Wazzup in the News!
08-06-2005 | 08:50 AM
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Wazzup in the News!
Egg Harbor's Ed, Anthony Smith hope to speed off with a Jersey Boyz Offshore title
Published in the Asbury Park Press 08/6/05
BY MATTHEW KIRDAHY
STAFF WRITER
32-foot Viper power boat: $200,000.
The most prize money the Wazzup racing team has ever won in competition: $3,000.
A father and son shouting at each other on a boat traveling at 108 mph. Well, it's just another day on the water for Ed and Anthony Smith.
After 55 races together, the Wazzup team, headed by crew chief Amedeo Belsito, has 30 wins under its belt with Ed Smith at the wheel and his son Anthony manning the throttle. They have been racing competitively since 2001 and are on a mission to revive offshore boat racing in the Garden State.
The breakout event for the almost 40-year-old sport is the Aug. 12, 2005 Jersey Boyz Offshore Grand Prix. Joey Harrison's Surf Club at 1900 Ocean Ave. in Ortley Beach is this year's host. The Jersey Shore Marina & Boat Sales in Brick also is sponsoring the event.
The series of races will run on a five-mile course, about a half-mile from the beach.
Yet as much as the Smiths are involved to make sure the event launches without a hitch, make no mistake, they're in it to win it.
"Anthony is my driving force behind it," said Ed Smith, president of the Offshore Performance Association and owner of Wazzup Motorsports in Brick. "My wife Marie probably would've never tolerated it this long."
Ed Smith bought his first power boat, the 32-foot Viper, in 1998. His friend, Paul Mumalow of Brick, built the boat in 1980.
"I've never raced by myself," Ed Smith said. "Anthony has been in the boat every race I've ever been in. I will not get in the boat with anybody else. People are amazed when we got to the races, not to brag or anything like that, the things that we pull of in this boat, people are totally amazed."
Anthony Smith, 23, has been involved in water sports ever since his family moved from Rutherford to Egg Harbor 20 years ago. Not soon after, he was cruising in his own boat and riding on his own Jet Ski. He runs his boat engine-building business, Wazzup Racing Engines, from the marina.
Anthony was 19 when he and his father raced for the first time. His voracious appetite for speed still churns.
"Why not?" the younger Smith said. "Why not take it to the next level? Once we raced, that was it."
Though the two men and business partners clearly respect each other as any loving father and son might, they can't seem to get along during the day of a race. It even gets to the point where they drive to the water in separate cars.
Still, Ed Smith wouldn't have it any other way.
"It's just that we have a connection between us," he said. "I just know what he's going to do. He just knows what I'm going to do. There's the trust factor."
It could be that the Wazzup team will have another member in Ed Smith's 10-year-old son Nicholas, may be keeping him in the boat a bit longer than he expected.
"We got the new boat here last week and, of course, he had to be the first one in and drive with his brother," Ed Smith said. "So, we stacked up a bunch of towels for him to stand on so he could see above the windshield. He came down the river and he was the first one to spin it around."
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...418/1060/SHORE
Published in the Asbury Park Press 08/6/05
BY MATTHEW KIRDAHY
STAFF WRITER
32-foot Viper power boat: $200,000.
The most prize money the Wazzup racing team has ever won in competition: $3,000.
A father and son shouting at each other on a boat traveling at 108 mph. Well, it's just another day on the water for Ed and Anthony Smith.
After 55 races together, the Wazzup team, headed by crew chief Amedeo Belsito, has 30 wins under its belt with Ed Smith at the wheel and his son Anthony manning the throttle. They have been racing competitively since 2001 and are on a mission to revive offshore boat racing in the Garden State.
The breakout event for the almost 40-year-old sport is the Aug. 12, 2005 Jersey Boyz Offshore Grand Prix. Joey Harrison's Surf Club at 1900 Ocean Ave. in Ortley Beach is this year's host. The Jersey Shore Marina & Boat Sales in Brick also is sponsoring the event.
The series of races will run on a five-mile course, about a half-mile from the beach.
Yet as much as the Smiths are involved to make sure the event launches without a hitch, make no mistake, they're in it to win it.
"Anthony is my driving force behind it," said Ed Smith, president of the Offshore Performance Association and owner of Wazzup Motorsports in Brick. "My wife Marie probably would've never tolerated it this long."
Ed Smith bought his first power boat, the 32-foot Viper, in 1998. His friend, Paul Mumalow of Brick, built the boat in 1980.
"I've never raced by myself," Ed Smith said. "Anthony has been in the boat every race I've ever been in. I will not get in the boat with anybody else. People are amazed when we got to the races, not to brag or anything like that, the things that we pull of in this boat, people are totally amazed."
Anthony Smith, 23, has been involved in water sports ever since his family moved from Rutherford to Egg Harbor 20 years ago. Not soon after, he was cruising in his own boat and riding on his own Jet Ski. He runs his boat engine-building business, Wazzup Racing Engines, from the marina.
Anthony was 19 when he and his father raced for the first time. His voracious appetite for speed still churns.
"Why not?" the younger Smith said. "Why not take it to the next level? Once we raced, that was it."
Though the two men and business partners clearly respect each other as any loving father and son might, they can't seem to get along during the day of a race. It even gets to the point where they drive to the water in separate cars.
Still, Ed Smith wouldn't have it any other way.
"It's just that we have a connection between us," he said. "I just know what he's going to do. He just knows what I'm going to do. There's the trust factor."
It could be that the Wazzup team will have another member in Ed Smith's 10-year-old son Nicholas, may be keeping him in the boat a bit longer than he expected.
"We got the new boat here last week and, of course, he had to be the first one in and drive with his brother," Ed Smith said. "So, we stacked up a bunch of towels for him to stand on so he could see above the windshield. He came down the river and he was the first one to spin it around."
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...418/1060/SHORE
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