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50ft goetz popeyes
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New York Time, July 26, 1987
YACHTING; Slick Powerboats Add Safety, Speed
By BARBARA LLOYD
Published: July 26, 1987
Powerboat racing has adopted space age technology, and nowhere is that technology more likely to get a thorough testing than at the national offshore circuit's fifth competition of the season today in Atlantic City.
The race is the Trump's Castle Hotel & Casino Offshore Grand Prix. The boat to watch is the new Popeyes/Diet Coke, a 50-foot speedboat christened yesterday in Atlantic City that is competing against three other boats in the Superboat Class, the largest of the offshore powerboats. With as many as 60 boats racing in 10 classes, Popeyes/Diet Coke will be running on a choppy offshore course regardless of the weather.
Popeyes/Diet Coke looks like a craft that James Bond might drive if he needed to make a getaway on water. It is the first offshore powerboat with a closed cockpit, which is air-conditioned and has enough oxygen gear to keep four people alive for 40 minutes should the boat turn over. Crew members enter through an opening in the roof. Once inside, they are strapped to chairs with six-point harnesses like the ones used by race car drivers. Sophisticated Building
Al Copeland of Jefferson, La., owner of the Popeyes Famous Fried Chicken & Biscuits chain, races the boat. Looking for a builder, he went to Eric Goetz Custom Sailboats, a firm in Bristol, R.I., known for sophisticated construction. Goetz said last week that it took him seven months to build the new boat.
In fashioning the seats, Goetz drew on his experience building safety pods, or seating shells, for one of Copeland's smaller offshore boats. The Popeyes support team tested the units by throwing them into the ocean from an airplane that was moving at 150 miles an hour, at a height of 75 feet. The man inside would have survived the crash, said Goetz.
The new hull is 3,000 pounds lighter than the one on Copeland's Superboat. Its exotic construction, of epoxy resin, carbon fibers and honeycomb core materials, supports a canopy with a carbon-fiber roof and windows of the same material that is used on F-16 fighter jets.
Copeland said that he was as much concerned about boat speed as safety.
''I feel very competitive, and I don't like to lose to anyone,'' he said. He expects speeds of as much as 150 m.p.h. in his new boat. Point Totals
Tom Gentry of Honolulu, racing the 50-foot Gentry Turbo Eagle, is close to Copeland in the offshore point totals. Copeland is the current national and world offshore champion. Also closing in on Copeland is Tim Ciasulli of Basking Ridge, N.J.
The competition is scheduled to begin at 11 A.M. at the boardwalk in Atlantic City. Racing will be along rectangular courses extending south to Longport. The race today is one of four in the Household Finance Corporation Pro Series, the most competitive of eight circuit races. The HFC has put up $75,000 in prize money for today's race. The New Jersey Offshore Powerboat Racing Association has contributed another $25,000 to the purse.
Among the most competitive of the small-boat racers is Lloyd Gootenberg of Boca Raton, Fla. His 30-foot Scarab-built boat, Lucky Strike, has a cruising speed of 85 m.p.h. Gootenberg learned to race speedboats on Jamaica Bay while growing up in Brooklyn. He is world champion in the Sportsman Class, a group that qualifies on a regional level for the national championship. Boats range in size from 21 to 32 feet. They race on local circuits, but are just as competitive as their national counterparts.
Leaders in the other classes are: Spirit of America, raced by John Antonelli of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in the Open Class; Auto Armor Special Edition, raced by John D'Elia of Greenwich, Conn., in the Modified Class; Boardwalk, raced by Nicky Cutro of Lake George, N.Y., in the Pro Stock Class; High Risk, raced by Richard Felson of Great Neck, L.I., in the Stock A Class; and Fully Involved, raced by Joe Sorrentino Sr. of Lauderhill, Fla. in the Stock B Class. ---- AROUND LONG ISLAND
More than 200 sailboats, both monohulls and multihulls, are expected to compete Thursday in the 11th annual Around Long Island Regatta. The event, sponsored by Newsday, is scheduled to begin at 1 P.M. at the Old Orchard Lighthouse in lower New York Harbor.
http://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/26/sports/yachting-slick-powerboats-add-safety-speed.html
YACHTING; Slick Powerboats Add Safety, Speed
By BARBARA LLOYD
Published: July 26, 1987
Powerboat racing has adopted space age technology, and nowhere is that technology more likely to get a thorough testing than at the national offshore circuit's fifth competition of the season today in Atlantic City.
The race is the Trump's Castle Hotel & Casino Offshore Grand Prix. The boat to watch is the new Popeyes/Diet Coke, a 50-foot speedboat christened yesterday in Atlantic City that is competing against three other boats in the Superboat Class, the largest of the offshore powerboats. With as many as 60 boats racing in 10 classes, Popeyes/Diet Coke will be running on a choppy offshore course regardless of the weather.
Popeyes/Diet Coke looks like a craft that James Bond might drive if he needed to make a getaway on water. It is the first offshore powerboat with a closed cockpit, which is air-conditioned and has enough oxygen gear to keep four people alive for 40 minutes should the boat turn over. Crew members enter through an opening in the roof. Once inside, they are strapped to chairs with six-point harnesses like the ones used by race car drivers. Sophisticated Building
Al Copeland of Jefferson, La., owner of the Popeyes Famous Fried Chicken & Biscuits chain, races the boat. Looking for a builder, he went to Eric Goetz Custom Sailboats, a firm in Bristol, R.I., known for sophisticated construction. Goetz said last week that it took him seven months to build the new boat.
In fashioning the seats, Goetz drew on his experience building safety pods, or seating shells, for one of Copeland's smaller offshore boats. The Popeyes support team tested the units by throwing them into the ocean from an airplane that was moving at 150 miles an hour, at a height of 75 feet. The man inside would have survived the crash, said Goetz.
The new hull is 3,000 pounds lighter than the one on Copeland's Superboat. Its exotic construction, of epoxy resin, carbon fibers and honeycomb core materials, supports a canopy with a carbon-fiber roof and windows of the same material that is used on F-16 fighter jets.
Copeland said that he was as much concerned about boat speed as safety.
''I feel very competitive, and I don't like to lose to anyone,'' he said. He expects speeds of as much as 150 m.p.h. in his new boat. Point Totals
Tom Gentry of Honolulu, racing the 50-foot Gentry Turbo Eagle, is close to Copeland in the offshore point totals. Copeland is the current national and world offshore champion. Also closing in on Copeland is Tim Ciasulli of Basking Ridge, N.J.
The competition is scheduled to begin at 11 A.M. at the boardwalk in Atlantic City. Racing will be along rectangular courses extending south to Longport. The race today is one of four in the Household Finance Corporation Pro Series, the most competitive of eight circuit races. The HFC has put up $75,000 in prize money for today's race. The New Jersey Offshore Powerboat Racing Association has contributed another $25,000 to the purse.
Among the most competitive of the small-boat racers is Lloyd Gootenberg of Boca Raton, Fla. His 30-foot Scarab-built boat, Lucky Strike, has a cruising speed of 85 m.p.h. Gootenberg learned to race speedboats on Jamaica Bay while growing up in Brooklyn. He is world champion in the Sportsman Class, a group that qualifies on a regional level for the national championship. Boats range in size from 21 to 32 feet. They race on local circuits, but are just as competitive as their national counterparts.
Leaders in the other classes are: Spirit of America, raced by John Antonelli of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in the Open Class; Auto Armor Special Edition, raced by John D'Elia of Greenwich, Conn., in the Modified Class; Boardwalk, raced by Nicky Cutro of Lake George, N.Y., in the Pro Stock Class; High Risk, raced by Richard Felson of Great Neck, L.I., in the Stock A Class; and Fully Involved, raced by Joe Sorrentino Sr. of Lauderhill, Fla. in the Stock B Class. ---- AROUND LONG ISLAND
More than 200 sailboats, both monohulls and multihulls, are expected to compete Thursday in the 11th annual Around Long Island Regatta. The event, sponsored by Newsday, is scheduled to begin at 1 P.M. at the Old Orchard Lighthouse in lower New York Harbor.
http://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/26/sports/yachting-slick-powerboats-add-safety-speed.html
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Goetz/Popeyes
Ratickle
Founding Member / Super Moderator
I was down at Skater today and Peter said it was terrible. He said the drives bolted on to the bottom of the rocker plates. He also said he was a pace boat driver across the state at a race and had to tow the boat back to the pits when it broke down, and he was in a 4 engine boat and was afraid he would run out of gas.
I'm still digging.
I'm still digging.
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Ratickle
Founding Member / Super Moderator
According to John Crouse in Searace, the Goetz boat ran it's first race in Grand Haven, Michigan on August 15, 1987.
"Making its long awaited debut was Al Copeland's heralded new 50' Goetx Popeyes-diet Coke Superboat with its Star Wars like, fully enclosed, air conditioned cockpit and four 800 hp Popeyes engines and outdrives.
Brand new and suffering from apparent trim problems the new hull did not finish the race but thanks to the new U.S. Offshore scoring format in which boats are scored according to where they are when the class leader finishes, managed a second place, enabling Copeland to keep ahead of Gentry in national points for the Superboat class." Searace
"Making its long awaited debut was Al Copeland's heralded new 50' Goetx Popeyes-diet Coke Superboat with its Star Wars like, fully enclosed, air conditioned cockpit and four 800 hp Popeyes engines and outdrives.
Brand new and suffering from apparent trim problems the new hull did not finish the race but thanks to the new U.S. Offshore scoring format in which boats are scored according to where they are when the class leader finishes, managed a second place, enabling Copeland to keep ahead of Gentry in national points for the Superboat class." Searace
MOBILEMERCMAN
Founding Member / Competitor
I was there too. I recall it had red leather interior and Ford engines. Maybe it was a new Jesse James boat that had the Fords. Anyone know for sure?
MOBILEMERCMAN
Founding Member / Competitor
I was more impressed with the Trans Atlantic Boat that was there. Anybody got pix of that.
MOBILEMERCMAN
Founding Member / Competitor
My Favorite Popeyes boat of all was the Wooden 8 2.4 outboard powerhead powered linked to speedmaster drive boat. Never got to see it in person. It burnt up at his Kilo's
Skater 36
New member
Jerry Gilbreath had a lot to do with the set up of this boat.
Ratickle
Founding Member / Super Moderator
MOBILEMERCMAN
Founding Member / Competitor
One of the coolest, most creative of all time! IMO Set and average course speed record in Bahamas at 105 or something with six powerheads. 2.4 EFI's were like 260 hp stock back then at about 160 pounds each, recall them being belt driven to a common shaft under the snout of the powerheads which were lying on their sides. The gimble housing is taller than the deck.
Gentry set the record at 148.238 at Popeyes Kilos 3 8 '87. I remember hearing It [ The Popeyes boat ] ran first pass 150 something and she caught fire and burned before it could run the second pass.
That was the same event my good buddy set his first speed record. In the Joker Stock B 13
Gentry set the record at 148.238 at Popeyes Kilos 3 8 '87. I remember hearing It [ The Popeyes boat ] ran first pass 150 something and she caught fire and burned before it could run the second pass.
That was the same event my good buddy set his first speed record. In the Joker Stock B 13
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MOBILEMERCMAN
Founding Member / Competitor
This was such a cool boat
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