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POWERBOATING
POWERBOATING; Norris Holds On to Win Offshore Prix
BARBARA LLOYD
- Aug. 19, 1990
It was a rivalry made in Hollywood that determined the winner today of the Ultra Slim-Fast New York Offshore Grand Prix, the first major powerboat race on the Hudson River in nearly a decade.
The movie actors Don Johnson and Chuck Norris were neck-and-neck in the standing going into the race, the sixth on the 1990 national offshore powerboat circuit. But it was Norris who prevailed today in the 147-mile speed contest's seven laps on a course from Riverdale in the Bronx to Piermont Point, N.Y.
After the start at noon, Johnson was soon far ahead of the other 12 Superboats. By the third lap, he had managed to put five minutes between his 50-foot Team U.S.A. and the rest of the fleet. He had established a new lap record of 127 miles an hour and was on his way to winning while Norris in his Popeyes-Diet Coke Superboat was trying to catch up. But at that point, Johnson and his co-driver, the actor Kurt Russell, blew a transmission.
''It's real disappointing,'' Johnson said after retiring from the race. ''But that's racing. We've been plagued by bad luck all season.''
Johnson, who was the world offshore champion in 1988, conceded that he may not have a chance at this year's title. ''The winner didn't beat the fastest boat,'' he said of the race today.
Luck almost ran out for Norris, too. He was trading places for second place during most of the race with Charles Marks, driver and owner of the Superboat Eric's Reality-Payless Car Rental.
Marks, who was the 1989 national champion and is the first black to make it to offshore racing's highest echelon, stalled out at the last turn. About the same place, Norris lost an engine. With less than 100 yards to the checkered flag, the two high-speed craft were humbled by having to slow down to a crawl.
''It was a putt, putt, putt to see who would finish first,'' Marks said later.
Norris didn't see it that way. He said that he was able to pick up speed again and crossed the finish line at 100 miles an hour. ''We ran out of gas about one minute after we finished,'' Norris said at North Cove Yacht Harbor in Manhattan after the race. ''It was right at the moment we picked up the checkered flag.''
COMMENTS
The movie actors Don Johnson and Chuck Norris were neck-and-neck in the standing going into the race, the sixth on the 1990 national offshore powerboat circuit. But it was Norris who prevailed ...