Vintage hydros from WA museum make a splash at Tri-Cities Water Follies. Seafair is next

Sometimes there is a crossroads in a person’s life where a decision changes their life forever.

David Williams came to that crossroads in 1992.

“I love to cook, and I was saving to go to the Le Cordon Bleu school in Paris,” said Williams.

But someone instead told him he was dumb to think that, and instead suggested Williams should run the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum (HARM) in Kent, Washington.

Outside of his wife, cooking and hydroplanes are two of Williams’ biggest loves.

“I had two jobs, and one was as a territory manager for an import-export company. Right about the same time, my dad died,” said Williams. “I realized then I shouldn’t spend my life doing something I don’t like.”

And he chose the HARM executive director job.

“Turns out Guy Fieri and Giana DeLaurentis were in that cooking class,” said Williams.

But cooking’s loss was a big gain for all hydroplane historians and fans.

“I fell in love with this sport, and I wanted to give back to it,” he said.

Williams and his group of volunteers brought four vintage hydroplanes to this weekend’s HAPO Columbia Cup: the 1967 Miss Budweiser, the 1973 Pay N Pak, the 1982 Atlas Van Lines Blue Blaster, and the newest finished project — the 1979 Squire Shop.

Williams plans to take four boats to Seafair next weekend: the Pay N Pak, Notre Dame, the Miss Wahoo and the new Squire Shop. Former Squire Shop owner Bob Steil will be in attendance to christen the boat.

The Squire Shop, in the late 1970s, became a competitive boat in the unlimited fleet against the likes of the Budweisers, Atlas, and Pay N Pak.

It had a young, successful driver in Chip Hanauer.

“The response to the Squire Shop has been incredible,” said Williams. “I wasn’t sure how people would respond. Most of our popular boats are the Gold Cup winners — the Buds, Bardahl, Pay N Pak.”

The timeline for Williams and his volunteers to restore the Squire Shop was stretched out — with numerous man-hours involved.

“See all those pieces of gravel by our boats? More than that. Incalculable — 6,000 hours, maybe?,” said Williams. “We’ve had this whole COVID thing shut us down in the middle of the project. It’s like working on a 5,000-piece jigsaw puzzle — and then shutting it down for 1 ½ years. Then you come back, and it’s hard to remember what you were doing.”

The results were worth it.

The unlimited hydroplanes are usually the main attraction at the Columbia Cup. But — perhaps with the low boat count — the vintage boats are almost on a par with the main event.

“I’d like to think that. It’s nice to see us recognized,” said Williams.

Vintage driver

Hanauer was here this weekend, taking turns driving either the Atlas or the Squire Shop — both of which he drove when he was a competitive driver.

“I drive whichever one they tell me to,” said Hanauer.

It brings back great memories for Hanauer, who is considered one of the greatest drivers in the sport.

“All of this stuff is muscle memory,” Hanauer said. “You don’t have to think. It’s like playing an instrument. It’s really fun, and it’s all a labor of love.”

The museum started in 1980 and Williams is one of just three people to be HARM’s executive director.

One of the others, Dr. Ken Muscatel, gets credit for suggesting running some of the vintage boats at race sites.

It’s turned into a great fundraising event, through merchandising sales, or people joining the museum.

“We get a significant portion of money from fans,” he said.

Most museums, says Williams, depend on admissions to raise money. HARM actually takes the museum exhibits to the people.

Williams only chooses a few boats each year to appear at race events. And the boats change.

“We have at least 12 running boats, and each boat has a crew chief and a crew,” Williams said.

Other boats stored at HARM include the SLO-Mo V, the 1958 Bardahl, the 1968 Budweiser, the Miss Burien, a Bud replica display, and the Notre Dame.

Williams always has two projects going on.

The next is restoring the 1971 Miss Madison.

“I’ll pick one of the following boats waiting in the wings for the other project: the 1979 Circus Circus, the 1974 Value Mart, the 1968 Schmirnoff, the 1957 Miss U, or the 1971 Pay N Pak,” said Williams.

Meanwhile, he’s running out of room at the museum, and needs to figure out what to do next.

Whatever he does, he’ll love every minute of doing it.

“I do love what I do,” Williams said. “When I started this, it was about me getting to drive a race boat. But things change. Now, it’s about the people and the volunteers.”

Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Tri-City Herald.