All News Posts (263)

The Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum is proud to display a beautiful replica of Gar Wood’s 1918 and 1919 Gold Cup winner Miss Detroit III. The boat arrived at Museum on Thursday evening, the 21st of October. This incredibly accurate and detailed replica was built in 2005, and it was part of the Warner Collection. Ken Muscatel bought the boat at an auction on Saturday the 16th of October.

The original Miss Detroit III was designed by Chris Smith…

By Fred Farley - H1 Unlimited Historian

Joe and Lee Schoenith raced Unlimited hydroplanes from 1950 to 1975. Most of their boats were named GALE, sponsored by W.D. Gale, Inc., a Detroit-based electrical contracting firm, which the Schoeniths owned.

Their most famous boat was the first GALE V, designed by Les Staudacher, which was National High Point Champion in 1954 and 1955 and won the APBA Gold Cup in 1955 on Seattle's Lake Washington with Lee…

By Vanessa McGrady

Reprinted from Sunset Magazine

David Williams, the executive director of the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum in Kent, Washington, remembers watching his very first race at 5 years old.

"I just was amazed by the sound and color and excitement and huge rooster tails that the boats threw," he says. He filled his childhood by making model boats during the day and dreaming about them at night. At 20, Williams raced a…