1955 Copper Cup

Flathead Lake, Polson, Montana, August 14, 1955

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Statistics

14-Aug	2½ Mile Course?
Flathead Lake	7½-12½ Mile Heats
Polson, Montana	27½ Mile Race

 

	No.	Entry	Owner	Comp. Lap	Race
1	U-2	Miss U.S. [1]	George Simon	—	—
2	U-45	Miss Cadillac	Bud Saile	—	—
3	U-55	Gale V [1]	Joe Schoenith	—	—
4	G-13	Tempo VII	Guy Lombardo	—	—

 

	Heat One -- 7½ Miles	Driver	Points	Speed
1	Tempo VII	Danny Foster	400	—
2	Gale V	Joe "Doc" Terry	300	—
3	Miss U.S.	Jack Bartlow	225	—
4	Miss Cadillac	Bud Saile	169	—
	Heat Two -- 7½ Miles	Driver	Points	Speed
1	Tempo VII	Danny Foster	400	—
2	Miss Cadillac	Bud Saile	300	—
3	Gale V	Joe "Doc" Terry	225	—
4	Miss U.S.	Jack Bartlow	169	—
	Heat Three -- 12½ Miles	Driver	Points	Speed
1	Tempo VII	Danny Foster	400	—
2	Miss Cadillac	Bud Saile	300	—
3	Gale V	Joe "Doc": Terry	225	—

 

	Recapitulation	Heat 1	Heat 2	Cum.	Heat 3	Total
1	Tempo VII	400	400	800	400	1200
2	Miss Cadillac	169	300	469	300	769
3	Gale V	300	225	525	225	750
4	Miss U.S.	225	169	394	DNS	394

 

The race was most probably an exhibition. It was part of an outboard regatta that was sanctioned by the APBA. The race was won by Tempo which was not hard to imagine as she won the next four regattas in which she participated. However her main competition should have come from Gale V [1] which was driven by Doc Terry rather than Lee Schoenith. Terry was a Gale crew member who had driven Miss Wayne [1] in 1953 and My Sweetie [2] in 1954. He was a poor replacement for Lee Schoenith who had won five races and was coming off his greatest "victory" in the Gold Cup. Miss U.S. [1] was driven by her crew chief Jack Bartlow rather than her regular driver George Simon. Bartlow had won the 1954 Silver Cup and had driven Dora My Sweetie very competitively that year. Thus he was probably an improvement over Simon. There was no indication in the newspapers covering the event of an exhibition.

Given the 1955 season in its entirety, it is hard to imagine Miss Cadillac defeating Gale V twice and Miss U.S. once. Thus with Terry at the wheel and the results obtained it certainly would appear that the Gale camp was in an exhibition mentality. However the other contenders appear to have given it their best shot.

The race was run around inner tube buoys. The normal distance for a three heat race was 45 miles rather than 27. The race did not count in the High Point Standings.

[Statistics and comments from Greene,Vol. 1]