1947 Webb Trophy
Webb Trophy Race Will Be Feature Of "State of Scott" Regatta
Set For July Fourth on Lake Davenport
One of the most highly prized cups in boat racing, the Webb trophy, pictured above, will be awarded to the winner of the principal event of the "State of Scott" regatta here on July 4. Valued at $1,400, the trophy is a perpetual cup held each year by its winner and then returned to competition. It was donated in 1909 by Thomas H. Webb of Peoria, for the free-for-all championship of the Mississippi Power Boat Association.
Announcement that Davenport will have one of 1947's two outstanding power boat races of the country as part of the "State of Scott" celebration was made today by Chairman Paul A. Tornquist.
At its annual meeting in Keokuk, the Mississippi Valley Power Boat association awarded the Webb trophy race to Davenport for 1947, '48 and '49, with an option to renew for the ensuing three years. The race will be held each year on July 4, and will be the principal feature of the "State of Scott" regatta. The regatta will be held for the first time this year, and will be sponsored jointly by the Lindsay Park Boat club and the chamber of commerce. It is expected to draw the leading power boat racers of the country.
Second in importance only to the annual Gold Cup races, which are scheduled for Detroit in August, the Webb trophy event will draw most of the same racers and boats to this community, according to C. P. Hanley, Muscatine, commodore of the Mississippi Valley Power Boat association.
One of the most highly prized cups in boat racing, the Webb trophy, valued at $1,400, will be awarded the winner of the principal event of the race here. It is a perpetual award, the cup being held each year by its winner and then returned to competition. It was donated in 1909 by Thomas H. Webb, Peoria, for the free-for-all championship of the Mississippi Valley Power Boat association.
Some ideas of the speed required to win the trophy may be gained from the fact that in 1941 William E. Cantrell was the winner with a 64.001 miles per hour average over a 20-mile course. Winners have come from such widely separated points as Portland, Ore., Grand Island, N. Y., and Houston, Tex. Last year, Albert Brinkman of Grand Island, N. Y., won at Keokuk with an average of 55.21 miles per hour. Since 1920, the trophy has been won only twice by a boat which averaged less than 55 miles per hour.
(Reprinted from The Daily Times, February 25, 1947)