1959 Harmsworth Trophy
Harmsworth Bid Due for Maverick
By Harry Leduc
Official announcement was expected today of the selection of William Waggoner’s Maverick as the defender of the Harmsworth Trophy on the Detroit River next week.
Maverick’s selection was assured when Chuck Thompson withdrew his Miss Detroit as a possible candidate. Thompson, who had requested time trials, said he did not want to jeopardize the goodwill between Detroiters and Waggoner, of Phoenix.
Maverick, winner Gold Cup, will meet the Supertest, of Canada, next Tuesday in the best of three 45-mile races. A second race will be Wednesday and a third Thursday if necessary.
The races will be run at [??] p.m., a time when the river usually is quiet. All starts and finishes will be at the foot of Parkview. The course is the usual three-mile oval around the middleground between the Detroit shore and Belle Isle.
Bill Stead, Las Vegas cattle rancher, will drive the Maverick and J. Gordon Thompson’s Supertest will be driven by Bob Hayward, who drove her to victory in the Detroit Memorial regatta.
Maverick is lighter, less powerful. The U.S. defender is 28 feet, 6 inches in length with a beam 11 feet, 10 inches. Her powerplant, an Allison, has 1,710 cubic inches of piston displacement.
Supertest is 30 feet, 8 inches, and has a beam of 12 feet, 6 inches. She is powered with a Rolls Royce Griffon engine of 2,500 cubic inches of piston displacement.
The horsepower differential is something like 500 in favor of the Canadian racer.
Nevertheless, the speeds made by Maverick both in trials and races this season have been greater than Supertest’s.
The Harmsworth was last raced for here in 1956 and was won by Waggoner’s Shanty, with Col. Russ Schleeh driving. The challenging boat was Supertest II, with William J. Braden the pilot. Canada won one of the three races. Braden later was killed in a Canadian boat race.
(Reprinted from the Detroit News, August 1959)