Powerboat Race Brings Noise, Speed to Dana Point

When Phil Albright of Laguna Niguel first asked the Pacific Offshore PowerBoat Racing Assn., why it didn’t have an event in Orange County, he was essentially diving headfirst into the role of race promoter.

“I had raced a couple of years, and Dana Point--for what we do--is a perfect venue,” said Albright, who calls himself the race producer. “It has real ocean, the harbor sets itself up as far as our pits are concerned. I said, ‘Why don’t we have one here?’ They said, ‘We don’t know.’ ”

This is the fourth year of the Ocean Spray Dana Point Offshore Grand Prix, which begins and ends Sunday off Dana Point Harbor. The six- to nine-lap course, depending on class, runs from the harbor to the San Clemente Pier. It’s the third in a seven-race Pacific Offshore Championship Series. Proceeds benefit the Orange County Marine Institute.

Albright, 37, and scores of volunteers nearly got the event completed in time for the 1992 season, but instead it began in 1993.

“In terms of sheer numbers, this is the biggest event at the harbor,” said Sgt. Howard Mol, watch commander at Dana Point Harbor. “It’s pretty neat if you like to hear a lot of noise and watch boats go real fast.”

Mol estimated 350-400 boats leave the harbor--speed limit, 5 mph--to watch the race, which takes place 1-1 1/2 miles offshore. There, race speeds reach 140 mph.

“It turned out bigger and it turned out to be a lot more work than I expected,” Albright said. “The sport has grown along with the event. Because the harbor sets itself up so well, it has become one of the model events of the sport.”

The wet pits are near Michael’s Supper Club, which will have closed-circuit television on race day.

“Most drivers and teams are at their boats,” Albright said. “People can walk up and touch, talk to the racers--they get to be up-close and personal. It’s nice for us because we enjoy it. It’s nice for the kids and their parents because they get to look at the motors.”

It’s also nice because admission is free. Two boat parades from the harbor begin at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Races are at noon and 2 p.m.

Albright, in his seventh season, will drive in Pro Outboard class for triple-engine catamarans. He was the divisional champion in 1995 and ’96. His brother, Grant, who flies in for races from Long Island, steers the boat while Phil handles the throttle.

Fans wishing to view the event from the water can call Dana Wharf (496-5794) or Dana Islands Yacht Charters (248-7400). Free shuttle service exists between the harbor the parking lot at the corner of Selva and Pacific Coast Highway.

*

This race is a special one for Laguna Hills’ Bruce Penhall and Newport Beach’s Dennis Sigalos, who pilot Ocean Spray’s Crave the Wave boat. They’ve never lost in their class at Dana Point. The first year, in their first national race, they finished building the boat at 5 a.m., then won. Last year, they had the fastest boat of all classes in Ocean Spray’s first year of race sponsorship.

“That was quite an accomplishment because we were running D class last year, which is three classes below modified,” Penhall said. “For a boat with small motors and not the length of the modified boats to win was quite a deal.”

*

Surprisingly, the best local finisher over the weekend at Saturday’s CART PPG World Series Championship race outside of St. Louis, the Motorola 300, was the most unlikely.

San Clemente’s Hiro Matsushita, driving the slowest of the four Toyotas based in Orange County, was the only one to finish the race. Matsushita completed 229 of 236 laps and finished 15th in the Arciero-Wells Toyota while using the new RV8B engine.

Max Papis, burned on the shoulder in a car fire last week, completed only four laps in his backup Arciero-Wells Toyota, finishing last among 26 cars (electrical problem). Papis had few practice laps because of repeated engine failures.

Dan Gurney’s All American Racers entries didn’t fare much better. Juan Manuel Fangio II was out after 37 laps, finishing 23rd (engine failure). P.J. Jones went 99 laps and finished 21st (fuel system).

The series continues Sunday with the Miller 200 in Milwaukee.

Notes

Among the local racers competing at the Dana Point Grand Prix are Mission Viejo’s Raul Broch (Class A), Huntington Beach’s John Pace, Dave Thomas and Tom Stagliano (Stock), Laguna Hills’ Joe Black (Class B), and Huntington Harbour’s Craig Ferguson (Modified). . . . After four Speedway races that count toward the Southern California Points Fund, the standings are: 1. Mike Faria, Apple Valley, 285; 2. Steve Lucero, Riverside, 240; 3. John Aden, Apple Valley, 201; 4. Rob Pfetzing, La Habra, 199; 5. Shawn McConnell, Brea, 185; 6. Brad Oxley, San Juan Capistrano, 155; 7. Bobby Schwartz, Costa Mesa, 151. . . . The International Jet Sports Boating Assn. competes in Oroville this weekend before heading to San Diego to compete June 7-8 on Mission Bay in the personal watercraft series. Costa Mesa’s Tom Bonacci is third (87 points) after two races in the 11-race Big Red Jet Sports Tour in the Pro Runabout 785 class. Bonacci took third in the May 18 Titusville, Fla., race. Laguna Niguel’s Bill Pointer was fourth. Pointer is seventh in the overall standings (67).