Hydroplanes To Race On Labor Day

The roar of hydroplanes will be heard again on Lake Coeur d’Alene this summer with a return to racing 44 years after the popular sport there ended. “We will become the No. 1 race in the United States,” organizer Dennis Wheeler predicted Friday. The hydro races will run southeast of downtown as part of the Diamond Cup Regatta during Labor Day weekend. This year’s event will feature sanctioned Grand Prix West competitions, with an H1 Unlimited-class exhibition race and plans for a sanctioned H1 Unlimited race in 2013. Recalling drunken riots after races in the early 1960s, city voters twice have said they no longer want hydroplane racing in Coeur d’Alene/ Scott Maben & Justin Runquist , SR. More here. (Jesse Tinsley SR photo)

Question: Is Silver Beach a better venue for the Diamond Cup races than the one in the 1950s-1960s off the shoreline of downtown Coeur d’Alene?