Thunder in Coeur D'Alene

By Fred Farley - Unlimited Hydroplane Historian

For ten years, the resort town of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, played host to “Water Racing’s Greatest Show”--the Unlimited hydroplanes--starting in 1958.

Located 40 miles east of Spokane, Washington, the Coeur d’Alene race always attracted a large crowd of spectators. And a lot of people from Seattle (320 miles away) could be counted upon to line the shores of Lake Coeur d’Alene for the annual Diamond Cup.

In the 1950s and early ‘60s, Unlimited racing was a distinctly regional sport. Unlike today, West Coast teams attended mainly western races, while East Coast teams patronized mainly eastern races. There were very few crossovers.

Never more than one or two eastern boats ever showed up for the first few Diamond Cups. But that changed in 1962 when a fleet of five Detroit Unlimiteds (GALE V, GALE VII, MISS U.S. I, SUCH CRUST IV, and NOTRE DAME) challenged the western fleet. Be that as it may, no hydroplane based east of the Mississippi River ever won at Coeur d’Alene.

MAVERICK, representing Las Vegas, won in 1958 and ’59; MISS SEATTLE TOO took the top honor in 1960; the Seattle-based MISS THRIFTWAY (also known as MISS CENTURY 21) was victorious in 1961, ’62, and ’63; MISS EXIDE, another Seattleite, triumphed in 1964 and ’65; TAHOE MISS from Reno prevailed in 1966; and Seattle’s MISS BARDAHL closed out the series with a victory in 1968.

In the last few years, the Coeur d’Alene race committee had difficulty recruiting enough volunteer help. Consequently, no Diamond Cup was run in 1967.

The 1966 and ‘68 races had a problem with high wind. Both times, the Final Heat wasn’t run until almost 8:00 at night--in almost total darkness! The referees and course judges were calling the boats by their silhouettes!

The first couple of Diamond Cups were broadcast live and direct in their entirety on KING-TV in Seattle. Sports Director Bill O’Mara brought his own unique brand of broadcast magic to bear on the subject. This was during KING’s heyday as the Northwest’s premier hydro station.

All of the boats that ever competed at Coeur d’Alene were piston-powered--usually V-12 Allison or Rolls-Royce Merlin engines. Turbine power was still in the realm of science fiction. And most of the hulls featured the traditional rear-cockpit/forward-engine configuration. In only one boat (THRIFTWAY TOO) did the driver steer from the front.

Nevada cattle rancher Bill Stead won the first two Coeur d’Alene races with a pair of boats named MAVERICK. Stead and MAVERICK (U-12) outran Brien Wygle and THRIFTWAY TOO, 101.752 miles per hour to 100.278 in the Final Heat in 1958. The following year, with MAVERICK (U-00), Stead tied Bill Muncey and MISS THRIFTWAY on points but won the race on the basis of being one and eight-tenths seconds faster in total elapsed time.

A rash of injuries and accidents marred the running of the 1959 Diamond Cup. MISS BARDAHL pilot Jack Regas was critically injured and was comatose for several weeks. The MISS BURIEN hydroplane was destroyed and driver Bill Brow had to be hospitalized. Also involved in injury accidents were Chuck Hickling of MISS PAY ‘n SAVE and Norm Evans of MISS SPOKANE.

Fortunately, all four injured drivers recovered. And all four eventually returned to competition. But it’s difficult to recall very many races where so much carnage occurred. This was in the days before F-16 safety canopies and cockpit restraining devices were available and mandatory in Unlimited racing.

Two drivers--Norm Evans and Dallas Sartz--traded off in the cockpit of MISS SEATTLE TOO (the former MISS PAY ‘n SAVE) to capture the 1960 Diamond Cup. Evans won the Saturday heat and then hopped a plane for a race in St. Clair, Michigan, where he was committed to drive Sam DuPont’s NITROGEN TOO. Sartz took over the wheel of MISS SEATTLE TOO on Sunday at Coeur d’Alene and went on to win the race.

Bill Muncey experienced all manner of misfortune at the first three Diamond Cups with MISS THRIFTWAY, including being rammed from behind by another boat in 1958. But everything came together in 1961 for Muncey and the “Nifty Thrifty” (temporarily renamed MISS CENTURY 21 to publicize the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair). Bill repeated in the winner’s circle in 1962 and ’63 to become the only three-time victor of the Coeur d’Alene race.

In the Final Heat of the 1963 Diamond Cup, MISS THRIFTWAY was holding off a dynamic challenge from Mira Slovak in the new MISS EXIDE, which was competing in only its second race. Suddenly, the EXIDE became airborne, dipped a sponson, and crashed. The boat disintegrated right on the start/finish line at the completion of lap-one. Slovak fortunately escaped serious injury, but MISS EXIDE was totaled.

Milo and Glen Stoen, the owners of MISS EXIDE, rebounded from their 1963 disaster in championship fashion. They won the next two Diamond Cups with a replacement hull (the former MISS WAHOO), piloted by Bill Brow.

The Final Heat of 1964 was a classic. MISS EXIDE was tied on points at the outset with Ron Musson and MISS BARDAHL. It all boiled down to the final 15-mile moment of truth. Brow outran Musson over the finish line by a scant two seconds, 108.783 miles per hour to 108.346. It doesn’t get much closer!

The late 1960s were troublesome years for Unlimited racing. Fatal accidents in Detroit, Michigan, Washington, D.C., and Tampa, Florida, shook the sport to its foundation. But the Coeur d’Alene race emerged unscathed.

Slovak won all three heats of the 1966 Diamond Cup with Bill Harrah’s TAHOE MISS. And Billy Schumacher captured the 1968 title with MISS BARDAHL in a “grudge race” with Tommy “Tucker” Fults, driver of MY GYPSY.

Schumacher accused Fults of cutting him off in a preliminary heat, which the MY GYPSY won. But the officials didn’t see it that way and no foul was called.

A race was scheduled for 1969 on Lake Coeur d’Alene. But it ended up being canceled on account of the continued problem of a lack of volunteers.

In the years since, there have probably been half a dozen attempts to revive the Coeur d’Alene race. But it never got off the ground.

The local residents, in recent years, have protested the return of the Unlimiteds on account of civil disturbances in the distant past.

There were several years when things admittedly got out of hand on Saturday night. But these disturbances took place in years when the Diamond Cup was a two-day race.

Starting in 1965, it was a one-day race. And there were no disturbances of any kind. The 1966 and ‘68 races were likewise trouble-free. But no one seems to remember this.

It is regrettable that people keep blaming the race for something that wasn’t a problem after 1964.