How much has Bob Hughes invested in his community’s hydroplane?

After multiple decades, it’s added up.

“A lot,” was his safe bet. “Over the years, half a million. My company has put in more, as employees have worked on it for free.”

But it’s worth it, he said.

The Oh Boy! Oberto hydroplane in Madison, Ind., is the only existing community-owned and sponsored racing hydroplane.

That’s a legacy the town has kept for 50-plus years, Hughes said, since it acquired its first hydroplane, Miss Madison, in the early ’60s.

The town has since gone through six consecutive hydroplanes, all of them celebrated by the town with an annual parade and a general collective pride.

“We call Miss Madison our floating chamber of commerce,” said Hughes, president of the board of directors of Miss Madison, Inc., the corporation that administers the Miss Madison Racing Team.

And Hughes, who has followed his city’s hydroplanes to races across all 50 U.S. states twice, believes the water crafts can be just as important to the community in Coeur d’Alene.

“You’ve got great crowds, a beautiful lake,” he said. “You have a big boating community here, and quite a bit of sales and service are connected to boating.”

Doug Miller agrees.

President of the Hydromaniacs nonprofit, Miller is in the midst of trying to resurrect the annual Diamond Cup Unlimited Regatta that the Lake City hosted annually in the late ‘50s and ‘60s. After organizing a revival regatta last year, Miller is planning a second regatta for this August.

Although the regatta is only an exhibition of vintage Unlimited boats, Miller still holds Madison’s fervor for hydroplane racing as a role model for Coeur d’Alene, he said.

“There really are a lot of similarities, a lot of parallels,” he said. “We have fans here, the resources, the location, and boating is a big thing here.”

Hughes and his wife Pat were in town last week, in the midst of tracing hydroplane races across the country.

Wearing their-red-and-green Oh Boy! Oberto jackets, the couple connected with Miller to discuss how successful the regatta could be again.

They’ve been stopped by folks in town asking about its return, Hughes said.

“There’s a lot of interest,” he observed.

But it takes commitment, he added.

He joined Madison’s race team board in the ‘60s and became president soon after, he said. Since that time, he has spent roughly 60 percent of his summers at hydroplane races, and provided maintenance work at his own company, Clifty Engineering and Tool Company, Inc.

“Good question,” he said of why he does it. “Just the intention of keeping tradition going in our community.”

“It gets in your blood,” Pat added.

Miller recognizes the same tradition in Coeur d’Alene, he said.

The regatta events garnered huge throngs in the several years it was hosted on Lake Coeur d’Alene, he said.

In fact, the 1964 Diamond Cup still holds the record for the largest sporting event held in Idaho, he said, with about 130,000 attending.

Why did it fizzle out?

Partially because of the tumultuous times of the ‘60s, he said. Also, without charging for attendance, the regatta wasn’t so lucrative.

Whether the renewed regatta will face the same issue, he said, remains to be seen.

“I don’t know. We’re taking it one step at a time,” he said.

He’d like the community to become more involved, he said, like in Madison. And he would love to see more support and donations from businesses and individuals.

For now, he just hopes a multitude show up for the regatta this year, scheduled to take place Aug. 19-21 on Lake Coeur d’Alene.

“It’s a lot of work, but the thing is, anything that’s worthwhile is worth putting the effort in,” he said.

For information about the Diamond Cup Regatta, call 691-1612.