Farnsworth Motorsports Wins Battles Of Adversity
No one ever said fielding three offshore powerboat racing teams in the same season would be easy. And to his credit, Win Farnsworth of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., never thought it would before this season kicked off in Marathon, Fla. Farnsworth knew that well before he added the rookie Super Cat-class team of driver Christian McCauley and throttleman Anthony Smith in the 40-foot Farnsworth Motorsports/Hancock Claim Consultants MTI catamaran to a stable that already included a Super V- team and a Bracket 500 team.
At Thunder On Cocoa Beach, the rookie Super Cat-class Farnsworth Motorsports/Hancock Claim Consultants finished fifth overall. Photos by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix
But in just two races—the second last weekend in Cocoa Beach, Fla.—the owner and his teams already have faced a season’s worth of challenges.
In the Marathon contests, the only Farnsworth-backed team that didn’t have major mechanical issues was the Bracket 500 duo of Craig Belfatto and Elijah Kingery in Bulletproof/Team Farnsworth/Goodcars.com, which finished second. The Farnsworth Motorsports/Hancock Claim Consultants team of Kingery driving and Jay Healy on the sticks took the checkered flag in the Super V contest. But the 40-foot Fountain’s port driveshaft broke during practice on Saturday and the team worked through the night to replace it in time for the Sunday contest.
But the worst was yet come. During Saturday’s practice session, the Super Cat raceboat had not one but two critical engine failure. McCauley and Smith did not start on Sunday.
Asked to described his season so far, Farnsworth sighed and chuckled.
“Marathon was a disaster,” he said, then laughed again. “Tyler Miller of M CON sent me an email this morning. He said, ‘I thought you were done, no way you would make it to Cocoa Beach. We thought we wouldn’t see you until LOTO. But you made it to Cocoa Beach and it was pretty cool to see the adversity you went through and still made it.”
With just a couple of weeks between the Marathon and Cocoa Beach races, the team had no time to lose replacing both engines, which had to be sent back to the builder. But they got it done one week before the green flag flew.
Despite two broken drive-shafts, Farnsworth’s Super V team notched two victories in as many races.
Said Farnsworth when he happily announced that the Super Cat team would be there for Cocoa Beach, “The Kasse Racing Engines team worked tirelessly to help our team to make it happen.”
All three Farnsworth-owned teams made it to the event, ran hard and finished strong. The Super Cat team finished fifth overall, the Super V team claimed the checkered flag—but lost yet another drive-shaft—and the Bracket 500 team finished second.
In just five days, the teams will hit the road for Shootout Offshore at the Lake of the Ozarks in Central Missouri. It is the third event of the American Power Boat Association Offshore National Championship Series and the second event of the Powerboat P1-produced Union Internationale Motonautique World Championship. The turn-around time to make it with one team, much less three, is short.
Farnsworth praised his entire group for making it happen.
“There was a lot of tension last weekend and it was really emotional at times, but our entire team pulled together,” Farnsworth said. “I was happy with our results.
“After the weekend, I even mailed (Powerboat P1 pit liaison) Ralph Young and apologized for going off on him,” he added. “Ralph is a gem and I handled things poorly.”
A decidedly hands-on owner, Farnsworth is in the crew-member mix until each raceboat leaves for its milling area. And then, at least until that race is complete and it’s time to do final prep ahead of the next one, he gets to chill out.
“I love race days because I get to sit and watch after all the work we’ve done,” he said. “I get to go to the beach, watch and smile.
“I absolutely love it,” he added.
The Bulletproof/Team Farnsworth/Goodcars.com was the only team in the Farnsworth stable that didn’t have mechanical issues in the first two races of the season.
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