LAKEPORT, California -- When the sun sets and the tide comes in, fans know it is time for racers to pump the bilge and polish their gunwales as they take to the high asphalt for the “Fiberglass 500” boat race.
The Lakeport buggy led 19 cars towing boats around the track now inundated with water from a perimeter sprinkler pipe and that awesome infield water cannon. The field included a BMW and a big black stretch limousine. When the green flag fell, the hunt was on.
The object of a boat race is to tow your boat around the track and take out as many other boats as you can while protecting your own. Seasoned salts have devised many skills over the last two years to deal with this.
Rowdy Burns, towing the “Hammertime”, demonstrated the direct approach by driving over and through the “S.S. Minnow” of Ian James cutting short a three-hour tour.
Rick Bryant used his great white Lincoln to pin and then crush boats against the wall. That “Ol' Pirate” Bob Strauss used speed and handling to push Chris Johnson's “Can't Touch This #2” boat around the outside of Johnson's car and crushed it between them.
Bill Coleman lost his “Quien Sabe'” early to Russ Wheeler and “The No”, but refused to furl his colors. He took a quick turn around the track and pushed his boat instead.
The X car of Andrew Snider seemed a sure winner towing “The Beige Pearl” as he showed skill and tenacity, taking out many boats by driving through their tethers. One boat proves tougher than he thought, as a piece of it was trapped under his front end. This slowed him down and a surprised Richie Hoven found himself trapped atop of the Pearl and dragged around the track for many laps. This proved too much for Snider's X car and he was eventually run aground against Rowdy Burns.
The stretch limousine of Bruce Sisevich towing the “Water Wetter” got pinned down in the turn two infield with a car sitting atop his tether between car and boat. It took awhile, but the power of the limo eventually pulled him free.
When the seas calmed and saner minds threw the red flag, only four of our inland corsairs could make it with their boats to the frontstretch. As always, it was now up to the fans to cheer for the racer who most impressed them. It was the car-and-wall boat-crushing tactic of Rick Bryant that won the trophy this night.
The next boat race is the “Asphalt Boat Nationals Qualifier” scheduled for July 21.
