Turbine Pay'n Pak Hydros Up-Close

The story of the legendary 1980 Turbine Pay'n Pak from the Jim Lucero Collection and the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum's film and photo archive. In its short three-year career, the revolutionary Jim Lucero designed boat pioneered the use of turbine engines winning one race and finishing 2nd in two others. Driver John Walters endured two serious crashes in the boat but lessons learned pointed the sport in a new direction from power plants, construction techniques and safety. Special thanks to the several photographers whose photos appear in this video including Craig Mullen, Bill Osborne and Randy Hall.

[@williambishop8099]

Thanks for posting! Awsome

[@newcarpathia9422]

Oh, very interesting that you can actually see Walters come out of the cockpit in one of those pictures. Looks like he came within inches of the boat landing on top of him.

[@THROTTLEPOWER]

👍🏁🏁👍

[@craigmclean8260]

Nice video of the turbine Pak! Ironically, the boat which the Pak hit, Executone, was the former U-95 hull, which sank in Lake Washington for the second time...

[@aarondemarc3576]

Outstanding video Bio of the Turbine Pay n Pak Designed/Built by Jim Lucero and crew and driven by BFF John Walters.

[@idroadking]

Cool video... turbine powered hydros were indeed the future, however, I still miss the growling, snarling, fire breathing boats I saw as a kid vying for the Diamond and Gold Cups. Also, shout out to the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum in Kent, WA... got a chance to visit a few years back... loved it.... a dream come true... brought back many memories. Thanks for literally keeping the history alive.

[@johnkamm386]

It was awesome just to a part time crew member

[@billjesernig7863]

This boat like the last version was the first of its kind and thus was my favorite until it flipped in a double flip that was the highest flip in hydro plane history right in front of me in Kennewick Washington

[@phoenixrailfan7956]

I was down in the bleacher area with the same vantage point @4:45 when the boat took off. It seemed like slow motion and I don’t remember anyone screaming on the shoreline. It was an eerie quiet. I had a feeling right away that Walters had survived. I didn’t have that same feeling in ‘82 when I saw the Bud flip

[@ToddBreda]

The 1980-82 Pay N Pak was my all time favorite hydros! Had a 1/8 scale 82 built and having another one built. I remember not too many years ago you would be hard pressed to find ANY UA-cam videos of the turbine Pak but now I see a good selection of all kinds of cool videos like this one, so thank you!

[@chilly7261]

It was 1-1/2 flips, not 2-1/2...

[@chrispeterson735]

Great video of such a pioneering boat. Jim Lucero was a true visionary, and persevered with the turbine concept, rather than relying on Merlins or Griffons like everyone else. I also believe John Walters is an unsung hero...a rookie driver who stuck by the Pak during its teething problems. Both men knew the turbine was the future, and they did a lot of the early, hard work initially inspired by the U-95. A great chapter in hydroplane history!

[@michaelgideon8944]

Back when I was a kid the turbine engines fascinated me. This was the era of Star Wars sci-fi, so new tech was cool. Everything seemed so futuristic on the "cab-over" turbine Pak boat. I rooted for the Pak to beat the Bud which just had more money to throw around but wasn't as clever. There was such a diversity of the boat designs in the early 80s with the new boats battling the survivor boats from the early 70s. I didn't realize at the time I was watching the golden age of hydros. In later years the designs became homogeneous and not as exciting.

[@ThunderboatsVideo]

Great comment......

[@bruceduncan2346]

So much more work to paint than a vinyl wrap...