1941: Bobsledding

Top honors in American competitions went to Frank Tyler's Sno Birds in winning the national A. A. U. bobsledding championships over the Olympic Run at Lake Placid, N. Y., also capturing the Fiske Memorial Trophy, the Lithgow Osborne, and the Samuel Packer trophy events. The four-man team comprised Frank Tyler, Bill D'Amico, E. H. Varno and Pat Martin or Lawrence Straight. The Saranac Lake Bobsled Club's two-man national title holders are Tuffield Latour and Paul Dupree, who are also the winners of the North American two-man title.

Bill Linney came out of retirement to retain his North American four-man championship, driving the Republic Miners Bobsled Club, assisted by John Kerr. William Stacairch and Angus Clain. In this stellar event Tyler and his national champions finished third. Curtis Stevens, veteran bobsled driver, at the wheel of the Sno Bird sled, won the Lowell Thomas international four-man trophy race with D'Amico, Varno and Lawrence Straight. Stevens and D'Amico teamed to win the Dietrich Wortman two-man bobsled title.

1940: Bobsledding

Bobsledding experienced a new thrill when Miss Katherine Dewey set a precedent in piloting her 'four-man' team to victory in winning the national A. A. U. championship on the Mt. Hoovenberg run at Lake Placid. Miss Dewey's crew of Sno Birds included Leo Martin, Pat Martin and Lawrence Straight. The top skipper in bobsledding competition was Bili Linney, of Lyon Mountain, N. Y., who, with John Kerr, William Stackavitch and Angus Clain won the Governor Lehman Trophy, the Lowell Thomas international championship, the Samuel H. Packer Trophy and the North American championship. The Linney-driven sled was a second behind Miss Dewey's for four heats when she won the title.

The dominating figures in two-man bobsledding competition in the United States were Tuffield Latour and Paul Dupree, of the Saranac Lake A. A., winners of the national A. A. U. senior and junior titles, the North American championship, the Lowell Thomas International Trophy and the Adirondack Association title.

Francis Tyler, veteran Olympic driver, guided his four-man team to its second successive victory in the Lithgow Osborne Trophy races. Although competition was keen in all of these events, there were no new records at Lake Placid, the center of bobsledding in the United States.

1939: Bobsledding

Lake Placid, N. Y., is the shrine of the bobsledders in the United States, and it was there, on the Mount Hoevenberg run, that all of the American bobsledding championships were decided during the early winter of 1939. Robert Linney, named No. 1 pilot, had with him on his four-man team William J. Stacawitch. Arthur Keysor, and Angus Clair, who, by virtue of their victory in the North American championship on Feb. 22, are the Olympic entry for the coming Olympic games, deferred by the war. Linney built his own all-metal sled, called the Iron Clipper.

Ivan Brown and Bob Washbond, winners of the 1936 two-man Olympic title, won the majority of the two-man events in 1939, at Lake Placid taking the North American on Feb. 19, 1939, the National A. A. U., on Jan. 21, and the Adirondack A. A. U. titles on Jan. 14. In the absence of Linney's four-man team, Francis Tyler's Snow Birds of Lake Placid won three four-man trophies, the Governor Lehman on Jan. 29, the Lithgow-Osborne on Feb. 5 and the Samuel H. Packer on Jan. 30; the national A. A. U. four-man championship held at Lake Placid, Jan. 22, was kept by Aubrey (Bucky) Wells and his crew from Keene Valley, N. Y.

During the past season nineteen toboggan races were completed, more than in any other season since bobsledding was organized as a competitive sport in the United States. A total of 112 competitors raced during the season.

1938: Bobsledding

Good weather and fast tracks helped make this year one of the most successful years in the history of American Bobsledding. Four records were established during the season. In the National A.A.U. two-man Bobsled championships, held at Lake Placid, Ivan Brown and Robert Washbond, Olympic champions in this event, undefeated since 1925, set a new record of 4 min. 52.63 sec. for the total of four heats of one mile each to win the National A.A.U. title. The Brown and Washbond combination continued to prove invincible during the year. On Feb. 20, at Lake Placid, this team also won the North American two-man Bobsled title in the fast time of 4 min. 53.60 sec. for the total of four heats of one mile each, and on Jan. 15, on the Mt. Van Hoevenberg track, it captured the title in the Adirondack A.A.U. championships, breaking the one-mile record with a time of 1 min. 10.51 sec.

The four-man Bobsledding championships were dominated by Aubrey Wells and his Keene Valley Mountaineer team. On Jan. 23, at Lake Placid, Aubrey Wells's crew broke the single heat United States record for the mile with a time of 1 min. 09.50 sec. and with a total for the four heats of 4 min. 39.22 sec. won the Lithgow-Osborne four-man Bobsled Trophy. On Jan. 30, Aubrey Wells's team again scored the fastest time of the meet to capture the Governor Lehman Perpetual Challenge Trophy with a time totaling 4 min. 39.75 sec. In the National A.A.U. Senior four-man Bobsled championships, on Feb. 13, the Wells crew climaxed their record-breaking season by establishing a new mark for the total of four one-mile heats of 4 min. 36.64 sec. and further breaking their own record in the one-mile heat with a time of 1 min. 08.83 sec.