Speedboat Nationals return to Long Beach’s Marine Stadium

LONG BEACH

There is a lot of history in the water that involves Long Beach’s Marine Stadium.

The stadium had the first manmade rowing course in the United States and was the site for the rowing competition during the 1932 Summer Olympics. Decades later, it served as the venue for multiple Olympic rowing trials, including for the men in 1968 and 1976 and the women in 1984.

But rowing trials come and go. It’s the powerboat races that keep returning to the stadium.

The Southern California Speedboat Club has annually entertained fans with the professional power boat races known as the ARP Long Beach Sprint National Championships for 75 years. Race teams from around the country will return to the place promoters call the birthplace of powerboat racing on the West Coast on Aug. 8 and 9, resuming the annual tradition after a one-year, coronavirus-induced hiatus.

“This is a historically and culturally important event,” promoter Ross Wallach said. “We are looking forward to being back in Long Beach after COVID-19. We want this tradition to continue.”

The Southern California Speedboat Club, which first hosted the championships in Long Beach in 1946, conducted races last year in Bakersfield and Parker, Arizona. But the club, Wallach said, “sorely missed Long Beach.”

In past years, Wallach said, thousands lined the stadium to watch the powerboat racers compete. He said he is anticipating a big crowd this year as well.

“There is something for everyone over the course of the two days,” he said. “It’s going to be a family crowd because this type of racing is a family sport event. They love to watch the boats hit speeds up to 150-plus mph.”

The championships will feature 12 classes of boats, from the 150-plus mph K Racing Runabouts to the Crackerbox class flatbottom boats.

Todd Kelm, who owns Gretchen Automotive repair shop, 1965 Palo Verde Ave., started his racing career as a crew member for a friend. Then he moved into a support position by providing a tow boat for the races — before, finally, watching his son and two stepsons actually compete.

“It’s amazing; it is definitely the best venue for boat racing,” he said. “When my stepson Sean (Davison) turned 9 was when we started. The boys (including son Tanner Kelm and stepson Jason Davison) are much bigger now and we have two boats that we run in two classes.”

One race Kelm said he would never forget came when Sean Davison was 11.

“Sean’s boat was T-boned,” Kelm said. “He was hit by another racer and the boat was broken into little pieces. But I got some people together and we got the boat back together in time to race the next day.

“Thank goodness Sean was OK to race the next day,” Kelm said of Davison, now 15. “And he took two first-place awards in what had been a broken boat.”

Kelm, 57, got into the powerboat business late in life. He said he purchased his first boat from a professional poker player who was leaving the country.

One of the best things about the powerboat competition, he added, is that no one is sponsored.

“We do it for the love of the sport,” Kelm said. “Everything we do is out of our pocket. The other thing that is so nice is people are free to walk around the pits and talk to the competitors and ask questions, and that’s something you don’t get to do every day.”

If you go
When: Aug. 8 and 9; gates open at 8 a.m. and practice starts at 9 a.m. each day.

Where: Marine Stadium, 5255 Paoli Way

Cost: $20 per adult, $10 per child, free for children younger than 5 and military personnel with active identification; parking is $20 a day.

Information: 310-318-4012 or scscracing.com.

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