FORMER WORLD SPEEDBOAT RACING CHAMPION KILLED.

BILL STEAD DIES WHEN PLANE CRASHES INTO TAMPA BAY.

St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP) -- BILL STEAD, former world speedboat racing champion who became an air racer, was killed Thursday as his midget plane crashed into Tampa Bay.
STEAD, 42, and from Reno, Nev., was on a test run for an air racing program. Witnesses were quoted as saying that his plane was flying in a pattern with other aircraft when he suddenly pulled out over the Bay, did a couple of turns and crashed.
An autopsy was ordered to determine whether he died before or after his plane fell into the water.
STEAD was regarded as an excellent pilot whohad raced larger aircraft as well as the midgets.
He retired from speedboat racing in 1959 after winning the world title. Earlier, he had survived two near-fatal crackups.
STEAD, a rancher and sportsman, began racing his own hydroplane in 1953. Shortly thereafter, he was critically injured when he bailed out of a hydroplane traveling at 95 miles an hour. He was seriously burned a few years later when his boat, Maverick, exploded on Lake Mead. He later won the world title with Maverick.
STEAD learned to fly on his family's big cattle ranch just northeast of Reno and was considered a seasoned pilot when he was 16 years old.

The Cumberland News Maryland 1966-04-29
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!