In years past, the Unlimited Racing Commission used to produce a Media Guide each year that served as a reference for the sport’s records. A record book like that hasn’t been produced since 1980, but now an updated version is available ... for free.

HYDRO RECORD BOOK

COVID-19 WINS!

  THE SWAMI SEZ:

The future will return.


The U-19 Aronow Unlimited was powered by a pair of Chrysler auto engines and utilized a tunnel hull design.

In an issue that features record keeping and a couple of notable facets of the sport’s history, it’s only fitting that we also acknowledge this year’s victory by the COVID-19 virus, which, though microscopic in size, seems to have conquered the entire 2020 H1 Unlimited Racing Series.

     Throw in few different hull designs and what the sport had been touting itself as being finally reached a high point. It was in 1981 on the Columbia River when the greatest variety of equipment came together. Eighteen boats showed up for that event and it was impressive indeed.

     But the real variety came in the power plants. The Miss Budweiser sported a Griffon; the Atlas Van Lines, Squire Shop, and U-3 Thousand Trails used a Merlin; the Frank Kenney a turbo-charged Allison; and a stock Allison was in that Gilliam-designed, square-nosed U-44 Kawaguchi Travel Service.

 The pits for the 1981 Columbia Cup in the Tri-Cities, Washington.

Drivers who drove the most different Unlimited hydro hulls.

     Needless to say, I was a bit shocked at the result. Drivers who I expected to be on my list were not there, and other drivers who I had never dreamed of being on it were. Here are the drivers who drove a minimum of 10 different hulls during their career.

     My criteria for the selection was that the drivers had to attempt to qualify, qualify, or drive the boat in a heat during a race. I did not exempt a driver if he failed to finish due to a DNS, DNF, or a DSQ.

     I left out the 1995-15 Boeing boat for Chip Hanauer because it was an exhibition. He did not have to meet the same criteria as the other drivers who qualified for the
races (N2, fuel flow, etc.) I also left out Lee Schoenith. He drove the 1953-53 Gale III boat during the off season for a time trial, not in an actual race.

     My list is as follows:                                                         Continued, click here...

It was a decent off season and we were all looking forward to another season of our favorite sport. Boats had changed hands and a new owner had appeared. The favorites were getting things ready and fans had circled the date on the calendar when boats would hit the water for spring training.

     It was to be another short but exciting five-race season played out over four months and four states.

     As late as February, things were looking good and then—poof!

     Something not even the all-knowing Swami could have predicted.                                                   Continued, click here...

BY BRIAN ANDERSON


Historically we have used the term “Unlimited” for the largest class of hydroplanes. It attempts to describe in one word what this class is all about. Simply put, it means “everything.” If you could dream it and build it, you could race it—and people did.

     There have been many experiments
through the years but when was this at its height? Which race in history most
exemplifies this simple term of “Unlim-
ited”?

Tim Matyn, a writer and fan of unlimited hydroplane racing from Grosse Point Woods, Michigan, has a new book out with the title, A Chronology of the Gold Cup Races. The subtitle is: For the years 1904 to 2004 (from a Detroit fan’s viewpoint).

     Matyn provides an overview of each Gold Cup race beginning with the first year the race was held. An epilogue updates the history from 2005 through 2018. As the title suggests, the book is a chronology of the Gold cup races.

     Matyn makes no attempt to write a thorough dissection of each race and every turn of the propeller. Doing so would have made the book a monstrosity to try to read. As it is, the book gives enough information about each Gold Cup so that the history can be appreciated without the reader becoming bogged down with too much detail.

                                                                                                             Continued, click here...

     Races from the ‘50s quickly come to mind when seemingly every other race some sort of radical design hit the water. Crafts with double engines, auto engines, and hulls that still defy explanation would show up and then unfortunately would quietly exit.

      If you look at sheer numbers, then the 20 boats that showed up in Seattle in 1957 might be an answer, but most of those were Slo-mo knock offs and power plants were fairly consistent. Time went on and hulls and power plants remained unchanged and after many accidents in the ‘60s most teams tended to stay with the tried and true.

     The ‘70s came and things began to really change. Wings began sprouting on boats and noses were cut into what would be known as a “pickle-fork’ configuration. This, along with turbo-charging the old reliable Allison motors and experimentation with Rolls Griffons, got the innovations really moving.

MY $0.02 WORTH
Editorial Comment by Andy Muntz

BY ANDY MUNTZ


There was a time many years ago when the Unlimited Racing Commission, the sanctioning body at the time, would publish a book each season called the Media Guide. Intended to provide reporters with all the background information
they might need to write stories about the sport, the publication provided details about the season’s schedule of races, biographical information about the drivers and the owners, and a brief history of the sport.

     Always my favorite portion of the Media Guide was the statistical section, where the late Fred Farley, the sport’s historian and statistician, provided loads of background about which races drivers had won, the races won by owners, the results of races held at each race site, and so on.

     I’ve always had an interest in data. I was the kid who enjoyed scoring baseball games, for instance, and even received a small scholarship to be the scorekeeper for my university’s baseball team. And, because I was also a hydro nut, I found all of that data about past hydroplane races fascinating. I still have all of those old Media Guides and the broken bindings on them serve as a testament to how often they were studied.

     Last winter, the owner of an H1 race team visited one of our monthly Unlimiteds Unanimous club meetings and asked the group whether there is a place where one can get information about past hydro races. More specifically, he wanted to
know if anybody maintained records such as how many races drivers had won and what are the current speed records.

Each year we ask the Swami to gaze into his crystal ball, recite incantations, do some hocus-pocus, call up spirits, or do whatever it is he does when wearing that turbin, and then write us an article that foretells what will happen in the coming unlimited season. This year, as you might expect, his efforts came up a bit empty. He explains:

     “It is with great disappointment that we announce the 55th annual Tri-City Water Follies event set for July 24–25, 2020, will be postponed,” said the announcement from the Tri-Cities organizers on June 1. “This decision was not made lightly
and was reached after much discussion and consultation with local leaders,” said Kathy Powell, event director.

     “We have decided that due to the current COVID-19 policies it is not feasible to have an event on the last weekend of July
in 2020,” Powell continued. “We are hoping to be able to hold the event later in the year, and would like to thank all of our fans, volunteers, partners, and sponsors for their support and flexibility during this difficult time.”

     While the Tri-Cities organizers expressed hope they would be able to hold the event later in the year, others aren’t confident that will be possible. Only three counties in the state of Washington remain in Phase 1 of recovery from COVID-19, and two of them constitute the Tri-Cities region. (The other one is next door.) That means health department restrictions may not be eased soon enough to make an event possible, even if it’s planned for September.

     The San Diego organizers made their announcement less than two weeks after the Tri-Cities news. “We evaluated various ways to stage Bayfair during the COVID-19 pandemic and felt we couldn’t ensure the health of our fans, volunteers,
sponsors, and race teams,” said Bob Davies, the race director.                                                              Continued, click here...

Finding an Unlimited high point.

Let’s just admit it. Though its only July, the outcome of the 2020 season has already been decided. The winner was an entry named COVID-19, perhaps the smallest competitor the sport has ever seen, but mighty well beyond its size—its power so massive that it has not only conquered the sport of unlimited hydroplane racing but has impacted every other spectator sport in the land. It’s also brought the US economy to its knees and has taken the lives of over 125,000 Americans—and counting.

     As for Unlimited racing, the latest events to fall victim to the COVID-19 pandemic were the race in San Diego and the race in the Tri-Cities. The first was canceled and the latter postponed. Add that news to the earlier cancelation of the races in Guntersville, Madison, and Seattle, and that pretty much wipes out the 2020 H1 Unlimited season.

The UNJ Hydro Record Book is available for free on the
Unlimited NewsJournal website. If you’ve got a question
about hydro records that you want to answer, you can print the
Hydro Record Book, download it, bookmark it, or just read it at
www.unlimitednewsjournal.net

A BOOK REVIEW:

“A Chronology of the Gold Cup Races” by Tim Matyn.

     It got more exotic from there as the Aronow tunnel used twin Keith Black Chrysler auto engines coupled with outdrives. The Lauterbach U-5 used twin Chevrolet auto engines. And, if all this wasn’t enough, there was a true oddity as the U-25 Pay‘n Pak had something novel called a turbine.                                                                                         Continued, click here...

     To me, he was describing those old Media Guides that Fred Farley used to do, the last of which was published in1980. So, having just retired and finding that I have more time for hobbies, I committed to make it happen. Little did I know that two months later we’d also get hit with a pandemic and the governor would order me to stay home, which provided even more time to focus on the project.

     I wanted to replicate what Farley had done years ago and update the records to cover the past 40 years. But I also thought there should be another significant difference: it should be expanded in the other direction as well.                           Continued, click here...

 JULY 2020

Jim Sharkey's Hydro's Who's Whois available exclusively at the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum giftshop in Kent, WA.

or on the museum website store at www.hydromuseumstore.org

BY JIM SHARKEY


I have spent hours working on my book Hydro’s Who’s Who . I have tried to provide information that would serve the needs of the average and fanatical race fans. This past winter I asked myself a question: “Which driver has driven the most different hulls?

     Just looking at the book, some of the drivers have driven what seems like a million different boats. But, by looking at the
hull numbers, many of these hulls are the same, just a different sponsor for that race. I thought I would sort my database and see which driver has the honor of driving the most number of different hulls.

    

HERITAGE

Historical Perspective by Craig Fjarlie