1948 Percy Jones Memorial
Such Crust Victor As Tempo VI Fails
Lombardo Wins 2 Gull Lake Heats, But Boat Won't Start in Third Test
By Lanny Knight, Free Press Staff Writer
The beautiful silver trophy donated by the Kalamazoo Vegetable Parchment Co. for the Percy Jones Trophy race is presented to Danny Arena, winning driver, and E. L. (Jack) Schafer, owner of the winning boat, by Maj. Gen. Norman T. Kirk, retired, first Percy Jones commander. Photographed as General Kirk made the award are (left to right) Gene Arena, mechanic of the winning Such Crust, Mrs. Danny Arena, Danny Arena, General Kirk, Mr. Schafer, and Guy Lombardo, popular band leader and second-place winner.
Gull Lake -- The sweetest music this side of heaven went sour on Guy Lombardo here Saturday as Host Jack Schafer's Such Crust toured a lonely last heat to win the Percy Jones Hospital trophy.
Lombardo's Tempo VI, winner in the two first 15-mile heats, was disqualified for failing to start the third chapter.
It gave veteran driver Danny Arena the necessary points to capture the cup. His total was 1,000 to Lombardo's 800.
"Just couldn't pump enough gas through to get the Allison started," was the comment of a disappointed Lombardo after the finish.
Such Crust gained steadily in her second crack at unlimited class competition. She raced second to Lombardo in the first of the three heats, trailing by one-half mile.
In the second run. Arena pushed the boat at 81.194 MPH and almost caught Tempo VI at the finish.
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Although Guy's 25-foot speedster established a 300-yard advantage at the start of the heat. Such Crust moved up fast in the final mile.
About 50,000 spectators dotted rolling lawns surrounding Gull Lake as Lombardo set an American record for five miles. Tempo VI did 82.192 MPH in the first lap of the second heat.
Guy topped the record of 77,911 MPH set by Arena in Miss Golden Gate in the 1946 Detroit Gold Cup race. Officials explained that this was the fastest speed attained over this type of course, although it still doesn't represent an official mark in the American Powerboat Association's record books.
E. D. Stair's Katy Did finished third, same as in last week's Ford race. It beat out two other starters. Bill Stroh's Nuts 'n' Bolts, and Miss Great Lakes.
Great Lakes, driven by Danny Foster, dropped out of the grind after her water pumps failed. Foster and Chet Fallon, brother of the owner, Jumped overboard.
Only the actions of 20 swimmers from the shore saved the 1947 President Cup winner from sinking.
For Lombardo, the day was a double loss. Anthony Orth, his chief mechanic from Wilmington, Del., suffered a mild heart attack early Saturday and said that he was through with Gold Cup racing.
The race, despite the paucity of starters, thrilled onlookers by the extreme speeds displayed by Lombardo and Arena.
It well might have been a preview of a bigger show to be staged in Detroit Aug. 28 -- the 1948 Gold Cup race.
Results of the minor events:
| 225 CLASS -- Won by Miss Detroit, driven and owned by Wally Harper, Detroit; second. Hot Stuff, driven bv G. B. Bergand, owned by Gale Winters, Detroit; third, Columbus Babe, driven and owned by Chuck Hunter, Columbus. O. 135-CUBIC-INCH CLASS -- Won by Hot Stuff, driven by G. B. Bergand, owned by Gale Winters, Detroit; second, Little Audrey, driven and owned bv H. L. Vogel, of Dearborn; no third. |
(Detroit Free Press, Sun. July 18, 1948)