1950 Middle River Regatta
[Wilson Point Men's Club /
Glenn L. Martin Trophy]
Lombardo Pilots Rebuilt Tempo VI To Victory in Invitation Regatta
Gold Cup Favorite Averages 61.827 M.P.H. Over Rough Waters in Maryland — Aljo Runner-Up in Test of 15 Miles
BALTIMORE. June 17, [1950] — The team-work combination of those speed boat twins, Guy Lombardo and his famous red, white and mahogany gold cup craft Tempo VI returned to the victory column this afternoon on Middle River near here, and the feat registered a clear omen for the regatta season of 1950.
On windy, roughened water, Tempo VI, with her newly elongated hull and other face-lifting over the winter, captured the feature free-for-all race of the regatta of the Wilson Point Men's Club, composed mainly of employees of the huge aircraft factory of Glenn L. Martin, who was a shore-side spectator.
In a 15-mile event on a narrow fairway and with three-buoy hairpin turns on the two ends, a course that would be tricky in flat water and which was downright dangerous in the white-capped waves today. Lombardo gunned Tempo VI to speeds on the straightaways of 100 miles an hour and was clocked for the entire event in 14:33 4/5. which means an average of 61.827 miles an hour.
Dozen Entrants Withdraw
Second, at least one mile astern, was his fellow townsman from Freeport, L. I., Joe Van Blerck Jr., in his also famous but smaller 7-litre craft Aljo. In third place, still another mile behind was Frank Foulke's new 225-cubic inch creation Sagana XII.
A dozen other hopeful entrants for the free-for-all decided, when they saw today's ominous wind and water conditions, that discretion was the better part of valor and did not come out from the pits..
Perhaps Lombardo himself might better have stayed ashore, But he sent his rebuilt and rejuvenated Tempo VI down here by auto truck from Freeport last night and himself flew here at noon. And when he saw the throngs of regatta-hungry spectators he decided to go through with his racing plans, despite the gusty 20-mile-an-hour breeze.
Tempo VI, Allison powered, is a three-time winner of the much-sought-for Gold Cup and will be a favorite next month at Detroit with its new assets of speed and maneuverability. Lombardo, who returned to New York by plane tonight for band and radio commitments, won the coveted bauble in 1946 with a shorter Tempo VI, and with another Allison, replaced after he broke his arm at Detroit in his 1947 capsizing disaster.
Previously Named My Sin
Previously and when owned by Zalmon G. Simmons Jr., and christened My Sin, Tempo VI won two pre-war Gold Cups with her now outmoded Miller-Zumbach engines.
The outclassed Sagana XII jockeyed into the heat at the slam-bang start and actually held it for the first of the nine rough-water laps. But on the second Lombardo throttled Tempo VI into the lead and kept ahead thereafter with the persistent Van Blerck trying to hug second place but dropping back under Tempo's phenomenal speed and turning on the hairpins. Van Blerck's Aljo will race again Sunday in another free-for-all against a fleet that will be larger if the weather moderates.
| Invitation Free-For-All | ||
|---|---|---|
| One Heat (15 miles) | ||
| 1 | Tempo VI | Guy Lombardo, Freeport LI |
| 2 | Aljo | Joe van Blerck, Jr., Freeport LI |
| 3 | Sagana XII | Frank Foulke, Essex MD |
(Reprinted from the New York Times June 18, 1950)