1953 Detroit Memorial
Speed Boats Begin Trials Wednesday
Five Unlimited Class Craft to Compete for 2 Trophies at Detroit Saturday
It would be hard to find a lake river, bay, harbor, creek or mud pond that won't have some kind of a speed boat regatta over the corning Fourth of July weekend. No section of the country will be without the exciting daredeviltry.
Along the Eastern coast, outboard hydroplanes will have their big time Saturday at May's Landing, N. J., and although Stock Utilities and other varieties of outboard will diverge to many a race meet, the two-day regatta in tidewater Virginia, with pits at the famous Hampton (Va.) Institute, will be a magnet attracting outboards on Saturday and the fleet of inboard hydroplanes up through the 266-cubic-inch class on Sunday.
In Detroit the "week-end" will begin Wednesday with qualifying trials for the mammoth unlimiteds that will participate Saturday in a double-barrelled race. This will be the annual Detroit Memorial Regatta for the Henry Ford Memorial Trophy and also for the Maple Leaf Trophy, usually up for competition across the river at Windsor, Ont., but this year moved to Detroit because adequate pit facilities were lacking at Windsor.
Gold Cup Next on List
This will be the only unlimited event prior to the Gold Cup regatta at Seattle on Aug. 9. Five ships, some of them new, will compete in Detroit. Jack Schafer has entered Such Crust III and Such Crust V, the former to be driven by Chuck Thompson and the latter by another lead-footed old hand, Bill Cantrell.
Danny Foster is scheduled to drive Albin Fallon's Miss Great Lakes, and Dan Arena the Miss United States [Miss U.S.] of George Simon. Joseph Schoenith is undecided about racing his new Gale III or his older Gale II. In either case his son, Lee, recently demobilized from service in Korea, will be the driver.
In the qualifying trials each craft must make one three-mile lap at 60 miles an hour or faster. Other events in the Detroit meet will be for 266's, 225's. 135's, 48's and seven liter boats. The sponsor is the Detroit River Racing Association.
Entries for the Hampton regatta are being handled by Frank Martin, 1005 Victoria Blvd., Hampton, Va. The winner of the 266-cubic inch event will also take the Virginia Cup.
[Reprinted from the New York Times, June 28, 1953]