Every game has its own ethics. In baseball, it is permissible to rattle a pitcher by making a noise; but a golfer who shouts when his opponent is putting is a boorish cheat. In football, it is ethical to render an adversary senseless by hard tackling; it would be easy but unfair to win a rubber of bridge in the same way. A question of ethics in sport was internationally discussed last week after the conclusion of the Harmsworth Cup (motor boat) races in Detroit.
Kaye Don, British automobile and motorboat driver who holds the world speed record for motorboats, had entered Miss England II*.
Garfield Arthur ("Gar") Wood had entered his Miss America IX. His brother George was to drive Miss America VIII, the boat which won the Harmsworth Cup in 1929 but which is obviously outclassed by later models. Before the race, silver-haired, sharp-faced Gar Wood was confident he would win. He was quoted as saying that Kaye Don would learn something when "George gives him the wash."
In the first heat, Miss England II won by more than a mile. Her speed reached no m. p. h. on the straightaway, averaged 89:913 m. p. h., broke the race record by more than 12 m. p. h. and made it clear that she would win the Cup next day unless something unexpected happened. When the time came for the second heat next day. Gar Wood asked for a 45-min. postponement to repair his gas tank. Kaye Don refused—because he would have had to drain his oil and reheat it, which would have taken more than 45 minutes and perhaps made it impossible to finish the race before dark. Gar Wood repaired his gas tank as best he could and the three boats got ready for the start.
A rule of the Harmsworth Cup races states that any boat which starts more than five seconds before the gun shall be disqualified. Gar Wood's boat crossed the starting line nine seconds before the gun —the first time he has ever crossed the line too soon in five Harmsworth Cup races. Just behind him, seven seconds ahead of the gun, came Miss England II. Safely behind both was Miss America VIII, which crossed the line just after the signal, sure to win the race since both the others were disqualified. A moment later, the 500,000 people who were watching saw Miss England pitch dangerously, then capsize at 80 m. p. h. and sink. Kaye Don and two mechanics were pulled out of the water, uninjured (TIME, Sept. 14).
Gar Wood was quoted as follows in an interview after the races: "Sure I'm happy. I asked for a postponement of the start. . . . My request was denied and it made me angry. When Eddie Edenburn, chairman of the race committee, told me Don would not agree ... I told him . . . I was coming down the river and make a false start purposely. I told him when I did, Don likely would follow me. If he did, I knew it meant disqualification of both Miss America IX and Miss England II but there was still Miss America VIII. ... If Don wanted to play that way with me, all right. I figured I could out-smart him. . . ."