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" The American Power Boat Association (APBA) Offshore is the sanctioning body for powerboat racing in the United States. The organization is making major changes in the way it conducts races and does business. Offshore racing, which had long been a semilawful fiefdom of high-rolling and high-energy egos, is being whipped into shape and disciplined into the professional and entertaining sport it has always wanted to be. To do this, APBA has had to create level playing fields for the different classes, using boat weight and powerplant limitations as the major levelers. The organization also has cracked down on engine tweaking and other offenses. Winning boats are weighed, have their engines torn down and closely scrutinized. According to Michael Allweiss, Offshore&amp;#039;s chairman and chief executive officer, not everyone has been pleased and some have been barred from racing, but he points out that there were 50 boats running when he took the sport over on a 99-year license from the APBA two years ago and now he&amp;#039;s running races with as many as 125 boats. &amp;quot;These boats don&amp;#039;t just go on the water,&amp;quot; Allweiss says, &amp;quot;they attack it. It&amp;#039;s unlike any other form of motorsports competition because the offshore racer matches himself and his or her equipment not only against other competitors, but also against the unforgiving water, which is as hard as a brick at 140 miles an hour. To the uninitiated, it looks like a simple matter of raw speed, but it&amp;#039;s considerably more than speed to knowledgeable spectators. It&amp;#039;s an artful blending of human skill with precision, high-performance machinery in grueling competition under extreme circumstances,&amp;quot; he says. He also points out that it is the most dangerous of all motorsports: &amp;quot;Like other motorsports, powerboat racing has tragically lost some racers in competition over the years, including six racers in Key West alone in the past 16 years. It takes courage and a cool hand to run with these people.&amp;quot; Dramatic Rescues And when accidents do happen, spectators get an eyeful. Safety and medical helicopters spew jump paramedics onto the scene. Safety boats race to the site and divers go overboard to release racers trapped in their boats. When the yellow flag goes up, the boats fall into line awaiting the green flag. The rescue is often one of the most dramatic and exciting parts of a race. Beyond the competition, however, is another extremely valuable dimension to offshore racing. No laboratory can duplicate the endless stress, impact, vibration and strain, which the crucible of offshore racing provides. Boat manufacturers use racing as a test bed and many key improvements in construction, engines and equipment for today&amp;#039;s pleasure and commercial boats have come from the offshore racing experience. In this regard, Allweiss tells us, the boatbuilders are very similar to automobile manufacturers. &amp;quot;Offshore,&amp;quot; says Allweiss, &amp;quot;has always been the proving ground for hulls, engines and racers--not necessarily in that order.&amp;quot; Importantly, Offshore has been restructured from long-distance racing with the boats out of sight more than half the time, to the newly introduced stadium-style racing with short 5- or 6-mile courses. The boats have to round those shorter courses more times to go the required distances, but that means the spectators see more action on the curves and more passing on the straightaways as the boats rev up to speed--sometimes as fast as 140 miles an hour. &amp;quot;Ever see boats trade paint at 140 miles an hour?&amp;quot; Allweiss asks. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s awesome and scary and exciting. It&amp;#039;s also pretty dangerous and even though we drill our drivers on safety, crashes happen. Finally, Offshore has introduced the entertainment/celebrity component. Twenty-two year-old Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys owned a race team this year and may well be in a race boat himself by next spring. He and his younger brother Aaron have taken turns singing the national anthem at races this year--and signing autographs thereafter. More marquee entertainers are coming aboard because they see a market emerging. &amp;quot;What has happened,&amp;quot; Allweiss said, &amp;quot;Is that kids are dragging their parents to the races to see the stars. We&amp;#039;re raising a whole new generation of race fans.&amp;quot; Dramatic Rescues And when accidents do happen, spectators get an eyeful. Safety and medical helicopters spew jump paramedics onto the scene. Safety boats race to the site and divers go overboard to release racers trapped in their boats. When the yellow flag goes up, the boats fall into line awaiting the green flag. The rescue is often one of the most dramatic and exciting parts of a race. Beyond the competition, however, is another extremely valuable dimension to offshore racing. No laboratory can duplicate the endless stress, impact, vibration and strain, which the crucible of offshore racing provides. Boat manufacturers use racing as a test bed and many key improvements in construction, engines and equipment for today&amp;#039;s pleasure and commercial boats have come from the offshore racing experience. In this regard, Allweiss tells us, the boatbuilders are very similar to car manufacturers. &amp;quot;Offshore,&amp;quot; says Allweiss, &amp;quot;has always been the proving ground for hulls, engines and racers--not necessarily in that order.&amp;quot; Importantly, Offshore has been restructured from long-distance racing with the boats out of sight more than half the time, to the newly introduced stadium-style racing with short 5- or 6-mile courses. The boats have to round those shorter courses more times to go the required distances, but that means the spectators see more action on the curves and more passing on the straightaways as the boats rev up to speed--sometimes as fast as 140 miles an hour. &amp;quot;Ever see boats trade paint at 140 miles an hour?&amp;quot; Allweiss asks. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s awesome and scary and exciting. It&amp;#039;s also pretty dangerous and even though we drill our drivers on safety, crashes happen. Finally, Offshore has introduced the entertainment/celebrity component. Twenty-two year-old Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys owned a race team this year and may well be in a race boat himself by next spring. He and his younger brother Aaron have taken turns singing the national anthem at races this year--and signing autographs thereafter. More marquee entertainers are coming aboard because they see a market emerging. &amp;quot;What has happened,&amp;quot; Allweiss said, &amp;quot;Is that kids are dragging their parents to the races to see the stars. We&amp;#039;re raising a whole new generation of race fans.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/outdoors/a200/1277186/>