1950 APBA Gold Cup
Detroit River, Detroit MI, July 22,1950

Gold Cup Goes West
Slo-mo-shun beats Tempo While Setting Heat and Race Records
By William Jones

"Miss Seattle" Will Go East to Compete In Gold Cup Races Record Holder in Gold Cup Qualifying Trials for Gold Cup Speed-Boat Regatta Slo-Mo-Shun in Smashing, Decisive Victory Slo-Mo-Shun Wins Gold Cup Regatta Slo-Mo-Shun IV Wins Gold Cup Gold Cup Goes West Statistics

Slo-Mo-Shun IV, the fastest boat in the world on the straightaway, proved her merit in competition on July 22, as she lapped the field in the first heat and went on to a clean sweep victory in the 43^rd running of the American Power Boat Association’s famous Challenge (Gold) Cup Race on the Detroit River. Stanley S. Sayres, owner of Slo-Mo-Shun, said he will take the Gold Cup back to Seattle, and has indicated his desire to defend the Cup on Lake Washington, where he drove Slo-Mo-Shun to a world mark of 160.323 mph on June 26.

As was the case last year, the record book was rewritten by expertly-designed Allison-powered hulls. And, again, a speedy and dependable boat has come out of the west to thrill the racing world with her prowess, Like Skip-a-Long, an important part of Slo-Mo-Shun’s success lay in her dependability. However, the smooth-riding Seattle craft was never extended in the Gold Cup Race, according to her designer-driver, Ted Jones.

On her first lap in competition, Slo-Mo-Shun broke the old three-mile Gold Cup Lap record of 77.911 mph, set by Miss Golden Gate III in 1946. Slo-Mo-Shun’s speed of 80.119 mph gave immediate notice of things to come. This mark was later shattered by My Sweetie’s 86.200 mph on the fourth lap of the second heat, But Slo-Mo-Shun went on to set a new heat record of 80.987 mph for thirty miles and a new race record of 78.216 mph for the ninety miles. My Sweetie set the old heat record of 78.645 mph, and Skip-A-Long set the old race record of 75.559, in the 1949 classic.

Overshadowed by Slo-Mo-Shun’s impressive performance, but certainly not eclipsed, was that of the 225-class boat, Blitz III, and owner-driver Bob Bogie of Saranac Lake, N. Y. Bogie, a wounded World War II veteran, had qualified his boat for the Gold Cup Race. Rather than enter the first heat of the race for the Class I 225’s, which preceded the first Gold Cup Heat, he passed that up to race against the larger Gold Cuppers whose engines have about six times as many cubic inches displacement. After finishing a creditable fourth in the first thirty-mile heat, he changed from gasoline to an alcohol fuel and came back to take first place in the second and third heats of the 225 race and walk off with the Edenburn Trophy. When asked if he had experienced any difficulty in his busy afternoon, Bogie said, "No, everything went fine" "The only thing was that my engine was a little rough at first after I changed from gasoline to alcohol."

There had been some talk about flagging interest on the part of speedboat racing fans at the end of last year’s busy racing schedule hi Detroit. However, the International Regatta Association, in conjunction with many cooperating sponsoring organizations, courageously worked up a full program again this year. Having Slo-Mo-Shun, the world’s record holder for speed on the water, as one of the challengers for the Gold Cup gave whatever added impetus that was needed to get the 1950 Detroit racing season off to a good start. All through the week previous to the race, interested fans congregated at vantage points along the river front in hope of catching a glimpse of the Seattle Speedster and other promising challengers. Many spots were unusually crowded at the early hour of 6:00 a.m. on the mornings that qualification trials were scheduled. And this interest was especially enhanced during the running of the races by the very competent running commentary transmitted to the fans by the public address system.

A large field of 21 boats had entered challenges in time to be eligible for the qualifying trials. However, spectacular accidents and bad luck reduced the field to nine boats at starting time. One of the most crucial accidents was that involving Bill Cantrell, driver of the defending champion, My Sweetie. Cantrell was the first to qualify in My Sweetie, which is owned by Horace E. Dodge. After doing so, he directed his attention to Dodge’s Delphine X, a 38-foot hull with two Allisons and twin screws. In negotiating the lower turn during, the qualifying run, Delphine X went out of control and. capsized, hurling the crew into the water with fearful force. One of his riding-mates was seriously injured, but Cantrell escaped with a severe bruising. This mishap made it questionable whether Cantrell would himself able to drive the defending boat in the Gold Cup Race. It was ironic that despite the fact that the course had been altered to include a controversial hairpin turn at the upper end of the course, Cantrell’s accident occurred at the more conventional south turn on the course.

The sky was as uncertain as the outcome of the race as the time drew near for the first ripple. The breeze was light. The water was flat with a fast chop. And if rain held off, conditions would lie close to ideal for racing. Word was received that Etta would not start due to mechanical difficulty, and Detroit partisans were cheered by the news that Bill Cantrell would drive the defending My Sweetie in the first heat.

Excitement was heightened at the start because a Coast Guard boat nearly blundered out into the path of the racers as they plunged up the homestretch toward the starting line. The cries of anxious spectators were, soon drowned out by snarling engines as the pack hurtled over the starting line. Blitz III and Such Crust II led Slo-Mo-Shun over the starting line followed closely by My Sweetie, Tempo, Dee Jay, Such Crust I and Chaz. The Detroit newspapers had made quite a point over the fact that, despite setting the world record on. The straightaway, Slo-Mo-Shun was a question-mark with regard to turning ability. But coming out of the sharp first turn, Slo-Mo-Shun had passed Blitz and Such Crust II and was in first place. She accelerated nicely. Her stern rose out of the water and her twin-plumed rooster-tail sprayed upward as her speed increased. She proved to be a larger version of the prop-rider type of hull, which has been dominating the smaller classes. And she was one of the most stable-riding boats in the race.

Such Crust II had pulled by Blitz and Tempo had moved in close, but by the end of the backstretch, My Sweetie had passed them all and moved into second place. As they came over the line at the end of the first lap, Slo-Mo-Shun had a 13 3/5 seconds lead over My Sweetie, which was followed by Such Crusts I and II, Tempo, Dee Jay, Blitz and Chaz, in that order. Coming into the backstretch, Slo-Mo-Shun, whose profile is an arrow, was riding like one also as she opened a lead of about a quarter of a mile over second-placed My Sweetie. Such Crusts I and II and Tempo followed in that order. Slo-Mo-Shun had lapped Chaz and opened, her lead over My Sweetie to 22 2/5 seconds by the time she dashed by the line at the completion of her second lap. Tempo had passed Such Crust II and moved into fourth place behind Such Crust I, which was in third, as she completed her second lap. Dee Jay followed Such Crust II, and was in sixth position.

The pace was increasing, and it was no longer possible to take two fixes on the pack as they negotiated each lap. By the time the placed boats had cleared the judges stand and were in the upper first turn, Slo-Mo-Shun, in the lead, was moving into the south turn. As designer-driver Jones guided his speeding mount by the stands at the end of the third lap, Slo-Mo-Shun had opened a half-mile lead over My Sweetie, which was 35 4/5 seconds ahead of Tempo. Tempo had moved into third place when Such Crust I dropped out with mechanical difficulty. Such Crust II and Dee Jay followed in that order. In her fourth lap, Slo-Mo-Shun continued to press her superiority and picked up on the lagers of the field. She had almost a half lap lead on My Sweetie at the end of the fourth lap. At the end of the fifth lap she was lapping Chaz for the second time and had increased her margin over the rest of the boats.

By the end of the seventh lap, Slo-Mo-Shun had lapped Blitz and was going by Such Crust II. She finished her eighth lap riding in her thrillingly-smooth way with the roar of her engine and the spurts of her roostertail attesting to her great speed. She lapped Tempo on the back stretch and was chasing Cantrell in My Sweetie at the end of the ninth lap.

Following Sweetie were Tempo, Such Crust II and Blitz, in that order. Throughout the tenth lap, Slo-Mo-Shun kept inching up on My Sweetie until only a few hundred feet separated them as they roared into the homestretch, With a powerful burst Of speed Slo-Mo-Shun challenged Sweetie, caught and passed her and streaked over the finish line. It was a resounding victory for Jones and the fleet Slo-Mo-Shun. It left little idea in people’s minds of the changes of fortune which would take place in the next heat. Slo-Mo-Shun’s average speed of 80.151 mph established a new heat record, breaking that of 78.645 mph set by My Sweetie last year. Her mark of 83.520 mph for the second lap exceeded her speed for the first which had broken the old three-mile lap record set by Dan Arena in Miss Golden Gate III in 1946. But both of these marks proved, to be short-lived.

Before the start of the second heat, word was received from the pits that neither Such Crust I nor II would be able to start the second heat due to gear box trouble. And word that Bill Cantrell was unable to continue in My Sweetie due to the injuries he suffered earlier in the week made the outlook dim for the possibility of a good race developing. However, diminutive Lou Fageol, who took over for the injured Cantrell, sent hopes soaring when he urged My Sweetie over the starting line ahead of Tempo and

Slo-Mo-Shun and opened a lead of a hundred yards in the backstretch. Slo-Mo-Shun pulled up on Tempo and was in second place at the south turn. Norman Lauterbach, driving Dee Jay, made a late start about that time.

The other three boats were ranged about a hundred yards apart as My Sweetie, Slo-Mo-Shun and Tempo finished their first lap. On the back stretch of the second lap, My Sweetie was pulling away, to the delight of the local rooters, and the first three boats were spread about three hundred yards apart. The boats completed the second lap with My Sweetie three hundred yards ahead of Slo-Mo-Shun, which was in turn about a quarter of a mile ahead of Tempo.

When Dee Jay passed the stands at the end of her second lap she was dancing dangerously on her sponsons as Lauterbach drove desperately seeking to make up lost time. She went into the dangerous north turn too fast, tripped, flipped sideways and dumped driver and mechanic into the water before sinking out of sight. Neither of the crew was injured seriously. All this diverted the fans’ attention only momentarily for My Sweetie was continuing to stand off Slo-Mo-Shun, which had become the boat to beat. My Sweetie continued to pull gradually away from Slo-Mo-Shun as Tempo, in third place, fell farther and farther off the pace. By the end of the seventh lap, My Sweetie had opened a half-mile lead on Slo-Mo-Shun, which seemed content to "ride it out" for second place points. However, it was learned later that her engine had shifted about two inches on her bed and Jones was driving cautiously in order that no more damage might ensue.

My Sweetie lapped Tempo on the back stretch of her eighth lap and had a three-eighths of a lap lead over Slo-Mo-Shun going into the ninth lap. The positions of the two leaders were relatively the same at the end of the ninth lap and Slo-Mo-Shun was moving into position to lap Tempo. As My Sweetie passed along the backstretch, her engine coughed and everyone’s heart missed a heat. Even those who favored the west coast boat admired the ride that Lou Fageol was giving My Sweetie and were anticipating a thrilling third heat should he win the second. But My Sweetie’s engine died at the south end of the backstretch to the dismay of the Detroiters whose hopes for a Gold Cup Race in Detroit in 1951 seemed to die also. Slo-Mo-Shun came relentlessly on, passed the idle Sweetie, lapped the smooth but slow Tempo, churned through the south turn, and dashed by the Judges’ stand to take the second heat. My Sweetie’s pilot, Lou Fageol, said later that as he passed the stands at the end of his ninth lap, he saw the oil pressure drop. He had hoped to nurse My Sweetie through the last lap, but had no such luck.

From there in, the race was strictly a formality. Tempo VI was the only other boat that had a chance to win. And that was only if Slo-Mo-Shun failed to finish. The point totals at the end of the second heat were: Slo-Mo-Shun 800, Tempo 525, My Sweetie 300 and Blitz 169. And Slo-Mo-Shun had a lien on the 400-point bonuses for the fastest heat end fastest race. Only three boats, Chaz, Tempo, and Slo-Mo-Shun appeared on the course for the third heat. Tempo led Slo-Mo-Shun over the line by twenty yards in a slow start with Chaz far back. But Slo-Mo-Shun beat Tempo on the turn and went into the backstretch in first place. Slo-Mo-Shun was beginnig to "wind it up" at the end of the first lap and Tempo was hanging on. As Chaz passed along the lower part of the backstretch of her first lap, a geyser of water surged up in the mechanic’s face from a hole stove in her bottom. The crew was picked up by the Coast Guard, and they got a line on the boat before she sank.

Slo-Mo-Shun continued to take tight turns; and Lombardo, in Tempo would swing wide. Jones, in Slo-Mo-Shun, seemed to be content to loaf on the downstream backstretch and then "gun it" a bit as he came up the homestretch before plunging into the north turn beyond the Judges’ stand. At the end of the second lap, SloMo-Shun had a quarter-lap lead over Tempo, and she was never challenged from then on as she finished the thirty miles to complete her clean sweep victory.

*includes 400 points for fastest heat and 400 points for fastest race.

After the race, the winner, Slo-Mo-Shun, with driver-designer Ted Jones and Mechanic Mike Welsh, was towed to the Detroit Yacht Club dock where the presentation of the Gold Cup was made to them and owner Stanley S. Sayres. Symbolic of the reluctance of Detroiters to part with the Gold Cup was the delay in presenting the cup occasioned by set screws sticking to prevent the removal of its glass cover. And the Seattle group was jokingly warned not to become too attached to the cup because the Detroiters were only loaning it to them for a year. They promised that they would be out in force after it again next year.

Although satisfied with their day’s work, Slo-Mo-Shun crew was looking forward to other events on the Detroit racing calendar. And her sterling Gold Cup performance coupled with her record-setting dash made Slo-Mo-Shun a virtual cinch to be named as one of the three-boat team to defend the Harmsworth Trophy in September.

In view of the skepticism about Slo-Mo-Shun’s turning ability, this correspondent sought its crew’s feelings about this. Both owner Sayres and driver Jones said that they were absolutely satisfied with the boat’s performance and that they contemplated no changes whatever in the boat before the next race, When asked whether the boat had been "wide open" at any time, Jones said that it had not, and that there had not been any need to extend it.

[Reprinted from Motor Boating, September, 1950, pp.18-20, 76-9

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