Bud Select in the News
 

Florida Racing News
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Budweiser Select Offshore Racing Pre-Race Report


Budweiser Select Offshore Racing

SARASOTA, Fla. -- This weekend, Dave Scott and the Budweiser Select Offshore Race Team will compete in the 23rd Suncoast Offshore Super Boat Grand Prix. After a first place finish in Pickwick, Scott and crew had a break from racing but have still been hard at work and hope to debut a new boat in Sarasota.

“We are hoping to run our new 50’ Mystic this weekend,” Scott began. “It will be the boat’s maiden voyage and we are hoping to really learn a lot. We don’t expect to push it to the limits in Sarasota, but we will be pushing it enough. We want to learn, but we also want to win. I think it will be a very successful race for us. This boat should handle very well and be very fast. We look to it to lead the way as we finish this season and move into 2008.”

Like the 44’ MTI has in the past, the new Mystic will run in the Superboat Unlimited class this weekend. There are similarities between the two boats, such as engines and drives, but several key differences as well, according to Scott. “The biggest difference in these two boats is obviously the length,” Scott explained. “The Mystic is longer and wider, at 50’ long and 12’ wide. It’s very safe and spacious for the crew to work in. Also, the new boat has been designed with some very special lamination techniques to keep it light.”

In addition, the 50’ Mystic is powered by a pair of 1550 HP Sterling engines, TriMax drives and is steered with a rudder. In 2006, Scott and crew won their ninth National Championship on Lake Mead in Las Vegas, Nev. They also brought home the checkered flag in seven regular season races. The team won its class at the Lake Rescue shootout with a speed of 178 mph and took second at the OSS World Championships in Destin, Fla. Scott and the Budweiser Select Team’s most recent win of 2007 came during the ‘Pickwick Challenge’ in Pickwick, Tenn., and now the team looks forward to the next race in Sarasota.

“I feel very good about racing this weekend,” Scott said. “Sarasota is always one of our favorite races. They go all out for the racers with large media coverage and a big parade. It’s also an excellent and very challenging racecourse. It will be good to get back there.”

Scott also added the course this week will not consist of flat water, as Sarasota usually consists of moderate to rough conditions.

Festivities for the Grand Prix will begin Thursday with the ‘World’s Largest Offshore Party’ at 8 p.m. EST at the Hyatt Ballroom and continue through the weekend with several other activities for race fans. The festival parade of boats will begin at 6 p.m. Friday in downtown Sarasota and race action begins Sunday at 11 a.m.

The Dave Scott Budweiser Select Offshore Race Team is one of the most successful offshore race teams in history, having earned seven world championships and nine national championship titles since 2001. The team is also the proud owner of six offshore speed records. Dave Scott and throttleman Johnny Tomlinson have more than 32 years of combined experience in offshore powerboat racing.

Budweiser Select, launched nationally in February 2005, is a new kind of beer brewed longer for a bold taste that finishes clean. Budweiser Select boasts a unique full-bodied flavor with light beer statistics that appeal to sophisticated beer drinkers.

Based in St. Louis, Anheuser Busch is the leading American brewer, holding a 48.4 percent share of U.S. beer sales. The company brews the world’s largest-selling beers, Budweiser and Bud Light. Anheuser-Busch ranked No. 1 among beverage companies in FORTUNE Magazine’s Most Admired U.S. and Global Companies lists in 2007. ??Anheuser Busch is one of the largest theme park operators in the United States, is a major manufacturer of aluminum cans and one of the world’s largest recyclers of aluminum cans. ??For more information, visit www.anheuser-busch.com.

The highlight of the weekend ....watching the new Bud Select boat run.

m

Be sure to get pics of it! We all love to see what Scott's new boat look like! :)

I, Second, The Request To See Pictures Of The New Boat. I Hope He Will Have It In Orange Beach. That'll Be My Chance To See It

hey guy i just finish all the custom cover for this new boat it is awsome it is all black for now with the budwesier select decals it will to the painter after the sarasota race.it's a good feeling to be part of this team .

We can't express how we feel being part of the Bud Select Team. This project has been so secretive it's nice to have it out of the bag and finally in the public eye. Working with DS and JT has been a real privilege for John and the whole Mystic team is really looking forward to seeing the boat run in Sarasota.

Good luck and safe racing to everyone in Sarasota.

Robin Cosker

Here she is.......................

That is one beautiful boat! Good luck guys!

Posted on Sunday, July 01, 2007Boat of future will be in action
By NICK WALTER
[email protected]


SARASOTA --When Johnny Tomlinson first opened a boat shop with his best friend from North Miami Senior High in 1984, he couldn't have even fit this powerboat in the garage.

It was a 1,500-square-foot shop in a poor section of Miami, where Tomlinson said if you left something out overnight, it was gone by the morning.

Now he's the throttleman on driver Dave Scott's Budweiser Select Offshore Racing Team, which will compete today in the Suncoast Offshore Grand Prix powerboat races in Sarasota. The first of two heats begins at 11 a.m.

It will mark the maiden voyage for their recently completed, $1 million, 50-foot Mystic.

The futuristic black boat should be an easy spot. At a racing average, it flies about a football field per second.

"If you're in awe (of the boat), you can't get the job done," Tomlinson said. "I come prepared and have expectations of what the boat can do, so I'm not in awe of it anymore."

Nor was he in awe of being Colin Farrell's stunt double in "Miami Vice," which hit theaters last year. Tomlinson, who has 35 national/world titles in his career, also has appeared on "The Today Show" with Matt Lauer, "NBC Jeep Adventure" and "NASCAR Countdown to Green."

Scott, who hired Tomlinson six years ago, has appeared on the same shows and has 16 national/world titles. But he's never had a powerboat like the Mystic, a one-year project.

"It's definitely a sneak peak at the future as far as I'm concerned," Scott said. "Beside length, the construction technique and rigging technique incorporated in this boat is truly different than anything ever run in offshore before. People are definitely gonna see the potential that it has."

The boat arrived in Sarasota around 8 p.m. Thursday from Tomlinson's TNT Custom Marine and Spinnaker Marina in Miami.

It weighs approximately 10,500 pounds, yet generates over 3,000 horsepower from twin 1550-hp Sterling engines and TriMax drives.

The boat will compete in the Superboat Unlimited Class, in which any boat with any motor size can compete.

Last year, Scott and his crew won their ninth National Championship on Lake Mead in Las Vegas. The Budweiser Select Team has won its first three stops this season in Biloxi, Miss., Greers Ferry, Ark., and Pickwick, Tenn.

This year's schedule concludes with the Sept. 30 OSS National Championships in Lake of the Ozarks, Mo., and the SBI/APBA World Championships in November at Key West.

While most courses offer flat water, Sarasota usually offers moderate to rough conditions, something Tomlinson said equalizes the field.

When those bigger, rougher seas were mentioned to Tomlinson on Friday as he stared at powerboating's version of the "Batmobile," he simply smiled.

"There will be lots of hull noise in the cockpit, like getting in a drum," Tomlinson said.

"For someone who doesn't know what it's like," he went on, "there's jolts, shakes, and G-forces when you're traveling 120 mph over seas of 5 feet. Some people are scared when they come out of it - some are absolutely terrified . . . some want to go as fast as is physically possible."

Tomlinson has come a ways since those days in the empty garage in a Miami neighborhood where, he said, "you wouldn't want to walk around at 2 a.m."

Everything changed when Scott eventually selected him as his throttleman.

"He's very professional, and we're totally compatible in the boat," Scott said. "On a date, you're either compatible or not. If we were dating, we'd be connecting."

If you go

What: Suncoast Offshore Grand Prix powerboat races.

Where: Lido Beach in Sarasota.

When: 11 a.m. today.

The boat looks Kick Ass! Cant wait to see it at the Lake of the Ozarks!