The Unlimited - 1946 in Review

By Fred Farley - Unlimited Hydroplane Historian

After time-out for World War II, Gold Cup-style racing resumed in 1946 with a rejuvenated format in evidence.

The 732 cubic inch piston limitation had been abolished. This was necessary because there were no suitable engines being manufactured in the sizes prescribed by the then-current rules.

And virtually all hull restrictions were abandoned. For the first time since 1921, the sport featured a truly wide-open format

This was the genesis of the modern Unlimited Class. It was at this time that the huge supply of converted aircraft and other types of power sources developed for the war effort became available in quantity to the general public.

The term "Unlimited" applied specifically to inboard cubic inch piston displacement size--not hull size. Jet engines and outboard motors were not allowed.

Of all the boats returning to competition after the war, the Zalmon Simmons-owned MY SIN was the most highly regarded. With Simmons driving, it had won the 1939 and 1941 APBA Gold Cup races, powered by a Zumbach/Miller engine. Now owned by bandleader Guy Lombardo and renamed TEMPO VI, the boat retained its G-13 racing number and also the Miller engine. In later years, an Allison V-12 would be substituted.

In its first race under Lombardo's ownership, TEMPO VI scored an easy win in the 1946 National Sweepstakes at Red Bank, New Jersey. She was the only Unlimited boat there and ran against a fleet of 225 Cubic Inch Class hydroplanes.

Also in 1946, TEMPO VI raised the Gold Cup Class straightaway record to better than 113 miles per hour at Miami, Florida. This was the fastest speed ever recorded by a 732 cubic inch "G" boat of pre-World War II specifications.

The race for which TEMPO VI is best remembered is the 1946 APBA Gold Cup on the Detroit River. This was the first major Unlimited event to be run after the war.

Lombardo had his hands full on race day. Indeed, Dan Arena in the new Allison-powered three-pointer, MISS GOLDEN GATE III, made TEMPO VI work for it.

But the old MY SIN would not be denied. She became the first boat since EL LAGARTO (in 1935) to win three Gold Cups. And, in so doing, TEMPO VI broke the long-standing Gold Cup heat record of 70.412, set in 1920 on a 5-mile course by Gar Wood in the Liberty-powered MISS AMERICA I, with a mark of 70.890 for the 30-mile distance on a 3-mile course.

In 1920, Lombardo had been a youthful witness when Wood set the record. Now, twenty-six years later, their positions were reversed, as the cup was presented to Guy on the Judges' Stand by none other than the great Gar himself.

MISS GOLDEN GATE III--soon to be renamed MISS GREAT LAKES by new owner Albin Fallon--is one of the most significant boats in the annals of Unlimited racing. MISS GOLDEN GATE III failed to finish the 1946 Gold Cup race but raised the Gold Cup lap record to over 77 miles per hour.

More importantly, she was the first boat to be built with an Allison engine in mind. MISS GREAT LAKES was likewise the first to win a race (the 1946 President's Cup) with a modern power source and did so in record time.

At 26-1/2 feet in length, MISS GREAT LAKES is now considered rather short by today's standards. But in 1946, she was the biggest boat out there at a time when most Gold Cup contenders measured closer to 20 feet.

As it turned out, the craft wasn't large enough to handle all that horsepower. Consequently, she was a wild rider. As a test bed for the war surplus Allison, she served her purpose well. Following and as a result of MISS GREAT LAKES, the accepted configuration for post-war piston-powered Unlimiteds has been more in the 28 to 30-foot range.

The modern era of Unlimited hydroplane racing began with the 1946 Gold Cup. MISS GOLDEN GATE III used a substantially stock 1710-cubic inch Allison, salvaged from a P-38 fighter plane. The engine was installed aircraft-style in the boat, as opposed to the present day practice of reversing the engine for use in a hydroplane.

In the years to come, "the good old Allison" would become to Unlimited racing what the Offenhauser is to Indianapolis.

Interestingly enough, the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine made its debut at the same time as the Allison. Also in the pits at Detroit in 1946 was the MISS WINDSOR, a step hydroplane that never could seem to answer the starter's gun but served to introduce "the mighty Merlin" to the racing world.

MISS GOLDEN GATE III arrived in the Motor City virtually untested. With Dan Arena at the wheel and his brother Gene Arena along side as riding mechanic, the yellow-painted three-pointer ran conservatively in the first two 30-mile heats.

Going into the final round, the Arena team had 600 points for two second-place finishes. This compared to 800 points for the favored TEMPO VI and Lombardo, who had the fastest lap of the day at 73.294. (This compared to the previous high of 72.707 set by ALAGI in 1938.)

For the Third Heat, Dan and Gene decided to go for broke and see what the Allison engine could really do.

With the world watching, MISS GOLDEN GATE III thundered into the lead, leaving TEMPO VI, BUCKEYE BABY, BLITZ II, and ALJO V far astern. ABC-TV announcer Don Dunphy excitedly described the action as Dan Arena kept going faster and faster, breaking Lombardo's mark on every lap and setting a new Gold Cup record of 77.911 miles per hour in the process.

As the Arenas lengthened their lead on that historic September 2, reaching straightaway speeds of 100 miles per hour, they noticed something strange about their wild-riding juggernaut. It was trying to propride!

Unlike the classic tail-dragging Ventnor three-pointers of the 1930s with propellers that were completely submerged, MISS GOLDEN GATE III was trying to ride much higher up on the three points with the propeller only partly submerged.

According to Dan Arena, the boat would only do this sporadically, but the tendency was definitely there. It was a concept that would reach fruition four years later with the Ted Jones-designed SLO-MO-SHUN IV.

After nine of ten laps, MISS GOLDEN GATE III was two miles ahead of TEMPO VI. The craft, which had only had about twenty minutes of water testing prior to race day, was in a class by itself.

Unfortunately, the GOLDEN GATE's oil pressure gauge was not working properly. The engine was completely dry of oil. With three-quarters of a lap to the checkered flag, the Allison blew a connecting rod. MISS GOLDEN GATE III slid to a halt. Guy Lombardo inherited the lead and claimed the victory.

Dan Arena speculated that his boat ran the entire Third Heat and half of the Second Heat without any lubrication. This is an eloquent testimonial to the durability of the Allison V-12, which is reputed to be the strongest engine ever built.

And while TEMPO VI had won the Gold Cup, there was no doubt as to which boat was the new star of the racing world. MISS GOLDEN GATE III--the first Thunderboat--had made its mark.

Dan Arena would have liked to have fine-tuned the GOLDEN GATE in future races but had commitments back in Oakland, California. He received an offer from Detroiter Albin Fallon and sold the brightest star on the Unlimited horizon.

Dan thus returned to California without the boat but rich with the satisfaction that he had proven his point about the Allison engine. Together with the Rolls-Royce Merlin, the Allison would reign as the premier Unlimited power source for the next four decades.

New owner Al Fallon took delivery of MISS GOLDEN GATE III and immediately entered the 1946 President's Cup, which was run three weeks after the Gold Cup.

If the Allison's claim to dominance over pre-war power sources was doubted after Detroit, the results at Washington, D.C., must have settled the question for all time.

With Danny Foster behind the wheel and Fallon in the co-pilot's seat, the newly renamed MISS GREAT LAKES outran TEMPO VI in all three Potomac River heats.

The Allison's 1700 horsepower clearly spelled the difference and supplied the erratic-handling MISS GREAT LAKES with the faster chute speed. The smooth-riding Lombardo craft--with its 585-horsepower Zumbach-Miller engine--held the advantage only in the corners.

"Wild Bill" Cantrell kept the Hispano-Suiza-powered WHY WORRY close to the leaders for four laps in the first President's Cup heat before breaking down, but the handwriting was unmistakably on the wall. The fighter plane engine-powered boat was the boat of the future.

In his first appearance as an Unlimited driver, Danny Foster re-wrote the record book for the 2-1/2-mile Potomac River course, including a lap record of 74.258, a 15-mile heat mark of 71.181, and a 45-mile race standard of 69.632.

Unlike the Gold Cup, MISS GREAT LAKES this time went the distance. However, lubrication was still a problem, with Foster and Fallon returning to the pits covered with oil.

A post-season straightaway record attempt on the Detroit River did not go well for MISS GREAT LAKES. The craft spun around, flew into the air, and dropped back into the water during a trial run.

Danny Foster and riding mechanic Lou Meier were thrown nearly forty feet from the boat and were hospitalized with injuries.

In other 1946 activity, Lou Fageol's SO-LONG, JR., won a secondary race at Detroit for the O.J. Mulford Silver Cup. This was for boats not making the cut for the Final Heat of the Gold Cup. Later in the season, SO-LONG, JR., won the Viking Trophy at New Martinsville, West Virginia.

SO-LONG, JR., powered by a Fageol bus engine, would serve as the prototype for the as yet unorganized 7-Litre Class, which would debut in 1947. The 7-Litres are the forerunners of the modern Unlimited Light Racing Series.

Not until 1947 would the first true national circuit emerge for the Unlimited hydroplanes. For 1946, only the Gold Cup and the President's Cup count in modern record-keeping. In 1947, a total of four races--the Ford Memorial, the APBA Gold Cup, the Silver Cup, and the President's Cup--counted for National High Points.

The 1946 campaign established Unlimited hydroplane racing as the "show" category of competitive power boating, a status it maintains to this day.