1951 Silver Cup
Nine-Boat Field Enters Silver Cup Goose-Chase
Miss Pepsi Favored in 60-Miler
Hazardous Turns May Save Records
By Joe Dowdall
Dossin craft has sights set on records in Silver Cup race.
The most hazardous and spectacular powerboat race of the year is scheduled Monday afternoon as nine unlimited class speedsters will run in the sixth annual Silver Cup race.
Over the protests of the owners and drivers, the race will be run in five heats of 12 miles each for a total of 60 miles. The first heat starts at 1:30 p.m.
The spectators who saw such a race last year still thrill at the memory of having the boats crowd in for as many starts and then shoot the works over the short jaunt.
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In boat racing as in auto racing, the start and the first turn can tell the tale. An added hazard is the one-buoy turn at the eastern end of the course which caused trouble for all boats in Saturday’s race on the same course.
Chuck Thompson, who drove the winner, Miss Pepsi, said that he had to postpone an attempt to break his own competitive mark of 107.654 mph. because of the difficulty in navigating the hazardous turn.
His competitors had even more trouble with their three-pointers. Danny Foster, in Such Crust, narrowly missed a dock in his futile chase of Gale II for second position.
Walter and Roy Dossin, owners of Miss Pepsi, promised after their return from Seattle that they wanted to break all existing records on the Detroit River.
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The Silver Cup is the last race of the year here so Thompson and his crew changed the balance of Miss Pepsi in an effort to gain better turns on the course.
If Miss Pepsi can lick the one buoy turn, Thompson will be running for the records.
The Lt. James Meehan Trophy, which goes to the holder of the fastest lap in the Silver Cup, has been held by the world competitive record-holders for the last three years.
Miss Pepsi will be defending this trophy. Jack Schafer’s Such Crust will be defending the Silver Cup.
Miss Pepsi, the heavy favorite, will have to contend with Bill Cantrell’s Hornet which is ready again after round-the-clock work to her shaft and gear-box bearings.
Joe Schoenith’s Gale I and Gale II, which gave a good showing Saturday, will head the list of Dodge’s Delphine X, Andy Marcy’s My Darling, Harris McBride’s Guided Missile and the renamed Miss Canada IV, Miss Supertest from London, Ont.
The program will start with smaller classes racing at 12:30 p.m.
The start and finish will be at the Detroit Yacht Club. Free spectator vantage points are on Belle Isle and along Detroit’s shoreline opposite Belle Isle.
--- September 3, 1951