SPOKANE — The effort to restore the Miss Spokane unlimited hydroplane has entered its next and perhaps most important phase.
The renovation, whose price tag is not final nor official but will certainly run in the 10s of thousands of dollars, has begun the sale of vintage original Miss Spokane pins.
Available is the 3-inch, metal Miss Spokane Restoration Booster pin that was first offered back in 1983 by Ron Miller and the team that brought the Miss Lapeer back to Spokane from Detroit.
The 1983 team had hopes of restoring the hull to its original configuration as the Lilac Lady, Miss Spokane, but that effort faltered.
These are the original pins created by Ron Miller and not reproductions. They have been carefully stored away since that time and are now being made available to help raise money for the 2025 restoration effort.
The price of this pin has been set at $15 per button. Due to a recent increase in postal rates, the shipping fee for each shipment has been raised to $7.00.
There are three payment methods: By Check, By Venmo, or by PayPal. The address to submit payment by check is:
Hydromaniacs Unlimited
1120 W. Fallview Rd.
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho 83815
Make checks payable to Hydromaniacs Unlimited, and please include mailing address with your order.
Scan the QR code for direct access to payment or for those who would prefer a link rather than a QR code:
PayPal.com/ncp/payment/GAL8QJ3NW86JQ.
The Miss Spokane was a community-owned and sponsored hydro that ran for several years starting in 1958 and its final race sunk in a crash while leading the 1961 Gold Cup at Pyramid Lake near Reno, Nevada.
“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,” according to thunderboats.ning.com.
The boat is currently owned and stored locally with Pancho Simonson, whose father Kent was the crew chief of the boat.