Pasco, WA 1982: The Rolls-Royce, Griffon-powered Miss Budweiser hydroplane was immediately regarded as a juggernaut of racing, bursting onto the scene in 1979. Dean Chenoweth fearlessly drove the innovative craft to numerous victories while smashing world speed records race after race.
Unlimited Hydroplane Racing lost one of its legends when highly decorated champion Dean Chenoweth died in a blow-over accident aboard Miss Budweiser on the Columbia River in Tri-Cities, Washington. Enduring a season marred by small and nagging mechanical breakdowns, Dean set out to break his own world speed record to serve notice in a qualifying run that he and Miss Budweiser were still the ones to beat. At age 17, Trent Ling was there covering race weekend for KONA Radio.
“I had an eery feeling the morning of the accident,” Trent recollects. “Drivers in those days were in open cockpits without seat belts (under the theory that it’s better to be thrown clear than to be trapped underwater in the event of an accident). Dean and the Bud were so fast and were pushing the envelope so aggressively, that it just seemed precarious. I vividly recall his resolve to put big speed numbers on the board to reassert the dominance of that very innovative team. I had wished them luck in working out the season-long series of gremlins. By the morning of the accident, I wish I could have told them to take it easy.”
The 1982 crash was the third major accident suffered by Chenoweth in Miss Budweiser in the three years since he emerged from retirement to pilot the revolutionary concept. Dean’s death prompted Budweiser owner Bernie Little to develop F-16 fighter jet canopies for hydroplanes. The enclosed capsules have since saved drivers’ lives from the brutalities of countless subsequent accidents.
Trent’s two interviews of Chenoweth leading up to the fatal accident can be heard consecutively at the audio link below. In the first, Dean speaks of trying to get the boat right. In the second, Dean indicates that all systems are “go.” The following morning, upon his next foray onto the Columbia River, he was gone.
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Radio: Dean Chenoweth’s Final Interviews (July 30, 1982; 2:10)
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Hey Pat, I hear you. And regarding the 140 mph mark, Dean was referencing an average lap speed. Since the boats slow in the turns, run well outside the course markers, and have to work back up to top speed in the straightaways, the lap speeds are much lower than their top speeds. Dean survived a crash at 225mph in Seattle in 1979. And he survived one at 180mph again in Seattle in1980. He blew over after this interview going around 180mph as well.
This is actually a humbling posting for me. As disciples, we know for a fact that if we give it all we have in the Kingdom that the chances of coming out on top are ‘almost 100%’ and yet I don’t live that way. I was told in November 2006 by Trent Ling that I have no reason to doubt and yet doubt has marred my life in Christ for 13+ years. Here, we have Dean giving it all he has for something far less significant than a relationship with God. Like Julie wrote, ‘Dean knew the challenges and risks ahead’ but he still gave it all he had. In the interview he mentioned possibly hitting 140mph, which is something he hadn’t accomplished yet (I assume) but he was willing to push it and find out what could be done. All heart! ‘Beating Findhorn’ was preached for this very reason. Amen!
How sad. At least something came away from all of it in that it helped save others in future races. In the radio link he sounded like a person focused on the task at hand but not completely unaware of the challenges or problems. Goodness, to know the dangers of what await and still go and try to obtain the win, is amazing to me, it shows such resolve, I wish I could employ in all I do.
How well I remember that day. You came home for lunch hour and didn’t return to the pits. A very sad day for anyone who admired Dean Chenoweth and followed the Budweiser camp, which you did. You paid him an impressive tribute in your high school newspaper, the Wasco. When Bernie Little received a copy of it, he gave it to Dean’s widow and she, in turn, sent you a commemorative t-shirt from a Dean Chenoweth Run in his honor. Your love for the hydroplanes endures to this day. We missed you on race day!