Hydroplane Museum's News – July 2013 Archive (3)

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…