1957 Indiana Governor's Cup
Hawaii Kai wins Governor’s Cup to Clinch U.S. Hydroplane Title
Regas Pilots Airplane Engine-Powered boat to Race Record on Ohio River – Miss Thriftway Wrecked
Madison, Ind., Sept. 29 [1957] (AP) — Hawaii Kai III, piloted by Jack Regas of Seattle, clinched the national unlimited hydroplane championship today with a Governor’s cup victory. The craft had already won the President’s Cup and the Silver Cup.
The Washington boat ended the day with 1,994 points and cannot be caught by second-place Miss Wahoo, another Seattle boat. Miss Wahoo, has 1,394. A maximum of 400 can be earned in the final race on Lake Mead in two weeks.
The Governor’s Cup event for the big airplane-powered boats on the Ohio River was marred by the wreck of another Seattle hydro, Miss Thriftway, in an elimination heat.
Bill Muncey, the pilot, escaped with a bruised shoulder when his craft hit the wake of another boat while speeding at an estimated 160 miles an hour. Miss Thriftway bounced about ten feet into the air, and then crashed.
The boat was the winner of the Gold Cup races the last two years. Muncey had set a 15-mile heat record of 108.129 miles an hour yesterday.
Regas hung up a race record of 106.636 miles an hour for the three heats, erasing the mark of 103.123 set two years ago by Dan Foster of Detroit in Tempo VII.
Mira Slovak of Seattle, the Czech who flew a planeload of refugees from behind the Iron Curtain two years ago, dived into the river to rescue Muncey after the wreck, Slovak then finished second to Regas in a trial heat. Slovak's Miss Wahoo, lost a propeller and failed to finish the final heat.
(Reprinted from the Associated Press September 29, 1957)