1985 WEST COAST RACING (3) + Speed Trials - Powerboat Archive

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With an average speed of 90.56 mph, Carl Regier posted his first rnajor offshore win.
SHO.ME
SHOWS'EM
Carl Regier and his 30 foot Mafestrom cat show the
largest fleet in the history of offshore racing the way
around Lake Mead.
Regier makes his home in the Midwest.
f
n" tnreateneo rarn, t,ne wlno
I was "*n up, the white caps were
building and the V-bottoms thought
this just might be the day to even the
score. But when you're in the land of
slot machines, crap tables and
roulette wheels you learn never to
take anything fbr granted.
Given that the Lucky Las Vegas
Regatta is the lone race on the MBRA
circuit that's not held in the Pacific
ocean, it's the one time during the
year when the "little" guy can seek
revenge. Without brutal swells and
corrosive saltwater to contend with,
Lake Mead provides the ideal setting
for a relative unknown to overnight
vault his way into National promi-
nence. Jim DeNooyer did it in 1983
and '84 with the 30-foot Shadow cat
King Sting and now Carl Regier has
followed suit with his 30-foot Malestrom
cat Sho Me that heretofore had
not finished a race.
Indeed, lake races normally give a
decided edge to the air-lifting cat
boats, as evidenced by the dominence
The Lake Mead Marina was a beehive of activity as 75 boats prepare for the race.
18/POWEFBOAT

The Powerboat Magazine Special finished first in class.
Kal Kustom
was less than a minute off
Sho Me's pace.
Nordskog took the third overall spot.
of the design on the APBA offshore
circuit, which in recent years has run
a majority of its events on inland
waterways. But Lake Mead, like Lake
Michigan and Lake Ponchatrain, can
be a capricious host, especially ifthe
wind is blowing in 20 mph gusts as it
was on the morning of October 13.
The Regatta entry list was 75 boats
strong, a new world record for offshore
racing. Watchful eyes from the
APBA Offshore Commission were on
hand to see how the four-year-old
MBRA fared in its season finale.
Impressive was all anyone could say.
Overall honors were focused on a
clash between four S8-foot Scarabs
and a pair of 30-foot outboard
powered tunnels. In the short course
wars, it too was a question of Vs
versus tunnels.
When the green flag dropped, the
fleet was pointing with bows to the
chop. Could the cats handle the wind
ruffled water? Would the V-bottoms,
always dominant in the ocean, finally
Nobody but Nordskog takes advantage of turbochargers and makes them live.

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Edelbrock checked in fourth overall.
have their day in a lake race? Before
the fleet reached the first checkpoint,
answers were already starting to
emerge.
Immediately, the two favored cats,
Regier's Sho Me and Karl Koster's 30-
foot Shadow KaI Kustorn jumped on
top of the unruly water, establishing a
rapid flight plan from the outset. On
the surface, Lake Mead looked like a
frothy mess, but the wind-whipped
whitecaps were creating a picture
worse than was actually the case.
Minus mammoth swells, which have
faithfully proven the cats undoing
offshore, the tunnel boat drivers could
lay on the gas sticks without easing
back.
Despite having only a wind chop to
negate the cats upstairs speed advantage,
a quartet of Scarab V-bottoms
comprised of Bob Nordskog, Jerry
Herbst, Vic Edelbrock, and John
A faulty ignition in Vic Edelbrock's Scarab kept him from being more cornpetitive.
Peters were not far behind the leaders.
The burly Scarabs, usually depicted
crashing through the waves with
white spray coming off the chines,
were running glued in, hugging the
water. With drives out and tabs up,
none of the four ever showed their
props to passersby.
By the end of stanza one of the six
lap contest-MBRA's club classes
were only required to make three
round trips of the Lake Mead basin - it
was apparent that, barring a mechanical
failure, Regier's twin Johnson V-
8 tunnel was going to be equal to the
challenge, wind chop or not. Both
Sho-Me and Kal Kustom were riding
smooth, Ievel and fast.
Incredibly, another cat, this one a
much smaller 24-footer short course
boat, was also in the thick of the overall
battle. Long Shot, a Douglas
Skater with near 100 mph capability,
was negotiating the water far better
than the V-bottoms of comparable
length, its twin 2.4liter, EFI Mercurys
never missing a beat. Occupants Mike
Dallwitz and Ed Colyer, both from
Missouri, were making the most of the
conditions, running ahead ofthe open
V-bottoms while pressing Koster and
Regier at every turn.
As the cats made tracks, the V-
bottom cluster started to string out a
bit. Peters' Honcho was sidelined
with a mechanical problem and Edelbrock
was temporarily down with a
balky ignition system. Both Herbst
and Nordskog offered pursuit, keeping
the leaders in sight.
With the lap counter ticking away,
the pursuit ofthe open class Vs took a
turn for the worse. Thswind was definitely
subsiding and the lake was
beginning to flatten out. Herbst continued
to challenge, running with
An aggressive Herbst pushed a little too hard and came home on the end of a rope. "Terrible" Herbst gambled and lost.
2OlPOWERBOAT

On the short course, -Long Shof, a Douglas Skater won with laps averaging 89.85 mph.
abandon. Nordskog countered with
some strategy of his own, backing off
in the smooth stuff to conserve his
equipment. And his gamble paid off.
Part way through lap four, one of
Herbst's big-block V-8 engines started
to lose power, and only a mile from the
start,/finish boat to complete lap five,
Herbst was forced to call it a day.
Meanwhile, Nordskog had established
a comfortable lead over Edelbrock
who was back running at full
power after correcting his earlier
problems.
With weather and water conditions
improving by the minute , Sho Me was
looking more impressive all the time.
At the checkered flag, it was Regier
registering his first major offshore
victory with Koster second, less than
a minute behind. For the six lap, 127
mile distance, Regier clocked an
impresgive 90.56 mph average.
After the race. Regier and navigator
Steve Thein talked strategy: "We really
felt that our main competition today
was going to come from the other cats,"
said Regier, "especially if the water
didn't get any rougher. It took me about
the first straightaway to get the boat
feeling just right, but once I did, I didn't
have to touch the trim the rest of the
day."
Interestingly, although Regier now
lives in the midwest, he originally got
his start in offshore racing out on the
West Coast, way back in the early
1970s. "I was just a struggling radiology
student then," recalls Regier, "I
had an old Thylorjet day cruiser that I
ran but it wasn't very competitive. I
really liked the sport however, and I
knew that if I could ever afford it, I'd
get something better. . .this is it."
In the end, attrition and strategy
pretty much told the tale in the open
V-bottom class. Nordskog smartly
opted not to chase the cats when the
water started to smooth out; Herbst
on the other hand gambled and
wound up on a tow rope.
Edelbrock, who checked in fourth
overall, would've been more of a factor
in the race except a faulty ignition
system cost him precious time in the
early stages. Peters, who has suffered
through one problem after another all
season long continued to struggle,
retiring before the end of lap one with
a mechanical. Nordskog, who came
into Mead with a two-racing losing
streak after winnin g 24-in-a-tow, got a
new string started, finishing first in
class and third overall.
Although the cats and the big V-
bottoms seemingly had little problem
handling the ruffled conditions of
Lake Mead, such was not the case for
several in the day-cruiser set. If you
don't think Lake Mead can be
demanding, just ask Ed and Tloy
Herbst or Ron Spindler.
Somewhere down that opening 10
mile straightaway, the Herbst boys
encountered bigger water than they
anticipated. Driving a vintage, 20-
foot Spectra ski day cruiser, the bow
disappeared under a wall of water,
pushed its way through, and then
crashed into the next big wave, causing
the hull to blow apart. Ed and
Tboy were thrown clear of the debris,
but the engine, running gear and
remains of the hull quickly sank in
over 100 feet of water.
Battered, bruised and stunned, the
Herbst brothers were assisted bv Ed
Breitenbach who was also racing in
their class. Breitenbach fished the
two out of the water and returned
them to the officials at the start/ finish
boat. His deed done, Breitenbach
returned to competition, ultimately
finishing second in class 6A behind
Tom Joseph of Canton, Ohio in a 21-
foot Schiada.
Spindler had an even more tragic
tale to tell. Running out front in the
competitive, 10-boat, 6.4'field, Spindler
and co-rider Jeff Scher were pushing
hard with the plates down when the
sidewall of their Schiada River
Roberta and Glen Gill cinched the Production class Championship in Pure Insanity.
Gill is MBRA's only woman driver.
NOVEMBER-DECEMBEF/21

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Cruiser caved in from the stress.
lbking on water at a ferocious pace,
the boat, with its record setting
$30,000 engine acting as an anchor,
quickly sank to the bottom of Lake
Mead. Unfortunately for Spindler,
Schiada went down in over 400
feet of water and apparently is
unsalvageable.
Without Spindler's 100 mph day
cruiser, the three-lap short course battle
turned into another outboard cat
show, similar to the war waged in the
open division. The principals this
time were Dallwitz and Colyer in the
pint-sized Douglas Skater versus Al
and John Stoker in an Evinrudepowered,
26-foot Stoker SST.
From the outset, the Stoker's kePt
the heat on Long Sftof, but the
Douglas simply had too much topend,
shocking everyone with its stability
in rough water. At the
completion of three laps, Long Shot
had averaged a phenomenal 89.85
mph running less than two minutes
behind Regier. The Stoker's held on
for second in class and second overall
with an average speed of 82 mph.
In other racing action, Ron Akin
returned to offshore racing after a two
year layoff following a near tragic
accident at the World Championships
in Key West, Florida. Akin's 30-foot
Velocity, Smokin was Put back
together for this race and it ran like a
watch, averaging almost 80 mPh for
the win in class 2.A' and a fifth overall
in the Iong course. Akin didrr't have
any room to relax, however, as Darrel
Boyer and Tbacy King of Oregon finished
only two minutes behind in
their 30-foot Sutphen, Caliente.
Operating away from the spotlight
of the open class, Roberta Gill,
MBRA's only woman driver, scored
the most important win of her offshore
career. With husband Glenn
working the throttles, the Gill's Pare
Insanity defeated arch-rival Tom
Hays in All Risk which locked up the
Production class high-points championship.
The Gill's winning margin
was approximately two minutes.
Finishing third in class was Gary
Garafalo and Lloyd Gootenberg of
New York, driving Luchy Strihe a 26-
foot Hustler with twin Mercury
outboards.
Three boats entered class 4A, only
Powerboat Magazine's Fourth Annual Speed Trials
Regier, Jorgenson and
Spindler set the pace
lflo, tne rhrro year rn a row, tne
I-'boat that won the Lucky Las
Vegas Regatta also set top time in the
annual Powerboat Magazine World
Speed tials staged the day before.
The only difference, however,
between Carl Regier's performance
this year and Jim DeNooyer's record
setting numbers of 115 and 121 mPh
in 1983 and '84 is that Sho-Me wound
up sharing top billing in the SPeed
Trials. Indeed, Regier might have
finished all alone in the '125 mile
marathon, but when it came to the
clocked speed runs, Marv Jorgenson
was on equal footing and Ron
Spindler was just an eyelash behind.
Although they both competed with
twin-engine, outboard tunnel hulls,
Regier and Jorgenson used slightly
different means to obtain the same
105 mph end result. Regier completed
his triple digit assault with twin
Johnson V-8s on a 4,600 Pound,
30-foot Malestrom tunnel while Jorgenson
countered with a pair of muchsmaller
Mercury V-6s and nitrous
oxide on a 2}-foot Eliminator DaYtona
tunnel.
Regier came into the Speed Trials
with a known commodity. His one-ofa-kind,
wooden Malestrom is a down
sized version of the triple V-8 powered,
35-foot Innouation that Mike Drury
22lPOWERBOAT
Carl Regier's Sho Me shared top billing of 105 rnph in the Speed Trials.
drove to the present UIM offshore
world speed record of 131.1mph. Sho
Me had clocked 112 mph in testing,
but was down slightly from its Peak
output due to the fresh water at Lake
Just a wink off the top time was spindler and his schiada with a time of 103 mph.

two finished. David Berman's 30-foot
Formula with twin Kaama drives
downed Elmer Saint-Amand in a 33-
foot Fountain. Berman averaged 66
mph for the win in this stock production
class.
In division 5A, a class designed for
sports boats over 2\-feet and with less
than 750 cubic inches of engine displacement,
Mike Mays won the title
using a single 511 c.i. Chevy for power
in his 26-foot Sanger. In addition to
winning his division, Mays was third
overall in the short course race. Finishing
second was Chuck Freitas in a
27-foot Formula with third place
going to Randy Zeae in a 27-foot
Magnum. Seven boats were entered in
the class.
Jim Robinson drove his new 30-foot
Shadow Cat with Kaama Drives and
small block Chevy engine to the win
in 68, while Bob Howard outdistanced
a competitive field of nine
boats for the win in 7A. Howard beat
second place finisher Paul Lindke by
only a minute, averaging 60 mph.
Third place went to Rodney Chinn in
a 24-foot Pantera with Mike Kasser
finishing fourth.
Close competition was the order of
the day in the twin-outboard, V-
bottom class as Rick Bowling won the
8A wars with his Mercury-powered
27-foot Excalibur. Bowling averaged
a tidy 72.5 mph to take the victory
over second place Van DePiero by
only one minute. Third place went to
the Nordskog brothers, Mike and
Eric, driving a twin V-6 Johnson
powered 27-foot Magnum. Finishing
in fourth and fifth positions respectively
were Thad Findley and Alan
Shapiro.
The smallest single engine outboard
in class 9A was Randy Wefel's
2\-foot Ranger bass boat with a
Mariner 200. Nevertheless, the package
averaged 64 mph finishing ahead
of second place rival Harley Hausman
in a 2l-foot Superboat with single
Evinrude V-6. Rod Hormell driving a
22-foot Vaughn with a Mercury 300
was third.
There were only two entries in the
single engine outboard tunnel class,
both were 2}-foot Stoker SST hulls
with 2.4 liter Merc V-6s. The winner
was Mike Shipley with Bob Kitchens
comrng ln secono. -!-
Mead and the 1,200 foot elevation.
Jorgenson, conversely, didn't quite
know what to expect when he trailered
west from his home in MinneaPolis,
Minnesota. His stock layup, 2\-foot
Eliminator Daytona is usually fitted
with three-that's right three-2.4
liter, fuel-injected Mercury outboards
and a large supply of nitrous oxide.
Unfortunately for Jorgenson, who
also holds the snowmobile straightaway
record at 158 mph, MBRA rules
don't allow triple V-6 outboard installations
on anything under 30-feet.
Consequently, to meet the guidelines,
Jorgenson was forced to re-rig his
Jaws IIIminus one engi.ne, renaming
it Jaws 11for the weekend.
If Regier and Jorgenson didn't do
enough to bolster the image of outboards
offshore, Mike Dallwitz in
a twin Mercury-powered, 24-foot
Douglas Skater laid down a scorching
95 mph pass. Sans Jorgenson's
unprecedented 105 mph tally with
nitrous, Dallwitz's speed would've
easily been a new record in the twinengine
outboard tunnel class. With
modified motors, Dallwitz has seen
speeds in excess of 100 mph, but he
wanted to complete the race and
elected to go the conservative route.
Actually, were it not for a 103
mph masterpiece by Ron Spindler in
Sc hiada, theinboard set would've Iost
face entirely at the hands of the outboard
contingent. Spindler, who owns
Schiada Boats, put engine-builder
Bob Tbague on alert prior to this
year's Tlials, knowing all too well
that his incredible 102 mph, class 6,{
record set last year might be in serious
jeopardy. Teague responded with
Marv Jorgenson also had a 105 mph run.
enough horsepower to push Spindler's
27-foot Schiada through the traps at
an even faster 103 mph clip.
As it turned out, Spindler was justified
in his concern. Veteran ski racer
Burt Court pushed his turbocharged
2l-foot Rayson Craft Cask & Cleauer
through the eyes at 102 mph, just a
tick behind Schiada. Ironically,
Spindler and Court are business
partners on the new 35-foot Schiada
Cat that the company hopes to
unleash on the MBRA circuit next
year.
Spindler was virtually unassisted
in his efforts to defend the honor of
the inboard set because of psyche
games between open class V-bottom
competitors Bob Nordskog and Jerry
Herbst. Nordskog, who currently
holds the class 1A record at 89 mph in
his lightweight S9-foot Cigarette hull
C.A.M., was penciled-in to compete in
the Speed Tbials, turning up this year
with his tried and true Powerboat
Magazine Special. Confident that a
newly installed pair of MerOruiser
extender boxes would easily provide
enough boost needed to bump his
Scarab over the 90 mph mark, Nordskog
nevertheless elected to sit out the
Speed Tbials unless his record was
broken. Arch-rival Herbst, not wanting
to tip his hand, left his boat on the
trailer and Vic Edelbrock failed in his
bid to set a new mark, running only 84
mph.
In other record setting action, Ron
Akin piloted his 30-foot Velocity
Smokin to a new record of 85 mph in
2A. In Production class 3A, New
York's Lloyd Gootenberg raised the
record from 59 to 71 mph in his twin
Mercury-powered, 26-foot Hustler
Lucky Strike. Joel Burnstine bumped
the 4.A. mark to 74 mph in his 3O-foot
Scarab Ebb Tide.
Stan Stratton in a new 7.9 EXP
Hallett set a 5A mark of 82 mph while
James Robinson bumped the record
in 58 to 70 mph with his as
yet unnamed 30-foot Kaama-drive
Shadow Cat.
In class 7A, former drag boat racer
Joe Kohorst piloted his 22-foot
Schiada Moxy to a new record of 65
mph. Jay Migliore of Salt Lake City,
Utah, piloted his twin-Mercury Baja
Tbrminator to a class 8A record of 79
mph. And finally, Bob Kitchens
pushed the single-engine tunnel
outboard mark to 86 mph in his
Mercury-powered Stoker SST Atlttude
Adjustment.
NOVEMBEF-DECEMBER/23