MADISON REGATTA -
Silence on the River
by Terry Hogan
The Madison Regatta
survived the car crash of last year to bring unlimited hydroplane racing back
again to Madison, Indiana and the Ohio River. You may remember that a car
driven by a teenage boy broke through the barricades and crashed into a crowd
of spectators before continuing its course into the Ohio River. Several
spectators were seriously injured. But like a poorly written novel, last year's
bad luck was followed this year with more bad luck.
The river ran silent on
Saturday, July 7. No hydroplanes
touched the water. No roar of the
turbine engines echoed off the Kentucky shore. No rooster tails sprayed upward toward the hot and humid
air. The crowd sat and
waited. But the qualification heats
were not run. And the scheduled final heat of the 2.5 liter hydroplanes was
canceled.
Saturday, July 7,
2007- Madison, Indiana
All was quiet on the
Ohio River. But quiet was not
good. The Unlimited Hydroplanes
sat on their trailers. There was
little crew activity except for the U-1 crew that was working on repairing
damage to the U-1 inflicted recently at the Evansville, Indiana race. A gust of wind had caught the
hydroplane, causing it to flip. The U-1, now known as Formulaboats.com II. The boat, in an earlier life, was
"Miss Bud".
But for the rest of us,
the fans, the crews, the drivers, the media, and the Coast Guard, it was a time
of waiting and watching. We watched logs, boards, and other flotsam and
jetsam drift down the mighty Ohio
River. These chunks of natural and
man-made floating objects were the villains that stopped the qualifications for
the day. A thin fiberglass hull
going 150 mph over the water is no match for a sycamore trunk.
There were three
different stories floating around (pun intended) the shoreline as to the source
of the floating debris. One story
was that the Corps of Engineers had opened up the dam upstream at Markland to
raise the river two feet to float off a couple of large and expensive pleasure
craft that were stuck in the mud.
The second rumor was that a heavy rain had fallen in the watershed of
the Kentucky River that is a tributary to the Ohio River upstream of Madison
and this was the source of the debris.
The third rumor was it was both of these working in concert The truth isÉI don't know. I do know that the boats did not run on
Saturday. And therefore qualifications were not completed on Saturday, nor were
the smaller hydroplanes (2.5 liter- think small 4-cyclinder in-board engines) allowed to run.
On the bright side, it
gave vendors more time to sell food, drink, and souvenirs to the crowd. I saw some familiar faces. The Tara card and palm reader was back
this year. Her business appeared slow again this year. Also, back was Charlie Surraw, playing
his acoustic guitar for tips.
Charlie looks older than his 80 years. He has been a fixture of Madison since 1944 when he moved
there from Kentucky with his parents. The most striking feature of Charlie, other than
appearing to be very, very, old, is his eyes. In this old, gray-whiskered face is a set of Paul Newman
blue eyes. They are the eyes of a
young man, made all the more striking in the weathered, gray-whiskered face. My
guess is that those eyes impressed more that a few women in his 80 years. While I sat and talked with
Charlie, a young woman stepped out
of the crowd to hand him a soft drink.
Madison is a small town.
The residents watch out for one another. I asked Charlie what he did when he wasn't playing his
guitar at the regatta. He said that he plays on the streets in downtown Madison
some days. And some days he stays
in his trailer and watches TV. He
softly chuckled to himself.
While talking with
Charlie, a young boy walked by carrying
two large stuffed orange fish; one under each arm. They looked a lot like Nemo. The young
lad was obviously a repeat winner
from the nearby shooting gallery set up with other carnival-like games. He looked pretty happy. He probably
didn't even notice that the boats weren't running.
It was a quiet Saturday
in Madison, Indiana.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
- Madison, Indiana
It was a bright, hot,
sunny day in Madison. The logs and
debris were goneÉheading for Cairo, I suppose. The crowd had returned to see what it didn't see on Saturday.
The crowd was not disappointed.
The small 2.5 liter hydroplanes ran their final heat and were awarded
trophies. Qualifications were
completed for the Unlimited Hydroplanes and the various heats were run to
establish points and the boats' starting position for the final run for the
Indiana Governor's Cup.
The U-1 repairs in
progress on Saturday were completed and the former "Miss Bud" was
able to run on Sunday. It clearly
benefited from the no-run Saturday.
The former "Miss Bud", re-christened after Budweiser gave up
the hydroplane sponsorship, was not flawless in looks as in days of old. She now sported a few scars- cosmetic
repairs had to wait until after the race.
The new "Miss
Madison"/ "Oh Boy Oberto", built over last winter, ran well. The
bared teeth on the front reminded me of
the old P-51 Mustang nose art in WWII. Of course, Miss Madison is the
local favorite and cheers went up along the Indiana shoreline when it won its
heat. Admittedly, one has to look
carefully for the Madison city seal on the nose of the hydroplane. Most of the surface is dedicated to
promoting "Oh Boy Oberto". The driver is Steve David who was the
2005-2006 National Driving Champion. But Madison has its "Miss Madison"
tradition continuing, and with a boat that looks to be able to win races.
In between heats,
"children of all ages" walked the street and tried their luck at the
carnival games, or stood in line to buy "Elephant Ears", barbecued
beef, barbecued pork, and a variety of highly spiced meats of questionable
family history. A large odd single cylinder John Deere engine fired and popped its way to the
attention of the older folks. It
drove a belt that spun the home-made ice cream maker. It was a good way to attract consumers and surely beat the
alternative of turning a crank by hand.
A dip of "hand-made" ice cream went for $5.
There was a winner for
the unlimiteds. Unfortunately, it wasn't Miss Madison. She came in a very
respectable second. The winner of
the 57th running of the Madison Regatta was U-16, Miss Elam Plus.
I'm pleased that Madison
decided to continue its long association with hydroplane racing.
If you get bored, rent a copy of the Miss Madison DVD. It will show you a little of Madison,
Indiana, the Ohio River, and what hydroplane racing is all about. And you don't even have to be in 90
degree heat to watch it.
Finally, my hat is off
to the many volunteers that spend endless hours to put on the Madison
Regatta. It is quite the little
town.