Tom D’Eath is an American hydroplane and

racecar driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

from

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

Career summary

Tom D'Eath (pronounced deeth) won three

American Power Boat Association The American Power Boat Association (APBA) is an American membership-owned corporation. In 1903, New York's Columbia Yacht Club had formulated a constitution for what ultimately became the APBA. It is the United States sanctioning authority for the ...

Gold Cups and three the Prince Edward Canadian Gold Cups. He remains the only three-time winner of both. He has also won National Championships in virtually every other class of

hydroplane racing Hydroplane racing (also known as hydro racing) is a sport involving racing hydroplanes on lakes, rivers, and bays. It is a popular spectator sport in several countries. Racing circuits International professional outboard hydroplane racing The ...

. D'Eath also competed on land, by driving in the USAC Formula Vees from 1977 to 1981 and

midget car Midget cars, also Speedcars in Australia, is a class of racing cars. The cars are very small, with a very high power-to-weight ratio, and typically use four-cylinder engines. They originated in the United States in the 1930s and are raced on most ...

s from 1982 through his retirement from racing in 1991. Arguably his most memorable victory was in the bicentennial 1976

APBA Gold Cup The APBA Gold Cup (originally known simply as the Gold Cup, a speedboat race) is an American hydroplane boat race, named for the American Power Boat Association. It is now run as part of the H1 Unlimited season. First run in 1904, it is the old ...

unlimited hydroplane race, held on the Detroit River. D'Eath piloted the Miss US to a narrow upset victory over Bill Muncey in the Atlas Van Lines, a hull that won the two previous Gold Cups and the three previous APBA National Championships. In addition to being D'Eath's first Gold Cup win, it was the first Gold Cup win for a turbocharged V-12 Allison aircraft engine, the first for a cabover unlimited hull, and the first Gold Cup win for Miss US owner George Simon, who had competed in unlimited hydroplane racing since 1953. In 1994 Tom became the first Chairman of the Vintage and Historic Division of APBA.

Awards

*He was inducted into the

Motorsports Hall of Fame of America The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) is a hall of fame that honors motorsports competitors and contributors from the United States from all disciplines, with categories for Open Wheel, Stock Cars, Powerboats, Drag Racing, Motorcycles ...

Tom D'Eath
at the

in 2000. *D'Eath was inducted into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame on June 23, 2011, in Troy, Michigan.

Racing record

Complete USAC Mini-Indy Series results

References

External links

APBA Official websiteAPBA Vintage Official website
American motorboat racers Living people APBA Challenge Cup American people of Polish descent Racing drivers from Michigan Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-autoracing-bio-stub