1959 APBA Gold Cup
Gold Cup Hydroplane Race Won By Maverick With 104 M.P.H.
Seattle, Aug. 9 [1959] (UPI) – Maverick won the fifty-second running of the Gold cup hydroplane race today in a slide-rule finish.
The decision was held up for two hours while officials reviewed photos and television tapes and consulted with course judges to determine if Miss Spokane had jumped the gun in the final heat. It was determined that she had.
As a result, Maverick was placed third in the heat. This gave her and Miss Thriftway the same number of points, 1,325, and the winner had to be determined by total elapsed time for the entire ninety miles of racing. The winning margin was 13.3 seconds.
Maverick's average speed for the ninety miles was a record 104.062 miles and hour. The previous record, set by Hawaii Kai last year, was 103.481.
Maverick's owner is William Waggoner Jr. of Phoenix, whose home port is the Lake Mead Yacht Club.
Miss Thriftway was placed second and Nitrogen of Washington was third with 714 points. Wahoo of Seattle was fourth with 700. Next were Miss Spokane, 691, and Miss Pay 'n Save, Seattle, 616.
Maverick, piloted by Bill Stead, won one heat and was second in another before taking Miss Spokane's third place in the last heat.
Miss Thriftway won two heats and placed third in another. But bonus points for elapsed time made the difference, 400 for Maverick and 300 for Miss Thriftway.
It took the officials twice as long to determine the winner as it had required to run the entire contest. The crowd was estimated at between 250,000 and 500,000.
After an hour of haggling on the barge, the officials moved into a mobile trailer, where they viewed the pictures of the start. Norm Evans, the driver of Miss Spokane, admitted after looking at the pictures that he had jumped the gun.
The heat winner, drivers and their average speeds:
| Heat | Boat | Driver | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-A | Wahoo | Mira Slovak | 105.944 |
| 1-B | Miss U.S. 1 | Donny Wilson | 101.608 |
| 2-A | Miss Thriftway | Bill Muncey | 105.82 |
| 2-B | Maverick | Bill Stead | 106.278 |
| 3 | Miss Thriftway | Bill Muncey | 102.495 |
(Reprinted from United Press International, August 9, 1959)
| Final Results | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | U-00 | Maverick (2) |
| 2 | U-60 | Miss Thriftway (3) |
| 3 | U-79 | Nitrogen |
| 4 | U-101.5 | Wahoo |
| 5 | U-25 | Miss Spokane |
| 6 | U-47 | Miss Pay 'n Save |
| 7 | U-56 | Gale VI (2) |
| 8 | U-2 | Miss U.S. 1 (2) |
| 9 | U-37 | Miss Seattle (1) |
| 10 | U-8 | Hawaii Kai III |
| 11 | U-55 | Gale V (3) |
| 12 | U-1300 | KOLroy |
| DNF | U-62 | Thriftway, Too |
| DNF | U-222 | Breathless II |
| DNQ | U-19 | Coral Reef |
| DNQ | U-26 | Miss Tri-Cities (1) |
| DNQ | U-13002 | KOLroy Too |