They came from all over Florida to meet at Lake Maggorie in St. Petersburg on Saturday, February 1st to remember the 'ol days of hydroplane racing. A large crowd of boat racers, pit crew, and fans of the sport showed up to attend the first annual Ray Gassner and Gene Turner Southland Sweepstakes Memorial.
The event, organized by racing legend Tom D'Eath attracted a few boats as well. In the pictures below are two of the most famous boats to ever race on Lake Maggorie; Sunshine Baby IV and Miss Peg. Both hold world records. In addition to the beautiful boats, Duke and Fay Waldrop (Red Wine & Brew Racing) brought their 1953 Reyngoudt sprint race car. A perfect example of Sprint car racing's finest 70 years ago.
This informal reunion was a chance for the faithful of the sport to swap stories, remember race highlights and catch up on the latest news. Tom D'Eath did an excellent job putting this idea into motion and plans for a bigger event next year are already being discussed.
If you would like to know more about the sport, check out the APBA website at apba.org. And for those of you that would like to see a race, the APBA website has the racing schedule for the season.
And here's a number of pictures from the event:
This news brought to you by Paul Ziegler, Publisher, Carcamerastory.com
