Heroes may come in all shapes and sizes, but I think you’ll agree that they are always in short supply, either due to their daring feats getting them killed or maybe there just aren’t too many people to look up to anymore. So when a new hero emerges, its time to celebrate their stardom and enjoy the moment.
Ken Warby has lived the life of a hero for nearly thirty years, as several men have perished in his wake attempting to better his water speed record of 317.60 mile per hour. Ken almost seems a but let down that no one took the record away from him, which would have forced him to defend his record with a new run. Ken knows that others are coming after his record (or at least talking a good show) so he’s prepared with a new boat that has already seen 200+ mph, which is light years ahead of any of his current (alleged) rivals.
Darren Luhrs has lived a life of a hero for nearly thirty years too, and now he’s a world Water Speed Record Holder just like Ken Warby. Darren has Cerebral Palsy but that has never stopped him from living life on the edge and experiencing speeds far in excess of what his electric wheelchair can provide. In 2003, Darren set the bar at 121 mph for a throttleman with a handicap. Like Ken, since no one challenged his number, Darren prepared anyhow and recently went back out and pushed the bar up to 130 mph with an ESPN camera crew in the back seat filming every moment. During the joint OPA/OSS races in St. Clair, Darren got to meet his mentor in the flesh, it was a rare meeting World Water Speed Record Holders, a generation apart.
Ken: Darren, how did it feel to run those speeds?
Darren: It felt great, I really wanted to break the record that I set in 2003 of 121.2 mile per hour, I really wanted to take the record to a higher standard.
Ken: So what’s next, do you plane on going after my record of 317.60?
Darren: No, I decided that I’m going to take my trophy and retire after going 130 miles per hour. Unless, someone breaks my record, then maybe I’ll come back to defend it. I know my boat, the Perfect Storm sill has more to go.
Rich Luhrs is Darren’s father and his biggest fan; he helped fill in a few of the blanks. “What Darren’s not owning up to is when we checked the tell tale on the Speedo after the run it actually read 142. Darren’s been known to be a little heavy handed sometimes and it seems like he was watching the water, not the Speedo. The sustained speed over the measured course was 130, so that’s the official number, but we know the truth. Darren has set this record for someone else to break. We’ve talked to some of the offshore racers that have safe hardware and asked that they take a look around and if they see someone who has their nosed pressed against the window of life, and would like to take a shot at something like this. This wasn’t about Darren setting a record that never existed before; this was about starting something that will perpetuate on its own.”
Ken: Darren, you’re a lovely gentleman and I wish you all the luck in the world with your quest for speed. It’s rare that I get to be in the company of another speed record holder, I guess guys like you and me are very rare because we don’t just talk about it; we go out and set records while the other guys watch from the docks.
Darren: Thanks Ken, it was nice to meet you too. If anyone wants to go after my record, let me know. You can reach me through my website, www.darrensoffshorephotos.com. There’s a video from my record run on the website. |
