CLOSE-UP : Nordskog Is 72 Years Old and Still Trying to Push 90

The next record Bob Nordskog goes after might be the one set by Methuselah. At 72, he’s well on his way in the attempt, but he’s not going to sit around waiting for time to bring it to him. In the years it takes to break that record, Nordskog will try to shatter more tangible landmarks. Or maybe, seamarks.

Nordskog, of Van Nuys, today will try to set a record in an event that’s never been attempted: a run from the Mexican border to Morro Bay, via the Pacific Ocean, with the help of a 27-foot speedboat. Nordskog hopes to raise at least $100,000 in donations for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Foundation with the stunt.

If the conditions are right, Nordskog will reach speeds as high as 90 m.p.h.

“If the water’s good, I’ll make it in 5 1/2 hours,” he said. “If the water gets choppy enough to where I’m going to make it in seven hours, I don’t know whether I’ll continue. I want to set a record that’s going to be fast.”

Nordskog holds 45 world or national boating records. He’s been a drag racer, stunt pilot and boating champ off and on for a good part of the 20th Century. He holds the world record for top speed in a Ford Model T. Nordskog tore up the dry lake bed at what is now Edwards Air Force Base with a speed of 125 m.p.h. in 1938. Nobody has attempted to break it because, as Nordskog said, “nobody builds Model T’s anymore.”