1985 WEST COAST RACING (3) + Speed Trials - Powerboat Archive
1985 WEST COAST RACING (3) + Speed Trials - Powerboat Archive
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.<br />
SHO.ME<br />
SHOWS'EM<br />
Carl Regier and his 30 foot Mafestrom cat show the<br />
largest fleet in the history of offshore racing the way<br />
around Lake Mead.<br />
Regier makes his home in the Midwest.<br />
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I was "*n up, the white caps were<br />
building and the V-bottoms thought<br />
this just might be the day to even the<br />
score. But when you're in the land of<br />
slot machines, crap tables and<br />
roulette wheels you learn never to<br />
take anything fbr granted.<br />
Given that the Lucky Las Vegas<br />
Regatta is the lone race on the MBRA<br />
circuit that's not held in the Pacific<br />
ocean, it's the one time during the<br />
year when the "little" guy can seek<br />
revenge. Without brutal swells and<br />
corrosive saltwater to contend with,<br />
Lake Mead provides the ideal setting<br />
for a relative unknown to overnight<br />
vault his way into National promi-<br />
nence. Jim DeNooyer did it in 1983<br />
and '84 with the 30-foot Shadow cat<br />
King Sting and now Carl Regier has<br />
followed suit with his 30-foot Malestrom<br />
cat Sho Me that heretofore had<br />
not finished a race.<br />
Indeed, lake races normally give a<br />
decided edge to the air-lifting cat<br />
boats, as evidenced by the dominence<br />
The Lake Mead Marina was a beehive of activity as 75 boats prepare for the race.<br />
18/POWEFBOAT
The <strong>Powerboat</strong> Magazine Special finished first in class.<br />
Kal Kustom<br />
was less than a minute off<br />
Sho Me's pace.<br />
Nordskog took the third overall spot.<br />
of the design on the APBA offshore<br />
circuit, which in recent years has run<br />
a majority of its events on inland<br />
waterways. But Lake Mead, like Lake<br />
Michigan and Lake Ponchatrain, can<br />
be a capricious host, especially ifthe<br />
wind is blowing in 20 mph gusts as it<br />
was on the morning of October 13.<br />
The Regatta entry list was 75 boats<br />
strong, a new world record for offshore<br />
racing. Watchful eyes from the<br />
APBA Offshore Commission were on<br />
hand to see how the four-year-old<br />
MBRA fared in its season finale.<br />
Impressive was all anyone could say.<br />
Overall honors were focused on a<br />
clash between four S8-foot Scarabs<br />
and a pair of 30-foot outboard<br />
powered tunnels. In the short course<br />
wars, it too was a question of Vs<br />
versus tunnels.<br />
When the green flag dropped, the<br />
fleet was pointing with bows to the<br />
chop. Could the cats handle the wind<br />
ruffled water? Would the V-bottoms,<br />
always dominant in the ocean, finally<br />
Nobody but Nordskog takes advantage of turbochargers and makes them live.
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Edelbrock checked in fourth overall.<br />
have their day in a lake race? Before<br />
the fleet reached the first checkpoint,<br />
answers were already starting to<br />
emerge.<br />
Immediately, the two favored cats,<br />
Regier's Sho Me and Karl Koster's 30-<br />
foot Shadow KaI Kustorn jumped on<br />
top of the unruly water, establishing a<br />
rapid flight plan from the outset. On<br />
the surface, Lake Mead looked like a<br />
frothy mess, but the wind-whipped<br />
whitecaps were creating a picture<br />
worse than was actually the case.<br />
Minus mammoth swells, which have<br />
faithfully proven the cats undoing<br />
offshore, the tunnel boat drivers could<br />
lay on the gas sticks without easing<br />
back.<br />
Despite having only a wind chop to<br />
negate the cats upstairs speed advantage,<br />
a quartet of Scarab V-bottoms<br />
comprised of Bob Nordskog, Jerry<br />
Herbst, Vic Edelbrock, and John<br />
A faulty ignition in Vic Edelbrock's Scarab kept him from being more cornpetitive.<br />
Peters were not far behind the leaders.<br />
The burly Scarabs, usually depicted<br />
crashing through the waves with<br />
white spray coming off the chines,<br />
were running glued in, hugging the<br />
water. With drives out and tabs up,<br />
none of the four ever showed their<br />
props to passersby.<br />
By the end of stanza one of the six<br />
lap contest-MBRA's club classes<br />
were only required to make three<br />
round trips of the Lake Mead basin - it<br />
was apparent that, barring a mechanical<br />
failure, Regier's twin Johnson V-<br />
8 tunnel was going to be equal to the<br />
challenge, wind chop or not. Both<br />
Sho-Me and Kal Kustom were riding<br />
smooth, Ievel and fast.<br />
Incredibly, another cat, this one a<br />
much smaller 24-footer short course<br />
boat, was also in the thick of the overall<br />
battle. Long Shot, a Douglas<br />
Skater with near 100 mph capability,<br />
was negotiating the water far better<br />
than the V-bottoms of comparable<br />
length, its twin 2.4liter, EFI Mercurys<br />
never missing a beat. Occupants Mike<br />
Dallwitz and Ed Colyer, both from<br />
Missouri, were making the most of the<br />
conditions, running ahead ofthe open<br />
V-bottoms while pressing Koster and<br />
Regier at every turn.<br />
As the cats made tracks, the V-<br />
bottom cluster started to string out a<br />
bit. Peters' Honcho was sidelined<br />
with a mechanical problem and Edelbrock<br />
was temporarily down with a<br />
balky ignition system. Both Herbst<br />
and Nordskog offered pursuit, keeping<br />
the leaders in sight.<br />
With the lap counter ticking away,<br />
the pursuit ofthe open class Vs took a<br />
turn for the worse. Thswind was definitely<br />
subsiding and the lake was<br />
beginning to flatten out. Herbst continued<br />
to challenge, running with<br />
An aggressive Herbst pushed a little too hard and came home on the end of a rope. "Terrible" Herbst gambled and lost.<br />
2OlPOWERBOAT
On the short course, -Long Shof, a Douglas Skater won with laps averaging 89.85 mph.<br />
abandon. Nordskog countered with<br />
some strategy of his own, backing off<br />
in the smooth stuff to conserve his<br />
equipment. And his gamble paid off.<br />
Part way through lap four, one of<br />
Herbst's big-block V-8 engines started<br />
to lose power, and only a mile from the<br />
start,/finish boat to complete lap five,<br />
Herbst was forced to call it a day.<br />
Meanwhile, Nordskog had established<br />
a comfortable lead over Edelbrock<br />
who was back running at full<br />
power after correcting his earlier<br />
problems.<br />
With weather and water conditions<br />
improving by the minute , Sho Me was<br />
looking more impressive all the time.<br />
At the checkered flag, it was Regier<br />
registering his first major offshore<br />
victory with Koster second, less than<br />
a minute behind. For the six lap, 127<br />
mile distance, Regier clocked an<br />
impresgive 90.56 mph average.<br />
After the race. Regier and navigator<br />
Steve Thein talked strategy: "We really<br />
felt that our main competition today<br />
was going to come from the other cats,"<br />
said Regier, "especially if the water<br />
didn't get any rougher. It took me about<br />
the first straightaway to get the boat<br />
feeling just right, but once I did, I didn't<br />
have to touch the trim the rest of the<br />
day."<br />
Interestingly, although Regier now<br />
lives in the midwest, he originally got<br />
his start in offshore racing out on the<br />
West Coast, way back in the early<br />
1970s. "I was just a struggling radiology<br />
student then," recalls Regier, "I<br />
had an old Thylorjet day cruiser that I<br />
ran but it wasn't very competitive. I<br />
really liked the sport however, and I<br />
knew that if I could ever afford it, I'd<br />
get something better. . .this is it."<br />
In the end, attrition and strategy<br />
pretty much told the tale in the open<br />
V-bottom class. Nordskog smartly<br />
opted not to chase the cats when the<br />
water started to smooth out; Herbst<br />
on the other hand gambled and<br />
wound up on a tow rope.<br />
Edelbrock, who checked in fourth<br />
overall, would've been more of a factor<br />
in the race except a faulty ignition<br />
system cost him precious time in the<br />
early stages. Peters, who has suffered<br />
through one problem after another all<br />
season long continued to struggle,<br />
retiring before the end of lap one with<br />
a mechanical. Nordskog, who came<br />
into Mead with a two-racing losing<br />
streak after winnin g 24-in-a-tow, got a<br />
new string started, finishing first in<br />
class and third overall.<br />
Although the cats and the big V-<br />
bottoms seemingly had little problem<br />
handling the ruffled conditions of<br />
Lake Mead, such was not the case for<br />
several in the day-cruiser set. If you<br />
don't think Lake Mead can be<br />
demanding, just ask Ed and Tloy<br />
Herbst or Ron Spindler.<br />
Somewhere down that opening 10<br />
mile straightaway, the Herbst boys<br />
encountered bigger water than they<br />
anticipated. Driving a vintage, 20-<br />
foot Spectra ski day cruiser, the bow<br />
disappeared under a wall of water,<br />
pushed its way through, and then<br />
crashed into the next big wave, causing<br />
the hull to blow apart. Ed and<br />
Tboy were thrown clear of the debris,<br />
but the engine, running gear and<br />
remains of the hull quickly sank in<br />
over 100 feet of water.<br />
Battered, bruised and stunned, the<br />
Herbst brothers were assisted bv Ed<br />
Breitenbach who was also racing in<br />
their class. Breitenbach fished the<br />
two out of the water and returned<br />
them to the officials at the start/ finish<br />
boat. His deed done, Breitenbach<br />
returned to competition, ultimately<br />
finishing second in class 6A behind<br />
Tom Joseph of Canton, Ohio in a 21-<br />
foot Schiada.<br />
Spindler had an even more tragic<br />
tale to tell. Running out front in the<br />
competitive, 10-boat, 6.4'field, Spindler<br />
and co-rider Jeff Scher were pushing<br />
hard with the plates down when the<br />
sidewall of their Schiada River<br />
Roberta and Glen Gill cinched the Production class Championship in Pure Insanity.<br />
Gill is MBRA's only woman driver.<br />
NOVEMBER-DECEMBEF/21
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Cruiser caved in from the stress.<br />
lbking on water at a ferocious pace,<br />
the boat, with its record setting<br />
$30,000 engine acting as an anchor,<br />
quickly sank to the bottom of Lake<br />
Mead. Unfortunately for Spindler,<br />
Schiada went down in over 400<br />
feet of water and apparently is<br />
unsalvageable.<br />
Without Spindler's 100 mph day<br />
cruiser, the three-lap short course battle<br />
turned into another outboard cat<br />
show, similar to the war waged in the<br />
open division. The principals this<br />
time were Dallwitz and Colyer in the<br />
pint-sized Douglas Skater versus Al<br />
and John Stoker in an Evinrudepowered,<br />
26-foot Stoker SST.<br />
From the outset, the Stoker's kePt<br />
the heat on Long Sftof, but the<br />
Douglas simply had too much topend,<br />
shocking everyone with its stability<br />
in rough water. At the<br />
completion of three laps, Long Shot<br />
had averaged a phenomenal 89.85<br />
mph running less than two minutes<br />
behind Regier. The Stoker's held on<br />
for second in class and second overall<br />
with an average speed of 82 mph.<br />
In other racing action, Ron Akin<br />
returned to offshore racing after a two<br />
year layoff following a near tragic<br />
accident at the World Championships<br />
in Key West, Florida. Akin's 30-foot<br />
Velocity, Smokin was Put back<br />
together for this race and it ran like a<br />
watch, averaging almost 80 mPh for<br />
the win in class 2.A' and a fifth overall<br />
in the Iong course. Akin didrr't have<br />
any room to relax, however, as Darrel<br />
Boyer and Tbacy King of Oregon finished<br />
only two minutes behind in<br />
their 30-foot Sutphen, Caliente.<br />
Operating away from the spotlight<br />
of the open class, Roberta Gill,<br />
MBRA's only woman driver, scored<br />
the most important win of her offshore<br />
career. With husband Glenn<br />
working the throttles, the Gill's Pare<br />
Insanity defeated arch-rival Tom<br />
Hays in All Risk which locked up the<br />
Production class high-points championship.<br />
The Gill's winning margin<br />
was approximately two minutes.<br />
Finishing third in class was Gary<br />
Garafalo and Lloyd Gootenberg of<br />
New York, driving Luchy Strihe a 26-<br />
foot Hustler with twin Mercury<br />
outboards.<br />
Three boats entered class 4A, only<br />
<strong>Powerboat</strong> Magazine's Fourth Annual <strong>Speed</strong> <strong>Trials</strong><br />
Regier, Jorgenson and<br />
Spindler set the pace<br />
lflo, tne rhrro year rn a row, tne<br />
I-'boat that won the Lucky Las<br />
Vegas Regatta also set top time in the<br />
annual <strong>Powerboat</strong> Magazine World<br />
<strong>Speed</strong> tials staged the day before.<br />
The only difference, however,<br />
between Carl Regier's performance<br />
this year and Jim DeNooyer's record<br />
setting numbers of 115 and 121 mPh<br />
in 1983 and '84 is that Sho-Me wound<br />
up sharing top billing in the SPeed<br />
<strong>Trials</strong>. Indeed, Regier might have<br />
finished all alone in the '125 mile<br />
marathon, but when it came to the<br />
clocked speed runs, Marv Jorgenson<br />
was on equal footing and Ron<br />
Spindler was just an eyelash behind.<br />
Although they both competed with<br />
twin-engine, outboard tunnel hulls,<br />
Regier and Jorgenson used slightly<br />
different means to obtain the same<br />
105 mph end result. Regier completed<br />
his triple digit assault with twin<br />
Johnson V-8s on a 4,600 Pound,<br />
30-foot Malestrom tunnel while Jorgenson<br />
countered with a pair of muchsmaller<br />
Mercury V-6s and nitrous<br />
oxide on a 2}-foot Eliminator DaYtona<br />
tunnel.<br />
Regier came into the <strong>Speed</strong> <strong>Trials</strong><br />
with a known commodity. His one-ofa-kind,<br />
wooden Malestrom is a down<br />
sized version of the triple V-8 powered,<br />
35-foot Innouation that Mike Drury<br />
22lPOWERBOAT<br />
Carl Regier's Sho Me shared top billing of 105 rnph in the <strong>Speed</strong> <strong>Trials</strong>.<br />
drove to the present UIM offshore<br />
world speed record of 131.1mph. Sho<br />
Me had clocked 112 mph in testing,<br />
but was down slightly from its Peak<br />
output due to the fresh water at Lake<br />
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<br />
Formula with twin Kaama drives<br />
downed Elmer Saint-Amand in a 33-<br />
foot Fountain. Berman averaged 66<br />
mph for the win in this stock production<br />
class.<br />
In division 5A, a class designed for<br />
sports boats over 2\-feet and with less<br />
than 750 cubic inches of engine displacement,<br />
Mike Mays won the title<br />
using a single 511 c.i. Chevy for power<br />
in his 26-foot Sanger. In addition to<br />
winning his division, Mays was third<br />
overall in the short course race. Finishing<br />
second was Chuck Freitas in a<br />
27-foot Formula with third place<br />
going to Randy Zeae in a 27-foot<br />
Magnum. Seven boats were entered in<br />
the class.<br />
Jim Robinson drove his new 30-foot<br />
Shadow Cat with Kaama Drives and<br />
small block Chevy engine to the win<br />
in 68, while Bob Howard outdistanced<br />
a competitive field of nine<br />
boats for the win in 7A. Howard beat<br />
second place finisher Paul Lindke by<br />
only a minute, averaging 60 mph.<br />
Third place went to Rodney Chinn in<br />
a 24-foot Pantera with Mike Kasser<br />
finishing fourth.<br />
Close competition was the order of<br />
the day in the twin-outboard, V-<br />
bottom class as Rick Bowling won the<br />
8A wars with his Mercury-powered<br />
27-foot Excalibur. Bowling averaged<br />
a tidy 72.5 mph to take the victory<br />
over second place Van DePiero by<br />
only one minute. Third place went to<br />
the Nordskog brothers, Mike and<br />
Eric, driving a twin V-6 Johnson<br />
powered 27-foot Magnum. Finishing<br />
in fourth and fifth positions respectively<br />
were Thad Findley and Alan<br />
Shapiro.<br />
The smallest single engine outboard<br />
in class 9A was Randy Wefel's<br />
2\-foot Ranger bass boat with a<br />
Mariner 200. Nevertheless, the package<br />
averaged 64 mph finishing ahead<br />
of second place rival Harley Hausman<br />
in a 2l-foot Superboat with single<br />
Evinrude V-6. Rod Hormell driving a<br />
22-foot Vaughn with a Mercury 300<br />
was third.<br />
There were only two entries in the<br />
single engine outboard tunnel class,<br />
both were 2}-foot Stoker SST hulls<br />
with 2.4 liter Merc V-6s. The winner<br />
was Mike Shipley with Bob Kitchens<br />
comrng ln secono. -!-<br />
Mead and the 1,200 foot elevation.<br />
Jorgenson, conversely, didn't quite<br />
know what to expect when he trailered<br />
west from his home in MinneaPolis,<br />
Minnesota. His stock layup, 2\-foot<br />
Eliminator Daytona is usually fitted<br />
with three-that's right three-2.4<br />
liter, fuel-injected Mercury outboards<br />
and a large supply of nitrous oxide.<br />
Unfortunately for Jorgenson, who<br />
also holds the snowmobile straightaway<br />
record at 158 mph, MBRA rules<br />
don't allow triple V-6 outboard installations<br />
on anything under 30-feet.<br />
Consequently, to meet the guidelines,<br />
Jorgenson was forced to re-rig his<br />
Jaws IIIminus one engi.ne, renaming<br />
it Jaws 11for the weekend.<br />
If Regier and Jorgenson didn't do<br />
enough to bolster the image of outboards<br />
offshore, Mike Dallwitz in<br />
a twin Mercury-powered, 24-foot<br />
Douglas Skater laid down a scorching<br />
95 mph pass. Sans Jorgenson's<br />
unprecedented 105 mph tally with<br />
nitrous, Dallwitz's speed would've<br />
easily been a new record in the twinengine<br />
outboard tunnel class. With<br />
modified motors, Dallwitz has seen<br />
speeds in excess of 100 mph, but he<br />
wanted to complete the race and<br />
elected to go the conservative route.<br />
Actually, were it not for a 103<br />
mph masterpiece by Ron Spindler in<br />
Sc hiada, theinboard set would've Iost<br />
face entirely at the hands of the outboard<br />
contingent. Spindler, who owns<br />
Schiada Boats, put engine-builder<br />
Bob Tbague on alert prior to this<br />
year's Tlials, knowing all too well<br />
that his incredible 102 mph, class 6,{<br />
record set last year might be in serious<br />
jeopardy. Teague responded with<br />
Marv Jorgenson also had a 105 mph run.<br />
enough horsepower to push Spindler's<br />
27-foot Schiada through the traps at<br />
an even faster 103 mph clip.<br />
As it turned out, Spindler was justified<br />
in his concern. Veteran ski racer<br />
Burt Court pushed his turbocharged<br />
2l-foot Rayson Craft Cask & Cleauer<br />
through the eyes at 102 mph, just a<br />
tick behind Schiada. Ironically,<br />
Spindler and Court are business<br />
partners on the new 35-foot Schiada<br />
Cat that the company hopes to<br />
unleash on the MBRA circuit next<br />
year.<br />
Spindler was virtually unassisted<br />
in his efforts to defend the honor of<br />
the inboard set because of psyche<br />
games between open class V-bottom<br />
competitors Bob Nordskog and Jerry<br />
Herbst. Nordskog, who currently<br />
holds the class 1A record at 89 mph in<br />
his lightweight S9-foot Cigarette hull<br />
C.A.M., was penciled-in to compete in<br />
the <strong>Speed</strong> Tbials, turning up this year<br />
with his tried and true <strong>Powerboat</strong><br />
Magazine Special. Confident that a<br />
newly installed pair of MerOruiser<br />
extender boxes would easily provide<br />
enough boost needed to bump his<br />
Scarab over the 90 mph mark, Nordskog<br />
nevertheless elected to sit out the<br />
<strong>Speed</strong> Tbials unless his record was<br />
broken. Arch-rival Herbst, not wanting<br />
to tip his hand, left his boat on the<br />
trailer and Vic Edelbrock failed in his<br />
bid to set a new mark, running only 84<br />
mph.<br />
In other record setting action, Ron<br />
Akin piloted his 30-foot Velocity<br />
Smokin to a new record of 85 mph in<br />
2A. In Production class 3A, New<br />
York's Lloyd Gootenberg raised the<br />
record from 59 to 71 mph in his twin<br />
Mercury-powered, 26-foot Hustler<br />
Lucky Strike. Joel Burnstine bumped<br />
the 4.A. mark to 74 mph in his 3O-foot<br />
Scarab Ebb Tide.<br />
Stan Stratton in a new 7.9 EXP<br />
Hallett set a 5A mark of 82 mph while<br />
James Robinson bumped the record<br />
in 58 to 70 mph with his as<br />
yet unnamed 30-foot Kaama-drive<br />
Shadow Cat.<br />
In class 7A, former drag boat racer<br />
Joe Kohorst piloted his 22-foot<br />
Schiada Moxy to a new record of 65<br />
mph. Jay Migliore of Salt Lake City,<br />
Utah, piloted his twin-Mercury Baja<br />
Tbrminator to a class 8A record of 79<br />
mph. And finally, Bob Kitchens<br />
pushed the single-engine tunnel<br />
outboard mark to 86 mph in his<br />
Mercury-powered Stoker SST Atlttude<br />
Adjustment.<br />
NOVEMBEF-DECEMBER/23