ELIZABETH CONLEY / AP Jean Theoret, center, raises the Gold Cup with the help his son, Pierre, left, and the rest of his crew after winning the race on the Detroit River on Sunday.
By Eric Sharp
Detroit Free Press
DETROIT — It was 38 years ago that a young boat driver named Billy Schumacher won the Gold Cup unlimited hydroplane race on the Detroit River. On Sunday, beaming boat owner Schumacher watched driver Jean Theoret pilot the Miss Beacon Plumbing to victory in the 2006 Chrysler Jeep Gold Cup, becoming the third non-American to win.
“I believe in miracles, and I believe in this team,” Theoret said, shrugging off suggestions that the Miss Beacon’s mechanics had somehow found new speed before he won the fourth qualifying heat and the Gold Cup final.
“We’d been hurt so much in the heats before, I guess the confidence goes away. And when the confidence goes away, you start to make mistakes, and you don’t drive as well.”
Theoret, the 2005 rookie of the year from Maple Grove, Quebec, won at an average speed of 142.441 mph.
Jimmy King of Memphis, Mich., finished second in the Miss Chrysler Jeep, the only piston-powered boat in the 11-hydro fleet. Steve David of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was third in the Oh Boy! Oberto.
Theoret was the next-to-lowest points accumulator in qualifying for the five-boat final. He got penalties in all three of his qualifying heats, the four infractions ranging from destroying turn buoys to jumping the starting gun. Continue Reading…