Seattle's Deadly Farce

"I won me a race," he declared. "That's my race, and I'm going to get it." Back to town went Simon to file a protest. In essence, he charged that the Seafair race was scheduled for one day and no third heat was completed in the allotted time. Therefore, claimed Simon, the race was over at the end of two heats-and Miss U.S. I was leading at the time with 800 points.

Out of the sport

Monday's rerun went on as scheduled, with perhaps 50,000 diehard hydrophiles enduring 94� heat to watch the curious, anticlimactic runoff. This time, Miss Thriftway worked into the lead and successfully held off the pursuit of Miss Spokane to win the heat and the race—providing the APBA does not cancel the victory as a result of Simon's protest.

Thus ended the wildest hydroplane race of them all. Thus ended, too, the hydroplaning careers of three men, bringing to something like a dozen the number of top racers and boat owners who have dropped out of this anarchistic sport in the past five years. From his hospital bed Don Wilson, whose wife is expecting their first child in January, spoke through burn-swollen lips: "It's all over. I've had it." In another room Mira Slovak, under heavy sedation, rolled over in bed and told reporters that he, too, was out of racing for good. "Bill Boeing and I started out with the Wahoo...five years ago on Lake Washington," he mumbled sleepily. "We ended up the same place. We've done our share. It's up to the other guys now." Bill Boeing confirmed Slovak's announcement. In a letter to the APBA, he submitted his resignation as a member of the unlimited racing commission—in effect, declaring his complete retirement from hydroplaning. "There is always a right time to get out," said Bill Boeing. "This is the time."