E Colby

Wouldn't Aqua Banshee's question have been more relevant if he was relevant? He doesn't even race any more, so he has no dog in this fight.

phragle

iTrader: (3)

THat's their job, thats what they went to school for, thats what they get paid for. If you needed a lawyer, would you want to hire one who WASN'T going to do whatever it took to win the case for you??

Roger

Cool, getting back to the subject, back in 99 our old 38 topped out at 86-88 miles per hour, after getting the new canopy boat it ran right at 100. After the rule change to 525s speeds creeped up to 105-108 range. With blueprinting bottoms and better props and higher X dimentions the speeds continued to increase. Competitors were forced to adjust or purchase another boat. Nowhere do I remember penalizing one canopy boat over another because it was faster or had better monkeys in the boat. Here at home I sponsor a modified car that has won every race this year and now they are forcing him to start at the rear until he loses. He still won last weekend. He continues to work on the car trying to get it better while the competitors are doing nothing but complaining that he is somehow cheating. I do not see Nascar penalizing Jimmy Johnson for winning 5 championships in a row.

MSGANGWAY

if you are innocent then yes but guilty and he gets you off on a technicality then he should take you home to live with his family lol

MSGANGWAY

I fail to remember when you raced Eric

E Colby

I raced mostly with POPBRA on the West Coast in the early and mid-1990s, mostly in the Offshore A and B classes and if you include my time covering Unlimited hydroplanes and offshore powerboat racing for Soundings, I've been writing about powerboat racing since the late 1980s.

MSGANGWAY

pushing a pencil doesn't count as racing

E Colby

Sorry but I don't know you, so what is your racing resume?

Roger

Has this turned into a bashing Eric Colby site??? I recognize this name from way back.

Matt Trulio

As it happens, Eric has offshore racing experience. However, that is not a pre-requisite for writing and reporting on the subject. Chances are, the sports writer you most respect and admire never played the game at the highest level and the political writer you turn to for reliable political information never held office. To suggest otherwise is silly.

Could I write a first-person story on how to throttle or drive an offshore raceboat? Of course not, and I wouldn't try—but I could write a solid story on what the best drivers and throttlemen in the sport see as essential skills and techniques for both. Eric's own offshore racing experience would enhance that story if he were to write it, but again it would not be a pre-req for him writing a solid piece on the subject.

Eric has a substantial and excellent body of work behind him. That said, I don't think he's ever "pushed a pencil," though I did see a lot of his red ink on my stories back in the day when we worked together at Powerboat magazine.