1958 Mapes Mile-High Trophy
Mapes Gold Cup July 26
Tahoe City, Calif (Special) Lake Tahoe’s biggest sports attraction — the Sixth Annual Lake Tahoe Mile High Regatta — will be held on the “Lake in the Sky” on Saturday, July 26, with better than a dozen of the world’s top hydros competing.
Big prize for the powerful unlimiteds will be the Mapes Cup, donated by Reno hotel operator Charles W. Mapes. This year’s race will be staged on the course laid out in front of the Tahoe City Commons area which provides excellent viewing for more than 100,000 spectators.
The race will be sponsored by the Lake Tahoe Mile High Regatta Association, with former hydro driver Morlan Visel as president. It will be conducted by the California Speedboat Association.
More boats were started in last year’s Lake Tahoe race than began the famed Gold Cup in Seattle which is held three weeks following the Tahoe classic each year.
Entries this year indicate that a field of at least a dozen of the top rated hydroplanes in the world will compete for the coveted Mapes Cup, won last year by “Miss Wahoo,” the Bill Boeing boat with Czech Mira Slovak as the driver.
Unkown quality in the race this year is the new “Shanty II” owned by Bill Waggoner, which is scheduled for launching just prior to the Lake Tahoe race. Another Waggoner boat, “Maverick,” is a heavy favorite after its win of the Diamond Cup at Cour d’Alene, Idaho with driver Bill Stead at the wheel. J. Phillip Murphy, Lake Tahoe boating figure,, plans to enter three hydros in the race and a number of boats from the Northwest and Detroit will round out the field of “water thoroughbreds.”
Three heats will comprise this year’s race with the first two to consist of five laps each around the three mile course and the third to consist of 10 laps around the same course. Five buoys mark each turn and five more mark each straightaway.
The big hydros will begin tuning up at Lake Tahoe this week and preliminary and test runs will take place for the next three weeks up until race day. Qualifying runs for drivers who have not qualified this year will be held Friday, July 25, from nine a.m. to noon and from one to six p.m.
— July 8, 1958
Hydroplane Regatta Field Will Be Crowded
Reno, Nev. — UPI — More than a dozen of the world’s fastest unlimited hydroplanes will compete in the sixth annual Lake Tahoe Mile High Regatta on July 26th.
The big prize for the winning boat over a course laid out in the front of Tahoe City Commons area on the California side of the lake will be the Mapes Cup.
— July 11, 1958
Fastest Hydros Will Race In Tahoe Regatta
Tahoe City, Lake Tahoe — Lake Tahoe's, biggest sports attraction, the sixth Annual Lake Tahoe Mile High Regatta, will be held July 26th, with more than a dozen of the world’s top hydroplanes competing.
Big prize for the powerful unlimited, will be the Mapes Cup, donated by Charles W. Mapes of Reno. This year’s race will be staged on the course laid out in front of the Tahoe City Commons area which provides excellent viewing for more than 100,000 spectators.
The race will be sponsored by the Lake Tahoe Mile High Regatta Association, with former hydro driver Morlan Visel as president It will be conducted by the California Speedboat Association.
More Than Gold Cup
More boats were started in last year's Lake Tahoe race than began the famed Gold Cup in Seattle which is held three weeks following the Tahoe classic each year.
The coveted Mapes Cup was won last year by Miss Wahoo, the Bill Boeing boat with Mira Slovak as the driver.
Unknown quantity in the race this year is the new Shanty II owned by Bill Waggoner, which is scheduled for launching just prior to the Lake Tahoe race. Another Waggoner boat, Maverick, is a heavy favorite after its win of the Diamond Cup at Coeur D’Alene. Idaho, with Reno driver Bill Stead at the wheel.
J. Phillip Murphy, Lake Tahoe boating figure, plans to enter three hydros in the race and a number of boats from the northwest and Detroit will round out the field.
Three Heats
Three heats will comprise this year’s race with the first two to consist of five laps each around the three mile course and the third to consist of 10 laps around the same course. Five buoys mark each turn and five more mark each straightaway.
The big hydros will begin tuning up at Lake Tahoe next week and preliminary and test runs will take place up until race day. Qualifying runs for drivers who have not qualified this year will be held on Friday, July 25, from 9 AM to noon and from 1 to 6 PM.
— July 12, 1958
Wildroot Charlie
The big Buffalo—owned unlimited hydroplane Wildroot Charlie is en route to Lake Tahoe, Calif., where it will be raced Sunday in the Mapes Trophy test.
The Schroeders, Bob and Pop, Ace Englert, their wives and the trailer-borne Charlie left Monday for their trip to the West Coast. They will be joined at Tahoe by Charlie’s chief mechanic, Jim Moynihan, and his wife, Friday.
After the Mapes Trophy race the boat will be taken to Seattle, Wash., and readied for the Gold Cup Classic, slated to be run Aug. 10 over a Lake Washington course.
The Tahoe test will find Wildroot Charlie and Schroeder pitted against the country’s top unlimiteds and their pilots in a possible preview of what the Gold Cup affair has in store.
— July 23, 1958