August 2011 News Posts (11)

In 1998 We purchased the "Bad Cad", a 1960 custom Cadillac which followed the Winston Eagle Hydroplane racing team. It was purchased in Seattle and shipped to Florida.   I am trying to find more information on the Bad Cad, so if anyone has any information or ideas as to where I may find any information on the  car, please let me know.  I am attaching a photo collage. Thanks, Joilynn …

About four weeks ago I was able (with a few friends) to locate the first of a series of inboard hydroplanes built in Sweden. It was built in 1963/64 and based on a design by Ron Jones Sr. It was powered by a Volvo 4-cylinder engine souped up to about 135 hp. It was raced in the 1800cc class and was able to reach speeds around 70 knots. This boat was found in a barn where it has been sitting since 1967. Rear cowling, engine cowling and the engine is missing but otherwise it is in not too bad…

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    The weekend seemed to be a resounding success.  I have heard from many how much they enjoyed the hydroplanes back in Coeur d’Alene.  Thanks for all of your help.

Best regards,…

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     As a fan and participant of "Live Theatre" for many years, I have experienced several moments where a particular performance is just "magical". The kind of show where everyone nails their lines, hit all their marks. The lighting and the set just looks right together. After a few scenes you realize that the audience is just eating it up. The audience can't quite explain it, but they know that whatever they're seeing is cool beyond belief.

     That's what happened in Coeur d'Alene…

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Found some footage from 1964 on an episode of "Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea" on HULU.com. The episode is titled "Time Bomb" and the racing scenes start around the 30 min. mark. Some of the hydros are Miss Exide, Mariner Too, The 4-seat Tempo, 1964 Miss Budweiser, Savair's Mist and the Miss Madison. The episode is stupid but the racing footage is pretty good. Take a look.

Hats off to everyone connected with the vintage hydroplanes; drivers, crews and all museum volunteers who brought the thunder back to Seafair!      We heard many positive comments from fans in the pits and on the shore and endless stories of the "glory days" of boat racing in Seattle.   Thanks to Dave Williams for coordinating the vintage event.   You deserve a couple days of sleep!   Let's not take this for granted.  Who else can we thank to insure the museum fleet is a continued part of a the… Continue

     For those of you that have ever given a dollar, a days worth of work or anything else to the Museum out of the kindness of your heart.....you should be VERY proud of the show those men and women put on over the last 10 days. The 5 boats that participated in the Tri Cities, were sparkling,,,,,,I mean they glistened in the sun. Those that piloted the boats put on a GREAT show for the fans. They created a few cool formations and the photo ops were spectacular. The best part was being able…

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Stan Sayres' famous "Slo-Mos" have made Seattle the nation's motorboat capital.

Reprinted from Sports Illustrated, August 23, 1954

To the close-knit speedboat fraternity of Detroit, the stumpy, graying figure of one Stanley St. Clair Sayres is like something out of a recurrent bad dream. Four years ago Mr. Sayres, an obscure automobile salesman from Seattle, Wash., came to Detroit with a strange contraption which, on the record, would go faster on…

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This newly-revised Museum web site kicked off on October 19h 2010. We are now up to 423 "members", from all over the U.S. and even International. It is an amazing "blog", with lots of photos, videos, and hydro racing history. It also provides  the ability to follow all of the Museum restoration progress. But it is important to point out that the 423 are members of the "blog" and not literally members of the Museum itself. Museum membership indicates financial support, which helps us pay the…

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Vintage hydroplane racing returns this summer - experience the roar and thunder the way it used to be! Boats like the Miss Bardhal, Miss Wahoo, Oh Boy! Oberto, and Miss Thriftway will be making a come back this summer thanks in part to the Hydroplane & Raceboat Museum in Kent, WA. The vintage boats will also be on display in Stan Sayres Pits and a meet and greet autograph session with past drivers will take place on Saturday and Sunday.

2011 Hydroplane…

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As a professional film camera man for motorsports during the sixties and seventies I was privileged to be close to the action. In 1967 I was in San Diego filming the Chrysler Crew as it was firing up. The ringing scream of those two Keith Black Marine engines was ear splitting. As it pulled away the noise was positively shattering! I haven't seen any other comments on the sound of this machine but from dragsters to Indianapolis or Nascar, Nothing came close.