Les and Jon Staudacher Question

By Fred Farley - Unlimited Hydroplane Historian

QUESTION:

Two of the best known builders of Unlimited hydroplane hulls are Les Staudacher and his son Jon Staudacher of Kawkawlin, Michigan. How would you assess their careers? - K.M. Brien

ANSWER:

Les Staudacher was originally a builder of church pews. Les got his start in Unlimited hydroplane racing through his association with designer John Hacker. Staudacher built the Hacker-designed MY SWEETIE, a step hydro, which won the 1949 APBA Gold Cup with Bill Cantrell driving.

In the 1950s, Les started designing three-point Unlimiteds of his own. His first winner was Jack Schafer's SUCH CRUST V, which won the 1953 Imperial Gold Cup with Cantrell driving.

The middle 1950s were the Staudacher golden years. Winners of his own design and construction included the SUCH CRUST III of 1953, the GALE IV and GALE V of 1954, and the TEMPO VII of 1955.

Staudacher is probably best remembered for his partnership with designer Ted Jones, starting in 1955. Indeed, it is with the Jones hulls wherein lies most of Staudacher's fame. These include the original MISS THRIFTWAY, REBEL SUH (the future first MAVERICK), the first GALE VI, HAWAII KAI III, SHANTY I, MISS WAHOO, MISS SPOKANE, and THRIFTWAY TOO.

After a falling-out with Jones in August of 1956, Staudacher went his own way and concentrated mainly on boats of his own design. A notable exception was the 1957 MISS U.S. I, which broke the 200 mile an hour barrier in 1962. This was a line-for-line hull duplicate of the Dan Arena-designed MISS U.S. I of 1953.

In all honesty, for the balance of his career, Staudacher did not achieve anywhere near the level of success in comparison to the Jones years. He still turned out an occasional winner (i.e., the 1960 NITROGEN TOO/MISS MADISON, the 1962 $ BILL/MISS EAGLE ELECTRIC, the 1962 NOTRE DAME/MISS BUDWEISER, and the 1964 TAHOE MISS, which were all excellent boats). But it was pretty much hit and miss.

The late-'50s and '60s were lean years for Les Staudacher. Left to his own devices, he turned out one wild-rider after another (i.e. the 1958 MISS PAY 'n SAVE/MISS SEATTLE TOO, the 1959 MISS BUFFALO, the 1964 MARINER TOO, the 1964 MISS U.S. 5, the 1964 NOTRE DAME, the 1965 BLUE CHIP/MISS DIXI COLA, the 1966 MISS BUDWEISER, the 1967 "bob-tailed" MISS U.S.,and the 1967 NOTRE DAME among others).

A couple of highly touted experimental boats, the tri-maran PRIDE OF PAY 'n PAK of 1969 and the turbine-powered MISS LAPEER of 1973, were written off as failures, together with his GALE jet boat of 1958. That was pretty much the end of Les Staudacher in boat racing. His final Unlimited Class effort was the 1976 MISS VERNORS, which showed good chute speed but had a hooking problem in the turns. It was in this craft, renamed SQUIRE, that Jerry Bangs suffered fatal injuries when he was thrown out of the boat at the 1977 Seattle race.

Les Staudacher's son, Jon Staudacher, enjoyed considerable success designing and building Limited hydroplanes. (His 1982 Grand Prix Class MISS DANASH was a stand-out with Jim Kropfeld driving.) Unfortunately, Jon did not come near to matching his father's accomplishments at the Unlimited level.

Jon's first U-boat was the 1968 NOTRE DAME, which failed as a competitor and spun out no fewer than eight times during the '68 season. Many persons blamed driver Jack Regas for the problem. But this argument was rendered moot when the second Jon Staudacher Unlimited--the 1975 ATLAS VAN LINES--did the same thing. (Bill Muncey spun that sorry craft all over the country.)

At least one major Unlimited owner, Jerry Schoenith, had undying faith in Jon Staudacher's abilities. Jon built the 1983 MISS RENAULT for Jerry as well as several more for Schoenith's short-lived Automotive Thunderboat Association (ATA) circuit in the late 1980s.

MISS RENAULT, powered by a turbocharged Allison, was simply not in the same league as the Rolls-Royce-powered superboats designed by Ron Jones, Sr., and Jim Lucero. With Milner Irvin driving, MISS RENAULT did manage to win the 1983 UIM World Championship Race at Houston, Texas, on a day when most of the Rolls-powered boats had mechanical difficulties.

The complaint heard most often against Jon Staudacher Unlimiteds is that they were traditionally wild-riders. An exception to this summary was the smooth-riding--albeit under-powered--U-22 of 1984 that Jon built for owner Jim Sedam and driver Todd Yarling.

None of Jon's Unlimiteds ever dominated in the way that his father's GALE IV, GALE V, TEMPO VII, and TAHOE MISS did in the 1950s and '60s.