Thursday, July 12, 2007
Going for the GOLD
It’s Gold Cup time again. The Gold Cup never gets old … People who have never been to even one unlimited hydroplane race in their lives take one look at that beautiful trophy with all the engraved winners names on it, and you can tell they know they’re gazing at something very special. Sometimes the racing isn’t always exciting every year, but the race itself is still special.
The Gold Cup always manages to lock in some special moments over the years. I don’t have an encyclopedic memory bank like the one and only Fred Farley, with special moments of Gar Wood and Kaye Don having an argument while deck to deck – or whatever – but I’ve certainly had my days filled with some pretty wonderful moments concerning the Gold Cup.
An easy one to start with is Jim McCormick and Miss Madison scoring a hometown win in 1971. Everyone was a resident of Madison, Indiana, that day. From the 13,000 + actual residents to the over 100,000 fans who lined the Indiana and Kentucky shorelines of the Ohio River. If it wasn’t actually the 4th of July on that day, then it would have felt like it anyway with the fireworks going off, the sirens on the police cars and fire trucks running, and people who didn’t know each other laughing and hugging each other. All captured by a national audience on “ABC’s Wide World of Sports”.
Not a bad way to experience Madison, Indiana, for the first time!
I’d also put Mitch Evans and Ed Cooper Sr. and Jr. winning the Gold Cup in 2003 as very special and very satisfying. Hearing that turbo-charged Allison engine screaming as the U-3 came flying down the backstretch of the Detroit River was such a sight to behold – Mitch couldn’t possibly coax another ½ horsepower out of her. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, was on their feet – clapping, screaming, and applauding wildly while coaxing the throwback challenger with the engine thunder onto victory against the dreaded whisper quiet “whoosher” boats. Mitch’s older brother Mark was a legitimate contender until an earlier accident in the LLUMAR WINDOW FILM landed him in the hospital. Standing next to the Gold Cup he had just won, Mitch fought back tears while telling his big brother by phone that he was bringing him the Gold Cup to his hospital room.
Plenty of drama in the Gold Cup, too … the THRIFTWAY crew celebrating their first Gold Cup win until officials ruled that Lee Schoenith in GALE V was the real winner, having won the race by being awarded bonus points for running the fastest race. The next year, it was Bill Muncey and THRIFTWAY achieving revenge, beating Chuck Thompson in MISS PEPSI. Muncey’s still a bum and always will be (what about that buoy he hit that left orange paint on the boat?).
Tommy D’Eath winning George Simon’s first and only Gold Cup in 1976 … Chip Hanauer in ATLAS VAN LINES tempting fate for several laps before finally beating Dean Chenoweth in MISS BUDWEISER for his first Gold Cup win in 1982 …sadly, we lost Chuck Thompson in 1966, Colonel Warner Gardner in 1968, and Tommy “Tucker" Fults in 1970 … probably one of my favorite memories was officials taking the Gold Cup off the MISS BUDWEISER and awarding it to the MISS DYC team … all after BUD had made the acceptance speech. Well, boo hoo (he, he, he …).
I’ll be at the river on Friday and Sunday. Nine boats expected to run, with the U-10 having too much damage from Madison to be repaired in time. Look for them to be at Tri-Cities as well as the brand new U-21.
