The last appearance in competition of a Leland-owned hydro-plane occurred at the 2011 Oryx Cup/UIM World Championship in Doha, Qatar, on the Persian Gulf. After several years of development, Leland hoped to water test just such a craft in 2012. But he never gave up on internal combustion engines for unlimited - including automotive engines. Leland built no fewer than eight turbine-powered unlimited hulls between 19. The boat had sustained damage when it scraped a sponson on a freeway overpass while en route to the race site. The 1999 Gold Cup was perhaps Leland’s finest hour as a hydroplane racer. Hanauer piloted Miss PICO into the winner’s circle at his debut race in Lake Havasu City (Arizona), and went on to win at Madison (Indiana) and the Detroit Gold Cup (Michigan). In 1999, Leland caught the racing world by surprise when he lured Lee “Chip” Hanauer - the winningest living unlimited driver at the time - out of self-imposed retirement to work his particular magic for the Leland unlimited team. Never before in the history of unlimited racing had a driver flipped a boat upside down and come back to win the race, all on the same day. Evans was uninjured and rebounded to win the final heat. After winning Heat 1B, Evans flipped upside down in Heat 2A. With Evans at the wheel, PICO American Dream won four races in a row at the Tri-Cities, Kelowna (British Columbia), Seattle and San Diego.īy far the most memorable moment of 1997 occurred at Seattle. Leland’s most successful season as an owner is 1996 when his PICO American Dream swept the competition, claimed six victories, and won the national high point championship, also with Villwock. Leland recorded his first unlimited victory at the 1994 Texaco Cup on Lake Washington with Villwock as driver. In addition to Brown, these include Chip Hanauer, Dave Villwock, Mark Evans, Mike Hanson, Scott Pierce, Terry Troxell and Greg Hopp. Some of the unlimited sport’s most respected chauffeurs have taken a turn behind the wheel of a Leland race boat at one time or another. I am blessed in so many ways and knowing Fred Leland is one of them.” I feel honored to be in the list of drivers who got their start with him. He trusted me to build a boat for him and then he even trusted me to get qualified and run his boat,” Brown said. With Nate Brown as driver, the craft was instantly competitive. In 1992, Leland upgraded his program with a new hull, powered by a Lycoming turbine engine. These included a hull powered by a massive 2,500-cubic-inch Packard PT Boat engine. Leland was not seriously injured, but that was the end of his driving career.Īs a designer, Leland experimented with a number of interesting concepts. (Boats raced without safety canopies then). He won the consolation heat but was flipped out of the boat during the final heat. He made his unlimited debut at the 1978 Seattle Seafair Regatta as the rookie driver of Bob Miller’s Miss B&L Plumbing.Īt Seattle in 1983, Leland was driving an Ed Karelsen-designed hull named KISW Miss Rock. Leland was a fixture on the Pacific Northwest limited inboard circuit for many years. “I was thrilled for him when his hard work and perseverance started producing success for him on the race course. “He would show up with Miss Rock in the Seattle pit area on Thursday and he hadn’t slept for a week,” Montgomery said. When he wanted a new boat, trailer or building, he would build it with his bare hands. When I met Fred, over 30 years ago, he was the most humble, hardest working person I had ever come across. Longtime hydroplane announcer and friend Steve Montgomery called Leland, “One of the most amazing men I ever knew. “We will all miss Fred for who he was and remember what he meant to boat racing.” “Having known him for more than 30 years, he was an innovator, a competitor and most of all, a friend,” Cole said. “He has always been there for boat racing in good times and bad. “There are few people who have made an impact on this sport the way Fred has,” said Sam Cole, H1 Unlimited chairman. His team, Leland Unlimited, won 17 races, including two Gold Cups, and a national championship. In a career spanning more than three decades as a driver, owner, builder and one of the sport’s great innovators, Leland became one of the most important figures in modern unlimited hydroplane racing. The boat racing community is mourning the loss of Fred Leland, whose courageous battle with cancer ended quietly May 20th at his home in Kirkland. In a 33 year career, Fred did it all, and he did it his way Owner, driver, builder, designer, innovator.
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