Miss Madison

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Miss Madison in 2007

Miss Madison is an unlimited American Boat Racing Association (ABRA) hydroplane. It is the only community-owned unlimited hydroplane in the world. It is based out of Madison, Indiana, a small town of 12,000 residents on the Ohio River. The story of the boat and city are the subject of the 2001 film Madison.

1 History
2 Wins
3 Sponsorship
4 External links

[edit] History

The team was first started in 1960 when industrialist Samuel F. Dupont donated one of his hydroplanes to the town in 1961 to be run as part of the American Power Boat Association. The town has ran boat "U-6" in high points unlimited hydroplane racing since 1965, which makes them the longest running team in the sport. To 2006 U-6 has used only 5 different hulls. Three of them came from other teams that had moved on to different hulls. The last and present hull was built in 1988 by Ron Jones Marine in Seattle, Washington. The hull was first used as a piston engined boat powered by a V-12 Allison aircraft engine. It was later redesigned for a Lycoming turbine engine, the same type of engines found in the Chinook helicopters. A new hull is being created for the 2007 season.

[edit] Wins

The Miss Madison has only a handful of wins in its history. The biggest occurred in 1971 when the Gold Cup (the World Series of hydroplane racing) was held in Madison. U-6 went on to win the Atomic Cup in Tri-Cities, Washington, that same year. The second biggest victory has to be when she won again in 2001 in Madison for the home town fans. Miss Madison has won in Guntersville, Alabama in 1965, Lake Ozark, Missouri in 1983, San Diego, California in 1993, and Evansville, Indiana in 2005. Two wins in 2007 coming in Seattle, Washington, and San Diego, California.However, Steve David, driving the boat since 2001, won the overall drivers points championship in both 2005 and 2006 in the ABRA.

[edit] Sponsorship

As with any racing team, sponsors have been important to keep teams running. Miss Madison has had many title sponsors through the years. Many of them have been large companies. The boat, racing under the official number U-6, started out as just the Miss Madison and remained that way for a very long time. Sponsorships became a big part of the team after 1988 when the new hull was beginning its racing career. Miss Madison has been sponsored by Mazda, Holset, Kelloggs Frosted Flakes, Jasper Engines and Transmissions, and DeWalt Tools. The present sponsor is Oh Boy! Oberto Beef Jerky.