1953 Gold Cup Remembered

By Fred Farley - Unlimited Hydroplane Historian

The 1953 APBA Gold Cup continued the victory string in the race of races by the Seattle-based SLO-MO-SHUN team, owned by Stanley S. Sayres.

With drivers Joe Taggart and Lou Fageol alternating in the cockpit of SLO-MO-SHUN IV, Sayres won his fourth straight Gold Cup in 1953--his third on the home waters of Lake Washington. These were the days when the race location was determined by the yacht club of the winning boat rather than by the city with the highest financial bid.

Representing the Seattle Yacht Club, Sayres had first won the Gold Cup in 1950 on the Detroit River with SLO-MO IV.

Designed by Ted Jones, "The Grand Old Lady" SLO-MO-SHUN IV was the first prop-riding Unlimited hydroplane to run successfully. It wasn't long before most new boats were obvious copies of SLO-MO.

None of the boats that SLO-MO-SHUN IV challenged at the 1950 Gold Cup w! ere present in 1953. They had all been replaced by the new generation of SLO-MO-style Unlimited hydroplanes. These included: SLO-MO-SHUN V and GALE II, built in 1951; MISS GREAT LAKES II, built in 1952; SUCH CRUST III, SUCH CRUST V, and MISS U.S., built in 1953.

For the first time in Gold Cup history, all of the attending boats were three-point hydroplanes. The Dossin brothers' MISS PEPSI, the reigning step hydro, had retired for the time being. And Horace Dodge, Jr.'s MY SWEETIE team was concentrating on East Coast competition in 1953.

All seven entrants in the 1953 Gold Cup used V-12 Allison aircraft engines. And one of these (SUCH CRUST III) was twin-Allison-powered. This was a trend that had started seven years earlier when Dan Arena installed an Allison in MISS GOLDEN GATE III at the 1946 Gold Cup.

Not until 1954 would the more-powerful--but more temperamental--Rolls-Royce Merlin make its presence felt in Unlimited racing.

For the first ! time ever, a 3.75-mile course was used for an Unlimited race at the 19 53 Gold Cup. Most Unlimited courses in the post-World War II era have been 2, 2.5, or 3 miles in length. The Seattle race committee had used a 3-mile oval in 1951 and '52. The Lake Washington course stayed at 3.75 miles through 1956 before switching back to a 3-miler in 1957.

The 1953 season is unique in the annals of Unlimited racing. Five races counted for National High Points that year and five different boats won them. The winners included MISS GREAT LAKES II in the Detroit Memorial Regatta, SLO-MO-SHUN IV in the APBA Gold Cup, GALE II in the Silver Cup, SLO-MO-SHUN V in the President's Cup, and SUCH CRUST V in the Imperial Gold Cup.

This compares favorably to the 2001 Unlimited season when five different boats won the first five races of a six-race campaign. Not until the last day of the season was there a repeat winner.

The Sayres team won its fifth and final Gold Cup in 1954 on Lake Washington when Fageol piloted SLO-MO-SHUN V to victory, power! ed by a Rolls-Royce Merlin.

The following account of the 1953 Gold Cup was written by the nonpareil Mel Crook. The former driver of the Unlimited hydroplane BETTY V in the 1930s and '40s, Crook was the dean of boat racing journalists. His "More Power To You" column in YACHTING MAGAZINE was considered the "bible" of boat race reporting for three decades.

Slo-mo-shun IV Wins 1953 Gold Cup
By W. Melvin Crook
Reprinted from Yachting Magazine

When drivers Joe Taggart and Lou Fageol piloted Stanley Sayres' SLO-MO-SHUN IV to a straight-heat victory in the 46th Gold Cup Race at Seattle on August 9, they broke an assortment of performance records and came close to breaking the hearts of the challengers from Detroit. This is the third consecutive year that the fleet from the Motor City has made the long trek to the Pacific Northwest, each time ! to be soundly whipped by one of the famous SLO-MOs.

The record book shows that never before has the gold-plated old urn been captured four times in succession by the same owner. SLO-MO IV became the second boat in the history of the class to win the race three times. Sayres' world-record holder has her name engraved on the winner's plaques for 1950 1952 and 1953. In this respect, her performance is exceeded only by that of George Reis' EL LAGARTO, which posted three consecutive wins. Certainly some sort of "first" was established by the fact that SLO-MO's three triumphs were accomplished with no less than four different drivers. The first time she turned the trick, her designer, Ted Jones, was at the wheel. Last year she was piloted by Stan Dollar. And for her third success, the driving chores were shared by Joe Taggart and Lou Fageol.

Speeds during this 46th Gold Cup Race, while not up to some optimistic pre-race predictions, were high enough to cause several changes in the record book. Most impressive new mark was the 90-mile! average of 92.571, which erased the old 78.215 set by SLO-MO IV in 1950. This being the first time the race has ever been run on a 3.75 mile course, the MO's 104.231 for the third circuit of the second heat automatically becomes a record, though it is not up to the unbelievable 108-plus credited to SLO-MO-SHUN V in 1951. This year's fastest heat speed of 95.268 was not even close to MISS PEPSI's 101.024 chalked up a year ago.

Most of the period set aside for qualification trials turned out to be nothing more than a sun-bathing session for the officials.

First to take a crack at the required three laps at 85 in.p.h. or faster was the defending champion, SLO-MO IV. Late in the afternoon of the 6th Joe Taggart brought her out and wheeled three laps at speeds of 106.7, 107.7, and 108 for a trials average of 107.5. This was nearly four miles faster than the previous fastest Gold Cup qualification--MISS PEPSI's 1952 effort.

As usual, the posting of the fi! rst speed was all that was needed to get the ball rolling. Shortly aft er the Sayres' craft had left the course, Chuck Thompson took his turns with the enormous SUCH CRUST III. Picking up speed as he went, Chuck roared through the laps at 92.5, 93.5, 94.8 for an average of 93.6 m.p.h.

MISS GREAT LAKES took over immediately thereafter and turned in a trial performance of 93.3, 93.0, 92.5, averaging 92.9 for the 11¼ miles. Then, as the evening wore on, GALE II checked in at 92.2, 90.7, 90.0 (90.9 for the full distance), followed by SUCH CRUST V at 96.9, 96.7, 97.2 (96.9 over-all).

While the other boats were busy avoiding the qualification process, SLO-MO-SHUN V, the 1951 Gold Cup winner, had been badly damaged. During a trial run under the guidance of Lou Fageol, while traveling at a reported 160 m.p.h., she had somehow lost the bottom of her main strut. This permitted the shaft to run wild with resultant heavy damage to all the drive gear and the after part of the hull structure. She was beached and quickly salvaged. Despite day ! and night activity on the part of the famous Sayres crew and Anchor Jensen's shop, the V was far from ready at the scheduled conclusion of the qualification trials. The Gold Cup committee voted to allow her to make the trials at any time up to the point where it would mean postponing the race. Some two hours before that moment Stan Sayres informed the officials that there would not be time to make the three-lap run and asked to be allowed to compete without first qualifying. This matter was put to a vote of the other owners who firmly voted it down.

George Simon's new MISS U.S. also had her pre-race woes. While her crew worked hard at removing a collection of "bugs," the committee agreed to extend her the same qualifying grace period granted to Sayres. Thus, early on the morning of race day, Arena was able to get his new job under the wire with an 89.0, 87.4, 88.2 performance (88.2 over-all).

Seattle on race day presented pleasantly warm sunshine and a light! easterly breeze that was just enough to keep the water from being "st icky." Crowds, which had started assembling the night before, by race time jammed every available point of vantage ashore and along the log-boom that lined the backstretch. Start of the program had to be delayed 15 minutes when the boom parted and drifted onto the course along with its hundreds of boats.

Whereas in previous Gold Cup Races on the Lake Washington course, one or more of the contenders plotted starts through the arch of the floating bridge, all six of the 1953 hopefuls came swooping in from around the north turn or from inside the course. In a fast breakaway, SLO-MO IV led the pack over the line several seconds after "clock zero," closely trailed by MISS GREAT LAKES, SUCH CRUST V, MISS U.S., SUCH CRUST III and GALE.

Going through the first turn, GREAT LAKES slowed to a halt. Meantime, Taggart opened up his initial lead, with Bill Cantrell pushing the CRUST V in second spot. The defending champ flashed over at the finish of the first round at an a! verage of 101.95 for the 3.75 miles--the fastest circuit to be made by any during the first heat. Cantrell, who was some quarter-mile behind the leader at this stage, shortly lost his second position to Lee Schoenith in GALE. CRUST III had settled into fourth and Arena seemed content to run at a modest pace at the tail of the fleet.

SLO-MO IV's lead was stretched to half a mile at the finish of the second lap, to three-quarters at the end of the third, and to a full mile one lap later. From there to the end of the heat Taggart kept the space between him and the second-place GALE close to the mile distance. He hammered the 1950 and 1952 winner hard around the turns, drawing gasps from the spectators as he danced from sponson to sponson, but slowed down through those spots where the other craft had dug large holes in the course. The IV's engine, which had sounded progressively rougher through the fourth round, appeared to smooth out later in the race. She lapped MISS ! U.S. on the second turn of her fourth lap and passed her again on the first turn of her final circuit.

They finished that first heat with SLO-MO IV in front by 20 seconds for a 30-mile average of 95.268 m.p.h. GALE was second, with CRUST V, CRUST III and MISS U.S. crossing in that sequence. Although the Simon challenger had been lapped by every other boat in the race, she finished within the allotted nine minutes and received points for fifth.

Prior to the start of the second heat, it was announced that GREAT LAKES had broken her propeller shaft and would be out of further competition. From the Sayres camp came word that Lou Fageol, senior driver on the SLO-MO team, would replace Taggart at the wheel of the IV. This announcement would hardly have been necessary for the crowd immediately recognized the Fageol driving technique. Unlike Taggart, Lou chose to take his craft north and make his start through the bridge archway. In this maneuver, he was joined by Dan Arena in MISS U.S.

As the fleet poured down on the line from! all directions, it was CRUST III that was ahead--in fact she was too far ahead and Thompson had to slow to a crawl to keep from jumping. He managed to get the III over first but the faster moving MISS U.S, CRUST V, GALE and SLO-MO IV swept down in a bunch. Fageol had found his way from the bridge to the line unusually crowded with Detroit boats and was forced to make his run to the first turn in heavy traffic.

The Seattle defender roared past all but CRUST V before coming out of that first turn. Going down the backstretch the SLO-MO accelerated rapidly and quickly closed the gap between herself and the Schafer boat. Then, just as Fageol was forging ahead, CRUST V slowed to a halt, her propeller missing.

GALE took over the chase at this juncture and took it over in earnest. On the south turn of the second circuit as the SLO-MO made her characteristic wide turn, Lee Schoenith pushed his Dad's boat into the lead. At the finish of that lap GALE was on top by so! me 200 yards, followed by SLO-MO, CRUST III and MISS U.S. This state o f affairs continued until the third backstretch when Fageol turned loose all the horses in the MO's Allison and jumped into the number-one spot once more.

Fageol and Schoenith fought it out at close quarters for the next lap, without the Seattle boat gaining appreciably. On that fourth backstretch; timer Otto Crocker caught the leader at 128 m.p.h. straightaway speed. Fageol commenced to improve his lead during the fifth lap, on the north turn of which he lapped MISS U.S. GALE, too, passed the Simon entry on the sixth round, but continued to lose ground on SLO-MO.

On the final two rounds of the second heat it could be seen that GALE was slowing. It developed that a cooling line had broken and the boat was filling with water. So far was Schoenith forced to throttle his charge that SUCH CRUST III passed him almost on the finish line to take second behind SLO-MO IV. MISS U.S. came on to take fourth. Fageol's speed for the heat was 92.014 with his fastest lap--th! e third--at the rate of 104.231.

At this stage SLO-MO IV had picked up 800 points, GALE 525, SUCH CRUST III 469, MISS U.S. 296 and CRUST V 225.

Seattleites were on the verge of jubilance. By nosing out Schoenith for second spot, Thompson had kept two Detroit challengers within striking distance of eventual victory, but had snipped 75 points from the score of the second-ranking GALE. It was obvious that SLO-MO IV had only to maintain an iota of her 1 minute 44 second time advantage (to pick up the fastest race bonus), and take a fifth or better in the final heat to top any combination available to GALE.

The pits were hectic with activity between the second and third heats. SLO-MO's propulsive department was found to be in need of several replacements-including the prop. CRUST V was fitted with a replacement shaft and propeller. GALE’s crew was hard at it repairing the ruptured water line. From the MISS U.S. camp came word that various important items ! were out of line and owner Simon decided to withdraw for the day rathe r than damage his new craft.

Taggart, after relinquishing the SLO-MO’s cockpit to "guest driver" Fageol for the second heat, again took over for the final contest. At the start it was CRUST V over the line first, trailed closely by SLO-MO, GALE and CRUST III. Taggart, despite his commanding lead in points and time, pushed the defending champion into the lead as he reached the first turn of the initial circuit. Some two miles farther along, Cantrell was compelled to call it a day as CRUST V's motor found itself in difficulties.

By the end of the first round, SLO-MO had a lead of 300 yards. GALE was hanging on grimly in second position, while Thompson kept CRUST III at a steady pace somewhat slower than that of the leaders. Taggart maintained his short lead throughout the second lap. But soon thereafter the gap between the MO and GALE started to widen. Lee Schoenith was receiving an unwanted bath of oil caused by a failure of his gear box lubrication system. Th! e fourth .lap was the fastest of the heat as Taggart whirled the 3.75 miles at an average speed of 99.682. Positions remained unchanged to the finish.

SLO-MO IV swept over the final lap to the accompaniment of whistle and horn blasts and an appreciative roar from the massed spectators. Her speed for the 30 miles had been 90.557 m.p.h. GALE was next across the line, some mile behind the winner, while CRUST III came on steadily to pick up third place points.

Limited hydroplane races run between Gold Cup heats brought out small but fast fields of 225s and 266s. Victor in the 225 competition was Rich Hallett's I'M IN. In the second of these heats Hallett wheeled his craft at a speed of 80.429, tacking almost 5 m.p.h. on the record which he himself set in 1951. 266 winner was SKIPPY TOO, driven by John Corea.

As a final treat for the smaller classes, the Seafair Trophy was put on the line for a one-heat match race between the first five finishers in each ! of the 225 and 266 classes. I'M IN bested this field in convincing fashion.