All News Posts (264)

By Fred Farley - H1 Unlimited Historian

In a few days and for the second year in a row, the H1 Unlimited hydroplanes will be be competing in the Oryx Cup/UIM World Championship Race in Doha, Qatar.

Sanctioned by the Union of International Motorboating, the 2009 Qatar race marked the first time in their history that the Unlimiteds had ventured beyond the environs of the United States, Canada, or Mexico. Driver J. Michael Kelly and his GRAHAM TRUCKING entry emerged victorious in…

Made it to Houston, and am waiting to get on the flight to Doha. We board in about an hour. Word is there's free internet in the pit area, so GAME ON as far as blogging, time permitting. There's not much down time when you go racing with Nate.

Hopefully there will be a few less caterwauling infants on the international segment of this journey. I swear that there is an IBWC (International Babies with Colic) Convention going on Houston. They were all on the flight…

Should be a interesting week coming up as we mount the sponson assemblies on both sides of the boat. The airtraps are all prepped so it should be a fairly easy job. We should be able to lift the frames with a strap wrapped around them hooked up to the gantry. So how about Weds for the right side and Thursday for the left. We’ll start mixing Hysol around 1pm both days.

I want to thank everyone for all the great work this past week getting the left airtrap mounted. And thanks to the…

A tense rivalry between Detroit and Seattle and a challenge for the Harmsworth Trophy have meant a busy year for the man who makes the Hell-Bent hydroplanes.

By Jim Atwater

Reprinted from Sports Illustrated, April 23, 1956

In past summers, the calm of the thumb of water called Saginaw Bay that juts down into the mainland of Michigan has been shattered by the guttural roar of sleek, skittish hydroplanes. At the wheel of these bellowing…

After spending more than a year on loan to the Foss Waterway Museum in Tacoma, the 1958 Miss Bardahl returned to the Hydroplane Museum Wednesday Nov 10th. The boat needs some minor work to get ready for her 2011 return to Lake Coeur d' Alene and the Diamond Cup this coming July. Work is being led by vetran crew chief Glenn Raymond and will begin on Thursday November 11th at…

An ill-starred love affair

By David Tremayne

The date was set for Tuesday, October 23 1979, on Lake Washington. Like Bill Muncey, who had been a lot less than enthusiastic back in 1960 when Miss Thriftway owner Willard Rhodes wanted a shot at the propeller-driven water speed record, Dean Chenoweth didn't really want to have a go. But, like Muncey, he was a pro who was…

She's not a winner yet, but the new 'Smirnoff' did well enough in Alabama to indicate that unlimited hydroplanes can be both fast and nonlethal.

By Hugh Whall

Reprinted from Sports Illustrated, June 10, 1968

"Deadly" is a word that over the last three years has more and more frequently been used to describe the sport of hydroplane racing, and journalistic sensationalism has nothing to do with it. Over that period of time a rash of…

It is offical! The left airtrap is now on! Don, Phil and Gail attached the new left airtrap to Bill Mimcey's Blue Blaster at 2:00PM Nov 10th! Things are really taking shape now.

A work schedule update this week.....I’m not leaving town after all so we should be able to have a…

Yep...that seems to be the universal reaction when I tell people that in just over a week from today I will be going to Doha with the U-17 crew to compete in the Oryx Cup. The first response is "will you be safe there?" (am I safe ANYWHERE???), followed by "where is that place?" (turn left at the opening of the Persian Gulf) and then always the big one, "Who's paying for it?" (a very rich Sheik who really, really, really likes boat racing!).



Thanks to the HARM's terrific new web…

By Fred Farley - H1 Unlimited Historian

The first major race to be run on the Detroit River was the 1916 APBA Gold Cup. This was by virtue of the community-owned Miss Detroit winning the Cup in 1915 on Manhasset Bay in Upstate New York and earning the right to defend it on home waters.

Miss Detroit was a single-step hydroplane, equipped with a 250-horsepower Sterling engine. The designer was the distinguished Christopher Columbus Smith of Chriscraft fame. As things developed,…

In a racing boat Mira Slovak is as brash as he was when he fled the Reds in a stolen plane.

By Emmett Watson

Reprinted from Sports Illustrated, August 8, 1960

In the seven years since he stole a Czechoslovak airliner loaded with furiously reluctant passengers and treetopped his way to freedom, 30-year-old Miroslav Slovak has pursued such a variety of careers and diversions that he has sometimes seemed headed several ways at once. This week…

November 2, 2010

Another big week coming up. Tomorrow we have lots of inserts to glue into the left airtrap. We need to lay the sponson frames on top in the morning to drill and mark all the holes. We have all the replacement frames made and they can be ground and have their extrusions attached. Today, Gail started routing out the top of the right airtrap so we might also be able to glue the wood into the top tomorrow or at least Thursday. Then we can mount the…

Bill Boeing's Miss Wahoo appeared in two races in 1956. She took fifth at the Seattle Seafair Trophy Race. Later in the year, she competed in the Sahara Cup in Las Vegas, where she took sixth out of eleven hulls. The Miss Wahoo was a beautiful mahogany-decked craft with deep red trim and white lettering. She had Allison power and was driven by Mira Slovak, who up to then had never even seen a race boat, much less driven one! But Slovak was a talented pilot who had fled the Iron Curtain in a…

As Don Mock and the rest of the 1977 Atlas Crew move ahead with their great restoration, I can’t help but think back to that cold grey day 33 years ago when the Blue Blaster Atlas Van Lines hit the water for the very first time.

It was Tuesday March 15th. I took the day off work to make sure I was at the lake when Jim Lucero’s newest creation was unveiled. The rumor mill said the boat would launch at noon. I got to Sayres Pits about 9:00 just to be safe.…

OCT 28, 2010

My, what a day.... Rightly so, I suppose, given that after 10 months of

work we finally installed the largest piece in the restoration of the Blue

Blaster. Not only the largest (29' plus or minus 4") but perhaps the most

critical component of the entire project. The on-again, off-again right side

air trap. And it was very stressful and occasionally frustrating. I had to

take most of the pics on the run since Don had us all…

The first MISS THRIFTWAY was designed by Ted Jones and built by Les Staudacher in 1954. Sponsored by the Associated Grocers chain of Stores and represented by Willard Rhodes, the 1955 hull not only represented the first step of involvement by AG for the next eight years, but it was also the starting point of Bill Muncey’s winning career. As of this writing, Bill is still on the top as the winningest driver in the sport of Unlimited Hydroplane racing with 62…

Did you know that you can rent the Hydroplane Museum for your own private party? We have hosted all sorts of events including high school reunions, birthday parties, anniversary partied company holiday parties and weddings! Contact David or Denise at (206) 764-9453 from prices and available dates. Our Holiday Calendar is filling up. Book now so you don’t miss out!…