"Four Rookies in One Race" Question

By Fred Farley - Unlimited Hydroplane Historian

QUESTION:

Fred, at the 2004 Tri-Cities Columbia Cup, we had four rookie drivers- -J. Michael Kelly, Vince Xaudaro, Dick Lynch, and Steve Hook--score points in their very first Unlimited race. In an interview, you stated that this hadn't happened since the 1956 Seattle Seafair Regatta. Who were the four rookies that scored points at Seattle in 1956? - Rick Daniel

ANSWER:

They were Mira Slovak (MISS WAHOO), Bill Tonkin (TEMPEST), Norm Evans (MISS SEATTLE), and Lin Ivey (also MISS SEATTLE).

Slovak not only drove in his first race that day, he saw his first race as well! The "Flying Czech" posted two second-place finishes in the preliminary heats but conked out in the finale. Mira went on to win the National Championship in 1958 with MISS BARDAHL and in 1966 with TAHOE MISS.

Tonkin made his one and only Unlimited appearance at the 1956 Seafair Regatta. He finished fourth in the first heat and gave MISS U.S. II's Don Wilson everything he could handle in the second heat, until forced back to the pits by mechanical difficulties.

MISS SEATTLE (in her first non-SLO-MO-SHUN V appearance) tried out two drivers at the Seafair race. Ivey finished fourth in Heat One; Evans finished third in Heat Two. Since Norm got more out of the boat than Lin, Evans was given the seat for the Final Heat, where he finished third.

Evans had a long--and somewhat uneven--Unlimited career. (Many of the boats that he drove left something to be desired from a competitive standpoint.) Still, Norm could run with the best of them and wasn't afraid to go fast. The amazing thing is that, prior to driving MISS SEATTLE, Evans had absolutely no boat racing experience and had never even been an APBA member! Norm's biggest triumph was his 1958 victory with MISS BARDAHL in the Lake Chelan Apple Cup, a race that he helped to promote.

Ivey was a Seattle area outboard racer who, after the MISS SEATTLE experience, never drove at the Unlimited level again.

A couple of other rookies were present at the 1956 Seafair Regatta but failed to qualify. These included Frank Taylor, pilot of the V- belt-driven MISS SKYWAY (the "Rubberband Boat"), which did about 40 miles per hour on the straightaway, and Bob Gilliam, driver of MISS B & I. (Gilliam made an unauthorized test run in almost total darkness and ran over the logboom, causing extensive damage to the boat.)