Indian River in northern Michigan, which bisects a town of the same name, is normally a placid, no-wake zone lined in tidy cottages and plied by pontoon boats. Except for the second weekend in August, when a fleet of mostly homemade stock outboard boats whiz through at speeds up to 75 miles an hour in the roughest and purportedly the last point-to-point outboard marathon in the country.

Picture a soapbox derby on water running for two days, and you get some idea of the Top O’ Michigan Marathon. Streamlined boats — big enough for only one rider — zip over 80 miles in two days through the Inland Waterway that links Cheboygan on Lake Huron southwest to Crooked Lake, just east of Petoskey, via Mullett and Burt lakes, and Indian and Crooked rivers.

This year’s event, its 70th anniversary, takes place Aug. 11 and 12 and is expected to draw a record 100 entries.

“Top O’ Michigan is a one-of-a-kind race,” said Tom Fairbairn, a retired racer and commodore of the Top O’ Michigan Outboard Racing Club, an all-volunteer group that puts on the event. “There are probably six to eight marathons that go on around the country, but most are raced on short courses with left-hand turns only. Ours is 42 to 43 miles each day. Our rivers and lakes are challenging. That’s why we call it the toughest outboard race.”

From my family’s cabin on Burt Lake, I stumbled across the event last summer, literally, on a jog into town for Dairy Mart soft serve. I joined race viewers on the Michigan Highway 27 bridge over Indian River where the 30-footish narrows make a rather harrowing passage for drivers bouncing around the arrowlike boats in the turbulence as one fearless mallard bobbed in the wake. They seemed destined to crash but never did, though a few watercraft flipped in the lakes.

Powerboat racing, which once had a thriving stock outboard circuit, requires the water course to be closed to other traffic, a logistical hurdle that has threatened the sport elsewhere. Fairbairn and Top O’ Michigan club members take an entire year to work through permitting with 12 townships, two counties, the state’s department of natural resources and the Coast Guard.

“I think it’s a dying hobby or sport, and first, it’s very unique. When I say I race boats, people think sailboats,” said Samantha Fairbairn, Tom’s daughter and protegee. The 25-year-old racer won the B class, one of five in the adult outboard division, all based on weight and size, last year. “It’s a huge adrenaline rush. It’s awesome. You might think, ‘Oh, 55 miles per hour, that’s road speed.’ But on the water, it feels like 100.”

She describes the sensation as “flying,” and even from my elevated vantage point, I could see both boats and drivers catching air as they bounced around. Sitting on their knees to steer, drivers often wear gloves to avoid blisters and kneepads to cushion the blows. Samantha also wears a kidney belt that compresses the kidneys and lower back during the ride.

“It depends on the weather,” she said. “The rivers aren’t bad, but the lakes can get pretty rough.”

That’s because, Burt and Mullett, apart from the Great Lakes, are among the five largest lakes in Michigan, at 27- and 26-square-miles, respectively. Named for William A. Burt and John Mullett, who surveyed the area in the 19th century, the lakes straddle Interstate 75 about 25 miles south of the Mackinac Bridge. Even on fair days, these waters — Burt measures 73 feet deep, while Mullett is 148 — are wave-prone.

They form part of the Inland Waterway, an original Native American route that, with a portage near Petoskey, links Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, allowing calmer and shorter passage than the Great Lakes. Indian River is the central channel in the route and, apart from race weekend, a great place to spot loons, osprey and river otters. (Eight-passenger pontoon rentals from Indian River Marina in the town of Indian River start at $250 for a full day.)

“We’ve had successful racers who initially watched the race and came to the judges stand and said, ‘How do I do this? Or how do I get my kid in this?’” said Cheboygan native Don Voisin, 10-time winner of the race and former commodore of the club. He still runs the start at DeVoe Beach in Indian River. “It’s very much a family sport.”

Voisin began racing back in its heyday in the 1950s when, he said, you could walk into almost any marina and buy a Mercury racing motor.

“There was a lot of money then,” he said of the race circuit in the ’60s and ’70s. “I got third place at a race in the Thousand Islands (in New York) and won $300. I remember we bought a new washer and dryer with it.”

Last year, competitors came from as far away as Georgia. In the past, race organizers say they have had entries from South America. Since no one can practice in the rivers, race organizers use pontoon boats to take out-of-town competitors through the course prior to the race.

“This type of race is once in a lifetime,” said Tom Fairbairn. “Once they’ve done it, they’re addicted, and the race keeps getting stronger and better.”

Over 5,000 spectators come to view the action, filling hotels and rental cabins from Cheboygan to Petoskey. (Indian River, at the center of the race course, also offers cycling access to the 61-mile North Central State Trail that runs from Gaylord to Mackinaw City.)

One of Fairbairn’s favorite places to catch the race is on the Crooked River near Alanson, at a turn known as Devil’s Elbow.

“There’s a couple of 180-degree turns, so you’re coming back on yourself,” said Samantha Fairbairn, who, as a local, may have home-field advantage. “It’s super difficult for newer drivers.”

By Elaine Glusac
Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifest...729-story.html