Columbia Cup Memories – The GIANT Detergent Box on The River

No matter where you were watching from, when viewing the Columbia Cup, you always knew where the TIDE Boat was.

For a number of years, TIDE Detergent sponsored not only a NASCAR Winston Cup car with Ricky Rudd as the driver in the legendary #5, they also sponsored an unlimited hydroplane.

Besides some of the paint jobs worn by Miss Budweiser,  The Squire Shop, Circus Circus, Miller American and others,  you could argue the TIDE boat was perhaps the most beautiful - or at least "loudest" paint-wise.  She was a part of the very late 80's to mid 90's heydey of boat racing, when you had a large number of national sponsors, including TIDE, Smokin's Joes-Winston Eagle, Budweiser,   and others.

One of the most notable drivers was the talented and aggressive Nate Brown.  He also drove the Smokin' Joes as well.   Watch this video of the TIDE boat flipping in the 1993 Columbia Cup.  Courtesy of cormier industries on YouTube.   Brown was driving the boat that race for George Woods.