1954 Mapes Mile-High Gold Cup

Breathless To Race in Gold Cup

1954 Mapes Gold Cup
1954 Mapes Gold Cup

TAHOE CITY (Calif.), Aug. 3.—Two Lake Tahoe entries In the Gold Cup races for unlimited hydroplanes will challenge a field of eleven speedboats at Seattle Saturday. Should either boat capture the blue ribbon of water racing events, the 1950 race would be moved to Lake Tahoe as a tribute to the winner.

Lake Tahoe challengers of the four time Gold Cup winners Slo-Mo-Shun IV and V are J. Phillip Murphy of Piedmont and William M. Stead of Reno.

Murphy’s boat Breathless will fly the pennant of the Lake Tahoe Yacht Club and will be driven by his 22 year old son Jay, a University of Santa Clara student.

Stead’s boat, Hurricane IV, a previous Gold Cup contender, is entered under sponsorship of the Lake Tahoe-Sierra Chamber of Commerce, and its horsepower has been raised to 4,000 to make it a formidable challenger at Seattle Saturday.

Attending, but not participating in the Seattle races will be Stanley Dollar Jr., of San Francisco, who piloted the Gold Cup winning boat in 1952.

--- The San Francisco Examiner, August 4, 1954