It’s finally spring and any day now
the weather should start warming up. Any day now.
It won’t be long until Seafair and the hydroplanes.
Below find a vintage look at them from Max R. Jensen. Click on the thumbn ail for
a higher res copy.
Seattle Hydroplane Races on Lake Washington — These races, held annually, attract the finest and fastest competitive hydroplanes and drivers in the country to this wondrous course on Lake Washington and is hte climax to Seattle’s “Seafair Week” when Greater Seattle entertains thousands of tourists.
Color photo by Max R. Jensen.
Ah, these are the thunderboats I loved, with the pre-picklefork rounded fronts and the impossibly loud engines. My uncle had an old bootlegger’s mansion located directly above the old starting line, which was north of its current location. I don’t recognize the boats here, unless that’s Miss Bud in the middle?
I think the lead boat was one driven by Mira Slovak – can anyone help on that?
I believe the one dead in th ewter is one of the Detroit boats – was it Gale Electric?
Finally, the red boat on the right with the distinctive tail is one of the Slo-Mo’s – I believe it was Slo-Mov wasn’t it?
Memories, ah memories, – down the canyons of my mind.
The boat dead-in-the-water appears to be pink, which would make it Hawaii Kai. The boat on the left I agree seems to one of the Slo-Mos. I can’t identify the other two.
These are not picklefork boats Matt. These are real hydros. Three point Allison or Rolls Merlin piston driven monsters. All hail the quill shaft. The lead boat is Miss Wahoo. Sorry I don’t remember the driver. The Gail II was a different design. It never worked out. The one on the other side looks more like the Coral Reef from Tacoma. It had a Messerschmidt powerplant that had many problems. Broke down a lot. Hawaii Kai never broke down.
The lead boat is the Wahoo driven by Mira Slovak.
The red boat is Slo-Mo 4. I never missed a race
growing up. These were the real “Thunder Boats”.
When you hear them roar starting with qualifying,
you had to head for the Lake!
I was going to say the red boat was Slo Mo IV driven by Joe Taggart, and the middle one looked like Miss US, normally Donnie Wilson, I think, and the left one should be Slo Mo V. Miss Wahoo had sort of a zebra stripe on the fin. The Slo Mo’s had the Seattle Yacht Club burgee on the fin, the little triangle thing you can see. I was going to say the dead boat in the background was a Such Crust.
The dead boat is definitely not a Such Crust. Most Such Crusts (there were several) had blue on them. There was a red-and-white one, but the hull was mostly red.
The photo was taken during the second heat of the 1956 Seafair Trophy Race. The hydro on the inside lane (far right) is the Miss Seattle, driven by Lin Ivey. (It was previously the Slo-mo-shun V, but was sold to a group of investors called Roostertails, Inc., after the 1955 season.) In the middle is the Miss U.S. II, driven by George Simon, and the boat to the left is the Slo-mo-shun IV, with Joe Taggart at the wheel. Taggart would eventually pass the others to the outside and win the heat while Simon would finish second. The boat in the background is Edgar Kaiser’s brand-new Hawaii Kai III, making the second appearance in its career. It had gone dead in the water with Howard Gidovlenko at the wheel. Jack Regas was driving the Scooter Too, which went dead and sank during the third lap.
When did Slovak switch to Miss Bardahl, anyway? These are truly the classic thunderboats. Personally, I pretty much lost interest when Muncey was killed although I used to root for Chip, since he was a sometime patron of a tavern I managed in the 80′s.
Here’s a great article from SI in 1957: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1133329/index.htm
Andy Muntz nailed it. The inside is Miss Seattle, the middle Miss US II and the grand old lady Slo-Mo-Shun IV on the outside. I think I have this postcard.