1957 Detroit Memorial
1957 Detroit Memorial Remembered
Such Crust III, Miss Supertest II, Gale V, Wha Hoppen Too, Miss Wayne
Former Royal Oak native Bill Muncey came back to Detroit in 1956 and won the Gold Cup driving a Seattle boat. The previous year, Detroiter Lee Schoenith had won the Cup in Seattle and brought it back home. Now, in 1957, the Motor City teams were preparing to cross the Rockies and try to retrieve that coveted trophy once more. But first, they had to test their equipment itf the rugged Detroit Memorial Regatta on home waters.
Twelve boats - all Eastern contenders - rolled into the various pit areas and marinas along the historic Detroit River race course to vie for the Ford Memorial Trophy. Joe Schoenith, on the verge of opening the Roostertail night club on the waterfront, entered three Gale boats. His son, Lee, would drive Gale VI, Bill Cantrell handled Gale V, and Joe himself brought out the exotic, twin-prop Gale III.
Jack Schafer had his twin-Allison powered Such Crust III, which Freddie Alter would drive. Chuck Thompson bought Guy Lombardo’s Tempo VII and renamed it Short Circuit. Birmingham’s Gordon Deneau had not one, but two What A Pickle! boats. Gordon drove Pickle I and Sandy Ross was in Pickle II.
Other Detroit entries were Marv Henrich in Wha Hoppen Too, Bud Saile in Miss Wayne, and Bob Sommerville in the ancient Miss Ricochet.
A syndicate from Buffalo, New York purchased the Gale IV and got Wildroot Hair Cream Oil to sponsor it as Wildroot Charlie. Rookie Bob Schroeder was driver. Rounding out the field from London, Ontario came Miss Supertest II driven by Canadian Limited champ Art Asbury.
An interesting fact about this race was that half the field were either current or former Gale boats.
A few of the boats had trouble shaking off the winter cold and didn’t make it to the starting line. Gale III qualified, but withdrew on race day morning. Neither of the What A Pickles could get going, and the Gales V and VI didn’t finish the first heat.
Water conditions were extremely rough, but the remaining seven Unlimiteds made the best of it. Heat 1-A was shortened after Art Asbury was thrown out of Miss Supertest. He was not hurt, and came back out for the second heat with his wild riding craft. Such Crust was given the win, followed by Miss Wayne and Wha Hoppen Too.
Only five boats remained for the second heat after Short Circuit and Ricochet withdrew. The cranky river was no better as Alter and the Crust received sponson damage defeating Wildroot Charlie, Miss Supertest, Wha Hoppen Too, and Miss Wayne.
The same five boats came out for the Final Heat. Once again, Fred Alter blasted to the front early with a lap of 93.717 mph in the rough going. The real battle was for second place between Art Asbury and Bob Schroeder, who ran neck and neck for five thrilling laps before Asbury pulled ahead in the Supertest and beat Schroeder in the Wildroot 80.611 mph to 80.158. That’s close! Miss Wayne was a game fourth, and Wha Hoppen Too brought up the rear.
Only Such Crust, Short Circuit and the two Gales made the trip to Seattle for the Gold Cup. They were augmented by George Simon’s brand new Miss U.S. 1 and Miss U.S. IV to represent Detroit in the big race.
[Reprinted from Thunderboat, March/April 2012]