As a 10-year-old offshore powerboat racing fan, Scott Begovich didn’t want to miss one minute of action.
“I used to ride my bike down to the wet pits the night before and sleep in my dad’s boat,” the Miss GEICO throttleman explained. “I figured if I was there when the sun came up, maybe I could hitch a ride.”

In the early 1970s, the Jersey Shore was offshore central. Begovich’s father, dock-master at the Kings Grant Inn Marina, ran a boat with his brother called “Sneaky Pete.”

“My brother and I used to take their equipment – life jackets, helmets, you name it – and wear it around the docks,” he said. “We would just sit there for hours in the empty boats hoping somebody would give us a ride.”

With no takers, the Begovich boys took the offshore gear down to the Metedconk River, where the two had a flat-bottomed john boat with a tiny outboard engine.

“We would race up and down that river in these big helmets,” Begovich said. “I know we looked ridiculous but we loved it.”

While Begovich’s father and uncle raced in the Hennessy Grand Prix and Brass Monkey races, Scott embraced the traditional sports of football and baseball.

College scholarship offers followed. Begovich was even courted by the New York Mets. But the possibility of a professional baseball career paled in comparison to his first love – offshore powerboat racing.

So in 1995, Begovich bought his first race boat, a Jersey Speed Skiff named every penny he could earn, beg or borrow to buy a real race boat, a 24-foot Pantera.

“We called the boat 'GiGi Motorsports',” he said. “It was named after the wife of a guy who helped pay for the boat. That was the least I could do for somebody who helped put me on the race course.”

Begovich hit the APBA and SBI circuit, quickly working his way up through the ranks. After five years of hard campaigning, Begovich had earned the respect of teammates and competitors alike.

Then, one day, John Haggin called.

“He was putting together a team unlike anything the sport had ever seen before,” Begovich recalled. “It was a great opportunity to be part of something like that.”

At first, Begovich thought he would be running vee bottoms…his Pantera, a Warlock or some other traditional race craft.
But Haggin had other plans. The Palm Beach entrepreneur did everything big. His lobster and steak barbecues, where all racers are welcome regardless of affiliation, are legendary on the race circuit. So, Begovich should have known what to expect when Haggin announced that he planned to build a big boat with big engines.

“The first time I saw that turbine engine-powered catamaran I thought, what did I get myself into?” Begovich said. “I had never driven a cat before, let alone throttle one. It was kind of scary.”

Once inside the cockpit, with the power of two Apache attack helicopters at his fingertips, Begovich knew it would take time to master his new ride. But Begovich and teammate Marc Granet jumped into the project, mind, body and soul.
“It took about a year to dial that thing in,” he said. “But once we figured it out, I knew there would be no stopping us.”
After two full seasons, Haggin’s Miss GEICO is virtually unbeatable. With top speeds in excess of 180 mph, not even the race helicopters can keep up. And Begovich said he and Granet still have room to go.