In honor of the Mahogany and Merlot event this weekend in Chelan, I am throwing my focus for this week’s Thunderboat Throwback Thursday on the 1957 Apple Cup. It is the story of a big time sporting event being put on by a very small town - successfully and against all odds. To understand how a town the size of Chelan was able to bring the big Gold Cup boats to town on the same level as such big city venues as Detroit, Buffalo, and Washington, D.C., you have to understand the growth curve that the sport was going through at the time. The Gold Cup win by Stan Sayre’s Slo-Mo-Shun IV in 1950 had begun a period of change unprecedented in the sport of boat racing. Suddenly the power center had shifted from the Motor City and points east to the west coast, and the sport was suddenly of interest to a rapidly growing national audience on both coasts. Where the main focus of the region’s newspapers had been on the local professional boxing matches, minor league hockey teams, bowling leagues, and skeet shooting teams because of a paucity of western teams in professional sports, there was now a big time sport in the region to cheer on, replete with local heroes and favorite teams from right in everyone’s back yard. To feed this interest, the powers of the western contingent of the sport saw sought to increase the number of race venues to grow the sport in the west and making it easier for the western teams to score national points in the sport without traveling across the country numerous times to do so. To that end, several prominent personalities that were involved in the Seattle wing of the sport like Bill Boeing Jr., Harry Woods, and Jerry Bryant began campaigning for new race sites and visiting towns with lakes and rivers large enough to accommodate interest in holding a race for the unlimited hydros. Among those was tiny Chelan, Washington with a population of only about 2,500. Much of the town’s population at that time worked in agriculture related businesses such as the apple orchards that surrounded the lake or in the support of the tourist industry that lured visitors to the shores of Lake Chelan in each summer for water related activities. With both segments of the economy being negatively affected by a lingering post-war recession, it made sense to the core of the city’s leaders to bring the sport to their town in an effort to take advantage of the sports growing popularity and make a few summer bucks in the process. Putting it very simply, they jumped on board, and the Apple Cup was born. Little did they know how successful that first race would be in attracting people to their town and the stress that it would put on the town’s resources. Local press coverage of the 1957 race week opened about three weeks before the May 5th race. A Spokesman-Review article spoke about race preparations and gave some cryptic background on how the race got started as well as information on the state of the Chelan’s preparations as the race date neared. According to this report, an offhand suggestion by a few local folks had blossomed into a formal committee to plan a race. Those initial flames of interest had been fanned by hometown boy and unlimited driver Norm Evans who arranged to bring Miss Seattle (the former Slo-Mo-Shun V) to Chelan for an exhibition run in the summer of ’56. Legend has it that Evans water skied behind the Miss Seattle that weekend at speeds upwards of 60 mph before taking a spill and cracking some ribs. Hotel and motel accommodations in Chelan had been totally booked for weeks at the point the article was written. In fact, so booked up were places in town that all new housing requests were being referred to nearby towns. Race Week Monday, April 29 A Monday, April 29 report in Spokane’s Spokesman-Review newspaper further discuss the town’s final preparations for the May 5th race. District Commissioner for the APBA and Race Referee Harry Woods had worked closely with the local race organizers to put together a “Gold Cup” quality race in the little town. They had used guidelines created by Greater Seattle, Inc. group to make sure that all areas of preparedness had been addressed. It was time to test that plan to see if it would hold up. Chelan Race Chairman Jim Forney reported that final touches were being made on the three-mile race course and that the first of the big hydroplanes would be arriving the next day. His prediction was that there would be at least nine, if not ten, of the boats making the trek from Seattle for the race. The Apple Cup race was to be a 90-mile affair with three heats of thirty miles (ten three-mile laps) each for each boat. Each of the first two heats would be divided into two heats because of the anticipated number of boats. Racing was to commence at 12:30PM on Sunday with the final scheduled for 5PM. Providing racecourse security was a “special fleet” of Chelan County Sheriff’s boats and they would be patrolling the lake’s waters during qualifying. The minimum qualifying speed had been set at three laps at an average of at least 95 mph. Forney assured the race teams that there was “no reason to fear drift(wood)” on the lake’s waters. He said that Lake Chelan was a reservoir controlled by a local dam, and that the water had been drawn down the previous fall, leaving the drift on the exposed shoreline and not floating on the lake. The Apple Cup committee had arranged for a program of limited hydroplanes to race between the unlimited heats. Scheduled to compete were contingents of boats from the 225 and 266-cubic inch classes from Spokane and Seattle. A measured mile course was also being set up in case any of the boats wished to try to set a speed record during the week. Forney also did a little race promotion by figuratively poking a sharp stick in the eye of the Seattle race organizers. He told the media that any driver with a yen for a long straight run at the starting line could use the entire 55 miles of Lake Chelan to do so. As long as the boat didn’t jump the starting gun, any length of the lake could be used.The special rule was a shot taken at the drama that surrounded the decision by the race referee at the 1956 Seafair race to restrict Lou Fageol (and other racers for that matter) from using a “flying start” strategy. Fageol had used the strategy several times, gaining a perceived advantage by traveling down Lake Washington a mile or so and then making a high-speed run at the start line from the north, flying full tilt under the elevated west end of the floating bridge. Tuesday, April 30 As promised by Chairman Forney, three of the race boats arrived on Tuesday and took their positions in the pit area. Rolling into town a day before the course officially opened for testing were Hawaii Kai, Shanty I, and Maverick. In an announcement from Seattle, Thriftway Too owner Willard Rhodes revealed that the team had selected pilot Brien Wygle as the driver of the Ted Jones-designed cab forward hydro. He would be making his debut at the Apple Cup on Sunday. Another piece of press coverage focused on a presentation by Race Referree Harry Woods at the Inland Empire Sports Writers and Broadcaster’s meeting luncheon that week.“Not only have the race officials tried to look ahead to all possible contingencies,” Woods told the audience, “but all of the work has been voluntary. Everyone has donated his time and his talents, and will continue to do so right up to race time.” Drawing on the experiences of six years of racing in Seattle, race organizers had fine tuned a plan for each facet of holding a race. “Anything they might have missed in the past, we’ve tried to provide for,” Woods said. Of great interest to the ISWB attendees was the fact that organizers were predicting upwards of 250,000 people to descend on the shores of the lake and a town that was a little less than one-tenth the size of the anticipated crowd. To respond to such a huge crowd, Woods said that planners had arranged for 25 Washington State Police troopers assigned by Governor Rosselini and 100 Air Police from Larson Air Force Base in Moses Lake. The lake patrol would come from the aforementioned sheriff’s officers in patrol craft. Also included in the plan a contingent of first aid and fire boats as well as several boats carrying skin divers. Spectator and non-essential boats making unauthorized movements after 10AM on race day would suffer the consequences of a 90-day jail sentence and a minimum $250 fine. Equally severe penalties were being put in place for anyone who littered the lake with even the smallest bit of debris. Woods also clarified the “flying start” issue from the referee’s perspective, saying that the race boats realistically only had a two-mile straightaway available leading up to the starting line to use. Since there were no obstructions like the floating bridge on Lake Chelan, the rule about flying starts had been relaxed, so that drivers could be traveling at upwards of 135MPH when they hit the start line. Woods told the sports media group that the Apple Cup would also have a “super speed sequel” on Monday after the race. Beginning at 6AM, a series of speed runs over a measured mile with two miles of straightaway at each end would be attempted by both limited and unlimited class boats. “The Pacific Northwest section of the American Power Boat Association (APBA) holds almost all of the best times in the country.” Woods proudly told the group. “What we’re hoping next Monday is to bring some of these top-ranking times down even lower. [Note: There was also a rumor that Norm Evans would attempt a world speed record on water skis while being pulled by a small airplane flying over the speed course. I could find no record that he attempted the feat.] The earlier arrivers all successfully made it into the water for testing when the course opened on Tuesday, but one very nearly didn’t. Hawaii Kai narrowly missed disaster as the result of an unloading accident when the crane being used to lift the 6,700 hydro from its trailer started to topple as the boat swung from its sling. Reacting quickly, the crane operator swung the boom of the crane towards the water so as to avoid dropping the boat on the dock. The stern of the Kai reportedly scraped the dock on the way past, but the boat was not damaged in the incident in any way. After checking the boat over, the Kai team sent driver Jack Regas on a shake down cruise with the big pink boat, and he cruised the course in excess of 100 mph several times. Maverick and Shanty I also made several tours with speeds approaching 150 mph on the straightaways. Thursday, May 2 The next report out of Chelan had nine boats on hand for Sunday’s race as time trials and qualification runs began on Thursday for Sunday’s race. On hand were W.T. Waggoner’s aforementioned Maverick and Shanty I, Miss Wahoo, Miss Rocket, Miss Bardahl, Miss Seattle, Miss Thriftway, and Thriftway Too. The first to surpass the 95 mph qualifying barrier was Jack Regas in Hawaii Kai at what became a course a speed of 113.780. The Washington State Patrol warned potential spectators to expect bumper-to-bumper traffic in the 40-miles of highway between Wenatchee and Chelan. In hopes of relieving some pressure on the highway into the town, a special train had been arranged to carry fans from Seattle. The estimated viewing room was nearer to 50,000 than the inflated potential 250,000 spectator estimate that had been made by Harry Woods earlier in the week. Friday, May 3 Day two of qualifying brought a few more of the nine hydros into the fold for the race. In addition to Hawaii Kai, others making successful three lap trials were Bill Stead and Maverick (112.033), Bill Muncey in Miss Thriftway (105.330), Al Benson in Miss Seattle (101.190), Mira Slovak in Miss Wahoo (97.393), and local favorite and Chelan resident Norm Evans in Miss Bardahl (97.308). The status of Miss Bardahl was deemed doubtful for the race despite the successful qualification of the boat. The crew had discovered a blown oil line after the run, and the engine was badly damaged when the fitting let go and drained the power plant of oil. Another engine had reportedly been purchased on Friday from a source in Seattle and it was to be brought to Chelan early on Saturday. Whether it could be delivered and installed in time for the race was uncertain. Austin Snell’s Miss Rocket of Tacoma had also run into trouble during testing. The boat threw a propeller blade and had to be towed back to the pit area. Driver Lloyd Jett said that he wasn’t certain that repairs could be done in time to qualify on Saturday. Others still unqualified on Friday were Col. Russ Schleeh and Shanty I and the new Thriftway Too with Brien Wygle driving. There was the outside chance of a tenth entry in the race when Bob Gilliam contacted race organizers by telephone and told them that he had completed arrangements for financial backing and hope to bring his Miss B&I boat to the race. There is no indication that Gilliam brought the boat to Chelan, so the number of entrants stayed at nine. Saturday, May 4 Saturday saw Russ Schleeh and Shanty I lock up a spot on the qualifying ladder with a speed of 106.518 mph on Saturday. Not so lucky were Thriftway Too and Miss Rocket, both if whom failed to make it into the lineup. It appears that the teams just ran out of time. Sunday, May 5 A solid mass of humanity was present along the shores of Lake Chelan at dawn as the boat racers prepared to race in the Lake Chelan Boat Company pits. Crowd estimates ranged from 25,000 to 150,000 people by race time, and the Washington State Patrol estimated that 15,000 cars made their way into town during the day.The day started very early, it appears. I found one report that Col. Russ Schleeh and the Shanty I team got an early start to race day and awakened the neighbors in the process. Chronicle sports writer Bob Johnson said that he was among those that had been awakened by the roar of the big boat a little after 4AM as Schleeh took it for a test run. Another report gave the results of a quick survey of the cars streaming into Chelan at sunup and it included many Spokane area fans with their C-prefix licenses, Seattle area fans with their A-prefix plates, as well as plenty of vehicles from Oregon and British Columbia. Sunny skies and pleasant temperatures in the upper 70s only helped attract more spectators to the shores of the lake. It seemed that it was going to be a good day for racing. HEAT 1-A Jack Regas and Hawaii Kai were not headed at any time during their Heat 1-A victory. Regas managed to average a dominating 106.825 on the way to the win over Mira Slovak in Miss Wahoo (100.850) and Al Benson in Miss Seattle at 96.645. Miss Thriftway threw a rod through the engine wall just moments after the start of the heat and failed to finish the heat. Bill Muncey watched the others race from his position on the Thriftway’s deck. HEAT 1-B The Miss Bardahl crew worked through the night to install the new engine delivered from Seattle. They finished the job at about 5AM, only to have the cooling system fail when it came time to race. As a result, Norm Evans was again unable to get the boat underway for Heat 1-B. That left only two boats to battle it out, stablemates Maverick and Shanty I. Maverick made easy work of it, posting the fastest ten lap average on the day at 108.434. Shanty I was 41 seconds back at speed of 104.348. HEAT 2-A Having returned their boat to the trailer following Heat 1-B, the Miss Bardahl team worked to determine the problem and to try to correct it. They tried again to make a start in Heat 2-A, but an overheating gear box cut the effort short and the boat failed move any faster than a slow trot. The ailing boat finally went dead in the water. The Bardahl was again returned to the trailer and a frustrated team withdrew the U-4 from the remainder of the race. Three boats made their way on to the course for 2-A: Miss Seattle, Miss Wahoo, and Shanty I. Miss Seattle was out on the course early to test a new propeller, but their weekend ended when the engine threw a rod and went dead right at the start of the race. The surviving boats went on to have the closest race of the day, with Mira Slovak edging out Col. Russ Schleeh by 3.3 seconds. Wahoo averaged 104.348 and Shanty I was close behind at 104.046. HEAT 2-B Any hope of another close race was quickly put on hold when two of the three boats that answered the five minute gun failed to compete. Hawaii Kai, Maverick, and Miss Thriftway took to the water, but only one came back under power. The Thriftway crew had changed engines between heats, only to have things come apart again less than a lap into the heat. The Kai made it not much further before succumbing to mechanical problems, leaving Bill Stead to hold the Maverick together for the remaining nine laps on his way to an easy 400 points. He averaged a surprisingly fast 108.434 mph despite the lack of competition. The speed would prove to be the fastest of the day. FINAL HEAT Attrition had taken a tremendous toll by the time the final heat was run. Only four of the seven boats that had started the day were still capable of racing. Leading the group was Bill Stead and Maverick (800) with two heat wins, Mira Slovak and Miss Wahoo (700) with a second and a first place finish, Col. Russ Schleeh and Shanty I (600) with two second place finishes, and Jack Regas in Hawaii Kai (400) with a heat win and a Did Not Finish from the preliminary heats. Also eligible, but unable to answer the call because of equipment problems were Miss Seattle (225) and Miss Thriftway (who did not finish either of its prelims). The attrition bug almost struck Slovak and Miss Wahoo before the start, when the U-77’s big engine failed to turn over successfully until just before the one minute gun. When it did fire, he roared down the course, cut inside a corner buoy, and then crossed the course and the starting line first. His unusual sojourn to the start line resulted in a one lap penalty being assess. Not knowing that Referee Woods has assessed the penalty, Slovak continued to race at full tilt. As the four boats neared the west turn at the upper end of the lake from town, they were confronted by a steady wind that had built up during the afternoon. Hawaii Kai and Jack Regas held a narrow lead over Shanty I at that point and on their heals were the Maverick and Miss Wahoo. It looked like the makings of a real barn burner. As the Hawaii Kai passed the exit pin of the second lap, the pink and white boat slammed into one of the big gray waves that had been formed by a rising wind from the west. In the collision with the wave, the Kai’s engine cowling was torn away. A loud pop from the engine ensued, as well as a flash of flame, and the Pink Lady was suddenly dead in the water. Russ Schleeh and Shanty I made a frantic attempt to avoid the floundering Kai as it came through the turn, and at the same time hit the set of waves that Regas had encountered. The Shanty I suddenly hooked sideways and began a slow spin, throwing Schleeh an estimated forty feet from the boat and into the water. In modern times, Schleeh’s untimely spin and ejection would gave resulted in red flares and a race stoppage, but not this day. As the Maverick and Wahoo approached the scene in that order, Schleeh waved to his teammate to continue and then swam back to the boat, climbed aboard, and restarted it just enough to get the hull out of harms way from the other boats. A patrol boat was able to get a line to Regas on the Hawaii Kai and to pull his disabled hull into the infield as well, leaving a hazard free lane for the remaining boats. From that vantage point, Regas and Schleeh watched the remaining eight laps of the contest. Slowing for only a very brief second, Stead resumed full power and roared on to take the win over the penalized Slovak and the Wahoo. The margin of victory for the gold, red, and white Maverick was one full lap and 200 yards over the Wahoo. The winner averaged 103.152 mph for ten laps, while Slovak and Wahoo averaged 92.784 when factoring in the extra lap it was required to run. Stead averaged 103.049 for its thee heats, and Maverick and Wahoo were the only two boats to make it the entire 90 miles of the race. Slovak and the Wahoo averaged 100.394. Following the race, Stead was quoted as saying that he though that the race should have been stopped at the point where Schleeh was tossed in the water. “It was dangerous enough with two boats out of commission on a turn,” Stead said quietly. “Having a driver in the water, too, made it that much more hazardous.” Stead and his boss, Maverick and Shanty I owner W.T. Waggoner, accepted the gleaming Apple Cup trophy from Jim Forney as late afternoon rain showers pelted them and lightly moistened the crowd of on-lookers as the light faded from the day. A post-mortem of the race showed that it cost the organizers $17,000-$20,000 to put on the show. The only way to raise that amount was through the sale of Apple Cup buttons at $1 each, and on Sunday the Seafair Pirates from Seattle had acted as enthusiastic salesmen in an effort to recoup the needed money from the assembled crowd. The crowd on Sunday proved that the town lacked everything needed to handle any crowd above 50,000 people. There weren’t enough beds, eating establishments, and room on the highways in and out of the Okanogan Valley to handle those that did make it into Chelan. All of the eating establishments had long lines in front of them hours well before they were even due to open. Gas stations had long lines in front of them as well. Up and down the main streets in town, people could be seen sleeping in their cars. The main complaint coming from the spectators centered on the number of boats that actually raced (seven) and the fact that only one boat, the Maverick, escaped the effects of bad racing luck. It was hoped that the APBA would address the issue if there was a second race in Chelan. Race organizers predicted better facilities for 1958, citing what they had learned from the first year of experiences. There was discussion of moving the pit area closer to the judges stand. The 1956 pit sector would be used solely for lifting boats into and out of the water. “If we don’t lose our shirts on this one,” said a citizen of Chelan after the race, “she’ll be bigger next year.” ….and it was.
Posted on: Thu, 02 Oct 2014 18:34:31 +0000
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