 LOCAL SPORTS |
Thunder roars at Oak Hollow Lake
by Joe Daniels
Carolina Peacemaker
Originally posted 7/28/2010
The Oak Hollow Boat races were in top gear last Saturday as over 100 speed boats took to the water. Racers competed in 11 classes from top fuel, with times over 200 mph, to the river racers which can reach top speeds of 75 mph. “It is very exciting when these boats get rolling. They run extremely fast,” said pro modified racer, Bryan Sanders.
Series director Ken Dollar said auto racing fans would love this sport. “We do quarter of a mile drags. It’s heads up, two competitors from a standing start running 1320 ft. The quickest guy gets there and comes back for another round. The slowest guy, he’s done.”
Sanders and his team, called the “Hydrochondriacs,” drove in from Houston, Texas to compete. He and his crew spent most of the morning tuning up their boat for the Saturday’s qualifier.
“We won the last two races in a row so we’re looking for a three-peat,” said Sanders. “It’s not easy it’s very hard, these guys are extremely tough. This is the most competitive class out here.”
Dollar agreed. “It’s just very exciting. You can’t imagine what it feels like. Take a top fuel hydro- these guys are putting out 8,000 horsepower on these motors. You don’t necessarily hear ‘em, you feel ‘em.”
Twelve classes competed for purses ranging from a couple of hundred dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Dollar admits boat racing, like many sports, is not without risks. Last week a driver in Augusta, GA crashed at 200 mph. He walked away with only minor injuries. “It is extremely dangerous, no doubt about it, fortunately in the last 10 or 12 years we’ve made huge strides in the safety arena with the advent of the safety capsule and the drivers’ equipment and helmets and breathing systems.” It’s an industry that’s come a long way in the past 15 years.
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