Great Racing Promised at the 1910 Regatta of the Mississippi Valley P.B. Assn.
By A. T. Griffith

What they Will Do at Peoria, Ill., This Summer Great Racing Promised at the 1910 Regatta Annual Regatta of the MVPBA Peoria's Big Motor Boat Meet

Peoria, Ill.—The treasurer of the Illinois Valley Yacht Club was paying prize money during the Western Association Regatta here last August; and in this manner, before the engines of racing boats had ceased to pant after a hot brush, nearly $1,400 was paid out. There were no long waits or quibbling among the judges as to the winners. They were announced as they crossed the line and as quickly as they could be rounded back to the judge’s boat they were paid by Treasurer E. H. Gower.

The same men who conducted that regatta will manage the great Regatta of the Mississippi Valley Power Boat Association here next July 4tyh and 5^th. Practically the entire roster of last season’s officers were re-elected early in November, with a special view of successfully carrying out this regatta. They are headed by Commodore Thomas H. Webb, and include Vice-Commodore D. S. Brown, Rear-Commodore F. R. Dennis, Secretary Warren Cowles and Treasurer E. H. Gower. Harry G. Wasson has been named as chairman of the racing committee and operations were immediately commenced. Already every first cash prize in the long list to be paid has been guaranteed by some responsible mercantile house. For instance, a $1,000 cash purse had been hung up by Corning & Co.. for the 40-foot free-for-all. This goes in addition to the $1,000 silver Championship cup donated by Thos. H. Webb, to the M.V.P.B.A., and the $250 National Hotel silver trophy. Cash to the sum of $200 has been put up for the second boat in this event.

Purses for the other standard over all classes have been put up as follows: $100 by the Leisy Brewing Company; 36-foot class, $100 by the M. M. Baker Company; 20-foot class, $100, the Schipper & Block Company; I.V.Y.C. speed boats, $100 by the B. and M. Company. Fifty dollars in cash will be added by the Illinois Valley Yacht Club as a second cash prize in each of these events. Cash for full cabin cruisers, for half cabin cruisers, for novelty races and for decorated boats will also be hung up, to a sum aggregating $2,7000.

The I.V.Y.C. is arranging to send representatives to every motorboat show in the country this Winter and coming Spring in order to set forth the advantages of Peoria’s lake and the now famous five mile course of the Illinois Valley Yacht Club.

(Transcribed from MotorBoat, Dec. 25, 1909, p. 43)

{This seemingly innocent article launches a decades-long battle between the A.P.B.A. and any other organization that would "defile" the spirit of Corinthianism. This fouling of the purity of power boat racing was so seriously taken by the A.P.B.A. that at one point in the early 20’s they announced they would ban anay member of the A.P.B.A. if they competed in a pay-as-you-race event. Although the sums of money in this article seem miniscule, remember that one could buy a Ford Model T for less than $400; so these were grand sums of money, certainly to the folks of the mid west. – GWC}

[Thanks to Greg Calkins for help in preparing this page --LF]

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