All News Posts (264)

What is your favorite memory of Leonard Ellis?

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…

Australian legend & champion race boat driver, Joe Cooper was inducted into the Australian APBA hall of fame at a well attended reception held at the Moonee Valley racecourse in Melbourne Australia. A great night for all, with a lot of old mates catching up over a few beers a great meal and sharing a few stories with us all. A well deserved inductee to the hall of fame as Joe has been involved with boat racing for decades. As a previous owner of one of the worlds most famous hydroplanes,…

I came across the attached articles in a book entitled "Tales & Talks about Children" published by Blackie and Son, Ltd, London (1923).

You may find it amusing, or at least quaint.

Attributes the invention of the hydroplane to "Rev. C.M. Ramus, vicar of Playden, near Rye."

20130819155354225.pdf

By Gary Crawford

Reprinted from http://www.kplu.org

In the years before the Mariners, the Sonics, the Seahawks and the Sounders came to the Pacific Northwest, there was just one big time spectator sport in the region. And it came every summer to the shores of Lake Washington.

For generations of us…

I just logged on to the museum website just to see how many members had something to say about last weekend's event. I have thus far seen no criticism or whining about anything. I suspect all of you have some opinion about what might reasonably be considered one of the least attended and most criticized events ever. Your restraint, at least on this forum is pretty classy. forgive my poor spelling and punctuation, but my broken fingrs from falling off the truck on Thursday have yet to heal or…

By Danny O'Neil

Reprinted from The Seattle Times, August 8, 1999

What Ted Jones lacked in formal education, he compensated for with an unwavering belief he could build the world's fastest boat.

He showed his son, Ron, the blueprints.

"If something happens to me," he told Ron, "this can take care of the family."

Instead, the boat took care of a whole city.

Anchor Jensen built the Slo-mo-shun IV, and Stan Sayres owned it. But Jones designed it…

By Georg N. Meyers

Reprinted from The Seattle Times, August 6, 1973

It was the greatest unlimited-hydroplane race nobody ever saw.

If it had been a baseball game, you would have gone home with a raincheck.

It looked like a scene from a Hitchcock movie — eerie shapes snorting out of a drifting fog.

A visitor from another planet,…

By Fred Farley - H1 Unlimited Historian

For 47 years, the Tri-Cities of Eastern Washington have played host to "Water Racing's Greatest Show," the Unlimited hydroplanes--the Thunderboats of the racing world.

Since 1966, the mighty Unlimiteds have occupied center stage as the headline event for the annual Tri-City Water Follies celebration. The race was called the Atomic Cup in the early days but was renamed the Columbia Cup in 1976. It is now the Atomic Cup again as a…

On July 24, 1966, the first Unlimited Hydroplane Race occurs on the Columbia River at the Tri-Cities. Bill Brow in the Miss Budweiser wins the race. On this warm and windy day, Miss Budweiser wins both of her qualifying heats and qualifies for the final race. At four o'clock this afternoon, Miss Budweiser rips through the water and beats out her competition with an average speed of 92.402 miles per hour.

Crowds Line the Columbia

This…

Was in St. Louis on Monday and Tuesday and found a 1/4 scale Turbine powered RC replica of the Winston Eagle.  All scratch built, it was perfection in every detail.  Check it out:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/marktwainhobby/sets/72157632235691425/

Working on trying to get it for the museum.  Cross your fingers!

If you have not been to the Hydroplane & Raceboat Museum lately, then you've missed out on all of the progress made on our 1977 Atlas Van Lines restoration project. Here are the latest shop photos of the Blue Blaster looking, well, white.…

I have seen a picture of the 1958 Miss Round Table on the Unlimiteds Detroit web site. They know nothing of a Byron Lang the photographer. It was just added in April. Does this boat have a history? What were the colors?

It is my understanding that the only appearance of the Miss Athletic Round Table was made at the 1958 Diamond Cup in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Miss Athletic Round…

Tickets to the Museum event of the year - the 16th Annual Hydroplane & Raceboat Museum Gala & Auction, are now on sale at the Museum Store.

JOIN US AT THE TUMWATER COSTCO

June 15th, 2013 from Noon - 3:00pm

Hydroplane Racing In Seattle

Stop by and say "hi" to David.

Now that the sun has finally make it's first official visit to Seattle in 2013, our thoughts turn ahead to long, lazy summer days spent at the beach, perhaps at our favorite H1 race sites. And with all that free time, what better to do than to brush on our reading. The Hydroplane & Raceboat Museum wants to help you while away the summer days with these great new…

By Fred Farley

H1 Unlimited Historian

Between 1975 and 2010, the father-and-son team of Art and Larry Oberto has sponsored a total of 11 Unlimited hydroplanes under the banner of Oh Boy! Oberto.

With the retirement of the Miss Budweiser team in 2004, the Oberto family's Seattle-based meat products business became the oldest active corporate sponsor in Unlimited racing.

As of 2009, the family had eight race victories to its credit. The first two were in 1988 when…

Art and Dorothy.

Dorothy Oberto passed away peacefully on April 1st, 2013 in Seattle. Throughout life she loved to bring people together and always found creative ways to do it. Whether it was a three day family reunion, weekend Seafair extravaganzas, '50's toga parties, or a simple cup of tea with friends; Dorothy always added a personal touch. For her, hosting fifty…

Happy 93rd Birthday Uncle Bob Burd, Authur, Volunteer & Friend of the Hydroplane & Raceboat Museum.