My Darling Question

By Fred Farley - Unlimited Hydroplane Historian

QUESTION:

Fred, what can you tell us about a boat called MY DARLING that raced back in the 1940s and '50s? Did it have any connection with Horace Dodge, Jr.'s MY SWEETIE boats? - K.M. Brien

ANSWER:

MY DARLING had no connection with MY SWEETIE. Although, both boats were very similar and had the same designer--John Hacker.

The MY SWEETIE of 1948 was professionally built (by Les Staudacher), while MY DARLING was home built by owner/driver Andy Marcy and his father.

MY SWEETIE won the 1949 APBA Gold Cup with Bill Cantrell driving, while MY DARLING's best finish in a major race was a fourth-place in the 1950 Detroit Memorial Regatta.

During the late 1940s and early '50s, most Unlimited owners opted for the three-point design (two sponsons and a propeller). But there were those, including Dodge and Marcy, who still believed in the time- honored step hydroplane configuration that had worked so well for Gar Wood back in the 1930s.

Based in Springfield, Illinois, MY DARLING was built over a 15-month period in the owner's spare time. It measured 31 feet 6 inches by 7 feet 8 inches. Marcy also assembled his own gearbox.

MY DARLING was basically a single-step hydroplane but with the propeller amidships, a buffer step forward, and a tunnel in the afterplane. Although originally powered by an Allison V-1710, the craft was later fitted with a Rolls-Royce Merlin.

MY DARLING finished second in the 1950 MVPBA Regatta at Keokuk, Iowa, and then won both heats of the Fox Lake, Illinois, event. Marcy failed to qualify for the Gold Cup at Detroit that year, but took fourth in the Detroit Memorial, seventh in the Silver Cup, and was first in the Calvert Trophy at Louisville, Kentucky.

MY DARLING was the first modern Unlimited hydroplane to attend the Madison Regatta in southern Indiana and took first-place in the 15- mile free-for-all (for classes 7-litre and above) at the 1950 Madison race.

Marcy showed up for two races at Detroit in 1951--the Detroit Memorial and the Silver Cup--but failed to finish either one of them.

Nothing more was heard from MY DARLING for the next six years. It was a surprise entry in the 1957 President's Cup at Washington, D.C. Marcy qualified one lap at 75 miles per hour and then withdrew with a gearbox problem. Stored next to HAWAII KAI III in the Naval Air Station Hangar, the KAI crew offered any assistance they could to help get MY DARLING back in the race. But all offers were rejected.

MY DARLING still exists today and, at last report, is owned by Morin Boats of Michigan.