Super Follies fans flock to Tri-Cities for the ‘most beautiful sight in motorsports’

From about age 6, Jason Colean remembers his dad crafting detailed, cardboard-and-tape models of hydroplanes for him to pull around in their front yard in Pasco.

“And that’s really all it takes to hook a kid from a young age,” said Colean, now 36. “They were pretty elaborate. He’d just spend 15, 16 hours building one.”

Colean’s interests in hydroplanes evolved from those cardboard models to RCs to, eventually, working on the real thing.

He’s recently worked with Wiggins Hydroplane Racing. And he was a crew member with Dave Villwock, the Washington racer who flipped his U-40 Miss Beacon Plumbing unlimited at last year’s Water Follies.

Hundreds of hydroplane fans and enthusiasts, including Colean, began gathering this week at Columbia Park in Kennewick, Wash., in anticipation of the 2023 Water Follies Columbia Cup and STCU Over the River Air Show.

This is the 57th year that Unlimited Hydroplanes will race on the Columbia River in Tri-Cities. Qualifying laps began Friday with the final race set for Sunday afternoon.

Colean and his girlfriend brought with them to the park his one-tenth scale yellow RC hydroplane, its wooden-and-carbon fiber stand adorned with racer signatures and a plaque that reads “In Memory of Milton Wiggins,” for the legendary patriarch of Wiggins Hydroplane Racing.

The model is something of a sneak peek of a full-size boat he and a team from Alabama are building.

When asked what he loves about hydro racing, Colean said it’s “almost even too hard to describe.”

“It’s the speed. It’s the sound of the engine. It’s six boats roaring towards the first turn during the final heat, just all lined up. I think it’s just the most beautiful sight in motorsports — and I’ve been to the Indie 500. I still would take this,” he said.

Family traditions

David Ramirez, 44, of Pasco, has been coming to Water Follies since 1983. It’s an annual family tradition passed down from his parents’ generation.

“It’s keeping a family tradition and values, and showing out-of-towners and our guests that come the hospitality that the Tri-Cities has to offer,” he said.

The American Power Boat Association Magazine has deemed Ramirez the “Mayor of Hydro Town,” he said, for his work running the Hydro Town Virtual Museum in Pasco.

Ramirez said he often courts first-time families and guests to their tent to give them an introduction to the sport and event.

He spent most of this week setting up at Columbia Park for the three-day event.

After this year’s events end, Ramirez said he usually starts thinking about prep for next year’s event.

Ramirez’s day job is working for his family’s concrete company, but he’s also worked with WFO Motorsports Shop in Pasco and hopes to one day get into the cockpit for a race.

“I know it sounds crazy, but I love speed,” he said.

Ramirez said newcomers this year to Water Follies should remember to bring plenty of shade and hydration.

“The boats are the main attraction. But besides that, it’s the people,” Ramirez said.

“Over the years, we pretty much know everybody up and down the shoreline. They kind of become family,” Colean chimes in.

“Yeah, we all become neighbors. We become family,” Ramirez said.

This is the third Water Follies event since the COVID pandemic canceled the 2020 races.