In 1920 the legendary Gar Wood broke the water speed record with his racing boat Miss America using twin boat propellers with a top speed of 74.87 miles per hour on the Detroit river. Wood was by far the most successful boat racer of his time. Starting in 1917 he won the Gold Cup race which was back then the most prestigious boat race in the world, five years in a row 1917 – 1921. Between 1920 and 1932 Wood broke the water speed record a total of five times with the last record of 124.86 miles per hour set in 1932. His last record holding boat the Miss America X had four huge Packard engines that is said to have produced a total of 7,000 horsepower.
Mister Wood was the Babe Ruth of the boat racing world in the early part of the twentieth century. He was born in 1880 in Iowa and was one of thirteen children his parents had. His father was a ferry boat operator and Wood used to go with his dad on the boats starting at an early age and became very familiar with them. He was a true mechanical genius but did not have any formal mechanical engineer schooling. He invented a hydraulic coal unloader for railroad cars in 1911 and then started the Wood Hoist Company soon after which became very successful. He later changed his company to Gar Wood Industries and made racing boats and boat props along with other things such as truck bodies and his business flourished for many years. Gar Wood lived to be ninety years old and is a member of the Motorsports Hall of Fame Of America.
Dan’s Discount Propellers has the lowest prices on hundreds of twin boat propellers for all modern marine engine brands. For advice on what boat props that would work best on your boat please call us at 1-800-573-5533
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