Island on the east and East Vacation Isle and Crown Point Shores on the west. The survivors will all advance to Sunday’s five-lap championship race scheduled to start at 3:40 p.m.

The program begins at 10:15 a.m. Friday with Unlimited and Grand Prix testing. That will be followed by two rounds of 45-minute Unlimited qualifying beginning at 12:50 p.m. and 2:35 p.m.

There will be three Unlimited heats on Saturday and two on Sunday leading up to the Bill Muncey Championship Cup.

The Unlimiteds will be backed by a number of other classes.

Also racing on Bill Muncey Memorial course will be the Grand Prix and One-Liter Hydroplane classes.

Included in the classes running shorter courses off Fiesta Island and East Vacation Isle will Crackerbox, Pro Stock, Runabout, Grand National, Sportsman and Flatbottom classes. There will also be personalized watercraft racing off the beach at Crown Point Shores.

Among other activities over the weekend will be a pair of car shows, water ski exhibitions, and coast guard search-and-rescue demonstrations.