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In November of 1994, RC MARINE, a 30-foot
Superboat from West Babylon, NY won the World Championships in the A-class as
the best of the best came together to compete in the largest world championship
powerboat race to that date. The long-awaited unification of all three
sanctioning bodies: US Offshore, APBA, and SBR created a fleet of boats 135
strong and a playing field that left no room for error in a thrilling two-race
series in the notoriously rough waters off Key West.
Reigning A-Class World Champion, RC MARINE,
left little doubt who the winner would be, but as usual, the two first-place
victories that sealed the title for this veteran offshore race team did not come
without tenacity and was not lost for the want of a nail.
Ready to leave the dock for the start of the
second race, one engine did not fire. Desperate for an ignition system, owner
and throttleman Robert Cardinal pirated the part off an old conch parasail boat
that was tied up at the dock. "I saw the boat had a stock MerCruiser
package, so I went for it. We had to duck tape the part to the exhaust because
there wasn't a mount available. I turned the key and prayed. We made it to the
milling area with 30 seconds to spare," recalled Cardinal. "That was
our last year racing in the A-class due to the rule changes that eliminated twin
engine boats, and it was our intention to leave with the triple crown (Regional,
National, and World Championship titles) and we accomplished that goal."
RC and the team were subsequently retired into
the Hall of Fame at the end of the '94 season as the winningest A class boat in
the history of offshore racing, and according to Cardinal, "It doesn't get
any better than this."
But unfortunately, Cardinal's luck did not
last long. At the beginning of the 1995 season the Puerto Rican government paid
to have RC MARINE shipped there for Cardinal and his team to compete. After
winning a couple of races, the boat dry-docked next to his caught fire, and in
the blink of an eye, RC MARINE was also consumed in flames. Financially unable
to resurrect his boat, RC retired.
However, the boat was jointly purchased by Dr.
Rodriguez of Puerto Rico and Aldo Alezczyk, owner of Aldo's Auto and Marine in
Lindenhurst, NY, better known by fellow racers in the infamous B-class race boat
LAP DANCER. With the help of John Coen, owner of Superboats, the hull was
repaired and a new deck installed, and Aldo re-rigged the boat with twin 373 cid
MerCruiser engines. Christened appropriately, RESURRECTOR tested a top speed of
90 mph on her first run.
RESURRECTOR is being shipped back to Puerto
Rico to race on the Puerto Rico US Pro Tour circuit for the 1997 season, and it
will be interesting to see how well she will fare. OFFSHORE
RACING MAGAZINE, Fall 1997 |
