1938 National Sweepstakes
Five Records Fall In Red Bank Races
Cooper Captures 225 Test at National Sweepstakes Meet -Ferguson Has Great Day
By Clarence E. Lovejoy
RED BANK, N. J., Aug. 20.—Five new speed marks that will go on the books as world records were registered in the opening series of mess today of the eighth annual National Sweepstakes Regatta. Moreover, in a number of preliminary heats that pave the way for final scoring tests tomorrow existing champions in Inboard classes seemed likely to be replaced.
In the only feature that was completed this sunny afternoon, white-haired Jack Cooper of Kansas City swept by the lanes of spectator yachts on the North Shrewsbury to take two firsts slid a second in the three-heat 225 event for a total of 1,100 points.
Cooper, last year's winner of this popular class, captured the first heat with a speed of 61.983 and with a good many ripples of open water behind him. He was boxed in a bunched start in the second heat and couldn't overtake George Cannon's gray Sabot, driven by Hugh Gingras, whose speed was 62.717. The third heat was the most daredevilish of all, as the fleet of these roaring water beetles slammed and bounced through each other's wash and kept from capsizing on the turns only by eyelash margins.
Cooper Saves Every Inch
Cooper hugged the inside lane, just grazing the turn buoys and almost scraping the orange paint off them. His nearest rival, Gingras, closed in along the straightaway but couldn't match Cooper's uncanny ability to take the turns without cutting throttle. Cooper's phenomenal time of 4.42 2-5 brought him a new 225 world record of 63.739 miles an hour to supplant his own 63.202 made here a year ago.
Only one of the three 135 cubic inch heats was scheduled today and this went to a reformed outboard champion, Sammy Crooks of Rumson, N. J., who turned pro after finishing his studies at Rutgers a few seasons back, His Dragon was best of today's large field. The 1937 135 champion, S. Mortimer Auerbach of. Atlantic City, did not defend.
The Atlantic City lawyer and former Assemblyman, Edison Hedges, not only won today's first heat In the 91 class but set a new record for this category at 42.135 miles an hour.
| 225 Cubic Inch Class, Final Standings | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tops II | Jack Cooper | Kansas City | 1,100 |
| 2 | Sabot | Hugh Gingras | Rockledge, Fla. | 1,000 |
| 3 | Chrissie II | George Schrafft | Newton, Mass. | 577 |
| 4 | Shadow II | Charles Wheaton | Toronto | 391 |
| 5 | Tortuga | Francis Vintschger | Morristown, NJ | 296 |
(Reprinted from the New York Times, August 21, 1938)