For many years the joke at Seattle’s Seafair has been: the Blue Angels are performing, and a boat race broke out.

The unlimited hydroplane circuit was struggling. Race sites dwindled, and sponsors became hard to find. Then a sheik from oil-rich Qatar fell in love with the thunderboats and created his own hydroplane race in the Middle East. All of the sudden, the sport is growing.

Unlimited hydroplane racing’s winningest driver, Dave Villwock, is in a boat called Spirit of Qatar.

“We needed to be marketing outside of the United States, where we weren’t competing against football, basketball, and baseball,” said Villwock. “That’s what we saw in Doha, Qatar. It very much reminded me of what we see in Seattle from the black and white pictures of the 1950’s and 60’s. You see the hydroplanes and a sea of people.”

There are other untapped international markets. H1 Unlimited has reached an agreement to hold a race in Linyi, China.

“They’ve put their money where their mouth is,” said Ken Muscatel, vice chairman of the H1 organization. “We’re going to have a race this year or next year depending on transportation issues in the People’s Republic of China.”

The unlimiteds have partnered with Versus TV network to carry seven boat races. The Air National Guard has bolstered the circuit with title sponsorship missing in recent years, and Degree Men’s antiperspirant just stepped up to sponsor a boat.

While things are looking up for unlimited hydros, the sport is still a bare bones business which relies on donated spare parts and volunteer boat mechanics.
Nate Brown of Preston, Wash. owns the Miss Red Dot.

“I’m not going to lie, it’s not there yet,” said Brown. “It’s moving in the right direction, but none of what’s going on has trickled down to the owners yet. They’re sugar-coating some of the issues. What we need are more Degree Men type sponsors stepping up for the teams.”

Seattle will always have an infatuation with thunderboats because it was our first professional sport 50 years ago.

Thanks to AT&T and LG, Seafair is offering a $25,000 prize to split between the winning owner and driver of this weekend’s Albert Lee Cup. Seattle is the only stop to offer the cash incentive. It used to be a common thing in hydroplane racing until 1999.

Fans coming to Lake Washington will see a few race changes this year. The start will be critical for each heat with drivers “fighting for lanes.” The last two years, lanes were assigned based on points from earlier heats. Drivers have to cue up at the yellow marker buoy entering the backstretch.

And if you are a fan of the old rumbling, loud, piston-powered hydroplanes, they’re back. Taking laps south of the I-90 floating bridge are vintage boats, including the 1956 Miss Wahoo, the 1962 Miss Bardahl, and the 1955 Miss Thriftway.

Thirteen unlimited teams will fill the Stan Sayre’s Pits Friday morning for testing and qualifying. Racing for the H1 Unlimiteds, and Unlimited Lights takes place Saturday, with finals on Sunday.