1985 Budweiser Unlimited Regatta
Miss Budweiser
A new, supposedly safer Miss Budweiser is scheduled to race Sunday at Miami Marine Stadium. The question is whether the unlimited hydroplane will arrive on time. Miss Budweiser got a late start from Seattle because of an explosion May 29.
The boat’s owner, Bernie Little, is proud to say that the craft is the safest ever built. "Our goal was to build the safest hydroplane in the world,” he said. ”We may look like the dumbest people in the world Sunday night, but at least we made the total effort. This has never been done before with the enclosed driver. We have an escape hatch at the bottom and top. We have roll bars all around him. You could run a boat right over him, and he wouldn’t be hurt.”
The test drive was a bit more of a test than anyone really wanted. An explosion within the first seconds of its maiden voyage blew a six-foot hole in the side of the boat. The damage occurred when one of the boat’s batteries exploded during ignition and touched off gasoline fumes surrounding the boat. Driver Jim Kropfeld emerged unhurt from the enclosed cockpit.
(Reprinted from the Los Angeles Times, June 8, 1985)