George Little Photo Album 1959 Reno

George Little Photo Album
Hydroplane Races

1959 Mapes Trophy at Pyramid Lake
Reno, Nevada, October 10-11, 1959

MAVERICK
Driver (and ex-jet pilot) Bill Stead

HAWAII KAI III
The "Pink Lady" was oiginally owned by American-Canadian financier Edgar Kaiser, Hawaii Kai III was named for the Waikiki Beach hotel owned by his brother, industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. The 30' hydro was designed by Ted Jones and was originally powered by a V12 Allison engine.

MISS BARDAHL
In later years between 1963 and 1968, this team won 5 APBA Gold Cups. Driver Ron Musson won 3 from 1963 through 1965, and driver Bill Schumacher won in 1967 and 1968. Miss Bardahl also was a 6-time National Champion. The boat was owned by Ole Bardahl, founder of Bardahl Oil Company, Seattle, WA. They are a brand of oil additives, lubricants and gasoline additives for motor vehicles and internal combustion engines.

MAVERICK
Owner - W. T. Waggoner Jr., Phoenix, Arizona | Driver - Bill Stead Sparks, Nevada | Crew chief & chief engine mechanic - Ricky Iglesias Las Vegas.
In a duel for first for the President’s Cup with Bill Boeing’s Wahoo, Maverick flipped on a turn and trapped Stead inside. He got out and was not hurt seriously but the hydro required major repairs so they skipped the Governors Cup at Madison, IN and went on to win this race at Pyramid Lake and the APBA national unlimited high point championship (the right to wear the US-1 for 1960).

BREATHLESS U-22
Preparing for the next heat. Note the drum of Methanol. The hydro was a Ted Jones design and built by Fred Hallett in 1954.

MISS SPOKANE U-25
Crew hard at work on the "Lilac Lady". Lots to be done to keep these big unlimited hydros running fast and smooth.
More history on this hydro can be read on The Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum's website.

MAVERICK U-00

HAWAII KAI III
Thinking Ron Musson at the helm.

Couple of Ford COE trucks trailering the hydros.
Pretty rare (nowadays) station wagon in this photo too.

Another great pit photo

KOLroy U-1300
History from Fred Farley:
"Bob Gilliam's KOLroy, which raced in 1959 and 1960 under the sponsorship of Seattle Radio Station KOL, which had 1300 as a call number. The Allison-powered boat was built in 1956 in a hobby shop at Fort Lewis, Washington, when owner/driver/designer Gilliam was a private in the U.S. Army. (Bob had raced Outboards in the early 1950s.) As the story goes, Gilliam even put full colonels to work sanding down the decks! Originally named MISS B & I (U-88), it first appeared at the 1956 Seattle Seafair Regatta where it failed to qualify. It seems that Bob went for an after-hours test run on Lake Washington in almost total darkness and ran over the logboom! Renamed FASCINATION in 1957 and 1958, the boat finally hit its stride in 1959 when KOL came on board as a sponsor. As KOLroy, the U-1300 recorded its best-ever performance at the 1959 Buffalo Launch Club Regatta, where it took second-place overall and finished ahead of National Champions MAVERICK and Bill Stead in the Final Heat. Sold to Ron Kasper and renamed MISS SACRAMENTO (U-49) in 1965, the boat was found to have dryrot in the hull and was barred from further competition".

Thinking that is Bill Stead pulling out of the pits.

What a unique place to race. You got to love the hydro haulers they used.

Pit crews watching the action.

I bet these V-12's sounded great on this lake.

Bardarl getting an engine swapped.

Three boats going at it

Neat old woody, couple of pickup trucks, Volkswagon van and Beetle have a great parking / viewing spot.

The NO SMOKING section has a great view of the race course.

It looks like a long course on this lake.

The typical two blade prop used back in the day.
I am thinking the red is a dye used which would show any cracks developing in the prop.

HydroplaneHistory.com has the race results from this event.

The race area at Pyramid Lake was located entirely within an Indian reservation.
From Fred Farley: "The Reno Regatta started in 1959. The event was actually a continuation of the series of late-1950s races at Lake Tahoe.
Charles Mapes was the head honcho of the Lake Tahoe races and owned the Mapes Hotel in Reno.
Mapes also sponsored the Mapes Trophy, which was the headline event at Lake Tahoe from 1953 until 1958.
The Mapes committee transferred to Pyramid Lake in 1959 and offered the Mapes Trophy there in 1959, 1960, and 1961.
Bill Stead and MAVERICK won the 1959 Mapes Trophy; Ron Musson and HAWAII KAI III won in 1960"

Beautiful.

My Dad was George Little. He has since passed in 2011. Above were some of the slides from his collection.
This page in my Dad's Photo Album was labeled Unlimited hydro races - Reno Regatta 1959.

We lived in Stockton and he grew up on the San-Joaquin Delta with homemade boats and eventually purchased one of the local Stockton made boats by Besotes Brothers.
Here's a pic of his boat which I had restored in 2017. It's not a hydro, but has a 327 small block. She's a runner.