Madison Vintage Thunder

PRESS RELEASE – Upcoming Sports Event
(For Immediate Release)
R. Harsin, 9-5-2016

Announcing the first annual “Madison Vintage Thunder” – hydroplanes in Madison, Indiana.

Dave Johnson wanted to honor two special friends that passed away recently and so he assembled a few vintage hydroplane owners forming a club called “5ToThe5”.  This group will put on the first annual “Madison Vintage Thunder”.  With support of the Madison community as part of the state bicentenial celebration (followed one week later with the Madison Chatauqua of the Arts), the group obtained the A.P.B.A. sanctioning necessary to sponsor vintage hydroplanes on the Ohio River. The event sponsors are expecting between 30 to 50 hydroplanes to provide spectators with hours of hydroplane action on the water.

Honored at this event will be former Vintage Class Owner-Driver Billy Cousins, owner of the “River Rat” hydroplane.  Billy Cousins started his hydroplane racing career in the late 50’s driving a hydroplane owned by Marion Cooper, the first driver of the Miss Madison in 1961.  Billy had a long career in both limited hydroplanes and auto racing before his retirement.  Several years later, Dave Johnson managed to talk Billy to come out of retirement and bring his “River Rat” out onto the water again to the delight of many spectators.  Billy lost his battle recently with cancer but his “River Rat” hydroplane will be on display in Madison.  The other driver honored at this event will be the former unlimited “Miss Madison” driver Jon Peddie, who also recently lost his battle with cancer.  Jon drove two different Miss Madison hulls as well as having a long career in auto racing.

Everyone is invited to Madison, Indiana on both Saturday and Sunday, September 17th and 18th.  Admission is FREE to the public (donations will be accepted). For additional information: http://www.5tothe5.com or https://www.facebook.com/5tothe5vintagehydros/ or by calling 812-571-0330
madisonflyer-1

Miss Pepsi

Miss Pepsi…..seen on Dwight Morin’s facebook page.

Miss Demeanor E-24

Miss DemeanorYeah, I know it’s not vintage (wink, wink…send me some pics), but I am a HUGE fan of when folks dream up ideas and proceed to built a race hydroplane to see if those ideas will work. This E class hydro was spotted at some west coast races. No word was given to us on who’s design it is or how well it performed. My personal, non-engineer view of it is – not seeing a conventional tunnel (or air trap), but instead relies on “wings” between the sponsons and the boat to attain lift.
Interesting to say the least.

Julie Sparrowgrove send me an email and tells me the neat boat, E-24 Miss Demeanor was built by Jim Hill and is campaigned by Hill Family racing.
Below is nice photo she took at 2015 Manson Hydro Fest.
e-24 photo by Julie SparrowgroveJulie Sparrowgrove’s website.

E-24Neat photo of the boat on Jim Hill’s facebook page.

 

Footnote: Dan Ellison who designed and built the boat originally sent me some pics of how the boat looked when he finished building it. As you can see, the team that acquired her made quite a few modifications. Dan states he has other plans on the drawing table and states the designs will be fast. Dan can be reached by email.

Miss Vitamilk H-10

Vitamilk H-10 Photo by Julie SparrowgroveDoug Brow driving his Dad’s Miss Vitamilk H-10 at Black Lake.  Doug found the boat in a warehouse in Seattle and had it restored.
Doug’s father Bill Brow was billed as the “World’s Fastest Milkman” and drove the Miss Burien, Miss Bardahl, Miss Exide and was killed in 1967 driving the Miss Budweiser in Tampa FL. Photo Credit: Julie Sparrowgrove 

Miss Nehi racing team

Jim and Al Retif’s Miss Nehi racing team also based out of New Orleans. All of the Nehi’s were first class and very competitive. The naming of the hydros was not random. The Retif family owned the RC Bottling Company in Baton Rouge and the Nehi brand was one of the sodas bottled at their plant. I’m not sure if there was any sponsorship money involved but the Nehi brand sure got a lot of great exposure. Two great Louisiana race teams, both with a unique soda pop connection.
From Joey Nolan posting on Facebook
2016_nehi_1 2016_nehi-2

UNJ

The latest Issue of the UNJ is available on our website.  The May issue is packed with stories and news, starting with a shakeup within the U-1 Miss Homestreet Bank/ Madison race team, We remember H1 Historian Fred Farley, Part 2 of our exclusive visit with hydro broadcaster Steve Montgomery, the Time Capsule takes you back 100, 75, 50, and 25 years ago, News from the Coeur d’Alene Silver Cup and the UAW-GM Spirit of Detroit Hydrofest, and the latest race team news in the HydroFile report.

You can always find the homepage for the NewsJournal, be sure and bookmark it in your favorites. The NewsJournal is always available 24/7 365 days a year, and all our content is free to everyone and available on your mobile devices. If you want to have a printed copy, go to the UNJ archives tab and look for the issue you would like to print out in a PDF format. The directions to follow to get a printed copy are on the archives page.

For breaking news in the world of the unlimiteds, watch our Unlimited NewsJournal facebook page and our website homepage.So far this spring has been interesting with a lot of developments for the upcoming season and we don’t think the changes are done yet. Watch the H1 Unlimited website at www.h1unlimited.com and their facebook page also.

Enjoy your spring everyone, racing is right around the corner.

The staff at the UNJ