Hydroplane Racing's Triple Crown Winners

The Kentucky Derby and Preakness are behind us, the Belmont is this weekend, and once again horse racing will be without a Triple Crown winner.  The Triple Crown, the most prestigious and rare (there hasn’t been one since 1978) accomplishment in horse racing, is such a captivating achievement that its terminology has spilled over into a countless number of other forms of competition, and naturally this includes Motorsports.    From a historical standpoint, the Triple Crown of Motorsport has been understood as the Indianapolis 500, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the Monaco Grand Prix.  This is more a nod to the fact the historical significance of these races, however, and competing in all three races within the same year would be a near impossibility, especially since the Indianapolis 500 and Monaco GP are often held on the same day.  In fact, only one person, Graham Hill, has won all three races in his career.  During the 1970’s IndyCar attempted to promote its own Triple Crown of the 500 mile races at Indianapolis, Ontario, California, and the Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania, but only the Indianapolis race was seen as the truly prestigious race and the Ontario and Pocono races were eventually dropped from the schedule (although a return to the Poconos is scheduled for this season).  For many years, NASCAR had a de facto Triple Crown, as the season opening Daytona 500, Memorial Day Weekend World 600, and Labor Day Weekend Southern 500 were seen as the circut’s “major” races and were guaranteed to garner the most media attention.  This too has fell by the wayside, however, as expanded media coverage and changes in the traditional scheduling arrangement by NASCAR, highlighted by the fact that the circut no longer races in Darlington, South Carolina on Labor Day Weekend, means that this too has fell by the wayside.

So what about hydroplane racing?  I would argue that a Triple Crown has always been there, even if it has rarely if ever been given its deserved recognition.  Since the formation of the URC in 1957, three race sites have appeared on the schedule every single year: Madison, Detroit, and Seattle.  Although they have had differing levels of prestige through the years (for its first years the Madison race was seen as little more than just another small town race) and have all had financial and logistical issues threaten their spot on the schedule through the years, the fact that all three races have endured for over a half century now means that all three hold their own special place among hydroplane fans, observers, and of course competitors.  Let’s take a look at the men and boats who have won all three of these historic and prestigious races in the same season.  It should also be noted that for the purpose of this post I am counting the Silver Cup/Spirit of Detroit Race as opposed to the Detroit Memorial Regatta as the leg of the Triple Crown in the years when both races were run, as the Spirit of Detroit race is the one with the most direct connection with the race that is still run to this day.

1962 Miss Century 21, Bill Muncey: The first dynasty of the URC era was also the first team to achieve the Triple Crown.  The Willard Rhodes-owned entry came into the 1962 season as the team to beat, having won two championships and eight races in the previous two seasons.  After a win in the season opening Diamond Cup, the Century 21 team won all three heats in the Seattle Gold Cup at a race that was more widely remembered for an accident that saw the Miss Seattle Too disintegrate at the Start/Finish line on the first heat of the day.  The Century 21 team was briefly challenged by Bill Cantrell and the Gale V before they succumbed to mechanical issues and Muncey went on to another perfect day on another rough course at the Spirit of Detroit Regatta.  At the Indiana Governor’s Cup, the Century 21 team was once again largely unchallenged as they won all three heats and hydroplane racing had its first Triple Crown winner.

1972 Atlas Van Lines, Bill Muncey: Ten years after winning the first Triple Crown, Bill Muncey repeated the feat with another team.  Muncey’s career was largely in limbo in the late 1960’s.  Although he finally found a stable ride with the Gale Enterprises entry in 1970, he found himself chasing the Miss Budweiser for two seasons.  His fortunes changed in 1972 and he had what was arguably the most dominant season in the history of Unlimited racing, winning six of the season’s seven races and finishing second in the seventh race.  The Atlas Van Lines team scored a convincing win at the Gold Cup in Detroit in a race in which hardly anyone left unscathed, including Muncey himself who had to miss the Gold Cup celebration in order to nurse sore ribs.  The following week’s Madison race could be seen as nothing more than a major letdown, especially in comparison to the seeming unattainable high of the 1971 Madison Gold Cup Race.  The field had already dwindled to eight entries due to multiple teams taking the week off to do repairs because of the previous week’s Detroit race.  This included the Miss Madison, which sank in the Detroit River during qualifying and would have to miss its home race for the first (and to this point only) time since its debut in 1961.  Tumultuous river conditions forced the race to be delayed until Tuesday, and even then it could only be run when a recruited armada of over fifty pleasure boats cleared debris to the best of their ability.  Despite the numerous setbacks, Bill Muncey won the two preliminary heats that he entered and was awarded the Indiana Governor’s Cup (which doubled as the UIM World Championship that year) based on points after the Final had to be cancelled.  The season finale at Seattle lacked the tumultuous water conditions of Detroit and Madison, but Muncey found himself in unfamiliar territory after engine problems forced him to a second place finish to the Miss Budweiser in the first heat , but Muncey and the Atlas team rebounded and won the Final Heat going away.  At the dock, Muncey acknowledged that this was indeed his greatest season.  The good times would not last long , however, as the remaining three years of Muncey’s time with Gale Enterprises would be filled with no wins and lots of frustrations.  Much like the Chicago Bears had a historically dominant season in 1985 that was sandwiched between a number of good but not great Bears teams, the 1972 season domination would prove to be the lone season in which the Bill Muncey/Gale Enterprises union would reach such a level of dominance.

1978 Atlas Van Lines, Bill Muncey In 1976 Bill Muncey became owner of his own team and subsequently went on to his first championship since 1972.  In 1977 his team debuted a revolutionary new cabover hull and, despite the fact that the time it took to dial the new boat in allowed the Miss Budweiser to score enough points to win the title, it was no secret that the Atlas Van Lines “Blue Blaster” hull was the class of the field.  In 1978 Bill Muncey Racing was ready to dominate.  As if the best driver, best crew chief, and best boat seen up until that time weren’t advantage enough for the team, the fact that the rest of the field was having a low ebb moment meant there was little in the way of Bill Muncey winning seemingly every trophy out there.  An omen of how the rest of the season would go happened in the season opening Miami race, when Bill Muncey was the lone starter for the Final Heat and would run five uncontested laps on his way to the win.  The following race was the Spirit of Detroit Regatta and Bill Muncey was top qualifier and coasted to two easy heat victories.  In the Final Heat Muncey was briefly challenged by Chip Hanauer in the Squire Shop, but would eventually open up to a pretty comfortable victory with Hanauer finishing second.   Two weeks later at Madison Muncey was once again top qualifier but also showed that he wasn’t invincible with a DNF in his second heat.  Despite the setback Muncey would win the Indiana Governor’s Cup Final Heat going away for his fourth straight win on the year.  A few weeks later in Seattle, Muncey would come into the pits coming off his first loss of the year when a blown engine in the Final Heat of the Columbia Cup resulted in a DNF.   Seemingly determined to show that the loss the previous week was a momentary fluke, Muncey piloted the Atlas Van Lines to a qualifying record of 125 MPH on the two mile course. On race day, Muncey would suffer another setback in the preliminary heats as a penalty relegated him to a third place finish on the first heat of the day.  In the Final all the drivers on the course had to deal with an added obstacle after a smoking engine from the Squire Shop II hull driven by Pete LaRock meant that visibility on the course was nearly zero.  Despite the setbacks and obstacles, Muncey was able to cruise to an easy victory in the Final, crossing the Finish Line more than thirty seconds before the second place Miss Budweiser.   The Atlas Van Lines clinched the championship on that day, and Bill Muncey had his third Triple Crown.

 1979 Atlas Van Lines, Bill Muncey Although the field was more competitive on paper in 1979 than it was the previous year, there was little stopping Bill Muncey behind the wheel of the Blue Blaster.  While the quality of the field might have seen a slight uptick in 1979, the quantity of the field was dwindling as access to World War II era aircraft engines were becoming more and more difficult to come by.  At the 1979 Spirit of Detroit race, only six Unlimiteds showed up in the pits, a far cry from the post war years when boat counts for the Detroit race would sometimes approach twenty.  Muncey would win the two preliminary heats and the Final with relative ease.  With The Squire Shop and Miss Budweiser boats missing the Detroit race that year, only Jack Schaffer and the Myrna Kay was there to offer resistance and he trailed the Atlas in every heat.  The following week at Madison, which was hosting the Gold Cup that year, would see a larger field of ten boats as the Miss Budweiser, Squire Shop, and Miss Madison would all rejoin the field.   Muncey would set a Gold Cup record in qualifying with a lap of over 121 MPH but would actually finish second in one of his qualifying heats to Steve Reynolds in the Miss Circus Circus.  The Circus Circus and Squire Shop would provide the Atlas its toughest competition in the Final as the Miss Budweiser boat, which was still trying to figure out its new Griffon powered hull, fell by the wayside in the preliminary heats.  In the end, the Final would prove to be a runaway as Muncey would pull away from the field in the first lap and the true race became the race for second, although even there Reynolds and the Circus Circus would distance itself from Hanauer and the Squire Shop.  Muncey had easily won what would prove to be the last Gold Cup of his brilliant career.   After wins in El Dorado, Kansas and Tri-Cities, Washington, Muncey came into Seattle riding an eight race winning streak and little signs of slowing down.  Contrary to the small field which showed up to the Eastern races, a field of fifteen Unlimiteds showed up to the Seafair pits (although only ten would score points that weekend).  The huge Seattle crowd, seemingly growing tired of Muncey’s dominance of the sport, was briefly brought to its feet when the Atlas Van Lines went dead in the water in Heat 2B allowing Chuck Hickling and the underdog Tempus to capture the win in the heat.  The crowd was momentarily excited again when it appeared that Steve Reynolds wired a perfect start in the Circus Circus and opened up a huge lead, but it was soon learned that Reynolds had jumped the gun, giving the victory to Muncey and the Atlas over Dean Chenoweth and the Miss Budweiser.  Muncey had his ninth consecutive win, but hopes for a perfect season were dashed the following race at Ogden, Utah when the Atlas would go dead in the water, allowing Chip Hanauer to win his first career race in the Squire Shop.  After another DNF in the Final Heat in San Diego for Atlas allowed Steve Reynolds to win his first race in the Circus Circus, there were questions of whether Muncey’s near perfect season was blemished.  Despite the setbacks at the end of the season, there was no denying that Muncey’s brilliant 1979 campaign, capped by his fourth Triple Crown (and by extension the fourth Triple Crown for the sport as a whole) would not soon be forgotten.

1981 Miss Budweiser, Dean Chenoweth The first Triple Crown to be won by someone not named Bill Muncey in Hydroplane racing would prove to be his main competition for much of his latter years.  Despite turning in some solid seasons in the late 1970’s, Bernie Little, never satisfied with anything less than first, looked for a new advantage for his team and turned to the much more powerful Rolls Royce Griffon engines in 1979.  That season would prove to be a learning experience as the Miss Budweiser would be left out of the winners circle and the boat would actually be destroyed after the conclusion of the season during an attempt to break the mile straightaway record.  The next season the Budweiser team would debut another Griffon power hull and this time the team was ready to dominate, winning a record twenty heats in a row en route to the championship.  In 1981, the Miss Budweiser team would continue its dominance and this time a Triple Crown would be part of its accomplishments.  At the Spirit of Detroit race, Chenoweth and the Budweiser would win with relative ease as it was top qualifier, heat winner in both of its preliminary heats, then won the Final without much of a challenge as its perennial rival Bill Muncey was disqualified.  At Madison, the Miss Budweiser would once again face little competition, especially after both the Atlas Van Lines and the Pay N Pak would both go dead in the water in the Final.  With only the hometown Miss Madison left to give any kind of pressure, Chenoweth would coast to another easy victory.  The Seattle Gold Cup race appeared to be more of the same after the Budweiser boat would be top qualifier by a considerable margin and easily win its two preliminary heats, but in the Final it found itself challenged by a suddenly alive Pay N Pak hydroplane.  Despite a valiant effort by John Walters and using technology that would come to dominate the sport a few years later, the day belonged to Dean Chenoweth and the Griffon Powered Miss Budweiser and the Budweiser team had its first Triple Crown.

1993 Miss Budweiser, Chip Hanauer In 1992 Bernie Little needed a new driver so he turned to the man who he had worked so hard to beat over the previous decade.  Chip Hanauer, who had left the sport in 1991 to try his hand at sports car racing, would return to drive the Miss Budweiser.  There were some questions as to whether the two largely successful but very proud individuals could coexist, but winning proved to be the ultimate balm as the team started off the 1992 season with five straight wins, including wins at the Detroit Gold Cup and the Indiana Governor’s Cup.  Only a horrific blowover in qualifying at Seattle would deny the Budweiser team a Triple Crown in 1992.  In 1993, despite a loss in the season opening race in Texas to Steve David, there was little stopping Chip Hanauer and the Miss Budweiser.   At the Gold Cup, Hanauer seemed little phased by a Detroit River that was its usual temperamental self and coasted to a relatively easy victory.  At Madison, the Miss Budweiser was once again dominant, winning by a considerable margin despite having Mark Tate and the Winston Eagle nipping his heels all the way.  The only real attrition came after the racing for the day was over, as the escape hatch blew out of the Miss Budweiser during the cool down lap after the Final Heat. After a brief trip to the hospital, Chip Hanauer was cleared to compete and the winning ways continued.  In Seattle the Miss Budweiser ran into some attrition in the preliminary heats and was assigned to lane five for the Final.  Mark Tate steered the Winston Eagle to the lead, but suffered a high blowover in the second lap and its day was over.  On the restart the Miss Budweiser opened up a lead at the start and didn't look behind as he coasted to a runaway win with Mike Hanson and the U-6 Kellogg's Frosted Flakes-Miss Madison finishing second.

Another win in Seattle gave Miss Budweiser its second Triple Crown, and Chip Hanauer his first and ultimately only such accomplishment.  After a 1992 and 1993 where there appeared to be little stopping the Hanauer-Budweiser combination, many hydroplane observers expected a number of years of continued dominance, but it wouldn’t come to be.  Despite winning the next two championships, a number of accidents that resulted in multiple trips to the hospital for Hanauer meant that Mark Tate would take home the Driver’s championship both years and the team as a whole would eek out championship wins over the Tate-driven Steve Woomer entry.  After another injury causing accident in 1996 in Detroit, Hanauer resigned from the Budweiser team.  Despite the connection being brief and not leading to the multiple years of unprecedented dominance that some had predicted, the record breaking and dominant 1992 and 1993 seasons, capped off by a Triple Crown win in 1993, was proof of what two highly talented but highly proud people like Bernie Little and Chip Hanauer can accomplish when they put their egos aside and work toward the same goal.

1998 Miss Budweiser, Dave Villwock Despite winning the championship the year before, the Miss Budweiser team came into the 1998 season with a lot of question marks.  Long time Crew Chief Ron Brown was gone, being replaced by a then relatively unkown Mark Smith.  Dave Villwock was returning from a horrific accident in Tri Cities where he had to be resuscitated on the deck of his boat.  Externally Mark Evans and the Pico American Dream team had rattle off four straight wins in Villwock’s absence in 1997 and looked poised to challenge the Budweiser team for its throne.  With all these questions, the Budweiser team responded with a historically dominant 1998 season.  After a dominant win in the season opener at Evansville, Villwock was top qualifier at the Gold Cup in Detroit but hit a snag in Heat 2A when it was determined that the Budweiser jumped the gun and was forced to run an extra lap.  After arguing with officials for an hour after the heat, Villwock acknowledged the right call was made after reviewing the video and went on to race the following day.  This time Villwock stayed safely behind the line and went on to comfortable wins in the third and fourth heats as well as a convincing win in the Final Heat with Steve David and the Chrysler Jeep trailing.  The Pico team, perhaps spread a little too thin as Leland Unlimited had three entries in the Detroit race, recorded a DNS in the Final.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhAmsRJXq5g

  At Seattle, the Final Heat looked it was shaping up to be a showdown between Villwock and the Miss Budweiser and Mitch Evans and the Apian Jeronimo.  Drawn into separate heats all day, the Jeronimo won all three of its heats while the Budweiser won two and jumped the gun in another heat.  The expected showdown at the Final wouldn’t come to fruition, as the Jeronimo boat would be disqualified for cutting off the field at the first turn of the first lap.  The Pico would lead the first couple of laps, but Villwock would overtake him and open up a decent lead at the end with Evans trailing.   Despite the protests of Mitch Evans, the penalty against him was upheld.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2244GUcV-60

  Next up was the Madison race, which had to be postponed to Labor Day due to high waters on its scheduled date.  The late season race meant that many of the Washington based teams would choose to stay home instead of make the long trek back east and only seven teams were in the pits.  The Apian Jeronimo, perhaps still upset over their back to back Final Heat disqualifications, skipped the trip.   So did perennial contender U-8 Llumar Window Film. Despite the small field, the day was once again looking to be a duel between two boats, Villwock and the Miss Budweiser, and this time Mitch’s brother Mark Evans in the Pico boat.  Both were drawn into separate heats all day.  Evans and the Pico won all three of its heats, and did Villwock and the Budweiser but not without controversy. In Heat 3B the Miss Madison wired a perfect start and appeared to have the heat in hand after the Miss Budweiser struck a buoy.  It was determined, however, that the Miss Madison had encroached on the Budweiser, thus forcing Villwock into a buoy and resulting in a disqualification for the Miss Madison and Mike Hanson.  The few fans who did attend the postponed race showed their displeasure, and even the WORX radio crew got Mark Allen, who was in his first and last race serving as the UHRA commissioner, to admit on the air that he had not seen the video which had led to the call.  The Final Heat was expected to be a showdown between Evans and Villwock, but once again controversy ensued.  As the field creeped up to the line for the Final, Evans broke from the field and wired a perfect start, then widened his lead on the backstretch.  Coming out of the second turn on lap one, Evans made the course as wide as possible for Villwock with his roostertail, and once again the Miss Budweiser struck a buoy and once again it was determined that the other boat had “forced” the Budweiser into the buoy, thus giving the Pico a one lap penalty and giving the Budweiser an easy route to victory.  Behind him, more attrition happened as the Steve David in the U-2 Freddie’s Club spun out in the last turn, thus giving longtime competitor Ken Muskatel his first and only podium finish as he came in second.  Miss Madison, which had started as the trailer, finished third.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TUVedKSCCQ

Despite the controversy that arose from having a rarely called penalty called two, and both to the benefits in a row, and both to the benefit of the Budweiser team, there was no denying that the Miss Budweiser had a dominant season with a record eight race wins that was capped off by a Triple Crown.

2000 Miss Budweiser, Dave Villwock Unlike 1998, the only question coming into 2000 for the Miss Budweiser team was whether or not anybody could stop them.  They had introduced the T-6, a hull that was the class of the field the moment its sponsons got wet and only seemed to get better from there.  Their rivals in the Leland Unlimited camp were undoubtedly facing a season of transition, as driver Chip Hanauer retired and they lost the longtime support of Pico.  Also going through a time of transition was the U-2 Harvey Motorsports as they parted ways with longtime driver Steve David.  As if that wasn’t enough of an advantage, there was a rumor going around that Bernie Little was looking to “buy” the sport as a whole.  Although nobody seemed to know what that meant at the time, it made everyone a little uneasy.  On the water, there was little stopping Dave Villwock and what was arguably the best crew put together in the history of the sport.  After easy wins in Lake Havasu, Arizona and Evansville, the tour rolled into Madison with two less entries as the Leland team was mysterious in their absence.  Of the nine boats who did compete in Madison, the Miss Budweiser was seemingly the only boat that escaped unscathed as the Ohio River was its usual ornery self.  The York Heating & Air, driven by Mark Weber, lost a rudder in qualifying after striking a piece of debris.  Second fastest qualifier Mark Tate in the U-2 Freddie’s Club lost a gearbox prior to the start of its first heat and it was done for the day.  The Miss Budweiser wired a perfect start in the Final and didn’t look back en route to its record tying ninth consecutive race win, being trailed by Mark Weber in the U-10 York (with a new rudder) and Mike Hanson in the U-9 Jones Racing.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-MCYGVlHNY

The following week at Detroit, the Leland team was once again absent and once again the biggest challenge to the Budweiser would seem to be the course itself, as the Final had to be delayed four hours due to high winds.  Despite the conditions, the Miss Budweiser was able to plough through with little resistance, in the process winning a record breaking tenth consecutive race and giving Villwock the honors of being the all-time winningest Miss Budweiser driver.  Mark Weber in the York trailed while his teammate George Stratton, who had garnered attention earlier in the day by barely missing a boat that was dead in the water and the Detroit seawall, finished third. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcGOqx8l444

  As the tour made the trek west, news broke that Bernie Little, in partnership with Gary Garbrecht, was indeed buying the sanctioning rights of Unlimited Hydroplane racing and the following year would launch a new sanctioning body known as Hydro-Prop.  For the time being, however, the focus was on whether or not the Miss Budweiser would achieve the elusive perfect season, as it seemed that only a catastrophic event would stop the Miss Budweiser.  As it turned out, a catastrophic event would happen in the following race in Tri-Cities.  A collision with Ken Muskatel badly damaged the Miss Budweiser and, despite finishing the heat, it was determined that the boat was too damaged to finish the race.  The streak was over.  So was the T-6 for the year.  Coming into Seattle with the T-5, the Miss Budweiser suddenly looked human, especially after it lost all three of its preliminary heats.  The boat lost its canard wing in its first heat and Villwock was forced to slow his boat down for a third place finish.  Bad starts in the second and third heats, along with a much stronger field than what started off the year with a return of the Leland boats and the Miss E-Lam Plus, meant that the Budweiser would finish third and second respectively.  Despite this, Villwock wired a perfect start in the Final and won the Final Heat going away.  Mike Hanson was able to pick up a surprise second in the U-9 entry.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9u_y_QF-bw

Despite being denied in their bid for a perfect season, the Miss Budweiser team could lay claim to having the closest thing to such an accomplishment in the turbine era and their fourth Triple Crown.

2009 Miss E-Lam Plus, Dave Villwock The most recent Triple Crown winner is also a rarity among teams who have accomplished this feat:  A team that won the Triple Crown despite not having a dominant season, not winning the championship, or even any other races outside of the three classic race sites.  The E-Lam was indeed looking like the team to beat heading into 2009.  After running an abbreviated schedule in 2008, the E-Lam team rolled into Madison with the U-1 stickers still attached, a clear message that they still saw themselves as the top team in the sport.  Madison left little doubt to these boasts, as the E-Lam Plus won all three of its preliminary heats, beating newly minted U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto-Miss Madison in all three heats.  In the Final Villwock opened up a decent lead in the first lap then was able to push J. Michael Kelly in the Graham Trucking to the outside en route to victory.  Kelly finished second while Steve David was able to take advantage of the Formula Boats entry suffering engine problems and the U-3 going dead within feet of the Finish Line to claim third.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1394BErZJfU

In Detroit, perennial rivals David and Villwock were drawn into separate heats in all four preliminary heats and it looked like David might have the upper hand (as well as the inside lane) after a penalty in heat 4A was called on the Ellstrom entry.  Despite having the inside lane, however, Villwock was able to win the Gold Cup going away, giving Villwock his sixth Gold Cup and a very memorable picture of Steve David sitting dejected on his boat in the next day’s edition of the Madison Courier.  All thoughts of E-Lam invincibility were lost, however, after numerous penalties against them in the Tri-Cities race meant that not only had they lost their first race of the year but would lose the High Point lead coming into Seattle.  After claiming top qualifier, Villwock would edge David in the first heat.  After finishing behind Jimmy King in the U-3 and Steve David in the U-1 in heat 2A, Villwock would win over King in heat 3A while David took heat 3B.  The Final was shaping up to be a three way race.   Villwock jumped out to a lead in the Final, but was challenged early by Steve David.  In the last lap David, which seemed comfortable to take second place points in life to fight another day, came high out of the water and came down hard, resulting in the engine overheating and the U-1 losing multiple spots on the course.  This allowed Jimmy King to finish second in the U-3.  Villwock won the race and, despite still trailing the Oberto in points, apparently had the momentum going into the final two races of the year, but a blowover in Evansville and a badly compressing engine in Doha gave Steve David and the less spectacular but more consistent Oh Boy! Oberto-Miss Madison just enough daylight to claim the championship.  So while Villwock and the E-Lam team won the Triple Crown in 2009, the big crown stayed in Madison.

                Much like the “real” Triple Crown has only been won eleven times, the fact that Hydroplane Racing’s own version of the Triple Crown has only been won nine times shows the significance of its achievement.  It should also be of note that the only four drivers to accomplish this feat are the top four on the list of all time race winners in the sport, so it’s certainly an achievement meant for the upper echelon.  Also, I realize that other races can rival these three in terms of prestige, especially the Washington, DC President’s Cup race in earlier years and the current Doha Oryx Cup race in modern times, but it should be noted that the longevity of the Madison, Detroit, and Seattle races only add to their prestige and thus set them apart from other races on the schedule in their own special way.  If a driver and team win the Triple Crown, they certainly have accomplished something.

Dynasties of the Sport: Miss Budweiser, 1969-1971

When a beer distributor out of Florida named Bernie Little brought a small time operation onto the circuit in 1963, few took notice.  This continued the following year even after the team secured the instantly recognizable sponsorship of Budweiser.  Continuing as a mid-tier team for the next couple of years, the team suffered through the lowest of lows in 1966, suffering through the loss of their driver Don Wilson on Black Sunday but would rebound to win the team’s first two races in Tri-Cities and San Diego with Bill Brow at the wheel. 1967 and 1968 would see the Miss Budweiser win the Kelowna race en route to a fourth place finish in the High Point standings both seasons.  Despite winning four races over the previous three seasons, few could expect the emergence of this team over the next three years.

  The Miss Budweiser team entered a 1969 season that appeared to be wide open after the Miss Bardahl team scaled back their operation to a couple west coast races.  The Miss Budweiser, sporting a hull that was built in 1968 and continued to grow stronger as the crew continued to dial the boat in throughout the season, suddenly emerged as the team to beat in 1969.  Also returning from 1968 was driver Bill Sterret.  The team would double its win total of the previous four years in one season, winning four of seven races including the Seafair Trophy and the Gold Cup at San Diego en route to a championship.  

Driver Bill Sterret departed the team after the 1969 season and owner Bernie Little handed the ride to Dean Chenoweth, who as was the runner up the Miss Budweiser the previous season.  Even with the new driver the team’s winning ways continued, with four wins in eight races, including an Indiana Governor’s Cup and a repeat win at the San Diego Gold Cup for another High Point title.  It appeared to the team’s winning ways would continue in 1971, as the Miss Budweiser won the season opener in Miami and the Dodge Cup in Detroit.  The Miss Budweiser, however, would be shut out of the winner’s circle for the rest of the season and would momentarily lose the High Point lead to a Miss Madison team that had suddenly   come on to win the Gold Cup in Madison and the Atomic Cup in Tri-Cities.  As the Miss Madison’s Cinderella story turned into a pumpkin in the form of a blown engine in Seattle, the Miss Budweiser would regain the High Point lead but would once again find itself behind a suddenly unbeatable Pride of Pay’n Pak.  Despite being overshadowed by more dramatic performances by its competitors and finding itself finishing behind boats it had easily beaten the previous two years in the latter part of the season, the Miss Budweiser had scored enough points over the course of the season to secure its third straight High Point championship, but its winning ways would be put on hold for a while.  1971 would prove to be a last hurrah for the old style shovel nosed designed hulls and the Miss Budweiser would go winless in 1972.  For much of the rest of the 1970’s, the Miss Budweiser would find itself trailing behind a competitor or two that would have more advanced or innovative equipment.

The Legacy: When a team like the Miss Budweiser has an extended era of dominance as it would from the late 1980's to the early 2000's (more on that later in this series), it's easy for everything that happened before to be overshadowed.  Add to the fact that the turbine Bud years would be directly preceded by the memorable "Griffon Bud" years and even a time in which the team won three straight championships could be lost in the shuffle.  Memories still abound, though.  Many of these are in the person of Dean Chenoweth, who would drive the Miss Budweiser to two titles in the early 1970's then return a decade later to win two more titles.  The 1968 Miss Budweiser would also find its rightful spot in the Hydroplane And Raceboat Museum. So despite being viewed as the "forgotten years" by some within the Hydroplane community when it comes to the Miss Budweiser, these years are still remembered as an era of dominance for the Miss Budweiser and a preview of things to come.

Dynasties of the Sport: Miss Bardahl, 1963-1968

     For much of the 1960's: three names were on the lips of nearly everyone in Unlimited Hydroplane Racing: The Green Dragon, the Blonde Bombshell, and the Checkerboard Comet.  Unfortunately for its competition, all of these names were used to describe one team: the Miss Bardahl. Ole Bardahl's entry came to define the 1960's much in the way that the Atlas Van Lines and Miss Budweiser entries would be the face of future decades in the sport.  Not only that, the Miss Bardahl left a legacy that 

 After a modest in the beginning in the sport by sponsoring a small time entry in 1957, Ole Bardahl got involved in the sport in a big way by starting his own team in 1958.  With Norm Evans and Mira Slovak splitting driving duties, the team would only win two points races on the year in Buffalo and Chelan, but would perform consistently throughout the year and claim a High Point title in his first year as an owner for Ole Bardahl.  The next couple years would be quiet for the Bardahl team with no major race wins, although they did manage a runner up finish in the 1959 High Points.  Things began to change in 1961 when Ron Musson, who had already earned a reputation as one of the top drivers in the sport during brief stints with the Hawaii Kai III and the Nitrogen Too, was signed on to drive.  The partnership proved immediate dividends as Musson brought home a win in the Seattle World Championship race.  Another victory at the Silver Cup Detroit and two more podium finishes on the year was good enough for the Miss Bardahl to collect another runner up finish in the High Points. 

  In 1962, the team decided to step up its game again and built a new Merlin powered hydro.  After some struggles through the year as they worked on dialing their new boat in, a convincing victory in the season finale on Lake Tahoe was an omen of things to come. 

1960-62 High Point Champion Miss Thriftway does battle with the future 1963-65 Champion Miss Bardahl on the Ohio River at the Indiana Governor's Cup

  With Miss Thriftway running a reduced schedule in 1963, the Bardahl team found itself alone at the top.  The Miss Bardahl scored three race wins on the season, including a Detroit Gold Cup victory that acted as a proverbial “passing of the torch” as the Bardahl’s biggest rival of the previous seasons, the Miss Thriftway, finished sixth. Two other podium finishes gave the Miss Bardahl the 1963 High Point title.  1964 continued the team’s winning ways as the Miss Bardahl captured the Detroit Gold Cup, the Seafair Trophy, and two more races en route to another High Point title.  In 1965, offseason repairs meant that the team was unable to make it to the season opener at Guntersville, Alabama, but victories at four races, including the Gold Cup in Seattle and the UIM World Championship on Lake Tahoe  were enough to put the team over the top for a third straight High Point championship.

                Never one to be settled with his team’s performance, Ole Bardahl pressed the team to come up with a new innovative boat.  The result was a revolutionary new cabover hull.  Although cabovers had been experimented with in the Unlimited class before (most notably the Thriftway Too from 1957-1960) this was the first time a major team had a cabover as its primary hull.  After mechanical issues sidelined the team for the season opener in Tampa, the team, along with the rest of the hydroplane community would experience “Black Sunday” in Washington, DC when the boat was involved in a horrific accident that resulted in the loss of life of Ron Musson.  Although no direct correlation was ever made between the design of the boat and the horrible accident on that fateful day, the loss of one of the most accomplished and respectful drivers in the history of the sport would be enough to delay the wide acceptance of cabover hydroplanes for another decade.  As for the team, they were done for 1966 and their string of High Point Titles would come to an end.

The ill fated cabover Miss Bardahl

                Ole Bardahl and the Miss Bardahl would return for 1967, but nearly everything else was different.  The team, which featured a number of new crew members, would debut a new hull, which was more conventional (for the time) than the previous hull but featured a considerably lower profile than other Unlimited Hydroplanes of the time.  Furthermore Billy Schumacher, who was considered one of the hottest drivers at the time in terms of pure potential but had only had brief stints in the Unlimited Class to that point, was tabbed as driver.  Even the solid green paint scheme, which had become a trademark of the Miss Bardahl team, was exchanged for a new yellow paint scheme, causing the “Green Dragon” team to be renamed the “Blonde Bombshell.” After a trying 1966, the team seemed to pick up where they left off, winning the season opener in Tampa.  Five more wins on the year, including a victory at the Indiana Governor’s Cup (a first for the team) and the Gold Cup in Seattle meant that the team would cruise to a convincing win in the High Point title.  

The “new” Miss Bardahl team would return in 1968 with a striking new checkerboard paint scheme, thus giving birth to the “Checkerboard Comet.”  Although not quite as dominant as in the previous year, the Miss Bardahl still managed four race wins, including repeat victories at the Indiana Governor’s Cup and the Gold Cup (this year in Detroit) were enough to give the team another High Point title. 

Some awesome footage of the 1968 Detroit Gold Cup, which was won by the Miss Bardahl

  Ole Bardahl announced his retirement from the sport, feeling that he had nothing more to accomplish much like Willard Rhodes six years before him.  The team did, however, return for a curtain call in 1969.  With Fred Alter at the wheel, the Miss Bardahl managed a third in Seattle and a sixth in San Diego before calling it a career.  Bardahl remains to this day one of the leading employers in the Seattle area and has an expansive oil additive business, but the name Bardahl would never again be a team's title sponsor save for a one race deal in 2000 when the U-3 would race as the "Bardahl Special" and finish a surprise fifth in San Diego.

The Legacy: The team's dominant performance over a decade that saw rapid growth for the sport meant that the Miss Bardahl is fondly remembered to this day, especially by Baby Boomer fans.  Nearly every RC hydroplane event is all but guaranteed to have at least one entry sporting Miss Bardahl colors.  Nearly every race site is all but guaranteed to have Miss Bardahl t-shirts, posters, and other merchandise for sale.  Also, although Bardahl's direct involvement in the sport hasn't gone far beyond being an alternate sponsor for the U-3 a few years ago over the last decade or so, memories of the Miss Bardahl have abounded along pit row  through the decades.  Some of Fred Leland's early entries wore the number U-40, an obvious tribute to the Miss Bardahl.  Furthermore,the latter part of the previous decade had not one but two paint schemes intended to recall the classic colors of the Miss Bardahl, as the U-48 entry had a dark green paint scheme with black trim and former Bardahl driver Billy Schumacher's U-37 entry wore the checkerboard paint scheme of the same time that he drove the classic hull.  Even to this day memories of the Miss Bardahl are nearly everywhere one looks around the sport, not bad for a team that hasn't entered a race in over four decades.

Dynasties of the Sport: Miss Thriftway, 1960-1962

                In the year and a half that I’ve been writing this blog, I’ve made a contentious effort to write about items of hydroplane history that might otherwise be overlooked: also rans who always put forth a solid effort, forgotten race sites, common misperceptions within the sport that have sprung up through the years, events that have been largely forgotten due to other contemporary happenings in the sport, the lack of realization of the historical significance of the event, or simply because they have been forgotten due to the turning of time.  My reason for ignoring the more mainstream stories throughout hydroplane history has been simple: so much ink has been spilled over these events throughout the years that it’s all but impossible to write anything new about said events.  After a brief hiatus, I figured I would go a different route.  For the next few weeks I will have a series where I cover the teams that have been dominant within the sport for a period of time.  For a half century now, there has almost always been a team in the pits that could be pointed to as “the team to beat,” although that honor has been passed from team to team over the years.  This, of course, has been the case in almost every sport in the United States, but in the case of hydroplanes sometimes these periods of excellence are followed by the teams quickly falling apart.  The first dynasty in hydroplane's modern era, the Miss Thriftway, certainly followed this model.

   As the 1950’s transitioned into the 1960’s, the focus of Unlimited Hydroplane  racing also transitioned from a once a year battle for the Gold Cup for civic pride surrounded by a number of regional races to a year-long national battle among owners for the High Point title.  Many teams of the “old era” of Hydroplane racing simply fell by the wayside, but one team that had the foresight to change with the times was the 1956 and 1957 Gold Cup winner.  Miss Thriftway and driver Bill Muncey became one of the most recognizable participants in the sport during the 1950’s with some memorable performances in the Gold Cup.  Quite remarkably, however, is that the only wins for the driver and team during that decade came during said Gold Cup races.  The team might have had two of the most memorable Gold Cup wins during this time, but the also experienced some very low lows as well.  The first Miss Thriftway hull which carried Bill Muncey to wins in the 1956 and 1957 Gold Cups as well as a near win in in the 1955 Gold Cup was destroyed at the 1957 Indiana Governor's Cup race when the boat bounced twice and disintegrated, leaving Bill Muncey seriously injured. 

A painting depicting the Miss Thriftway accident at Madison

 The most horrific accident, however, would come in the 1958 Seattle Gold Cup as the Miss Thriftway would lose its rudder, veering off course and crashing into a Coast Guard patrol boat.  Bill Muncey would actually be pronounced dead at the scene, but would be revived and would continue his brilliant career for another two decades.  The team would sit out the rest of the 1958 season.  In 1959 the team would build yet another hull but would go winless on the year although they did come close to winning another Gold Cup.

 With the new decade came a new focus for the team and thus the first modern dynasty in the sport was born.  In 1960 the team won four of ten races entered (including a rare “triple crown” in winning in Detroit, Madison, and Seattle) and finished on the podium three more times en route to the driver and team’s first high point championship. 

Miss Thriftway at Madison.  After suffering a horrific accident on the Ohio River just three years prior, Bill Muncey would go on to win his first Indiana Governor's Cup in 1960

 In 1961 the name of the boat was changed to Miss Century 21 in order to promote the upcoming Seattle World’s Fair but the results stayed the same, with wins in four of six races entered, a Gold Cup, and two other podium finishes for a near-perfect repeat  performance in 1961.  In 1962 the winning continued as Muncey and the Century 21 won the first five races it entered, including the Seattle Gold Cup, the Spirit of Detroit Trophy, the Indiana Governor’s Cup, and the President’s Cup.  Only mechanical issues in the season finale in Lake Tahoe kept the team from having a perfect season.  In three seasons, the team had won every major trophy in the sport multiple times, and along the way Bill Muncey's personable nature would make him the de facto spokesman for the sport with multiple media appearances. As the sport was becoming a truly national tour as opposed to one big race, the Miss Thriftway and Bill Muncey became the sport's first national brand.

  Perhaps thinking they had nothing left to prove, owner Willard Rhodes and the Thriftway team ran a greatly reduced schedule in 1963, only entering three races and, despite a convincing win at the Diamond Cup at Couer d’Alene, Idaho, struggled in its other two races and the team left the sport for good.  The first dynasty of Unlimited Hydroplane racing came to an abrupt end and the most recognizable name in the sport found himself without a ride.  Much of the rest of the 1960's would be a struggle for Muncey until he found a home with the Gale Enterprises team and would continue his consistent winning ways.  The name Miss Thriftway would make an appearance four decades later, as it was the sponsor of a Leland entry at the 2005 Seattle race with Steve Hook at the wheel.  Despite the shot of nostalgia, the boat would fail to live up to its memorable name as the boat would fail to start a heat or score any points on the race.

The 2005 Miss Thriftway Leland entry

The Legacy: These days, most of the memories of the Miss Thriftway are inevitably tied to the persona of Bill Muncey.  That's to be expected since it was the ride in which Muncey enjoyed his first success in the Unlimited Class and in which he would establish himself as the "driver to beat" for years to come.  The boat is also widely popular among R/C hobbyests, as the understated but dignified striped hull has found its way into seemingly every R/C event over the years, sometimes with multiple entries sporting the same Miss Thriftway paint scheme.  All in all, with the growth in the sport's popularity in the 1960's with the clear ties to one of the most legendary figures in the sport, the Miss Thriftway would rightfully earn its spot as a legend within the sport for fans for years to come.

The Madison Movie: Deciphering Fact from Fiction

“It’s a movie.”  It’s a phrase one often says or hears when a movie has moments that are unbelievable, impossible, or just plain silly.  And for the majority of the time, I have no issue with this assessment.  After all, a major part of the appeal of movies is that it gives one an escape from their otherwise routine everyday life.  When “movie magic” becomes an issue, however, is when inaccurate or untrue parts of a movie covering a historical event are accepted as historical fact.  For this post, I will be focusing on the issues that arise from the movie “Madison.”  The movie has a plethora of parts that are historically inaccurate, spanning the movie quite literally from start to finish.  I’ve usually overlooked these, but in recent weeks I’ve heard people say things like Madison hosted the “first professional boat race” (it didn’t) or that the Madison Regatta “dates back to 1903” (it doesn’t , the first known organized boat race in Madison was in 1911, while the first modern Madison Regatta was in 1949) with the grounds of these claims being “well it’s in the movie…” so hopefully I can put some of these falsehoods to rest.

                Since the release of “Rudy’ in 1993, sports movies that are based on a true story have followed a very similar pattern: Take a memorable sports moment, twist  and add facts and events until the plot of the movie barely resembles the story it was based off of,  add a bunch of clichés about how the story’s protagonist refueses to give up on his or her goal although seemingly everyone around him or her is telling him or her to give up, and throughout the movie play licensed music from the time period of the movie as a constant reminder of when the movie was taking place.  The movie “Madison” certainly falls into this category.   As for the inaccuracies of the movie, let’s begin by looking at some of the major plot themes.

                Jim McCormick was not a Madison native nor did he ever live in Madison.  Although he was a regular in Madison and was well known and liked around the community (especially after the 1971 Gold Cup) he lived in Owensboro, Kentucky for most of his life.  The theme of a hometown hero with deep roots within the town driving his hometown boat to victory out of love for his community is simply false.

                The movie’s major theme of a town that is dying due to the declining use of river transport is more fitting for the Madison of 1871, not 1971.  While Madison was by no means an economic powerhouse during this time period (or any other period in post-Civil War America for that matter) it wasn’t because of the loss of barge traffic.  If anything, Madison was experiencing a bit of a small economic boom in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.  The IKE Powerplant came on line, bringing a number of jobs and actually increasing river traffic in Madison as barges delivered coal to the new plant.  Historic Madison, Inc. was founded in 1961 and with it the groundwork for the town’s modern tourism industry was put into place.  Also, a number of factories were opened in Madison at this time.  I’ve heard a number of people say that when they were attending Madison High School teachers had to all but beg the older students to stay in school and care about their grades because the promise of a decent paying factory job was always there.  While the warning of “most of those factory jobs will be gone” largely came true in later decades, in 1971 the economy of Madison wasn’t quite as difficult as it was shown.  Sure, the absence of an interstate in the town hurt back then like it does now, but the idea that the city was hurting due to the decrease in river shipping was about a century too late for this movie.

                The Miss Madison was nowhere near the struggling laughingstock as it is portrayed in the movie.  The team already had three podium finishes on the season coming into the Madison Gold Cup and the case could easily be made that the team was “due” for a victory.  Sure, the Miss Madison had some very lean years in the late 1960’s but the old hull was enjoying a bit of a renaissance as the decade turned.  A highway accident en route to the 1970 season opener in Miami proved to be a bit of a blessing in disguise  when boat designer  Les Staudacher came to help with the rebuild, and was able to correct and iron out many other knicks and imperfections that the boat had picked up in over a decade of racing.  When the boat rejoined the tour an obvious increase in speed could be seen by anyone within the sport.  That isn’t to say the Miss Madison wasn’t an underdog coming into the 1971 Gold Cup.  The team was, after all, still a small operation competing against deep pocketed owners with corporate sponsorship.  Despite this, the Miss Madison, as has often been the case throughout much of the team’s history, was able to compete with wealthier teams on the water and the idea that they were barely able to even make a showing in the previous races is stretching the truth.

                Jim McCormick didn’t leave the sport in the years previous to 1971 due to a wreck that took the life of his best friend.  McCormick did leave the Miss Madison team after briefly driving for them in 1966, but that was simply because he left to drive for other teams.  McCormick was also never the Crew Chief of the Miss Madison, although he was an owner for a number of years and during the 1971 season he was actually splitting time between driving duties for the Miss Madison and the responsibilities of owner of the Miss Timex entry.  With this in mind, the Skip Prosser and Buddy Baker characters in the movie are also fabricated.

                Harry Volpi did come to the aid of the Miss Madison team prior to the Gold Cup, but not in the manner which is shown in the movie.  The idea of using nitrous oxide for a boost in RPM’s was an accepted practice in Unlimited Hydroplane Racing by 1971, not the outrageous and dangerous idea that was shown in the movie.  In fact, the Miss Madison was one of the few teams to NOT use nitrous oxide boosters during the 1971 Gold Cup.  Instead, the Miss Madison team experimented with a fuel-alcohol system for a boost in performance.  This is where Harry Volpi comes in.  Volpi was one of the sport’s most renowned experts on Allison engines during this time, but was also without a team due to the fact that the team he had previously worked for  (the Miss Smirnoff) had left the sport.  The Miss Madison team brought in Volpi to assist in getting the bugs worked out of their fuel alcohol system, and the rest is history.

                Madison didn’t get the right to host the Gold Cup thanks to a blind draw, but the story behind how they got to host the Gold Cup is convoluted in and of itself.  The Madison Regatta committee put up a smaller than usual $30,000 bid to host the Gold Cup for 1971, but thanks to a confusion in when the date for when the bids were due, along with the fact that many race sites were timid to bid for the Gold Cup after the financial struggles San Diego faced in hosting the 1970 Gold Cup meant they weren’t going to be on the schedule for 1971 (by the way, San Diego trying to get on the schedule by knocking Madison off the schedule is another inaccuracy) meant that Madison’s bid was the only one in to the APBA offices at the time.  Of course, all of that might be difficult and slightly boring to put into a movie, so I’m willing to give the makers of Madison a pass on this one.  However, the story of Jim McCormick writing a check for money the city didn’t have and then the city scrambling to raise that money is simply made up.

                The 1971 Gold Cup race took place on July 4, not Labor Day Weekend.  The Sunday before Labor Day was the traditional date for the Madison Regatta for a number of years, but Fourth of July weekend has been the date for the Madison Regatta for every season since 1967, with the exception of 1998 when river conditions forced the event to be postponed until Labor Day Weekend.  I suspect this was done due to the fact that most of the riverside and crowd scenes of the movie were filmed during Labor Day Weekend, but the leaves don’t really start changing in Madison until late September so I don’t think that really made much difference.

                As far as I know, the Miss Madison crew never stole an engine out of a fighter plane on display and to be honest I can’t believe this scene made it past the original draft of the script let alone a filmed part of the movie that was included in the final edit .  Nearly every critic’s review I’ve read of “Madison” talks about how ridiculous this scene is, and to be blunt I would have to agree with them.

                The ABC Wide World of Sports broadcast of the 1971 Gold Cup was recorded, not live as was shown in the bar.  Very few Unlimited Hydroplane races have been broadcast on live television to a national audience.  The only one I can remember right off the top of my head was the 1997 Gold Cup race, which was shown live on ESPN 2 back in the days when that station was only carried on higher tier cable packages.  Obviously the main reason for this is that Unlimited Hydroplane racing doesn’t really have a wide national appeal, but also the unpredictable nature of the sport does as well.  Just look at this year so far when both the Madison and Detroit Final Heats took place more than an hour after they were scheduled due to water conditions.  Could you imagine the logistics and explanations that would have to take place if a network was demanding the Final be shown live at a certain point?

                Even in the epilogue there are inaccuracies.  First, the comment that the Miss Madison hadn’t “won a race since 1973” obviously isn’t the case.  When the movie was originally filmed in 1999 the team hadn’t won a race since 1993.  I’m not sure why they just didn’t say this, but maybe 1973 just sounds better.  Also, in between the filming and the release of the movie the Miss Madison won at Madison in 2001.  They were actually showing a trailer of the movie that year on the riverfront, and after Steve David drove the Oh Boy! Oberto-Miss Madison to victory a few people said “now they can film a sequel!”  Also, although Mike McCormick competed for a few years in the Unlimited Lights, he never competed in the Unlimited Class (although he was a crew member for many of his dad’s entries in the 1970’s and 1980’s, rising to the title of Crew Chief).

                These are just a few, like I said.  If I were to go over every inaccuracy in the move I’d pretty much have to go over every scene and the entire plot.  So the question becomes: what in the movie actually is accurate?  Aside from the obvious of the Miss Madison won the Gold Cup in Madison, one scene in particular always comes to mind.  In the opening scene where Mike McCormick hears the engine on the river then races down to the riverfront on his bicycle to watch the boats practice was an integral part of any Madisonian’s childhood for a number of years.  Anymore with expanded social media coverage of the sport, it seems like we know three weeks in advance whenever a team is planning on trailer firing their boat, but in the years before the internet there really wasn’t any way of knowing when the boats would be testing until they actually did it.  Therefore, the scene of hearing the Miss Madison’s engine then riding your bike down to the river to watch it do some testing laps became something of a rite of Spring for a number of years.  Aside from that, there was one point in the movie where a man pronounces Louisville “LOUGH-vul” and yes, that’s how people from Madison (myself included) pronounce it.  So there are at least two points of the movie that are accurate.

                So with all my critiques of the movie, one might be wondering of my opinion of the movie.  First off, it’s all but impossible for me to be objective on this film.  I love movies, I love hydroplane racing, and I love my hometown, so therefore the only major motion picture that has hydroplane racing as a main plot point, as well as one of only two movies to be filmed in my hometown, is going to be appealing no matter what.  If that wasn’t enough, I’m actually an extra in the movie (I’m in the crowd shots when the races are taking place and when the Miss Madison is coming back to the docks) so once again this movie is going to hold a special place for me no matter the quality.  With that said, “Madison” is by no means a great movie.  The numerous plot holes, script writing that swings from very cliché to downright ridiculous, and the numerous historical inaccuracies keep it from being so.   A couple times I’ve shown it to friends who aren’t familiar with hydroplane racing who have said something along the lines of “this is stupid, can we watch something else” about 45 minutes into the movie.  One strong point, however, is that the movie is very well acted.  Jim Caviezel, Mary MacCormack, and Bruce Dern all make the most of some shoddy writing and turn in great performances.  Even Jake Lloyd, who was much maligned for his performance in “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace” turns in a respectable showing and portrays a kid that really anyone who grew up in a small town can relate to.  “Madison” does have its appeal, especially for hydroplane fans but also for those who grew up in small towns or have fond memories of Summers with their dad.  So it’s a decent movie, just don’t use it as a reference for a historical argument.

Going for the Gold: When Powerboat Racing was an Olympic Sport

The Olympics are in full swing and with that many sports are brought into the limelight that are, shall we say, questionable in their inclusion on the Olympic program.  Some of the usual targets are Synchronized Swimming, Synchronized Diving, Table Tennis, Dressage, and a seemingly endless line of shooting and gymnastics events.  With that said, a look into the Olympics’ past finds even more less than deserving “sports.”  Among these include Croquet, Basque Pelota (whatever that is),Rogue, Polo, Tug of War, and even powerboat racing.  It’s hard to believe now, but for one year powerboat racing had a place on the Olympic program.  In the 1908 London games, medals for powerboat racing were awarded along with the other sports that many have long associated with the Summer Olympics.

                Before looking at the action of the 1908 Olympic Water Motorsports (as it was more commonly called back then) events, it should be duly noted that the Olympics in those early were quite different from the two week festival they have grown to be.  The Summer Olympics in those early years were often spread out over months and were often tied to World’s Fair exhibitions with Olympic competitions merely being another event on the program of these multimonth events.  The 1908 London Games were spread out over seven months, with the Opening Ceremonies being held on April 27 and the Closing Ceremonies held on October 31.  Instead of representing their country, athletes often wore the colors of their athletic club, University, or simply what they chose to wear, although the 1908 Opening Ceremonies were the first time that Olympic athletes marched behind their nation’s flags.  The events on the Olympic program often had a local flavor, sometimes even hosting events that were rarely if ever played outside their host nation.  For example, in the 1904 St. Louis Games Basketball, which was a sport that was thirteen years old but was quickly spreading in popularity through American YMCA’s, was staged as a demonstration sport.  With this in mind, powerboat racing was wildly popular in Great Britain at this time.  The first Harmsworth Trophy race (officially the International Motorboat Trophy) was held in Queenstown, Ireland in 1903, over two decades before the first British Grand Prix.  These Harmsworth Trophy races were often huge events that drew crowds of over a half a million spectators.  Despite the wide popularity in Great Britain, the footprint of powerboat racing in the early 20^th century didn’t go much further than France and the United States.  So despite the fact that the sport was rarely if ever staged outside of these three nations, the fact that the Olympics were held in the hotbed of powerboat racing of that time was enough to get the sport on the program.  It should also be of note that, despite these were the London Games, the races were held 75 miles south of London in Southampton, another example of the wide open feel of the Olympics of that time.

The Water Motorsports events were scheduled for August 28 and 29, 1908in Southampton.    

       Plans for the event were apparently optimistic, as three different classes of boats were scheduled to compete for medals: an open class, an under 60 feet class, and a 6.5-8 meter class which essentially broke the competition down into a “large, medium, small” event.  Despite the seemingly optimistic staging of the event with three different medal competitions, the boat attendance had to damper that optimism.  Only six boats showed up to compete in the events, five of which were British boats and one of which was a French craft.  Only two boats entered the three events, and the events were, shall we say, less than competitive.

                The first event to be held was the Open Class (officially Class A).  Two boats, the Dylan and the Woleseley-Siddely, answered the starting gun.  The race was scheduled for eight laps around the five mile course, but before one lap was completed the Dylan withdrew.  The Wolseley-Siddeley completed one lap, but then returned to the dock after it was determined that the weather was too severe to continue.

The Wolseley-Siddeley making its way through the rough Southampton course

                Despite the first race being called due to inclement weather, later on that day the Under Sixty Foot class (officially Class B) event was held later that day.  Once again only two boats entered, the Quicksilver and the Gyrinus.  Just to clarify, the Quicksilver that competed in this class was an offshore style boat that would cut through the water, and was not the same Quicksilver boat that would compete in the Unlimited Class many years later.  The Gyrinus boat was a pioneer, and early attempt at having a boat plane over the water.  The Quicksilver boat was noteworthy at the time for having a female member on the crew who rode along.  Wife of Quicksilver driver J.M. Gorham, identified only as Mrs. Gorham, was described by a contemporary account as “worthy of special remark as an example of female endurance” for being able to endure a ride on the rough Southampton waters that day.  Both boats ended the first lap pretty much even, but on the second lap the Quicksilver began to take on water and was forced to retire.  The Gyrinus also took on water, but crew members Bernard Boverton Redwood and John Field-Richards were able to dump water off the boat quicker than it was coming on allowing Isaac Thomas Thornycroft to win the first Gold Medal ever awarded for Water Motorsports.  Later in the day a third race, a handicap race between larger and smaller boats, was ran but was not an official part of the Olympic program.

                The next day’s activities began with a Class C (6.5-8 meters) race.  The competitors this time was a small craft known as the Sea Dog, and once again the Gyrinus boat.  For the first few laps it appeared to once again be a very competitive race, with both boats exchanging the lead and officially scored as less than a second between them.  The Sea, Dog, however, had a faulty valve and wound up breaking down on the course.  Thus Thornycroft once again was able to drive to a Gold Medal with no running competition.

Gyrinus II, one of the first examples of a boat that attempted to plane over the water

                After another exhibition handicap race and a sailing race, and other races featuring yacht dinghies and another handicap powerboat competition, the rerun of the Class A “open” class took place.  Once again, the race was seen as a letdown.  The London Times account of the event noted “It will be noted that nothing has been said of the Olympic Race for motorboats of any length or power.  But really, there is very little to be said.”  Once again only two boats entered the event.  The Wolseley-Siddeley returned from before, and the lone French entry the Camille, driven by Emile Thubron.  During the course of the race, the Wolseley-Siddeley ran and was unable to continue, govomg the race to Thubron and the Camille.  The inaugural Olympic powerboat competition was done: three events, six entries, only three finishers.  Before the following Olympics in Stockholm, the International Olympic Committee passed a rule that said no events on the program will include motorized vehicles (a rule that still stands to this day) which ended powerboat racing as an Olympic Sport.  However, considering the nature of the Olympic Water Motorsports racing I’m guessing the news was met with little disappointment.

                What’s just as noteworthy about the Olympic Powerboat competition is how little attention it got, certainly not what one would expect of an Olympic Sport.  Few contemporary accounts exist of the event.  No major competitors were drawn to the competition, as none of the six boats that competed ever won the Harmsworth Trophy, and as far as I know none of them had even entered the competition.  Even during the actual events, the other races held seemed to attain more attention from the spectators and from the newspaper writers covering the event.   So the 1908 Olympic Water Motorsports event exists as a historical anomaly that gets little attention and even in the most complete Olympic accounts.  So while it got little attention, the races were far from a crowdpleaser, and they’re more exemplary of the wide open days of the early Olympics, it should be noted that, yes, the Olympics once really did have powerboat racing on the official program.

                

Seattle Preview: Will Home Waters be defended?

The H1 Unlimited Tour turns its attention to Seattle this weekend.  The race is almost always one of the biggest and most attended races of the year, and it serves as a homecoming for the majority of Unlimited Hydroplanes teams in the sport's post-World War II era.  Since the Slo-Mo-Shun III won the Gold Cup on home waters in 1951, nearly every Unlimited race in Seattle has been won by a "hometown" boat.  This, of course, has changed in recent years. For the last two Seattle races, and three of the last five, the Oh Boy! Oberto-Miss Madison has been able to win the race going away and capture a road win for its fans in Southern Indiana (although to be fair the team has a Seattle sponsor and the boat itself was largely built in Seattle).  This of course does not mean the race will be a cakewalk and a very fast fleet of thirteen boats, eleven of which are based in Washington, are looking to capture one of the sport's most coveted prizes.

The U-1 Spirit of Qatar 96 comes into Seattle with a points lead that was much more narrow than it was the previous week and a sudden sense a vulnerability.  It's hard to imagine that just last week there was talk of the Qatar boat sweeping the season series, but after a blown engine, a blown gearbox, and a disappointing third place finish in both its final preliminary heat and in the Final Heat the seemingly unbeatable team suddenly looks very beatable.  Of course this is a very prideful hardworking team and in previous years when the Qatar team has looked beatable they have responded with a dominating performance in the next race (see: 2008 and 2009 Seattle and 2010 and 2011 San Diego).  Fans should expect nothing less than for this team to come all out for a win this weekend, especially considering that the team has lost the Final in Seattle two years in a row in head to head fashion.

Despite what has largely been an uneven season up to this point, the U-6 Oh Boy! Oberto-Miss Madison finds itself a scant 190 points behind the leader thanks to consistent performances and numerous heat wins.   In fact, the team finds itself in a place where they would be in the lead in the High Points if it weren't for a couple of untimely penalties in Detroit and Tri-Cities.  The season's midpoint no doubt presents a turning point for the Oberto-Madison team.  If they can put the mistakes behind them and perform well on a course it has been the class of the field the last few years, then the team could be en route to a fourth High Point title.  Otherwise it might just have to be written off as "just one of those years."

Coming off a win, the U-5 Graham Trucking has to be feeling good about its chances coming into Seattle.  Jimmy Shane continues to get more comfortable behind the wheel of his very fast ride, and the results are showing with multiple heat wins in both Detroit and Tri-Cities.  Of course, Seattle is a very different course from Detroit and Tri-Cities and the team struggled in the one other short track race this year in Madison.  If the team can turn in another strong performance this weekend, getting back into the High Point race is not out of the question.

The U-37 Miss Beacon Plumbing comes into Seattle showing marked signs of improvement on a weekend that saw the team come out on the short end of the closest finish in a Final Heat in Unlimited Hydroplane history.  In theory, the team should do even better in Seattle with the boat's ability to hold tight in the corners but lack of top end speed.  The boat finished fourth in its Seattle debut last season, and as the team continues to dial in their still new hull an improvement should be expected.

The U-88 Degree Men had a nice rebound weekend in Tri-Cities after their blowover in Detroit.  Scott Liddycoat returns to Seattle where he drove his former ride to an impressive second place that saw him cross Steve David's wake and throw a hip check on Villwock in order to preserve that second place.  Much like the rest of this year's schedule, Seattle is much of an unknown for the team after their long hiatus, but no doubt Liddycoat and the team will be looking to come out for a podium finish and perhaps even a win in the Final.

Arguably the most consistent performer thus far, the U-9 Sun Tan Presents Sound Propeller Systems has found its way to the Final Heat in both Detroit and Tri-Cities.  The Jones Racing entry has been a regular in Seattle even in years when it ran a reduced schedule and has turned in some solid performances despite never winning in Seattle.  While a win in Seattle might be out of the question this weekend, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Jon Zimmerman drive the U-9 to the front row of the Final once again.

The U-17 Miss Red Dot had quite the adventurous day in Tri-Cities that saw Kip Brown break a leg bone in qualifying and force Nate Brown to fill in as driver once again.  Nate will be driving in Seattle, once again acting as de facto owner, driver, and crew chief of the U-17.  The team got a little media attention this week with news that the boat might be up for sale.  While the boat might be changing hands in the future, the focus on this weekend will be getting the U-17 into the Final of its hometown race for the first time.

Unlimited Racing Group has picked up local sponsorship for the weekend wand will be racing as U-11 Acura of Bellevue presents Miss Peters & May in Seattle.  The team had a bit of an uneven day  in Tri-Cities when they finished third, fifth, and sixth in the preliminary heats.  Also, the team would certainly like to do better than their 2011 performance in Seattle where the team failed to finish a heat and actually lost points thanks to penalties.  Obviously, J.W. Myers and the team would like a rebound in Seattle, and this team will come out shooting for a spot in the Final Heat

The U-100 Fox Hill Plumbing had another solid day in Tri-Cities  where the team qualified for the Final but didn't start, although it will probably best remembered for the very hot start the boat had in the third section of heats.  If you haven't seen the video already, go on to the H1 Unlimited site and see the video that looks like something out of a Michael Bay movie.  This has been an emotional season for the Leland Unlimited team, and this race will no doubt be full of emotions, as Fred Leland's entry was a longtime fan favorite in Seattle and was also the site of the team's first win in 1994.  No doubt Greg Hopp will be looking to get into the Final,but this weekend will probably be fondly remembered by the team regardless of the result.

The Evans Brothers racing has secured a number of local sponsors for Seattle and will race as the U-57 Miss DiJulio although attention will always be on Mark Evans thanks to his personality, on the course the team has largely been an also ran and has yet to make it to a Final.  Of course, Evans has turned in some solid performances in Seattle before highlighted by the famous "flip and win" of 1997.  While another victory might be out of the question this weekend, Mark Evans having the U-57 on the front row of the Final isn't.

The U-21 Go Fast Turn Left entry rolls into Seattle after a solid debut at Tri-Cities.  With Seattle being the probable season finale and the team planning on building a new boat for 2013, it could be possible to see the team go all out this weekend.  Brian Perkins has shown a knack for putting a boat in the right place in the right time during his Unlimited career, so with some luck the team could be in the Final and perhaps even finish on the podium.

The second Leland entry, the U-99 Fox Hill Plumbing Too is looking to build off its performance in Tri-Cities.  Driver Ryan Mallow, still relatively new to the Unlimiteds, will be looking for more experience as he continues to get his feet wet in the Unlimited Class.  The team will once again use the "dustbuster" hydro, so in Fred's hometown the team will be paying a sort of silent tribute to Fred Leland's innovative nature and desire to try out new ideas.

Rounding out the field is the U-18 Bucket List Racing.  Kelly Stocklin came into Tri-Cities with very few expectations, but turned heads with a qualifying speed of over 130 mph.  Despite nearly getting lapped in its one heat of competition, it was no doubt a solid performance for this team using the still largely untested T-53 in hydroplane competition.  For Seattle, the team will probably look to build off its performance and get some more testing laps in.