In celebration of the Lake George Vintage Raceboat Regatta , we reprint this article from a time when these boats were not yet known as “vintage.”

El Lagarto Wins Gold Cup for Third Time in Succession

George Reis’ Boat Only One Able to Finish 90 Mile Grind

In July 27, for the third time in succession, George Reis’ Gold Cup hydroplane El Lagarto won the famous trophy when she not only defeated but was responsible for the breaking down of every other entry – responsible in the way that no other boat could keep going in the face of such strenuous competition as El Lagarto could give.

Rumors ran like wildfire the day before the race. One boat had done better than 70 miles an hour. Another had done 73 and still another had beaten all marks with a speed of over 75 miles an hour. All were super-charged and powers had been increased as much as fifty per cent by the addition of these blowers and other gadgets – that is all but El Lagarto. Her owner and driver had a sort of do-or-die expression and to all inquiry simply replied that the old girl might be able to finish in third place. At least from a theoretical angle, El Lagarto was outclassed and beaten before she ever crossed the starting line in the first thirty mile heat of the ninety mile race.
 

In all five boats turned up at the lake and, in the breaking in trials (or is it breaking down) on the day before, Benny Hill, driving Impshi with its sixteen-cylinder Dusenberg, started to “throw iron” when a connecting rod let go and immediately reduced his engine to only fifteen cylinders. Benny decided then and there to watch the race from the pine clad banks of Lake George. Then Bill Horn and Charlie Graflin took Delphine IV out for a final spin and one of Delphine’s pistons got into an argument with a galloping iron (connecting rod, to you) and Bill, Charlie and Delphine IV decided to take a tow back to Countess Mankowski’s boathouse where once the famous Ankle Deeps, owned and driven by the Count, held forth. Charlie and the boys worked all night on the disabled engine clearing out the debris, but even before the start, none of them were particularly optimistic about Delphine’s chances. A brand new boat, Herb Mendelsohn’s Notre Dame, driven by Clell Perry, was dropped into the water at Smith’s boathouse late in the afternoon of the same unfortunate day, and made a short run which resulted in much argument among the assembled experts. Some said she looked good, others said she looked – not so good.
 

Anyway, the dawn of the great day finally arrived and on the second of ten minutes of one, the warning gun was fired from the point of the Bixby estate. With Benny sitting on the bank, only four boats showed up. These were El Lagarto, the ancient and honorable ark of Lake George, Victor Kleisrath’s Hotsy Totsy II, which has appeared in numerous Gold Cup events under various and sundry names, Bill Horn driving Delphine IV the original Leaping Lena which was operated on by Walter Leveau so that she no longer leaps and the brand new Notre Dame which had been tried out less than one hour previous to the race.
Notre Dame didn’t even get as far as the starting line when something went wrong and she was towed back to Smith’s. That left only three competitors for America’s premier speed boat event. With the gun, the three roared over the starting line with Bill Horn in the lead, followed by El Lagarto and Hotsy Totsy close astern. It was for blood, for special instructions had been received to take the cup from El Lagarto at all costs and apparently the other competitors had decided among themselves that George Reis had held the cup long enough. However, half way up the back stretch El Lagarto took the lead, never to be headed again. Delphine’s trouble of the day before was so serious that numerous parts of the piston, not to mention some nice little filings, had been left inside the engine, it being impossible to get everything clear in the short time before the start, and at the end of the first lap she began to show signs of faltering. It was not long after that that she stopped altogether after completing one lap at a speed of 56.39 miles an hour.
 

This left only two boats in the race and bets began to be made that not one of the craft would be able to finish the necessary three heats. El Lagarto continued to hold a nice lead over Hotsy Totsy and finished one full minute ahead of her. El Lagarto’s average for the thirty miles was 56.85 miles an hour and her fastest lap, 58.59 miles an hour. Hotsy’s average was 55.16 and her fastest lap was 56.67 miles an hour.
 

With only two boats left, the crowd started to melt away before the second heat, two hours after the start of the first heat. Finally, the gun went off and El Lagarto and Hotsy Totsy crossed the line side by side and going places for sure. Each was pushing the other as hard as possible, each hoping that the other would crack under the strain. Delphine came out for the start, but passed out soon after crossing the line – this time for good. The grind continucd for the remaining laps with El Lagarto holding a comfortable lead and never threat-ened provided her hull and engine would hold together.
 

Her average speed was faster this heat, figuring out at 57.58 miles an hour and her fastest lap was at the rate of 58.82 miles. She hardly varied a second for each lap.

Hotsy Totsy averaged 56.89 and her best lap was 57.47. The two boats came out again for the third and final heat on time, but by this time the large spectator fleet had dwindled to about half. Hotsy tried her level best to get ahead but Reis held Lagarto just ahead of him and at every turn gave Hotsy a good hosing down. Spectators were now certain that neither boat could hold the pace for long and sure enough during the fourth lap, Hotsy began to weaken, running slower and slower. Reis, slowed slightly, but continued at a terrific pace and it was not long before Hotsy was lapped. Then she was lapped again in surprisingly short order and yet once more when she was just crawling along and about ready to stop. The oil line leading to the pressure gauge on the dash had broken and most of her lubricating oil was pumped into the bilge. She did not finish.
 

It now developed into a one boat race and in due time El Lagarto coasted across the finish line to the din of whistles from the fleet. Her average speeol was only 50.73 miles an hour and her best lap 54.54. Her average time for all three heats of the ninety mile race was 55.05 miles an hour. Thus the Gold Cup stays at Lake George for another year according to the ritual and an eleven year old engine and a thirteen year old hull still reign supreme over all the new-fangled super-chargers and gadgets. Possibly there should be an extra prize for the most reliable boat or possibly the owners will sometime get wise to the fact that every gadget added only means that much more chance for failure, but at any rate, it proves conclusively that George Reis, Dick Bowers, his amateur mechanic and the ancient but thoroughly docile El Lagarto, are a combination that is mighty hard to beat. Next year, the rule changes take the lid clean off the event so far as rules are concerned and possibly one of the “inventor’s nightmares” may be able to wrest the cup from George, Dick and Lagarto, but unless there is some kind of a miracle, no one familiar with the sport would venture to bet against the ancient ark of Lake George.