1940 APBA Gold Cup
Northport, NY, 1940

More R. P. M. [September 1940]
By "Mel" Crook

Speed, Spray and Spills More R.P.M. [July 1940] Hotsy Totsy III Takes Gold Cup In A Walk Hotsy Totsy Wins in Race For Gold Cup Gold Cup Stays In The East More R.P.M. [Sept. 1940] Gold Cup Class Revisited : 1940

Domestic power boat racing fans made their annual pilgrimage to the temple of boredom this year on August 17, when the Indian Harbor Yacht Club entertained at what has come to be called the Gold Cup "Race." This sort of thing has been going on now for thirty-seven years and is therefore something like the seventeen-year locusts only it happens oftener. The Gold Cup is supposed to be the goal of the A.P.B.A.’s "development class," but the developing must be in reverse in view of the fact that the winner’s fastest heat was slower than any turned in since 1929—that is, if you forget the time Kaye Don did his solo act back in ‘36.

Shortly after noon, all drivers were summoned before Referee Sheldon Clark for a last minute checkup to determine that they were not under the influence of "you-know-what" or otherwise unfit to race. Everyone having passed muster, Jupe Pluvius [Roman rain god, literally "bringer of rain" —LF] stepped forward and put on an intermittent show of rain squalls which continued throughout the day and caused a series of postponements. But with a spectator fleet which the Coast Guard counted at 1,240 boats clamoring for action, the committee decided to buck the elements and suddenly sent word to the pits that the first heat would start in exactly twenty minutes.

The scrambling was something worth watching, and it is certainly to the credit of all the crews that they were able to get six boats out for the start on such ridiculously short notice. The start was ragged, and. the fleet quickly strung out with My Sin and Notre Dame obviously far outclassing the rest. These two beautifully engineered and executed jobs put on a good fight for a couple of laps with Zammy Simmons quite definitely superior as to speed but unable to hold Herb Mendelson’s jockey Danny Arena around the buoys. Simmons was bailing into the turns at speeds around the eighty mark which caused My Sin to act like one of those rodeo broncos.

But speed told in the long run and by the eleventh lap the defender had about a ⅜ mile lead over the Detroit boat. The only difficulty was that the fast turns had done their dirty work. With less than a lap to go, My Sin’s wheel, shaft and strut called it a day. Arena tore on to take the lead, but within a stone’s throw of Simmons’ Waterloo, Notre Dame’s steering gear came unstuck and there went the race so far as spectator interest was concerned. Junior Wood’s runabout had become discouraged on the eighth lap and pulled into the pits.

At this point, everyone started consulting programs to see who the three were who had been so far behind in the early stages that they were completely neglected. They found George Cannon’s three-engined Gray Goose, a pre-race favorite, now offering to driver Hugh Gingras only two motors in running condition. Then there was a fourteen-year-old displacement hull driven by Ed Hudson, tooling along leisurely and comfortably. But just ahead of these two was an outfit which had been on the shelf for several years. In fact, it had been given up as too slow and unmanageable by its first owner, the late Vic Kliesrath, and her last driver, Bill Horn.

Then, just prior to this year’s race, she had been sold for something like a thousand dollars to a young fellow from the opposite shore of Long Island, named Sidney Allen. If this is a new name to you, don’t be surprised because Allen is a complete newcomer to this game, spurred on by a small boat shop he runs as a side line while spending most of his time as the proprietor of roller skating rinks. His driving of Hotsy Totsy was competent if not expert, particularly on the turns, and he improved as he became more familiar with her. His second heat speed was almost six miles an hour better than his first, for instance.

With the two fast boats out of the first heat, and Tinker Toy beyond annoying distance, Allen went on to win. When the second chukker was called, all the original starters again appeared with the exception of Notre Dame, which had been unable to get a tow back to the pits in time to repair her damages. Simmons was late for the start but went right out there and pitched until his damaged strut froze up with him on the third lap. Junior Wood had withdrawn on the first circuit, and the same reliable three went on to finish as before except that the Goose moved up. to second place.

A very downhearted Herb Mendelson sent Dan Arena out in the third stanza to do his darndest, and that he did, turning the thirty miles at 66.65 miles an hour. The limping My Sin managed to make six laps this time, while the triumvirate was disrupted by Gray Goose’s failure on the fourth. Allen and Hudson were flagged off after the nine minute dead line following the finish of the first boat. But when they added up the point score they found that Hotsy Totsy had 800, Miss Syndicate and Gray Goose each 525 and Notre Dame, 400.

So the Gold Cup went to a novice driver and a discarded boat because that driver and that boat, better than any of the others, were able to go out and run a consistent ninety miles. The victorious challenging club was Montauk so that the site of next year’s affair may be the same as that used in 1931 and ‘32.

Between heats of the titular race, there were run off two dingdong sessions for the 225’s. A fleet of ten appeared on the scene, and probably only a certain amount of awe for the 732 inch jobs prevented more from turning up. On a trial run the morning of the race, Jack Cooper ran Tops into a very headstrong bit of flotsam and smashed up one of his pontoons. This threatened to dampen the battle for first place, but the metal sheathing of the flipper was patched up just in time to let Pop make the first heat.

Georgie Schrafft’s new Chrissie took over this one at a little over 65 m.p.h. with Cooper second and Tom Chatfield’s Viper third. In the second heat both Tops and Chrissie got bad starts and had to wade through the welter of also-rans. Coming into the last turn Chatfield was still in the lead and Cooper, making his bid, was forced outside. Everyone figured he was licked but Cooper. He merely hooked out of his slide at the proper second and squared off for the line inside of Chatfield. He won by one length while Chrissie was held back to a third.

In the nightcap event for unlimited inboard runabouts, Dave Gerli took command in his Packard-powered Ventnor job and loped around the five miles at the rate of 55.97 miles, followed by Norm Frey’s Ali Baba, J. T. Kramer’s Davey Jones and Hector Alexander’s Empty Pockets.

(Reprinted from Yachting, September, 1940)

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