From the Drivers Stand To The Drivers Seat: I am now feeling through the seat of my pants, APBA Inboard Hydroplane Racing. My hydroplane racing started decades ago racing remote control scale hydroplanes from a drivers stand. Now I’m in the capsule of our inboard hydroplane and loving every moment. The fully Loaded Racing team and I would like to extend our sincere gratitude and appreciation to the men and women of our military for their dedication and courage to protect our freedom and liberty. It is our pleasure to have with us 2 honorary military crew members to help us express our gratitude for all that our military represents.
We are a small race team made up of family and close friends out of Tumwater, WA. My first race was in Oak Harbor about 6 years ago, we’ve come a long way since that first race and now field a competitive hydroplane.
Owner / Driver: Jason Aslakson Class 2.5 Stock Engine: 2.3 liter Ford Crew Chief: Jason Elhard
Schellhase Racing was formed in 2006 when this hull was purchased from the builder, Droullard Motorsports. The team originally raced the boat as an Unlimited Light in partnership with Hopp Racing and won the UL National Championship in 2008.
In 2009, the boat filled in for Darren Bartels’ damaged Unlimited Light and helped them place second in the UL National Championship racing as the UL-11. In 2010, the team switched over to the Grand Prix class and has raced as the GP-12 for Schellhase Racing ever since.
This team has been one of the most successful teams on both the Unlimited Lights and Grand Prix circuits since being formed and has won six of the last eight Grand Prix National championships and two-thirds of all of the races it has entered. Although there has been a single owner, Bob Schellhase of Renton, WA., the boat has had several successful drivers including Greg Hopp, Jerry Hopp, Mark Evens, Brian Perkins, J Michael Kelly, Kevin Eacret, and Jeff Bernard. Greg Hopp with back up driver J Michael Kelly are the current drivers. We are looking forward to making some noise as we honor our veterans at Oak Harbor this year. Watch for the big yellow and black boat with the United States Coast Guard emblem on the tail.
Welcome, WFO Motorsports to Hydros for Heroes. Brandon Cushing will be driving boat #33 Miss Pateros. The team hails from Pasco Washington and includes Crew Chief Kannon Cushing and teammates Scott, Austin, Shane and a “fleet of kids”.
Miss Pateros was the 2017 Region 10 High Points Champion and 2017 Summer National Champion and this year they won the 2019 Tracy Osterhout Sportsmanship Award,
The locals may remember a little hydro boat history in Oak Harbor, as its root go back to the early days of boat racing when an Oak Harbor native named Tom Foresman and his friends built the first dual automotive powered Unlimited Hydro Plane aptly named the Dutchman. It was seen testing around Oak Harbor bay in the late 1960’s. Unfortunately, it sadly only ran 2 or 3 races on the unlimited circuit before retiring and eventual loss in a barn fire at Will Muncy Jr’s house in the 1990’s. But, that was not the end of Oak Harbor’s relationship to the speedy boats as in the early 1970’s a group of racers was based here called theWhidbey Roostertails. These outboard boat racers came to number 50 and were seen most summer weekends racing at Oak Harbor City Beach or Anacortes’ Heart Lake. They even raced on the duck pond in Dugualla bay a couple times. The club is still racing under the same name throughout the State although their last race here on the Island was most likely in the early 1980’s.
That brings us to a few years ago when a group of local volunteers decided to bring hydro boat racing back to Oak Harbor and joined up with one of the regional racing clubs to race in the bay. These are definitely not the small, locally-owned outboards of the past. The Oak Harbor race now attracts the largest and fastest inboard hydroplanes in the world along with the top names in the sport to our waters.
The old stories are alive and well as we chart our new course in the history of hydro boat racing in Oak Harbor.
