Hydroplane Museum's News – November 2010 Archive (9)

By Fred Farley - H1 Unlimited Historian

The Rolls-Royce Griffon-powered MISS BUDWEISER of 1980 is one of the sport's legendary champions. Nicknamed the "Juggernaut," the Griffon BUD won 22 races and defined the state of the art in Unlimited racing between 1980 and 1984.

There were actually three Griffon MISS BUDWEISERs. The first appeared in 1979 and the last in 1985. But it is the "Juggernaut" that inspires awe.…

A historical look at skid fins and how they help hydroplanes turn left.

By Doug Ford

Reprinted from h1unlimited.com.

Everyone that has watched modern Unlimited Hydroplanes race has seen the so called "second roostertail" of spray that comes off the skid fins in a corner. That spray is very indicative of the tremendous loads these fins carry when the big boats enter a turn. It…

By Fred Farley - H1 Unlimited Historian

Future Unlimited Class luminary Dan Arena made his first impression in the California Gold Cup Class of the 1930s with a series of boats named MISS GOLDEN GATE. Dan drove the first of these, a step hydroplane, to victory in the Pacific Motorboat Trophy at Newport Harbor in 1936 and 1937.

The three-point hull design of racing hydroplane caught on in a big way in the years just prior to World War II. Most of the early three-pointers were…

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…

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…

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…

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…