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Hydroplane Blog:

It certainly appears that after a disappointing 2006 season that the Miss Elam Plus has come back roaring in 2007. With 3 consecutive wins, the "parity" on the 2006 has all but washed away with a dominating performance so far. It's good to see the Miss Madison/Oberto team in the running with the new boat, but Dave Villwock and the rest of the Elam team really appears focused and determined this year. Where is the Miss Beacon Plumbing team and the dynamic star Jean Theoret? He has yet to show that 2006 was not a fluke. We really like the Beacon team here at Seattle Sports Blog and we hope they can pull out of this early season slump. This much is for sure, Villwock hasn't won this many races in his career for nothing.

Onto the Tri-cities and hopes for a new winner in the Western swing!

Kudos to the U-37 team for a great win this weekend in what turned out to be a great 2006 Seafair. Great competition, great weather, and plenty of BUI's handed out on the water....those are always fun.

Anyone who missed the action this weekend, Kiro 7 has the final heat online at http://www.kirotv.com/seafair/9637294/detail.html

Even without one mirror, Canada's Jean Theoret was able to take the 2 most important races of the year: Seafair and the Gold Cup in Detroit......what a year for Mr. Schumacher, and it sounds like his team is going to be in the league for more than the 3-5 years anticipated....great, great news for Hydroplaning in 2006 and beyond!

More to come on those terrible M's later......

Congrads to Mr. Villwock and the Elam Plus U-1 hydroplane on winning the 2006 Tri-cities hydroplane race. Talk about a wild and windy afternoon...the final heat didn't start until 6:30 at night! They are going to have to start putting headlights on these things!

Check out this photo of the U-13 narrowly missing a full collision with the U-6 Oberto boat(they still hit the backend of the boat). Can you imagine what that must look like from up there???????

Not sure if it's global warming or what, but the races this week in Tri-cities were delayed due to strong winds and high heat.....so much so that 2 boats flipped, one of which, The Miss Elam, won the race!!!! Hard to believe that happened, but it's been done before in 1997 in the Miss Pico driven by Mark Evans.

Should be equally as crazy as they head to Seattle for Seafair!!!!

Looks like qualifying has already begun for Tri-Cities....damn, we wish I was there vs. being at work!

U- 37 Beacon Plumbing Jean Theoret 158.083
U- 5 FormulaBoats.com Mike Weber 158.055
U- 6 Oh Boy! Oberto Steve David 153.389
U- 2 Superior Racing Ken Muscatel 149.86
U- 21 Area Codes Cellular U21 Powered by Meyers' Auto Tech Kevin Aylesworth 149.66
U- 13 Spirit of Detroit sponsored by Acura of Bellevue J. Michael Kelly 126.365
U- 3 Cooper Motorsports Jimmy King 0
U- 1 Miss E-Lam Plus Dave Villwock 0
U- 7 FormulaBoats.com II Mike Allen 0
U- 9 Jack-Sons Sports Bar Chris Bertram 0
U- 10 Miss Emcor JW Myers 0
U- 99 Lakeridge Paving Jeff Bernard 0
U- 100 Todd Hoss American Dream Greg Hopp 0

Congratulations to Billy Schumacher, Jean Theoret, and the entire U-37 Miss Beacon Plumbing Hydroplane for winning the 2006 Gold Cup!

For more information on this race: ABRA http://www.abrahydroplanes.com/index.cfm?page=Home

Seattle Times/Detroit Free Press: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2003131757_hydros17.html

WOW, this is huge huge news for a sport that is really on the rebound.....

http://www.abrahydroplanes.com/index.cfm?page=ABRA-on-TV

This is a perfect opportunity for the sport to pick up popularity and a few major sponsors with Fox. I've always said, Hydroplane racing could be as popular as NASCAR given the right exposure and interest. Sports fans are always looking for the latest and greatest new thing, and hopefully with the Budwieser gone, this sport can pick things up again.

Good luck to the Hydroplanes in 2006 and beyond!

From what I've seen from the ABRA site , it looks like there was some great racing out in Evansville Indiana for the start of the 2006 Hydroplane season. The Ellstrom family and Dave Villwock look like the team to beat this year with a very convincing win out of the gates.

We are planning on having a Seattle Sports Blog rep out in Madison for the next race to give us a few reports on the atmosphere of the race. Stay tuned!

Does it get any better than hearing from the KING of boat racing, Chip Hanauer? He's our #1 Seattle sports idol, bar none. Anyone else think of a great Seattle NATIONAL champion? Chip's it....

http://www.abrahydroplanes.com/index.cfm?page=Hanauer-Blog-1

Check out this video from Miss Elam test run today on Lake Washington. I've hit a few wakes on a jet ski going 50 MPH, but this is absolutely crazy at 170 MPH!!

http://www.komotv.com/news/story.asp?id=43711

I'm very impressed w/ the direction of the Hydroplane tour, especially now that the Seattle Pirates are no affiliated w/ Billy S.'s new boat, the Miss Seattle.

It's like old times my friends.......

Arictle:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002943795_seafair21m.html

Great article from the PI on Billy Schumacher, who is returning to the sport after nearly 30 years. It's great to see the sport being revived!

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/motorsports/266735_schumacher14.html

The American Boat Racing Association has recently released the lastest 2006 schedule:

http://www.abrahydroplanes.com/index.cfm?page=2006-Schedule

Last year was a big year for the sport and I expect more to come for 2006. There are new sponsors and teams heading up an already competitive line-up. Looking forward to seeing them at Seafair!

Seattle Sports Blog Guy

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, this movie is a must have. I just watched the DVD version last night and it's a great, great story, regardless if you are a hydroplane fan or not. I will point out one minor gaff in the "bonus feature section." Jim Caviezel, the main actor (and should be noted took a HUGE paycut to make this movie being a hydroplane/Seattle native), is I believe misquoted in the extras. He mentions as a child the shock and horror he felt when Chip Hanauer died.....Chip's still alive, and I think Jim was trying to say Bill Muncey. Jim was probably tired from doing "Passion of the Christ" or something, but it should be corrected in the next DVD version. Besides the point, the movie is one of the best I have ever seen.

In the first season w/out the Bud, the sport as a whole did a great job of keeping competition high and introducing new venues. I firmly believe that this sport is headed in the right direction now after years of up and down seasons. The really good news is the amount of new ownership pumping in new $ as well as more competitve racing. Let me once again give the ABRA series kudos for running an up to the minute, well organized website for the course of this season: http://www.abrahydroplanes.com/ If you haven't been to this site yet and your a hydroplane fan, then you're in for a treat!

Congrats to Dave Villwock and the entire Ellstrom Team for the 2005 National High Points

Congrats also to The Oh Boy Oberto Team and Steven David for the National Driver High Points

Ok, ok, I know I have been talking a lot about hydro's lately, but this is purely insane. Basically, this link has pictures of a boat that went off course....badly. Lucky no one was over there on this side of the course or things would have been really ugly.

http://www.abrahydroplanes.com/index.cfm?page=Beached-U-25-Evansville-June-24

Seattle Sports Blog Guy

A well deserved win for one of the best hydroplane teams around. I was a little dissapointed w/ the lack of teams at the event, but this is a rebuilding year for hydroplanes and it will take a while for the "buzz" to come back.

Seattle Sports Blog Guy

I'm really looking forward to the 2005 Hydroplane Season, which starts this weekend. Hydro's seem to be heading in the new direction w/ a new site, 10 or so boats racing, and 8 race venues (2 new in 2005)

http://www.abrahydroplanes.com/

I'm surprised Dave Villwock has not emerged as a drive for this year. Maybe he got tired of winning every race?

BTW, I'd love to hear your thoughts on your favorite hydros....for me, it's the late 70's Pay N Pak, early 80's Madision (see below)

Seattle Sports Blog Guy

Minus the Bud, this will be an entirely new year for the hydroplane circuit. W/ roughly 10 teams and 8 races, the sport looks to have an positive outlook. One team I'm really looking forward to seeing is this new U-7 team (see image below). Let's hope they competed and bring the thunder back to the hydros...something this sport desperately needs (turbines are just too quiet!!)

If you haven't had an opportunity to see this movie, I highly recommend it. Even if you're not a hydroplane fan nut like I am, it's still a great story that is well produced and is a real "feel good" movie.