The Danbury Racers



Neat article put out on the ACBS website
“The Great Danbury State Fair was established in 1869 in Danbury, Connecticut, and by the early 1900s it was the largest agricultural fair in New England. In 1949 the Great Danbury State Fair Grounds opened the nation’s first landlocked, oval, boat-racing speedway—the Aquaway—to augment its successful stock-car racing program. This flooded racecourse, which was built on the fairgrounds’ historic horseracing course, was approximately a quarter-mile long, 30-feet wide and three-feet deep, with wooden sides that leaked and constantly had to be refilled.”

SOUTHERN AIR



F.C. ‘Doc’ Moor campaigned very successfully in the Y class with his SOUTHERN AIR hydros, winning 9 National Championships from 1957 to 1972. He also did well with his L class hydros winning 2 National Championships. He set numerous speed records along the way. Some folks may not know this, but he also tried his hand in the E and A class hydro classes. Click here to read more about ‘Doc’ and his boats (and his neat day time business).

CAVALIER TOO E-35 | Lauterbach that was built by Frank Farmer

This Lauterbach design had the teardrop sponsons.

Visit the webpage on CAVALIER TOO E-35. This “Lauterbach” hydro was built, owned and driven by Frank Farmer (Will Farmer’s nephew). Frank sent us his pics from 1966 as he built the boat. Frank used Lauterbach plans and guidance from Henry Lauterbach and purchased most of the hardware from Henry. Very cool to see the build pics. Frank also sent us some pics of a S-396 CAVALIER TOO which is another hydro that he built and campaigned.

Dayton Newspaper articles

Dayton had their races on the Miami River from 1946-1953. In 1954, they moved the race site on the river to what is now Carillon Historical Park along the Miami River and it was a big hit. We have added 15 Newspaper articles and photographs to our Media From The Past section of the website listed under the articles from Dayton newspapers. When you get there look in the 1954-1955 years.

From 1956 to 1964 Dayton did not host any inboard boat races. In 1965, they started having the races again at the Hydrobowl (Eastwood Lake) and you will note the newspaper articles start up again on that webpage.

2025 Monthly Calendars

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The first quarter of 2025 monthly calendars are now published.

Double Trouble 48-Y

Randy Mueller adds some more photos to his DOUBLE TROUBLE 48-Y webpage.
“Back in the late 50’s I was able to tour Ted Jones shop in south Seattle and dreamed of owning a Jones 48 someday. Several years later I bought a set of his 48 plans, which I still have. I have been volunteering my time at the Hydroplane & Raceboat Museum in restoring some of the old Unlimiteds, and when I got talking about my old 48 days they mentioned they had a Jones 48 in one of their storage warehouses. Boy, did my ears ever perk up then. I kept pestering them to take me over to see it, and finally asked if they ever sold any of their donated boats. Storage space started getting expensive, and they did not have room at the Museum to display her, so the Board of Directors voted to sell her to me. After that I was finally able to see her, and she was in incredible condition for a boat right out of the 1970s. Eventually, when the Hydroplane & Raceboat Museum expands their facility, they should have room to display the old outboards and limited class inboards and Double Trouble will end up back there on display.”