1950 Silver Cup
Miss Pepsi Loses On Disqualification
Such Crust ! Wins Tumultuous Silver Cup Victory
By Tommy Devine
Records, a disqualification, a protest and turmoil!
That’s the story of the stormy 1950 Silver Cup race.
The giant trophy will have the name of Jack Schafer’s Such Crust I engraved on it as the winner, but the speed and the controversy of the classic were furnished by Walter Dossin’s Miss Pepsi.
Here are the hectic happenings:
1—Such Crust I, Danny Foster driving, took the trophy on a point basis under the scoring system of the American Power Boat Association. The Schafer craft had an aggregate of 1525 points on the basis of one first-place finish, three seconds and a third. Her lone victory came on a disqualification.
2—Miss Pepsi won FOUR of the heats and finished second to Harmsworth winner Slo-mo-shun in the other. However, one of her heat victories was disallowed after her pilot, Chuck Thompson, inadvertently cut two buoys. She ended with 1500 points.
3—Slo-mo-shun, with Lou Fageol at the wheel, turned a lap at 106.175 miles per hour in the opening heat. Then Thompson and Miss Pepsi came back in the final heat to register laps of 107.136 mph and 107.394 mph, for the fastest laps and heat marks in competitive speedboat history.
4—Walter Dossin, owner of Miss Pepsi, entered a formal protest immediately at the conclusion of the race. He charged “improper course markings” had brought about Thompson’s infraction.
When the race committee, through Chairman Chester Ricker, disallowed the protest. Dossin threatened to withdraw from speedboat racing, nine boats started in the Silver Cup. Only Such Crust I. Miss Pepsi and Such Crust II, with Danny Arena driving, survived the five 10-mile heats.
Slo-mo-shun started as though she would turn the Silver Cup into the same rout she did the Gold Cup and the Harmsworth.
Fageol had her across the starting line in the opening heat and kept her in front of the pack the entire journey. She whirled the first five nautical-mile laps at 106.175 mph and turned the second at 102.524 mph for a heat average of 104.318 mph.
Miss Pepsi finished second in the inaugural heat. She trailed Slo-mo-shun by 31 seconds, averaging 96.772 mph. Such Crust I was third with a 90.683 mph average.
After that brilliant run, Slo-mo-shun was through. A propeller shaft which had been damaged in Saturday’s Harmsworth went bad again and forced her out.
Then came the second heat, which produced the incident which left the river front and its followers sizzling.
Thompson sent Miss Pepsi away winging and left the field which had been reduced to six rivals wallowing in his wake.
Miss Pepsi’s time for the opening lap was 104.090 mph and for the second lap 102.967 mph. an average of 103.525 mph.
Then came the announcement that Thompson had cut two buoys on the lower side of the course near the Belle Isle bridge. Such Crust I was moved into first place. Such Crust II gained second and Guy Lombardo's Tempo VI was awarded third place.
• ♦ •
The third and fourth heats followed an identical pattern. Miss Pepsi winning with ease and Such Crust I and Such Crust II taking second and third.
That put the “marbles” on the line for the fifth and final heat. Such Crust I needed only second place to wrap up the victory.
With Miss Pepsi and Such Crust II the lone other starters, only the other half of the Schafer entry, Such Crust II, could beat her out of the coveted triumph.
Foster and Arena, in the Such Crusts, were bosom friends and a driver-mechanic team a decade ago when they first came to Detroit with Miss Golden Gate.
However, some years ago they split and have been antagonists since. The fact they both drove this season for the same owner didn’t solve their personal differences.
Thus it was that Arena went out to beat Foster—and almost did. He led him for a lap and a quarter, before Such Crust I went in front and finished a scant 10 yards to the good.
After the finish the storm broke. Dossin presented a written protest and followed with a verbal blast at the race committee and the conduct of the race.
“The course patrol judges did not see Thompson cut the buoys,” Dossin said. “The report came to the race committee from some spectator. Then they asked Thompson and he admitted the infraction.
“It was a mistake that had no bearing on the heat because Miss Pepsi won with ease. The committee has stepped on every weak point to throw us out. They are taking advantage of my driver’s honesty in admitting the error. The poor markings of the course is the fault of the committee.”
Dossin then referred back to the fact his boat had not been selected on the Harmsworth team.
“In the last week I've taken a terrible kicking around,” Dossin said, “No man ever has taken in boat racing what I’ve had to take recently. If that’s the way things are going to be, then I'll get out.”
Dossin claimed Thompson In Miss Pepsi should not have been given the checkered flag after two laps if the rules were broken.
“If Thompson had been given the green flag instead, then he could have made another lap and even though he would have finished that heat in seventh place he would have picked up 95 points and that would have been enough to give us the victory that rightfully is ours.”
--- September 5, 1950