1951 Red Bank Gold Cup
Navesink River, Red Bank NJ, August 11-12, 1951


The Red Bank Gold Cup

bullet Lombardo's Boat Wins at Red Bank
bullet The Red Bank Gold Cup
bullet Statistics

The other event for unlimiteds, the Red Bank Gold Cup free-for-all provided more excitement. Lombardo won the Saturday heat at 82 m.p.h. but in the Sunday finale, with Joe Van Blerck driving, Tempo had trouble getting started as did Gale. While the 225s led by Bob Rowland of Norfolk, Va., in You-All, sped around the course, the unlimiteds sputtered and conked. No one had thought to put gas in Gale's tanks, which was her elementary trouble, but Tempo was finally nudged into life by being pushed by Lombardo in his express cruiser like a stalled car on a rainy morning. She was a lap and a half late, though, and Rowland, who had been second in the first heat, won the cup on points.

Rowland also provided the most thrilling finish of the 34-event program, when he nipped national champ Sid Street of Kansas City by 10 feet in a driving finish to the second heat of the 225s Div. I. Street had better elapsed time and a first heat victory to win the event.

The tiny 48-inchers provided the record breaking fireworks and a lot of the excitement, along with the 135s and outboards, who put on good races but broke no marks. The oily calm water under foggy skies was just to the liking of the 48s. First Bob McAllister of Ventnor, N.J., broke his own mark with a new clocking of 50.920 in his runabout Yankee Boy, but he failed to win the class because of a premature start in the second heat.

Then the runabouts took over. In the first heat Swede Stromstedt of Chicago hit 57.6 for a new record but it only lasted one hour, as Mulford Scull of Ventnor won the second heat in 58.121. Stromstedt was the event winner.

Other notable items included the size and caliber of the outboard fields, the disqualification of Ray Morris of Red Bank in the Jersey Speed Skiffs for having an oversize engine after he had twice set world's records, the sinking of Arnold Apel of Lower Bank, N.J., in his 135, and the capsizing twice of outboarder Doug Creech of Charlotte, N.C., all with no injuries.

Class winners were:

Outboards—A, Gib Peterman, Malverne, L.I.; C, Ken Wolff, Buffalo, N.Y.; M, Steve Gaal, Garfield, N.J.; B, Les Buckman, Baldwin, L.I.; F, D. M. Creech, Charlotte, N.C.

Inboards—225 cu. inch. Div. I, Sid Street, Kansas City, Mo.; 91 cu. inch, Jack Van Deman, Wanamassa, N.J.; 48 cu. inch runabouts, Ruby Scull, Ventnor, N.J.; 48 cu. inch hydro, Swede Stromstedt, Chicago; Jersey Speed Skiffs, Harold Disbrow, Long Branch, N.J.; Class D runabouts, Elwood Pliescott, Cambridge, Md.; Class E runabouts, Sherman Critchfield, St. Petersburg, Fla.; Pacific One-Designs, Dr. Louis Novotny, Los Angeles; 135 cu. inch, Curt Martens, Hampton, Va.; 225 cu. inch Div. II, Frank Foulke, Essex, Md.

(Reprinted from Yachting, September 1951)


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