About 43 years ago, James Sellers and his father showed up to a boat race in Delaware City with this new 850cc (1 litre mod hydro), the “Y-43.” A lot of comments were circulating around the pit area, some not so flattering, like “the sponsons are too deep!” and “it looks kind of outdated.” It was James’s first time in a cabover 850. He went out for the first heat of the day but was called back to the pits for debris on the course. Stan, the referee, said “re-fuel, you’re going right back out.” “Are you ready?” James asked his dad. “Yep,” dad said. The gun fired and off James went. Off to the left, he noticed the 145s coming on to the course as well. Stan did not tell dad “right back out after the 145s.” James circled around and headed back to the pits, but his dad wanted him to get all the available seat time; The Eastern divisionals were the following weekend. Dad waved James off and he started the heat with Stu Shane and the rest of the 145 gang. James took the inside lane away from Shane in what he described as “one of those Kropfeld moves” and led the field of 145s in a smaller 850cc hydro for 2-1/2 laps. James then pulled to the infield after exiting the first turn of the final lap and headed back to the pits. A large crowd gathered around as they lowered the new KELSON hydro onto the trailer. Everyone, including Stu Shane, was impressed. Everyone was even more impressed when they finally got to meet the man who built that little 850 hydro: Mr. Don Kelson!
Kelson was born on Nov. 17, 1930 and quietly passed away at home on Aug. 24, 2020. Kelson married Annette on April 19, 1952 and was married for 68 years, something that he was most proud of. Kelson was also a veteran and proudly served in the National Guard. His first job was working for the forestry department, and from there he went to work for Olympic foundry in South Seattle as a pattern maker apprentice. He built his first race boat in 1953 for Ray Hassleberg. The construction was based off of a set of Christenson plans, but when Don saw how it was built, his thought was that the hull would not hold up under continual race conditions, so he beefed it up significantly. Between the DeSoto powerplant and the added material for strength, the finished product was too heavy and did not fare so well. Kelson learned from his mistakes and went on to build several more boats for Hassleberg. It wasn’t until the mid to late ‘70s that Kelson started to build boats on a regular basis out of his South Park shop in South Seattle.
During the 1971 Gold Cup in Madison, Indiana, history was made when Jim McCormick took the hometown Miss Madison to victory. Two other boats were damaged, one being the Hallmark Homes U-32, most famously known as the former U-1 checkerboard Miss Bardahl. The accident left the hull of the Hallmark Homes beyond repair, and designer and original builder Ed Karelsen was unable to construct a new boat in time for the next race, which was less than a month away in Seattle. Don Kelson stepped in and accepted the challenge. With his son Ed, and close friend Fred Wright by his side, Kelson assembled a small army of volunteers and went to work. Together, they tirelessly built the hull in an unprecedented 21 days and debuted the new Hallmark Homes U-32 in time to compete at the 1971 Seafair trophy race. Building boats was just a small part of Kelson’s incredible legacy.
During his career as a boat builder, Kelson’s hulls captured over 20 national championships and high point titles, 25 closed course and straightaway records, along with countless regional records, all in the Inboard class. In addition to the boats that he built, Kelson has repaired, rebuilt or refined over 200 race boats. He designed and built every class of Inboard, from the tiny “T” class all the way up to the Unlimited class. In 1976, Kelson built the “Spirit of 76” Division II 7-Litre inboard which later became Pete Thompson’s “Copy Cat”. The hull was a copy of the Kelson built “Pussy Cat” which was primed to set the record at Lake Lawrence in late 1976. In the first heat out, the “Pussy Cat” danced in and out of the record, but it was not enough to qualify as a record. During the same heat, Thompson was also running his hull. When he came back to the pits, having never driven a cabover before, Thompson told Kelson that there was something wrong with the boat. He told him to push it harder. Thompson then proceeded to tell Kelson, “Well ok, you go and drive it then”. Kelson went out in the next heat, having never driven a boat of that size and speed before, and broke the record by more than 4 miles per hour at 99.230mph. For over 60 years, Kelson was a staple in region 10. Joining the SIRA in 1972, Don moved into the commodore position in 1978 and faithfully served there until 1982. He also served as a member of the Inboard Racing Commission and worked as an Inboard race inspector nationally and regionally along with his role as a referee at countless region 10 races.
Excluding all the rebuilds and repair jobs, Kelson also built over 80 new hydroplanes. His unique cowling design was so popular that many people installed his cowling on hulls that were designed and built by other boat builders. His later cowling design was inspired by the Indy cars of the 1980s, with aerodynamics and driver safety in mind. Don then started building, restoring and repairing vintage boats in 2005. You would be hard pressed to find a vintage boat in region 10 that had not gone through his shop at one time or another. His shop was considered by many as “ground zero” and mostly responsible for the rise of the vintage class in the Northwest. As you would probably suspect, three generations of Kelsons have driven hydroplanes; Don, his two sons Ed and Jerry, and his grandson Shaun, all of them being accomplished drivers. In 2009, Don Kelson was honored with the boat builder of the year award at the prestigious Henry Lauterbach Memorial Vintage race boat regatta in Wheeling, West Virginia. Regatta directors Dan and Debbie Joseph recall Kelson being overcome with emotion, saying it was one of the greatest recognitions he had ever received up to that point. It would only get better, as Don was inducted to the APBA Honor Squadron in 2016 for his outstanding contributions to hydroplane racing.
Between 2012 and 2013, I had the pleasure of working with Don at his shop in South Park when the E-36 Joya Mia vintage 280 was being restored. During my visits to the shop, I was blown away by the simplistic nature of Don’s workmanship as he went about his routine, working the wood as if it were a Rembrandt painting. Also, during this timeframe, Don took on a project at the request of the Hydroplane museum to use his shop in building J-stock hydros for the up and coming outboard season. After a few glitches, Don again collaborated with his good friend Ed Karelsen, and along with valuable help from Jerry Kelson and the J-parent alumni, J-stock kits were cut out and successfully built in 5 weeks, just another one of Don’s exceptional contributions to the sport of boat racing. There were very few things that Don could not do when it came to hydroplanes. I spent many of my early racing years in region 10 admiring Don, Annette and the entire Kelson family from afar. I was always extremely impressed with how the family carried themselves with grace and class during every event I participated in. I can think of very few people who I have more respect for than Don Kelson. There is no doubt in my mind that the Kelson legacy will continue to grow through his remaining family members.
The last hull that Don Kelson built was in 1985. After a lengthy search, the hull (the N-20 “Cat’s Meow”) was eventually found and restored at the Kelson shop in 2012 and is now owned by Don’s son Jerry. To this day, the “Cat’s Meow” is one of the finest inboard hydroplanes I have ever seen run straight out of the box after restoration, a true testament to the boat builder that Don was. All you need to do is ask any racer that has driven a Kelson built hydroplane and they will confirm what we already know. When it is all said and done, Don Kelson will undoubtedly be labeled as one of the all-time masters in the field of hydroplane design and construction.
John Woodward – Region 10 Vintage and Historic representative.
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