1951 APBA Gold Cup

By Fred Farley - Unlimited Hydroplane Historian

Seattle, WA - Lake Washington, August 4.

Co-sponsored by Greater Seattle, Inc. (now Seafair, Inc.) and the Seattle Yacht Club.

FINAL STANDINGS POINTS SPEED

1. SLO-MO-SHUN V, Lou Fageol 1600 90.871
2. HORNET, Bill Cantrell (1), Danny Foster (2-3) 600 83.642
3. SLO-MO-SHUN IV, Ted Jones 450 82.364
4. HURRICANE IV, Morlan Visel (1-3), Stan Dollar (2) 296 78.640
5. GALE II, Lee Schoenith 264 74.210
6. MY SWEETIE, Horace Dodge Jr, (1), Walt Kade (2-3) 198 69.661
7. QUICKSILVER, Orth Mathiot 95
x MISS PEPSI, Chuck Thompson 0
x SUCH CRUST, Danny Foster 0
x GOLD'N CRUST, Roy Duby 0
DNQ DEE-JAY V, Norman Lauterbach 0

1st HEAT:

1. SLO-MO-SHUN V 91.776
2. HORNET 81.588
3. SLO-MO-SHUN IV 79.946
4. GALE II 79.012
5. HURRICANE IV 71.343
6. QUICKSILVER 63.829
7. MY SWEETIE 58.476
DNF MISS PEPSI ......
DNF SUCH CRUST ......
DNS GOLD'N CRUST ......

2nd HEAT:

1. SLO-MO-SHUN V 89.977
2. HORNET 85.673
3. SLO-MO-SHUN IV 84.995
4. HURRICANE IV 81.373
5. MY SWEETIE 80.808
6. GALE II 69.370
DNF MISS PEPSI ......
DNS QUICKSILVER ......
W/D SUCH CRUST ......
W/D GOLD'N CRUST ......

3rd HEAT: Called.

QUICKSILVER crashed and sank on lap three, killing driver Orth Mathiot and riding mechanic Thom Whittaker. Heat as stopped and not re-run. Race declared a contest on the basis of the two completed heats. Positions of boats at time of accident:

1. SLO-MO-SHUN V
2. SLO-MO-SHUN IV
3. MY SWEETIE
4. QUICKSILVER
5. HORNET
6. GALE II
DNF HURRICANE IV
W/D MISS PEPSI
W/D SUCH CRUST
W/D GOLD'N CRUST

3-mile course
30-mile heats

Fastest Lap: SLO-MO-SHUN V 108.663 (lap #1 of 1st Heat)

ABBREVIATIONS:

DNF - Did Not Finish
DNS - Did Not Start
DNQ - Did Not Qualify
W/D - Withdrawn

OWNERS:

Stan Sayres - SLO-MO-SHUN IV & SLO-MO-SHUN V
Horace Dodge, Jr. - HORNET & MY SWEETIE
Jack Schafer, Sr. - SUCH CRUST & GOLD'N CRUST
Joe Schoenith - GALE II
Orth Mathiot - QUICKSILVER
Morlan Visel - HURRICANE IV
Walt & Roy Dossin - MISS PEPSI
D.J. Murphy - DEE-JAY V

NOTES:

SLO-MO-SHUN IV and SLO-MO-SHUN V represented Seattle (WA); MISS PEPSI, HORNET, MY SWEETIE, GALE II, SUCH CRUST, and GOLD'N CRUST represented Detroit (MI); HURRICANE IV represented Los Angeles (CA); QUICKSILVER represented Portland (OR); and DEE-JAY V represented Philadelphia (PA).

The very same Rolls-Royce Merlin engine used in the ill-fated QUICKSILVER showed up three years later in SLO-MO-SHUN V when the "V" won the 1954 Gold Cup on Lake Washington.

Orth Mathiot was attempting to pass MY SWEETIE when he lost control of his boat in the 3rd Heat. Mathiot has been a Pacific Coast champion in the 1920s but hadn't driven in competition in over 20 years. QUICKSILVER was a home-built step hydroplane--without sponsons--designed by John Hacker (who also designed MY SWEETIE and MISS PEPSI).

QUICKSILVER almost sideswiped the official barge as Mathiot charged down the front sraightaway in pursuit of MY SWEETIE. The man was simply going too fast.

Contrary to local legend, the QUICKSILVER was indeed safety-inspected prior to the race. And no, Mathiot and Whittaker were NOT strapped into the boat with seat belts. (Source of this information: W. Melvin Crook, the race referee and a columnist for YACHTING MAGAZINE.)

SLO-MO-SHUN V received 400 points for winning the lst Heat, 400 points for winning the 2nd Heat, 400 bonus points for running the fastest 30-mile heat, and 400 bonus points for running the fastest 60-mile race.

After the Gold Cup was run on Saturday, August 4, a second Unlimited race (for the Seafair Trophy) was run on Lake Washington on Sunday, August 12. For this event, the race course was lengthened from 3 statute miles to 5 nautical miles and extended well beyond Seward Park. Unfortunately, all of the out-of-town boats went home after the Gold Cup, leaving only the two SLO-MO-SHUN boats. Three local 135 Cubic Inch Class Limited boats were recruited to "fill out the field for the Seafair Trophy. The SLO-MO drivers (Ted Jones and Lou Fageol) switched boats. Jones and SLO-MO-SHUN V won the race with heat finishes of first, second, and first. Fageol and SLO-MO-SHUN IV finished second, first, and second. SLO-MO-SHUN IV posted the fastest heat speed with a clocking of 111.742 MPH in the 2nd Heat, compared to 108.524 for SLO-MO-SHUN V in the same heat.