The first West Coast Unlimited hydroplane race to count for APBA National Points was
the 1951 APBA Gold Cup on Seattle's Lake Washington. Slo-mo-shun IV had won the
1950 Gold Cup in Detroit and had earned the right to defend her title on home waters, as
per the then-current rules.
Slo-mo-shun V emerged victorious in 1951 with Lou Fageol at the wheel. Slo-mo V set a world lap speed record of 108 miles per hour on the first lap of the first heat. The race was declared a contest on the basis of two completed 30-mile heats on a 3-mile course, after the fatal accident involving Quicksilver, a Rolls-Royce Merlin-powered step hydroplane from Portland, Oregon.
Also in attendance that first year in Seattle were Miss Pepsi, Gale II, My Sweetie, Hornet, Such Crust, and Gold'n Crust from Detroit, Hurricane IV from Los Angeles, and Dee-Jay V from Philadelphia.
© Fred Farley. For reprint rights to this article, please contact the author at <fredf@hotmail.com>