Evening star., 1939-09-24
Only Two Boats
Left. Roar for
lit|eIoday
Five World Records
Fall in Mile Tests:
Nv Sin Disabled
BY MALCOLM LAMBORNE, Jr.

BY MALCOLM LAMBORNE, Jr.
Two young pilots, one from Cali
fornia and the other from Canada,
battled tooa draw in two thrill
packed heats late yesterday AFTER
noon on the angry Potomac River
before an estimated crowd of 50,-
900 for the $1,000 Presidents Cup,
feature event of the 18th annual
Presidents Cup Regatta.
This afternoon the pair will stage
the final heat to decide the winner
Of the classic race which marks the
close of 1889 speedboat season.
Before throngs that jammed East
Potomac Park, lined the Virginia
banks of the Potomac and cheered
from nearly 200 assorted pleasure
craft, 22-year-old Dan Arena Of
Oakland, Calf, driving the Notre
Dame, twice winner of the Presi-
dents Cup, and 26-year-old Harold
Wilson of Ingersoll, Ontario, at the
wheel of Miss Canada III, emerged
with win apiece.
1t was Furnishing IS miles, those
two heats that sent three of the
five entries limping from the course.
The white-capped Potomac, stirred
by wind more suitable for SAIL
boats than power racers, played no
favorites. Little hydroplanes and
Gold Cup craft Jared alike. Coast
Guardsmen were kept busy rescuing
drivers, mechanics and their over
turned boats as the river continued
to take its toll.
Log Ruins Favorite.
My Sin, winner of the Gold Cup
race early this month at Detroit,
Mich, and favorite to win yesterday,
was towed back to the Navy Yard
pits after it ripped loose a propeller
shaft, propeller and rudder on a
submerged log in the opening heat.
To its sporting owner, Millionaire
Zalmon Simmons of Greenwich,
Conn.,, that log was the blasting
OF dreams to win the 12-liter cham.
pionship of the world.
With one win to his credit at
| Detroit, Simmons, who is racing his
second year in the class, had only
to take the Presidents race TO win
the so-called international title.
Count Theo Rossi of Turin, Italy,
winner here last year, captured the
first leg of the 3-race series abroad
this summer. Rossi, however, was
unable to compete here or at Detroit
because OF the war in Europe.
| My Sin was not the only one Of
the expensive racers to give way to
Hotsam and treacherous waves.
William Cantrell of Louisville, XIV,
found his Why Worry filling with
water when 1t struck a log even
before he had chance to 20 out
Tor the opening heat. Lou Fageols
So-Long from Los Angeles, Calf,
after finishing third in the first
race. gave up in the second with a
shattered port pontoon.
May Give Up Wheel.
Young Wilson, whose father, E.
A. Wilson, built Miss Canada. was
the days outstanding driver. Seem.
ingly gas pedal shy in the opener.
the Toronto University graduate
trailed for nearly five of the six laps
before deciding to open up. The
blue-hulled racer, on the home
stretch, nearly took wings to finish
scant feet behind Notre Dame.
which is owned by Herbert Men
delson of Detroit.
} Certain now he could beat the
famed Notre Dame, winner of the
Presidents Cup in 1885 and 1887,
chubby Harold Wilson gunned Miss
Canada into the lead from the very
start OF the second stanza, and at
the finish was good quarter lap
ahead of the Notre Dame.
Although the Wilson family has
scruples about racing on Sunday,
young Harold told race officials the
boat would be out today in any
event, even if it's with another man
at the wheel. With two entries
definitely on the beach, the show
this afternoon should see So-Long
back in the fray following repairs
late yesterday.
Miss Canada's fastest lap, 67064
miles an hour, was made in the
, first heat. Notre Dame was clocked
at 67.1872 miles in the second. Both,
, however, were under the 70866 made
last year by Count Rossi.
Five Records Shattered.
In one of the most concentrated
onslaughts on speed marks in re-
gatta history, five 1-mile world
marks were set yesterday morning.
Jack Hyde of Washington in his
Gypsy, second-place winner later
in the day of the 135-cubic-inch
hydroplane opening heat, was
; timed at the remarkable speed of
67.479 miles. Arno APPEL of Ventnor
City, N. j., 91-cubic-inch hydroplane
winner, roared over the measured
mile at 53.418.
Lady Gen vi. which yesterday
afternoon sent Mr.. and Mrs. David
. Gerli Of New York City into the
Potomac when it capsized in the
: all-inboard race, set an unlimited
inboard mark of 6170.
A Harvard University Junior,
George Schrafft of Newton, Mass,
, captured the priced American Power
Boat Association championship in
a two-race event for the 225 hydro
planes, providing the second biggest
thrill of the day. Ten of the big
inboards, throwing rainbow-hued
spray high in the air, hit the line
in the opening event. Julius Man.
ger of Pelham, N. Y, was first.
Young Schrafft finished next.
Sixty-three-year-old Jack Cooper,
grand old man of racing from
Kansas City, Mo-, captured the con-