Fulfilling the need for speed
March 16, 2009
By Christopher Huber
Kip Brown, 2008 ABRA Rookie of the Year, poses with the U-17 Miss Red Dot in uncle Nate Brown’s Preston Performance Marine boat-building shop. By Christopher Huber
Issaquah native is 2008 hydro racer Rookie of the Year
Kip Brown, 2008 ABRA Rookie of the Year, poses with the U-17 Miss Red Dot in uncle Nate Brown’s Preston Performance Marine boat-building shop. By Christopher Huber
When he hits a straightaway at 180 miles per hour at the Sea Fair Chevrolet Cup on Lake Washington, unlimited hydroplane racer Kip Brown describes his boat as a nimble machine.
Amid the chaos of cutting through three- to four-foot-high waves behind the outwash of competitors’ rooster tails and with buoys racing by, he said he doesn’t experience the true power and agility of his 30-foot, 3,000 horsepower behemoth until he actually has to steer it.“The first time you really feel the sensation of speed is when you try to turn it,” he said. “It’s just an incredible amount of G force.”
But Brown’s ability to handle that force and harness the raw power of his turbine-driven U-17 Miss Red Dot is what earned him a respectable fourth-place finish in the 2008 Chevrolet Cup and, ultimately, the title of American Boat Racing Association Rookie of the Year.
“It’s exciting,” he said. “Our rookie class this year was kind of meager — there was just one other guy — but it’s definitely cool.”
Brown received the award Feb. 14 in Madison, Ind., and brings the family Rookie-of-the-Year total to two. Brown’s uncle, Nate Brown, is the 1981 ABRA Rookie of the Year.
“Every time I walk into his shop, I see his, and now I’ve got mine,” Kip Brown said. “I hope to have a long career driving unlimited.”
Built from scratch
Part of what makes Preston-based Our Gang Racing’s rise to success so compelling is how quickly the team got there.
Nate Brown, who also owns Preston Performance Marine, founded Our Gang Racing in 2006 with the help of numerous volunteer crewmembers and some sponsors. They all had one thing in common: a passion for boat racing.
In six months, the team built a functional boat from the ground up in a loft above Nate Brown’s shop.
“Long story short, we built this thing from scratch,” crewmember Mike Simons said.
He said most racing teams build an unlimited hydroplane in one year, but team members got it done by working long nights, in addition to their day jobs.
Come Sea Fair 2007, the team dropped it in the water and crossed its collective fingers.
“We didn’t know if it was going to float or if it was going to explode,” Simons said.
Having been part of the founding crew, Kip Brown became crew chief for Nate Brown during the first year of competitions. The circuit included racing in the Tri Cities and Evansville, Ind.
“One of the most rewarding things was to be able to build the boat from scratch,” Kip Brown said. “Nobody in the modern-day era, nobody has put a boat together so fast, and we did it with only one guy who has done it before.”
Despite being part of a groundbreaking team, Kip Brown and company are humbled by the opportunities afforded them. Sponsors carry the cost of the roughly $750,000 boat (trailer and tools included), but the team has had to sacrifice time and money for the dream.
“Just the sheer size and mass of everything complicates things. When you get a group of guys like this. To see it grow into what it is now, it’s so rewarding,” Kip Brown said. “You have to be miserly when you can and on the things that are important … you spend the money where you have to spend the money.”
A racing lineage
Since he was a kid, Kip Brown, now living in Maple Valley, has wanted to race unlimited hydroplanes. Boat racing is in his family — Nate Brown raced professionally until 2008 and is now his crew chief. His brother-in-law races, too. As a 5-year-old in 1981, Kip was there for Nate’s first race, Nate Brown said.
“It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do,” Kip Brown said. “This is all I’ve ever been interested in doing.”
That’s why he started racing boats from the moment he legally could. He had served on his uncle’s racing crew as a child, but upon graduating from Issaquah High School in 1994, Kip Brown took to the waters of Lake Sammamish and lakes across the country to hone his skills and exercise his passion for speed and competition. For 13 years, he raced flat-bottom boats and inboard models.
“I started driving flat bottom (in 1995), and I’ve been racing ever since,” Kip Brown said.
But his dream of racing with the big boys came true in 2008, when he took over for Nate Brown as the driver of the Our Gang Racing U-17 boat.
Confident crew
Piloting a 30-foot-long, 7,000-pound mammoth of a boat at nearly 200 miles per hour over three- to four-foot waves behind the overwhelming washout of a competitor’s rooster tail isn’t an easy task.
And that’s why Kip Brown said he was a nervous wreck on race day in the Tri Cities last summer. It was his first race in an unlimited hydroplane.
“When I went out that first weekend in Tri Cities, I was scared to death. I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t have any fun at all,” he said. “I was a mess. But by Friday at Sea Fair, I had successful tests. And by the end of the weekend, I couldn’t wait to get back in the seat.
“I’m very, very excited and antsy to get back in the boat now.”
The 2009 racing season begins July Fourth weekend and Our Gang Racing will travel to Michigan and Indiana, as well as try to qualify again for Tri Cities and Sea Fair. Kip Brown said he hopes for a few podium finishes, which will help the team’s bid to race in the ABRA Crown 2009 World Championship in Doha, Qatar. It’ll take a professional, dedicated crew and a talented driver.
“I trust them 100 percent,” Kip Brown said. “You want to have a little bit of confidence at 190 miles per hour.”
Reach Reporter Christopher Huber at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com. Comment on this story at www.issaquahpress.com.
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Please write more stuff on the Our Gang Team through out the race season so we can follow them through out the Racing Tour.
Great story about Kip Brown and Our Gang Racing. Nate Brown and the team did a great job of building the boat entirely in their Preston, Washington shop. Look forward to hearing more about Kip’s racing adventures this summer.