It is of course Thunderboat Throwback Thursday, and this week I am expanding on a post I did quite some time ago about hydroplanes and one James Marshall Hendrix. Before James Marshall Hendrix became Jimi and rose to the level of a Rock God, he was just a school kid from Renton with an interest in sports, music, art....and interestingly enough - unlimited hydroplanes. As with most artists, Hendrix looked to his immediate surroundings for much of his subject matter. Thus, it is not surprising that his body of work as an artist reportedly includes many drawings and paintings of the hydroplanes that he watched race on nearby Lake Washington. In fact, according to one source, Hendrix drew pictures of nearly every boat that raced during his time as a fan of the sport in the late 50s and early 60s. According to that same source, it was on the hydro pictures that he began to expand upon his range as an artist, enhancing them with water color backgrounds that included Mt. Ranier and the Cascade range. Most of Hendrixs body of artistic work is now part of Paul Allens collection of rock memorabilia at the Experience Music Project Museum in Seattle. The picture I am posting today is part of the collection and is currently on loan to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum and displayed there with other examples of the great guitar players youthful art projects. Hendrix captioned the picture: FIRST HYDROPLANE PICTURE OF 1958 - THRIFTWAY TOO OVERTAKING HAWAII KAI III - AT LAKE MEAD LAST YEAR - BREATHLESS 2 DEAD IN WATER. I did a little research on the 1957 Sahara Cup and found that Jimis crayon drawing likely was an attempt to capture the final of that race, but that the inclusion of Breathless II was likely an invention of his very active imagination or a confusion of the facts. Thriftway Too and Hawaii Kai met twice during the course of the race schedule on Sunday, October 13th - Heat 2-A and the Final Heat. They did not meet in either of the heats held on Saturday. In the first meeting in Heat 2-A, the Kai trounced the Too by a wide margin with the Pink Lady averaging 94.512 mph to the big cabovers 92.616. The record shows that Jay Murphy and the Breathless II placed second in its only heat of the weekend on Saturday (Heat 1-A), but failed to compete at all on Sunday. It never competed against either Thriftway Too or Hawaii Kai during race weekend. One story gave weather and darkness as the reasons for Breatless withdrawal from the race on Sunday. Ironically they had qualified for the final when other boats suffered damage to sponsons and withdrew, failed to start, or were disqualified. Bill Stead and Maverick were leading the first running of the final when the engine let go, starting a large fire. Quick thinking as always, Stead cut across the roostertails of both the Thriftway Too and the Miss U.S. IV to help put out the fire. Officials stopped the race, and because of the resulting fire damage and the race stoppage, Maverick was done for the day. Norm Evans and Miss Bardahl failed to make the restart when its engine balked and the boat was not running at the one minute gun. Four boats made the call for the second running of the final: Hawaii Kai, Thriftway Too, Miss U.S. IV and Fascination. Because of the absence of the Bardahl and Maverick, the Kai was assured of a win by simply finishing. The others in the final could not overcome the Hawaii Kai point lead. But that wasnt Jack Regas style, and he made a race of it. Because of delays for the weather and Mavericks fire, the final took place in the gloom of gathering darkness with wind gusts of upwards of 25 knots whipping up the waves on portions of the course. Despite the treacherous conditions, Thriftway Toos Brien Wygle jumped out to a slight lead over Regas and the Kai. The two then engaged in an exciting duel with Regas catching Wygles heavier boat in the turns, but losing ground on the windswept straightaways. The Thriftway Too would eke out the win and the 400 points with a speed of 97.323 to Hawaii Kai’s 97.035 mph. Regas summed up the conditions in the final by telling the reporters waiting on the beach simply that it was dark and it was cold as his teeth chattered and water dripped from his uniform. The win would be Jacks fifth straight for the 57 season and it culminated the teams National High Point Championship. The win was bittersweet, because owner Edgar Kaiser announced during the weekend that he was retiring from the sport and that he intended to sell the boat. He would later change his mind and turn the boat over to the Hawaii Kai team. Jack would drive it one more time...to a win in the 1958 Gold Cup in Seattle. A few years back, I traveled with my wife and family to Cleveland and we spent part of a day at the Rock Hall of Fame on the shores of Lake Erie. I was excited to find the attached picture on display, and tried several times to take a surreptitious photo of the piece. Signs everywhere warned of not taking pictures of the displays, and a security person lurked nearby each time I tried to focus my camera. I could only write about the experience. Imagine my pleasure when I googled Hendrix hydroplane drawing today, and found that the museum had posted the picture on their site, so that I could finally share it with you (and with the Regas family). Photo Credit: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 03:39:28 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015