Year: 1958

Owner: Gary Simmons (Arlington, Wash.)

Driver: Gary Simmons

Model Builder: Jeff Campbell

Construction: Carbon Fiber

Year Built: 2006

Motor: Himax 3630-1500 brushless

Radio: Spektrum

Electronic Speed Control: Castle Creations Hydra 120

Propeller: Graupner Carbon Fiber 45mm

Paint Colors: Green and Yellow with Black and White trim

Graphics: Vinyl, decals by Jim Clark

Notes about the model: This was a new boat for 2006, a duplicate hull to Jeff’s highly successful Lil Buzzard. The boat finished the 2006 season 20th in points, even though it was only driven by Rick Lentz in seven races.  Rick drove the Green Dragon to an eighth place finish in the 2007 Red Dot Championship Series, and scored 6,285 points. For his success, Rick was presented with the 2007 vintage class Most Improved Driver award. In 2008, once again, Rick Lentz had a successful season finishing 13th overall. The boat showed flashes of speed at times but was plagued with speed control problems through its career. The boat has the dubious distinction of being the first (and hopefully only) boat to blow a speed control while testing the new brushless motor. This indicated that water-cooling for the motor/speed control set-up is important.

Notes about the real boat: The 1958 Miss Bardahl was the first unlimited built by Ron Jones. The new Miss Bardahl, piloted by Norm Evans, won its first race, the Apple Cup on May 11, 1958. Later in the season the “Green Dragon” took first place in the National Sweepstakes at Buffalo, New York and the Rogers Memorial Trophy at Washington D.C. with Mira Slovak in the cockpit. At season’s end, Miss Bardahl was National High Point champion. She had finished first three times, second twice and third three times. The U-40 outpointed second-place Miss U.S. 1, 2,075 to 2,069, in the closest finish in unlimited history.

Notes about 2009: The start of the 2009 season saw the Miss Bardahl in the trusting hands of longtime owner/driver Rick Lentz. Rick raced in the first two races, but as his interest turned toward the 1969 Notre Dame, the Miss Bardahl changed ownership over to Gary Simmons. Gary drove the boat in three of the final four races learning the handling characteristics of the hull. For 2010, Gary will be making some subtle modification and hopes to have the boat entered in most of the season's races.