Hydroplane boat races off the table for Evansville this year, but a return is possible

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Financial worries and sluggish contract talks with the Hydroplane Racing League led the Convention & Visitors Bureau to walk away from boat racing this year, but officials said it is possible races could return in the future.

HydroFest failed to take off in its first two years, when it was held on Labor Day weekend.

The 2017 event was plagued by rainy weather and high river levels. Weather was pristine for the 2018 races, but attendance and sponsorships fell short of goals.

Last year’s HydroFest left a deficit of about $70,000 for Evansville Events, an entity funded by a revolving loan from the CVB.

Organizers moved this year’s event to Aug. 16-18, added more activities, and announced it would be free.

But in the last week or so, CVB officials became concerned about the lack of a contract with the HRL.

It costs more than $90,000 for the HRL to sanction a race, and the parties were unable to reach agreement on key issues such as insurance coverage, said Mike Schopmeyer, attorney for the CVB and Evansville Events.

The visitors bureau also said significant sponsorship requests were denied, making them concerned HydroFest could again have a large deficit.

CVB officials said Downtown Evansville will still host an event with food, entertainment and activities, but without boat races, on the weekend of Aug. 16-18. They said more information about that is coming soon.

Officials noted country music star Toby Keith is set to perform at the Ford Center Aug. 17, so there figures to be a crowd Downtown for his show.

A Hydroplane Racing League Official said it is possible the HRL could still sanction an event in Evansville in a future year.

"They had financial problems that they mentioned,” Anne-Marie Leboeuf, HRL coordinator, told the Courier & Press. “It’s exactly that. We were hoping to finalize everything, and it’s just too bad. But we look forward to working with them in the future. We have no reason not to.”

The Convention & Visitors Bureau board met on Wednesday, in a meeting that had been rescheduled from two days earlier. The board did not take a vote pertaining to HydroFest. An executive session to discuss “contracts” was called during the meeting.

On Thursday morning, CVB Director Joe Taylor announced it was his recommendation that the visitors bureau and Evansville Events not conduct boat racing this year. John Chaszar, president of the visitors bureau board,  agreed with the decision.

Schopmeyer said, "Everybody feels awful about it. But we have to be good stewards of all this money."

Key stakeholders including HydroFest Director Randy Lientz were then notified.

Lientz brought hydroplane racing back to Evansville in 2017 after the demise of Thunder on the Ohio years earlier. He said he was "disappointed but not discouraged" that the plug was pulled on racing for this year.

But he shared LeBoeuf's optimism that hydroplanes could come back to Evansville, at some point.

"It remains to be seen, and work needs to be done and discussion needs to be had, but from my personal standpoint, I believe we have something here, and it would be a shame to let it die," Lientz said. 

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