National Champs And More To Capture Key West Radio Spotlight – Speed on the Water

Continuing a tradition they started last year, Rick Lopez and Todd Swofford of “The Zone” 97.7 FM Sports Radio will host a slew of offshore racing’s 2023 national champions on their live broadcast from the Pickles Pub’s Sandbar during the Race World Offshore World Championship next month in Key West, Fla. The November 9 program will run from 5 p.m. ahead of the 10th annual Speed On The Water Key West Bash benefitting Samuel’s House at the Greene Street venue.

TS Motorsports team driver Taylor Scism will be one of several 2023 APBA National Champions interviewed live by Lopez and and Swofford. Photos by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

“What an amazing honor to be involved with this event that has done so much to help those in need here in our community through Samuels House,” Swofford said.

The tentative schedule has American Power Boat Association 450R Factory Stock national champion Taylor Scism of the TS Motorsports team leading off the program. The back-to-back national titleholder in the class—she claimed the 2022 title with John Tomlinson as she did in this year—Scism will be joined by her father, MTI founder Randy Scism, during the interview with the popular Key West radio personalities.

In additional to taking the Super Stock national championship, Shaun Torrente and Sean Conner started their own powerboat company this year.

APBA Super Stock national champions Shaun Torrente and Sean Conner of the Allied Construction Management Services team will follow the Scisms. Torrente and Conner should have plenty to share in addition to the team’s 2023 season performance as they introduced S2 Power Boats earlier this year.

Next up will be Super Cat national champions Tyler Miller and Myrick Coil of the M CON/Monster Energy team. Miller and Coil also earned fourth place in the Union Internationale Motonautique Class 1 World Championship Series in their Monster Energy/M CON Skater catamaran this year, and the 43-footer will be displayed on Greene Street throughout the Speed On The Water celebration.

The M CON/Monster Energy team has claimed back-to-back APBA national championships in the Super Cat class.

Though they spent their time above offshore racecourses this season, Rick J. Lindsey and his son, Parker, will follow the dynamic M CON duo in the broadcast. The father-and-son pairing teamed up throughout the season in the XINSURANCE A-Star helicopter—with the senior Lindsey at the controls and his son handling the video equipment—to provide live aerial coverage. The Sandy, Utah-based insurer also sponsored a Bracket 700-class team this season.

Larry Bleil, the president and founder of Race World Offshore, will be next up on the microphone with Lopez and Swofford. He’ll be joined by his right-hand man Rodrick Cox.

The radio program will end with longtime Speed On The Water Key West Bash organizing team-member Yvonne Aleman and this reporter discussing the evening’s celebration live auction for Samuel’s House.

And then the party will begin in earnest.

“We certainly don’t have trouble finding guests with the ‘Who’s Who’ of the high-performance powerboat community in attendance,” Swofford said.

Open to all comers, the 10th annual Speed On The Water Key West Bash at the Pickles Pub’s Sandbar will once again benefit Samuel’s House through a live auction.