The first Advance United was a Jones built hull.
It was honeycomb aluminum and built as a "J" class (DIV II).  The A/U group couldn't beat Nip Thomas in the Lancer so they decided to go H (DIV. I) with a turbocharged 427. The motor was built by the Traco engine works and required a two speed transmission built by Weisman out of California. Fred Wines spent a fortune on that boat and never could beat Nip. I think here were 2 Traco engines for a while. Double turbochargers, air to water intercoolers and $2000 (at that time) of stainless steel lines and fittings. Kevin Winters did the painting.
Photo provided by Francois Lesperance.

Advanced United
Kankakee mid 1970's
Built by Wally Milosivich. Driven by Kent MacPhail.
Photo provided by Dick Harris.
 
 

The second Advance United was a Wally Milosivich built hull.
Miami, Florida - February 1977
Photo by the Hall family.

Valleyfield 1977
Photo courtesy of Hydroplane Quebec.

The third Advance United was a "used" Lauterbach owned by Jules 'The Foot' Leboeuf and campaigned as Boomerang H-155.
It was Jules first GP boat and his first step in the faster GP class. Leboeuf used to kick butt in his Zoomerang F-155 before making the big step. 
 

Bommerang H-155 was originally ordered from Henry Lauterbach by Leboeuf.
Jules had the boat for a couple of years and decided to retire from boat racing and sold the boat to Fred Wines.
The story of him selling shook Valleyfield. Who would compete against the Long Gone?
Jules was, and still is, a local favorite. It took a couple of years to finally see Robert Theoret win in the GP class.
Jules ordered another Lauterbach hydro and campaigned it as Leboeuf  GP-155.
 

Who doesn't remember the 1977 clash between Bill Hodges and Jules in the GP final at Valleyfield. 
It was neck to neck from start to finish and Bill won by a foot.
 

The above two photos are of the Boomerang - Long Gone race.What a race it was!
It's too bad there isn't a better color photo of the Boomerang than the one earlier, but it was in the same color scheme 
as the Zoomerang you see on the Vintage circuit but the orange was darker.
(The above 3 newspaper photos are courtesy of Benoit Lemay)

The first AU Lauterbach came to Minnesota with a Chrysler Hemi and that blew up in testing on the St.Croix river near Stillwater, MN.
Chevy's were built and it competed many times until blown over by Kent MacPhail in Washington trying to set a kilo record.

1978 Valleyfield, Quebec
This was the first Lauterbach built hull Fred Wines campaigned as GP-111 Advance United.
(Photo courtesy of Benoit Lemay)
 

1978 GP Nationals
Lake Calhoun, Minnesota
Hydros left to right - Peanut, Advanced United, Speckled Pup, Heavy Hauler,
Long Gone and Uncle Norman's (Don Ryan's) Lauterbach Special.
(Photo courtesy of Phil Kunz)
 

Photo provided by Francois Lesperance
 

Advance United - Valleyfield
Note water running from bailer....where's the rudder?
(Photo provided by Benoit Lemay)
 

Advance United - St. Petersburg, Florida 1978
Note the strobe light on the rear cowling!
Photo courtesy of Hall family
 
 

Photo that appeared in the 44th Annual Southland Sweepstakes Regatta Program 

  Photo courtesy of Rich Wilhelm‎ family
....from Larry Lauterbach
"Ths was the last boat that Fred Wine's bought from us in fact the only boat he bought from us.
He sold it to Roger Mahan and Roger raced it with a Chrysler Hemi engine in it just maybe once or twice then parked it. 
Years later Carl Wilson bought it and started to restore it as AU."

St Timothee, Quebec 1986
Pleasure Seekers GP-156
This is the second Advance United Lauterbach hull.
The first A/U Lauterbach hull was destroyed in a straightaway speed record attempt by Kent MacPhail in Washington State.
(Photo courtesy of Benoit Lemay)
This boat was restored as Advance United by Carl Wilson & Tom Bertolini.
 

Advance United restoration of the Pleasure Seekers hull Here is my quest to restore a hull to my absolute favorite Grand Prix of all time - the Advance United. This is the second one built originally by Lauterbach. Where do you put the pin to hold the boat on the trailer?  A fun 13 hour ride back home....   This is what is left of the classic Lauterbach cockpit/dash   Well, at least the hardware is mostly there.     The sponson fell off as soon as I got home.     A few holes....     The actual trailer from the first conventional Advance United which was destroyed in a Kilo record attempt.   The temporary name... This is what happens when you leave a wood hull outside uncovered for 8+ years.  The last owner showed us photos of when he bought it. Believe it or not, it was in perfect shape with beatiful varnished wood in the cockpit. 2007

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