Billy Schumacher Racing L.L.C is officially announcing that the primary driver for the U37 Miss Peters and May will be J.W. Myers for the upcoming race in Doha Qatar. Myers started the season as the primary driver but was sidelined in mid July due to the accident at the Detroit Gold Cup, where his skid fin broke loose at about 180mph sending the boat toward the pits in the famed Rooster Tail Turn. Myers did everything in his power to keep the boat away from fellow racers in the pits, at the cost of hitting the sea wall at almost 100 mph.
J.W. suffered a shattered left foot and had to undergo surgery to repair the broken bones this past summer, but has recovered very well and is ready to get back to racing. “I’m really excited about getting back in to the cockpit. Of course I wish I was getting back in to the T4 but thankfully Fred Leland had equipment we were able to borrow so we’ll take what we’ve got to work with and see what kind of results we get in Doha.” said JW when asked about his return to racing.
Jon Zimmerman started out the season driving for Ken Muscatel’s U25 but since Detroit has been serving as JW’s backup in the U37 cockpit. Zimmerman had good success in the replacement boat that Schumacher racing borrowed from Fred Leland. He finished all of the heats he competed in and made the final in Tri Cities, Seattle and San Diego. Jon Zimmerman will be on hand in Doha Qatar to serve as an available back up driver should anyone require his services. He will also be the serving as the H1 Drivers’ Representative at the Doha race site.
Posted: November 9, 2010 at 3:34 pm in Jon Zimmerman.
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 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 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.
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Heat 3B:
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The U-37 Miss Peters and May Race team is proud to announce Jon Zimmerman will be filling in for JW Myers for the remainder of the 2010 season. Jon is a 5 Litre world record holder and previously ran this season for Ken Muscatel and the U-25 team in Madison Indiana.
Billy and Jane Schumacher would like to thank Ken Muscatel for the opportunity to work with Jon Zimmerman. “We thought Jon looked great running the U-25 in Madison and are very excited for him to join our team.”
JW Myers who was injured in an accident in Detroit and will sit out the next few races felt Jon was a good fit for this team. “I have watched Jon race for several years and he has done a great job in anything I have seen him race. He doesn’t open himself up for mistakes.”
Jon is excited to fill in for JW in the “Red, White and Blue” Leland hull the U-37 team is leasing for the rest of the 2010 season. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with crew chief Scott Raney on a professional level after racing inboards with him for years. I would also like to thank Ken Muscatel for allowing me to work with the U-37. He gave me a chance to pursue my dreams with the U-25 team and I’m very grateful for that.” Jon who is 45 years old lives in Maple Valley, Washington with wife JoAnne and 4 year old son Jack. Please go to www.u-37.com for more information on Jon’s driving career.
Jon started racing scale electric hydroplanes in 1991. I still have a 1/10th scale Vacationville that I try to race a couple of times a year as time permits.
Later raced A stock style hydroplanes with a group of friends Thursday evenings in the summers at Stan Sayers. We only had two rules. You had to run an 18HP fishing boat motor and it had to be painted like an Unlimited. I had a Renault and the Miss Rock. Lots of fun.
In 1994 My friend Dave Bibby traded his A stock outboard for a 2.5 stock inboard. You can imagine how nice that boat was. We worked on it for a couple of months before keeping the trailer and throwing the boat in the landfill. Dave bought a 2.5 that was built by John Watkins in the eighties and we raced that for a year. We had no idea what we were doing. I think I was disqualified the first four times because I couldn’t figure out how the start worked.
After that I bought my own 2.5 stock, a boat built by the Campbell brothers in the eighties. Over the years I figured a few things out, rebuilt the boat a few times, and it became one of the fastest boats in the country. We won four regional championships and finished second in the nation a couple of times. That boat is now owned by Brian Perkins.
In 2004 Ron Jones Jr. opened the doors of his shop to me so I could build a new 5 liter. We have set all four world records with it and missed a national championship by 13 points. That number 1 is elusive.
If it wasn’t for JR I would still be running in the middle of the pack in a wooden boat. He has taught me things about construction and set up that I would have never figured out. If you want a fast boat go see JR.
JR also convinced Ken Muscatel to give me an opportunity in the U-25. He drove the U-25 Unlimited Hydroplane in Madison Indiana this year. That opportunity led to his driving the U-37 Miss Peters and May in Tri-Cities and Seattle.
NOTE: The Miss Peters and May team is very excited to have Jon on board!
