Miss Spokane Crew Air Force Legacy

A Brief History of Miss Spokane
The saga of Miss Spokane began in the fall of 1957 when a small group of Spokane,
Washington hydroplane enthusiasts formed first formed a corporation and then raised a
reported $13,000 to purchase a surplus unlimited hydroplane hull from Seattle aerospace
industry giant Bill Boeing. Boeing had built the boat as a backup to his successful unlimited, Miss Wahoo and had held in in reserve.
From the outset, the boat was “community” owned and operated. Shares were sold to
Spokane residents making them “owners”, and at one point over 10,000 “members” had
each paid at least one dollar for a share of the boat.
A small group of businessmen calling themselves Miss Spokane Unlimited Hydroplane,
Inc. managed the boat’s finances and day-to-day operations. The group was headed by
Don Klages.
The team that the Miss Spokane group put
together was largely made up veterans of
the Army and ArmyAir Corp, with a number of them coming from the Washington
Air National Guard’s 116 Fighter Squadron
and 141st Air Refueling Wing at Geiger
Field near what is now Spokane International Airport.
(Maj. Dallas Sartz sits at the controls of Miss
Collection)
Spokane as engine crew review data from an engine test at Geiger Field. Photo Credit- Mark Douty
The team kept the original mahogany deck and outfitted the boat with special gold leaf
numbering and a two-tone lilac and white tail. The U-25 designation contained a star between the ‘U’ and the ’25’, and it is thought that this reflected the military background of
many on the crew.
The team selected former Army Air Force officer and local limited class boat racer
George Alexieve as the team’s crew chief, and he in turn recruited engine men and others
from the community and the local Air National Guard unit.
(Members of the Miss Spokane crew
make adjustments to the Miss
Spokane during one of the initial
tests of the boat at Haydent Lake as
Maj. Dallas Sartz adjusts the controls in the cockpit. Photo Credit:
Mark Douty Collection)
One of those recruited was a young
Dallas Sartz, himself a Major in the
Air National Guard. He became the
first driver of the boat in competition. He and Alexieve drove the boat
in its initial testing runs on Idaho’s
Hayden Lake, and Sartz was at the wheel in its debut at the Apple Cup on Washington’s
Lake Chelan in May of 1958 and a month later at the inaugural Diamond Cup in nearby
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
(Dallas Sartz powers the Miss Spokane
down the back straight in a test run at
Seattle's Seafair race in August, 1958. Photo Credit - Press Photo from the
Mark Douty Collection)
Sartz made a career of the Air National
Guard and would eventually retire from
the Geiger Field unit with the rank of
colonel with 35 years of military service.
At the time of his retirement he was the
chief maintenance officer for the 141st
Air Refueling Wing.
Another recruit was Kent Simonson, who would serve initially as a crew member, then as
crew chief , and eventually as owner of the Miss Spokane hull. Simonson had served as a
mechanic and crew chief for transport vehicles on the Burma-Thailand-India transport
system during World War II, and when he returned to Spokane after the war and interned
as a boat builder and cabinet maker. His motor pool experience and his expert wood repair skills were invaluable to the crew.
(The tail of Miss Spokane was destroyed by a collision with Gale V during the 1958 Gold Cup, and the boat
campaigned during 1959 with a new
signature swoosh tail. Photo credit Mark Douty collection)
Others joining the crew for the initial
campaign were Dan Colman, John
Morse, Jack Finlayson, Don Revard,
Dan Gmeiner, Jim Hern, John Beers,
Harold Carmen, and Bud Newton. Finlayson and Morse were the main engine men in the first two years of operation.
In 1960, Simonson became crew chief when Alexieve stepped away. Lloyd Massender
took over as head engine man that year with Hardy Holder and Mel Cantor assisting him.
All had extensive experience in working on airplane and racing engines.
(Kent Simonson and crew pose near
the boat as they prepare for the
first race of the 1960 season with a
new two-tone lilac paint job. Simonson is third from the left. Photo
credit - Mark Douty Collection)
Warren Schott would join the team
the same year as head hull maintenance man. Schott’s son, Skip,
would also join the team along with
Larry Pierce, John Coleman, and
Leonard Blum.
Following Sartz in the Miss Spokane cockpit were veteran unlimited driver Norm Evans
of Chelan and limited hyrdo driver and decorated Marine war veteran Rex Manchester.
The Miss Spokane would campaign for only four abbreviated seasons. Financial constraints would limit their participation to only the races on the western swing of the un-
limited class race schedule. The team was best described as “hard luck” as they suffered
several near misses in their quest for victory.
With Evans at the wheel, the team was leading the 1959 Diamond Cup when the boat
hooked in the third lap, throwing Evans from the boat and disqualifying it from further
competition that day.
Manchester was leading on the final lap of the 1960 Seafair Trophy race when one of the
other boats caught fire in the turn behind him stopping the race. In the re-run the next
day, Manchester could not keep up with eventual winner Bill Muncey and Miss Thriftway.
(Miss Spokane is lowered into Lake Washington during the 1960 Seafair Trophy
race. Photo Credit - Hydroplane and
Raceboat Museum)
A year later, Manchester would have the
Lilac Lady leading by a good distance over
the competition in the final turn of the 1961
Gold Cup on Nevada’s Pyramid Lake when
he hit a huge rolling wave and flipped
throwing him from the boat. The Miss Spokane sank in 80 feet of water, but was raised
and brought back to Spokane after that race.
The badly damaged boat was leased to Bob Gilliam of Seattle in 1962, and the hull would
never raced as Miss Spokane again. Home supply store owner Dave Heerensperger would
sponsor the boat’s next campaign as Miss Eagle Electric for two seasons (1963 and
1964), and Jim Herrington of Michigan would race it as the Miss Lapeer from 1965 to
1967). As Miss Lapeer it would win its one and only race in the 1966 Sacramento Cup on
Lake Folsom.
The Miss Spokane hull was retired after the 1967 season, and spent the next twenty years
on display near Herrington’s business in Lapeer, Michigan. It was returned to Spokane in
the mid-1980s and is reportedly stored in a garage in the Spokane valley area. Boeing’s
Miss Wahoo was destroyed in an accident in 1966, but was an exact copy has been created by the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum of Kent, Washington and is popular at vintage hydroplane demonstrations around the Northwest.