1955 Detroit Memorial
Driver Killed at Detroit in speedboat Regatta; Crashes Injure 2 Others
Lloyd Maddock, 51, of Pontiac, Mich., was pulled from the Detroit river yesterday severely injured after his boat was involved in a crash with another driven by Harry Vogel of Dearborn, Mich, Maddock (face down) was pulled from the river by Dallas R. Kremer, another driver. Maddock died on the way to a Detroit hospital after, leading the 135-cubic inch class in the Detroit Memorial regatta.
Detroit, June 26 [1955] (AP) — Bill Cantrell drove his Gale IV to victory Saturday in the unlimited class of the Detroit Memorial speedboat regatta. Five boats crashed in the blinding spray of the first heat and a driver in a smaller class was killed in a second collision.
The fatality was the first in the history of speedboating on the Detroit River. Lloyd Maddock, 51, of Pontiac, Mich. died almost immediately after a crash of Holiday, which he was driving, and Little Audrey, driven by Harry Vogel of Dearborn, Mich. in the 135-cubic-inch class. Vogel was injured seriously.
Cantrell swept to victory in the first 15-mile heat in an average speed of 93.729 miles an hour and also captured the second heat with a 92.028 mph average. He finished third to a sister boat, Gale V, in the third heat. The Gale boats are owned by Joe Schoenith of Detroit.
Gale IV ran up a point total of 1,025 points to 925 for Gale V, second place finisher. Back of the leaders came George Simon's Miss U.S. with 825 points followed by Such Crust III with 565, Tempo VII, 391, and Wha Hoppen Too with 283 points.
Two drivers were injured slightly in the first heat crash.
Miss Cadillac, My Sweetie, Short Circuit and Canada's Miss Supertest were forced out of the race. Tempo VII, Guy Lombardo's new boat, also was involved but not damaged.
Jack Ban, My Sweetie's pilot, was taken to a hospital for leg x-rays. Chuck Thompson, Short Circuit's driver, received hospital treatment for facial cuts.
Going into the first turn of the opening 15-mile heat, five of the 10 starters were bunched together. Miss Cadillac skidded into Miss Supertest. In the resulting melee, My Sweetie was sandwiched in between and both sponsons were broken. All three came into the pits, My Sweetie in a sinking condition.
(Reprinted from the Associated Press, June 26, 1955)
[Note: the boat referred to as Miss Supertest was the CA-1 Miss Supertest II. --LF]
| Final Results | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | U-54 | Gale IV [race average 92.285 mph] |
| 2 | U-55 | Gale V (1) |
| 3 | U-2 | Miss U.S. (1) |
| 4 | G-22 | Such Crust III (2) |
| 5 | G-13 | Tempo VII |
| 6 | U-23 | Wha Hoppen Too |
| 7 | U-6 | Short Circuit (1) |
| DNF | U-45 | Miss Cadillac |
| DNQ | U-14 | My Sweetie Dora |
| DNF | CA-1 | Miss Supertest II |
| DNF | U-3 | My Sweetie (2) |
| DNQ | U-5 | Miss Detroit (2) |
| DNQ | U-15 | My Sweetie John Francis |