Evening star., 1939-07-23
1yterya Snaeom Campbe Attempt toke World SpeedboatNa
Count Rossi's S Rising
,Prowess Is Seen as
Possible Spur
az
"a Gray Goose III Years
.o Question Mark Among
- American Croft
BY MALCOLM LAMBORNE, jr.

ny MALSOLM LAMDOnNL, u.
Troop movements abroad hardly
can be more veiled in clouds of
secrecy than some of the so-called
mystery boats that crop up each
year in the world of speed-boating.
And deeper the mystery surround
ing them. thicker fly the rumors
about their potentialities.
Take, for instance, the new racer
being built from American designs
for Sir Malcolm Campbell, holder
Of the world water speed mark of
1904 miles an hour. You just as
we'll might attempt to ferret out the
: formula for a new high explosive
held by foreign power as to learn
anything about the speeding Brit
asher's new craft.
Sir Malcolm hopes to assume the
speed records within a month with
the new boat on Lake Bala at
-Merionethshire, England According
to one report the town of Bala is
raising $4,000 to provide all the
facilities.
Campbell's Move a Mystery.
His world mark was made with
the odd-shaped and reputedly fragile
Bluebird last fall in Switzerland
The new boat, like the Bluebird,
undoubtedly will not be designed
for oval courses, but for the mile
straightaway, where, after all, world
records are made.
But just why the peer has de-
cided to try breaking his own mark
so soon after it has been set is not
clear Campbell has been the un-
disputed king of speed since he took
the record from Gar Wood in 1887,
mark that remained on the rec
ords of this country for five years.
1t might be that activity Of Count
Theo Rossi of Turin, Italy, who has
been doing better than 80 miles an
hour in his Alagi, has caused the
. Britisher to hike the mark, for once
and all, above the reach of other
drivers.
Dodge's Boat Eccentric.
America Is not without its mys-
terry craft. Most notable last year
was Horace Dodge's Inflated Excuse
Me. Stopping off here, Sportsman
Dodge sang the praises of his new
creation to this and other reporters.
It was boat so tough that a Is
foot fall from a crane, including
hearty smack against a concrete
dock before going overheard, did
1t little damage. Then came Sep
tember and the Gold Cup race at
Detroit. Something went haywire
with Excuse Me in the first heat,
and without even saying excuse me
1t broke up and sank.
This years question mark among
speed creations is George Cannon's
radically designed Gray Goose TIL.
Charles Chapman, racing commits
sion head of the American Power
Boat Association and man who
knows his boats, dropped hint
of the crafts potentialities while
here this spring on his way back
from Florida.
The jinx that haunts the wake
of Gold Cup racers overlook Gray
Goose early this month on Lake
Hopatcong, N. j., where it was hav-
ing it's first speed trials: Driver
Hugh Gingras narrowly escaped in
jury when one of the three pro-
pellers driven by three powerful
225-cubic-inch engines flew of,
taking with it a few planks and
strut.
Goose May Race Here.
Gingras loaded the Goose aboard
a trailer and left for Florida, where
the boat will be repaired and re-
tuned in time for the Labor Day
classic in Detroit Cannon still is
hopeful of wrestling the Gold Cup
from Count Rossi and, if he sue
ceeds, surely will be on hand for
the Presidents Cup Regatta three
weeks later.
AS If 78 miles an hour in one of
those little outboards wasn't the
closest approach to Watery
oblivion, young Bedford Davie of
Tuxedo Park, N. Y, who hung up
that speed in Glass x outboard in
1887, is going out to better the mark
of 1903 now claimed by Jean Dupuy
of Paris, made on the Seine recently.
Ten years ago Gar Woods speed
of 9312 miles an hour was the last
word But look at it today. Speed
increases during the last decade
are as fololws:
1929 March 9312 Gar Wood u s. A.
1880, June - 1916 Sir Henry Segrave,
England
1881 March 1925 Gar Wood u s. A.
April -103.4S Kaye Don, England
July --110.25 Kaye Don, England