Have the hydros set sail?

One month after declaring there’s a good chance for hydroplane races on Lake Coeur d’Alene this summer, organizers announced that there will be no races in 2016.

At this point it’s fair to speculate that perhaps these aqua spaceships have flown away forever.

Not to sink the hopes of die-hard hydro fans hoping for a return in the summer of 2017, but the spectacular failure of the races three years ago sure won’t boost the likelihood of future races. Organizers of the 2013 Diamond Cup didn’t just flop; the show they put on did little to please many paying fans and left substantial unpaid bills with unhappy creditors in the boats’ wake. Some have never been repaid.

That’s not the fault of the current race promoters, a nonprofit known as Silver Cup headed by longtime race organizer Keith Allen. Allen deserves tremendous credit for the hard work he’s put in trying to bring unlimited hydroplane racing back to the Lake City. Allen cut down on some of the need for big revenue by creating the nonprofit, with proceeds intended to benefit Children’s Village and the Kootenai Police and Fire Memorial. We applaud him for pulling the plug when it was clear the races didn’t have the financial support to assure a successful event.

A fair question to ask, though, is this: If a couple years of laying the groundwork and fundraising for races in 2016 isn’t long enough to make it happen, what will it take? Allen had tried to re-launch the races in 2015 but ran out of time and wasn’t able to raise the necessary money, which some longtime race supporters say is more than the $300,000 often cited as a break-even point. The economy is good and many businesses are thriving. Why is this such a hard sell? The lack of sponsorships for the races might be a reflection of basic lack of interest as much as anything else.

Our skepticism could be washed away by several big players stepping forward, of course. Oldtimers who last witnessed hydro races on Lake Coeur d’Alene in 1968 before the flame-out in 2013 still love to recall the glory days, when those races were the annual summertime highlight. But times change and so do consumer interests. The reality is that hydroplane racing might represent an exciting chapter in the community’s history, to be revisited but never revived.