Lee Schoenith Remembered

By Fred Farley - Unlimited Hydroplane Historian

Lee Schoenith was the man you loved to hate--especially if you were from Seattle.

In those halcyon days of the 1950s, heroes and villains were clearly defined in the battle between Seattle and Detroit over possession of the APBA Gold Cup.

To Seattle fans, Bill Muncey was the hero and Schoenith was the villain. To Detroit fans, the opposite was true: Schoenith was the hero and Muncey was the villain.

The media and the fans couldn't get enough of the rivalry between the two men, who played their roles to the hilt and with great relish.

But the rivalry was strictly show business. In private, Lee and Bill were close personal friends. In the 1970s, they were owner and driver respectively of the ATLAS VAN LINES team and won many races together.

Joseph Lee Schoenith began his Unlimited hydroplane career in 1950. He and his father, Joe Schoenith, bought the old obsolete MISS FROSTIE from Warren Avis and named it GALE (U-50) to publicize W.D. Gale, Inc, the family's Detroit-based electrical contracting firm. Family friend Jack Schafer, owner of the SUCH CRUST boats, convinced Joe and Lee that hydro racing was an excellent vehicle for business promotion.

GALE (U-50) was a step hydroplane and strictly an "also-ran" but served as the Schoeniths' introduction to the sport. Gene Arena and Lee Schoenith were the drivers that first year. GALE was a two-man boat with a driver and a riding mechanic.

The boat was such a rough rider that no one wanted to ride in it twice. Lee invited Bill Muncey to ride with him at the 1950 President's Cup in Washington, D.C. Bill took a real pounding and quit after the first heat.

In later years, Lee suffered from a bad back that he attributed to the rough ride from driving that first GALE. The ailment ultimately led to his retirement as a driver in 1958.

In 1951, a new state-of-the-art GALE II (U-51), designed and built by Dan Arena, was added to the Schoenith team. Danny Foster drove this craft to victory in the 1952 Silver Cup at Detroit, while Lee was away in the military service in Korea.

When Lee returned, he piloted GALE II to victory in the 1953 Silver Cup and won his first of three consecutive National High Point Driver Championships.

An experimental GALE III (U-53) proved unsuccessful. It was tested and eventually shelved without ever having entered a heat of competition. The single-Allison-powered "III" had twin propellers and a gear box reported to cost in the five digits.

Unperturbed by one failure, the Schoeniths acquired two new hulls for 1954 from builder Les Staudacher: the GALE IV (U-54) and the GALE V (U-55). Bill Cantrell drove the "IV", while Lee handled the "V". Over the next two seasons, the U-54 and the U-55 proved to be one of the most successful two-boat teams in the history of Unlimited racing.

Cantrell and GALE IV won the 1954 President's Cup, the 1954 Indiana Governor's Cup, and the 1955 Detroit Memorial Regatta.

Schoenith and GALE V triumphed in the 1954 Maple Leaf Trophy, the 1954 Detroit Memorial Regatta, the 1954 Imperial Gold Cup, the 1954 International Cup, and the big one--the APBA Gold Cup--in 1955.

Lee's 1955 Gold Cup victory at Seattle is one of the all-time great sports stories about a race that was as competitive as it was controversial.

Schoenith and GALE V outpointed the team of Bill Muncey and MISS THRIFTWAY in the final standings, 1225 points to 1025. This was in spite of the fact that MISS THRIFTWAY had posted heat finishes of third, first, and first, while GALE V had run second, second, and third. On the strength of their victory, the Schoeniths won the right to defend their title in 1956 on home waters in Detroit, which hadn't hosted a Gold Cup since 1950. All of the races from 1951 through 1955 had been run in Seattle and hosted by the Seattle Yacht Club. The SYC team of SLO-MO-SHUN IV and SLO-MO-SHUN V, owned by Stan Sayres, had won an unprecedented five consecutive Gold Cups. Thanks to GALE V, the "Golden Goblet" returned to the trophy shelf of the Detroit Yacht Club, much to the chagrin of Seattleites accustomed to considering the Gold Cup their own.

From the outset, the 1955 Gold Cup contest seemed predestined to go down in history as one of the more memorable. The first indication was in the form of a bombshell dropped by referee Mel Crook. In a declaration aimed at SLO-MO-SHUN V pilot Lou Fageol, Crook threatened disqualification for reasons of safety to any contestant attempting a "flying start" from under the Lake Washington Floating Bridge. The "flying start" issue was rendered moot when Fageol and SLO-MO V turned a complete backward somersault at 165 miles per hour during a qualification trial on Friday, August 5. Fageol was badly injured and the boat had to be withdrawn.

Lee Schoenith witnessed Fageol's flip and was shaken by the sight of it. Lee later admitted to being "spooked" by the SLO-MO's crash, but it didn't seem to affect his performance on Sunday, August 7th. On the contrary, Schoenith drove one of the finest races of his career in the 1955 Gold Cup.

Heading into the 1955 APBA Gold Cup, GALE IV and GALE V were widely regarded as the team most likely to break up the Seattle monopoly of that famous cup. The top-notch crew included crew chief Bud Meldrum and assistant crew chief Doc Terry.

In addition to the two Schoenith entries, the Detroit contingent that year included MISS U.S., owned and driven by George Simon, SUCH CRUST III, owned by Jack Schafer and driven by Walt Kade, and MISS CADILLAC, owned by Bud Saile and co-driven by Saile and Bill Braden. From Freeport, New York, came TEMPO VII, owned by bandleader Guy Lombardo, driven by Danny Foster, and maintained by a Detroit crew.

The Seattle team consisted of the veteran SLO-MO-SHUN IV with Joe Taggart and the defending champion SLO-MO-SHUN V with Fageol. A couple of new boats, the REBEL SUH and the MISS THRIFTWAY from Seattle, also appeared. Both of the latter were designed and managed by Ted Jones, who had designed and driven both of the SLO-MOs but had departed from the Sayres team after 1951 under acrimonious circumstances. The REBEL SUH, which he co-owned with Kirn Armistead, and the MISS THRIFTWAY were Jones's "comeback boats."

Assigned by Jones to drive REBEL SUH was U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Russ Schleeh. The seat in the Associated Grocers-owned MISS THRIFTWAY went to Muncey, who resided in Detroit but was now in the enemy camp as a representative of the SYC rather than the DYC.

Rounding out the field at the 1955 Gold Cup was a trio from southern California: J. Philip Murphy's BREATHLESS, driven by his son Jay, Henry Kaiser's SCOOTER TOO, piloted by Jack Regas, and ZEPHYR-FURY, co-owned by Ray Crawford and Howard Gidovlenko and driven by Crawford.

SLO-MO-SHUN IV qualified fastest for three laps around the 3.75-mile course at 117.391 miles per hour. TEMPO VII was second fastest at 116.917 followed by GALE V at 112.782.

By race day morning, the thirteen boat field had been reduced to ten. SLO-MO-SHUN V and MISS U.S. had withdrawn with mechanical difficulties and ZEPHYR-FURY could not qualify.

The Gold Cup rules in 1955 called for three heats of 30 miles each. First-place in a heat was worth 400 points, second place 300, and third 225. Additionally, a boat could earn 400 "bonus points" for the fastest heat and 400 for the fastest race.

In those days, up to a dozen boats were allowed to start in a heat of Unlimited competition. It was not mandatory to divide the field into sections.

In the Final Heat of the 1954 Gold Cup, GALE V had been beaten by SLO-MO-SHUN V. but had defeated SLO-MO-SHUN IV. And although the SLO-MO team was the defending champion, they had been absent from the competitive arena for a year and lacked the sharpening of a recent race experience.

The two new Seattle boats were brand new. Schleeh of REBEL SUH had never started in a heat of competition in his life. Muncey of MISS THRIFTWAY was an obscure inboard driver who had briefly handled two other Unlimiteds (MISS GREAT LAKES in 1950 and DORA MY SWEETIE in 1955), but sank both boats.

Clearly, the SYC defense team had its work cut out for itself when race day dawned, bright and warm, on that memorable Sunday.

Schoenith and GALE V took the lead at the start of Heat One but were overhauled by Taggart and the Rolls-Royce Merlin-powered SLO-MO-SHUN IV. SLO-MO went on to establish lap and heat records of 107.965 and 103.159 miles per hour. GALE V kept the pressure on SLO-MO-SHUN IV throughout and averaged 102.469 for the 30 miles. Muncey checked in third at a conservative 97.232 with MISS THRIFTWAY, 64 seconds behind Taggart and 57 seconds astern of Schoenith. Cantrell and GALE IV took a distant fourth, followed by Saile in Miss CADILLAC and Murphy in BREATHLESS.

Signals from the official barge were strangely vague toward the end of Heat One. As a result, the competing boats ran several more than the required eight laps, while the drivers wondered if perhaps they had jumped the gun. But no one had.

Schleeh and REBEL SUH failed to finish, along with Foster, who suffered severe burns when TEMPO VII caught fire. Foster had been running in third-place on lap-one when the gas cap blew off. Regas and SCOOTER TOO struck a floating bottle and sank at the entrance to the pits and did not cross the starting line. Kade and SUCH CRUST III also scored zero points. After having qualified a half hour before the race, Kade's crew could not restart in time for Heat One.

Attempts to repair TEMPO VII for Heat Two with owner Lombardo ready to step in as relief driver proved futile, and the craft was withdrawn for the day. Eight boats returned to the water for the middle stanza with Braden subbing for owner Saile behind the wheel of MISS CADILLAC.

MISS THRIFTWAY grabbed an early lead in Heat Two and held it to the checkered flag at an average of 100.944, followed by GALE V at 99.103. SLO-MO-SHUN IV ran an unfamiliar fourth place prior to overtaking SUCH CRUST III at an average of 97.631 to the CRUST's 96.392. MISS CADILLAC and BREATHLESS ran way off the pace in fifth and sixth positions, while GALE IV did not finish. REBEL SUH sank in nearly the same place and manner as had SCOOTER TOO in the earlier round.

For the third and deciding heat, Taggart and Muncey were tied with 625 points apiece with the SLO-MO driver in line for the 400 bonus points for the fastest heat, provided he complete the 90 miles. Schoenith possessed 600 points but stood in the best position for the 400 bonus points for fastest match, with an elapsed time edge of ten seconds over Taggart and 37 seconds over Muncey.

SLO-MO-SHUN IV charged to the front at the start of Heat Three, followed by SUCH CRUST III, MISS THRIFTWAY and GALE V in that order with MISS CADILLAC and BREATHLESS trailing.

The positions remained unchanged until the fifth backstretch, when MISS THRIFTWAY roared by on the outside of SUCH CRUST III, which was attempting to lap BREATHLESS. On the same lap, SLO-MO-SHUN IV's manifold started to crack. Taggart eased off to nurse SLO-MO along as Muncey moved closer.

Finally, two laps from victory, Taggart elected to save the boat, and himself, from fire. He shut off the engine, forever dashing the hopes of Stan Sayres for an unprecedented sixth consecutive Gold Cup triumph. Later, a strip 30 inches long and 1-1/2 inches deep was found burned in the side of the hull. One can only speculate as to what effect, if any, the running of the extra laps in the confused first heat had on the hometown favorite's inability to finish.

With Taggart out of the race, Bill Muncey, in his first appearance with a competitive Unlimited hydroplane, had the Gold Cup in his grasp. He had compensated for the 37-second elapsed time differential between himself and Lee Schoenith. But on the final backstretch, the inexperienced MISS THRIFTWAY pilot forgot or ignored or was unaware of the critical bonus points factor. He committed the costly error of reducing his speed and allowed his approximate 38-second lead over the third-place GALE V to dwindle.

At the finish, it was MISS THRIFTWAY the winner at 99.990, SUCH CRUST III second at 98.460, GALE V third at 97.080, MISS CADILLAC fourth at 88.390, and BREATHLESS fifth at 77.201. But while Muncey had eased down to 93 for the last lap, Schoenith had maintained his same steady previous pace.

Although despondent over the demise of the SLO-MO winning streak, Seattleites generally consoled themselves over the apparent victory of another local boat. They jubilantly proclaimed Bill Muncey as the hero of the day for having "saved" the Gold Cup for the Pacific Northwest. There were many references to a long and successful career for the 26-year-old driver who, ironically, resided in the Motor City.

It was a shining moment as well for Ted Jones, back in the limelight after having designed yet another competitive hydroplane. The smooth-riding MISS THRIFTWAY used a stock Allison, but was several hundred pounds lighter than the other boats. In posting a competition lap of 105, THRIFTWAY compared favorably to SLO-MO-SHUN IV, which had set the record at 107.

Meanwhile, out on the judges' stand, the team of APBA officials checked and rechecked the overall average speed and discovered a startling statistic. Lee Schoenith and GALE V had completed the 90 miles 4.536 seconds faster than MISS THRIFTWAY. The three-heat clocking, 24 laps of 3.75 miles each, showed a match speed for GALE V of 99.552 miles per hour, compared to Muncey's 99.389 for the 90 miles.

This entitled GALE V to the bonus points for the fastest race. Schoenith's accumulated points increased from 825 to 1225. The Detroit Yacht Club challenger held a victory edge of 200 points. For the first time since the introduction of the Gold Cup bonus point system in 1937, a boat had won the race without winning a single heat.

The announcement proclaiming Detroit the winner and Seattle the loser generated something akin to a cultural shock wave throughout the Pacific Northwest. Even persons not otherwise inclined toward boat racing were inevitably drawn into the debate over the invocation of a "technicality" in a civic-supported sports event of national significance. Lack of understanding by the general public of APBA "fine print" was partially responsible for the uproar.

The local press capitalized on the public disenchantment with harsh criticism of the Gold Cup rules and expressions of sympathy for the crestfallen Muncey. The Seattle media even went so far as to accuse SUCH CRUST III pilot Walt Kade with intentionally blocking MISS THRIFTWAY in the last heat so as to slow her down, an allegation without basis in fact and absolutely denied by Kade in a 1965 interview with Fred Farley.

According to Kade, "I didn't even know Muncey was behind me. I was trying to get by the BREATHLESS. I didn't know Muncey was there until he went by both of us on the outside."

The bottom line was that Bill Muncey just plain "blew it" by not following the rules. Conversely, Lee Schoenith followed the rules and reaped the benefits of doing so. Muncey never made that mistake again and vindicated himself by winning four of his next seven Gold Cup contests for the MISS THRIFTWAY organization.

When Schoenith returned to Detroit following the Gold Cup, his plane was greeted in the middle of the night by a crowd of cheering hydroplane fans.

For Schoenith, the 1955 Gold Cup marked the beginning of the end of his driving career. At the very next race, the Copper Cup in Polson, Montana, a substitute occupied the GALE V's cockpit. Lee began to devote more time to administration and less time to racing.

He won one other race--the 1956 St. Clair International Trophy at St. Clair, Michigan--against a field of local contenders with the huge twin-Allison-powered GALE VI (U-56). The "VI" was only sporadically competitive and generally had a hard time keeping up with the smaller lighter single-engine Unlimiteds.

In his 1956 APBA Gold Cup defense at Detroit, Schoenith and GALE VI were lapped in the Final Heat by the victorious Muncey and MISS THRIFTWAY.

In his last season of competition, Lee flipped GALE VI in the Final Heat of the 1958 International Cup at Elizabeth City, North Carolina, after winning the first two heats.

Schoenith and GALE VI appeared to have won the 1958 Detroit Memorial Regatta but were penalized a lap for jumping the gun in the Final Heat.

By 1959, business, babies, and a bad back all conspired to end Lee Schoenith's driving career. Fred Alter was hired to replace him in the cockpit of GALE VI.

From 1962 to 1969, Lee served as APBA Unlimited Commissioner. When Schoenith took office, the sport faced a myriad of problems.

The Internal Revenue Service was questioning whether or not boat racing was a legitimate business expense. And the cost of campaigning an Unlimited hydroplane was spiraling upward.

As the self-styled "Czar" of Unlimited racing, Lee had some difficult decisions to make. For the sport to survive, it had to professionalize.The government had to be convinced that the boat owners were businessmen rather than just sportsmen.

Starting in 1963, the Gold Cup race location was determined not by the yacht club of the winning boat but by the city with the highest financial bid. This was a blow to honor and all that but a move entirely in line with the new professional school of thought, which included mandatory cash prizes at all races.

These changes did not come easily and were bitterly opposed by the sport's amateur element. But to those who accepted the new order of things, their reward was a competitive a series of races that compared favorably--if not better--to the great races of the past.

At the beginning of the 1962 season, only four races were definite. This number grew to six events as the season progressed. Schoenith assured the race sites that they would have a representative field of competing boats. And he delivered on that promise.

Lee may have lacked the tact of a diplomat, but the man got results...and probably saved the sport.

In 1963, the Gold Cup race format was changed from three heats of 30 miles to four heats of 15 miles.

In 1964, Schoenith appointed Bill Newton as Chief Referee for the entire circuit to standardize the interpretation of rules.

The average field had thirteen starters in 1964, an all-time record.

Eighteen boats attended the 1966 Tampa Suncoast Cup, an all-time record for a non-Gold Cup event.

In 1966, the standard course size was reduced from 3 miles to 2-1/2 miles for the purpose of improving spectator vantage points.

A number of promising new race sites were added to the Unlimited circuit. These included San Diego in 1964 and the Tri-Cities (Washington) in 1966. Both of these events remain on the calendar to this day.

In 1967, an all-time high of nine teams had national sponsors.

Also in 1967, Lee hired Phil Cole as URC Executive Secretary. A former sports editor for THE MADISON (Indiana) COURIER, Cole generated more media attention for Unlimited racing than anyone else ever had.

In 1969, point ties at the end of a race were broken by the order of finish in the Final Heat rather than by total elapsed time for the entire race.

Unlimited racing experienced a lot of happy times during the Schoenith administration. But there were down times as well. And the downest of times occurred on June 19, 1966, at Washington, D.C.

Lee was shaken to the core by the death of three close friends in two separate accidents on the Potomac River: Ron Musson of MISS BARDAHL, Rex Manchester of NOTRE DAME, and Don Wilson of MISS BUDWEISER.

These tragedies were followed two weeks later at the Gold Cup in Detroit by the death of another old comrade, Chuck Thompson, driver of SMIRNOFF (U-80), a boat that Schoenith owned.

Keeping his emotions in check, Lee predicted that the deaths would not have any great effect on the sport as a whole. All commitments with race sponsors would be honored, he promised. And they were.

After retiring as Commissioner, Schoenith concentrated on running his Gale Enterprises racing team. In 1970, he hired Bill Muncey as driver and, in 1971, inked a sponsorship pact with Atlas Van Lines, Inc.

Schoenith and Muncey enjoyed the best season of their illustrious careers in 1972. The ATLAS VAN LINES (U-71) won six out of seven races, including the Gold Cup at Detroit, and the National High Point Championship. The boat broke only one Rolls-Royce Merlin engine all year--and even then was able to finish the heat in second-place.

After eleven victories in three years, everyone expected Lee's and Bill's winning ways to continue into 1973. But that didn't happen. Instead, ATLAS VAN LINES embarked on a brutal losing streak. Over the next three years, the team lost thirty races in a row.

Their engines were breaking a lot more often. And they had trouble running with boats that they had dominated the year before. Their best 1973 finish was a second-place in the Tri-Cities Gold Cup behind Dean Chenoweth and MISS BUDWEISER.

A change of crew chiefs for 1974 did not turn things around for the U-71. A switch from Rolls-Royce Merlin to turbocharged Allison power did not help matters any. And a new boat in 1975 also failed to make the competitive grade.

It was at this point that Schoenith threw in the towel and retired as an Unlimited owner, while Muncey started his own team and went on to many more successful years in racing.

But the sport had not seen the last of Lee. He re-surfaced in 1980 as Chief Referee for the Unlimiteds--a position he occupied for eight years until ill health forced him to step down.

As Referee, Schoenith was his usual hard-nosed no-nonsense self. He went by the book--a book that he had helped to write: "The first guy I ever called for a rule infraction was my best friend, Bernie Little," owner of MISS BUDWEISER.

Lee Schoenith died in Florida on August 20, 1993, at the age of 64, survived by his wife Shirley and his sons Joe and Jay. His greatest legacy was in transforming an amateur endeavor into a professional pursuit. He was a catalyst for change and improvement.

Those who didn't know him often accused Lee of being bellicose and abrasive in tactics.

His bellicosity masked a warm love for the sport. His steadfast resolve was to never preside at any administrative surgery harmful to the best interests of boat racing. His abrasiveness was used, at times, as a tool to probe motives, attitudes, facts.

If not for the untiring efforts of "Czar" J. Lee Schoenith, Unlimited hydroplane competition as we know it might not exist.