100 year history of Gold Cup hydroplane races on Detroit River cancelled

[RaumVogel]

It seems this website would dis-agree: https://www.gold-cup.com/

[Bong-Man]

^^

Your link describes a weekend of boat races without unlimited hydroplanes.

[EastsideAl]

So, I wonder what becomes of the Gold Cup itself. It's one of the oldest trophies in U.S. sports [[begun in 1904), which has always been awarded to the fastest class of powerboats, and has been specifically attached to unlimited hydroplane racing since the class came into existence in 1946.

Both the Detroit News and Free Press stories on this conflate the history of the Gold Cup with the history of hydroplane racing in Detroit. In fact, the Gold Cup races were held many different places, including Detroit [[first raced here in 1916), over the years. Until 1963 the Cup race was held in the home city of the previous year's winner. After 1963 the site was awarded through a bidding process. Only in 1990 did the Gold Cup race come to be permanently held in Detroit. However, even when Detroit hasn't hosted the Gold Cup itself, an early summer hydroplane race [[and for many years a second one later in the summer) has been held here for many many years under various names [[Silver Cup, Detroit Memorial, Dodge Cup, Gar Wood Trophy, Stroh's Thunderfest etc.).

It seems like the H1 folks expect to be holding a Gold Cup race in Detroit sometime around June or July, as usual. After all, the Gold Cup is the top trophy in their sport. But, as I understand it, part of the deal to bring the race here permanently was that the Gold Cup would be awarded by the DRRA and would reside at the DYC. The DRRA is certainly still using the Gold Cup name and picture on their website - which is named gold-cup.com.

It's been well known for a while that the DRRA has been having some significant financial problems running the races. In an attempt to address this they moved the races to August, and it doesn't sound like H1 was happy with that move and wants to continue to hold the Gold Cup in Detroit in its traditional June spot. It also sounds like DRRA didn't want to, or just plain couldn't afford to, continue paying the sanctioning fee to H1.