1955 APBA Gold Cup
Gale V Wins
Margin of 4.53 Seconds
By Matt Sayre
Miss Thriftway came within 4.53 seconds of winning the Gold Cup yesterday on Lake Washington and keeping the speedboat race in Seattle.
The spanking-new Seattle boat, owned by Willard Rhodes and driven by dashing Bill Muncey of Detroit, won two of the three heats in the 48th annual running of the speedboat spectacle, but moved over for Joe Schoenith's Gale V when the final points were tallied.
Gale's victory gives the 1956 Gold Cup event to the Detroit Yacht Club, from which Stan Sayres "stole" it In 1950.. Sayres had kept it here since, with his Slo-mo-shuns IV and V taking turns at winning.
Bonus Points Pay Off
Lee Schoenith, Joe's son, drove the Gale to seconds In the first two heats and a third in the final one. On the surface, it looked as if the "Thrifty" had captured the cup, but "overlooked" bonus points made the difference.
While in the race, the Slo-mo Four set two records. She averaged 103.159 In the first heat to top the three-year-old record of 101.024 miles an hour, set by Chuck Thompson in Miss Pepsi in 1952.
Joe Taggart, the Four's driver, also wiped out the mark held by Lou Fageol, who whipped Slo-mo Five around the course in a record lap of 104.773 miles an hour last year. Taggart jumped the mark to 107.91 miles ah hour, yesterday in the first lap of the final heat In addition to the regular points awarded to heat finishers, two point bonuses of 400 each were up for the grabbing. One, for the boat making the fastest heat, went by the boards ' when Slo-mo-shun IV dropped out of the race with two laps to go. A boat must finish the-full 90-mile race in order to be eligible for bonus scoring.
The points that pushed the finish in the Gale's favor were the 400 for the fastest time during the 90-mile match.
In the final count. Gale V was first with 1,225 points, Thriftway second with 1,025, Slo-mo IV third with 625 and Such Crust III fourth with 469.
Schoenith's total time for the three heats was 54:16.20. Thrifty's clocking was 54:20.73.
The Gale's over-all average speed was approximately 99.5 miles an hour.
Slo-mo IV Drops Out
Seattle fans' hearts sank when the Slo-mo IV went dead in the water and began to burn on the seventh lap of the final heat. But they were lulled Into a feeling of security again when the Thrifty grabbed the lead at that point.
The Slo-mo IV's exhaust stack broke loose, throwing flames across the deck as Taggart came out of the north, turn. At that point, Muncey was on his tail and Taggart had to accelerate to keep the lead..
--- Seattle Times, August 8,1955