Articles recapping races
Two Winners in One Race By Fred Farley – Unlimited Hydroplane Historian The 1955 Lake Tahoe Mapes Trophy contains an unusual historical footnote. It had two winners. That’s right, TWO winners. Well, yes and no. The 1955 Mapes Trophy took…
Two Winners in One Race By Fred Farley – Unlimited Hydroplane Historian The 1955 Lake Tahoe Mapes Trophy contains an unusual historical footnote. It had two winners. That’s right, TWO winners. Well, yes and no. The 1955 Mapes Trophy took…
1938 Gold Cup Remembered By Fred Farley – Unlimited Hydroplane Historian The U.S. team held back the foreign challenge in 1937 but bowed to Count Rossi in 1938. Rossi pushed his 19-foot 7-inch ALAGI, powered by half of an Isotta-Fraschini…
The Madison Regatta – 50 Years of Thunder By Fred Farley – Unlimited Hydroplane Historian 1950s For 50 years, the city of Madison, Indiana, has played host to “Water Racing’s Greatest Show,” the Unlimited hydroplanes-the Thunderboats of the racing world.…
A Detroit Debacle (Source: Mark Douty) A Seattle Hydro Roared Home First In The Gold Cup But Then Officials Stepped In, And The Affair Became A Detroit Debacle. By Jim Atwater – (Reprinted from Sports Illustrated, September 10, 1956) Covered…
The Muncey Era Comes to a Sad End By Joanne A. Fishman (Reprinted from The New York Times, October 25, 1981) ”Dangerous? This is defined as one of the cruel sports. We figure anything less than death is a minor…
A Brief History of the President’s Cup (Source: Gary Todd) Warner Garner won the only President’s Cup of his career driving the Miss Eagle Electric in 1968 on the Potomac River in Washington DC. By Fred Farley – Unlimited Hydroplane…
1989 APBA Gold Cup Remembered (Photo: Mike Johnson) Tom D’Eath wins the 1989 APBA Gold Cup driving Bernie Little’s Miss Budweiser. By: Fred Farley – Unlimited Hydroplane Historian The longest string of consecutive race wins in Unlimited history has ended.…
SHANTY I WINS 1956 SEAFAIR TROPHY By Bob Walters – (Reprinted from Sea and Pacific Motor Boat, September 1956) The roaring, highly successful August Seafair Trophy Race established Seattle as the world’s Mecca and Capital of Unlimited Hydroplane Racing. And…
1946 APBA Gold Cup Remembered By: Fred Farley – Unlimited Hydroplane Historian After time-out for World War II, Gold Cup racing resumed in 1946 with a rejuvenated format in evidence. The 732 cubic inch piston limitation had been abolished. This…