1956 APBA Gold Cup Race
Detroit River, Detroit MI, September 1, 1956

56 Gold Cup

Hydro Hassle in Detroit Taggart Badly Injured as Speed Boat Overturns Slo-Mo-Shun IV Wrecked Miss Pepsi Named Gold Cup Victor '56 Gold Cup Gold Cup Still Up In Air Gold Cup Winner in Doubt Gold Cup Protests Fail Aid Of Detroit And Seattle Newspapers Sought In Gold Cup Motorboat Dispute Boating Body Holds Hearing on Gold Cup Prize Award Enjoined Miss Thriftway Reinstated as Gold Cup Winner Gold Cup Winner Upheld by APBA Court Backs Award to Miss Thriftway

Miss Pepsi ploughs on ahead of Maverick on the Detroit River.

Most unlimited hydroplane jockeys nurse an unlimited hatred for Miss Pepsi. Their own heavy craft are designed to skim the surface, bouncing along on three small hunks of hull. Air flows under the almost flat bellies, and the boats try their best to take off. Almost any bump can send them soaring.

In contrast to the precarious ride of the other boats, Miss Pepsi displaces water like a Sunday speedboat, is kicked along by two 1,500-h.p. Allison aircraft engines, and throws a rough wake that is awesome indeed. 'Riding behind her,' says one driver, 'is like a trip behind the Queen Mary.' To make matters worse, Miss Pepsi's driver, Chuck Thompson, has the quaint habit of taking her for a spin ten minutes before the starting gun. a tactic that is sure to roil the course.

(Reprinted from Time, September 10, 1956).

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