Miss Al Deeby Dodge wins hydroplane’s Gold Cup

DETROIT – As a 5-year-old sitting in the Slo-Mo-Shun IV – the boat on which his grandfather was a crewman in Seattle – Terry Troxell looked over its nose and said to himself that he would one day make a living racing hydroplanes and that he would even hoist the coveted Gold Cup in Detroit.

More than half a century later, Troxell’s childhood dream came true.

Troxell, driver of the Michigan-owned U-13 Miss Al Deeby Dodge, captured his first Gold Cup on the Detroit River Sunday evening after an accident delayed the final for an hour. As he rode in the back of a golf cart to the winner’s podium, the crowd chanted “Deeetroit Hydroplane!”

“Detroit is awesome,” Troxell said. “This is the best drivers’ race there is in all of boat racing.”

The 18-year-old boat, owned by Bloomfield Hills resident David Bartush, is the oldest hydro to win the Gold Cup. Troxell, 58, became the oldest driver to win the Gold Cup since 1946. Miss Elam finished second and the U-5 a distant third.