Albany to New York

A monster shot under the Albany bridge of the Hudson River, heading downstream, a monster shaped like a huge boat, edged with foam and letting out an enormous engine roar. Quickly the monster lost its symmetry, split up into 101 separate hydroplane, outboard and runabout motor boats. In its roar the drone of individual engines could be distinguished. In the boats, bouncing on the floorboards in their padded driving suits, clutching their wheels with one hand while with the other they tuned their engines, could be seen the pilots, the ablest outboard and runabout "bugs" in the country, off again on the annual 142-mile race to Manhattan. Many of them were professionals little known outside the outboard motor trade, but there were amateurs too: Kirk Ames, stage funnyman; Harold Chapman, who won the race around Manhattan last summer; Bog Flagg, Worcester, Mass., schoolboy; four girls, one of them--Anne Townsend of Greenwich--aged 13 and having her father with her as mechanic in her runabout; C. Phelps Stevens, whose trade nickname is Jonah because he usually gets the best times in the trials, then swamps at the start.

From Evanston, Ill., husky Wade ("Red") Woodworth had motored all the last two nights to get to Albany in time, towing his racing boat on a trailer. He had spent another night fitting out his boat--had only two hours sleep between Tuesday and Friday. Now he partly knelt, partly sat on the cushions in his bucking little ship, his red hair standing up in a crest, watching the curves of the narrow upper river between its marshy banks. Fourteenth at the start, he soon was racing for the lead with Ben Rhymer who lives beside the Hudson at Kingston and knows its every turn and tide.

Red Woodworth had with him his sweater with the varsity "N" (Northwestern) on it. That might bring him luck. It had in football. He never wore a headguard but he never got hurt. Knute Rockne of Notre Dame had respected the Northwestern team, called Woodworth one of the greatest guards in the country. But outboard motor racing is different from football; the whole thing depends on your engine more than yourself. No use fooling with your gas on a race as long as this; leaded or etherized gas has speed but lacks power, and Woodworth needed power to make the light boat carry his 200 Ib. No use fooling with imported spark plugs; good though they are for sprints, they seldom last more than one heat. Everything depended on the balance between the Miss Northwestern and her capital Evinrude motor; the way the gas tanks and extra feed lines were placed.

At the Poughkeepsie bridge, Rhymer was leading. Behind Woodworth came a splash, then silence; the third boat had tipped over, must have hit a wave. At West Point, Rhymer ducked in for gas. All right, thought Woodworth, pull in with him. There's the gas pumped out into the feeder, ready on the dock. . . .

Rhymer gained a minute at West Point but in Haverstraw Bay, Woodworth caught him. When he passed the finish line at 155th Street, his average time for the distance was 41.9 m. p. h., course record for outboards. Second in his class, fifth in the actual finish was Jonah Stevens, lucky for once. Three other racers broke last year's time for the race.

P: At Lake Garda, Italy, Loretta Turnbull, 18-year-old Monrovia, Calif, out-boarder, competed against the best professional drivers in Europe for the PFN cup, put up by the Fascist Party in a meet organized by Poet-Out boarder Gabriele d'Annunzio. She drove her Sunkist Kid V across the line first in the first heat, second in the next after fixing her motor which had faltered at the start, won the cup on her average time of 53.1 m. p. h.

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