1939 APBA Gold Cup
1939 Gold Cup
The first Gold Cup victory by a three-point hydroplane occurred in 1939. Unlike the step hydroplanes, the three-pointers rode on the tips of two pontoon-like running surfaces called sponsons and a completely submerged propeller. (Not until the late 1940s would the boats start to "propride.") The concept would forever alter the course of competitive power boating.
My Sin, a product of the famed Ventnor Boat Works of Ventnor, New Jersey, won all three heats of the 1939 race with owner Guy Simmons driving. The other three-pointers in attendance were Bill Cantrell's Why Worry, Lou Fageol's So-Long, Marion Cooper's Mercury, and George Davis's Hermes IV.
The Ventnor company had popularized the three-point design when they introduced Miss Manteo II, a successful 225 Class hydroplane with vestigial sponsons, in 1936.
Why Worry, a Ventnor-built 725 Class rig, was the biggest surprise of the race. She won the 725 Class contest at Detroit hands down. Then, in both of the first two Gold Cup heats, driver Cantrell was an unexpected leader before being forced out both times by propeller failure.
The 1939 Gold Cup was the first major appearance by Cantrell who would become a Gold Cup legend. He was the winning driver in 1949 (with My Sweetie) and drove his last Gold Cup in 1965 (with Miss Smirnoff). "Wild Bill" remained active in Gold Cup competition as an owner as late as 1982 (with Miss Kentuckiana Paving).
The unsuccessful Notre Dame of 1938 was back, after being redesigned by John Hacker and rebuilt by new driver Dan Arena. She managed an overall third in 1939 behind My Sin and Miss Canada III. But Notre Dame owner Mendelson was dissatisfied with the hull and ordered a new boat, to be designed and built by Arena, for 1940.
On September 1, 1939, the same weekend as the APBA Gold Cup Regatta, World War II began over in Europe with the German invasion of Poland. The long-feared global conflict was now an ugly reality. American involvement was inevitable but did not occur until Pearl Harbor Day, two years later.
For the time being, APBA and MVPBA racing continued. A full field attended the 1939 President's Cup, which was won by Harold Wilson in the beautiful mahogany Miss Canada III. But no one could deny the presence of war clouds on the horizon.
An early "casualty" of WWII was the absence of Count Rossi from the 1939 Gold Cup. The defending champion was unable to obtain a visa to get out of Italy, because of the imminence of the war crisis. This was most unfortunate, because Alagi had already been shipped to Detroit and was awaiting Rossi there.
In addition to losing the Italian defender, fate would sadly prevent another entrant from participating in the race. Pilot Joe Schaefer was stricken from the list of the living when Delphine IX capsized in trials on the Detroit River. Riding mechanic Ed McKenzie survived, but Schaefer achieved the tragic distinction of being the first fatality in Gold Cup history. He would not be the last.
Columnist Sam Owen, in a 1950 article for Lakeland Yachting, took Delphine IX's forward-cockpit configuration severely to task as being unduly hazardous. Owen had the same criticism of the 1938 Notre Dame and also of the 1931 Miss Philadelphia in which driver Billy Freitag was fatally injured at the 1931 President's Cup.
(Reprinted from "Gold Cup Class Revisited" by Fred Farley)