1953 APBA Gold Cup
Slo-mo-shun IV Keeps Gold Cup
By Ray Krantz
Come Gold Cup race time, and if you’re a wise man, you’ll throw away all your preconceived notions about the race. Except one thing, and that is, never sell Slo-mo-shun IV (of Seattle) short. Even the pre-conceived notion that Slo-mo-shun IV is mostly a straightaway boat went into the limbo this year. Not only is this brown mahogany "water bullet" the fastest motorboat in the world with a one-mile straightaway record of 178.497 m.p.h., set July 7, 1952, but she is a superlative competition boat, completely satisfactory on the turns and all.
This was shown in convincing style August 9 on Seattle’s Lake Washington Gold Cup course, when the Stanley S. Sayres’ craft, flying the Seattle Yacht Club burgee, took first place in all three heats, in the 46th annual Gold Cup race, for a total of 1,200 points, and in so doing, she earned 800 additional points, 400 each, for fastest heat, and fastest 90 miles. This gave her a perfect score of 2,000 points; that’s all a boat can win.
Shortly before the race, in a switch of drivers, Joe Taggart of Canton, Ohio (he drove Al Fallon’s Miss Great Lakes II in the Gold Cup in 1952), took over as pilot of Slo-mo-shun IV. Taggart, on very short notice and with little time to familiarize himself with the boat, turned in a superlatively fine job of driving; he drove the boat in the first and final heats. Lou Fageol, who was to have driven the unlucky Slo-mo-shun V, took over for the second heat. (Pre-race news had indicated that Paul Sawyer would drive. —Ed.)
Taggart, in qualifying Slo-mo-shun IV August 6, set a new qualifying mark of 107.5 m.p.h. for three laps around the new 3.75-mile Gold Cup course. After this performance, Seattle Slo-mo fans breathed easier, because on Wednesday, August 5, just four days before the race, Slo-mo-shun V, Lou Fageol driving, threw a propeller blade during a high speed test run on Lake Washington. She wound up waterlogged close to shore with a broken strut, a corkscrew shaped drive shaft and a sizable hole in her bottom among other things.
A Navy aircraft rescue crane picked up the practically sunken boat, and delivered the boat to Anchor Jensen at the Jensen Motor Boat Corporation yard on Portage Bay where repairs were rushed. Day-and-night work turned out to be in vain, for the morning of the race, Slo-mo-shun V was still in trouble; her shaft was out of line, her magneto was giving trouble, and added to that, she had carburetor trouble. Shortly before race time, it was officially announced that Slo-mo V would not run in the race. She had not qualified before her accident, and was unable to qualify or run the day of the race. This left one Sayres’ boat in the race, Slo-mo-shun IV.
Arrayed against the Sayres’ craft were five Detroit boats, Jack Schafer’s Such Crust V, a Slo-mo type boat, driven by Bill Cantrell; her qualifying speed was 96.9 m.p.h.; Such Crust III; a twin-engine in tandem "monster" measuring 34 feet by 13 feet 8 inches, driven by Chuck Thompson for Jack Schafer, with a qualifying mark of 93.6 m.p.h.; Miss Great Lakes II, owned by Albin Fallon and driven by Dan Foster, with a qualifying speed of 92,9 m.p.h.; fourth boat was Gale II, Joseph Schoenith’s Dan Arena designed 30-footer driven by his son, Lee, and with a qualifying mark of 90.9 and the fifth boat was Miss U.S., owned by George Simon. This latter boat is a brand-new Arena creation, but with a number of "bugs" in her yet to be ironed out. She was dogged by mechanical troubles during qualifying week and raceday; she finally qualified early Sunday morning, August 9, race day, at 88 plus m.p.h.
An estimated 200,000 spectators, on the shores of the lake, and aboard approximately 1,000 spectator-yachts moored to the log boom on the backstretch side of the course, set up a great cheer when Slo-mo-shun IV came out on the course just before the start of the first heat at 2:20 P.M. With Slo-mo V out of the race, it was up to Slo-mo IV to keep the Gold Cup trophy in Seattle; and pitted against her were five very good boats from Detroit.
All six boats made a conventional start around the course, in the first heat, no boat electing to make a run through the pontoon bridge opening at the north end of the course. As the boats roared up to the starting line, Joe Taggart had Slo-mo IV in first place; the gun went off about two seconds before the boat crossed the line, and the race was on. Miss Great Lakes II was a good second, while Such Crust V was third; then followed Miss U.S., Such Crust III and Gale II.
The race was only seconds old when the first boat dropped out. This was Miss Great Lakes II; she conked out in the south turn, first lap, when her drive shaft sheered off clean, just aft of the strut. The same boat had conked out in almost the same place in last year’s race. As things turned out, the boat was all finished for the day, leaving five boats racing.
Meanwhile, Slo-mo-shun IV, coming out of the south turn, was stepped up by Taggart, and it was a beautiful thing to watch the great boat respond, and still be under wraps. Such Crust V was in second place, Gale II third, but at the start of the second lap, Gale II passed Cantrell for second place, Such Crust V then dropping back to third. Such Crust III, doggedly held on to fourth place, while Miss U.S., unable to make much of a showing due to troubles, remained in fifth place. These positions, held until the end of the first heat. Taggart, having worked out a satisfactory lead, was content to maintain his position, and did not push the boat too much, but even so, Slo-mo IV’s first heat average speed of 95.268 m.p.h. turned out to be the fastest heat speed of the day.
Lee Schoenith in Gale II turned in a fine mark of 93.649 m.p.h. first heat average speed, but it appeared obvious that if Gale II had pressed harder, Taggart would have poured on more coal to keep Slo-mo IV in front. Outstanding in the first heat, and during the entire race, was the fine driving turned in by Lee Schoenith in Gale II. Many times he "picked" Slo-mo IV on the turns, only to lose his gain as Taggart used the Sayres’ boat’s terrific acceleration to move out comfortably in front once more.
Taggart’s fastest lap in the first heat was the first lap, at 101.956 m.p.h., largely due to that sizzling burst of speed in the backstretch.
First heat results: First, Slo-mo-shun IV, 18m:53.64s. 400 points; second, Gale II, 19m:13.24s, 300 points; third, Such Crust V, 20m:14.74s. 89.000 m.p.h. average speed, 225 points: fourth, Such Crust III, 20m:47.42s, 86.6 m.p.h. average speed, 169 points; and fifth, Miss. U.S., 25m:48.4.1s, 69.7 m.p.h. average speed, 127 points.
One other feature of the first heat was the lapping all other boats, of the slower-running Miss U.S. Despite the slow time turned in by Miss U.S., most experts agreed that dual boat was being properly and wisely driven.
The second heat of the Gold Cup provided one of those surprises which make the race so interesting: Slo-mo-shun crossed the starting line in last place. The Sayres hydro was driven in this heat by Lou Fageol, at Taggart’s invitation. Fageol, finding his projected lane to the starting line blocked by another boat, was temporarily boxed in. Both Slo-mo IV and Miss U.S. made their starts through the bridge opening—the others swinging around the north turn conventionally. The order at the starting line, second heat; was Such Crust III, Miss U.S., Such Crust V, Gale II and Slo-mo IV.
Slightly chagrined as Slo-mo-shun IV took her first wakes, Fageol went to work, and by the time he had reached the south end of the course, he had passed all boats except Such Crust V. He pulled back on the throttle, and Slo-mo IV caught Cantrell’s boat in the backstretch. Cantrell almost simultaneously was out of the heat, his boat having shed her propeller.
Fageol discovered that Gale II was not to be taken for granted, at the south turn, second lap, when Schoenith overtook him and had had a lead of roughly 100 yards. Slo-mo IV obviously had a bad turn. However, by the time Gale II passed the official barge, third lap, Fageol had Gale II’s lead down, and in the backstretch, same lap, Slo-mo IV went into the lead, and remained there until the finish of the second heat. Once the Sayres boat had a lead the craft was not unduly pushed, for the drivers were taking no chances on the race.
Fageol held his distance pretty well until the fifth lap when Slo-mo IV lapped Miss U.S. on the north turn by the pontoon bridge. Gale II did the same thing in the sixth lap at the same turn. Turning point in the race occurred in the seventh lap, second heat (there were only eight laps to a heat) when Gale II was forced to slow down with a broken cooling line. Fageol had Slo-mo IV out in front, and only mechanical trouble apparently could keep him from winning the second heat. Meanwhile, Miss U.S., in last place, commenced closing the big gap hut she was too far behind to finish better than fourth. Final surprise of the second heat was Chuck Thompson in Such Crust III nipping Gale II at the finish line by two seconds to take second place. This development slightly complicated matters for, if Gale II had finished second, she would have had a better chance of beating Slo-Mo IV, if the latter had faltered in the final heat.
Second heat results: First, Slo-mo-shun IV, 19m:33.73s, 92.014 m.p.h. average speed, 400 points, total 800 points; second. Such Crust III, 20m:55.75s, 86.008 m.p.h., 300 points, total 469 points; third, Gale II, 20m:57.77s, 85.866 m.p.h.. 225 points, total 525 points; and fourth place. Miss U.S., 23m :32.08s, 76.480 m.p.h.
Slo-mo-shun IV, showing signs of strain on her strut, was doctored up by her crew between heats; they installed a new propeller shaft, propeller and rear thrust bearing, when the shaft and propeller reportedly showed signs of stress. The Sayres’ crew were taking no unnecessary chances.
Sidelight: Such Crust V in the second heat was assigned the job of trying to take the second and third heats, if possible, but this strategy was upset when Such Crust V lost her propeller in the first lap of the second heat, and Such Crust III was apparently unable to threaten Slo-Mo IV. Cantrell made a valiant try, anyway.
The third and final heat of the Gold Cup contest started at 6:20 P.M., as the sun neared the horizon. Four boats showed up on the course for the last heat. Miss U.S. electing to sit out the heat because, with shaft mountings out of line, there was danger of seriously damaging the engine by continued running.
Such Crust V, Bill Cantrell driving, with a new propeller, was back in the race again, and she started out impressively, crossing the starting line in first spot. Slo-Mo IV with Joe Taggart driving again, was second, followed by Gale II and Such Crust III, in that order. Cantrell’s lead was short-lived, for Slo-Mo IV moved swiftly into first place in the straightaway, and after rounding the first turn, Taggart hooked on the engine enough to buy a greater margin of lead, then he settled down to the business of the race, with Gale II passing Such Crust V for second place in the backstretch. Gale momentarily moved up on Slo-Mo IV, while Such Crust V came to a halt coming out of the north turn; Cantrell was finished for the day. This left three boats on the course: Slo-Mo IV, Gale II, and Such Crust III. The latter boat was not pushed, but she “lumbered” along doggedly, never giving up.
Gale II meanwhile was being ably driven by young Schoenith, challenging Taggart for all Gale II had to offer. For the first three laps. Gale II trailed Slo-Mo IV by only six or seven seconds, then Gale II commenced throwing oil, and Schoenith slowed down; he was seen to be wiping his goggles each time he passed the official barge. By the end of the fourth lap, Slo-Mo IV had 11 seconds lead on Gale II, but it was 38 seconds at the finish of the fifth circuit. Far behind Gale II, Such Crust III stubbornly held on in third and last place. Taggart, perceiving that he had no serious threat, eased up somewhat on Slo-Mo IV, and “coasted” around the final laps to cross the finish line with an elapsed time of 19m:52.62s, and an average speed of 90.557 m.p.h. Her best lap was the fourth, at 99.684 m.p.h. Having won all three heats, Slo-Mo IV automatically won 400 additional bonus points for the fastest heat, the first, at 95.268 m.p.h.. and 400 more bonus points for the fastest race. This gave the boat her perfect score of 2,000 points.
Gale II finished the final heat in second place, 20m:34.51s, and Such Crust III wound up third with a time of 21m:40.67s. (Gale II earned 300 points in the final heat to bring her race total to 825 points, while Such Crust III added 225 points to her previous 469 to bring her total to 694 points. Miss U.S. was fourth in total points with 296 points, and Such Crust V was last with 225 points in her favor. Miss Great Lakes II, not finishing any heat, failed to garner any points, and Slo-mo-shun V, not qualifying or being able to compete, did not start, did not qualify, and consequently could not earn points.
The race was staged by the Seattle Yacht Club and Greater Seattle, Inc., with Howie Richmond as general chairman of the Gold Cup committee. Richmond's helpers are so numerous, we do not have space to list all, and it would be unfair to print a partial list. Mel Crook was race referee, and he was assisted by an able staff of assistants, including Otto Crocker with his electronic timing equipment, the latter including his new mechanical scanner which measures the speed of a boat in the backstretch.
Slo-mo-shun IV is referred to by racing people who should know, as the “greatest racing boat of all time.” In 1950, she electrified the boating world by setting a new one-mile straightaway speed record over the Sand Point course on Lake Washington, of 160.3235 m.p.h. On July 7, 1952, she upped her own 160 mark to 178.497 m.p.h. over the East Channel course on the big Seattle lake. Back in 1950, she won her first Gold Cup race, at Detroit. In 1951, Slo-mo-shun V, her sister ship, designed especially for competition or course racing, won the Gold Cup at Seattle, Lou Fageol driving. But in 1952, Stanley Dollar, Jr., drove Slo-mo-shun IV to victory in the Gold Cup on Lake Washington; Dollar came up to see his old command triumph once more on the beautiful Seattle lake in the 1953 classic, with Joe Taggart doing the piloting, assisted in one heat by Lou Fageol.
Slo-mo-shun IV also holds the Harmsworth or British International Trophy, won at Detroit in 1950, and several other trophies and marks of minor import. She still remains the Sayres’ family runabout, and has carried more than 200 people at better than 100 m.p.h. on Lake Washington.
Slo-mo-shun, A Happy Boat
From the very beginning, Slo-mo-shun IV has been a “happy” boat; she was practically perfect when first built. True, she has been considerably improved by Sayres since 1950, but there never was anything seriously wrong with the original edition. Outside of Slo-mo-shun V, it is claimed, there is no other water propeller driven boat in the world that can touch her.
Thus, in summary, Slo-Mo IV has won three Gold Cup races, a feat which has been equalled by only one other craft, El Lagarto, which won the 1933, 1934 and 1935 races. (El Lagarto is still in commission on Lake George, N. Y.—
Ed.)
In previous Gold Cup races at Seattle, the boats made 10 laps around a three-mile course; this year, with longer straightaways and a 3.75-mile course, eight times around for a 30-mile heat total. It was expected that the race would produce faster speeds, but there was a hope that the new course would produce a safer race. The latter idea did materialize, for no one was injured. This was not entirely due to the course, for the drivers were keenly aware of the dangers which multiply when they push their craft to unusually high speeds, and the safety of the ’53 race may partly be attributed to their good judgment and skill.
Such Crust III with Chuck Thompson driving did not appear too much of a threat in the race, but when Thompson wheeled the big craft across the finish line in the third heat (the boat had finished the two previous heats), he had made Gold Cup history, for it was the first time that a boat with twin engines, in tandem, had finished a Gold Cup race. Previously, boats within these specifications had uniformly failed to complete the full 90-mile distance. The significance of this accomplishment may be felt in future Gold Cup races, for up to the '53 race, such craft have been figured to conk out sooner or later, and so they have not been too seriously considered by their competition.
Slo-Mo IV, incidentally, sported a new aerodynamically designed vertical tail fin or stabilizer, in the ’53 race, which gave her something of the appearance of a jet plane in profile. This was most noticeable when Taggart was hiking the speed up in the backstretches during this year’s race. The new fin. like the old one, has a fixed adjustment for counteracting torque. Even so, we’re certain Slo-mo-shun IV would have done all right with the old one. She’s that good.
[Reprinted from Motor Boating, September 1953]
| Boat | Fastest Race Bonus Points | Fastest Heat Bonus Points | First Heat Points | Second Heat Points | Third Heat Points | Total Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slo-mo-shun IV | 400 | 400 | 400 | 400 | 400 | 2,000 |
| Gale II | 300 | 225 | 300 | 825 | ||
| Such Crust III | 169 | 300 | 225 | 694 | ||
| Miss U.S. | 127 | 169 | DNS | 296 | ||
| Such Crust V | 225 | DNF | DNF | 225 | ||
| Miss Great Lakes II | DNF | DNS | DNS | |||
| Slo-mo-shun V* | DNS | DNS | DNS | |||
| *Boat not qualified for race; not ready to start race due to accident prior to race, during qualifying week. | ||||||
| Method of Determining Winner: Per heat-400 points for first, 300 for second, 225 for third, 169 for fourth, 127 for fifth. 400 points for fastest (one) 30-mile heat; 400 points for fastest total 90 miles | ||||||