Detroit River Race Course

01 / The story of this place

Make time for these

Powerboat racing found its American home on the Detroit River, where a roughly two-and-a-half-mile course by Belle Isle first hosted the APBA Gold Cup in 1916. Detroit industrialist Garfield 'Gar' Wood turned the river into his personal proving ground, winning the Gold Cup five years running from 1917 to 1921 and later setting a world water speed record here in 1920; in 1931 he defended the international Harmsworth Trophy on this same course against British challenger Kaye Don. Detroit's dominance made it, for decades, the undisputed capital of unlimited hydroplane racing in North America. Bill Muncey started racing on the Detroit River in 1949 and went on to become one of the sport's greatest champions, with multiple Gold Cup and national championship wins over a career that stretched into the 1970s. The tradition continues today: the river still hosts the annual Detroit Hydrofest and, in many years, the Gold Cup itself, drawing unlimited hydroplanes back to the waters where the sport first took off.

1. Course by Belle Isle has hosted the APBA Gold Cup since 1916
2. Gar Wood won five straight Gold Cups here, 1917 through 1921
3. Gar Wood set a world water speed record on the river in 1920
4. Gar Wood beat Britain's Kaye Don here for the Harmsworth Trophy in 1931
5. Bill Muncey began racing here in 1949 and became a hydroplane champion
6. Still hosts unlimited hydroplane races, including the annual Detroit Hydrofest