Smokin' the Sound is back, and while pit crews tuned engines, talked strategy and checked weather reports Thursday, officials readied the course and prepared for the 25,000 spectators expected to line the viewing areas on race days.
Qualifying rounds are set for Saturday and the main race is Sunday.
"This year's event looks excellent," said Jim Koert of OSS, the national sanctioning body overseeing the action. Shortly before he and other officials were set to place course buoys Thursday, Koert said the Coast Guard had completed a sideways sonar scan of the race area, and the company insuring the event was "more than comfortable" with the layout and safety measures in place.
"It's the same course we've been using since the start, and it works out well for racing and viewing," Koert said. "The biggest change is how families are embracing the events. The people on the beach, people watching from the parking garages, the crowds keep growing each year."
The course, two long straightaways with sweeping turns at both ends, has been described as challenging by race teams, who say the changes going from calmer water to open water make the mechanical aspects of racing complex. The course also travels in a direction counter to how most courses on the 19-stop circuit run, requiring drivers to reverse their normal motions. For viewers, the course's close proximity to the shoreline translates into an experience that goes beyond merely "watching;" they can feel the action as engines putting out horsepower in the thousands speed by.
"The extreme class is the loudest class," said Bud Light crew chief Myrick Coil as he worked on race preparations. "Our engines are loud, and it's a real crowd pleaser."
Over in the rival Miss Geico mega-racing team's camp, throttleman Scott Begovich encouraged spectators to take the opportunity to come down to the Race Village, located at the former J.L. Scott Marine site, to meet the teams before the races.
"It's not like NASCAR in that way," he said. "They can come into the pits, talk to the drivers, talk to the crew, walk around the boats. The pits can be every bit as exciting for fans and kids as the action on race day."
A look at four of the men and their machines:
Boat: Miss GEICO Racing
Driver: Marc Granet
Throttle: Scott Begovich
Equipment: 2007, 44-foot MTI, powered by twin 1850-horsepower turbine engines. Weight: 10,000 pounds. Hull: Carbon. Fuel capacity: 500 gallons. Paint: House of Kolors. Team is also traveling with a VIP boat, safety boat, private safety helicopter, spare race boat, small-craft boat, motor scooters and a small fleet of tractor-trailers.
Home base: Lake Worth, Fla. Boats are kept at Pompano Beach off-season.
Class: Super Cat Extreme. The "extreme" classes are the biggest and baddest offshore racing boats on the circuit.
Crew: 20-plus members on site for this race, including a mechanical crew, divers/medical team, and a full-time chef. Crew totals 54 members in all.
Green isn't just for geckos: Calling offshore racing eco-friendly may be a stretch, but the GEICO team's race boat is being fueled by biodiesel, and the twin engines are "recycled" - both originally served as helicopter engines in Iraq.
Notable quote - cleared for takeoff: "We easily go 185 down the straightaways, but up at 210 mph, it's surreal. It feels and sounds a lot like a commercial jet at takeoff. Only difference is it's bumpier. And actually faster. And we don't take off, knock on wood." - Throttleman Scott Begovich.
Boat: AMSOIL
Driver: Paul Whittier
Throttle: Bob Teague
Equipment: 2007, 36-foot Douglas Marine Skater 368 with a Mercury racing 525-horsepower V8 engine, 6 dry sump. Weight: 9,000 pounds, fueled. Hull: Carbon.
Home base: Van Nuys, Calif.
Class: Cat Lite. "Cat Lite is a 'spec' class, meaning the engines are sealed, and all boats have to be about the same length with a catamaran tunnel at 66 inches max," said Teague. "So it's not the boat that wins, it's the skill of the racers - calculating fuel usage, weight placement, adjusting to weather and water conditions, etc. to win this class."
Crew: 6-man crew on site.
G- force: Forces reach 4-5 Gs in turns, and Team AMSOIL spun out in a recent race, tearing off the boat's fins. "We kept going. We figured out how to steer by throttling, and actually, you know the boat goes even faster without fins, if you don't mind not being able to maneuver much."
Notable quote - safety first: Teague, who has been a fixture in offshore racing since the early 1970s, said safety today exceeds anything he ever imagined in the early days of racing. "Helicopters, escape hatches, rescue drills where they throw us and the boat in the water upside-down three times a year so no one panics. In the old days, races were 50 miles out in the ocean, and you had a life raft and shark repellent. And if you didn't finish, no one came looking for you for a long while - you just missed the (after) party," he said.
Get your motor runnin'
What: Offshore Super Series Powerboat Racing Association
When: Qualifying rounds take place 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday; the main race is scheduled for 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Nine separate races will be run on the 8-mile track, which begins in front of the Isle of Capri and includes turns in the Biloxi Channel near the Beau Rivage and at the east end of Deer Island. Premium viewing areas will be located at the parking lots at the Hard Rock and Isle of Capri casinos, the pool deck at the Beau Rivage and the Schooner Pier. The Race Village, where the boats are housed, is adjacent to the Isle of Capri Casinos, where the J.L. Scott Marine Center was located prior to Katrina.
More info: smokinthesound.com; Rusty David 617-3112
Smokin' schedule
This weekend's Smokin' the Sound schedule (Offshore Super Series Powerboat Racing Association):
Friday
9 a.m.-4 p.m. - Dunker Testing Biloxi Natatorium
9 a.m.-4 p.m. - Inspections open, Race Village
9 am-4 p.m. - Racer registration and Will Call area open, Isle of Capri
10 a.m.-6 p.m. - Race Village open to the public
5 p.m. - Drivers' meeting, mandatory for all categories, Isle of Capri
6 p.m. - Volunteer fleet meeting, Paradise Room, Isle of Capri
7 p.m. - Meet the Racers party, Hard Rock Casino Center Bar
Saturday
11 a.m. - Qualifying races
Sunday
10 a.m.-6 p.m. - Race Village open to the public
11 a.m.-4:30 p.m. - OSS Powerboat Races
|
