1956 Seafair Trophy Race

Seafair Gigantic

Seafair Regatta Course
Seafair Regatta Course
Notice to Mariners
Notice to Mariners
Pit Facilities For Races
Pit Facilities For Races

Seattle's Lake Washington will be jammed with racing boats August 5. Any boat that can qualify at 85 mph for three turns around the buoyed oval will he on hand to compete for a share of the $25,000 cash prizes offered in the Seafair Trophy Purse Race.

And riding with the winner is the crown of the U. S. championship for unlimited hydroplanes, as the American Power Boat Association has recently given the Seattle race a number one ranking.

Interest in the Gold Cup class is at a new high. Joe Schoenith, present holder of the Gold Cup, is reported in Detroit to have rebuilt Gale V and has a new twin-engined Gale VI. George Simon of Detroit has a new unlimited, Miss U. S. II, a successor to the boat he raced at Seattle.

Henry J. Kaiser has ordered a new Ted Jones-designed unlimited to be built by Staudacher at Bay City, Mich. Paul Sawyer, famous Rochester, N. Y., racing driver, also has a new unlimited building at Staudacher's and is pointing for the Seafair Trophy Purse Race. In Seattle he will be assisted by Charles Hickling, Bellevue hydroplane owner-driver, and Sawyer's boat will fly the Seattle YC burgee.

Altogether there are 18 possible entrants among the unlimiteds, providing they are in running condition by the time the Seattle Seafair starts. Above one of these, Slo-mo-shun IV of Seattle, hovers a big question mark as owner Stan Sayres grooms the "Old Lady" with new safety exhaust stacks, a new non-trip chine and other features.

Also a possibility is that several seven-litre class boats., may enter the Seafair race. These are smaller craft, 20 feet L.O.A. with 8 ft. 4 in. beam.

Meanwhile Greater Seattle, Inc., headed by Jerry Bryant, Seattle marine dealer, has a campaign underway to raise some $50,000 to finance the Seafair celebrations, including the boat races.

(Reprinted from Sea and Pacific Motor Boat, 1956)