Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum
We're racing through history!
In a wild windup, Chip Hanauer won the hydro title.
By Shelley Smith
Reprinted from
Sports Illustrated, October 1, 1990
Chip Hanauer was rounding the first turn in the third heat of the Budweiser Las Vegas Silver Cup on wind-chopped Lake Mead at 120-plus mph when he felt his 6,000-pound, jet turbine-powered Miss Circus Circus boat flip sideways and into the air. A four-time national hydroplane driving champion, the 36-year-old Hanauer…
ContinueAdded by Hydroplane Museum on May 7, 2012 at 9:00pm — 1 Comment
By Bill Curry
Reprinted from the 1979 Spirit of Detroit program
When today's Spirit of Detroit Regatta is history the unlimited hydroplane sitting in the winner's circle may well be a product of Norm Berg's Tacoma, Washington boat shop. You see, the 37-year-old Berg is the builder of Bill Muncey's 1978 national champion Atlas Van Lines, winner of the last two Detroit River go-arounds. Norm Berg is also the builder of two other top-flight contenders - Circus…
ContinueAdded by Hydroplane Museum on April 14, 2012 at 8:00pm — No Comments
Bob Steil, former owner of the Squire Shop hydroplanes, has just acquiring the 1979 U-31 Miss Circus Circus from the Dave Bartush collection in Detroit. The hull is a duplicate of the 1979 U-2 Squire Shop, with both being designed by Dave Knowlen and built by Norm Berg. The U-2 demolished in a test run in late-season 1981. Bob Steil then bought the former Miss Circus Circus as a replacement. The "new" U-2 was itself badly damaged at the 1981 UIM World…
ContinueAdded by Hydroplane Museum on April 14, 2012 at 7:49pm — No Comments
By Fred Farley - H1 Unlimited Historian
A boat racer since age 16, Dave Villwock accepted his first Unlimited Class assignment in 1989 as crew chief for Bill Bennett's MISS CIRCUS CIRCUS. Chip Hanauer was its driver. In 1990, Chip and Dave emerged as National High Point Champions with six wins in eleven races.
Following years of success in the flat-bottom inboard category, Villwock was High Point Champion in the 6-Litre Hydroplane Class in 1988 with Jerry Yoder's SUNSET…
ContinueAdded by Hydroplane Museum on December 4, 2010 at 1:30pm — No Comments
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