Jon Zimmerman finished fifth in Heat 2A in Seattle. This clip includes the radio calls from Crew Chief Scott Raney

Jon Zimmerman grabbed a fifth place finish in this heat, taking the U-37 into the Consolation Heat to try and make it to the final. This clip contains radio calls from Crew Chief Scott Raney.

Jon Zimmerman won the Consolation Heat to gain entry into the Final Heat. This clip also contains the audio track with radio calls from Crew Chief Scott Raney.

Jon & JoAnne with the Seafair trophy...

Jon drove the pants off the U-37 with the fastest race laps he drove all weekend to claw his way into the final heat at Seafair.  Starting in Lane 2 against Kip Brown in the U-17 and N. Mark Evans in the U-57, he drove around both of them to bring one of the few bright spots of the weekend to the U-37 Miss Peters & May team…

...while son Jack races hydros in their back yard at home.

Kip Brown in the U-17 didn’t leave a lane for the U-37 coming into turn 1, forcing Jon into his roostertail. This clip shows pretty dramatically what happens inside the cockpit.

TACOMA NEWS TRIBUNE
RON NEWBERRY; Contributing writer
Published: 08/07/1012:05 am

Jon Zimmerman greeted fans with a big smile and the same line.

“Hi! How are you?” he repeatedly said.

Zimmerman, a rookie unlimited hydroplane driver from Maple Valley, was having fun in his first Seafair as a participant rather than a spectator.

He ran out of autograph cards that he signed for fans during an autograph session Friday after the first round of qualifying for the Albert Lee Cup. It didn’t seem to matter that the driver on the card for the U-37 Miss Peters & May was J.W. Myers.

“Nobody seemed to care,” he said. “I just sign whatever they put in front of me.”

Zimmerman filled in for Myers for the second consecutive stop in the unlimited hydroplane circuit. Myers broke bones in his foot during a crash at the Gold Cup in Detroit last month and is on crutches.

Zimmerman, 45, was a driver for Ken Muscatel’s U-25 team at the time of the accident and had qualified and raced in two heats at the season-opening Madison (Ind.) Regatta but didn’t drive in Detroit. Muscatel loaned out his driver to the U-37 Miss Peters & May team, and Zimmerman took advantage of the opportunity by making the final heat the Columbia Cup in the Tri-Cities.

His best lap of 141.359 mph at the Albert Lee Cup on Friday was the eighth fastest with the third and final qualifying session today.

“He’s done everything we’ve asked him to do,” said Jane Schumacher, who owns the U-37 team along with her husband, Billy. “We told him, ‘Just keep the boat right-side up.’ ”

Zimmerman, an auto mechanic who grew up in Burien, had never driven an unlimited hydroplane on Lake Washington before Friday.

“It’s exciting” Zimmerman said. “I’ve been coming to this race forever, but I’ve always been on the other side of the fence. Now, I’m over here. It’s fun.”

Jon Zimmerman grabbed fourth place coming out of the last corner in Heat 1A.

Jamie Nilsen’s Saturday morning test in the U-37 Miss Peters & May

Jamie Nilsen returns from successful test as Bill Moore looks on...

Jamie Nilsen took five laps in the U-37 Miss Peters & May this morning, adding to his Unlimited experience after getting his first chance to drive the boat two weeks ago in Tri-Cities. With good water conditions, Jamie was able to post steady imporovements:

Lap 1: 123.427mph
Lap 2: 133.316mph
Lap 3: 137.706mph
Lap 4: 140.999mph
Lap 5: 142.115 mph

One Hydro Driver Is Out With 4 Broken Toes

KIRO-TV’s Chris Egert interviewed JW Myers about the crash at the 2010 Gold Cup in Detroit

One of the hydroplane drivers you won’t see on Lake Washington for Seafair is the U-37′s J.W. Myers.Myers is recovering from a crash that broke 4 of his 5 toes in Detroit. The APBA Gold Cup on July 10 started out like any other race for Myers, driver of the Schumacher Racing U-37.“

I was racing Mike Kelly pretty hard,” Myers said, “Villock had already pretty much checked out on us, it was a race for second and I was gaining some ground on Mike.”

But then on the famed Roostertail turn, the narrowest turn in the entire series, things took a nasty turn for the Burien racer. Somehow the skidfin on the boat broke loose.

“With no skid on the boat, which is up on the forward left, I have minimal steering control. I have the rudder, but without anything to turn against the amount of control is extremely limited,” Myers said.

His Miss Peters and May boat was headed straight for the pits, it was a driver’s worst nightmare.“I see people everywhere and I am like ‘Oh my God, what do I do?’” Myers said, “Had I gone straight, there were people on docks and other racers, other boats preparing for the next heat right smack in front of me.”

He managed to avoid slamming into the pits and shot for a seawall instead. He crashed into the wall at just under 100 miles per hour.

“I just remember seeing that wall get really big. We hit the wall and changed direction, and it was all over,” Myers said.Even before the boat stopped, he jumped out.

Myers said he didn’t feel anything immediately, but soon found out that he broke four toes.”I messed it up. We have multiple fractures in all of my metatarsals. My number one, my big toe, was dislocated, near my ankle was displaced. It wasn’t broken, but the 2, the 3, the 4 were broken up. Overlake rebuilt it, and it feels great,” Myers said.

He said he won’t let this crash keep him away from the sport he loves.”There was a brief time in back of the ambulance that I was thinking maybe I should quit doing this but, I figure out, this is what I do,” he said.

While he’s not racing across the waters of Lake Washington this year, he said he’ll be eager to take the controls back from the U-37′s rookie replacement driver, John Zimmerman in time for the World Championship Oryx Cup in Qatar in November.

Continue reading for X-Ray view of repairs:

Continue Reading…

Jon gets into the U-37 for first run at Seafair

Jon Zimmerman took the U-37 Miss Peters & May for his first laps ever on the Lake Washington course this morning, doing some timing laps and a turning a top speed of 134.712 mph.

L-R: Jeff Bernard, N. Mark Evans, Jon Zimmerman, Kip Brown, Mike Webster, J. Michael Kelly, Kayleigh Perkins, Ken Muscatel, Duke Moscrip, Dave Villwock, Brian Perkins, Greg Hopp & JW Myers

Jon Zimmerman & JW Myers will help serve dinner tonight at Duke’s Chowder House at Southcenter tonight. Also joining him will be: Dave Villwock, Jeff Bernard, Mark Evans, J Michael Kelly, Greg Hopp, Brian or Kayleigh Perkins, Ken Muscatel, Kip Brown & Mike Webster. They will also be giving some of their customers hats, t-shirts, gift certificates and other prizes.

A portion of all revenue and tips will benefit the Driver’s Fund Charity which aids the families of drivers who are injured.  Dinner starts at 5:30 at Duke’s at Southcenter.

Reservations suggested – call 206-243-5200.

At the BluWater Bistro, of course…

Jon Zimmerman’s first heat in the U-37 resulted in a wild ride (at 6:35), sustaining what he called the hardest hit he’s ever taken in boat racing.