1948 Season Summary
Statistics
| April 12 | Biscayne Bay Regatta | Miami, Florida | |
| June 27 | Glenn L. Martin Trophy | Middle River, Maryland | |
| 2. | July 4 | Webb Trophy | Davenport, Iowa |
| 3. | July 10 | Henry Ford Memorial | Detroit, Michigan |
| 4. | July 17 | Percy Jones Memorial | Battle Creek, Michigan |
| 1. | July 25 | Calvert Trophy | Louisville, Kentucky |
| August 2 | Maple Leaf Trophy | Windsor, Ontario | |
| August 2 | Picton Gold Cup Regatta [Prince Edward Trophy] |
Picton, Ontario | |
| 5. | August 14 | Cambridge Gold Cup | Cambridge, Maryland |
| 6. | August 22 | Emil Auerbach Trophy | Red Bank, New Jersey |
| 7. | August 22 | National Sweepstakes | Red Bank, New Jersey |
| 8. | August 22 | Red Bank Gold Cup | Red Bank, New Jersey |
| 9. | August 28 | A.P.B.A. Gold Cup | Detroit, Michigan |
| 10. | September 6 | O.J. Mulford Silver Cup | Detroit, Michigan |
| 11. | September 12 | Ohio Valley Trophy | Cincinnati, Ohio |
| 12. | September 12 | Harwood Trophy | New York City, New York |
| 13. | September 26 | American Speedboat Championship | Washington, D.C. |
| 14. | September 26 | Presidents Cup | Washington, D.C. |
| [15.] | October 3 | Imperial Gold Cup | New Martinsville, West Virginia |
Column 1 reflects Jim Sharkey's date sequence in the 1946-2016 Hydro's Who's Who, not the actual dates which are to be found in Column 2.
| Winner | Crew Chief | Designer | Builder | Engine | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7/4 | So Long | Lou Fageol | Lou Fageol | Fageol | Fageol |
| 7/10 | Tempo VI | Amp Orth | Arno Apel | Ventnor | Allison |
| 7/17 | Such Crust | Gene Arena | Arno Apel | Ventnor | Allison |
| 8/2 | Such Crust | Gene Arena | Arno Apel | Ventnor | Allison |
| 8/14 | Lahala | Harry Lynn | Arno Apel | Ventnor | Allison |
| 8/21-22 | Lahala | Harry Lynn | Arno Apel | Ventnor | Allison |
| 8/21-22 | Aljo V | Joe Van Blerck | Amo Apel | Ventnor | Gray |
| 8/28 | Miss Great Lakes | Danny Foster | Dan Arena | Arena | Allison |
| 9/4,6 | Miss Canada III | Charlie Volker | Douglas Van Patten | Greavette | Rolls-Merlin |
| 9/12 | Copperhead II | Loren Pennington | Joe Guess | Guess | Ford |
| 9/25-26 | Such Crust | Gene Arena | Arno Apel | Ventnor | Allison |
| Date | Winner | Driver | |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 12 | Goo Goo II | P.J. Henn | |
| June 27 | Tempo VI | Guy Lombardo | |
| 2. | July 4 | So-Long (4) | Lou Fageol |
| 3. | July 10 | Tempo VI | Guy Lombardo |
| 4. | July 17 | Such Crust | Dan Arena |
| 1. | July 25 | Ballyhoo | Bob Ballinger |
| August 2 | Such Crust | Dan Arena | |
| 5. | August 14 | Lahala | Norm Lauterbach |
| 6. | August 22 | Lahala | Norm Lauterbach |
| 7. | August 22 | Aljo V | Joe Van Blerck |
| 8. | August 22 | Z-Z-Zip | Sid Street |
| 9. | August 28 | Miss Great Lakes | Danny Foster |
| 10. | September 6 | Miss Canada III | Harold Wilson |
| 11. | September 12 | Copperhead | Lorin Pennington |
| 12. | September 12 | So-Long | Bill Cantrell |
| 13. | September 26 | Tomadge IV | Tommy Keane |
| 14. | September 26 | Such Crust | Dan Arena |
| [15.] | October 3 | Tomyann | Joe Taggart |
Column 1 reflects Jim Sharkey's date sequence in the 1946-2016 Hydro's Who's Who, not the actual dates.
| Built | Boat High Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | (1948) | Such Crust | 1755 |
| 2. | (1948) | Lahala | 1500 |
| 3. | (1940) | Miss Frostie | 1440 |
| 4. | (1946) | Miss Great Lakes | 1215 |
| 5. | (1938) | Miss Canada III | 855 |
| 6. | (1938) | Tempo VI | 540 |
| 7. | (1948) | Katy Did | 450 |
| 8. | (1948) | Miss Pepsi | 360 |
| 9. | (1934) | Betty V | 270 |
| 10. | (1948) | My Sweetie | 225 |
| 11. | (1927) | Sister Syn | 180 |
| 12. | (1939) | Mercury | 40 |
| 13. | (1948) | Skip-A-Long | 000 |
| 14. | (1948) | Hurricane IV | 000 |
| 15. | (1948) | Sant Ambrogio | 000 |
| 16. | (1948) | Fleur Du Lac | 000 |
| 17. | (1948) | Cricket II | 000 |
| 18. | (1946) | Miss Windsor | 000 |
| 19. | (1948) | Astraea II | 000 |
| 20. | (1948) | Dukie (2) | 000 |
| 21. | (1942) | Miss Cincinnati IV | 000 |
| 22. | (1948) | Miss Grosse Pointe | 000 |
| 23. | (1948) | MISS-ter-E | 000 |
| 24. | (1941) | Hi Barbaree | 000 |
| 25. | (1948) | Sil Lydia | 000 |
| 26. | (1948) | Sheri San | 000 |
| 27. | (1946) | Lion Bar Special | 000 |
| 28. | (1941) | Hermes V | 000 |
| 29. | (1948) | Stubby VI | 000 |
| Driver High Points | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Dan Arena | 720 |
| 2. | Harold Wilson | 600 |
| 3. | Harry Lynn | 420 |
| 4 . | Danny Foster | 405 |
| 5. | Guy Lombardo | 380 |
| 6 . | Warren Avis | 370 |
| 7. | Ed Stair | 180 |
| 8. | Mel Crook | 150 |
| 9. | Clell Perry | 135 |
| 10. | Norm Lauterbach | 125 |
| 11. | Bill Cantrell | 105 |
| 12. | Horace Dodge | 60 |
| 13. | Oliver Elam | 30 |
| 14. | Stan Dollar | 00 |
| 15. | Morlan Visel | 00 |
| 16. | Ed Schoenherr | 00 |
| 17. | Al D'Eath | 00 |
| 18. | Achille Castoldi | 00 |
| 19. | Max Collins | 00 |
| 20. | Jack O'Meara | 00 |
| 21. | Lorne Armstrong | 00 |
| 22. | Robert Herman | 00 |
| 23. | Gerald Warren | 00 |
| 24. | Soupy Ciconett | 00 |
| 25. | Elmer Nowicki | 00 |
An earlier list with apparently a very different scoring system recorded the Driver High Points as follows (note different sequence as well):
| Driver High Points | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Dan Arena | 3700 |
| 2. | Guy Lombardo | 3500 |
| 3. | Norm Lauterbach | 2100 |
| 4. | Danny Foster | 2000 |
| 5. | Warren Avis | 1519 |
| 6. | Harold Wilson | 1419 |
| 7. | Harry Lynn | 1225 |
| 8. | Ed Stair | 1163 |
| 9. | Robert Herman | 525 |
| 10. | Mel Crook | 465 |
| 11, | Oliver Elam | 450 |
| 12. | Clell Perry | 300 |
| 13. | Bill Cantrell | 225 |
| 14. | Horace Dodge | 95 |
| 15. | Stan Dollar | 000 |
| 16. | Elmer Nowicki | 000 |
| 17. | Achille Castoldi | 000 |
| 18. | Max Collins | 000 |
| 19. | Jack O'Meara | 000 |
| 20. | Morlan Visel | 000 |
| 21. | Ed Schoenherr | 000 |
| 22. | Lorne Armstrong | 000 |
| 23. | Al D’Eath | 000 |
| 24. | Soupy Ciconett | 000 |
| 25. | Gerald Warren | 000 |
The A.P.B.A. reversed its stand from the previous year and allowed advertising on a Gold Cup boat albeit discrete advertising. This opened the door for expanded fields since a corporation could charge off their racing expenses as a business expense whereas an individual could not. In addition there were many more corporations with the wherewithal to run a Gold Cup boat than wealthy individuals.
For this and other reasons there were 17 new Gold Cup boats that made their debut in 1948. Principal among them were Miss Pepsi by Clell Perry - a replacement for the winning but wild riding Miss Peps V, the Ventnor Such Crust, John Hacker's My Sweetie and the Douglas Van Patten design Astraea II. In addition Hurricane IV of Los Angeles was scheduled to be the first Gold Cupper to test the three point prop-rider design.
With the Miss Peps V and Notre Dame gone. Miss Great Lakes driven by Danny Foster of Peps V fame. Tempo VI and Miss Canada III were the only boats of renown to return to the circuit for 1948. None of these boats had won a race in 1947. The new boats were all about 30 feet long as shorter boats had not faired so well with the new aircraft engines.
Tempo VI now powered by an Allison engine took an easy victory in the Ford Memorial when major contenders My Sweetie, Great Lakes and Such Crust failed in the first heat never to return. Tempo VI was the best boat at Gull Lake, but lost to Such Crust.
Tempo VI failed to start the final heat giving Such Crust her main antagonist the regatta. Tempo VI did a five mile lap at 82 m.p.h.-11 m.p.h. short of the 93 m.p.h. recorded by Miss England II on a 5 nautical mile course in 1931.
Such Crust posted her second win in the Maple Leaf Trophy over Miss Great Lakes which managed to stay together for the entire 45 miles giving the Such Crust some rough moments. Lahala, twin Ventnor design to Such Crust, ran out in front of Tempo VI at Cambridge, Maryland and when the latter failed had an easy victory in the Cambridge Gold Cup.
Lahala ran behind Tempo VI in two heats, but had more staying power and won the Auerbach Trophy at Red Bank. Lahala almost defeated the Guy Lombardo entry in the final heat.
The greatest Gold Cup of all time shaped up as 22 Gold Cuppers and/or Unlimiteds showed up in the pits at Detroit. Such Crust was the favorite with Miss Great Lakes and Tempo VI rated her closest competition. Lahala would have been considered among this group if not driven by her owner Harry Lynn, a rookie. Norm Lauterbach had piloted Lahala in her earlier regattas.
Unfortunately mother nature was not kind to motor boat racing on Gold Cup day and the course came up extremely rough. Due to the large entry list the first heat was divided into two sections with speeds determining the combined finish as in 1946.
The prop riding Hurricane IV went out of control at the start of heat 1-A and knocked herself and one of the leading contenders Tempo VI out of the race. Lahala went on to take the section. Neither Achille Castoldi's Sant Ambrogio nor the new Miss Pepsi could furnish competition.
My Sweetie got out in front in section B, but could not take the pounding and went out in a middle lap. Such Crust could also not take the pounding nevertheless taking the section anyway. Miss Great Lakes was close in second. Miss Canada III and Skip-a-Long could not contend.
Of the finishers only the third place Lahala joined the second place Miss Great Lakes for the second heat - the first place Such Crust was out for the day with a broken hull. Lahala led for a while, but then her hull also split and Miss Great Lakes was the sole finisher - the other starters were flagged for being too slow.
Heading into the final heat only Such Crust could overcome the Great Lakes point total to take the Gold Cup assuming Great Lakes failed to finish and the Jack Schafer entry won the final fast enough to overcome the Fallon boat's elapsed time for the first two heats.
Such Crust was in no position to start and the Great Lakes went the distance anyway to take the Gold Cup before sinking. Driver Danny Foster shook his fist at the committee on a number of occasions for not ending his misery by flagging him off the course as he had enough points to win the trophy.
With all the major contenders unable to start due to the Gold Cup carnage except the erratic My Sweetie, Miss Canada III won the two heat 90 mile Silver Cup. The new Miss Pepsi gave her a run for her money before she won the first heat. Although My Sweetie and Skip-a-Long ran in front of her in the second heat, Miss Canada III took another win when the aforementioned boats went dead in the water.
Such Crust came back to win the Presidents Cup posting the fastest lap and fastest heat. However Lahala ran out in front of her in the second and third heats losing the race when her engine faltered in the final heat. My Sweetie again ran a few first place laps before expiring. Silver Cup winner Miss Canada III did not rise about third place.
Such Crust ran a 2½ mile lap at 81 m.p.h. which broke the record by 7 m.p.h, but could not run even close to Miss America X's mile of 124 m.p.h. let alone Bluebird's 141 m.p.h. when she tried for a straightaway record. Such Crust did only 116 m.p.h.
1948 was a bad year for prop riders for not only had Hurricane run amuck in the Gold Cup, but the 225 record holding California Kid nosed in at Detroit in July and the 135 record holder Blue Blazes blew over at Picton, Ontario in August killing Jack "Pop" Cooper -- the most famous of limited drivers.
[Statistics and comments from Greene, V.1, with correction for Calvert Trophy date]