Page 19 - MACC Guide 2019/2020

Concerts for the Roostertail Music west coast banking chain and races
Festival begin on Thursday of event as Miss HomeStreet/Miss Madison.
week and feature some great talent The team’s conquest of the 1971
(for an up-to-date line-up, visit American Power Boat Association
www.madisonregatta.com). All Gold Cup race on home waters was
concerts are held in Bicentennial broadcast worldwide on ABC-TV’s
Park on Madison’s riverfront. Wide World of Sports and me-
morialized in the motion picture
HYDROPLANE RACING “Madison,” starring Jim Caviezel

The Madison Regatta has more and Bruce Dern.
than a century of river racing
2019 EXCITEMENT
tradition. The 2019 event marks
the 69th anniversary of the Indiana The popular Grand Prix World
Governor’s Cup race for Unlimited Supercharged Hydroplane Series
hydroplanes. Organized powerboat will return to the event, bringing
racing in Madison began in 1911, the audio excitement of big block
but ceased during World War I automotive engines roaring in the
and was held sporadically through river valley. The “5 to the 5” vintage
the Great Depression, ending after hydroplane organization will bring
the 1937 flood. The current series a touch of nostalgia to the event
started in 1949; the Governor’s with heats featuring antique racing
Cup began in 1951. Today the event craft on the river.
draws as many as 60,000 spectators For tickets, RV parking, and
to Madison’s riverfront. information regarding festival
Unlimited hydroplanes are events and schedule, visit
essentially water-bound, propel- www.MadisonRegatta.com or
ler-driven aircraft powered by call Madison Regatta Inc. at
Vietnam War-era helicopter turbine (812) 274-0400. 
engines and World War II-vintage
fighter plane engines. The 30-foot www.madisonregatta.com
hulls can reach speeds of nearly
200 mph on the straight-aways of
the Bill Cantrell Memorial Race
Course. These craft raise a large
plume of water—commonly called
a roostertail—trailing behind as
they negotiate the straight stretches,
and produce a high wall of water
in the turns as the cornering blade
provides leverage for hulls corner-
ing at racing speeds. Visually-spec-
tacular hydroplane racing is the
most exciting event in motorsports.

MISS MADISON RACING
The City of Madison also cel-
ebrates the longest ownership of
an Unlimited hydroplane racing
team. Since 1961, Miss Madison,
Inc., has campaigned the world’s
only community-owned Unlimited
hydroplane for the city, collecting
eight National Championship dis-
tinctions and four prestigious Gold
Cup championships along the way.
Today, the team is sponsored by a