Ex-driver helps hydroplane museum make big splash

KENT, Wash. – Back when he was a kid growing up in Seattle, David Williams knew well the thrill of hydroplane racing.

Back then, in the summers of the late 1950s and early 1960s, it was the sport in Seattle.

Some kids dreamed of being Willie Mays. Williams dreamed of driving a hydroplane.

By his early 20s, Williams was racing his own limited hydroplane. Business eventually took him out of the area and a number of fatal accidents caused him to back away from the sport.

“It seemed like everyone I knew was dying,” he said.

Then his father’s death brought an epiphany.

“Life is so short. I thought, ‘I should spend my life doing what I love,’ ” said the author of “Hydroplane Racing in Seattle,” published by Arcadia Publishing and scheduled for release in June.

Ten years ago, Williams offered his services to the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum as full-time executive director.

“They had a yearly income of $11,000, about 100 members and were really stagnant,” he said.

The deal he cut? If there was no money, he’d work without salary. Once they had income, they could afford to pay for an executive director.

The museum now has 600 members and an annual income approaching nearly $400,000. Besides the $100 annual fee for memberships, funds also come from a major charity auction during Seafair, proceeds from the museum store and online sales and from restoring old hydros – both for the museum and for private owners.

“We operate the boats in exhibitions around the country,” Williams said.

He thinks that’s critical to help the public understand the thrill of hydroplane racing.

Founded in 1981 by the late Bob Williams (no relation to David), the museum was located for a number of years in the South Park area until 2004, when it was relocated to its current site, an 11,000-square foot warehouse facility in Kent.

About 8,000 square feet are devoted to exhibits, including nine hydroplanes on display. The exhibit includes famous vintage hydroplanes like the Miss Bardahl, the Hawaii Kai III, Atlas Van Lines, the Hurricane IV and Miss Budweiser.

Among them: band leader Guy Lombardo’s boat, the Tempo VI. Built in 1939, it won the Gold Cup three times (in 1939, 1941 and 1946).

“Lombardo was a diversified character,” Williams said. “He raced the boat. In the 1948 Gold Cup, the boat crashed and he was injured. The music company he worked for told him he couldn’t take risks. That ended his boat-racing career.”

The exhibit also includes the Slo-mo-shun V. Owned by Stan Sayres – the first boat to win the Gold Cup in Seattle.

Sayres won the right to bring the race to Seattle by winning the 1950 Gold Cup in Detroit.

Detroit boats were heavy and powerful, “like Chris Crafts on steroids,” Williams said. The Seattle boat was light and aerodynamic, reflective of this region’s industry. Most of the crew were from Boeing or United Airlines.

For five years, Slo-mo reigned over hydroplane racing. Then, in 1955, a Detroit boat won the race, sending the Gold Cup back to Detroit.

“So we had to go back in 1956 and win and bring it back,” he said.

“It developed into an intense rivalry between the horsepower capital of the world and the airplane capital of the world.

“The aerodynamic idea was so superior that it won out. All the boats running now are far more related to the aerodynamic idea than the old heavily powered Chris Craft.”