PORT ANGELES — It’s NASCAR on water.
The crowds were there, the noise, picnic baskets, RVs and camping on site, plus even a few skimpy outfits worn by the brave that probably would have been even skimpier if it was warmer.
The inaugural sprint boat racing event at the new Extreme Sports Park in west Port Angeles, which featured the national championship finals, attracted more than 8,000 fans and curious onlookers.
“We have counted 8,000 right now and we are only halfway through the races,” Dan Morrison, co-owner of the track and 2011 national champion driver in the Super Boat class said at about 1 p.m. on Saturday.
“People are still coming in,” he said between signing autographs and posing for photos with his stepdaughter, Cara McGuire, his 27-year-old navigator and second-grade teacher at Franklin Elementary School in Port Angeles.
“We’re expecting about 10,000 people,” Morrison concluded.
Area drivers and crews shined in the first-ever event on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Morrison and McGuire were first in the day’s races and national champs in Super Boats, while driver Paul Gahr Jr. and his son, navigator Josh Gahr, of TNT Racing of Sequim captured first on the day in the A-400 class.
The Sequim duo was also deep in the points battle for the national title with Wicked Racing’s Doug Hendrickson of Pasco and navigator Hannah Macke of Lewiston, Idaho.
Wicked Racing is Morrison’s team based in Port Angeles. Hendrickson and Macke are three-time national champions.
Hendrickson and Macke were ahead in time and ready to wrap up the victory when they crashed and ended up on dry land 50 feet from the finish, giving the win to the Gahrs.
“It feels great to win in my home town,” Paul Gahr said. “It’s unbelievable, priceless. I ran into people today that I haven’t seen in 25 years. What a rush.”
That included his old school friend, Steve Wilson, who was talking to Gahr and taking his picture right after he was awarded the checkered flag.
Morrison and McGuire had won the national title in their division before the day’s races started.
They could have taken it easy and cruised to the national championship, but that wasn’t their plan.
“We wanted to do well in our hometown,” McGuire said.
They wanted to put on a show and they did with the fastest time on the track of any boat in any classification through the grueling qualifying rounds.
Meanwhile, Jolly Rogers of Tacoma won the third classification, Super Modified, while two Sequim boats from TNT Racing claimed second and third in that division.
Dillon Brown Cummings and his navigator, Teri Cummings, were runners-up while Tim Cummings and his navigator, Mike Fuller, captured third.
There were a little fewer than 30 boats at the competition with Fat Buddy Racing of Vancouver, Wash., at the track with five of their seven boats.
“It has been a really, really positive experience for us,” Fat Buddy crew member Dwight Negraiff said. “This track compares favorably to other tracks that we compete on.”
Added fellow Fat Buddy crew member Geoff Lane, “The track has been challenging for our guys.”
Lane also was impressed with the number of spectators.
“It looks like a great turnout,” he said. “The best one of the year.”
Michelle Gleckl, sister-in-law of Wicked Racing crew member Randy Alderson, came up from Olympia to watch her first-ever sprint-boat racing event.
“I’m mostly impressed with how the whole community has gotten together to make this happen and to volunteer their time,” she said.
Gleckl said she would definitely attend more sprint boat events next year.
Paul Gahr said he wasn’t surprised by the big attendance numbers, which makes the Extreme Sports Park races easily the best attended of the year.
“I knew our community would come out for this,” he said. “And I knew we would draw a large crowd from outside the area. They are coming in and spending money in our town.
“That’s what I wanted from the beginning.”
