{{Short description|American hydroplane racing pilot}} {{distinguish|Dean Chynoweth}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Dean Chenoweth | honorific_suffix = | image = Dean Chenoweth.jpg | image_size = 175 | caption = Dean Chenoweth | birth_name = Dean Alan Chenoweth | birth_date = August 27, 1937<ref name="ssdi">''Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014''. Social Security Administration.</ref> | birth_place = Xenia, Ohio, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1982|07|31|1937|8|27}} | death_place = Kennewick, Washington | death_cause = Hydroplane racing accident | resting_place = Tallahassee, Florida | resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline}} --> | monuments = Fountain in Lake Leon | other_names = | education = | alma_mater = | occupation = | years_active = | employer = | agent = | known_for = Hydroplane racing | style = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | awards = }} ''' Dean Alan Chenoweth''' (August 27, 1937 – July 31, 1982) was an American hydroplane racing pilot. Known for piloting the famous ''Miss Budweiser'' boat and the winner of four American Power Boat Association Gold Cups, he was killed at age 44 in a racing accident on the Columbia River.<ref name=srbckch>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bE9OAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1e4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6772%2C154979 |work=Spokesman-Review |location=Spokane, Washington) |agency=Associated Press |title=Boat crash kills Chenoweth |date=August 1, 1982 |page=C1}}</ref><ref name=trrady>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pqtfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=rTIMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5035%2C223407 |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=Idaho |agency=Associated Press |title=Tragic race day |date=August 1, 1982 |page=6D}}</ref><ref name=erghrk>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=anERAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SOIDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3964%2C227635 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=Oregon |agency=wire services |title=Hydroplane racer killed|date=August 1, 1982 |page=3E}}</ref>
==Career== Born in Xenia, Ohio, and a long-time resident of Tallahassee, Florida,<ref name="SI">{{cite magazine|last=Phinizy|first=Coles|date=August 24, 1981|title=Crash and Carry On|magazine=Sports Illustrated|volume=55|issue=9|url= https://www.si.com/vault/1981/08/24/825872/crash-and-carry-on-that-could-be-the-motto-of-dean-chenoweth-unlimited-hydroplane-champion-and-a-man-with-unlimited-courage<!--http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1124711/index.htm-->|page=73}}</ref> Chenoweth began his career in motorboat racing at the age of 12. At 15, he won three national championships, in Class A and Class B hydroplanes and Class A stock boats.<ref name="SI"/>
Chenoweth moved to unlimited class hydroplane racing in 1968.<ref name="SI"/> Between 1968 and 1982, he won four APBA Gold Cups, in 1970, 1973, 1980, and 1981,<ref name="Mus">{{cite web|url=http://www.thunderboats.org/history/history0289.html |title=Dean Chenoweth |publisher=Motorsports Hall of Fame of America via The Hydroplane & Raceboat Museum |accessdate=2012-09-10 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130112233218/http://www.thunderboats.org/history/history0289.html |archivedate=2013-01-12 }}</ref> and won the National High Point Championships four times.<ref name="25y">{{cite web|url=http://www.kndu.com/global/story.asp?s=6823685|title=25 years ago: Hydroplane driver Dean Chenoweth died on the Columbia River|date=July 31, 2007|work=KNDU|accessdate=2012-09-10|archive-date=2007-08-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070820082341/http://www.kndu.com/Global/story.asp?S=6823685|url-status=dead}}</ref> Chenoweth also set a record of twenty heat race wins in the first five events of the 1980 season.<ref name="Mus"/>
Best known as the driver of Bernie Little's famed ''Miss Budweiser'',<ref name="Mus"/> and owner of a Budweiser distributorship in Tallahassee, where he moved in 1973,<ref name="People">{{cite journal|last=Leviton|first=Joyce|date=August 16, 1982|title=For U.S. Thunderboat Champ Dean Chenoweth, His Fourth Smashup Becomes His Last|journal=People|volume=18|issue=7|url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20082891,00.html|accessdate=2012-09-10}}</ref> Chenoweth survived a number of spectacular accidents, including a massive blowover on Lake Washington at Seattle during a speed record attempt in October 1979.<ref name=mbdhicup>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=N9gjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IAgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4610%2C4313641 |work=Spokesman-Review |location=Spokane, Washington|title=Miss Bud driver hurt in crackup|date=October 24, 1979|page=C1}}</ref><ref name=hlttait>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=D6YSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=J_cDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6726%2C199625|work=The Bulletin|location=Bend, Oregon|title=He lived to tell about it |agency=(UPI photo)|date=October 24, 1979|page=14}}</ref><ref name=thbudest>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=qNRWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=N_kDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4815%2C2600567|work=Spokane Daily Chronicle |location=Washington|title=The Bud destroyed |agency=(AP photo)|date=October 24, 1979|page=25}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RJImAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WQEGAAAAIBAJ&pg=1086,1075021&dq=dean-chenoweth&hl=en|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130124184246/http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RJImAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WQEGAAAAIBAJ&pg=1086,1075021&dq=dean-chenoweth&hl=en|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 24, 2013|title=Dean Chenoweth returns to the lake|last=Klinkenberg|first=Marty|date=May 14, 1981|work=The Miami News|page=5B|accessdate=2012-09-10|location=Miami, F}}</ref>
He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1991.<ref name=MSHoF>[http://www.mshf.com/hall-of-fame/inductees/dean-chenoweth.html Dean Chenoweth] at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America</ref>
==Death== While piloting ''Miss Budweiser'' in 1982, Chenoweth was killed on the Columbia River in Washington on {{nowrap|July 31.<ref>{{cite magazine|date=August 9, 1982|title=Going Over the Edge|magazine=Sports Illustrated|volume=57|issue=6|url=https://www.si.com/vault/1982/08/09/624679/going-over-the-edge<!--http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1125757/index.htm-->|page=22}}</ref>}} During Saturday morning qualifying for the next day's Columbia Cup at the Tri-Cities, the boat was traveling at about {{convert|175|mph|round=5|abbr=on}} when it blew over and impacted inverted.<ref name=trrady/> He suffered massive head, neck, and chest injuries; when pulled from the water, he was unconscious and did not have a pulse. Chenoweth was taken to Kennewick General Hospital, and was pronounced dead 45 minutes after the accident.<ref name=trrady/><ref name=erghrk/>
Less than ten months earlier, hydroplane racing legend Bill Muncey was killed during the last race of the 1981 season at Acapulco, Mexico.<ref name=trrady/><ref name=bmkirmh>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9IJfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=sDAMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5653%2C1801064 |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=Idaho |agency=Associated Press |title=Hydro pilot Bill Muncey killed in racing mishap |date=October 19, 1981|page=6D}}</ref>
==Legacy== Chenoweth's death led Little to develop a closed cockpit for the next ''Miss Budweiser'' boat, and the enclosure became standard for unlimited racers.<ref name="25y"/> He is memorialized by a fountain in Lake Leon in Tallahassee's Tom Brown Park; he had been named the city's Man of the Year for 1981.<ref name="People"/>
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==External links== *[http://www.lesliefield.com/personalities/dean_chenoweth_dynamo_dean_and_the_griffon_bud.htm Hydroplane History] – Dynamo Dean and the Griffon Bud *{{find a Grave|6457}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chenoweth, Dean}} Category:H1 Unlimited Category:1937 births Category:1982 deaths Category:Sportspeople from Tallahassee, Florida Category:Sportspeople from Xenia, Ohio Category:American motorboat racers Category:Motorboat racers who died while racing Category:Sports deaths in Washington (state) Category:APBA Challenge Cup Category:American people of Cornish descent Category:20th-century American people