PDA

View Full Version : Todd Anderson of Northlake headed to boat-racing world championships



Serious News
04-03-2013, 09:54 PM
Northlake man headed to boat-racing world championships in Italy

BY MARK LAWTON | mlawton@pioneerlocal.com April 2, 2013 11:30AM

Todd Anderson of Northlake races hydroplanes and runabouts. He's a junior at Illinois Wesleyan University.
Updated: April 2, 2013 8:29PM

NORTHLAKE — Todd Anderson, age 20, has been racing small boats since he was 13. He’s now a junior at Illinois Wesleyan University.

The Northlake resident is the third generation in his family to race. In June he’ll race with the U.S. A-Team at the World Championships in Barcis, Italy.

Q: How did you get started racing boats?
A: It’s a family hobby. I’ve been going to races my entire life. I have friends from all over the country who I go and visit and race against.


Q: Family hobby?
A: My dad’s been doing over 45 years. My grandfather raced too. I have two older brothers. One currently races with me.


Q: How long has the sport been around?
A: My dad talked about going to races in the early 1960s. We have video of racing in the late 1950s. Outboard racing, what I race, took off in the later 1920’s.


Q: What kinds of boats do you race?
A: Hydroplane and runabouts. Mostly hydroplane.


Q: What is a hydroplane boat?
A: Only about 12 inches of the boat is in the water. There’s a propeller. The rest glides above the water. They set it up to have the least amount of drag. They are only about 13 feet long.


Q: Where do you practice? Lake Michigan?
A: The waves are too big. It’s too rough for our boats. We’re going 70, 80, 90 or 100 miles per hour.


Q: Where do you race?
A: I’m going to Florida in a couple weeks. Michigan, Wisconsin, Hartford, Connecticut, Ohio, New York. We do a lot of your testing (at races). Our biggest practice race is LaSalle (Illinois).


Q: What does a course look like?
A: It’s an oval. I go up against 12 boats in a heat. It’s four laps or three-quarters of a mile. It takes three to four minutes at the most.


Q: Is it an expensive sport?
A: It’s relatively expensive. All the safety stuff and the boats and stuff. We don’t buy anything new. We rebuild a lot of it. We own some of the motors. The traveling is expensive.


Q: What skills does it take?
A: You have to learn how to start, how to set up the boat for different conditions. Putting on the right propeller, do the tuning on race day. Motors are kind of finicky.


Q: How big a deal is racing in Italy?
A: That will be the biggest race I’ve ever been in. Italy is the biggest one worldwide. It’s a big honor.


Q: The sport is bigger in Europe?
A: The bigger world championships are almost always dominated by the Europeans. They almost always win.


Q; How much will it cost you?
A: For myself, about $4,000. That’s more than I spend the entire summer on my boat racing. I have to pay for the flight, join racing associations. I’m going to races I wouldn’t normally go to, so I can go testing.


Q: What if someone wants to make a contribution?
A: 708-562-5552 or email me at ateamboatracing11@gmail.com.

Northlake man headed to boat-racing world championships in Italy - Franklin Park Herald-Journal (http://franklinpark.suntimes.com/news/19217020-418/northlake-man-headed-to-boat-racing-world-championships-in-italy.html)

Ratickle
04-04-2013, 09:28 PM
Hope he does well....