He still remembers the images.

Some thought the Unlimited Hydroplane circuit would cease in the early 1980s when a pair of legendary drivers, Bill Muncey and Dean Chenoweth, were killed in rollover crashes in consecutive years.

Dave Villwock, a 1972 South Kitsap High School graduate, was looking for solutions.

Strapping on a helmet and climbing into a cockpit were not among them.

And they certainly did not come with a goal toward becoming the winningest driver in history — a distinction that appears to be a formality at this point.

As a youth, Villwock’s mother would drive him to the foot ferry, which he would ride to Bremerton to help his uncle, Al Villwock, with his 136 hydroplane.

He later would race Crackerbox boats beginning as a 16-year-old, but his interest remained to prepare a hydroplane for race day.

“We couldn’t afford to have somebody build our engine or boat,” Villwock said. “We had to build our own stuff. We learned how and why everything works.”

He said he began to notice trends in auto racing, where he felt that competitors were moving away from those who did little more than driving to seven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher, who had extensive knowledge of cars.

Villwock, 56, said he wanted to continue to develop those skills, and given his competitiveness, his desire was to learn from one of the sport’s top drivers.

Enter Chip Hanauer.

“I think Dave absolutely is the most dedicated powerboat racer I have ever seen,” Hanauer said. “As opposed to Bill Muncey or myself — we were just drivers. Dave can build the boat. He’s a a pretty complete guy.”

After winning a national championship in the 6-liter hydroplane classification in 1988, he joined the Circus Circus team the next year, but remained uncertain about driving unlimiteds. Memories of Muncey and Chenoweth still resonated in his mind.

“One of the reasons why I wanted to stay away from unlimited racing was because when someone crashed back then a lot of times they would die,” Villwock said. “It didn’t seem like a very good idea to me.”

Back to racing

It might not have happened if Ron Jones Jr. had not placed a phone call in 1992. At the time, Villwock was living in Las Vegas, where he worked for Circus Circus International, and Jones asked him to come to Seattle to test his new Coors Dry boat.

Veteran driver Mitch Evans drove the boat at Seafair and Villwock figured that was the end of his affiliation with that boat. But later that season, Jones asked Villwock to race the Coors hull in San Diego.

“I guess there’s no reason I can’t,” Villwock replied over the phone.

That experience led him into the driver’s seat of Fred Leland’s Pico American Dream, and Villwock won Seafair for the first time in 1994. His first national championship came two years later.

At that point, Villwock said he thought it would be fun to try something new. Ron Hornung told him about an opportunity to work on the IRL auto-racing series with Kelley Racing and Villwock embraced the idea.

But Bernie Little, who hired Hanauer in 1992 away from Circus Circus after years of watching him beat his Miss Budweiser boat, had different thoughts. Little’s team had more resources than others in the sport, and with Hanauer retiring for the first time early in the ’96 season after a near-fatal accident in Detroit, a successor was needed.

Those within the sport generally say that only one hydroplane racer, George Stratton in 2000, has been killed during the regular season since Chenoweth’s crash in the Tri-Cities. Thirteen years ago, Villwock nearly died at the same site.

In the first turn of the final, the boat blew over and landed on its back. Villwock was not breathing when paramedics pulled him out.

“Losing a couple of fingers was one of those learning deals,” said Villwock, adding that the experience resulted in redesigned cockpits. “We learned from it and built something that’s better than we’ve had before.”

But instead of slowing down, Villwock seemed to improve after the accident. He won the national championship every year from 1998 to 2004, placing first at Seafair six times. Bud also won 22 of 28 races at one point with Villwock.

‘Darth Vader persona’

Despite his injury and subsequent success, Villwock never developed the fan support Hanauer and Muncey enjoyed. Dr. Ken Muscatel, who has competed in the unlimited ranks since 1991, suggested in 2007 that Villwock had a “Darth Vader persona.”

“Dave sometimes can rub people the wrong way,” Muscatel said. “He doesn’t lack self-confidence. He doesn’t sweet-talk anyone. He’s not a negotiator.”

Hanauer said he feels that Villwock’s competitiveness — he seldom has praised other drivers when they beat him — and focus on his strengths, such as building boats, has not resonated well with fans and peers.

“I think Dave had a hard time understanding that it was more than just racing,” Hanauer said. “I think when he got into a place where he had to be a personality, that was difficult for him.”

Villwock said he is not bothered by criticisms. He compared himself with late NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt, who was known as one of the great competitors in his sport, and hopes to be remembered “as the hardest racer anybody ever saw.”

And racing does not end when the Unlimited schedule finishes Nov. 20 in Doha, Qatar. Villwock enjoys flying airplanes and running remote-controlled boats. In winter, he fills his need for speed on the slopes.

Of course, skiing is only an option for one season and Villwock found himself looking for a job when Bud was retired after 2004. He said he had discussions with crew chief Erick Ellstrom about driving the Miss Elam Plus, but J.W. Myers got the job instead.

The relationship did not last long. After the Elam suffered extensive damage at the 2005 Gold Cup race in Detroit, Ellstrom fired Myers and hired Villwock. The move was somewhat controversial; some believed Myers was not given a fair opportunity, but Ellstrom maintains that the change occurred because he feared his driver would not be ready for the next race.

Villwock has not been quite as successful with Ellstrom as he was with Little — he won one National High Points title (2007) in four full seasons with the team and likely will not earn it this year — but he attributes some of that to his competition. He noted that some of his competitors now use the former Budweiser boats he used to drive.

“We’ve got a better product now than ever before,” he said.

The former crew chief said he has been blessed with quality staffs under Little and Ellstrom, and that should be noted if he breaks Muncey’s record next year. Villwock said Ellstrom even has some crew members who worked with him at Circus Circus.

“It’s a delicate balance of trying to keep everybody working together,” he said. “Mostly all the wins I’ve got are all about people.”