1958 Diamond Cup
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Maverick Posts Top Hydro Run
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho (AP) The first annual Diamond Cup power boat races get underway here today with Seattle's Miss Thriftway and the Miss U.S. 1 of Detroit top-rated among the big unlimited hydroplanes.
About 70 of the smaller limited hydros start the program today on Lake Coeur D’Alene and then move aside for the 12 unlimiteds entered on Sunday.
The three-mile course was choppy yesterday and only the Adios, the unlimited from the Tri-City, Wash. area, ventured out.
Driver George McKernan got the Adios up to 66 miles an hour and will have to try again to qualify, at 90 miles an hour.
Maverick, owned by Bill Waggoner of Phoenix, has done 113.2, the fastest run yet on the Coeur d'Alene course.
All 12 boats were on hand although only the Adios and the locally-sponsored Miss Round Table must qualify because they haven't been in competition so far this year.
— June 28, 1958
Top Hydros Open Action Today at Coeur d’Alene
Coeur d'Alene (AP) — The first annual Diamond Cup power boat races get underway here today with Seattle’s Miss Thriftway and the Miss U.S. 1 of Detroit top rated among the big unlimited hydroplanes.
About 70 of the smaller limited hydros start the program today on Lake Coeur d’Alene and then move aside for the 12 unlimiteds entered on Sunday.
The three-mile course was choppy Friday and only the Adios, the unlimited from the Tri-City, Wash., area, ventured out.
Driver George McKernan got the Adios up to 66 miles an hour and will have to try again to qualify at 9O miles an hour.
Miss Thriftway, owned by Seattle businessman Willard Rhodes, won the Detroit Memorial regatta two weeks ago on the choppy Detroit river with Bill Muncey at the wheel. He will also handle the boat here.
The Miss U.S. 1, winner of two preliminary heats at Detroit before being forced out by mechanical trouble, put on on eye-popping performance here in test runs Thursday, hitting an unofficial speed of 170 miles an hour on one stretch.
Maverick, owned by Bill Waggoner of Phoenix, Ariz., has done 113.2, the fastest run yet on the Coeur d’Alene course.
All 12 boats were on hand Friday although only the Adios and the locally-sponsored Miss Round Table must qualify because they haven’t been in competition so far this year.
The weather bureau said there may be wind and a threat of rain for the limiteds today but held out hopes for clear weather by Sunday.
If the water is rough, Seattle’s Thriftway Too, a good bad-weather boat, must be rated a leading contender for the $1000 first prize money and the Diamond Cup.
The Miss Bardahl of Seattle, winner of last month’s Apple Cup race at Lake Chelan, Wash., is also a threat. Miro Slovak will take over the wheel here from Norm Evans who piloted Bardahl in the Apple Cup.
Others in the race are the unlimiteds Miss Seattle, the former Slo-Mo V; the community owned Miss Spokane; the Coral Reef; Miss Burien; and Miss Pay ’N Save.
The Diamond Cup — named in honor of Idaho as the “Gem State” — is a community promotion that came into being scarcely two months ago during conversations between local leaders and officials of the Spokane Unlimited Hydroplane Association.
Most of the local sponsors admit they have never seen a hydroplane before but boat owners generally agreed they have handled the ground work well. Bill Stead, who drives Maverick, has called the three-mile course here “one of the two fastest in the country.”
The sun was out at intervals Friday and delighted sponsors who say they expect as many as 200,000 people to crowd around the big lake 32 miles east of Spokane. Coeur d’Alene has a population of about 14,000.
— June 28, 1958
One Big Guess
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, June 28. — One guess is as good as another when it comes to picking the winner of this city's first annual Diamond Cup regatta here tomorrow, so any resemblance between the actual order of finish and the above handicap will be purely coincidental.
The mortality rate of unlimited hydro racing almost guarantees that at least five of the 12 boats probably will run into engine trouble before the final heat rolls around. And of the seven remaining, two or three of those will probably conk out before the end of the final 30 miles. So the odds of picking any of them to win is nothing less than a 50-to-1 shot.
Let's look at the entries individually:
Miss Thriftway: Driver Bill Muncey knows his way around the race course and all the skill that hydro designer Ted Jones possesses is incorporated in this new boat. If she stays together she’ll be awfully hard to catch.
Miss Spokane: It's unfair, of course, to rate the Spokane boat so highly. Driver Dallas Sartz is learning fast but can't he expected to know it all in this, his second race. The 8000 owners, however, would like a first, second or third to keep their fund drive perking. Sartz will be trying to make 'em happy.
Slovak for Ivans
Miss Bardahl: Mira Slovak replaces Norm Evans who drove the boat to victory in the Apple Cup. He's heavy-footed and well-seasoned in hydros. He'll be tough to catch if he can get out in front.
Miss U.S. 1: This boat is the current national point champion and is rated one of the fastest in the east. Freddie Alter is a highly respected driver who knows his boat and how tn take care of its equipment.
Thriftway Too: If they paid off on looks this one would take the prize. The cab-over designed craft is beautiful tn watch and it acts like a winner. Victories, for some reason, have been few. Rough water will improve her chances.
Maverick: Here's a boat that goes all-out all the time and has everything it takes to win. But going full blast all the time is hard on engines. And it makes you awfully hard to catch.
Coral Reef: Here's a sentimental favorite owned by Austin Snell of Tacoma who certainly deserves a trip to the winner's circle. The boat showed some good speed on occasions at Chelan hut has been inconsistent.
Burien Repaired
Miss Burien: This boat looked good at Chelan before losing a sponson that has since been replaced. Mira Slovak was replaced as the driver and its new skipper will be selected today.
Miss Pay'n Save: Conked out at Chelan with engine trouble. This new boat has fair speed but doesn't figure to keep up over the long haul.
Miss Seattle: The former Slo-Mo V hasn't lived up to her former high place in hydroplane racing mainly because she has had trouble finishing a race.
Adios: This one is in a class by herself. Her 24-cylinder Allison engine makes her a powerful entry but her knack for finding every sunken log on the course also causes her to spend as much time under the water as on top of it. Like the Miss Spokane her biggest problem is financial.
Miss Round Table: Coeur d’Alene had to have an entry in its own race and this is it. The renamed Question Mark is just that. But Lake City fans will be rootin and shootin' for a darkhorse victory. What an upset that would he.
Well, that's how it looks. The winner is In there someplace. The problem is finding her.
— June 28, 1958