Putting the “Unlimited” into Hydroplanes

by 

Kirsten N. Johnson 

Gar Wood's great niece…

AS WE TAKE TIME THIS THANKSGIVING TO REMEMBER WHAT WE ARE THANKFUL FOR, ALL OF US AT THE HYDROPLANE & RACEBOAT MUSEUM WOULD LIKE TO SAY THAT WE ARE THANKFUL FOR OUR WONDERFUL DONORS, MEMBERS AND VOLUNTEERS.…

HYDROPLANE & RACEBOAT MUSEUM

HOLIDAY HOURS AND CLOSURES…

We will be running four boats at Tri Cities this weekend  July 26, 27 and 28. The Museum will be closed until 

we return on Tuesday July 30th. We apologize for any…

THE HYDROPLANE & RACEBOAT MUSEUM

WILL BE CLOSED THURSDAY, JULY 4TH

IN…

The Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum worked with a Hollywood production company to film a commercial for T-Mobile using Ken Muscatel's beautifully restored 1973 Pay 'N Pak hydroplane.

The boat along with four museum volunteers traveled to Los Angeles on March 5th and 6th. The theme of the Commercial is that "Speed shouldn't be contained" so they put the Pak into…

Its Thanksgiving at the Museum. Great Food, wonderful friends, fantastic volunteers. . .

and a few amazing boats too!

                                               …

Fred Farley Remembered.

Unlimited Hydroplane Historian Fred Farley passed away at 3am on April 15 at the Thornton Terrace Health Campus in Hanover, Indiana where he was recovering from open heart surgery that he had had on March 17^th at Kentuckiana Medical Center in Clarksville, Indiana. He…

Mira J Slovak, passed away Monday, June 16^th at 7:47am peacefully at his home in Fallbrook, CA.

Mira was born in Cifer, Czechoslovakia on October 25^th 1929. When Mira was only 9 years old, the Nazis overran Czechoslovakia and Mira and his family had to live with the horrors of the Nazi occupation followed by the equally bloody Russian…

Learn the secrets of Layout and Patternmaking from professional patternmaker and veteran vintage racer Rob Wheeler!

Here is a unique opportunity to learn an important skill from a professional and give the Museum a hand at the same time! The Museum is…

The Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum has a lot in common with the R/C Scale Hydro Community. Both communities are passionate about the sport of unlimited racing. Both groups have a keen interest in the history of the sport, and both groups owe a huge debt to Roger Newton for playing such a big role in getting us started. That is why the Hydroplane Museum is proud to announce our…

Uncle Al, remembered by long time friend and crew member Dave Woelfert.

On May 19, 2012, unlimited hydroplane racing lost one of its most ardent supporters when Eldon “Uncle Al” Thoreson passed away.

Al started as a crew member and builder of Bob…

There is something for everyone at the Hydroplane Museum! 

The next few weeks are very busy with a wide range of activities

7:00PM the evening of Saturday Jan 19th we will bring back our popular “Movie Night” and en…

It is one of the quirks of the Hydro Business that there are long cold months during the winter when little or no activity is taking place, and then for a few days at the end of July and start of August we are so incredibly busy that there is hardly time to blink. (I often tell my friends that I know what it must be like for Santa Claus to go the whole year with seeing a soul,…

Over 80 hydro fans showed up at the Hydroplane Museum last night to watch H1 Unlimited’s live stream of the Oryx Cup UIM World Championship. The crowd enjoyed a festive party atmosphere and some great racing. As has become our tradition, a fantastic homemade breakfast of eggs, bacon, French toast and sausage patties was prepared by Ken and Denise Strong with help from Mike Opel…

As I’m sure you know the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum is a member supported not for profit corporation.  We operate a real brick and mortar museum that houses a dozen or so of the fastest, most historic vintage unlimited hydroplanes in the world.  Restoring and running the boats is very expensive.  For the past two decades we have been supported by almost seven hundred dues paying members who contribute financially to the museum via their yearly dues…

There has been a lot of traffic on the blogs this week about the Notre Dame and Harrah's Club crash in heat 1A of the 1967 Gold Cup. Here are a few photos from our archives that may clear up a few questions. (All photos are from the collection of the Hydroplan Museum  Many were taken by Rich Ormbreck)

1. The Notre Dame bouning the first of three times.

 …

Gar Wood and Dean Chenoweth were inducted into the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum’s Hall of Champions on Saturday night the 14th of May.

The Hall of Champions is the museum’s highest honor and is only…