You are currently browsing the Jean Theoret category.
KENNEWICK — Jean Theoret was ready to die.
He waited for the rescue team to arrive for him, and in reality, they were there pretty fast.
Theoret had just flipped the U-37 hydroplane on the first day of competition of the 2009 season, in Madison, Ind., on July 4.
The boat had landed upside down, yet by all accounts Theoret wasn’t really hurt.
“I had nothing wrong with me physically,” Theoret recounted while in Lampson Pits on Thursday afternoon. “My oxygen mask was on my face. I took my steering wheel off. But the tube itself that carries the oxygen to my mask had broken.”
And the water started seeping in, as he sat inside the cockpit upside down. He was forced to swallow some of the Ohio River. Continue Reading…
Jim Simpson captured the entire blowover sequence from the helicopter above the course.
Oh Boy! Oberto Unlimited Hydroplane Mark Campbell, photographer of the Madison Courier was "Johny on the spot" and captured a picture of the U-37 flip.
Jean Theoret appeared to be driving the U-37 Bellos Pizza to a win in Heat 1B at Madison when the boat bounced going into the entrance pin to the first turn. J. Michael Kelly, driving the U-7, was closing fast when Theoret went up and over coming out of turn one.
The U-37 did a 360, then landed on its left sponson. The boat went upside down in the water and rescue crew had to pull Theoret out through the escape hatch. The Madison Safety and Rescue crew, led by Buddy Gaw, and the ABRA Rescue team were on the move before the boat even settled in the water. They did an incredible job under intense pressure, getting Theoret out and adminstering CPR. Reports are that Theoret took in a lot of water and had to be intubated and placed on a ventilator for help breathing.
He was immediately put into an ambulance and has been taken to a Louisville hospital. ABRA reported his initial condition as critical.
ABRA reports Theoret is in critical condition, had to be intubated and put on a ventilator to assist with breathing.
Theoret was stablized at King’s Daughter’s Hospital and then transported by ambulance to University of Louisville Hospital for further evaluation.
Theoret’s condition upgraded to stable, but guarded, according to Dr. Edward Sauris of King’s Daughters’ Hospital.
Theoret’s injuries are reported as NOT life-threatening. His condition has improved considerably since earlier reports.
ABRA’s Sam Cole reports that Jean remains in University of Louisville Hospital trauma unit…they have found nothing internal or external as yet after a CAT scan…He continues to get stronger and improving.
U-37 Crew Chief Scott Raney reports that he has talked to Jean and he is resting comfortably. Breathing tube has been removed and he is “improving faster than expected.” SOURCE: ABRA
Scott Raney, U-37 crew chief on WORX, talking about Jean Theoret: “His voice is very strong. He’s anxious to get out of the hospital. They’ve got him on some antibiotics. He told me ‘Get the boat fixed. I want to go racing again.’” As for the boat…”The uprights, the cowling, they’re gone. Engine is done. Electrical system is going to have to be replaced. Our intention is to go to Detroit.”
Content courtesy of HydroInsidercom
By MICHAEL MCLAUGHLIN
P-I REPORTER
Jim Bryant / P-I U-37 Beacon Plumbing's Jean Theoret reacts after learning a one-minute penalty would cost him the victory.
In a season when the Detroit Gold Cup was canceled due to high winds, and poor water conditions shortened the race in Madison, the boat that took the checkered flag at the Chevrolet Cup wasn’t the winner after all. Driver Jean Theoret in the U-37 Miss Beacon Plumbing, the 2006 Seafair champion, appeared to win his second Seattle race, only to have an official’s decision take it away. “We ran a great race,” Theoret said. “We beat Dave Villwock fair and square.” As the U-37 crew began to celebrate, their joy turned to disappointment and anger as Theoret was assessed a one-minute penalty for going off-plane after the one-minute starting gun had sounded.
Because of the penalty, the U-1 Miss Elam Plus, driven by Villwock, was the official winner. After the victory, the Hoss family, a partial sponsor of the U-1, donated $50,000 to the Ronald McDonald House charity. “We had a lot more for Jean Theoret, boat racer, than he was going to give us,” Villwock said. “We were pulling him hard, but we just backed down. We knew he had a one-minute penalty and ran easy once we got word. The win is sweet, but being able to give back to a charity like the Ronald McDonald House is far more important to me.” Continue Reading…
Despite breaking her propeller in the recent Tri-Cities race, the Miss Beacon Plumbing (U-37) unlimited hydroplane made it back into the water Friday.
Crew members are hopeful about the Miss Beacon Plumbing’s chances.
“Everybody says the Ellstrom boats are the boats to chase,” said Bruce Haskin, a crew member with the Miss Beacon Plumbing. “They are not the boat to chase. We are.”
Cliff DesPeaux / seattlepi.com. The Miss Beacon Plumbing (U-37), driven by Jean Theoret, enters the Chevrolet Cup course on Lake Washington Friday after a week of repairs.
Monday, June 30, 2008 11:05 PM EST
Jean Theoret dedicates race win to father
Jean Theoret took the checkered flag in Evansville for the first time in his career on Sunday.
The driver of the Miss Beacon Plumbing boat beat out five other boats to claim the title of the 30th annual Thunder on the Ohio.
Theoret has had his share of obstacles to overcome in the previous two races. He flipped in both of those events so winning in Evansville was just a bit sweeter.
“We were like the black sheep”, Theoret told 14 news.
The win was Theoret’s fourth overall on the unlimited hydroplane series.
“Sometimes you don’t know if you’re in the right place, but this is the answer this weekend,” said Theoret.
Continue Reading…
by Fred Farley
Jean Theoret: Driver, U-37 2006-09
Seldom has a driver arrived on the Unlimited hydroplane scene with credentials as impressive as those of Canadian-born Jean Theoret.
In his first two seasons as a Thunderboat pilot, Theoret accumulated five Unlimited victories: two in 2005 with Bill Wurster’s LLUMAR WINDOW FILM team and three in 2006 with Billy Schumacher’s MISS BEACON PLUMBING.
He is the winningest driver in the history of the Grand Prix Class, the category just below the Unlimiteds, with 43 first-place trophies. He won the GP National Championship Race six times between 1986 and 2001 driving MISS DANASH and CASINO DE MONTREAL.
A resident of Maple Grove, Quebec, Jean qualified as an Unlimited driver at the 2005 “Thunder On The Ohio” in Evansville, Indiana. At season’s end, his team was third in National High Points and Theoret was Rookie of the Year.
Jean’s victory in the 2005 Chevrolet Cup at Seattle was an historic one. Theoret became the first Canadian driver to win an Unlimited race since Bob Hayward captured the Harmsworth Trophy at Picton, Ontario, with MISS SUPERTEST III in 1961.
Jean dominated the Final Heat action at Seattle in 2005 by outrunning Dave Villwock and MISS E-LAM PLUS, 137.448 miles per hour to 133.955. The margin of victory was 6.8 seconds after five laps.
A month later, Theoret captured the Music City Thunderfest in Nashville, Tennessee.
Despite his comparatively short time in the sport, Jean Theoret was already shaping up as one of the most successful rookies in Unlimited history. Only Howie Benns, who won three races in 1974 with MISS BUDWEISER, has more victories during his rookie season.
For 2006, Billy Schumacher entered the ownership picture for Theoret’s team, replacing the retiring Bill Wurster. Schumacher had been a champion Unlimited driver in his own right during the 1960s and ’70s.
If one word can summarize the 2006 Unlimited tour, that word is competition. Quite simply, there was more boat-to-boat competitive action than in any other season in recorded history. No one team won the majority of races or dominated for very long.
It was an uphill struggle for Schumacher and Theoret. Their boat did a barrel roll at Evansville that seriously damaged both sponsons. But thanks to an around-the-clock repair effort, led by crew chief Scott Raney, MISS BEACON PLUMBING was ready to continue on the tour.
The highlight of the year was in winning the fabled APBA Gold Cup, first contested in 1904, on the Detroit River.
It was a wild weekend of boat racing. Theoret received three penalties in the first three preliminary heats and almost didn’t survive the cut for the Final Heat. But Jean came through when the chips were down by winning the fourth preliminary heat and the all-important Final Heat.
Not only did he have to win the last preliminary heat to qualify for the championship final, but with three boats deck-to-deck in front of the Detroit Yacht Club, Theoret had his engine cowling blow off crashing through the stabilizing wing as he entered the tight Roostertail turn.
“I really didn’t know that anything had happened,” Jean recalled. “But when I looked in the mirror, I saw that the wing was gone. Then I figured it didn’t really matter and just kept racing.”
Theoret proceeded to outrun second-place Jimmy King and MISS CHRYSLER JEEP, 142.398 miles per hour to 139.312 in the Final Heat.
Theoret thus became the first non-U.S. citizen to win the Gold Cup since the Italian Count Theo Rossi, driver of ALAGI, in 1938.
After a fourth-place finish at the Tri-Cities (Washington) Atomic Cup, Jean rebounded at Seattle and made it two Chevrolet Cup wins in a row on Lake Washington.
Theoret and MISS BEACON PLUMBING survived a gutsy pre-race move by Villwock and MISS E-LAM PLUS in the Final Heat.
Villwock cut across the infield just before the one-minute gun to take away the inside lane from Theoret. But Jean made a perfect start from lane-two and never looked back. His first lap speed of 144.895 was nine miles per hour faster the second-place boat. And his second lap of 147.507 was the fastest lap of the day. He averaged 142.013 in the Final Heat.
“When I saw Dave cut across the infield and get inside of me, I thought now I have to hit the start at zero,” said Theoret. “I was full throttle when I hit the starting line.”
At the season-concluding Bill Muncey Cup at San Diego, there was the added incentive of a World Championship Race label, sanctioned by the Union of International Motorboating.
Five boats qualified at over 160 miles per hour on San Diego’s Mission Bay. And the competition was simply fantastic. Heat 2-B saw three drivers–Villwock, Mike Allen, and Theoret–in a photo finish.
MISS BEACON PLUMBING and Jean Theoret won their third race of the year, winning the Final Heat and taking home the coveted Muncey Cup. Theoret used a 154.257 mile an hour first lap to lead the field and posted an average speed of 148.066.
COOPER MOTORSPORTS and Jimmy King finished second to Theoret in the Final Heat at 146.650.
Jean summed up the 2006 campaign by thanking owner Schumacher, his sponsors, and the MISS BEACON PLUMBING crew for giving him a competitive piece of equipment: “I couldn’t have won without them.”
Now a respected veteran of the Unlimited Class, Jean Theoret promised to be in the thick of things in 2007. And indeed he was. But no victories came his way this time around.
Theoret, nevertheless, at season’s end, occupied third-place in National High Points. MISS BEACON PLUMBING blew over backwards in a preliminary heat at Evansville. But Jean rebounded to finish runner-up to Villwock and MISS E-LAM PLUS in the winner-take-all Final Heat.
Jean Theoret makes qualifying look easy in this clip of Friday qualifying at the 2007 Lamb-Weston Columbia Cup
