1952 President’s Cup Regatta
Miss Pepsi
Wins President's Cup
Chuck
Thompson took Roy and Walter Dossin's Miss Pepsi out for three
effortless 15-mile spins on the Potomac River during the afternoons of Sept.
20-21, following which the Messrs. Dossin were awarded the President's Cup.
Essentially this same thing has transpired at the nation's capitol each
September since 1950.
From this the reader should not infer that Pepsi has starred in three solo victories. Quite the contrary, the annual Washington regatta during those years has attracted unlimited fleets second only to those that appeared for the Gold Cup contests. The point is that not one of the challengers has been able to give the big twin-Allison powered conventional hydro a semblance of a race. Designed by Hacker and built by Staudacher, the Dossin craft has held lap, heat and race records for the Washington course since 1950. This year Thompson boosted the race mark about one m.p.h. by running the 45 miles at an average speed of 84.472.
Four three-pointers were on deck to oppose Pepsi this time: Joe Schoenith's Gale II, with Danny Foster at the wheel; Jack Schafer's Hornet-Crust, driven by Jack Bartlow; Miss Great Lakes II, owned by Al Fallon and piloted by Joe Taggart; and Schafer's Such Crust III, steered by Walter Kade. All were single Allison jobs except the Crust, which sported a pair of Allisons in tandem.
Such Crust dropped out soon after the start of the first heat and was unable to get into any of the later contests. Trailing Pepsi over the finish line in the opener were Great Lakes, Gale and Hornet-Crust, in that order.
The second heat saw Foster nose out Taggart for second place, leaving Gale and Great Lakes tied for second at that stage. Taggart mis-timed his start in the final contest and was compelled to make up a half-mile deficit. From that point until Great Lakes roared inside Gale on the second backstretch and beat the Schoenith boat into the turn, the crowd saw the greatest excitement of the race. Final point standing at the end of the three heats showed Pepsi, of course, on top with Great Lakes second, Gale third and Hornet-Crust fourth.
The two-day program of inboard and outboard events drew large fields in most classes. In fact the B stock outboards were so numerous that they nearly filled to the 16 boat limit each of their two qualification heats. With outboards and limited inboards ensconced in an attractive new pit arrangement on Haines Point in full view of the course, and both wind and driftwood lighter than usual, the contestants should have fond memories of this year's Washington regatta.
Winners in the scheduled classes were:
Midget outboard hydro -- Emil
Mayer
A outboard hydro -- Gil Petermann
B outboard hydro -- E. J. Crabbe
C outboard hydro -- Vic Scott
B stock outboard -- N. Brewington
C stock outboard -- A. W. Seeley
D stock outboard -- Douglas Stone
136 stock inboard hydro -- Bill Brown
PODH inboard -- Frank Kocsis
48 inboard hydro -- John McKeever
D racing inboard runabout -- Elwood Pliescott
E racing inboard runabout -- H. G. Hibbert
266 inboard hydro -- C. A. Widenhouse
7 litre inboard hydro -- Burnett Bartley, Jr.
135 inboard hydro -- Bob Bourcz
E service inboard runabout -- Enoch Walker
D service inboard runabout -- Harry Bickford
F service inboard runabout -- H. G. Hibbert
--W. Melvin Crook
(Reprinted from Yachting)
Hydroplane
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