Halfway There

The Gold Cup means to powerboat racing roughly the same thing that the Indianapolis 500 does to auto racing. The boats are the biggest, fastest and trickiest to handle; powered by souped up 2,000-h.p. World War II aircraft engines, they scream along at speeds up to 180 m.p.h., tossing huge rooster tails of spray 40 ft. high in their wakes. The crowds are the biggest--300,000 or more. And the prize is the richest--$10,500, plus a new car to the winner. At last week's 58th annual running of the race on Seattle's Lake Washington, the sentimental favorite was a hometown hero: Ron Musson, 36, who had won the cup for the past two years in Miss Bardahl. But his hydroplane was three years old, had not been running well since it was dropped from a crane last month. In the trials, Musson was fourth (at 113.5 m.p.h.) among twelve qualifiers--far behind the record-setting (120.3 m.p.h.) Miss Exide. "Usually I try to win every heat," grumbled Musson, "but now I just try and keep my boat from falling apart." Putt-Putting Along. That was the trick. Five boats dropped out with blown engines or smashed hulls. But there was Musson putt-putting along at a mere 160 m.p.h., keeping everything together and racking up points. Going into the fourth and final heat, Miss Bar-dahl was tied with Miss Notre Dame for first place, each with two wins and one second. Bang went the starter's gun and off shot Notre Dame ahead of Miss Bardahl. Musson appeared beaten. But a fuel line burst in third-place Miss Exide's engine compartment. The flames forced Driver Bill Brow to dive into the lake, and that automatically halted the race. The finals would have to be rerun As the boats maneuvered for the last start, Musson boldly flashed across the line in almost the same split second the gun sounded, getting a 50-yd. jump on Miss Notre Dame. No one even got close to him as he swept across the finish line at an average speed of 110.655 m.p.h. Said Musson: "If I can win five cups to tie Gar Wood and then win one more for myself, it's doubtful that anyone at any time can beat that record." He is halfway there.

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