Offshore Racing Great Joe Imprescia Gone at 67

I was deeply saddened to hear today that offshore racing legend Joe Imprescia died last night at the age of 67. He was in his home in Fort Myers, Fla., surrounded by family. For those who knew him, it’s likely that Imprescia, who was from Long Island, N.Y., and had his business, East Coast Marine Performance, in Babylon, N.Y., would have a tough time calling Florida “home.” He was a Long Island guy. He built a reputation as one of the sport’s great throttlemen, starting out with 21- and 24-foot Superboats, which were built on Long Island. He also throttled the 32-foot Superboat, East Coast Marine Performance, to a record-setting win in the Modified class in Sarasota, Fla.

Captured here with fellow offshore racer Chris Lavin (left), Joey Imprescia was a larger than life figure in offshore powerboat racing. Photo by Daniel Pusateri. All photos courtesy Chris LaMorte.

Imprescia raced with other teams including Alan Shapiro’s AES Motorsports and Billy Mauff in WHM Motorsports (As Mauff said, “Every plumber needs a good wrench”), but he was arguably best known for his longtime partnership with Stuart Hayim and the Recovery offshore racing team and the fleet of Skater catamarans they ran in the Superboat and Open classes. They won more world and national championships than I can remember. Hayim would get the media coverage, but it was Imprescia and his buddy from Long Island, Nick Casaula, who took care of the boat and always had it ready to race. One time, they even had my back when a powerboat racer had a problem with something I had written, but that’s a story for another time.

I can’t deny that I’m tearing up as I write this. I started covering the American Power Boat Association and the Offshore Powerboat Tour that evolved into Superboat International in1993 and Joe Imprescia was just starting to build his legendary career. He wasn’t just a powerboat racer I wrote about. He became a friend just like so many other people in the sport.

Imprescia throttled some of the best-known catamarans in the history of the sport.

We stayed in touch over the years and even if we hadn’t spoken for a while, I would get a text from him during the holidays most years. When I would call him on a Saturday or Sunday with yet another question about setting up one of my boats, he always picked up. When his son Nick and his best friend Ian Morgan started racing together and working alongside one another at Shaun Torrente Racing, Joe and I had the chance to reconnect in person at events in Sarasota, Clearwater and Key West, Fla. It was tough not to get choked up when Nick and Ian won the Mod-V world championship in their 32- foot Phantom, 151 Express, in 2023.

Captured here with Phil Lewis of NNRT Productions, Imprescia was among the most beloved and respected figures in offshore racing.

“My heart aches for Debbie and Nick,” said John Tomlinson, another throttleman of note, via text message this afternoon. “Joey and I did so much racing together and against each other he was a great friend.”

Next week, I will have a more complete story including memories from friends and competitors and information for memorial and/or celebration of life services.

Editor’s note: Eric Colby is the offshore racing editor for speedonthewater.com. He has covered the sport since the early 1990s.

Nick Imprescia and appeared with fellow legacy, Brit Lilly, whose father was famed throttleman Art Lilly, in an episode of Water Street Confidential. Produced by Scrapyard Media and speedonthewater.com, the series celebrated the 50th anniversary of Mercury Racing.

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