Tudor Owen ("Ted") Jones (died January 9, 2000) was a hydroplane designer and builder.

Biography

According to

Tex Johnston Alvin Melvin "Tex" Johnston (August 18, 1914 – October 29, 1998) was an American jet-age test pilot for Bell Aircraft and the Boeing Company. Early life Johnston was born August 18, 1914, in Admire, Kansas, to farmers Alva and Ella Johnst ...

, "Seattleite Ted Jones, a keen marine engineer, designed a revolutionary speedboat, the hydroplane, supported at high speed by two

sponson Sponsons are projections extending from the sides of land vehicles, aircraft or watercraft to provide protection, stability, storage locations, mounting points for weapons or other devices, or equipment housing. Watercraft On watercraft, a spon ...

s - streamlined, buoyant, lateral extensions - attached to the forward sides of the boat's wide, flat body. The hydroplane was powered by an Allison aircraft engine identical to the one I modified for

Cobra II ''Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq'' is a 2006 book written by Michael Gordon (journalist), Michael R. Gordon, chief military correspondent for ''The New York Times'', and Bernard E. Trainor, a retired United State ...

." One of his boats, the

Slo-Mo-Shun IV Stanley St. Claire Sayres (1896 - 17 September 1956) was a hydroplane racer who broke the world water speed record with his "Slo-mo-shun IV" boat. Stanley Sayres was born in Dayton, Washington in 1896, and studied in Walla Walla, Washington at th ...

, won the 1950 Gold Cup, and set a water speed record (160.323 mph) in

Lake Washington Lake Washington is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle. It is the largest lake in King County and the second largest natural lake in the state of Washington, after Lake Chelan. It borders the cities of Seattle on the west, ...

, off

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

(USA)'s Sand Point, on June 26, 1950, breaking the previous (10+ year-old) record (141.740 mph) by almost 20 mph. He also designed several other unlimited hydroplanes that won the

APBA Challenge Cup The Detroit Hydrofest (branded as the Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers Detroit Hydrofest for sponsorship reasons) is a H1 Unlimited hydroplane boat race held in August on the Detroit River in Detroit, Michigan. History The first race held on the Det ...

Legacy

His son, Ron Jones, Sr., and grandson Ron Jones, Jr. both also had distinguished careers with unlimited

hydroplane racing Hydroplane racing (also known as hydro racing) is a sport involving racing hydroplanes on lakes and rivers. It is a popular spectator sport in several countries. Racing circuits International professional outboard hydroplane racing The Union Int ...

Award

He was inducted in the

Motorsports Hall of Fame of America The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) is hall of fame that honors motorsports competitors and contributors from the United States from all disciplines, with categories for Open Wheel, Stock Cars, Powerboats, Drag Racing, Motorcycles, Sp ...

in 2003.Ted Jones
at the

References

2000 deaths American motorboat racers Hydroplanes H1 Unlimited Racing motorboats APBA Challenge Cup Year of birth missing {{US-engineer-stub