Flying Shingles

Next to winning the 130-mile Albany-to-New York marathon, the most cherished dream of every U. S. outboard motorboat driver is to have U. S. 1 or U. S. 2 painted on his boat. The number U. S. 1 is awarded annually to the amateur outboarder who, during the season, has amassed the largest total of points in regattas sanctioned by the American Power Boat Association. U. S. 2 goes to the highest-scoring professional.*

Last week at the annual meeting of the American Power Boat Association the racing numbers for 1939 were assigned.

U. S. 1 went to 20-year-old Arthur Wullschleger, a Cornell junior who owns three outboards, races in four classes (A, B, C and F). Of the 82 sanctioned meets this year, Driver Wullschleger competed in 13, compiled 15,637 points, including the national championship in Class C.

U. S. 2 went to 38-year-old Fred Jacoby Jr. Son of an outboard body builder (Jacoby Flyaway), Driver Jacoby has no peer among the fast-growing fraternity of rough riders who spend their summers bumping around U. S. waterways, kneeling in little, flat-bottomed boats they call flying shingles--with life preservers round their necks and a yapping whine in their ears. Professional Jacoby's total of 25,897 points/- (in 20 regattas) this season was 10,000 more than his nearest rival (amateur or professional), and his feat of outscoring all other drivers this year for the third time in four years established a record unparalleled in U. S. outboard racing.

Although Fred Jacoby is a professional motorboat racer (61% of U. S. outboard racers are professional), he earns his livelihood as a scenic artist, painting backdrops for Broadway shows. A veteran of twelve years of riding flying shingles, he knows better than to depend on his racing earnings. In 1935, when he won the Albany marathon (worth $250) and spreadeagled the field in almost every other regatta, he wound up with the coveted U. S. 2 but he was $600 in the red.

*In addition to U.S. 1, the highpoint amateur outboarder receives successive odd numbers if he owns more than one boat; the highpoint professional receives successive even numbers.

/-Points are awarded for fifth place or better. Jacoby competed in 65 races--won 36 first places, ten seconds, eleven thirds, four fourths and three fifths, plus bonus points for the Albany marathon and national championship events.

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