1972 Seafair Trophy Another Chapter Being Written in Seattle’s Hydroplane History
Lake Washington, Seattle WA, August 6, 1972
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It is a rich history — dotted with tragedy, a bitter intercity rivalry, fist-shaking arguments and thrills aplenty.
On that day in June Sayres drove his Slo-Mo-Shun IV to a world straightaway record — 160.323 miles an hour — on Lake Washington. It caught the city by surprise — few had ever heard of a hydroplane. But by the time the Gold Cup starting gun sounded a year later, the Queen City’s love affair with the big hydros was in full bloom.
After the straightway record, Ted Jones took the Slo-Mo IV to Detroit and won the Gold Cup away from the Motor City. That brought the thunderboats to Seattle in 1951 — a year in which the excited Seattleites sponsored two events — the Gold Cup and the first Seafair race.
1951 — Lou Fageol piloted the Slo-Mo V, sister ship to the Slo-Mo IV, to victory in a Gold Cup marred by the deaths of Orth Mathiot and Thompson Whitaker. The driver and riding mechanic went down with the Quicksilver, a home-made Portland boat, when it crashed during the third heat. Jones, who designed the Slo-Mo boats, drove the V to a Seafair victory on a five-mile course.
1952 — Stanley Dollar drove the Slo-Mo IV to victory. The IV was the only boat to finish. Such Crust, from Detroit, burned on the south turn, seriously injuring Bill Cantrell. Prior to the Gold Cup, Sayres upped the straightaway record to 178.497 m. p. h. with the Slo-Mo IV.
1953 — The Slo-Mo IV won another Gold Cup. Joe Taggart and Fageol shared driving duties. The Slo-Mo V, with Fageol driving, sank during a test run and did not compete in the race.
1954 — Bill Cantrell grabbed the headlines away from the race winner — Fageol in the Slo-Mo V. Cantrell’s boat, the Gale IV, went out of control and ran aground near the Mount Baker pits. The boat jumped a flower bed and came to rest in the middle of a family picnic.
1955 — The Seattle-Detroit feud heated up when Lee Schoenith captured the Gold Cup for the Gale team. But it wasn’t easy. Schoenith placed second, second and third in heats. A youngster named Bill Muncey in the Seattle-based Miss Thriftway scored two firsts and a third. Schoenith was awarded 400 "bonus" points for faster elapsed time and won on points, 1,225 to 1,025.
Fageol was seriously injured in a spectacular somersault flip of the Slo-Mo V during qualifying. Mel Crook, referee, ruled against the "flying start" from under the Floating Bridge, a trademark of the Slo-Mo boats. The ruling was protested, and counter-protested, and Crook resigned as a result of the tiff.
1956 — Muncey and the Thriftway went to Detroit to win back the Gold Cup for Seattle. They did it, but it took 86 days of closed-door hearings. Course officials said Muncey hit a buoy and awarded the trophy to Miss Pepsi. From Seattle came the cry of "Detroit trick" and the fight was on. Taggart was seriously injured in a test-run accident on the Detroit River. The Slo-Mo IV was rebuilt and now rests in the Seattle Museum of History and Industry.
1957 — Muncey and the Thriftway win the Gold Cup in Seattle, setting a race record of 101.979 m. p. h. Muncey was injured in the Madison, Ind , race and Col. Russ Schleeh was hurt in a President’s Cup accident. Jack Regas pushed the Hawaii Kai to 187.627 m. p. h. to up the straightaway record.
1958 — Regas won the Seattle Gold Cup in the Hawaii Kai. Muncey’s Thriftway lost a rudder and rammed a Coast Guard utility boat during the race. Muncey and five Guardsmen were injured. The Coast Guard boat, with the Thriftway protruding from its hull, went down in a few seconds.
1959 — Bill Stead, driving the Maverick, won the Gold Cup on Lake Washington on his way to the national championship. The Maverick and Muncey’s Thriftway finished the Gold Cup with 1,325 points each, but Stead won with a faster elapsed time.
1960 — Muncey won the Seafair race on a Monday. The final heat on Sunday was called off after two accidents — Don Wilson was severely burned in a fire aboard the Miss U. S. and Schleeh bailed out when the Thriftway Too caught fire. Muncey upped the mile mark to 192:901 m. p. h. The Gold Cup was declared "no contest" when winds swept Lake Mead for two straight days.
1961 — Ron Musson won the Seafair event in the Bardahl. Muncey took the Gold Cup on Lake Pyramid in the Century 21 (renamed Thriftway).
1962 — Muncey won another Gold Cup—his fourth—with the Century 21 on Lake Washington. Dallas Sartz was injured as the Miss Seattle Too nosedived during the first heat of the Gold Cup. Roy Duby, driving the Miss U. S., set the mile mark at 200.419 m. p. h. on Lake Guntersville, Ala. The record still stands.
1963 — Elapsed time again decided the outcome of the Seattle race. Chuck Thompson got the Seafair trophy. The Gold Cup went to the city submitting the highest bid. Detroit got the race for $36,250. It was won by Musson and the Bardahl.
1964 — The Bardahl took the Gold Cup and the Seafair. Again, it was elapsed time that decided the Seattle event. Musson edged Bill Brow in the Exide by two tenths of a second.
1965 — Musson won the Gold Cup on Lake Washington in the Bardahl. He also won three other races and the national title.
1966 — Tragedy struck as five drivers died—three in one race. Musson, Wilson and Rex Manchester were killed in the President’s Cup. A week later, in the Detroit Gold Cup, Chuck Thompson was killed. Stead was killed in an airplane crash. Jim Ranger and the My Gypsy won the Seafair, and Mira Slovak won the Gold Cup in Tahoe Miss.
1967 — Death continued to stalk the hydro family. Bill Brow was killed when the Budweiser flipped in Tampa. Bill Schumacher, in a new Bardahl, won the Seattle Gold Cup and easily carried off the national title.
1968 — Death again. Col. Warner Gardner died in a Gold Cup accident in Detroit. Muncey won the World’s Championship race in Seattle, and the Schumacher-Bardahl combo took the national title.
1969 — Bill Sterett, Sr., in the Budweiser, won the Seafair, the Gold Cup and the national title.
1970 — The Budweiser crashed and sank during the Atomic Cup in the Tri-Cities. After a rush-rush repair job, Dean Chenoweth piloted the Bud to victory in the Seafair two weeks later. Tommy Fults was killed while testing the Lil’ Buzzard for the Gold Cup in San Diego. Chenoweth won the Gold Cup and the national crown.
1971 — The Budweiser edged the Miss Madison and Pride of Pay ‘n Pak for the national title. Jim McCormick in the Madison was a surprise winner in the Gold Cup in Madison, Ind. The Pay ‘n Pak took the final three races of the season, in eluding the Seafair, but couldn’t overtake the Bud.
| Lake Washington Hydro History | ||||
| Year | Event | Boat | Driver | Average Speed |
| 1951 | Gold Cup | Slo-Mo V | Fageol | 90.57 |
| *1951 | Seafair | Slo-Mo V | Ted Jones | 107.503 |
| 1952 | Gold Cup | Slo-Mo IV | Dollar | 79.928 |
| 1953 | Gold Cup | Slo-Mo IV | Fageol-Taggart | 92.613 |
| 1954 | Gold Cup | Slo-Mo V | Fageol | 99.104 |
| 1955 | Gold Cup | Gale V. | L. Schoenith | 99.506 |
| 1956 | Seafair | Shanty I | Schleeh | 105.666 |
| 1957 | Gold Cup | Thriftway | Muncey | 101.969 |
| 1959 | Gold Cup | Hawaii Kai | Regas | 103.481 |
| 1960 | Seafair | Thriftway | Muncey | 105.675 |
| 1961 | Seafair | Bardahl | Musson | 106.733 |
| 1962 | Gold Cup | Century 21 | Muncey | 100.074 |
| 1963 | Seafair | Tahoe Miss | Thompson | 109.459 |
| 1964 | Seafair | Bardahl | Musson | 106.523 |
| 1965 | Gold Cup | Bardahl | Musson | 103.132 |
| 1966 | Seafair | My Gypsy | Ranger | 99.668 |
| 1967 | Gold Cup | Bardahl | Schumacher | 101.561 |
| 1968 | World Championship | U. S. | Muncey | 100.521 |
| 1969 | Seafair | Budweiser | Sterett | 105.448 |
| 1970 | Seafair | Budweiser | Chenoweth | 96.591 |
| 1971 | Seafair | Pay ‘n Pak | Schumacher | 107.623 |
| *Five-mile course | ||||
| Hydro Timer | |||||
| A hydro’s average speed for one three mile lap may be calculated by entering the table below with the time in minutes and seconds, it takes the boat to complete the lap. | |||||
| Min. | Sec. | MPH | Min. | Sec. | MPH |
| 1 | 26 | 126.6 | 1 | 56 | 93.1 |
| 1 | 27 | 124 | 1 | 57 | 92.3 |
| 1 | 28 | 122.7 | 1 | 58 | 91.5 |
| 1 | 29 | 121.4 | 1 | 59 | 90.8 |
| 1 | 30 | 120.0 | 2 | 00 | 90.0 |
| 1 | 31 | 118. | 2 | 01 | 89.3 |
| 1 | 32 | 117.4 | 2 | 02 | 88.5 |
| 1 | 33 | 116.1 | 2 | 03 | 87.8 |
| 1 | 34 | 115.0 | 2 | 04 | 87.1 |
| 1 | 35 | 113.7 | 2 | 05 | 86.4 |
| 1 | 36, | 112.5 | 2 | 06 | 85.7 |
| 1 | 37 | 111.2 | 2 | 07 | 85.3 |
| 1 | 38 | 110.2 | 2 | 08 | 84.4 |
| 1 | 39 | 109.1 | 2 | 09 | 83.7 |
| 1 | 40 | 108.0 | 2 | 10 | 83.1 |
| 1 | 41 | 106.9 | 2 | 11 | 82.4 |
| l | 42 | 105.9 | 2 | 12 | 81.8 |
| 1 | 43 | 144.8 | 2 | 13 | 81.2 |
| 1 | 44 | 103.8 | 2 | 14 | 80.6 |
| 1 | 45 | 102.9 | 2 | 15 | 80.0 |
| 1 | 46 | 101.9 | 2 | 16 | 79.4 |
| 1 | 47 | 100.9 | 2 | 17 | 78.8 |
| 1 | 48 | 100.0 | 2 | 18 | 78.3 |
| 1 | 49 | 99.1 | 2 | 19 | 77.7 |
| 1 | 50 | 98.2 | 2 | 20 | 77.1 |
| 1 | 51 | 97.3 | 2 | 21 | 76.6 |
| 1 | 52 | 96.4 | 2 | 22 | 76.1 |
| 1 | 53 | 95.6 | 2 | 23 | 75.5 |
| 1 | 54 | 94.7 | 2 | 24 | 75.0 |
| 1 | 55 | 93.9 | 2 | 25 | 74.5 |
Reprinted from The Seattle Times, August 6, 1972)
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