1952 President’s Cup Regatta
Potomac River, Washington, DC, September 21, 1952

First President’s Cup Heat Taken by Thompson
Pilots Miss Pepsi to Victory Over Miss Great Lakes in Regatta at Washington
By Clarence E. Lovejoy

bullet Record Fleet Seen In President's Cup
bullet First President's Cup Heat Taken by Thompson
bullet Miss Pepsi Takes President's Cup for Third Straight Year
bullet The 1952 President's Cup Regatta
bullet Miss Pepsi Wins President's Cup
bullet Statistics

WASHINGTON, Sept. 20—The sleek, dark mahogany speed boat Miss Pepsi and her driver, Chuck Thompson of Detroit, who has made it a habit of winning the President’s Cup regatta here on the sometimes rough Potomac River, tonight seemed headed in the same direction once more.

In the first of the grueling fifteen-mile heats late this afternoon, this super-powered mammoth of the waterways, owned by the Dossin Brothers, Walter and Roy, of Detroit, led home a fleet of four finishers of a starting fleet of five from what was the best race for unlimiteds and Gold Cup craft this season. The two other heats are scheduled for tomorrow.

A year ago the same Miss Pepsi, with Thompson in the cockpit, won the famous trophy inaugurated back in Calvin Coolidge’s Administration and except for war days contested each September ever since.

While most of the unlimiteds are powered with one Allison aircraft engine of 1,710 cubic inches, Miss Pepsi is rigged with two of them, fore and aft, with one gear box between them. This means 3,421 cubic inches of engine displacement or about 3,500 horsepower under the hatches.

More than a quarter of a mile astern at the finish was Miss Great Lakes [II], the new creation owned by Albin Fallon of Detroit and piloted today by Joe Taggart of Canton, Ohio. She was a good runner-up, but the thousands of spectators had the suspicion Miss Pepsi could have widened the margin if forced.

Gale II Finishes Third

Third was J. L. Schoenith’s Gale II from Detroit, driven by the red-headed Danny Foster of Grosse Point Woods and a poor fourth was the synthetic entry bearing the name Hornet on the port side And painted Such Crust on the starboard, indicating that she is jointly entered by Major Horace E. Dodge and Jack Schafer of Detroit.

Schafer’s other pride, Such Crust III, also with twin Allisons for power, was the fifth entry, that conked out forlornly before completing the first lap, again a victim of mechanical trouble that is the nemesis of all owners of these expensive hobby toys. Usually it is gear box trouble. Today it was, a broken throttle wire.

* * *

President’s Cup (Six Laps, Fifteen Miles)

First Heat — 1. Miss Pepsi, Roy and Walter Dossin, Detroit, driven by Charles Thompson, Detroit; 2. Miss Great Lakes, Albin Fallon, Detroit, driven by Joseph Taggart, Canton, Ohio; 3. Gale II, Joseph Schoenith, Detroit, driven by Danny Foster, Detroit; 4. Hornet-Such Crust, Jack Schafer, Detroit driven by Jack Bartlow, Detroit

Time — 10:37 2/5,

Speed — 84.72 mph.

Such Crust III, Jack Schafer, Detroit, driven by Walter W. Kade, Detroit, did not finish.

(Reprinted from the New York Times, September 21, 1952)

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