The Best - and Last - of the Great Piston Era Hydroplanes

There have been a number of legendary boats in the history on Unlimited Hydroplanes -- boats whose innovative features established new performance records and whose innovations became the standard to which other boats were designed. These boats include the Ted Jones designed Slo-mo-shuns, the Thriftway/Century 21's, and the Bardahls -- dominate boats of the 50's and 60's. Except for the extraordinary Turbine boats designed by Jim Lucero for Pay 'n Pak, Atlas, and Miller American the rest of the century belonged to Ted's son Ron, who developed the pickle-fork Pay 'n Paks, the modern configuration Miss U.S., and the ultimate piston powered hydroplane -- the 1980-1985 Griffon-powered Miss Budweiser.

In 1979, Ron Jones designed a Rolls-Royce Griffon powered hydroplane to challenge the supremacy of the Jim Lucero designed Atlas Van Lines "Blue Blaster", a boat owned and driven by legendary Bill Muncey. The complexity of the new Budweiser resulted in a number of failures as the crew sorted the boat out. There were no first place finishes during the season, but there were a number of decisive heat wins. Great things were expected for the following year, but during a mile speed record attempt on Lake Washington the boat apparently struck something and lost both its rudder and propeller. Traveling at over 226 mph, driver Dean Chenoweth was pitched out of the cockpit as the Budweiser disintegrated. Fortunately, Chenoweth's injuries were relatively minor , but the boat was completely destroyed.

The Budweiser Team immediately began construction of a replacement boat for the 1980 season which was become the most successful piston Budweiser of all. (In 1987, T-3 turbine Budweiser surpassed the Griffon Bud's 24 win record, taking nine years to accomplish what the Griffon Bud had done in five. Thus the T-3 became the most successful Budweiser of all time, at least for now). Incorporating subtle design changes, the new Budweiser represented the ultimate development of the piston hydroplane, eclipsing the phenomenal performance of the Atlas/Muncey "Blue Blaster". Despite the limited time available to develop the boat, Crew Chief Dave Culley and the rest of the Budweiser crew delivered a wining combination right out of the box. Miss Budweiser and driver Dean Chenoweth won their first 20 heats of competition, shattering the old record of 15 consecutive heat wins set by rival Muncey in the Miss Century 21 18 years earlier. Included in the string of wins was the Gold Cup in Detroit. Wins included the season opener at Miami, followed by consecutive wins in Evansville, Detroit, the Gold Cup in Madison, and El Dorado, Kansas. After the five consecutive wins, her first defeat came in the final heat of the Tri-Cities Columbia Cup, where Bill Muncey pushed the Blue Blaster to a well deserved victory.

During qualification for the next race in Seattle, the Budweiser lost her rudder again. Pitching into the air and swapping ends, a sponson and the boat suffered extensive structural damage which ended her season. Chenoweth was hurt again, but would return to the cockpit of a backup Budweiser after a 6 week recuperation, competing in the season finale in San Diego. Muncey's Atlas won 4 of the final 5 races, but backup Bud accumulated enough points to preserve the high points lead for the team so they could claim the championship. While completing only a partial season, the new Griffon Budweiser had proven a worthy opponent for the fantastic Atlas Blue Blaster.

For the 1981 season, Miss Budweiser emerged as the class of the field. She won 6 of 8 races, finishing 2nd and 5th in the other two. She won another Gold Cup and National Championship. Miss Budweiser had finally eclipsed the performance of the Blue Blaster, winning 6 races to the Blaster's 1. Despite her domination, a hydroplane community was mourning the loss of Bill Muncey, the greatest hydroplane driver ever. Bill had been killed at the last race of the season, the World Championship regatta held in Acapulco, Mexico. Bill's boat blew over in the final heat, and he suffered fatal injuries. With Bill's death, the final heat of the race was cancelled and the Budweiser declared the winner on accumulated points.

1982 got off to a fast start for the Budweiser team with a victory in the season opener at Miami. The next race at Romulus, NY was a glimpse into the future, when the turbine powered Pay 'n Pak won its first race. The Atlas Van Lines Blue Blaster was back with Chip Hanauer driving and this combo won the Gold Cup in Detroit. Then the Squire Shop was victorious at Madison. Atlas was the first repeat victor with a win in Evansville. Budweiser had a narrow points lead going into the Tri-Cities race, but then tragedy struck. During qualification for the Tri-Cities Columbia Cup, the Budweiser's bow lifted off the water and blew over backwards. In a tragic repeat of the fatal blowover Bill Muncey had perished in six months earlier, Dean Chenoweth suffered grave injuries. Dean was rescued and rushed to the local trauma center, where he died from massive injuries. Compared to her gravely injured driver, the boat suffered relatively minor damage.

The stunned crew repaired the boat in week between the Columbia Cup and the Seattle Emerald Cup. Ron Armstrong was called upon to drive the Boat for one race, and ran a conservative pace made place second overall. Shortly thereafter, Bernie Little named Jim Kropfeld as the new permanent Budweiser driver. While Kropfeld would not win any races for the remainder of the '82 season (victory was 1,000 ft away in the final at Houston when his boat quit), he did win rookie of the year honors and finished second in national points to Atlas Van Lines and Chip Hanauer.

Throughout the 1983 season, Kropfeld and the Budweiser would battle Chip Hanauer in the Atlas Van Lines for the national championship. Despite a stellar season, winning four of nine races against three for rival Atlas, the Atlas team just edged out Budweiser, repeating as national champions. The Atlas team was able to finish slightly better in heat races, their consistency proving the margin needed to edge the Budweiser for the high points championship. This would be the last championship for the venerable Rolls-Royce Merlin Engine -- the Griffon Budweiser would win the next year, becoming the last piston engine to ever win a championship. After that, it turbines would dominate. Budweiser won at Miami, Romulus NY, Madison, and Seattle, while Atlas took the races in Detroit, the Gold Cup in Evansville, and the season finale in San Diego. A surprise winner at the season opener was the U-6 Miss Rich Plan, the other win going to the deserving American Speedy Printing team.

The 1984 season got off to a good start, with the Budweiser showing her winning form with a victory at the season opener in Miami. She missed the next race at Syracuse, but went on to have another dominate season like 1981, winning 6 of 10 races and solidly earning another national championship for the Budweiser team. This was the last time a piston boat would be high points champion. At the Gold Cup in the Tri-Cities, Hanauer driving the turbine Atlas dueled the Budweiser throughout the race, with the Budweiser proving piston boats were still the fastest, setting a new competition record of 133.5 mph for a 15 mile heat, while Hanauer's turbine boat managed 131.2 mph. The turbine Atlas proved more reliable, however, and her win would mark the end of the piston era. Within a year, piston boats would not be competitive. They would never again win a Gold Cup, they would never again win the national high points championship. Merlin engines had displaced Allisons, then the Griffon displaced the Merlin. Now the turbine engine displaced the most powerful WWII V-12 airplane engine.

For 1985, the Budweiser team introduced a new boat -- the "Bubble Bud" which featured a safety canopy developed by Crew Chief Jeff Neff.. The old war-horse Griffon Budweiser substituted for the Bubble Bud at three events this year -- Detroit, Madison, and Evansville. At the end of the season she was sold to the Frank Kenney Toyota/Volvo Team. The Miller American driven by Chip Hanauer became the first turbine boat to win the national championship.

For 1986, the former Griffon Budweiser campaigned as the U-5 Frank Kenney Toyota/Volvo team. Although entered for the season opener in Miami, she only competed in the west coast races, finishing 4th at the Tri-Cities and Seattle, 6th at San Diego, and as a DNF (did not finish) at Las Vegas. With Milner Irvin doing the driving, the Kenney team finished a respectable 10th in the points, considering their limited participation. Meanwhile, the Budweiser team campaigned two boats at the start of the season --the Griffon powered Bubble Bud as Budweiser II and the former Lite All Star turbine as Miss Budweiser.. The turbine boat proved so superior to the piston Bud that owner Little decided to quit campaigning the piston boat after the third race.

The Kenney team modified the Griffon engines to remove the crankshaft-driven superchargers and replaced them with exhaust-driven turbochargers. Because race conditions demand as much performance as possible, the Griffons were operated at higher RPM's than originally designed for. The demands of racing impose enormous stresses on engine components, and the Griffons experienced extreme harmonic vibrations which resulted in frequent mechanical failures. The supercharger and especially the supercharger drive shaft (known as a quill shaft) were particularly susceptible. While the Budweiser team had the cubic dollars to custom fabricate and replace critical components frequently, the Kenney team did not. In order to eliminate the need for frequent replacement of the rare and expensive supercharger parts, the crew converted the engines to turbochargers.

For 1987, as in 1986, the Kenney team again competed in only the west coast races. The team's best finish was a 5th at the Tri-Cities Columbia Cup. They finished 7th at both Seafair and San Diego, and 11th at Las Vegas. They again ended up 10th in the National Points with Irvin driving. By this time, the turbine boats were dominate, with the turbine Budweiser again winning the National Championship.

In 1988, Tim Donery and Dave Culley (the Budweiser crew chief who originally built the boat) purchased the Kenney team. They obtained limited sponsorship from Pietro's Pizza, but just for the Washington State Races. The boat was unable to compete in the Tri-Cities Columbia Cup, but did finish in 7th place at Seattle's Seafair with Jack Schafer, Jr. driving. The team finishing 13th overall in the National Points, while the Budweiser turbine captured the national championship again.

For 1989 old Griffon battlewagon was renamed the U-85 Miss Northwest. She was again driven by Jack Schafer, Jr. and competed in the west coast races, only being classified at the Gold Cup in San Diego (9th) for another 13th place National points finish. Budweiser repeated as national champions.

The U-85 was idle for the 1990 season, but did race in 1990. Due to a scheduling quirk (the unlimited racing calendar runs from November 1 to October 31), the November 1990 Honolulu race counted as the first race of the 1991 championship season. Jerry Hopp drove the U-85 Miss Northwest to a respectable 5th place overall finish, but the boat suffered serious damage to her starboard sponson, which ended her competitive career. She finished 11th overall in the 1991 National Championship.

In 10 years of active competition, the Griffon Budweiser had won 24 races, won three national championship titles and two Gold Cup victories, and earned a world championship, all while being campaigned by the Budweiser team. But another revolution was sweeping the sport -- the turbine revolution -- and even the ultimate piston boat could not withstand the challenge. When cranked up, the incredible growl of the Griffon reminds us how amazing these machines were -- incorporating the ultimate 1940's engine technology with the ultimate 1980's boat technology to produce most awesome piston hydroplane of all time.