A New Oh Boy! Oberto/Miss Madison for 2007
By: Fred Farley – Unlimited Hydroplane Historian
A brand new state-of-the-art Unlimited hydroplane will carry the OH BOY! OBERTO/MISS MADISON name into competition in 2007.
In the words of MISS MADISON representative owner Bob Hughes, “The current hull has been in service since 1988. And, despite carrying driver Steve David to the last two National High Point Driver Championships, the boat is obsolete.”
Oh Boy! Oberto Beef Jerky has sponsored the community-owned U-6 since the 2000 season. According to sponsor representative Larry Oberto, “We basically evaluated where the sport has gone and how the team has done. We feel confident in supplying them with new equipment.
“We want them to have a good raceboat–one that gives the driver the confidence to go as fast as he can without worrying about the consequences.”
This year, 2007, marks the 47th consecutive season of Unlimited hydroplane racing by the MISS MADISON team–the 8th with sponsor OH BOY! OBERTO.
In the entire history of the sport, no other Thunderboat team can duplicate the MISS M’s extraordinary record for consecutive years of participation. (Bernie and Joe Little’s MISS BUDWEISER comes the closest with 42 seasons between 1963 and 2004.)
Between 1961 and 2006, six hulls saw service as the “Floating Chamber of Commerce” for the picturesque Ohio River town–although one of these was a rental.
The original MISS M was a gift to the Indiana city from industrialist Samuel F. DuPont. Graham Heath of Madison became the first crew chief of MISS MADISON. Marion Cooper of Louisville, Kentucky, signed on as the team’s first driver.
Since 1961, no fewer than nineteen men have occupied the driver’s seat of the MISS MADISON and given it their all for the 13,000 owners. None is more honored than Steve David, one of power boat racing’s most respected champions.
David, to date, has two race victories for the MISS MADISON/OH BOY! OBERTO team. The first was the 2001 Indiana Governor’s Cup at Madison before the hometown crowd.
Steve and the U-6 made a perfect on-the-nose start in the Final Heat, while three other boats “jumped the gun” and incurred a one-lap penalty.
For five heart-pounding laps, the Lycoming turbine-powered OH BOY! OBERTO held off a dynamic challenge from second-place ZNETIX and Greg Hopp, who forced David to work for it every inch of the way to the checkered flag and victory.
The front-page headline of THE MADISON COURIER, the following day, summed it all up in just two words: “Oh Boy!”
In 2005, Steve claimed victory in “Thunder On The Ohio” at Evansville, Indiana. He outran second-place J.W. Myers and MISS E-LAM PLUS in the Final Heat, 137.374 miles per hour to 135.977.
In 2006, OH BOY! OBERTO finished in the top-three at five out of seven events on the EnviroPly Unlimited Hydroplane Series tour. This was in spite of major hull damage suffered at the Madison Regatta when the boat hit a submerged log and lost its rudder at the start of Heat 2-B.
When one considers that the U-6 hull was in its 19th season and weighed nearly 700 pounds more than most of her contemporaries, this is nothing short of remarkable.
The 1988 hull will be available as a back-up for the 2007 hull if that becomes necessary. Dale Van Wieringen, Ron Jones, Jr., and MISS MADISON crew chief Mike Hanson are all involved in the design process for the new boat.
Van Wieringen is considered the premier designer of Unlimited hydroplanes today. His work resume includes several MISS BUDWEISER hulls, MISS E-LAM PLUS, COOPER MOTORSPORTS, MISS BEACON PLUMBING, FREEDOM RACING TEAM, and many more.
Over the years, other community-owned or sponsored boats have come and gone in Unlimited racing. But only the MISS MADISON team has demonstrated staying power. Their boats have aided many regattas by their participation over the past 47 years and helped fill out many fields when racing needed boats in the pits. They are a credit to the sport and set an example that many a larger municipality would do well to emulate.
