I attended high school with his son, Dean, who died, along with classmate Steven Hilliard, in a car crash in 1978 or '79. another passenger in Dean's car survived.
was in Madison that year for the regatta and while qualifying Dean stood the boat on end but it miraculously came back down upright. was shocked when I heard of the blowover in Tri-City's that took the life of another hydroplane great. R.I.P Dean and Bill thanks for all the great races and great memories.
I remember watching him and Chip battle in Detroit in 1982 at the Gold Cup. I’m surprised neither was killed that day, as seemingly only the ailing Miss Budweiser in the final 1/4 of the Gold Cup Final Heat caused Chip to back it down enough to not blow over the Atlas.
I was there with a contingent from the Squire Shop the weekend that the Miss Bud blew over & killed Chenoweth. At first we just thought it would be like his previous blow overs & Chenoweth would be okay. Part of that is probably because most of us were on floating devices in the river with ice chests full of beer. When we got the news of what happened, we all just sat there shocked. Our Squire group had several connecting rooms at the hotel, & after we returned we started filtering in there, but unlike the balls-out party atmosphere from the night before, no one really said much. I'm sure that like me, the reality of what happened was still filtering in to our minds. That was a pretty sad weekend.
Kyle Boyer Pretty sure it was unofficially closer to 220 mph which would have set the course record with ease. He was wearing a flak jacket which likely saved his life in that accident.
@@nordicpride9708 No I don't because I lost all my hydroplane racing stuff when I went through a divorce and she thew all that outside in the weather and rain and me. I was homeless for about a year. I lost all my stuff too.
People ask why do these people do this ..... For the love of racing . Why does anybody do something that could potentially cost them their lives . They live more in one race than most people do in their whole lives . And they do it for the love of life .
Samuel Lear Webster and I used to race hydroplanes; mostly outboards in the Ohio River valley in the 50's. Dean Chenoweth, from Xenia, whose father owned a auto dealship, always beat u, but he was a nice guy. Sam and Dean are dead, but I am not!
Hakapik When people die it is shocking. Many of the unlimited greats were in accidents and walked away countless times before canopies. How about drop the cynical snarky attitude and have some respect for a man much greater than yourself.
@@nordicpride9708 When people die doing this kind of activity nobody in their right minds should be "shocked". As for being greater than myself..... no... I am still alive.
Hakapik I’m sure very few people will remember you when you are no longer here... thanks for the lesson captain obvious. Award for longest living, lackluster human being. Real legacy right there....
