Lake Mead ready to roar

Thursday, Sept. 19, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

WITH its collective engines still running strong following last weekend's inaugural Indy Racing League 500K at the new Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the city has begun gearing up for another form of motorized sport.

Professional powerboat racing returns to Lake Mead this weekend with the Las Vegas Cup, a dual offering featuring the Formula One Series Presented by Pontiac Firebird and the Thunder Tour Presented by Las Vegas unlimited hydroplanes.

The F-1 boats, featuring tunnel hulls powered by outboard motors, will top the weekend bill. They will conclude their nine-race championship with a 30-lap final set for 3:30 p.m. Sunday at the Boulder Beach course. The top boats on the hydroplane circuit will compete in a special shootout at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

The hydroplanes last raced in Las Vegas in 1991, when the Las Vegas Silver Cup capitulated. This weekend's exhibition may pave the way -- or at least chart a course -- for a full-fledged 1997 race featuring the powerful thunder boats.

The Las Vegas Cup will mark the city's introduction to Formula One boat racing. Veteran driver Bill Seebold predicts Las Vegas fans are going to embrace the brightly colored tunnel-boat fleet.

"For the layman, our boats look like a Formula One or an Indy car without the wheels. But the racing is closer to NASCAR," said the patriarch of the racing Seebold family, which includes sons Mike and Tim. The trio is running second (Mike), third (Bill) and fifth (Tim) in points heading into Las Vegas.

The F-1 boats run on a mile course, about half of what the hydroplanes require. They reach top speeds of 135 mph, whereas the hydroplanes top out in the 200 range. But slower speeds mean smaller rooster tails, and that means more deck-to-deck racing. And while hydroplane finals are limited to six boats, 20 usually go in F-1.

And they go from a standing start.

"It's like motocross," says Seebold, 55, who drives the Bud Light No. 7 boat (son Mike will be in the No. 11 sister craft while Tim Seebold will be at the throttle of the No. 16 Anco Wipers/Bud Light entry). "Everybody turns hard for that first buoy. It's a different concept (than hydroplanes). These are the sharpest-turning vehicles in the world.

"We're running 33- to 35-second laps on a mile race track. We think it's a better show. There's a lot of traffic and somebody is always passing somebody else. The key to our thing is we run on a smaller, tighter race course. It's more spectator friendly."

In that this weekend's racing is free (pit passes go for $5), there should be a lot of spectators flocking to Boulder Beach for two full days of racing.

Testing and qualifying for both series will run from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Saturday. Testing and qualifying resume at 9 a.m. Sunday, with the hydroplane shootout scheduled for 2:30 p.m., followed by the Formula One final at 3:30.

Many of the boats will be on display during a Las Vegas Cup street party, running from 6-9 tonight at the Fremont Street Experience.