Monday, June 03, 2024

Ever watch the cool hydroplane movie (was there ever more than one?) Madison, starring Jim Caviezel and Bruce Dern? Here's the hydroplane they snagged the engine out of the static display WW2 fighter plane for

 the movie was made in 2001, about the 1971 Madison Illinois regatta.

There are some other recognizable actors, like Jake Lloyd, famous for his role as Anakin Skywalker, and Paul Dooley, emmy winner with 217 roles and you'll know him but not where you know him from. Consider that Sam Jackson has only 216 roles.... that's how much these guys were EVERYWHERE in shows and movies

Anyway, the movie Madison,  is abou the APBA hydroplane racing in the 1970s, based on a true story. It stars Jim Caviezel as a driver who comes out of retirement to lead the Madison, Indiana, community-owned racing team.

After an accident ends his career as a hydroplane pilot, Jim McCormick settles into life as an air-conditioner mechanic, husband and father in a Midwestern town. 

The population of Madison, Ind., is about 12k, but it has been a fixture of national powerboat racing for decades, but the piston engine era was over and the jet turbine engine era was beginning. With life in the town being bleak enough as is, Jim, with the blessing of his wife and son, enters the 1971 Gold Cup hydroplane race.

Madison, Indiana, on the Ohio River, has sponsored powerboat racing since 1911 and began holding an annual race called the Madison Regatta in 1929.

Beginning in 1954, the annual July race became affiliated with the American Power Boat Association. Though Madison has a population of only 12,000, the Regatta maintains its place in the Unlimited hydroplane American Boat Racing Association series, whose other races are in Seattle, Kennewick, Detroit, and San Diego

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1 comment:

  1. A couple of interesting things about Madison Indiana (It's been decades since I've been there, so I might not be so current)
    1. -Madison is/was home to the longest steepest straightest railroad grade in the the US. The cut started at the Ohio River at went straight up the bank. The slope was steep enough that the rails would wiggle their way downhill during temperature swings and the track would develop a continuous serpentine in the summer.
    2. - Clifty Falls State Park is one of the prettiest parks this side of that big ditch. Multiple water falls that you can hike up to, an Inn that overlooks the Ohio and a power plant (don't judge, it's pretty at night), an abandoned railroad tunnel with bats, and a lot of CCC works that are still in use.
    There used to be an abandoned nuclear power plant around there that never completed construction. maybe it's still there.

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