Monday, July 14, 2008

5,000 come to races at Chamberlain, Oacoma

Laura Wehde The Daily Republic
Published Monday, July 14, 2008

CHAMBERLAIN — Wind gusts of 39 mph did not prevent more than 5,000 people from coming to see the Pepsi Racing Power Cup Challenge unlimited light hydroplane racing Saturday on the Missouri River in Chamberlain/Oacoma, presented by River City Racin’.

RCR President Tom Davis said that despite the wind, the first-ever event at Chamberlain/Oacoma was a great success.

“We had a huge turnout — more people than we ever had imagined and the racing still went on. They didn’t get as many heats in as they wanted to, but we are going to make up for that by opening up the pits here and letting people come in for free to get autographs and pictures,” said Davis Saturday, referring to waiving a normal $10 pit-viewing fee.

Michael Flaherty, of Executif Racing LLC., of Buckley, Wash., races to the finish with Paul Becker, of P.R. Becker Racing, of Bellevue, Wash., following closely Saturday at the Pepsi Racing Power Cup Challenge. The race, presented by River City Racin’ of Chamberlain/Oacoma, was held Saturday and Sunday on the Missouri River. (Laura Wehde/Republic)

People from as far away as California, Florida and Arizona showed up to watch the racing.

“It’s geared toward everybody. We wanted this to be a family friendly event and that’s exactly what we got,” said Davis.

Toward the end of the day Saturday, racing had to be shut down a little earlier than was expected for safety reasons. Wind churned up large waves on the Missouri.

“The drivers, of course, are willing to race because they love racing,” said Davis, “but the officials called the race because of safety. It’s like NASCAR — you know if it rains you can’t race. Well, a hydroplane boat can’t race if it’s windy.”

River City Racin’ committee member Cindy Peterson said the weather improved Sunday to make it a “fabulous” event.

“Well, of course, we had the South Dakota winds (Saturday), but we had South Dakota’s beautiful sun and our beautiful river (Sunday) — we couldn’t have asked for a better day. We really feel blessed to be able to bring this to our community and to our state,” said Peterson.

Other key weekend events in Chamberlain included a concert by Kory and the Fireflies, Sturdevant’s Auto Parts “Shine on the River Car/Bike Show,” and a street dance.

“This is an extremely positive event,” said Davis. “I signed a three-year contract so I know we have it for at least two more years after this, but from all the feedback that we are getting from the race drivers, they are extremely pleased with the turnout and with the event. They say this is one of the best tracks on the circuit and they absolutely want to come back next year.”

That, Davis says, was a big feat for the RCR Committee.

“We were budgeting for about 3,000 people and we thought if we got 3,000 our first year, we’d be very happy. So you can imagine with 5,000-plus we are ecstatic,” added Davis.

Cindy Severs of Collison, Ill., and her family were on their way back home from a visit to Rapid City when they saw an advertisement for the event.

“We were passing through and thought it would be something neat — we haven’t seen anything like this,” said Severs. “Our family is into racing and the speed of it is what we are interested in. This is great.”

Kathie Brown, executive director of the South Dakota Hall of Fame in Chamberlain, also was very impressed with the event.

“The organization for this event has been incredible because there were no glitches in coming here or leaving. They have the process down to a science,” said Brown.

“To have this caliber of an event in Chamberlain/Oacoma has been an amazing thing because I know a lot of hard work goes into it and I hope it comes back again,” she said. “I think it definitely will.”

For the weekend, top points winners were Dustin Echols in the Thunderboat category; and Kayleigh Perkins and Jerry Hopp, who tied in the Unlimited Light category.

“I don’t think I’ve ever raced at a venue with this much intensity behind it. It’s beautiful — a little bit too much wind. If you guys could turn that down, it would be perfect,” said Perkins, 20, of Seattle, Wash.