Milton and Ross Blewett - Inducted 2005

                                  Pioneers - Power Boat Racing

Ross and Milt Blewett were born about two years apart (Ross being the elder brother) during the depression years in the New Westminster/Sap-perton area. Early memories of motor-sport came from the Con Jones Park midget auto races. During the post-war era they also watched hydroplanes at Deep Cove and Burrard Inlet. During the 1951 PNE two Seattle unlimited hydros, Slo-Mo-Shun IV and V, gave demonstration runs east of the Second Narrows before an estimated 100,000 people.

By the late 1950s the brothers, in their early twenties, were like so many others at that age — they wanted to race. They couldn’t afford to build up a car but they got an engine for about $10 and they had the skills to build a boat. So they did. A Ford V8-60 eventually got them into the 145 ci class of limited hydroplanes. Called “Challenger” Ross

Ross and Milt Blewett with Successful Craft (Blewett’s photo)

By Brian Pratt, 2005

drove it to victories in the 1961 season. Milt was the mech-anic. Because they only had the one boat and insurance for two drivers would increase their operating cost they swapped positions for the next season. Milt drove that year with Ross acting as mechanic.

1962 was a very successful season for the team as they competed in about 13 races with Milt winning eleven and finishing second in one race at Green Lake, in Seattle. Milt ended up fourth for North America in the American Power Boat Association (APBA) 145 ci class standings, the highest points of anyone in their class west of the Mississippi.

For the next season a new Falcon engine was installed but it didn’t work out as well as hoped and by the time the season ended, with the engine finally sorted out, they decided to move up to the 225 ci class. The “Challenger II”,

built by Seattle legend Ted Jones, was a scaled down version of his un-limited. With Milt driving, it joined the Gulf Oil 100 mph Club when he aver-aged over 100 mph at Lake Sammamish in Washington. He was only the fourth Canadian at that point to be in that ex-clusive club. While Milt got many of the headlines in those days acknow-ledgment has to be given to Ross’ skills to help the driver achieve what he did. That and being a little bit lighter than Ross might’ve made all the difference.

With families growing they stepped away from the sport. These days, retir-ed, they are both involved with old Fords. In a few short years, though, they proved a Canadian team could get up to speed and run with the best.