Airboat races far from a drag

An enthusiastic crowd of about 3,000 spectators is drawn to a new raceway for airboat drag races in Sumter County.

By JORGE SANCHEZ

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 24, 2000

[Times photo: Brian Tietz] Bonnie Beuselink of Lake Wales goes full throttle at Rutland Raceway on Saturday.

RUTLAND -- About 3,000 people turned out to see the first-ever sanctioned airboat drag races at Rutland Raceway on Saturday.

The large crowd seemed to enjoy the drag races, which featured airboats launching from a wooden platform and zipping down a quarter-mile course. Each race took only a few seconds. Spectators lined each side of the water-filled canal that served as the drag strip, and they were on their feet many times, cheering their favorite drivers.

For rural Sumter County, the new raceway offers a chance for airboat enthusiasts to have some weekend fun.

"This is nice; we need something like this," said John Wooderd of Bushnell, who watched the races with his wife, Gloria. "It's also nice to have this outdoors, picnic-type atmosphere instead of sitting for hours in a bleacher. That makes it more enjoyable." Gloria Wooderd, who admitted being unsure if she would enjoy the event beforehand, said she was glad she had come.

"It is exciting," she said. "I just wish the races would be held quicker. There seems to be a long time between races." The races, sanctioned by the National Airboat Racers Club, went smoothly, particularly for a first-time event. Five Sumter County sheriff's deputies were assigned to security, and no problems were reported.

Raceway owner Robert Graham watched the races from an unusual skybox, a platform hoisted 50 feet in the air by a crane. Graham invited the Citrus Times reporter aloft for an interview.

"I'm really glad all these people showed up," Graham said. "This proves that they will support airboat races, and that's what's important."

Graham said the airboat drag races developed as a result of his passion for airboating. He converted some pasture land he owns into the raceway.

"All told, it probably cost about $50,000 to hold this event," he said. "I didn't know how it would work out, but I just went for it. I'm a gambler."

Because this is a first-time event and it was unsuccessfully challenged in court by one of his neighbors, officials from the state Department of Transportation monitored State Road 44 just outside the entrance.

"There was no real traffic problem here; it got a little crowded around noon, but that was to be expected," said Logan Land, a DOT inspector. "But the raceway entrance was able to handle the flow, and things went real smooth."

Though Land was not monitoring the noise, he said he could barely hear an airboat from SR 44, about a half-mile from the drag strip.

"And you can't hear them at all when a car comes by on the highway," he said. "The car noise is much louder than what comes across from the races."

Graham, a contractor who primarily builds commercial and government buildings, said he plans to hold about four airboat races a year at the site.

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