1962 Indiana Governor's Cup
Ohio River, Madison, Indiana, September 1-2, 1962
Photo Essay
There's never been a deck-to-deck like duel like last year's [1962]
Governor's Cup contest between Bill Muncey, driving Miss Century 21, and
Ron Musson, herding Miss Bardahl. The two plucky charges drove side by
side for four laps and gave race fans one of their biggest racing thrills. Here
is the start of that heat with Fred Alter in the Such Crust on the
outside, Muncey and Musson charging across the line and other boats hidden in
roostertails . . . . . |
Up the backstretch on the second lap Miss Bardahl forges into a lead
of almost a boat length. Musson had been passed on the main stretch by Muncey
but he took the lead away as the hydros roared out of the lower turn. The two
boats, battling at 160 m. p. h. and upwards, were at times almost touching as
they fought for the lead. |
At the end of the third lap, Willard Rhodes' persimmon and white bombshell
grabbed the lead away again as the boats neared the starting line. There wasn't
any doubt that Musson, in the Miss Bardahl, would make another serious
challenge. |
Musson went inside Muncey as the boats came out of the upper turn at the end
of lap number four. Ole Bardahl's Green Dragon responded with a will and by the
time the boats reached the start of the final lap, Musson was a deck length in
front of Muncey. Muncey was later declared the winner when the official
photograph showed Bardahl had jumped the gun at the start, but this
didn't lessen the thrill felt by the thousands of fans who saw the duel.
|
Photos By Gene Barron. Louisville Courier-Journal
(Reprinted from the 1963 Madison Regatta Program)
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